Despair Inc.

From the clever folk over at despair.com comes a poster for the ages.

CIFA Organic Food Regulation Saves Big Agro

Score one for Big Agriculture in Canada today.

New rules compelling organic food producers to comply with Canada-wide certification standards went into effect.

The new regulations, mandated by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, cover any organic food product — including fruit, vegetables, dairy products, meat and processed food. Only products that have at least 95 per cent organic content are allowed to be advertised as organic, organically grown, organically raised, organically produced, or any other similar labels or abbreviations.

All the people who eat 'organic' and are cheering this decision are stupidly sinking their own boats. The end result will be exactly the same as when the CIFA bureaucrats bowed to the Wheat Board and banned the use of the word 'carb' on food products. All consumers got was higher food prices, and fewer food choices. Hey, talk to a diabetic and ask them how those regulations affected their ability to buy healthy low-sugar alternatives.

It will now only be a matter of weeks before there are fewer and fewer organic food choices on the shelves.

This is standard operating procedure for big business; it always boils down to that one word in the very first line of the story... 'compelling'. Large (usually subsidized) businesses lobby until they are able to point the government gun at their smaller competitors, forcing them to absorb new costs until the price of jumping through bureaucratic hoops drives them out of business.

These new regulations mean nothing to big farm conglomerates who will simply hire a few more lawyers and admins to comply with the regulations, or to waffle through loopholes that allow business as normal. And what a big, gaping loophole: "Synthetic pesticides, wood preservatives or other pesticides, except as specified in CAN/CGSB-32.31." You can just about hear the lawyers for Loblaws smacking their lips.

The only guaranteed result of this legislation is the sure death of hundreds of little private farmers who pride themselves in producing healthy, natural food.

Either that or they'll go back to producing non-organic crops, a touch of enviro-irony that will surely be lost on most.

The end result? More expensive food for those duped into the organic fad, and absolutely no guarantees of purity or quality.

Personally, I could care less. The whole organic food business is largely a trendy cash cow which is becoming a cultural parody right before our eyes.

But for all those people who care and who think this will actually benefit the environment, or get more people eating organic ... it's so sad it's funny.

Bureaucratic Speedbumps

Every once in a while you run across an example of what government is, does and accomplishes that encapsulates things perfectly.

In Washington DC, the number of speed bumps on public roads has increased from 157 to 691 in just two years, and there are no plans to slow down the process.

Think about this perfect little snapshot, and what it says about relatively benign governments and what they actually accomplish.

Slowing down the speed of business, increasing wear and tear on private property, making it slower and more difficult to get around seems to be exactly what government does best.

All for the safety of 'the children'. Of course.

The Lives Of Canadians

The Canadian government has tabled a proposed new law allowing police and 'intelligence officers' to intercept the online communication of ordinary Canadians.

[Kommisar] Van Loan said the bill won't provide new interception powers to police, but simply update the legal framework designed "in the era of the rotary telephone."

He noted that police can already get the authority to intercept communications, but the network is often incapable of allowing such interception.

... Van Loan added that internet service providers are currently not required to provide subscriber information to police and the Canadian Security Intelligence Agency (CSIS), and may be unwilling to provide such data without a police warrant, slowing down the investigation of crimes such as child sexual exploitation or online theft.

Having recently watched the excellent film The Lives Of Others which was about an ordinary couple living in East Germany during the height of the socialist experiment, I can't help but draw some connections.

The Stasi would certainly have approved.

The entire East German system was based on making it easy for 'intelligence officers' to monitor the correspondence, communication and interactions of citizens. Rewards and penalties were offered to encourage neighbors to report criminal activity to the State - and criminal activity was anything the State decided it to be.

In Canada there seems to be a very rote, predictable formula when a politician wants to pass a law making it easier to regulate the lives of ordinary people. It's a simple three step sales plan.

1) Point out the 'need' by drawing pictures illustrating that old laws are out dated. In this case, it's a condescending chuckle and a quip about current laws from the era of the 'rotary telephone'.

2) Draw on the worst, most disgusting crime you can think of and claim that this law will stop it. Appeals to 'the children' and 'sexual predators' are always a surefire tactic. Even better if you can find some tearful soccer mom to stand with you at the podium when you give your speech.

3) Make sure that the only opponents to your proposal appear to be big, faceless (already suspect) corporations.

4) Oh, and it always helps if your government funds the media that reports on your speech.

As if anyone, in the age of numerous ways to block Internet surfing from government eyes, actually believes your law will stop any criminal from doing anything, Mr. Van Loan. Check out the Tor Project.

Why don't politicians just tell the truth? Achieving, building, maintaining and protecting the intoxicating experience of POWER over people is the only reason bureaucrats and politicians ever pass new legislation.