fantapolitica
humorous look at Italian politics (bilingual)Friday, December 18, 2009
Brazil's climate change ambassador, Sergio Serra
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
For some reason it is very hard to find what fraction of Italians approve of Silvio Berslusconi by reading Italian newspapers. I wish someone would provide raw polling data. It's a dirty rotten job, but someone has to do it
SWG says 37 % on September 5 2009
Luigi Crespi says 59%
Crespi also claims that Italian public opinion is split on the rejection of the "lodo Alfani" by the constitutional court. Many other polls show overwhelming support for the court. Crespi is notoriously unreliable and has been Berlusconi's house pollster (I don't know if he still is).
this is hopeless. I have the dead tree version of La Repubblica in front of me. I am searching for the article on line using words copied from the paper version. Neither google.it nor www.repubblica.it are giving me that article.
OK so I'll search in English. It works better. I get 47% in September according to "a poll by IPR Marketing published in La Repubblica."
This is another link to the same poll (why is it so easy to find it searching in English and so hard to find it in La Repubblica even though was commissioned by La Repubblica. The poll ws conducted on Sept 11-13
The fact that I keep finding the same poll, suggests that there aren't a huge number of polls out there.
.
here is news about Italy from Africa
Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Oh Happy Day. Equality under the law wins one.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/world/europe/08italy.html?hp
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Denounce Me Too
1. Quando, signor presidente, ha avuto modo di conoscere Noemi Letizia? Quante volte ha avuto modo d' incontrarla e dove? Ha frequentato e frequenta altre minorenni? 2. Qual è la ragione che l' ha costretta a non dire la verità per due mesi fornendo quattro versioni diverse per la conoscenza di Noemi prima di fare due tardive ammissioni? 3. Non trova grave, per la democrazia italiana e per la sua leadership, che lei abbia ricompensato con candidature e promesse di responsabilità politiche le ragazze che la chiamano "papi"? 4. Lei si è intrattenuto con una prostituta la notte del 4 novembre 2008 e sono decine le "squillo" che, secondo le indagini della magistratura, sono state condotte nelle sue residenze. Sapeva che fossero prostitute? Se non lo sapeva, è in grado di assicurare che quegli incontri non l' abbiano reso vulnerabile, cioè ricattabile come le registrazioni di Patrizia D' Addario e le foto di Barbara Montereale dimostrano? 5. E' capitato che "voli di Stato", senza la sua presenza a bordo, abbiano condotto nelle sue residenze le ospiti delle sue festicciole? 6. Può dirsi certo che le sue frequentazioni non abbiamo compromesso gli affari di Stato? Può rassicurare il Paese e i nostri alleati che nessuna donna, sua ospite, abbia oggi in mano armi di ricatto che ridimensionano la sua autonomia politica, interna e internazionale? 7. Le sue condotte sono in contraddizione con le sue politiche: lei oggi potrebbe ancora partecipare al Family Day o firmare una legge che punisce il cliente di una prostituta? 8. Lei ritiene di potersi ancora candidare alla presidenza della Repubblica? E, se lo esclude, ritiene che una persona che l' opinione comune considera inadatto al Quirinale, possa adempiere alla funzione di p residente del consiglio? 9. Lei ha parlato di un "progetto eversivo" che la minaccia. Può garantire di non aver usato né di voler usare intelligence e polizie contro testimoni, magistrati, giornalisti? 10. Alla luce di quanto è emerso in questi due mesi, quali sono, signor presidente, le sue condizioni di salute? - GIUSEPPE D' AVANZO
ps also for violating La Repubblica's copyright.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Now *This* is a Washington Post Headline I Can Believe In
Topless Women, Headless Prime Minister
Mouthpiece Theater | Silvio Berlusconi's signiorinas, dreams of grandeur and a secret.
OK so technically it is a caption to one the rotating videos on the front page of www.washingtonpost.com (after Juarez and before Tehran).
I can only infer that this post objecting to the reflexive Ballance of Washington Post headlines struck a nerve.
Sunday, April 05, 2009
John Ward reports from Prague
"a large sign in the crowd reads: "Obama sorry 4 Berlusconi""
Thursday, April 02, 2009
Dear Italy
They're laughing at you not laughing with you
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/gallery/2009/04/world-leaders-at-the-g20-part-ii.php?img=1
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
Why Doesn't the Italian Parliament Do This ?
Undercover Investigation Reveals Labor Department Fails Workers: Listen to the Calls Here
By Elana Schor - March 25, 2009, 11:00AM
The House Education and Labor Committee is holding a hearing this morning on the Labor Department's Wage and Hour Division -- which has utterly failed in its mission to protect workers from discrimination and exploitation, according to an undercover inquiry by Congress' investigative arm.
The inquiry, conducted during the Bush administration by the Government Accountability Office (GAO), involved a series of calls placed to Wage and Hour officials by GAO analysts posing as aggrieved workers. When the undercover GAO folks tried to seek help from the Labor Department to resolve employer issues, they were met with stonewalling ... and in some cases, outright rejection.
You can listen in to six of the undercover calls in question
Now imagining that in Italay is a political fantasy.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Does His Holiness Benedetto XVI have a Permesso di Soggiorno ?
I assume not as he is legally resident in the Vatican not in Italy. Now the Vatican has an impressive art collection, a very large church and an unusually large pharmacy (the Vatican approves some pharmaceuticals before Italy does so people seeking miraculous cures go to the pharmacy not the basilica). However, as far as I know, it doesn't have it's own hospital.
So just in case Lucifer gets really mad at his holiness and manages to inflict a disease on him and his holiness has to go to a hospital quick and stay there for a while (longer than a typical tourist stays in Italy) he would become an undocumented alien in Italy.
Would the doctors have to report him ? Does this help us understand the One True Catholic and Apostolic Church's opposition to the appalling "security" bill ?
La Carica Del 101 !
I'm finally blogging about the best news I've read from Italy in years. 101 members of the majority in parliament wrote a letter to prime minister Sivlio Berlusconi asking him not to make the vote on a bill a vote of confidence (which means no amendments allowed). The issue was that the bill contains the proposizione 738 provision that Doctors have to inform on undocumented aliens who seek medical care.
But back to the parliamentary heroes and heroines. The leader of the back bench uprising against the new Legge Razziale and defender of the Constitution (the right to health and not mere health care is right there in the Italian constitution) is, of course, L'Onorevole Mussolini.
Readers of this blog, if any, will have noticed that I haven't posted recently. I'm totally outclassed. I don't have enough fantasia to match the fantapolitica in the newspapers.
Now I don't know why Berlusconi is so eager to deprive undocumented aliens of health care. The original prop 738 didn't work out so well for Republicans in California. It was blocked as unconstitutional (even though the consitution of California does *not* guarantee health or even sunny weather) non-immigrant Republican has won any top statewide office in California since it passed.
The anti health effort also got him in trouble with the Catholic Church, but he managed to get over that by outdoing Jeb Bush on the case of Eluana Englaro an Italian case vaguely like the Teresa Schiavo case, except that there was no disagreement in her family and a court order to disconnect her feeding tube. He tried an emergency decree to keep it in and was informed by the President of the Republic that emergency decrees are issued by the President of the Republic not the Prime Minister (you know like how Elisabeth is head of state of the UK). This is, of course, clearly written in the constitution and, therefore, ignored by Berlusconi (who has also claimed that Parliament didn't have the authority to vote no confidence in him the one and only time they did). Berlusconi then denounced the Italian Constitution.
So he clearly stands for mandatory health care for people in persistent vegitative states so long as they are citizens or have permessi di soggiorno. Given its firm moral principles, the one true catholic and apostolic church hasn't complained since Berlusconi made it clear that he agrees with them on the key issue.
I was going to start fantareligione but I don't think I'm up to that either.
Monday, March 09, 2009
My Morning at the Questura
I was summoned today the questura (police station) to have my finger prints taken so I can get a new "permesso di soggiorno" (Italian green card). Lo Stato Italiano is getting modern and efficient so I was summoned via an SMS.
Now this is all very embarrassing, because I need a new permesso because I lost the old one. I applied for a new one less than 2 years ago.
I tried to do the fingerprints earlier and was told to come back on the date I was summoned.
Now the really funny part. Thursday I was convinced it was the 9th of March and I went there. They said they don't do fingerprints on Thursday. I assume none of my readers have had the experience of being sure on the 5th that the date is the 9th.
So anyway today I go on the right day. I wait a long time. I notice many nice things about the questura. First there is the same office for Permessi di Soggiorno and Italian passports so actual Italian citizens have to wait in line along with us foreigners. Second they are very non racist with a photo of a police woman hugging to black children and a photo of Toto (famous Italian comedian who starred in hundreds of films) being arrested by a black police officer.
So I'm about to get my fingerprints taken with a new cool computerized machine (like the one they use for foreigners entering the USA even tourists). They ask me to wait for a young women who is actually picking up her actual permesso.
But her prints don't match. She says "That's my mother's permesso." Oooops. Now the automatic response we Italian public sector workers have for such situations is something along the line of "I can't do anything for you. You will have to come back later." The optimal response is to stand there and look sad. Needless to say the woman's permesso was filed alphabetically next to her mothers. She left the office with a shiny new permesso di soggiorno. The new ones are smart cards not pieces of paper with a photograph stapled on (I wish I were kidding).
So my big moment. The person helping me typed my name correctly (ending with double n. Robert Waldman has had the right to live in Italy). Then her face falls. She says "you're married to an Italian." Well yes I am. Following instructions on the wall I noted that fact to a colleague of hers about an hour earlier.
Oh no, I have to go to another office.
Now my cell phone definitely specifically told me to go to that office.
Now I run into an Italian public sector computer system. With Italian civil servants everything is against some rule. However, if you stand there and look sad, they bend the rules.
This approach does not work with computers.
So I thanked the police person and left the questura.
I discovered oddly, that I was ecstatically happy. I mean it was a nice sunny day and this time, it wasn't my fault. Everyone had been very kind and polite.
So why was I so happy ? Well I have long given up on finding an actual human being as incompetent as I am, but, at least, I have found an organization as incompetent as I am.
Friday, February 20, 2009
Grazie Gianfra
Fini: "Immigrato non vuol dire criminale"
[snip]
Il presidente della Camera: "Mantenere la lucidita' per respingere l'odiosa associazione mentale tra criminalità e immigrazione".
Look I'm glad that the egregio president of the chamber of deputies confidently asserts that I might not be a criminal, but I think that some other native born Italians ought to be wondering how an ex-post-neo-fascist came to say such a thing Notice I didn't write "came to feel the need to say such a thing" and, in fact, I believe it was more "came to see an opportunity to see such a thing" (an oppontunity is a chance not l'opportunità). Looking at it that way, I'd still say some political schierimento had better get over stabbing each other in the back and stand up for their principals.
