Free Republic

BRASILIA, Brazil - Impeachment proceedings began Wednesday against a federal legislator — a former top Cabinet official — in connection with a bribery scandal that has rocked President Luiz Inacio da Silva's Workers' Party, which prided itself on its ethical behavior. Rep. Jose Dirceu, who stepped down as Silva's chief of staff and returned to his seat in Congress in June, stands accused of overseeing an alleged scheme where the government paid lawmakers for their support on key votes. Dirceu again proclaimed his innocence Wednesday, saying "I'm going to defend myself, because I committed no crime." Dirceu has a week...

While the Lula government cautiously maintains a relative stability, particularly in economic matters, they are conniving with and even favoring movements and initiatives that threaten that very stability. A case in point is the complacent attitude toward the invasions of farms and the reckless disrespect for the law by the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) and the Pastoral Commission on Land (CPT). Prof. Denis Lerrer Rosenfield of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul notes that many government agencies are in cahoots with a movement trying to destroy democratic institutions. He concludes: "In fact, the present government destroys with...