Stories and News

Stories and News No. 280 Italian Movie Director Mario Monicelli died. The first thing I did this morning is going to read what I wrote in July about his last speech on Italy TV. If you have time, check it out and then read what the newspapers say today. Above all, reviewing the video caused me great sadness and a bit of anger. So, wanting to retrace his life, I once again read his biography on Wikipedia. I searched the web for answers about his gesture, but then I read the words of his grandson, Niccolò Monicelli: "It is not a tragic end; he is a man who lived. It seems to me that he has left so many messages: remember him with his films . " I immediately liked the idea. I took his entire filmography and I thought the best thing I could do was to remember him with this… The Story: Once upon a time there was a Maestro named Mario. Mario was born in 1915 in Viareggio, Italy. So, Mario was Italian. Forgive the redundancy, but in these days I feel huge pleasure knowing that ...

Stories and News No. 279 " Berlusconi is incompetent, vain and ineffective as a modern European leader, a leader physically and politically weak leader, his often long nights at parties mean he does not rest enough." Not to mention the political weakness of Medvedev compared to Putin, the servile relationship between our Prime Minister and the latter, the mafia in Russia, the U.S. aversion against Sarkozy and Ahmadinejad… Sorry… but where the sensational revelations by Wikileaks are? I hope - from a purely intellectual point of view - that in the coming days something more original will come out. On the other hand, it is interesting to observe the reactions by Berlusconi’s politicians to the recent publications by Wikileaks. I read the considerations by Minister Frattini and La Russa, Capezzone, Gianni Letta and I also learned that Berlusconi laughs. So, exploring the web, I got yet another scoop! It seems that Silvio’s loyalists want to punish Julian A...

Stories and News No. 278 It is getting exciting. In short, Italy Education Ministry Mariastella Gelmini - blaming Democratic Party leader Pierluigi Bersani for joining the protesters students going over the roofs, had questioned his academic results. The latter responded by posting on his Facebook Wall a copy of his university book , with a lot 30s (the maximum grade), challenging the Minister to do likewise. Excuse me, but I can not take this matter seriously. Not so much as instead the current situation of education in my country deserves. On the other hand, Bersani lost from the start. I mean, are you kidding? Gelmini is a Minister! A Government Berlusconi Minister! I do not think it is possible for a woman to become Berlusconi Minister without exceeding any examination with the highest grades. For this reason, I am proud to publish, exclusively on my Blog, Gelmini’s university book… The Story: PS: And you still have not seen Minister Carfagna’s one… The News: Bersani answers...

Stories and News No. 277 In Italy the assault by students continues. Yesterday they reached the Senate and is now the turn of the Chamber of Deputies, although I read that a young man in Florence is left battered by the fighting. The cause of the scandal, as often happens, is the reform that bears the name of the Minister of Education, University and Research Mariastella Gelmini. From what I read online, the bill provides, among other things, funding cuts and fixed-term contracts for researchers, renewable once, from that some of the reasons for the revolt. I do not want to discuss the decree. I must say that for age reasons this is not the first student demonstrations against his ministry Reference I see. I remember most the Movement of Panthera, in 1989. In 1990 I attended my first year at La Sapienza University, in Rome. I had already done some… disruptions of the natural order of the school, but seeing the campus in the hands of students, day and night, was a unique experience for...

Stories and News No. 276 Yesterday we got the umpteenth time that Silvio Berlusconi appeared on TV as a voice phone call. People close to him tell me that on top of his cellular book Italian Premier has two numbers. One is of Ballarò TV political talk show. The second is the police headquarters in Milan, in the case they had to find a granddaughter in a bad way. In detail, last night Silvio live gave to the host Giovanni Floris , his guests and viewers gems like these: " You are arrogant and totally mystifying; the promises made on the waste have been absolutely maintained ." Now, since I am set with the previous facts, I went to listen to other calls of Berlusconi to this tv program. The 18 November 2008 attack to Antonio Di Pietro . The 27 November 2009 , inveighing against the 'communist' judges. And the first of June , this year, to flout La Repubblica journalist Massimo Giannini. So I was seized with a sudden inspiration. As the Blues Brothers, I have seen th...

Stories and News No. 275 As I wrote earlier, one of the main factors linked to Vieni via con me (Come away with me) talk show created and conducted by Fabio Fazio and Gomorra author’s Roberto Saviano, is the TV share. In fact, if you look online , almost all major Italy newspapers dwell on the winning record. In addition, some media focus on the peaks from one of the guests: Italy Interior Minister Roberto Maroni . While advertising agencies and the various sponsors are rubbing their hands, before getting to the point of the post, I want to say that last episode is the one I liked most. I especially appreciated the first speech by Saviano, on the abuse made in Italy by the North to the South with the toxic waste. The monologue by Corrado Guzzanti made me laugh a lot. That is a shame that a so good satirical comedian is not much more on TV. But perhaps it is not just a shame, is not it? Because even a worthy product as Vieni via con me, just like the south of Italy, yesterday was l...

Stories and News No. 274 Maxim is the most searched, associated to the Italy Minister for Equal Opportunities Mara Carfagna , word in Google. Maxim is an international magazine, famous for pictures of actresses, singers, and female models, that showed some sexy photos of Minister Carfagna. That is why leaving only the title of this post I would have said much. Too much, I think. Too much, I repeat, for a Minister of a Republic that is worthy of the name. Am I wrong? Am I a moralist? Tell me which country in the world, more or less civilized than Italy, have a Minister more famous for her body than the reasons which she is paid by the people for. Since I do not want to limit myself to that much or too much, I am going to say the rest. " The measure was full, I will not give up. I come back only if I Silvio listen to me ," Minister Carfagna said commenting on the recent crisis that has opened between her and Berlusconi’s party. I read that the casus belli was an alleged c...

Stories and News No. 273 In Italy, we have just celebrated the No Gelmini Day , school protest vs Berlusconi’s Minister of Education, Mariastella Gelmini . At least 200 thousand students and 100 demonstrations manifested across Italy. They took to the streets for the right to study, asking for more money to the school and contextual blocking of the last government cuts. "We must have the courage to change. It is essential to continue the reforms; we must point to a quality school, more related to employment and more international," the Minister said , setting out the demands as old slogans . What about the teachers? According to the purely business / sales strategy of Gelmini’s boss, she proposed them an undoubtedly attractive offer: a monthly premium salary to the most deserving ones . That is a clearly smart action, a mere example of divide and rule, a clear intervention between teachers and students. In other words, if I buy the former, I weaken the most rebellious among ...

Stories and News No. 272 I learned of the arrest of what Italian media have called 'the leader of the Casalesi Clan ', Antonio Iovine . Reading on wikipedia, I discover that he is one of the bosses of the Casalesi Clan, fugitive since 14 years. In addition, in 2008 he received a life sentence at the end of the appeal process at the Spartacus trial. Of course, one thing is to say of having arrested one of the bosses and quite another screaming out loud that you have captured the leader of the Casalesi . The thing that amazed me is the coincidence of this hard thrust to the head of the Camorra, with the recent clash between Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and writer Roberto Saviano . You know, Italy is the land of coincidences . Without making reckless allegations, hearing the words of the Minister - We are the mafia of the facts - it is clear that this success carries two messages : First, if we are the mafia of the facts, the others are those of words (or chat...

Stories and News No. 271 2010 was a bloody year for Haiti. In January there was the earthquake that killed more than 200 thousand people and at least one and a half million are homeless. In late October, about 100 to Port-au-Prince an epidemic of cholera began to spread in the country. The dead are now over a thousand. And if all this were not enough, in early November Thomas hurricane strikes Haiti, provoking also a flood. To make things even more dramatic, there are news of clashes between peacekeepers and residents. Apparently, most of them are convinced that cholera was imported by the soldiers of the United Nations, in this case from Nepal. What evidences there would be against them? First, the latrines of UN peacekeepers camp are near a river, whose waters would then spread the disease. Second, one UN peacekeeper has the cholera. The United Nations rejected the accusations. Apart from that, the clashes have provoked the death of two people, including a twenty years o...