Put your neighbor in jail rally this Saturday

[Fransisco]

The crop must be in, because the anti-freedom, anti choice crowd are gearing up the fall/winter campaign against our inalienable right to sell the product of our own labour and investment to whomever we see fit.

Nope, we can't be having any of that.

It's time the Bolshevik's show us simple farmers what's for our own good.

Again...

and again...

and again...

[Fransisco]

CWB Supporters,

The SaveMyCWB Campaign is holding a pro CWB conference , entitled
"CO-OPERATION & ACTION - CO-ORDINATING THE FIGHT FOR THE CWB!",

On Saturday Nov. 17, 2007, in at the Ramada Inn, Regina. Confirmed speakers
include Liberal and NDP critics for the Canadian Wheat Board, Wayne
Easter and Pat Martin; the government of Manitoba; Bill Woods of West
Central Road and Rail; former CGC Assistant Commissioner Bob Douglas;
Friends of the Canadian Wheat Board and others.

[Fransisco]

apparently according to these folks,

"The majority of western Canadian grain producers understand the huge
benefits which the CWB provides them. If the CWB is lost producers will loose $600-800 million directly, the CGC and any influence over transportation. This would translate into further financial losses for
producers."

I guess they never looked at the plebiscite results, the CWB surveys or did any cross border price checking. But hey why let facts get in the way of the revolution.

and

"the Harper government will continue to
break the law which is an example for others or change the Canadian Wheat Board Act so these actions will no longer be illegal."

Grammar and sentence structure aside, it would be a terrible, terrible thing if farmers were free to sell wheat and barley on the prairies the same as they can in Ontario and Quebec.

[Fransisco]

Speaking of which get a load of this part of the "action plan".

<blockquote>
seek support of provincial supply management and general farm organizations (Quebec’s UPA is already on side through Real Voice For Choice; contact is now established with Dairy Farmers of Ontario/Egg Farmers of
Ontario – we need to follow up)

target pivotal riding's with significant farm vote (6-8 Ontario, 2-5 Quebec) through public farm meetings co-sponsored by local farm organizations (pilot meeting already undertaken in western Ontario – we need to follow up)

seek out Canadian Labour Congress, selected trade union support target national media to recapture CWB issue </blockquote>

Because hey lets face it, no one knows better what's good for prairie grain growers than the dairy, egg, and chicken supply management folks, the Quebec farm lobby, and the Canadian Labour Congress.

[Fransisco]

And that's not all...

<blockquote>
Manitoba and Saskatchewan:

seek support of supply management groups (raise Freshwater Fish Marketing Commission issue)

Target pivotal ridings with significant farm vote (1 Manitoba, 3-5 Saskatchewan), also Winnipeg ridings
where loss of CWB and related jobs is an issue.

Innovative approach needed in rural areas where the CWB and related battles have been fought and refought in recent years

seek support from Saskatchewan Federation of Labour, Manitoba Federation of Labour and Winnipeg & District Labour Council </blockquote>

[Fransisco]

Now lets take a closer look at the speakers list...
<blockquote>
Ken Sigurdson, Save My CWB Campaign

CWB Directors

Friends of the CWB/barley suit

federal NDP CWB critic Pat Martin

Bob Douglas, former CGC Ass’t Commissioner

Bill Woods, West Central Road and Rail

Laurent Pellerin, President, UPA on orderly marketing and the CWB: the Quebec perspective

Larry Hubich, President, Saskatchewan Federation of Labour

Manitoba government

National Farmers Union

Hudson Bay Route Association

Real Voice For Choice

Save My CWB Campaign

Liberal Party of Canada CWB critic Wayne Easter</blockquote>

Hmm, that's strange no one from the communist party of Canada was mentioned. Must have been an oversight. Somebody better get Ken Sigurdson on the horn and get that fixed. Burbert, maybe?

[chaffmeister]

There's no better place to hold a meeting like this - the Ram-it Inn.

[AdamSmith]

I think this guy might fit in well with this group.

Canada Needs a New Plan for Afghanistan
Arm the Wheat Board
by Neil Kitson
We live in difficult times. Afghanistan is sucking up NATO money (and lives) at an alarming rate, with no end in sight and no measurable progress. Member countries are apparently unable to agree on policy or implementation. The laughable Afghanistan Compact, which has no basis in law, set mid-2007 as the goal for an end to all illegal armed activity. Maybe that seemed reasonable from the bar of a London hotel.

Meanwhile, opium production is up. Here's an idea: send in the Canadian Wheat Board, armed.

"The history of the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) is grounded in the experience of farmers prior to World War I. Many farmers at the time felt captive to the railways, the line elevator companies, and the Winnipeg Grain Exchange for the delivery, weighing, grading, and pricing of their grain. They wanted greater power and protection for themselves in the grain marketing system. They developed a strong confidence in cooperative strategies and government intervention for addressing their needs…."

So Afghan farmers are in a similar position: they have a cash crop, but they're dependent on distributors and middlemen who make a fortune and might not pay a decent price. The whole thing needs to be taken out of the hands of these cartels, warlords, drug barons, and what have you, then nationalized and professionalized. That's where the Wheat Board comes in.

Various difficulties present themselves: the end-market user, protection for farmers, and competition.

End-market user
As I understand it, almost all the Afghan opium crop ends up on the streets of Europe as heroin, and the actual opium grower gets a pittance compared to the final market price. This can be remedied by having the Canadian Wheat Board buy the entire crop at a fair price, then license the refining into heroin to reputable pharmaceutical companies (as opposed, say, to some pharmaceutical division of Gazprom with links to Russian oligarchs).


The problem of course is the illegality of heroin consumption. Assuming no changes to current law, heroin could be held by the Wheat Board as a "strategic reserve," much like oil or indeed the various foodstuff "mountains" accumulated in the European Union as part of subsidized agriculture. Pharmaceutical-grade heroin is a perfectly useful drug, which could be used in medical practice worldwide.

Protection for farmers
It seems obvious that the current middlemen in the Afghan opium business would object to being cut out of their enormous profits. The Wheat Board is very experienced in this sort of difficulty. It will be necessary to protect Afghan farmers, and of course the Afghan family farm, from intimidation and threats. That's why the Board needs appropriate munitions. This solution will involve arming Afghan farmers, of course, but attack helicopters and AC-130 Spectre gunships may be needed to root out any remaining resistance. Tactical nuclear weapons may be impractical for protection of the crops, but rocket-propelled grenades will be useful if the opposition tries to use armor.

Competition
When this first phase comes to fruition, Afghans will have a steady source of income, fairly distributed, and can begin to support their own economy. The black market in opium will have to look elsewhere for raw materials (assuming heroin is not legalized in Europe), and the obvious source is the Golden Triangle, currently run by gangsters who wear uniforms and live in Singapore. Thus, Phase 2 of the NATO plan involves taking and holding territory in the Golden Triangle and establishing cooperatives within the secure perimeter. This will almost certainly require surface-to-air missiles and other conventional arms. None of this is beyond the capabilities of the Wheat Board.

Some might regard this proposal as frivolous. What could be more frivolous than the waste of over 70 Canadian lives and over 6 billion Canadian dollars without any forethought – or afterthought, for that matter?

[AdamSmith]

"This will almost certainly require surface-to-air missiles and other conventional arms. None of this is beyond the capabilities of the Wheat Board."

I just can't help imagining Ken Ritter as a Colonel Walter E. Kurtz(Marlon Brando's character) type from Apocalypse Now, you know the one who went insane.

We could call the CWB mission "Absurdity Now"

[cottonpicken]

I think you need to brush up on your movie interpretations.Kurtz was not the one who was insane.Americans were the insane ones trying to accomplish something that couldnt be accomplished.

Just like now,7 years in aphgannystanny and they all still hate us.Just like all the imperalistic powers that came before us-and lost.We preach demonocracy but if a vote was held today eraq and aganistan we would loose.Can you handle that truth?

But what the hell wars good for business and business is good.

Somebody remind me of the time period when the us wasnt at war?

[Fransisco]

Can someone remind me when cotton was sober?

[Incognito]

Why would you pick Regina to die on a hill?

Why not Winnipeg or Ottawa?

1) Will Measner show up in his new position?

2) Will Flaman look to solidify farm votes in his riding and show up?

3) Who is going to pay for Wendy's Holm's ticket to Regina?

so many questions...stay tuned for another edition of ...As The Stomach Turns!

but the one i really want answered... when is Cropduster going to make the last stand and displace the cross border shoppers?

[AdamSmith]

From http://www.filmsite.org/apoc.html

The "outstanding officer" Kurtz has become "unsound" and committed murder by waging his own ferocious, independent war against Vietnamese intelligence agents with his own native Montagnard army across the border in an ancient Cambodian temple deep in the jungle. The colonel has become a self-appointed, worshipped godlike leader/dictator of a renegade native tribe while conducting a reign of terror.

Uh, cotton, Uh, yeah that was the jist of the story, Kurtz went skitzoid and they(the US Army) sent another near skitzoid (Willard/Martin Sheen) in to kill him.

Next thing your going to tell me, is that Jeff Spicoli was really a misunderstood genius or worse yet that Danny Zuko and Sandy Olsson really didn't fall in love. Say it ain't so cotton!

[silverback]

I really don't remember the Afgan people voting for the Taliban to come back to rule them. That would include the women who voted cotten.

I also don't recall the politicians asking us to leave or any of the polling that has been done suggesting we cut and run away.

[cottonpicken]

I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

I should have started my statement with "it is my opinion about the film".

Argueing about art is pretty stupid and everybody is entitled to an opinion.This film is one of the best cinamatic art works EVER imo.If you have never heard of the behind the scenes stuff that went on,i suggest you read about(if you liked the film of course)very interesting stuff.Like the scene where sheen was freaking out in his hotel room-it wasnt faked,sheen was really blitzed out of his mind and they threw a camera on him.

Anyways there was more than meets the eye with this film.