So a crazy-man hit Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in the face with a statuettes of Milan's cathedral.
The statuette is now a best seller.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
December 15, 2009
October 13, 2009
Explaining Berlusconi
Anne Applebaum takes a crack.
What is it with this guy?
Silvio Berlusconi has been accused of bribery, tax evasion, corruption, and subversion of the press. His wife has left him on the grounds that he consorts with prostitutes and holds orgies at his villa in Sardinia. He makes embarrassing jokes (and then repeats them, as he did with the one about President Barack Obama's "suntan") and periodically disappears to undergo more plastic surgery. He is at war with the Italian legal establishment, with almost all the journalists who don't work for him, and with the Catholic Church.
What is it with this guy?
Silvio Berlusconi has been accused of bribery, tax evasion, corruption, and subversion of the press. His wife has left him on the grounds that he consorts with prostitutes and holds orgies at his villa in Sardinia. He makes embarrassing jokes (and then repeats them, as he did with the one about President Barack Obama's "suntan") and periodically disappears to undergo more plastic surgery. He is at war with the Italian legal establishment, with almost all the journalists who don't work for him, and with the Catholic Church.
September 29, 2009
Dude, Still not Funny
Prime Minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi is still making jokes about the Obamas being tanned. It is as if your crazy, vaguely racist Uncle ran a country.
June 5, 2009
Italian Picnic
I'm off to do my duty for Societa Di Unione E Beneficenza Italiana, which means helping run the bocce courts. Everybody have a good weekend.
July 9, 2006
July 6, 2006
World Cup Update
First of all check out this pitch perfect montage clip from the Beeb. Via Andrew Sullivan. It perfectly sums up the trials of England this year. All set to a killer track from the Pet Shop Boys. Did you know they were still around?
Which brings us to the finals. Italy verse France. Interestingly enough, both teams wear blue uniforms (or "kits" for our English readers) The French team is know as Les Bleus (The Blues) The Italians are know as the Azzurri. Which means... The Blues.
I'm going with the Italians. First, their shade of blue is better. A darker, Navy Blue. Also, Italy is the official homeland of Craigorian Chant. I'm just going to have to forgive them the whole drama queen thing. Plus, Italy was the one great game that the US played the whole tournament, if they win it all its a big help in the moral victory department.
Which brings us to the finals. Italy verse France. Interestingly enough, both teams wear blue uniforms (or "kits" for our English readers) The French team is know as Les Bleus (The Blues) The Italians are know as the Azzurri. Which means... The Blues.
I'm going with the Italians. First, their shade of blue is better. A darker, Navy Blue. Also, Italy is the official homeland of Craigorian Chant. I'm just going to have to forgive them the whole drama queen thing. Plus, Italy was the one great game that the US played the whole tournament, if they win it all its a big help in the moral victory department.
June 21, 2006
June 14, 2006
April 15, 2006
Missed Voting opportunity
I often harp on voting here at Craigorian Chant, but it turns out I missed out on a chance to vote, myself. It turns out that I could have voted in the Italian national election that was just held. The ruling right-wing party devised a plan to allow Italians living abroad to vote. But rather than just allowing ex-pats, or Italian citizens living abroad, the rules allowed for anyone of Italian descent to vote in the Italian election:
The "Italians abroad" voting scheme was designed by Mirko Tremaglia, the 80-year-old Minister of Italians in the World. An unapologetic defender of the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, Mr. Tremaglia is said to have modelled the scheme after a Fascist scheme that defined Italians as a race.
Under Mr. Tremaglia's new electoral law, eligible voters are defined as anyone with a continuous line of male descendants going back to a man born in Italy. The voter needs only to register with an Italian consulate, and does not have to speak Italian, have visited Italy or even have parents who were born in Italy.
I have to go check the family archives, but I'm pretty sure that we have records of Baraccos going back to the Mother County. If you think about it, these rules mean that anybody with an Italian last name could vote. After all a "continuous line of male descendants going back to a man born in Italy" is pretty much proven by an Italian last name, right?
The final punchline - Berlusconi, who's party came up with this idea, lost due to the votes of Italians living abroad:
He was especially critical of the voting of "Italians abroad," who elected 12 seats in Italy's lower house and six seats in the senate. Four of those six seats went to Mr. Prodi's coalition, and a fifth, independent South American victor announced that he would also back Mr. Prodi.
That means that the "Italians abroad" determined the government, since Mr. Prodi's coalition won control of the Senate by only two seats, a margin of 158 seats to 156. Mr. Berlusconi's anger and scrutiny is now focused tightly on these votes, especially in the riding that represents North and Central America, in which Canadian votes proved decisive.
Story link came from Americablog.
The "Italians abroad" voting scheme was designed by Mirko Tremaglia, the 80-year-old Minister of Italians in the World. An unapologetic defender of the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini, Mr. Tremaglia is said to have modelled the scheme after a Fascist scheme that defined Italians as a race.
Under Mr. Tremaglia's new electoral law, eligible voters are defined as anyone with a continuous line of male descendants going back to a man born in Italy. The voter needs only to register with an Italian consulate, and does not have to speak Italian, have visited Italy or even have parents who were born in Italy.
I have to go check the family archives, but I'm pretty sure that we have records of Baraccos going back to the Mother County. If you think about it, these rules mean that anybody with an Italian last name could vote. After all a "continuous line of male descendants going back to a man born in Italy" is pretty much proven by an Italian last name, right?
The final punchline - Berlusconi, who's party came up with this idea, lost due to the votes of Italians living abroad:
He was especially critical of the voting of "Italians abroad," who elected 12 seats in Italy's lower house and six seats in the senate. Four of those six seats went to Mr. Prodi's coalition, and a fifth, independent South American victor announced that he would also back Mr. Prodi.
That means that the "Italians abroad" determined the government, since Mr. Prodi's coalition won control of the Senate by only two seats, a margin of 158 seats to 156. Mr. Berlusconi's anger and scrutiny is now focused tightly on these votes, especially in the riding that represents North and Central America, in which Canadian votes proved decisive.
Story link came from Americablog.
April 11, 2006
Around the World
Italy, official Country of origin of Craigorian Chant, just finished a nail-biter of an election. Looks like Center-Right Billionare Freak-show Berlusconi seems to have lost, barely, to boring Center-Left economist Prodi:
Final returns showed Prodi winning the lower Chamber of Deputies by one-tenth of a percentage point — 49.8 percent to 49.7 percent. Under Italian electoral law, 55 percent of seats are awarded to the overall winner regardless of the scale of victory, giving Prodi's forces at least 340 seats in the 630-member lower house.
All eyes were on the Senate, however, which Prodi also needed to win to form a government.
According to official returns, Berlusconi's conservative allies held a one-seat advantage in the Senate, with 155 seats to Prodi's 154. Six seats chosen by Italians living abroad were being counted Tuesday and would decide the election.
Look at that margine again. That's a difference of 0.1% and turnout was 84% in Italy. Berlusconi vowed to give up sex for the length of the campaign. My guess is he should have given up something else. Like the crazy:
The colorful leader made headlines throughout the election with his remarks, comparing himself to Jesus and Napoleon and branding those who would not vote for him "morons."
In Nepal, the revolution continues:
KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepalese police battled protesters shouting "Down with King Gyanendra!" as officials clamped a curfew on the capital for a fourth day to foil demonstrations which have left three dead.
Demonstrators fought security forces with stones, pickaxe handles and bamboo poles while police fired tear gas rounds and rubber bullets and pushed back at least 2,000 protesters with batons, injuring dozens.
Down with King Gyanendra, indeed.
Final returns showed Prodi winning the lower Chamber of Deputies by one-tenth of a percentage point — 49.8 percent to 49.7 percent. Under Italian electoral law, 55 percent of seats are awarded to the overall winner regardless of the scale of victory, giving Prodi's forces at least 340 seats in the 630-member lower house.
All eyes were on the Senate, however, which Prodi also needed to win to form a government.
According to official returns, Berlusconi's conservative allies held a one-seat advantage in the Senate, with 155 seats to Prodi's 154. Six seats chosen by Italians living abroad were being counted Tuesday and would decide the election.
Look at that margine again. That's a difference of 0.1% and turnout was 84% in Italy. Berlusconi vowed to give up sex for the length of the campaign. My guess is he should have given up something else. Like the crazy:
The colorful leader made headlines throughout the election with his remarks, comparing himself to Jesus and Napoleon and branding those who would not vote for him "morons."
In Nepal, the revolution continues:
KATHMANDU (AFP) - Nepalese police battled protesters shouting "Down with King Gyanendra!" as officials clamped a curfew on the capital for a fourth day to foil demonstrations which have left three dead.
Demonstrators fought security forces with stones, pickaxe handles and bamboo poles while police fired tear gas rounds and rubber bullets and pushed back at least 2,000 protesters with batons, injuring dozens.
Down with King Gyanendra, indeed.
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