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5-6 October 2013 | 92 comments (92 topical, editorial, 0 hidden)
Re: Klatsch (4.00 / 4)
Silvio Berlusconi believed the world revolved around him - not any more | World news | theguardian.com

One of the most telling anecdotes from Silvio Berlusconi's long career is to be found in a book published in 1994 by a journalist and a sociologist, just as the former Italian leader was entering politics.

The writers' aim was to observe him "in his natural habitat", and they tracked him to a training session for sales reps of the advertising subsidiary of his TV empire.

Every morning, Berlusconi told them, he stood in front of a mirror and repeated: "I like myself. I like myself."

..."Berlusconi believes that the world revolves around him - the ultimate narcissistic fantasy," his American biographer, Alexander Stille, observed. "But he has bent reality to fit his fantasy, so that much of life in Italy does indeed revolve around him."

As he stood in front of his mirror on Thursday morning, however, even Berlusconi must have realised this was suddenly no longer true: for the first time in almost 20 years, he is no longer the undisputed master of his party, and for the first time since 2001, he neither leads the government of Italy nor has any credible prospect of destroying it if it fails to do his bidding.



*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Oct 5th, 2013 at 05:54:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Klatsch (4.00 / 4)
New Mayor of Messina Takes on Corruption and the Mafia in Sicily - SPIEGEL ONLINE
The new mayor of Messina is a man of the people. The tireless nonpartisan is known to go barefoot through the city. And in the land of Berlusconi, he is fighting against corruption, organized crime and widespread disenchantment with politics.


*Lunatic*, n.
One whose delusions are out of fashion.
by DoDo on Sat Oct 5th, 2013 at 05:54:11 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Klatsch (4.00 / 6)
Let's have his name- Renato Accorinti.  
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Sat Oct 5th, 2013 at 01:10:07 PM EST
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Re: Klatsch (4.00 / 3)
wow, what's next? the pope opens the vatican state and coffers to build a shipping line from libya to lampedusa, with 'welcome centres' up and down the italian coast, and free beds and food in saint peter's square?

italy is changing, thank god.

by refusing the perks and salaries of parliamentarians, the grillini remind me of the francescans preaching against church finery 800 years ago.

some of the 'casta' receive E90,000 a month pensions, while some little old nonnas are receiving E3-400.

these deaths at sea are causing a crisis of conscience in italy. the bossi-fini law made it a criminal offence to help an alien, so fishermen and other boat people have been prosecuted for offering food, shelter or rescue.

of course alfano wiggled when asked about this, saying 'it is shameful to talk about politics on a day of mourning'.

?!?!?!

laura boldrini was quite orwellian yesterday as she explained the law of the sea made it ok to stop them dying, in fact it was a crime not to, but then when they got to shore aiding them was abetting a crime as just because they didn't have contracts to work in italy that made them de facto criminals for coming here.

such a christian way of doing things... the mind boggles at the idea of the coast guard asking these refugees in open seas and leaky boats if their papers are in order.

otherwise, ciao!

'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty

by melo (melometa4(at)gmail.com) on Sun Oct 6th, 2013 at 04:58:07 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Klatsch (4.00 / 2)
This all comes back to employment. Immigration was welcomed - and actively recruited - during the post war expansion when labor was scarce. But when it is economic policy to suppress wages by maintaining a reserve army of labor, demonizing immigrants is easy. Think about it - by far the majority of the derogatory term I have ever heard about immigrants is in some way related to jobs.

The more I look at it, the more it looks like the response to the oil crisis was disastrously mishandled, and we have been paying for it in social ills and reduced productivity - and thus, economic - growth ever since.

.. Okay, new political slogans.

  1. The Natural Rate of Unemployment is Zero.
  2. Wage Growth is Economic Growth.

Investments in increasing labor output are much
by Thomas on Sun Oct 6th, 2013 at 10:10:09 AM EST
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5-6 October 2013 | 92 comments (92 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
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