Thursday, January 31, 2008

Italians and the Argentinian Experience

See the Preface to the "Italian Experience in Brazil"

Italian Experience in Argentina

Argentina. South America's second-largest country at just over one million square miles - about the size of Mexico and Texas combined - it depended heavily for development on Europeans, who account for at least 85 percent of its population.

Since its unification as a country and before, Argentine rulers intended the country to welcome productive immigration, albeit selectively. Article 25 of the 1853 Constitution reads: "The Federal Government will encourage European immigration, ..."and it will not restrict, limit or burden with any taxes the entrance into Argentine territory of foreigners who come with the goal of working the land, improving the industries and teach the sciences and the arts.

The liberal rulers of the late 19th century saw immigration as the possibility of bringing people from supposedly more civilized, enlightened countries into a sparsely populated land, thus diminishing the influence of aboriginal elements and turning Argentina into a modern society with a dynamic economy. However, immigrants did not only bring their knowledge and skills.

The majority of immigrants, since the 19th century, came from Europe, mostly from Italy (1,5 million) and Spain (1,4 million)with a substantial influx of British and Germans. . Between 1860 and 1930, newcomers from Italy and Spain accounted for 80% of the total immigration.

Colonized by the Spanish, Argentina declared its independence in 1816 and by the end of the century was one of the richest countries in the world. British money paid for the construction of national ports and railroads, and immigrants from Italy and Spain provided the labor. Livestock and mining brought wealth. The lavish Colon Theatre in Buenos Aires, one of the world's great opera houses, opened in 1908 with Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi's Aida.

After an 1880s wave of newcomers to the United States led to anti-immigrant feelings there, many Italians moved instead to Argentina between 1900 and 1930, and Buenos Aires took on a decidedly Italian flavor. In 1905, 40 percent of the city's population was of Italian origin. Today, Italian-language television is almost as prevalent as Spanish TV in some regions.

"Immigration totally changed us and formed a new culture. These European roots made us very different than the rest of Latin America," said Mario Santillio, director of the Center for Latin American Migration Studies in Buenos Aires.

Santillio said three million immigrants entered Argentina between 1882 and 1927 by official estimates, but ship records and other data suggest the number was closer to five million. An estimated one million - a third of all documented immigrants - came from Italy. The 1991 census found that more than six million people - about a fifth of the population - were of Italian descent. Now many of these Argentines are forced to make the same tough choice their ancestors once did.

While a significant number of immigrants settled in the countryside in the interior of the country, especially the littoral provinces, creating agricultural colonies.the Italians and Spaniards, although having specific localities (viz. La Boca in Buenos Aires) are more uniformly present all around the country and form the general background of Argentine population today.

Argentine popular culture, specially in the R?o de la Plata basin, was heavily marked by Italian and Spanish immigration.

Post-independence national politics tried to steer Argentina consistently away from identification with monarchical Spain, perceived as backward and ultraconservative, towards progressive models like France or the United States.

Italian influence is more visible. Lunfardo, the jargon enshrined in tango lyrics, is ladden with Italianisms, often also found in the mainstream colloquial dialect (Rioplatense Spanish). Common dishes in the central area of the country have Italian names and origins.

Italians and the Brazilian Experience

Many Italians fled Italy after the failure of revolutionary movements in 1848 and 1861, and the Sicilian revolt in 1866, but mass migration started only after the Italian unification.The poor economy in Italy, particularly in the southern regions which had been taken over by disease, starvation and several epidemics of cholera and malaria adding the fact that water, in the main towns of southern Italy, was a luxury, roads and streets were impossible to cross on bad weather conditions. This caused as many as 2 million Italians dying each year.Migrants left behind a stagnant economy, a poorly cared land and high taxes.
While migration from north Italians was mainly to Europe, southern Italians migration was mainly transoceanic.. The transoceanic was to North America (The USA and Canada) South America (Brazil and Argentina) and Australia
In Brazil, there are 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent (13.1%), which is the largest population of Italian background outside of Italy itself.
Their experience in some ways is similar to the Italian American experience, and in some ways as different as the Italian American experience in different regions in the US.

Migration
According to the Italian government there are 25 million Brazilians of Italian descent (13.1%), which is the largest population of Italian background outside of Italy itself.

Italy, as a nation state, only appeared in 1861, before that Italy was politically divided, it was only a geographic region, the Italian peninsula, home to several kingdoms. Many Italians fled Italy after the failure of revolutionary movements in 1848 and 1861 but mass migration started only after the Italian unification."

Before 1914, the typical Italian migrant was a man without a clear national identity but with strong attachments to his town or village of birth, to which half of all migrants returned." For these immigrants the feeling of a national Italian identity and of being one united ethnic group was created later on, when they were already in Brazil.The reason for northern and southern Italians to immigrate was the poverty and lack of jobs and income.Thus most of the Italian immigrants were very poor peasants, mainly farmers.During the 1860s, transatlantic migration was mainly made by northern Italians but after the turn of the century they were mainly from Centre-South and South of Italy.

The poor economy in Italy, particularly in the southern regions which had been taken over by disease, starvation and several epidemics of cholera and malaria adding the fact that water, in the main towns of southern Italy, was a luxury, roads and streets were impossible to cross on bad weather conditions. This caused as many as 2 million Italians dying each year.Migrants left behind a stagnant economy, a poorly cared land and high taxes. The Sicilian revolt in 1866 against the Italian government also caused a wave of emigration. While migration from north Italians was mainly to Europe, southern Italians migration was mainly transoceanic. Brazil being one of the destination countries. Brazil's -Great Naturalization- naturalized all the immigrants residing in Brazil prior to Nov. 15, 1889 into Brazilian citizens "unless they declared a desire to keep their original nationality within six months". At that time a great number of Italians was thus naturalized Brazilian. In Italy, the Prinetti decree, in 1902, forbidding subsidized immigration diminished the wave of Italian immigration to Brazil.

[Table of Migration from Italy by Region (1876-1920) at Wikipedia ]

Italian settlement in southern Brazil

Italian immigration to Brazil was quite significant, especially from 1880 to 1930. The main areas of settlement were in Southern and Southeastern Brazil, namely the states of S?o Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Paran?, Esp?rito Santo, and Minas Gerais.

Italians had been settling in Brazil as single individuals or small groups since the country was discovered in the 16th century. However, the first large groups of Italian pioneers arrived in Brazil in 1875.

The Brazilian government, headed by Emperor Pedro II instituted an open-door immigration policy towards Europeans, especially after 1850, when the traffic of African slaves was abolished in Brazil, thus creating potential labor shortages.

In the early 19th century, the Brazilian government created the first colonies of immigrants (col?nias de imigrantes). These colonies were established in rural areas of the country, being settled by European families, mainly Germans. Following the same project, colonies with Italian immigrants were also created in southern Brazil. The first colonies to be populated by Italians were created in the highlands of Rio Grande do Sul (Serra Ga?cha). These were Garibaldi and Bento Gon?alves. These immigrants were predominantly from Veneto, in northern Italy.

After five years, in 1880, the great numbers of Italian immigrants arriving caused the Brazilian government to create another Italian colony, Caxias do Sul. After initially settling in the government-promoted colonies, many of the Italian immigrants spread themselves into other areas of Rio Grande do Sul seeking further opportunities. They created many other Italian colonies on their own, mainly in highlands, because the lowlands were already populated by Germans and native ga?chos.

The Italian established many vineyards in the region. Nowadays, the wine produced in these areas of Italian colonization in southern Brazil is much appreciated within the country, though little is available for export. In 1875, the first Italian colonies were established in Santa Catarina, which lies immediately to the north of Rio Grande do Sul. The colonies gave rise to towns such as Crici?ma, and later also spread further north, to Paran?.

In the colonies of southern Brazil, Italian immigrants at first confined themselves within their own ethnic group, where they could speak their native Italian dialects and keep their culture and traditions. With time, however, they would become thoroughly integrated economically and culturally into the larger society. In any case, Italian immigration to southern Brazil was very important to the economic development, as well to the culture and ethnic formation of the region.

Italians in coffee plantations of Southeast Brazil

The poverty and political turmoil occurring in Northern Italy in the last quarter of the 19th century brought many immigrants to Brazil (as well as to other countries, such as Argentina and United States). A part of them settled in the colonies in Southern Brazil, however, the majority of them settled in Southeast Brazil (mainly in the state of S?o Paulo). After 1888, when the slavery was finally abolished by a decree of the Imperial government, the number of farm workers fell drastically in Brazil, due to the fact that most black (former) slaves, with no lands of their own and no money to buy them, moved to big slums in the cities. Moreover, the coffee plantations were spreading enormously in the region. Coffee became the main export product of Brazil and there were few workers for planting and harvesting it. Furthermore, contrariwise to sugarcane and cotton plantations, coffee required better trained and educated rural workers, and Europeans decidedly would be up to the job, since most of the Italian immigrants were peasant/farmers in their own country. Therefore, the Brazilian government started to attract more Italian immigrants to the coffee plantations. In the beginning, the government was responsible for bringing the immigrants (in most cases, paying for their transportation by ship), but later the own farmers were responsible to make contracts with immigrants or specialized companies in recruiting Italian workers. Many posters were spread in Italy, with pictures of Brazil, selling the idea that everybody could become rich there by working with coffee, which was called by the Italian immigrants as the green gold. Most coffee plantations were in S?o Paulo and Minas Gerais, and in a smaller proportion also in Esp?rito Santo and Rio de Janeiro.

Italians used to immigrate to Brazil in families. The colono, as rural immigrants were called, had to sign a contract with the farmer and was obliged to work in the coffee plantation during a minimum period of time. However, the situation was not easy. The Italian immigrants were substituting for the African slaves, so many Brazilian farmers used to treat the immigrants in much the same manner as they had their slaves, imposing indentured labor. The boom of Italian immigration in Brazil happened in the late 19th century, between 1880 and 1900, when more than 1 million Italians immigrated. Most of them were Northern Italians from the regions of Veneto, Lombardy, Tuscany and Emilia-Romagna. On the other hand, during the 20th century, Central and Southern Italians predominated in Brazil, coming from the regions of Campania, Abruzzo, Molise, Basilicata and Sicily.

While, in Southern Brazil, the Italian immigrants were living in relatively well-developed colonies, in Southeast Brazil the situation of semi-slavery in the coffee plantations were hard. Many rebellions against Brazilian farmers occurred, which caused great commotion in Italy and forced the Italian government to establish difficulties and barriers to further immigration. In consequence, the number of Italian immigrants in Brazil fell drastically in the beginning of the 20th century.

Despite the problems, most Italians in Brazil, after some years working in the coffee plantations, earned enough money to buy their own lands and become farmers themselves. Some of them became big owners and very rich in the process and attracted more Italian immigrants to their possessions. Others left the rural areas of Brazil and moved to Brazilian urban centers, mainly S?o Paulo, Campinas, S?o Carlos, Ribeir?o Preto etc. In the early 20th century, S?o Paulo was known as the city of the Italians, because 30% of its inhabitants were Italians (even today, is one of the largest "Italian" cities in the world, second only to Rome...). In Campinas, street signs in Italian were frequent, a large commercial and services sector owned by Italians developed, and more than 60% of the population had Italian surnames. In 1907, Belo Horizonte had nearly 60% of its population composed of Italians and first-generation descendants. Italians and their descendants were also quick to organize themselves and establish mutual aid societies (such as the Circolo Italiano ), their own hospitals, schools (such as the Instituto Dante Alighieri, in S?o Paulo), syndicates, newspapers (such as La Fanciulla ), magazines, radio stations, and even soccer teams (such as Palestra It?lia, later renamed Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras in S?o Paulo, and Cruzeiro in Belo Horizonte after World War II.)

Italian immigrants were very important to the development of many big cities of Brazil, such as S?o Paulo, Porto Alegre, Curitiba and Belo Horizonte. Bad conditions in rural areas of Brazil made thousands of Italians move to these big cities. Most of them became laborers and participated actively in the industrialization of Brazil in the early 20th century. Others became investors, bankers and industrialists, such as Andrea Matarazzo, whose family became the richest industrialists in S?o Paulo, with a holding of more than 200 industries and businesses.

Italians were divided in two groups in Brazil: those living in Southern Brazil were closed in rural colonies, in contact only with other Italians, where they were able to create a New Italy. In the other hand, Italians living in Southeast Brazil, the most populated region of country, were quickly integrated into Brazilian society.

Italian Brazilians in other parts of Brazil

Although the majority of Brazilians of Italian descent live in the South and Southeast part of the country, in recent decades (1960s-present), people from southern Brazil, many of Italian descent, have played a vital role in settling and developing the vast cerrado grasslands of central and northern Brazil. These areas, once economically neglected and almost uninhabited, are fast becoming one the world's most important agricultural regions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Brazilian

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County AZ Does Not Run a Ritz Carlton Jail

"Sheriff Joe", "The Toughest Sheriff in the US" is Tough, (and Innovative), But not Abusive!!!!!

Joe Arpaio, after his stints with the local police forces of Washington DC and Las Vegas, Arpaio became a Special Agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration, working with DEA for 32 years. During that time, he was stationed in both Turkey and Mexico, and advanced to the position of head of the DEA's Arizona branch, where he served for four years before retiring.

Arpaio successfully campaigned for the office of Maricopa County Sheriff in 1992. Since then, he has successfully won re-election in 1996, 2000, and 2004, the last time with 83% of the vote ! Thus, now serving 4 terms totaling 16 years.

Maricopa County is located in the central part of Arizona. As of July 2006 its population was 3,768,123, which ranks fourth among the nation's counties and is greater than the population of 23 states. The county seat is Phoenix, which is Arizona's largest city and capital.

I not only discount everything he is criticized for, but applaud his Creativity and Common Sense. He does not treat jail as an alternate to a Spa. The prisoners work either in growing their own food, or clearing trash from highways, creating fire breaks. They get no Coffee, no Smoking, no Porn, no Weightlifting, wear pink underwear, often sleep in tents, on cots, (without pillows!!! OMG), receive only A&E, Animal Planet, Disney Channel, Weather Channel, CNN, and the local government access channel on Cable TV, and only G rated movies.

But Arpaio's critics always overlook the very innovative programs he has instituted:

Hard Knocks High the only approved high school program in any American jail. A program for inmates to study while in jail and to try to recover from drug abuse.

ALPHA, is aimed solely at getting inmates away from drug abuse.

Mandatory two-week English classes for non-English-speaking inmates at his jails. Classes last 2 hours a day. The curriculum comprises the three branches of government, how a bill becomes law, state government, law enforcement and court services, and jailhouse "situational" terminology.

An in-house Radio Station, KJOE, which broadcasts classical music, opera, Frank Sinatra hits, obscenity-free patriotic music, and educational programming, from the basement of the county jail. The station airs four hours each day, five days a week. In March of 2007, the Maricopa County Jail hosted "Inmate Idol", a takeoff on the popular TV show.

A greatly expanded "Posse" program through heavy recruiting. The volunteers perform many duties for the sheriff's office such as search and rescue, emergency communications, prisoner transport, traffic control, backup for sworn deputies, office administrative duties, motorist assistance, and security for shoppers,

"Deadbeat Parent" details target those with outstanding arrest warrants for failure to pay child support, and has also included on the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office website an online deck of cards featuring pictures of deadbeat parents, amounts owed and last known whereabouts.

MASH- (Maricopa Animal Safe Hospice), a no-kill animal shelter dedicated to caring for rescued animals that have been abused or neglected, and is now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. AND reduced the Cost from $18 Million to $3 Million a year.

..........among many others programs.

He is one of the few Republicans I might vote for, with the caveat, don't let the liberals run your penal system, and don't let the right wingers run your social programs. :)


Sent to me by One of My Readers , and appears to be a compilation of various news stories, but has been validated by Snopes.

SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN!

Oh, there's MUCH more to know about Sheriff Joe!

Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 m illion dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.

The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutriti on and be havior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows.

The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million.

Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him. Cost us $78.

The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.

I have long wondered when the rest of the country would t! ake a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can wo rk, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand. He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.

Yup, h e was reelected last year with 83% of the vote.

Now he's in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a "Git-R Dun" kind of Sheriff.

TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO, HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER. THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY: Sheriff Joe Arpaio (In Arizona) who created the "Tent City Jail": He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates fo r them.

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights; Cut off all but "G" movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.

Then He Started Chain Gangs For Women So He Wouldn't Get Sued For Discrimination.

He took away cable TV Until he found out there was A Federal Court Order that Required Cable TV For Jails So He Hooked Up The Cable TV Again, But Only Let In The Disney Channel And The Weather Channel. When asked why the weather channel, He Replied, "So They Will Know How Hot It's Gonna Be While They Are Working ON My Chain Gangs." !

H! e Cut Off Coffee Since It Has Zero Nutritional Value.

When the inmates complained, h e told them, "This Isn't The Ritz/Carlton....If You Don't Like It, Don't Come Back."

He bought Newt Gingrich's lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails.

When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a De mocrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

More On The Arizona Sheriff: With Temperatures Being Even Hotter Than Usual In Phoenix (116 Degrees Just Set A New Record), the Associated Press Reports: About 2,000 Inmates Living In A Barbed-Wire-Surrounded Tent Encampment At The Maricopa County Jail Have Been Given Permission To Strip Down To Their Government-Issued Pink Boxer Shorts

On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 Degrees Inside The Week Before. Many Were Also Swathed In Wet, Pink Towels As Sweat Collected On Their Chests And Dripped Down To Their PINK SOCKS.

"It Feels Like We Are In A Furnace," Said James Zanzot, An Inmate Who Has Lived In The TENTS for 1 year. "It's Inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his priso ners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic.

He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 Degrees In Iraq And Our Soldiers Are Living In Tents Too, And They Have To Wear Full Battle Gear, But They Didn't Commit Any Crimes, So Shut Your Damned Mouths!"

Way To Go, Sheriff!

Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders.

Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves. !

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Italian Swim Team Tragedy of Bremen 1966

42 years ago this week , in 1966 , the entire Italian Swim Team was lost in a plane crash upon landing in Bremen, Germany to compete in the 'Bremen Internationale' which was second in importance only to the Olympics. (Seven swimmers plus the coach)
This disaster was the worst in Italian sports history since a plane crash at Turin killed the entire Torino soccer team back in 1948.
The only Italian swimmer to survive was Daniela Beneck, then Italy's top woman swimmer and later a leading light in the federation and media, was to have gone to the meet in Bremen, but was excused so she could attend her sister's wedding

The Tragedy Of Bremen 1966

Swim News. com Craig Lord Jan 28, 2008

There are many tragic events from sporting history but few are more moving than the moment when an entire Italian swimming team was lost in a plane crash this week back in 1966.

Today, courtesy of the recollections of Georges Kiehl, French international of the Sixties and spokesman for the European Swimming League, we remember those who lost their lives and the pay homage to a man who paid his respects in a special way.

First, in the words of Georges Kiehl:

BREMEN 1966 - Back in the Swinging Sixties, swimmers had far fewer opportunities to compete at the very highest international level as is the case today: the Olympic Games every four years, with European Championships in between, and also every four years in those days. There were also dual meets and tournaments organised by federations but there was almost no meet at which Europeans, Americans, Australians and Japanese could compete against each other besides the Olympic Games.

You can imagine, then, the high regard in which the 'Bremen Internationale' in Germany was held: held annually from 1957 to 1980 during the short-course winter season, the meet was famous for offering the chance for the world to gather once a year. The meet director was Karl-Walter Fricke, a man who managed to get almost all Olympic champions to Bremen, among exceptions the great Don Schollander, an American who in 1964 became the first swimmer to win four gold medals at one Games. Fricke extended the invitations, organised the meet and actually ran the meet. He sat at a small square table on the pool deck next to lane 1, at the corner of the pool. And he was also the announcer and live commentator who entertained and informed the public, lending pace to the popular event.

In 1966, European swimmers were training hard for the upcoming European Championships to be held in Utrecht (42 years on, and Eindhoven will host the championships for a second time, in March) and valued any opportunity to get race practice on the road to the big moment. When I received an invitation, I was delighted to attend - so much so, that I minded little that the journey involved a train, a night train, and another day train. Those were the days when travel retained a little romanticism. As I spoke German, my coach allowed me to make the trip on my own.

The dates of the meet are etched on my memory: Saturday 29th and Sunday 30th January, 1966. As usual, all swimmers trained in the small, 25m pool (6 lanes) on the Friday afternoon. We noticed that the Italian contingent was absent. News filtered in: the rumour was that their plane had crashed at Bremen airport. We waited in hope that it wasn't so but the tragic news was eventually confirmed. We were all dumbstruck.

What would Fricke do? Cancel the meet? Not at all. Neither were the heats re-seeded. Instead, he believed that the best way for us all to pay our respects was to let the show go on and acknowledge the painful absence of the Italians. For the next two days, the lanes that would have been graced by many in line for European and Olympic selection were left empty as we raced alongside aquatic ghosts in a spirit of the friendships we had known. As a mark of respect and in order to honour those who had lost their lives, a bouquet of flowers was placed on the starting block at the end of each empty lane. It is an image I will never forget.

I knew Dino Rora (we swam at club level against Fiat Torino) and others. The year before (1965) we had swum in July at San Remo (Italy v France v Sweden) and later in September in Rome at the Six Nations Tournament. In a kind gesture of remembrance, the Italian Swimming Federation today hosts the annual Coppa Brema in memory of those who died that day in 1966.

In Bremen, I was lucky enough to win my two breaststroke races, and whenever I have been asked over the years to list my favourite moments and best-recalled victories, I have always included the Bremen 1966 event. It was known as the 'Short-Course Olympics' back then. For me, the empty lanes and the flowers have been an abiding and unforgettable memory.

Karl-Walter Fricke, who passed away in February 2006 at the age of 93, deserves warm thanks from the world swimming community for his role in events. He should be regarded as the true father of the Swimming World Cup, having given rise to the idea of hosting international events of global significance in between the biggest of occasions. The Bremen meet and several others eventually joined forces to form the world cup, and Italy was among the first to host Swimming World Cup events: Venice (1989), Desenzano (1990 and 1994), Milan (1991 to 1993), St Vincent (1995) and Imperia (1996 to 2002). Much water under the bridge since Bremen, but the memory of 1966 lingers strong in mind and heart.

SwimNews thanks Georges for his memories, and recalls those who lost their lives - Italian readers can find Geroges' story and more information from Walter Bolognani at nuoto.it.

On the evening of January 28, at Bremen airport, seven athletes and an accompanying coach died when their plane crashed on landing at Bremen aiport. They had flown from Milan. They were among bright prospects for the Italian Olympic team in 1968. The Italian coach, Bubi Dennerlein, was replaced at the last moment by Paolo Costoli, of A.S. Rome Club.

The disaster was the worst in Italian sports history since a plane crash at Turin killed the entire Torino soccer team back in 1948.

Daniela Beneck, then Italy's top woman swimmer and later a leading light in the federation and media, was to have gone to the meet in Bremen, but was excused so she could at- tend her sister's wedding.

Those who lost their lives were:

Luciana Massenzi, 20, national backstroke champion.

Carmen Longo, 19, national breaststroke champion.

Amedeo Chimisso, 19, who died in the year of his international debut.

Paolo Costoli, coach and national champion on freestyle (200m to 1,500m) in 1929, 1930, 1931, 1932, 1934, 1935, 1937 and 1938. In 1931, he took bronze over 1,500m at the European Championships behind Oliver Hallassy (HUN), and in 1934 at the same event claimed two silvers, over 400 and 1,500m behind Jean Taris (FRA). Costoli was a pioneer as far as Italian swimming success was concerned.

Bruno Bianchi, who had turned 23 just two days before the tragedy, was national sprint freestyle champion (100 and 200m). In the month of his 17th birthday, he competed at the 1960 home Rome Olympic Games and raced again at the Tokyo Games in 1964. In 1965, he led the Italian team to a first victory at the Six Nations, ahead, for the first time, of France, Sweden and Great Britain.

Chiaffredo 'Dino' Rora, 21, was a freestyle and backstroke national champion and held the European 100m backstroke record in 1963. He was a medal hope for the Utrecht European Championships before his untimely death.

Daniela Samuele, 17, was national junior butterfly champion.

Sergio de Gregorio, 20, national champion over 200, 400 and 1,500m freestyle. He was racing 200m times in 1965 worthy of making the 1968 Olympic final, and was the first Italian under 18mins over 1,500m.

That year's meet in Bremen saw Ada Kok (NED), 1968 Olympic champion warm up with wins of 1:05.9 and 2:25.4 over 100 and 200m butterfly, while Kiehl, we can reveal took the 100m breaststroke in 1:09.7 and the 200m in 2:32.1.

Jewish Parents Go Ballistic That Daughter is Dating Italian Guy

It is sad that in this day and age, that Parents should be "Close Minded"
Keep in mind that her daughter is "supposedly" ONLY Dating,
Not announcing Marriage, Engagement, or even going Steady. It's just Dating !!!!!!
It appears that the Parents seem UNCONTROLLABLY UPSET because her Dating a Non Jew, BUT that he is ITALIAN.
This hits me rather personally, because I lived with a LOVELY Jewish lady, with two small boys (she not very religious) for FOUR years, and everything was "picture perfect", when we decided to get married, and asked her parents for approval. They said ABSOLUTELY NOT, and they would "Sit Shiva", ( Would consider their Daughter as Dead), if we proceeded. They felt I wasn't Jewish ENOUGH!!! (Or that I had Italian Heritage.?)
It broke my heart, and I Never married, and she ended up in a Loveless Marriage.

Jewish Girl Prank Calls Her Parents
A Jewish girl away from home at college, prank calls her parents, and tells them she started dating an Italian guy.
The father threatens to kill the guy and the mothers comments are priceless

Italian Red Brigades: Terrorists, Freedom Fighters, or Puppets?

One person's Freedom Fighter is another man's Terrorist.
Just like the Jewish Stern Gang in British occupied mandatory Palestine were terrorists for the occupiers, but for the Zionists were “Freedom Fighters For the Freedom of Israel. As a matter of fact, six of the 12 Israeli Prime Ministers were members of Terrorist/Freedom Fighters organizations..Yigal Allon was a commander of the terrorist Palmach. Yitzhak Rabin was Chief Operations Officer of terrorist Palmach. Shimon Peres was a member of terrorist Haganah, Menachem Begin was leader of the terrorist Irgun. Ariel Sharon was a member of terrorist Haganah. (The other six PMs were David Ben Gurion, Moshe Sharett, Levi Eshkol, Golda Meir, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, Ehud Olmert)
In the 1970s and 80s European secret services infiltrated and crushed the Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse) in Italy, the Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion) in Germany, and Direct Action (Action Directe) in France. In the process and in application of the strategy of tension they exploited the same terrorist organizations, keeping them alive in name in order to blame them, in the name of freedom, for the limitations placed on personal liberties. [Today the name Al Qaida, the real existence of which is dubious, is used precisely in the same manner. Al Qaida is omnipresent, forever available to be blamed for institutional terrorism in order to justify all the patriot acts and no-fly lists and house searches and arbitrary arrests and detentions and tortures and concentration camps.]

BRIGATE ROSSE

Italy's Red Brigades [Brigate Rosse-BR] formed Europe's biggest, best-organized and most powerful "terrorist" organization. An elitist organization emerging from the 1968 protest movement, its rank and file came from the universities and factories. It comprised the most idealistic, the best part of the nation's youth? la miglior giovent?, according to the title of a recent film depicting that generation sparked by resistance. The BR at one time claimed the admiration and moral support of millions of Italians.

Its organizational structure is of interest because the organizers of Al Qaida (Pakistani and US intelligence services) seem to have borrowed from it since US Special Forces just can't seem to locate that bearded man in a cave or his cohort riding his mule over remote Afghan mountain paths.

At the BR base was a brigade of up to five persons, who provided arms and logistics; the brigades formed poles, which in turn formed a city column. The columns made up fronts that directed national political operations, controlled by an eight-man strategic directorate. The supreme level was a 4-5 man executive committee that conducted international relations and made major decisions culminating in the abduction and eventual murder of ex-Prime Minister Aldo Moro

.
The co-founder of the Red Brigades, Alberto Franceschini, told me that the Brigadists never considered themselves terrorists. They "resisted" US power in Italy and the one-party system governing the nation. Franceschini pointed out that the chance of armed rebellion inevitably increases to the degree that political power is insufficient and incapable of mediation. The first, the real Red Brigades, were the resistance born on the Left. It aimed at splitting the big Italian Communist Party vertically, recruiting its left wing, and then overturning the authoritarian state. It aimed at revolution. Yet, when police finally decided to crack down, 5000 terrorists flowed into Italy?s jails, while 500 escaped abroad, the majority to France.


What does that very Italian story mean? It means that Power wanted and needed the BR.

It means also that Power knew that the Resistance understood it.

No wonder that as time passed former leftwing terrorists came to call themselves "West European guerilla" to combat imperialist efforts to weld European countries into the homogeneous structure it has assumed today, integrated in the instrument of imperialist power, NATO. On a practical level, the Europe's terrorists-guerilla lost.

I offer this brief look at the Red Brigades in order to show another example of tension strategy. Franceschini told me that police could have crushed them quickly; however, their existence was convenient to the corrupt, anti-Communist, anti-Soviet regime of Christian Democracy, and to its ally, the United States of America. Red terrorists everywhere were the excuse for reactionary anti-Communism during the Cold War in Europe, Asia, Africa and even more brutally in Latin America, in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. Fantomatic red subversives, and, in the name of the defense of democracy, for a mass of anti-democratic emergency laws, high security prisons and questionable justice as has happened in the USA today. Terrorism was the excuse. Italy, in close collaboration with the CIA, became in fact a bulwark against the Soviet Union, and its government managed to keep a firm hand on the Italian Communist Party, Europe's biggest CP. "Red" terrorism was the weapon with which authoritarian power held at bay the Communist Party, which by the 1980s had become in practice a social democratic force.

The real Red Brigades died in the late 1970s. After their Executive Committee and/or Strategic Directorate were infiltrated by Italian and American secret services, the Red Brigades became a riddle. After reporting for many years on European terrorism and after many meetings with terrorist leaders, my guess is that it became an empty name in the service of governments and secret services.

EPILOGUE: In this mid January, the Rome Daily, La Repubblica, got its hands on heretofore top secret documents of the British Foreign Office revealing that in 1976, the election year in which the Italian Communist Party (PCI) garnered 34% of the vote, NATO weighed a ?coup d??tat? in Rome to keep the Communists out of the government. One released document states verbally: ?An authoritarian regime in Italy would be more acceptable than a government including Communists.?


According to the documentation the plan was eventually discarded for fear that the powerful workers movement in Italy would bring about a Civil War and/or fear of Soviet intervention. The coup didn't happen, though US-backed Fascists made several weak attempts. The "Italian question" continued to be the subject of NATO, of frantic communications and secret high-level meetings. Because the NATO role was crucial in the Cold War, the mere thought of the Trojan Horse of Italian Communists in a member government made Washington shiver in horror.

Though the coup was ruled out, US subversive intervention in its vassal state of Italy were intensified. Terrorism was always a chief avenue for US control of Italy. After the real Brigadists were arrested the CIA infiltrated and turned some leaders of the second wave of Red Brigades. Fascist terrorists meanwhile bombed trains and assassinated NATO leaders; often the Left was blamed. The US meanwhile supported the organization of the secret Gladio army that would have been Italy's military arm after the coup. Fascist militants described to me their military training camps in Sardinia and in the Abruzzi Mountains near Rome. New prisons were pinpointed while lists were drawn up of dangerous subversives to be arrested.

For NATO planners the recruitment of some BR leaders was the culmination of the refinement of the instruments of tension strategy. It was that late version of the Red Brigades, which in 1978 abducted and assassinated the Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro whose strategic plan of so-called "historic compromise" foresaw Italian Communists in the national government. The Red Brigades took the full blame.

Today, G-8 leaders label anti-globals and peace protesters "terrorists" and "enemies of democracy" and call for emergency measures against them. They arrest anti-globals right in front of the White House. Anti-globals on the other hand consider themselves non-violent freedom fighters for a better world. As a rule, police and/or police-guided, infiltrated or stimulated "terrorists" such as the Black Bloc are the aggressors against the anti-global peace movements.


No sane person believes that terrorism can be eradicated with military might. It is now a truism that every bomb that falls in the poor world spawns another terrorist, many of whom, unlike the Assassins of a millennium earlier, are eager to strap explosives around their bodies and blow themselves to pieces on a crowded plaza of the rich world against the naked power that impoverishes them. If one accepts with Schiller that the oppressed will reach to the heavens to grasp their rights and resist their oppressors, then the dire warnings from Washington of more and more terrorism ring grim.

While America-Empire allegedly searches for efficacious measures to combat terrorism, more sincere American leaders are advised to examine aspects of European experience as a guide to both what not to do, and to what can be effective. They should not be deluded: No security measures, no no-fly laws, Patriot Act measures, secret concentration camps and torture can eradicate what Power defines as terrorism and the oppressed define as resistance until America unites with the rest of the world.

For those, who want to understand whats REALLY going with the Terrorist/Freedom Fighter, Tension Strategy, Creating a FAKE Climate of Fear to Encourage Citizens to give up many of their Constitutional Freedoms, to better carry out Imperialism for the benefit of the Corporate Oligarchy, the following is a MUST READ!!!!

Terrorists: Assassins Or Freedom Fighters?

CounterCurrents.org - India By Gaither Stewart January,27 2008

“When the oppressed man can find justice in no other way, then he calmly reaches up into the sky and pulls down his eternal rights that hang there, inalienable and, like the stars, imperishable. When no other means remains, then he must needs take up the sword.”

(Friedrich Schiller, William Tell)


[Throughout History in]... Middle Eastern nights. Secret societies conspired against religious oppressors. Justice! Revenge! Stop your evil ways or in the quiet of the night the Hashshashin [Assassins, refferred to themselves as Fedayeen, or “freedom fighters”] will exact justice....

The term Fedayeen has been used by Arab militant groups throughout history: volunteers dedicated to causes in which the government fails to act.

For our purposes here, the Assassins of then were associated with resistance against foreign occupation or tyranny. And as a rule resistance is not a joyful affair. The Fedayeen made of murder a meticulous system for killing targeted individuals in public, without however, as historians note, the loss of innocent life … and they never considered suicide.

I just read an article by T.E. Lawrence about British occupation of today’s Iraq and the resistance it caused, published in the London Sunday Times of August 2, 1920. The letter could have been written today. History repeating itself. The eternal return. Lawrence of Arabia accused the British government whose 92,000 soldiers in Iraq couldn’t control three million Arabs in “revolt” against the invader. He spoke of the British “assassination” of tens of thousands of Arabs sacrificed in the name of colonialism and the popular insurrection it had caused. Terrorism was never mentioned: only colonialist oppression and the popular insurrection of the Arabs.

A thousand years ago and one hundred years ago and again today, there has always been confusion between terrorism and resistance. As it was for mainstream Islam, it is a point of view for today’s US administration that sees terrorists under every rock, that blames every failure on largely unidentified terrorists, and justifies each of its own nefarious crimes on generic terrorism.

...What Power so unceremoniously, so handily labels terrorism, has become fixed and omnipresent in our day-to-day lives. But since it is no joking matter either, we have to treat it seriously, severely … also somewhat terroristically.

As Schiller wrote in his 1804 play, William Tell, (written in the aftermath of the French Revolution to justify tyrannicide), that which for Power anywhere and at any time is terrorism, for the oppressed will always be resistance, revolt and rebellion. RESISTANCE! Neocon America instead simplifies a complex matter. It applies the label “terrorism” to any and every form of resistance to American imperialism abroad and today, at home, Power attaches the label to dissidents and anti-globalists and anti-war protesters and no-sayers under convenient provisions of the Patriot’s Act and other such illegal and anti-Constitutional legislation. Unfortunately, history is not an American forte.

In certain times and certain places genuine terrorism is so complex as to be an almost taboo subject. Paradoxically official USA stutters and stammers at finding a proper name for American rightwing militias, Christian fundamentalist subversives, abortion clinic bombers or Ku Klux Klan lynchers. For such groups, “terrorists” would work quite well. Yet, the streams and rivulets and byways of terrorism are so shady and labyrinthine, and government propaganda so intense, that the observer searching for truth tends to lose his way among definitions and distinctions and political correctness.

Such built-in complications are then intensified by the difficulty of recognizing “institutional terrorism”, i.e. terrorist acts organized by the state in order to justify harsh restrictive measures and laws, authoritarianism and in the most extreme cases, war. September 11 is the clearest example of institutional terrorism, though that historic date is far from the only one. We remember sinking of the US warship Maine in the Havana harbor that justified the Spanish-American War. What about Pearl Harbor to ignite World War II? And the Bay of Tonkin for Vietnam?

About Legitimate Resistance, the Strategy of Tension and Agents Provocateurs

The strategy of tension is an old story; yet, after all this time, agents provocateurs continue to be strange words to the untuned American ear. Italian “terrorism” of the 1970s and 80s, coming on the heels of the youth, student and worker uprisings in revolutionary 1968, illustrate the meanings quite well.

Terrorism is first of all defined as a method of political struggle based on the systematic use of violence—assassination, sabotage, kidnapping, and today human suicidal bombers—practiced by political extremists or by secret organizations of a nationalistic nature.

The second aspect of the definition is less recognized: terrorism—according to my encyclopedia—is also the instrument used by a political regime to grasp and to retain power.

A terrorist is thus a member of an organization that uses terrorism and who executes terrorist acts.
Or, he is a member of a regime whose existence is based on terror. Nazi Germany was a terrorist regime. Ditto Stalinist Russia. Resistance to them was sacred. Now we have the entire Neocon structure and strategy that has attacked aggressively the entire world in the name of US imperialism. By definition, it is a terrorist regime.

By extension, terrorist crimes are both those committed in revolt against a state to damage the collective and not specific individuals and they are violent acts against an oppressive regime.
Again by extension, terrorist crimes are likewise the criminal acts of an oppressive regime against the oppressed. This is the key: institutional terrorism is the catalyst for “insurgency” and “resistance” throughout the world today. The short geographical list is easy to pinpoint: Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Palestine.

Thus terrorism is the story of relationships between power/authority and its subjects, and between oppressors and oppressed. We are used to the words, power and authority, often used synonymously, as if they were equivalent. But that’s not the case at all. Power and authority are not the same thing, and the distinction between the two concepts is significant.
Power [pouvoir, potere, Macht] implies the faculty to act, and in our minds is related to force, coercion and violence, in the sense of “authoritarian.” That is why I like to capitalize the word Power used in that sense. When one hears the word “terrorism”, the responsibility of Power must always be in front of your eyes; otherwise you will miss the point.

Authority instead implies legitimacy, in the sense of “legitimate authority,” or the legitimate faculty to act or perform. The distinction is between legitimate authority on one hand and crude naked power on the other. Authority can be good or evil; naked Power will never be good. As we all know, authority too, like democracy itself, is a shaky business because the criteria for who establishes and who legitimizes authority, varies from time to time and place to place. Authority and democracy stand on the edge of an abyss, perpetually menaced by power, easily transformed into authoritarianism.

In the same way, opposition to legitimate authority and opposition to naked power/authoritarianism differ: democratic opposition to legitimate authority should suffice in a democratic setting. But when the democratic process is inhibited, more violent means become necessary. In an article “Is There A Good Terrorist” in the New York Review of Books, Timothy Garton Ash cites Schiller’s for Power pertinent lines from Wilhelm Tell:


“When the oppressed man can find justice in no other way, then he calmly reaches up into the sky and pulls down his eternal rights that hang there, inalienable and, like the stars, imperishable. When no other means remains, then he must needs take up the sword.”

The reality is that you can feel horror at indiscriminate killing and bombs and kamikaze attacks and still hold to and even encourage the use of “legitimate terrorism”, that is, resistance and armed rebellion, against naked illegitimate Power. As Hezbollah learned easily in south Lebanon, armed resistance pays: it permitted the clearing of their land of Israeli occupiers. Resistance always pays!

Some years ago, at the end of a daylong interview with me in Paris—where he was a political refugee—the former Italian terrorist theoretician, Lanfranco Pace, defined himself as “living testimony to the limits of western democracy that is a precious possession that must be constantly enriched. Democracy,” he said, “is a mobile frontier. At times there is less of it, and one must fight for it.”

The result is that golden rule: what for the oppressed is resistance, resistance to naked power—as we see today at all latitudes peoples of the world oppressed by the tentacles of the global octopus-like market economy, by poverty and hopelessness—for the oppressor smacks of conspiracy and terrorism. Like Iraqis in 1920 and today, nationalistic Hungarians in 1956 considered themselves freedom fighters; for their Soviet oppressors they were terrorists in a conspiracy against the New Order. Like the Jewish Stern Gang in British occupied mandatory Palestine were terrorists for the occupiers, but for the Zionists were “Freedom Fighters For the Freedom of Israel.” Lack of true information still makes evaluation of the nature of Afghan resistance impossible but instinct suggests that also Taliban insurgents against the foreign invader consider themselves freedom fighters, Fedayeen, just as they were called when they were armed by the USA to fight against the Soviet invader.

Since oppression today is global, no one should be scandalized that resistance to that power is also global. It is no surprise that three-quarters of the world is up in arms against US power—either naked military power or disguised by the misnomer, globalization. A good rule is to substitute the word globalization with imperialism. It usually works.

The argument that problems of ethnic, religious, economic and political opposition have emerged precisely from the liberalization of political freedoms in third- and fourth-world countries brought by golden globalization rings hollow and hypocritical in the face of the testimony to the growing poverty of 4/5ths of that world. Wider political freedoms might create more spaces for rebellion and unleash wider resistance and violence, but evidently the near universal rebellion today is the effect of pervasive poverty and hopelessness, not of newly acquired freedoms.
Moreover, for the hungry the risks of rebellion and terrorism will always be thousands of times better than sitting in apathy and waiting.

The origins of modern terrorism are problematic. They have been since the French Revolution. As justified as the French were to rise up against oppressive aristocratic rule and ugly poverty, Robespierre was one of the first in the modern era to up continually the ante of revolutionary goals precisely in order to increase the obstacles to their achievement and to create the necessary tensions in order to justify crushing the enemies of his power.
Robespierre’s terror was transformed into naked power at work against peoples’ natural tendency toward reaction. Throughout modern times his trick of tension strategy has been used over and over by authoritarian power—used to crush opposition.

Tension strategy is always and always a tactic of oppressors. It refers to first permitting, stimulating, organizing, or even committing terrorist acts, in order to turn around and crush all opposition to the regime.

The use of agents provocateurs is an old story with which Americans should familiarize themselves. Old as Adam! Go out into the world and sow discord! Make the people rise up, then crush them. On an international level we are familiar with the Gulf of Tonkin as first the provocation, then the subject of “false consciousness” inculcated in the American public, and the catalyst for the Vietnam War. In recent days, the US fleet, just barely in international waters along the coast of Iran, is playing the role of provocateurs to incite Iranians to react so as to undertake the stratospheric bombing the Neocons are itching for.

It’s an old story. Every place in the world peace movements are anti-government. Washington hates peace movements. Protesters are reviled as troublemakers, evildoers. Anyone against the war is a potential terrorist. Protest equals terrorism. The FBI infiltrates and tries to cripple the protest movement from within. It’s an old strategy—enticing protesters to criminal behavior—then arresting them. The agents provocateurs join the protesters and break store windows. It’s against the law to break store windows. So the cops beat up the demonstrators and arrest them. Sometimes agitators are police agents. They run wild in the streets. They pretend to be demonstrators. They attack the police and throw bombs. The infiltrators create tension between police and demonstrators. Anti-war marches become a kind of war. The government and its police and its press then blame the demonstrators for the violence. The best way to defame pacifists is to link them to terrorism. The public will call for law and order. And the government will crack down on all its political opponents … and go ahead with its wars.
(Extracted from the novel, Asheville, by Gaither Stewart)

In most circumstances, terrorism is too weak to overcome the power of the modern state/regime. Terrorists of Italy’s Red Brigades naively believed that the state had a heart that could be attacked. They lost. As a rule, terrorists lose. Most of the European terrorist organizations that mushroomed after the world-wide student protests of 1968 were defeated, though those based on nationalistic aspirations such as ETA in Spain and IRA in Ireland, that is, resistance movements, hang on and still today raise their heads from time to time.

Now, US imperialism has created an entirely new field, a new wave, a new historical framework, for resistance: across most of Latin America, the entire Middle East and Asia from Iraq to Pakistan and Afghanistan, Resistance has been born. And it will not be defeated by military force. It will not go away

In the 1970s and 80s European secret services infiltrated and crushed the Red Brigades (Brigate Rosse) in Italy, the Red Army Faction (Rote Armee Fraktion) in Germany, and Direct Action (Action Directe) in France. In the process and in application of the strategy of tension they exploited the same terrorist organizations, keeping them alive in name in order to blame them, in the name of freedom, for the limitations placed on personal liberties. Today the name Al Qaida, the real existence of which is dubious, is used precisely in the same manner. Al Qaida is omnipresent, forever available to be blamed for institutional terrorism in order to justify all the patriot acts and no-fly lists and house searches and arbitrary arrests and detentions and tortures and concentration camps.

BRIGATE ROSSE

Italy’s Red Brigades [Brigate Rosse-BR] formed Europe’s biggest, best-organized and most powerful “terrorist” organization. An elitist organization emerging from the 1968 protest movement, its rank and file came from the universities and factories. It comprised the most idealistic, the best part of the nation’s youth— la miglior giovent?, according to the title of a recent film depicting that generation sparked by resistance. The BR at one time claimed the admiration and moral support of millions of Italians.

Its organizational structure is of interest because the organizers of Al Qaida (Pakistani and US intelligence services) seem to have borrowed from it since US Special Forces just can’t seem to locate that bearded man in a cave or his cohort riding his mule over remote Afghan mountain paths. At the BR base was a brigade of up to five persons, who provided arms and logistics; the brigades formed poles, which in turn formed a city column. The columns made up fronts that directed national political operations, controlled by an eight-man strategic directorate. The supreme level was a 4-5 man executive committee that conducted international relations and made major decisions culminating in the abduction and eventual murder of ex-Prime Minister Aldo Moro.
The co-founder of the Red Brigades, Alberto Franceschini, told me that the Brigadists never considered themselves terrorists. They “resisted” US power in Italy and the one-party system governing the nation. Franceschini pointed out that the chance of armed rebellion inevitably increases to the degree that political power is insufficient and incapable of mediation. The first, the real Red Brigades, were the resistance born on the Left. It aimed at splitting the big Italian Communist Party vertically, recruiting its left wing, and then overturning the authoritarian state. It aimed at revolution. Yet, when police finally decided to crack down, 5000 terrorists flowed into Italy’s jails, while 500 escaped abroad, the majority to France.


What does that very Italian story mean?

It means that Power wanted and needed the BR.

It means also that Power knew that the Resistance understood it.

No wonder that as time passed former leftwing terrorists came to call themselves “West European guerilla” to combat imperialist efforts to weld European countries into the homogeneous structure it has assumed today, integrated in the instrument of imperialist power, NATO.

On a practical level, the Europe’s terrorists-guerilla lost. That partially accounts for European military forces involved today in America’s madness in Afghanistan, where Italian soldiers have fallen and only yesterday two Dutch soldiers died for neocon illusions of grandeur.

I offer this brief look at the Red Brigades in order to show another example of tension strategy. Franceschini told me that police could have crushed them quickly; however, their existence was convenient to the corrupt, anti-Communist, anti-Soviet regime of Christian Democracy, and to its ally, the United States of America. Red terrorists everywhere were the excuse for reactionary anti-Communism during the Cold War in Europe, Asia, Africa and even more brutally in Latin America, in Chile, Uruguay and Argentina. Fantomatic red subversives, and, in the name of the defense of democracy, for a mass of anti-democratic emergency laws, high security prisons and questionable justice as has happened in the USA today. Terrorism was the excuse. Italy, in close collaboration with the CIA, became in fact a bulwark against the Soviet Union, and its government managed to keep a firm hand on the Italian Communist Party, Europe’s biggest CP. “Red” terrorism was the weapon with which authoritarian power held at bay the Communist Party, which by the 1980s had become in practice a social democratic force.

The real Red Brigades died in the late 1970s. After their Executive Committee and/or Strategic Directorate were infiltrated by Italian and American secret services, the Red Brigades became a riddle. After reporting for many years on European terrorism and after many meetings with terrorist leaders, my guess is that it became an empty name in the service of governments and secret services.

EPILOGUE: In this mid January, the Rome Daily, La Repubblica, got its hands on heretofore top secret documents of the British Foreign Office revealing that in 1976, the election year in which the Italian Communist Party (PCI) garnered 34% of the vote, NATO weighed a “coup d’?tat” in Rome to keep the Communists out of the government. One released document states verbally: “An authoritarian regime in Italy would be more acceptable than a government including Communists.”
According to the documentation the plan was eventually discarded for fear that the powerful workers movement in Italy would bring about a Civil War and/or fear of Soviet intervention. The coup didn’t happen, though US-backed Fascists made several weak attempts. The “Italian question” continued to be the subject of NATO, of frantic communications and secret high-level meetings. Because the NATO role was crucial in the Cold War, the mere thought of the Trojan Horse of Italian Communists in a member government made Washington shiver in horror.

Though the coup was ruled out, US subversive intervention in its vassal state of Italy were intensified. Terrorism was always a chief avenue for US control of Italy. After the real Brigadists were arrested the CIA infiltrated and turned some leaders of the second wave of Red Brigades. Fascist terrorists meanwhile bombed trains and assassinated NATO leaders; often the Left was blamed. The US meanwhile supported the organization of the secret Gladio army that would have been Italy’s military arm after the coup. Fascist militants described to me their military training camps in Sardinia and in the Abruzzi Mountains near Rome. New prisons were pinpointed while lists were drawn up of dangerous subversives to be arrested.

For NATO planners the recruitment of some BR leaders was the culmination of the refinement of the instruments of tension strategy. It was that late version of the Red Brigades, which in 1978 abducted and assassinated the Christian Democrat leader Aldo Moro whose strategic plan of so-called “historic compromise” foresaw Italian Communists in the national government. The Red Brigades took the full blame.

Today, G-8 leaders label anti-globals and peace protesters “terrorists” and “enemies of democracy” and call for emergency measures against them. They arrest anti-globals right in front of the White House. Anti-globals on the other hand consider themselves non-violent freedom fighters for a better world. As a rule, police and/or police-guided, infiltrated or stimulated “terrorists” such as the Black Bloc are the aggressors against the anti-global peace movements.
No sane person believes that terrorism can be eradicated with military might. It is now a truism that every bomb that falls in the poor world spawns another terrorist, many of whom, unlike the Assassins of a millennium earlier, are eager to strap explosives around their bodies and blow themselves to pieces on a crowded square, place, piazza, or Platz of the rich world against the naked power that impoverishes them. If one accepts with Schiller that the oppressed will reach to the heavens to grasp their rights and resist their oppressors, then the dire warnings from Washington of more and more terrorism ring grim.

While America-Empire allegedly searches for efficacious measures to combat terrorism, more sincere American leaders are advised to examine aspects of European experience as a guide to both what not to do, and to what can be effective. They should not be deluded: No security measures, no no-fly laws, Patriot Act measures, secret concentration camps and torture can eradicate what Power defines as terrorism and the oppressed define as resistance until America unites with the rest of the world.

http://www.countercurrents.org/stewart270108.htm

Monday, January 28, 2008

Carolina Kostner of Italy Successfully Defends European Skating Title

Boston Herald

By Associated Press
Saturday, January 26, 2008

ZAGREB, Croatia - Carolina Kostner of Italy withstood a challenge from Sarah Meier to successfully defend her title Saturday in the final event at the European Figure Skating Championships.

Kostner finished with 111.97 points for the free skate and 171.28 overall to become the first Italian woman to win two European titles.

"I have tried to stay really calm and concentrate all week," Kostner said.

Meier moved from fourth to take her second straight silver medal with the top free program. The Swiss skater had 169.44 points overall and 113.00 for her free skate.

Laura Lepisto of Finland was third with 166.65 points. Teammate Kiira Korpi, who was second entering the free, had 162.22 points and dropped to fifth place behind Julia Sebestyen of Hungary, who scored 162.89.

Kostner looked nervous as she opened up with a triple-triple-double to music by Dvorak. She then scaled down to a double lutz - as she did in the short program. But she managed three more triples to finish.

"I thought I did it really good, but I think I can do it better," Kostner said.

Her score fell well short of the 190-plus scores by Asian skaters Kim Yu-na and Mao Asada from the Grand Prix Final last month, where Kostner finished third.

Italy's Karbon Captures Women's WC Giant Slalom


By VOA Sports
Washington, DC
26 January 2008


Not even a broken bone in her hand could keep Denise Karbon from winning a World Cup giant slalom ski race in Ofterschwang, Germany.

Karbon, who broke a bone in her left thumb during training on Wednesday, won her fifth race in six tries this season.

The Italian had a combined time of 2:22.26, just 0.08 seconds ahead of overall women's leader Nicole Hosp of Austria. Elisabeth Goergl of Austria finished third, 0.09 seconds behind the Italian.

Lindsey Vonn was the top American finisher in sixth place, more than one-half second off the leader. Hosp remains the overall leader in the women's season standings with 839 points. Vonn is second overall, 66 points back (773 points). Maria Riesch of Germany is third overall with 713 points followed in fourth by American Julia Mancusco (703).

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Italians Show What Religious Tolerance Is

This journalist maintains that : We find the Italians to be one of the most tolerant people in the world. Religion or Religious beliefs are never the subject of conversation. Italy has reached the level of civilisation only few nations have achieved. When anyone says that Italians are the most tolerant people in the world, I say amen!
He goes on to explain, With Rome, sacred to the Catholics around the world, and The Pope, the Holy Father, the most revered religious figure in the world, and from what is happening around the world, with religious fanaticism giving birth to fundamentalism,and even in the United States, fundamentalism is growing to unprecedented levels. The mid-west states are called the church belt and the extent to which some Americans exhort the greatness of God and strive to convert the non believers is alarming.

Therefore, the expectations of a person who had not visited Italy or Rome would be that there would be Catholic missionaries in every nook and corner waiting to convert you and spread the message of the Gospel. And like the Taliban, they would not tolerate any other faith and would disparage them as unbelievers, who ought to know the truth about the message of God.

The Journalist speculates that Italy long ago went through it's Intolerant stage during the Roman Empire and the Middle ages, and has evolved to be more "Civilized".

The Journalist also cites a few examples. One when the the Dalai Lama visited Italy. This visit created much controversy but not about a Buddhist Religious leader visiting a predominantly Catholic country. No, the controversy was the Italian defying the Chinese government, with whom the Italian government would like to continue to have vigorous economic ties, and China vigorously opposed to the visit of the Dalai Lama. Another, there were rumbling in Sri Lanka when the present Italian ambassador, Pio Mariani, was nominated. Many Catholics here were concerned over the appointing of a non-Christian as the Ambassador to this sacred city. A non issue in Italy.


Letter from Rome

Italians Show What Religious Tolerance Is

Sunday Times.lk - Columbo,Sri Lanka
By Marcus Aurelius Sunday January 27, 2008

The Roman Empire reminds us of the extraordinary power wielded by the Catholic Church. Like Makkah to the Muslims and Buddhagaya to the Buddhists, Rome is sacred to the Catholics around the world. The Pope, the Holy Father, is the most revered religious figure in the world. At that time the Roman Empire and the Catholic Church believed they had a sacred mission to forcefully convert to save the souls of unfortunate human beings from being burnt in hell forever.

From what is happening around the world, with religious fanaticism giving birth to fundamentalism, this has become a major driving force and thousands are dying to defend, what they believe to be, the word of God. In India, where there is a pantheon of gods, religious intolerance is becoming a major concern as terrorism thrives on the fertile ground of religious fundamentalism. Even in the United States, fundamentalism is growing to unprecedented levels. The mid-west states are called the church belt and the extent to which some Americans exhort the greatness of God and strive to convert the non believers is alarming.

Therefore, the expectations of a person who had not visited Italy or Rome would be that there would be Catholic missionaries in every nook and corner waiting to convert you and spread the message of the Gospel. And like the Taliban, they would not tolerate any other faith and would disparage them as unbelievers, who ought to know the truth about the message of God.

In fact, there were rumbling in Sri Lanka when the present ambassador was nominated. Many Catholics were concerned over the appointing of a non-Christian as the Ambassador to this sacred city. But, the Roman Empire has ceased to exist. The Holy Father's territory is confined to the Vatican which is the smallest state in the World. In Rome, we find the Italians are one of the most tolerant people in the world. Religion or Religious beliefs are never the subject of conversation.

Recently, the Dalai Lama visited Italy. This visit created much controversy amongst the politicians in Italy. As many in Sri Lanka would expect, the controversy was not about a Buddhist Religious leader visiting a predominantly Catholic country. No, the controversy was the Italian reaction to the attitude of the Chinese government. China opposed the visit of Dalai Lama, because of the Nobel laureate's campaign for independence for Tibet which Beijing regards as part of China.

China will soon become an economic powerhouse and global giant. Most industrialized countries like Italy have strong trade relations with China. An angry Beijing informed the Italian Government that serious consequences would follow if the Dalai Lama was allowed to visit Italy. In fact, the Chinese government warned that visa applications of Italians seeking to visit China would be delayed by as long as three weeks. Most countries would bow down to such pressure and refuse an entry permit to the Dalai Lama. Some time ago, there was much controversy in Sri Lanka when the Dalai Lama was invited to visit Sri Lanka by 'Malewana Hamuduruwo'.

But, neither the Italian government nor the Mayor of Milan wilted under such pressure. The football stadium, where the Dalai Lama was to make his address, was packed with more than Ten Thousand people, some who had paid nearly 1000 Euros (Rs. 160,000.00) to obtain a seat close to the Dalai Lama. He spoke about the Four Noble Truths and the crowd was engrossed in the content of his sermon.

He spoke about the Chinese intervention in Tibet and said China was enforcing a policy of depriving Buddhist monks of essential food and clothing. The visit of the Dalai Lama was a great success. The Italian public and the main opposition party were furious that the Prime Minister did not receive him. Others were critical of the Pope for not affording the welcome that the Noble Peace laureate deserved. This is Italy, a Roman Catholic Country.

It is my contention what most countries in the Middle East and in some parts of Asia and even in the US are undergoing today what the Italians had undergone many centuries ago. It was Russell who commented that when one traverses the globe one could intertwine in a time wrap taking one back to the middle or the dark ages and the Renaissance and civilization. Many countries are still in the Middle Ages.

Killing for the glory of God was a trait common to the Roman Empire. Throwing Christians to the wild beasts and burning them at stake too was common. Then when the Emperor became Christian, the same applied to the non-believers. But today, after centuries of civilization, Italians have become so broadminded and tolerant that they could assemble and listen to one of the most revered religious figures in the world like the Dalai Lama.

To all those who decide to commit murder for their belief, the Italian example of tolerance, is a lesson for all. To understand the suffering of a minority is a trait we have forgotten. This is the main reason for the ethnic divide. Where else in the world, other than in Rome, do university professors and students, together in unison, refuse to accept the Pope as their chief guest?

For the first time, a Pope did not attend the ceremony in Rome at the foremost University in Rome for security reasons. The Professors and students expressed the view that the present Pope was against science. The prosecution of Galileo became an issue and a professor insisted that the Church must tender an unconditional apology for what they considered a heinous crime against development and science.

Italy has reached the level of civilisation only few nations have achieved. When any Sri Lankan says that Italians are the most tolerant people in the world, I say amen!

Mussolini Museum to Open in Salo

There are 13 US Presidential Libraries/Museums, one for Every US President from Herbert Hoover to Bill Clinton, whether a majority of the populace believes they are deserving. However the Library /Museum is less a Testimony as it is an Archive for Documents, to permit Historians to examine, and often are analyzed when hysteria or idolizing has had an opportunity to subside, and the record evaluated in a calmer time with the help of perspective, and propaganda to wither.
As Roberto Chiarini, a State University of Milan history professor, who is in charge of the project, stated: "At last the demonisation of Mussolini has stopped and we can look seriously at the history," he said. "Until now there were more than 70 historical institutes in Italy devoted to partisans but not one that looked at SalĂ²."
People tend to forget that Mussolini was the Prime Minister of Italy 21 years (1922-1943), and that US President Franklin D. Roosevelt sent a delegation to Italy to study Mussolini's Social Reforms, many of which he incorporated into FDR's "New Deal" that saved the US from the Depression. Mussolini was lauded by ALL European Powers, and the US for the "turn around" he performed in Italy, and he was Highly Respected.
Mussolini's reputation started to decline with:
(1) The Occupation of Protectorate Ethiopia, in 1935, (previously approved by Haore -Laval/ England and France Foreign Ministers), Later criticism by European powers was Very Hypocritical, since they had carved up Africa , and engaged in horrific atrocities.
(2) The Racial Purity and Loyalty Laws of 1937, that were to discourage Italian troops marriage with Ethiopian women, and to require Jews in many Italian government high positions in, to sign Loyalty oaths to Italy, to prevent them from acting as "tools" of Britain to Italy's disadvantage. Jews were numerous and important Mussolini Fascists at the beginning, and signed such oaths, and held their positions.
(3) Moving closer to Hitler, when Mussolini's attempts to join the England and France Alliance were rejected by Anti-Italian Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden in 1937-8.
(4) Joining the war on Hitler's side, when Hitler was at Paris gates, not wanting Italy to be Invaded, or being made a "puppet".
Unfortunately, Hitler did Not advise Mussolini in advance that Hitler was going to Invade the USSR . Mussolini was in Shock!!!!!
Mussolini was able to navigate these well thought out actions, even though they back fired, until Hitler's Invasion of the USSR.
He was never the same again. He then realized he had linked his fortunes not to a Rising Star Anti-Communist, but to a Sinking Rock.
He then became a "sad" shadow of his former self, knowing the depressing "cataclysmic" outcome.

Italy Opens Benito Mussolini Museum

Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
By Malcolm Moore
January 26, 2008

A museum dedicated to Benito Mussolini has been opened in response to requests by German tourists.

The museum in SalĂ², on the shores of Lake Garda, examines the last days of fascism in the town that Mussolini used as his headquarters in the final 19 months of the Second World War.

The Republic of SalĂ² was set up by the Nazis after their paratroopers liberated Mussolini from prison in Gran Sasso in September 1943.

From here Il Duce spent his time oppressing Italian partisans.

He even executed Galeazzo Ciano, his own son-in-law.

SalĂ² still has resonance for many extreme-Right political parties, including the Tricolour Flame, which refers to it as an ideal in its manifesto.

However, Roberto Chiarini, a State University of Milan history professor who is in charge of the project, denied that the museum would encourage nostalgia for Italy's fascist era.

"At last the demonisation of Mussolini has stopped and we can look seriously at the history," he said.

"Until now there were more than 70 historical institutes in Italy devoted to partisans but not one that looked at SalĂ²."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/26/wmuss126.xml

Friday, January 25, 2008

US Nuclear Sub Base at Maddalena,Sardinia to Close in Response to Protests

Sardinians and Italians had been opposed to the opening of this US Nuclear Sub Base 35 years ago, and had been protesting ever since.
The protest gained considerable momentum when a French research institute found that the waters near the base were four times more radioactive than would usually be expected.

The French study was followed by a Sardinian regional health department report in April 2005 which said the cancer rate among Sardinian males living near La Maddalena was excessively high, the death rate from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas among local males was 178% higher than the overall island average, while bladder cancer rates were 121% higher.


US Navy leaves Maddalena Base
Controversial facility gave support to nuclear subs
ANSA
January 25, 2008
La Maddalena, - The American flag was lowered for the last time on Friday at the United States Navy nuclear submarine base on the island of Santo Stefano, in the Maddalena archipelago off northern Sardinia.

The base was set up by a secret accord in the depths of the Cold War and officially opened on January 1, 1973. It was to provide support for nuclear submarines as well as ships in the US Navy's IV Fleet and NATO ships.

On hand for the flag-lowering ceremony were a host of local residents, the mayor of La Maddalena and other local officials.

During the ceremony, US commander Gregory Billy thanked the Italian Navy for is cooperation over the past 35 years and made special mention of five Italian employees who had worked at the base from the beginning.

The base had been home to 2,600 Americans including military personnel, civilian employees and their families.

Some 50 Americans will remain at the base to oversee its definitive shutting down, which is scheduled to take place on February 25.

The Pentagon decided to withdraw from the base in 2005 and in May 2006 Sardinia Governor Renato Soru and US Ambassador to Italy Ronald Spogli met to starting hammering out the details.

At the time, the American ambassador said ''We've been on La Maddalena for more than 30 years and it's been a very positive experience, But the international situation has changed, of course, and now it's time to move on''.

''The important thing is that we'll be leaving La Maddalena in the same positive and friendly manner in which we arrived,'' he added.

Soru, a former dotcom magnate who created Tiscali, was one of many local and national officials who had campaigned for the subs to go because of environmental fears.

The campaign to close the base gained momentum in January 2004 when a French research institute found that the waters near the base were four times more radioactive than would usually be expected.

The radioactivity is believed to have come from an incident in October 2003 when a nuclear submarine ran aground in shallow waters off the island of Bisce near La Maddalena and was subsequently sent back to the United States for repairs.

The French study was followed by a Sardinian regional health department report in April 2005 which said the cancer rate among Sardinian males living near La Maddalena was excessively high.

The report said the death rate from non-Hodgkin's lymphomas among local males was 178% higher than the overall island average while bladder cancer rates were 121% higher.

The La Maddalena archipelago is part of a wildlife and sea reserve along with the nearby island of Caprera - the retirement hideaway of famed Italian patriot Giuseppe Garibaldi.

There are tentative plans to turn the base into a shipyard for the upkeep of ferries and mega-yachts and the site was also mentioned as a possible venue for the America's Cup, due to the excellent sailing conditions there.

JUSTICE for DENVER, CO COLUMBUS IA PARADE Marchers - Leaders of Protests Found Guilty and Fined

In the first three trials, the Three Leaders of the Protest, University of Colorado political science professor Glenn Morris; the Rev. Julie Todd, a Methodist minister; and Koreena Montoya, of Denver. the Jury ruled guilty, and the Judge while being asked by prosecutors to impose a one-year suspended jail term, the three received only fines of $200, $ 200, and $50. 80 more accused are awaiting trial.
The Protestors had hoped that calling for Jury Trials for every one of the arrested, that the work load would overwhelm the system, and that the District Attorney's office would dismiss the charges, as it did the previous year, not wanting to have to put so much resources on "civil disobedience" cases.
However, the Prosecutors wanted to take a tough stance against the illegal protests this year recognizing that it will help deter trouble during the upcoming Democratic National Convention in August.
Of the 12 Comments at the end of the article, all 12 agreed with the court's decision!!!!!!


Thanks to Walters Santi

Columbus Day protesters guilty

CU prof, minister, Denver resident receive fines

Rocky Mountain News By Berny Morson January 23, 2008

The first three of more than 80 protesters to be tried for blocking a Columbus Day parade in October were found guilty in Denver District Court on Tuesday.

Sentenced to fines were University of Colorado political science professor Glenn Morris; the Rev. Julie Todd, a Methodist minister; and Koreena Montoya, of Denver.

An appeal is possible, said David Lane, one of five defense attorneys on the case.

The protesters delayed the parade by more than one hour when they sat down on 15th Street and poured theatrical blood in the street.

Lane asked the four-woman, five-man jury to consider that the protesters had no other way to make known their point that celebrating Columbus is offensive to Indians, who see the explorer as someone who caused the near extermination of their people.

Lane told the jurors that the delay of the Columbus Day parade was insignificant compared with the suffering of Indians since Columbus landed.

Assistant City Attorney Melissa Drazen-Smith argued that the protesters had a right to express their opinions - and in fact had held their own parade and rally.

But they crossed the legal line when they attempted to block Columbus supporters from exercising their First Amendment rights, Drazen-Smith said.

Jury Foreman Terry Smith, a retired Ford executive, said that the panel based the decision only on whether the evidence showed the defendants committed the acts with which they were charged - not the message the protesters were trying to convey.

The protesters were charged with variations of blocking a street, interfering with a lawful assembly and resisting arrest. Each was convicted on at least one count.

Morris, who has participated in several of the protests against the annual Columbus Day parade in recent years, was given a $200 fine, plus $41 of fees.

Morris also must pay $323.53, the cost of cleaning up the theatrical blood.

The cost is so high because police called in a hazardous materials unit to do the cleaning before the parade was allowed to proceed.

Todd was fined $100, with $50 suspended, and Montoya must pay $200.

Drazen-Smith had asked Jordan to impose a one-year suspended jail term on Morris. She said a tough stance against illegal protests will help deter trouble during the Democratic National Convention in August, when protesters are expected to descend on Denver.

Morris said at his sentencing that the protest was "an act of conscience."

"Our country is taken. Our people are destroyed, and we are the criminals. . . . There's no justice in that," he said.

morsonb@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5209

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Legendary Italian Reinhold Messner's Trek to South Pole Replicated Now Fourth Time

Reinhold Messner (born September 17, 1944) is a mountaineer and explorer from South Tyrol in Italy, often cited as the greatest mountain climber of all time, noted for making the first solo ascents of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen and for being the first climber to ascend all fourteen "eight-thousanders" (peaks over 8,000 metres above sea level).

Messner was one of the first and more enthusiastic supporters of alpine style mountaineering in the Himalayas, which consisted of climbing with very light equipment and a minimum of external help. Messner considered the usual expedition style ("siege tactics") disrespectful towards nature and mountains.

His first major Himalayan climb in 1970, Nanga Parbat, Reinhold lost seven toes and three fingers, which had become badly frostbitten during the climb and required amputation. In the 1970s, Messner championed the cause for ascending Mount Everest without supplementary oxygen, saying that he would do it "by fair means" or not at all.In 1978, he reached the summit of Everest with Peter Habeler. He repeated the feat from the Tibetan side in 1980, the first solo summit. This was the first time anyone had been that high without bottled oxygen and Messner and Habeler proved what most doctors, specialists, and mountaineers thought impossible. It changed mountaineering forever.

Since Messner's expedition in 1989, only two Norwegian teams have completed this Antarctica route until now. This 5 person team, that was led by an Australian and included members from Canada, Norway, Holland, and Alison Levine, who become the first American to follow a remote route to the geographic South Pole pioneered by legendary Italian explorer Reinhold Messner. The Team left in early December for the Ronne Ice Shelf in west Antarctica and finished the arduous 574-mile journey in just 38 days.

Female Adventurer, First American to Complete Historic Journey Across Antarctica

Business Wire
January 23, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO--Renowned adventurer Alison Levine has become the first American to follow a remote route to the geographic South Pole pioneered by legendary Italian explorer Reinhold Messner. Levine, a San Francisco resident, left in early December for the Ronne Ice Shelf in west Antarctica and finished the arduous 574-mile journey in just 38 days. Since Messners expedition in 1989, only two Norwegian teams have completed this route until now.

Levine endured some of the harshest conditions known to man including -50°F temperatures, icy winds and dangerous crevasse fields covered with snow bridges that have been known to collapse under pressure. The extreme weather made the trip especially hard for Levine because she suffers from Raynauds Disease, a neurological disorder that affects her extremities in cold weather. As a result, she often lost the use of her hands and was forced to ski without poles because she could not grip the handles. In addition, she was born with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome, a life-threatening heart condition and had two surgeries to correct the problem.

Antarctica definitely showed us her teeth, said Levine. The wind and the cold really beat us up at times. My hands would freeze whenever I stopped for a short break which meant I would have to ski and haul all of my gear without using my poles, and that was pretty tough. In these kinds of situations, you have to keep pushing day after day. You have no choice. Its not like you can just pop into a ski lodge for a cup of hot cocoa. There is no escape. Its just you against the elements but thats how I like it.

At 54, 112-pounds, Levine skied 10 hours a day with a sled containing 150 pounds of her own gear and supplies harnessed to her waist. Despite eating 5,000-6,000 calories a day, Levine lost 15 percent of her body weight due to the physical demands of the journey.

Levine, who served as the deputy finance director for Arnold Schwarzenegger in his successful bid to become Governor of California, received congratulations from Governor Schwarzenegger and First Lady of California Maria Shriver. "We were thrilled to hear the news of our friend Alisons safe arrival at the South Pole," said First Lady of California Maria Shriver and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in a joint statement. "We admire her sense of adventure, and we hope she will inspire all Californians and all Americans to pursue whatever they are passionate about."

Levine retraced Messners traverse to the South Pole as part of an international five-person team that included an Australian, who led the group along with adventurers from Canada, Norway and Holland.

A record of her blog and pictures can be found here: http://www.kepplerspeakers.com/Levine/2007/11/track_alison_levines _progress.asp. (Due to its length, this URL may need to be copied/pasted into your Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one exists.)

About Alison Levine

Alison Levine has climbed peaks on every continent, served as team captain of the first American Womens Everest Expedition and skied across the Arctic Circle to the geographic North Pole. She founded Daredevil Strategies (www.daredevilstrategies.com), a consulting firm specializing in organizational effectiveness, leadership development and team dynamics. Levine is also the founder of the Climb High Foundation (www.climbhighfoundation.org), a nonprofit organization that helps women in western Uganda.

Levine earned her MBA from Duke University. During her 20-year business career, she held positions in healthcare and technology, and worked for investment banking powerhouse Goldman Sachs. She is currently the most requested female business speaker in the nation.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20080123005689&newsLang=en

One Idiot Art Critic Says: Italy Can Afford to Share the Art Wealth.

LA Times journalist Lee Rosenbaum has the Unmitigated Gall, and Unadulterated Audacity to claim that since Italy has SO Many Antiquities that Italy should be More Generous, and Forgive the Recipients of Known Looted Italian Antiquities, and let them keep them.
I would ask Lee Rosenbaum would she therefore accept my hiring a thief to invade her house, steal her art pieces, or valuables, and justify it, because she has so much more than I , and she can afford it ????
If she finds out, that I have her art pieces, I say she can afford to replace them, I can't, Allow me to enjoy them. Be a Mensch.!!!
The outrageous stupidity of such a position is obvious.
Had Rosenbaum thought a little more clearly she could have suggested that the Art Loans be for a Fee, commensurate with the Value of the Antiquity. That makes sense.! Why should incredibly Well Endowed US Art Institutions, in the Wealthiest Country in the World feel the need to Beg for Charity. That's obscene!!!!

Make Art Loans, Not War

Ownership issues aside, Greece, Italy and other countries can afford to share the wealth.

Los Angeles Times By Lee Rosenbaum
January 21, 2008
The much-celebrated and hotly contested Euphronios calyx-krater is the Metropolitan Museum's no more. Last week, the Greek two-handled bowl got a one-way ticket to Italy, the country from which it is thought to have been looted. At Rome's presidential palace, it is joining four other objects already relinquished by the Met in a trophy exhibition of 69 works reclaimed by Italy and Greece from four American museums and a dealer. On Friday came the news that a private collector in the U.S., Shelby White, had, like the museums, agreed to hand over works sought by the Italians.

To the victor in the cultural-property wars belong the spoils. But now that American museums have acceded to demands for restitution, it's time to ask not only what "universal museums" can do for antiquities' countries of origin, but also what the source countries can do for the world's encyclopedic museums.

American institutions have been chastened by evidence demonstrating that objects in their possession were probably looted. The ongoing criminal trial of former Getty Museum curator Marion True, charged with trafficking in illegal antiquities, also has been a powerful deal motivator. (With the Getty's agreement to transfer 40 objects to Italy, True is widely expected to be let off the hook.)

Now that source countries have forcefully asserted their claims, the time has come to make loans, not war. Everyone wins when cultural objects are internationally disseminated, studied and appreciated. Even objects that came into the custody of American museums through questionable means should be allowed to remain here on long-term loan, in recognition of the principle that art lovers everywhere should have the opportunity to admire the best of world art. The ownership, but not the venue, of these objects should change, and laws like Italy's -- which limits international loans to four years -- should be relaxed. The 15 Italy-bound pieces of Hellenistic silver that will remain at the Met until 2010 are now labeled "Lent by the Republic of Italy." Why not allow them to stay where they are?

The fact is that source countries, possessing more high-quality artifacts from their ancient pasts than they can adequately display, don't need to get everything back. The Met's senior research associate, Heidi King, organizer of that museum's upcoming show "Featherwork in Ancient Peru," said that Peruvian museums already own ceramics of far greater quality than the pieces that Yale University recently agreed to relinquish from a collection acquired in the early 1900s from the Machu Picchu expedition led by Yale scholar Hiram Bingham III. And it could be argued that the "context" Yale provided these objects for 100 years -- through scholarship and public display -- makes it worth preserving them "in situ" in New Haven.

Aside from being magnanimous lenders, source countries should allow some legally excavated antiquities to be bought and sold. Lesser objects could be marketed to collectors, dealers and museums, with the proceeds benefiting archaeological projects. Enabling citizens of other countries to appreciate and acquire selected pieces of Italy's, Greece's, Egypt's or China's past is a game that, if played by the rules, can have no losers.

More controversially, I believe that source countries should consider training and licensing citizen archaeologists. The antiquities police can't hope to end all the looting or shut down the black market completely. But if those who make finds are compensated for reporting them and perhaps trained to help excavate them, midnight marauders who mangle masterpieces and destroy archaeological context may become less numerous and destructive. One precedent for the "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" approach is Britain's financial compensation of metal detector-wielding amateurs who turn over significant finds including gold, silver and prehistoric objects to the proper authorities.

That said, American museums should stop falling back on the "times were different" justification for past antiquities sins. Many collectors and museum curators always knew full well that their activities were ethically dicey. Just ask the previous director of the Metropolitan Museum, Thomas Hoving, who in 1972 was responsible for the $1-million acquisition of the Euphronios krater. In his professional memoir, "Making the Mummies Dance" (1993), Hoving made it clear he had suspected that the vessel "had been illegally dug up in Italy."

In the bad old days, acquirers of antiquities knew, or at least suspected, that what they were doing was problematic. What's changed now, thanks to aggressive enforcement by the source countries, is that it's become much harder to get away with it.

Lee Rosenbaum is a contributing editor of Art in America magazine and blogs as CultureGrrl. (artsjournal.com/culturegrrl).

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Investing Obstacles in Italy Slow Growth

To Americans interested in investing in Italy, it seemed that they had got out on another planet, full of enemies and with traps everywhere. A four dimensional obstacle course

It may only be the desire to maintain the "charm" of Italy, which means supporting the local proprietor, and eschewing chain and or mega stores, in contrast to countries such as the UK where urban centres can tend towards a dreary sameness, which is either purposefully being abetted, or unconsciously aided by:

1. The environment is "unreliable" in that there is Excessive Bureaucracy, and High Taxes
2. There is a Proliferation of Laws and an extraordinary Slowness of the Civil Judiciary. Many of the regulations are overlooked and then they are selectively applied. In a morass of rules, not all of which are applied to everyone in the same timeframe, you run the risk that someone will find a regulation which they want to apply in order to keep you out.
3. Different levels of government - state, regions, provinces, cities - without a clear definition of which one has jurisdiction.
4. National Government adverse to Non Italians owning Italian Utilities.

Some might call it "Obstruction" , others a "Challenge" :)


Not fast enough: Why investing in Italy is 'like driving with the brake on'

Financial Times
By Adrian Michaels
Tues., Jan. 22, 2008
In Italy, no dry numbers are needed to see what is glaringly not there. Just tour a town centre, where local businesses sell chocolates made on the premises, family-run bars have signature pastries to purvey and handmade shoes are sold by leathery old men. Mostly absent are chain stores, corporate uniforms and, in particular, global retail names above the door.
What happens if you want American-style fast food? There is not one KFC in Italy. There are only 37 Burger Kings compared with more than 400 in Spain and over 500 in the UK. Even McDonald's at one point came close to bricking up its Golden Arches.
Mario Resca, until last year the chairman of McDonald's in Italy, says its executives were near to pulling the US group out when he took on the job and became a joint venture partner in 1995. "In 10 years they had managed to open 20 lossmaking restaurants." In a book he co-authored, Mr Resca writes: "To the Americans it seemed that they had got out on another planet, full of enemies and with traps everywhere."
Of course, what to the McDonald's missionaries seemed hostile terrain is to many visitors and residents one of Italy's greatest charms: every town is different, in contrast to countries such as the UK where urban centres can tend towards a dreary sameness. Mobile-mad Italy shares only the countless phone shops.
Although McDonald's now has a profitable network of 360 outlets in Italy, along the way it battled bureaucracy, anti-imperialism and corruption. Not all multinationals are as doggedly determined: the lack of foreign investment stretches across the Italian economy. As Romano Prodi's government this week battles confidence votes in parliament and strife in its shaky coalition, incumbent or aspiring ministers might reflect on links between the lack of foreign investment and the comparatively slow growth of the Italian economy. Certainly, whether the country's political or business culture or legal framework can be blamed, high-profile investment projects have a persistent habit of falling apart.
AT&T last year pulled out of an investment in Telecom Italia, citing political interference from the government, some of whose members expressed the wish that the country's biggest telephony provider should stay in Italian hands. The proposed merger between Abertis of Spain and Italy's Autostrade was scrapped amid an unforeseen rewriting of laws governing toll road concessions. Australia's Macquarie fell out with its Italian partners over a highly-charged investment plan for Rome's airports.
Now, the UK-based BG Group is launching a new effort to resurrect its stalled Euro 500m ($728m, £373m) gas terminal project in the southern port of Brindisi, five years after it was granted permission to build the plant, which Italy desperately needs to meet energy demand (see below). A combination of local opposition, disputed criminal proceedings and a complex overlap of jurisdictions last year caused permission to be suspended and construction work to stop.
Some people have no doubt that the business and political environment acts as a deterrent. Ronald Spogli, US ambassador in Rome, wrote a ferocious letter to the Corriere della Sera newspaper after AT&T abandoned its bid for a stake in Telecom Italia. "You should concentrate less on who wants to invest and more on the fact that Italy is last in Europe in terms of economic growth," he told Italians, warning: "Investments are not made where they are not welcome, where the rules of the market can be changed continuously."
Preliminary figures from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development show a collapse in new foreign direct investment in Italy just when such inflows elsewhere in the European Union have been booming. Unctad estimates that investment into the EU as a whole grew 15 per cent to $610bn (£313bn, ?419bn) in 2007. But Italy, the world's sixth largest economy, is not receiving its share: inward investment fell 28 per cent from an already low $39bn to $28bn. Investment into France grew by more than 50 per cent to $123bn.
Italy is also missing indirect investment. According to Federation of European Securities Exchanges data for 2005, the latest available, Italy had the smallest percentage of foreign ownership, at 13 per cent, of any stock market in Europe. The country lags its peers in private equity and venture capital activity too. Mr Resca, who works often with foreign private equity groups, says: "They are in principle very interested in Italy . . . But they always realise they lose a lot of time going through the political system."
Alessandro Daffina, head of Rothschild in Italy, told the newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore this month he doubted that sovereign wealth funds would go to Italy. "The system is unfortunately never that attractive. Excessive bureaucracy and a slow judiciary weigh heavily. Above all, high taxes make [investors] worry."
He then cited an unnamed foreign group that had been ready to start a joint venture, invest - 800m and create 500 jobs somewhere in Europe or the Middle East. It had "ruled out Italy because a large consultancy judged the country to be unreliable". Speaking to the Financial Times, Mr Daffina says the group said the government "has no real power to impose decisions and there is no guarantee the law will prevail".
Mr Spogli puts it only slightly differently: "Many of the regulations are overlooked and then they are selectively applied. In a morass of rules, not all of which are applied to everyone in the same timeframe, you run the risk that someone will find a regulation which they want to apply in order to keep you out."
That raises the spectre of economic nationalism - from which a number of Italy's own top industrialists, whose businesses benefit from open markets abroad, are keen to distance themselves. Sergio Marchionne, chief executive of Fiat, cautioned in a speech late last year that Europe should not fall "prey to certain protective mechanisms which are in use in many countries and which especially in Italy can seriously threaten the industrial recovery of the country".
The automotive chief acknowledged that Italy did not always offer the level playing field available to companies investing elsewhere. "In Italy these conditions are not always so easy to find. That is part of the reason why there is such a low level of foreign investment."
Paolo Gentiloni, communications minister, says he does not think Italian bureaucracy is impossible to wade through. He points to home-grown companies such as Benetton as having shown it is perfectly possible to build a chain of shops in Italy.
Some sectors are indeed open. Mr Gentiloni points out that notwithstanding AT&T's aborted effort, most Italian mobile companies are in the hands of foreigners - the UK's Vodafone, Egypt's Orascom and Hutchison Whampoa of Hong Kong. TelefĂ³nica of Spain is now part of a controlling shareholder group at Telecom Italia. Moreover, Mr Prodi's centre-left government has taken a sword to many bureaucratic trade restrictions.
Mr Gentiloni accepts there are still "different levels of government - state, regions, provinces, cities - without a clear definition of which one has jurisdiction. There is a proliferation of laws and an extraordinary slowness of the civil judiciary. If you have a business disagreement, it takes so long to resolve."
As Mr Resca puts it, complying with the law in Italy is like "driving with the handbrake on". He recalls: "It was impossible for McDonald's to open new stores. They had local Italians as advisers to help on planning and other permits but whose fees meant that opening up any location was very expensive." In 1996 the company persuaded an Italian chain called Burghy to sell its 80 venues as a big step in building size.
McDonald's made it through patience and, seemingly, the right partner in Mr Resca. He had 15 years as a headhunter with Egon Zehnder and good political connections - he was offered a cabinet post by Silvio Berlusconi, former prime minister. But other countries appear an easier prospect for rivals. KFC says it is "extremely interested" in Italy but has "no immediate plans of opening". It has 52 stores in France and plans to double that tally over three years.
In the case of food, then, is it simply that Italians' preference for their own cuisine is stronger even than that of the French? Given McDonald's success, that seems unlikely. Burger King says it will grow in Italy "as quickly as prudently possible" and there are "no material differences which restrict growth in Italy".
Other consumer sectors are drawing foreign interest. Lad­brokes of the UK is in the middle of an initial investment of ?100m aimed at opening 60 betting shops and another 50 smaller betting locations in places such as cafes. The company was given licences to run these outlets by the government in 2006 - as long as they open by September.
It has so far managed to open just 17 shops and four smaller outlets. Finding appropriate property is an issue. There are strict restrictions on not siting outlets near existing betting shops. Russell Thorpe, chief operating officer in Italy, says: "Site finding can be difficult in some areas due to the legislative requirements of the tender. This is very different from the UK, as are some of the other legal applications that need to be made."
But he is confident Ladbrokes will make it; dogged perseverance seems to be the key. "Whilst progress was initially slow", Mr Thorpe says, "we were learning".
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22787614/

"Italians of the Gold Country" Amador County, CA.

Amador County is located mid California near its eastern border, 45 miles southeast of Sacramento, the Capital. It is a tiny county of just 605 square miles, with a current total population of 38,471(2000). It is a part of California known as the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
Amador County is home of the Gold Rush era in California, and the the Eureka Gold Mine in Sutter Creek, that started it all. There are the Argonaut Mine, the Kennedy Gold Mine, and numerous other.
"Italians of the Gold Country" chronicles the Italian immigrant experience and those who came to the foothills during the Gold Rush, many of whom poured in from Italy's northern Provence.which left its mark on the Mother Lode and helped form the county of Amador.

Historian pens book about the History of Italians in Amador
Amador Ledger-Dispatch - Jackson,CA,USA
By Scott Thomas Anderson (sanderson@ledger-dispatch.com)
Tuesday, January 22, 2008

Carolyn Fregulia lives on a sprawling ranch outside of Jackson cradled in a nook between the high, yellow hills. For five generations her family has worked the land - farming, ranching, tending to olive groves. The Fregulia story is in many ways typical of the Italian immigrant experience which left its mark on the Mother Lode and helped form the county of Amador. Fregulia's book "Italians of the Gold Country" will be released on by the highly successful Arcadia Publishing house, offering a visual and written history of a time when Amador was thriving with diversity.

Fregulia, whose cattle ranch off Clinton Road is still operational, has spent the last 20 years researching the Italian families who came to the foothills during the Gold Rush, many of whom poured in from Italy's northern Provence. "Learning about what happened with the Italians who came here was a big part of my own family history," said Fregulia. "Investigating it was something I worked on for a long time. By the time the opportunity came up to write a book for Arcadia, it didn't take long because the knowledge was already at my fingertips."

Fregulia's book is loaded with more than 200 vintage images, some of which have never been seen before by the public or other local historians. The book also highlights the stories of local families and names that have been prominent in the community over several generations.

For Fregulia, the contributions made by Italians who staked their future on Amador is a piece of history that's in danger of being forgotten. "I think the older people who live here have an idea about the contributions Italians made," she said. "But with expansion and development and a changing face of the community, I think many of the younger people do not know what an impact the Italian culture had on this area for a century and a half."

One example Fregulia cites is that in the 1880s almost every merchant known in Jackson (Capital of Amador) was Italian. After the Gold Rush died off, Italians, along with Eastern Europeans and people from England's Cornish coast, continued to immigrate to Amador to work in the large mining operations, such as the Kennedy Mine and Argonaut Mine in Jackson, and the Eureka Mine in Sutter Creek. During the Argonaut Mine disaster in 1922, dozens of the victims who lost their lives where Italian (most of whom are buried together in Jackson's Catholic Cemetery). Fregulia explained that the influx of Italians continued right up until 1942, when the mines were closed due to World War II.

"Italians of the Gold Country" will be sale at Hein & Co. Book Store on Main Street, Jackson. Interested readers can also purchase "Italians of the Gold Country" directly from Fregulia by calling her at 223-0443.
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The Amador Hotel, formerly the Ben White Hotel, was built by Bartolomeo Bianchetti in 1879. The mining camp was experiencing a housing shortage, and like may hotels in the Mother Lode, the Ben White Hotel took in permanent boarders.
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'Italians of the Gold Country'

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, online bookstores or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or (888) 313-2665. $19.99, Arcadia Publishing.
http://www.ledger-dispatch.com/life/lifeview.asp?c=234403

Monday, January 21, 2008

Joy (Occhiuto) Behar- Co Host of "The View" - 25 yr Comedian

Joy Behar, who’s known best for her work on the ABC morning gabfest "The View", where for the past 11 years she’s been showing off the acerbic wit, that got her start in comedy but not until her late 30s, after working as a high school English teacher. Behar like most comics, feel the need to keep at least one foot in the game, and continues to perform. She joked, Even Jerry Seinfeld does, who’s the richest man on the planet". Josephina Victoria "Joy" Behar (nĂ©e Occhiuto; born October 7, 1943) Italian American, was born in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York; the daughter of Rose, a seamstress, and Gino Occhiuto, a truck driver.She was married to Joe Behar in January 1965 and divorced him in 1981; they had one daughter, Eve. Behar nearly died from an ectopic pregnancy in 1979.Behar holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology from Queens College, and a Master of Arts degree in English Education from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is a former teacher at Lindenhurst High School on Long Island

Scranton Cultural Center Plays Host to Comedian, ‘View’ host on Jan. 25
Scranton Times-Tribune - PA, USA
By Josh McAuliffe Staff Writer
January 18, 2008

Joy Behar wouldn’t refer to standup comedy as her love. That’s too cutesy a word to describe what can often be a rough and tumble line of work, she said.
“It’s like a passion more than a love,” she said during a recent phone interview. “It’s a lust.”
Whatever it is, it seems to be working just fine for Ms. Behar, who’s known best for her work on the ABC morning gabfest “The View,” where for the past 11 years she’s been showing off the acerbic wit she spent years perfecting in smoky comedy clubs around the country.
On Jan. 25, she’ll be taking her act to Scranton Cultural Center at The Masonic Temple. There, fans can expect a bit of “View” dish, plus an ample dose of political commentary and anecdotes from her life.
Life is good at “The View” these days, Ms. Behar said. Ratings are up at “The View” since Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd came on board, and the show’s vibe has been much more amiable since Rosie O’Donnell’s short but controversial tenure came to an end last May.
“It’s a very mellow feeling. No tension at all,” said Ms. Behar, who still keeps in touch with her old standup pal Ms. O’Donnell through e-mail. “I don’t feel any of it this year.”
Fitting in
She said Ms. Goldberg and Ms. Shepherd have proven to be naturals at “The View’s” chatty, off-the-cuff format, which she attributes in part to the both having backgrounds in standup.
“They figured out that comedians are good on the show,” she said. “I like Sherri and Whoopi very much.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Behar’s pal Elisabeth Hasselbeck recently returned to the Barbara Walters-produced show after a few months of maternity leave, opening the gates again for some spirited political debate between the liberal Ms. Behar and the conservative Mrs. Hasselbeck.
“I like having her back,” Ms. Behar said. “When I talk politics, I don’t want to preach to the converted.”
For how well known she’s become through her association with “The View,” Ms. Behar said she’s under the impression that a lot of her fans have no idea she’s a comic.
“I have 25 years of it, which is a long time,” she said.
Now is a particularly fruitful time for her act, with a good dozen or so engagements on the horizon, which is a lot when placed on top of the five “View” tapings she does a week, she said.
“I’m very into my standup right now,” she said, noting most comics by and large need to keep at least one foot in the game. “Even Jerry Seinfeld, who’s the richest man on the planet,” she joked.
“As a comedian friend of mine said years ago, it’s my oxygen,” she said. “You’re just out there on your own. It’s stressful. It’s rewarding.”
The Brooklyn native didn’t get into comedy until her late 30s, after working as a high school English teacher, a receptionist at “Good Morning America” and the host of a radio call-in show, the latter two of which ended with her firing.
“Standup came from me being funny as a teacher, in the teachers’ room mostly,” she said. “I thought, I want to make some money at this.”
However, being funny with friends and being funny up on stage in front of a roomful of strangers are completely different things.
“It’s a whole other ball game,” she said. “It’s like the difference between strumming on a guitar at a hootenanny and playing with Eric Clapton.”
Beginner’s luck
Surprisingly, the first time Ms. Behar got up on stage, she killed. The second time, however, “I died like a dog,” despite doing the same exact material. What she didn’t realize at the time was that the two sets were done under different circumstances and for two totally different audiences.
“It took six months to get back on (stage),” said Ms. Behar, noting she only kept doing it because she was broke and a single parent. “I was a very tentative starter. Because I would remember the bad, and not the good.”
Eventually, everything came together, and Ms. Behar had an act she could add to and subtract from over time. For next week’s Cultural Center show, topics will include life at “The View” and politics, including her well-known disdain for George W. Bush (“No one cares about him anymore,” she said.) and affinity for Hillary Clinton (“I get a little testy when they talk about my girlfriend”).
There might even be some local flavor interspersed through the set. As a young girl, Ms. Behar occasionally visited Wilkes-Barre, where relatives of hers lived.
“In Scranton, there’s a lot of Italian Americans, right?” said Ms. Behar, herself an Italian American. “So I might talk about that.”
There’s really no shortage of things Ms. Behar can talk about, because even when she’s not doing her act, it’s continually evolving in her head.
“It keeps your mind occupied at all times,” she said. “That’s how comedians see their standup.”
In other words, the lust is as strong as it ever was.
http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19210032&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=450444&rfi=6

Saturday, January 19, 2008

"Beast of Bolzano" of WWII Infamy Extradited from Canada to Italy to Face Life Sentence

Nazi 'Beast' to be Deported to Italy

Canwest News Service

Friday, January 18, 2008

OTTAWA -- The Department of Justice says deportation arrangements are being made for 83-year-old Michael Seifert, a convicted Nazi war criminal.

Seifert, currently in custody in Port Coquitlam, was convicted by an Italian court. The Supreme Court of Canada yesterday rejected his application to have his extradition rescinded.

The former ethnic German from Ukraine, who is a Canadian citizen, has been fighting extradition to Italy, where he faces a life sentence for his crimes.

"From our perspective, this is the last stage," said Alain Charette from the Department of Justice, adding that he could not discuss extradition plans.

"Extradition matters are always very touchy," he said.

Seifert was convicted in absentia seven years ago of killing nine prisoners while he was a guard at a Nazi prison camp in Bolzano, Italy, from 1944 to 1945....

Dubbed the "Beast of Bolzano," Seifert was accused of torturing and killing 15 prisoners at the police transit camp that imprisoned... Italian resistance fighters and others.

Witnesses at Seifert's trial identified him as the guard who beat prisoners before shooting them, starving a 15-year-old prisoner to death and gouging out the eyes of another.

The three judges who presided over the trial said he was a "ruthless, efficient dispenser of death."

Seifert has been living in B.C. since moving to Canada in 1951.

Sao Paulo Brazil Has Italian Flavor in Food and Language

Early in the 20th century,Italian immigrants began arriving to Brazil in search of work on coffee plantations. By 1920, more than 1.2 Million Italians had settled in Brazil, the majority in or around Sao Paulo.

As a result, Paulistanos, as residents of South America's largest city are called, revere pizza much like the French cherish fine wine and Argentines love a good steak. Sao Paulo is so serious about its pizza that for the last 22 years the city celebrates "Pizza Day" every July 10. By some estimates, only New Yorkers devour more pizzas annually than Paulistanos. Sao Paulo is home to more than 6,000 pizza parlors that, in all, churn out close to a million pies a day.

Today, Sao Paulo is home to the largest Italian community in Latin America. Italians have had such an impact on local customs that even the brand of Portuguese spoken in this city has a distinct Italian lilt to it.


Sao Paulo's Residents Love Pizza. Even their Portuguese has an Italian Flavour
Montreal Gazette - Montreal,Quebec,Canada
Todd Benson
From Reuters
Saturday, January 19, 2008

SAO PAULO - Forget "feijoada", the hearty pork and bean stew that is often hailed as Brazil's national dish. If you want tradition in Sao Paulo, pizza is where it's at.

Paulistanos, as residents of South America's largest city are called, revere pizza much like the French cherish fine wine and Argentines love a good steak. Sao Paulo is so serious about its pizza that for the last 22 years the city celebrates "Pizza Day" every July 10.

For many Sao Paulo residents, dinner with the family at the neighbourhood pizza joint is a Sunday night ritual. People of all ages line up for hours outside pizzerias to get their weekly fix.

By some estimates, only New Yorkers devour more pizzas annually than Paulistanos. Sao Paulo is home to more than 6,000 pizza parlors that, in all, churn out close to a million pies a day, according to the local association of pizzerias.

"We're talking about mountains of pizza," said Vinicius Casella Abramides, who manages Pizzarias Braz, a chain of popular upscale pizza parlours. "Sao Paulo and pizza go hand in hand."

Braz normally seats 400 to 600 people Sunday nights at each of its four outlets, serving up as many as 800 pizzas out of old-fashioned wood burning stoves. It also typically fires up over 1,000 more for home delivery, making Sunday the busiest day of the week.

Going out for pizza has become such a ritual in Sao Paulo that it has even worked its way into the Brazilian lexicon. When politicians charged with corruption escape prosecution, Brazilians say the investigation "ended in pizza," which conjures up images of the accused celebrating over a pizza.

Sao Paulo's love affair with pizza dates to the early 20th century, when Italian immigrants began arriving to Brazil in search of work on coffee plantations. By 1920, more than 1.2 million Italians had settled in Brazil, the majority in or around Sao Paulo.

Today, Sao Paulo is home to the largest Italian community in Latin America. Italians have had such an impact on local customs that even the brand of Portuguese spoken in this city has a distinct Italian lilt to it.

"An Italian Sense of Place: Land and Identity" -4 Month Program at Montclair State University, NJ

In New Jersey, 1.6 million, tick off Italian as their heritage, more, than any other single group. But to the home-grown Italian-American Tony Soprano is more familiar to them, than the legendary and thoroughly Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, and not everyone is comfortable with that.

Count a cluster of Montclair State University faculty members among them. A program that started Jan. 8 at the university and will run into early May aims to be a corrective to years of cultural corrosion. "An Italian Sense of Place: Land and Identity," organized by the university but touching down in spots across Montclair, is drawing on theater, film, photography, literature, history, music, architecture, painting and cooking to present a view of Italian life as it is actually lived.

This seems like a most worthy program, but it bothers me that the Organizers state as a discovery, rather than obvious, that Not only do Italian Americas differ from Italians, but Italians differ from Region to Region, and even Village to Village.

In fact few academics even take into consideration that Italian American are very different, since their ancestors come from those different Italian regions, and had very different 'american" experiences, as coal miner, rail road builder, row crop field hand, fisherman, vintner, or the festering "urban" tenements, etc, etc.


Tony Soprano? No, Here’s the Real Italy
New York Times
By Tammy LaGorge
January 20, 2008

IN New Jersey, to consider oneself Italian is to be in good company. More census respondents in the state " 1.6 million, in the latest count " tick off Italian as their heritage than any other single group. But if the home-grown Italian-American Tony Soprano is more familiar to most New Jersey residents than the legendary and thoroughly Italian filmmaker Federico Fellini, not everyone is comfortable with that.

Count a cluster of Montclair State University faculty members among them. A program that started Jan. 8 at the university and will run into early May aims to be a corrective to years of cultural corrosion. "An Italian Sense of Place: Land and Identity," organized by the university but touching down in spots across Montclair, is drawing on theater, film, photography, literature, history, music, architecture, painting and cooking to present a view of Italian life as it is actually lived.

In scope and tone, the festival is meant to be as far from Little Italy as Milan, Venice or the northern Italian city where the festival took root: Parma.

“Since 2003, we’ve had a lot of coming and going to Parma at Montclair State" artists, musicians. Many wonderful relationships developed...[There has been] a sort of informal cultural exchange program between [Parma] and the university community....

This is the second such semester-long cultural exploration for the university. (by the) Montclair State’s Global Education Center, who put together the Italian program, also arranged the first one, a Hungarian Festival in 2006, and said the Italian festival would dwarf the earlier effort.

“The Italian population is very big in New Jersey, and we knew we could get the community involved," she said.

Watchung Booksellers, a local shop, will sponsor a Feb. 16 poetry panel at the Montclair Public Library with Wallis Wilde-Menozzi, an American living in Parma. The town’s Whole Foods market will pitch in, too, with donations to each of three cooking demonstrations: Northern Italian, Jewish Italian and Italian-American. (Dates, times and locations can be seen at www.montclair.edu.)

The idea of an Italian sense of identity "We have people who identify themselves as Italian" - one-third of Montclair State students do so,....but they’re very different than Italians. It’s a subject many people want to learn about..

A total of 16 artists and scholars will touch down in Montclair from points across Italy for the festival, some staying as long as two weeks to lecture and attend seminars, concerts and exhibitions by their countrymen. With the exception of "Hey Girl!" a theater piece on Feb. 7 to 10 directed by the avant-gardist Romeo Castellucci, for which tickets are $15, the more than 25 events are free and open to the public.

Such accessibility should help level the cultural divide, one of the goals set by Marco Bonini, an actor and producer whose film "Billo, Le Grand Dakhaar", about immigration in modern Italy, will have its United States premiere at the university on April 8.

“Americans can understand Italian culture better and better according to how much Italians are willing to make the effort to explain it to them," he said in a telephone interview from his home in Rome. -That’s why I’m coming.

“What I like about this festival is the theme - what is a sense of place today? The world seems to be working to erase a sense of place," he said.

Not that stale stereotypes should be allowed to stand, he added.

Claudia Cavatorta, a Parma-based archivist who will speak at a Jan. 29 symposium at the university on photography and cinema in postwar Italy, agreed. "Of course we are happy about the fact that Italy is often associated, in American imaginations, to beauty, craftsmanship, geniality, style, respect of tradition and love for fun," she said. But there is much of modern Italy, she added, that could be understood better.

Even, perhaps, the food.

“People don’t understand that there’s no such thing as Italian food," said Louise DeSalvo of Montclair, a cook and author whose "Crazy in the Kitchen: Food, Feuds, and Forgiveness in an Italian American Family"(Bloomsbury USA) was published in 2004, and who will present a lecture and demonstration on Italian-American cuisine on Feb. 27.

“Italian food differs from region to region, town to town", she said. "And in Italy, people are fairly intolerant of new things. They like what they’re used to."

So do Americans, according to Umberto Squarcia, an architect based in Manhattan and Parma who will present a lecture, "An Italian Architect in America: Architecture in Italy and Its Relationship to Landscape". on Feb. 5. Which is why the festival, with its focus on awakening a sense of the real Italy, could prove useful.

“Americans have their ideas about Italy, but it’s all the same images - still images," he said. "We want to go deep, to give you a feel of what’s been done in the past and what’s going on now. We want to move forward."

Italian Minister, Rutelli Claims Another Antiquities Looter Scalp: Ms Shelby White

Although Italy has successfully brokered accords for the return of artifacts over the last few years from American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, [plus The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the Cleveland Museum of Art , the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, the Princeton Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art,and others] Rutelli said the arrangement with Ms. White was its first negotiated pact with a private collector in the United States. Unlike the museums, which will receive long-term art loans under the agreements, Ms. White will receive nothing other than Italy's thanks in return.

The TEN artifacts given back by Ms. White include some of the finest showpieces in any private collection of classical antiquities in the world. Until recently, some were on view at the Met in an extended loan, including a red-figured vessel depicting Herakles slaying Kyknos, signed by the celebrated fifth-century B.C. painter Euphronios, and a pot with scenes of Zeus and Herakles attributed to the fifth-century B.C. painter Eucharides.

Italian investigators say that they have traced the Eucharides and some of the other artifacts to be returned to an Italian dealer convicted in 2004 of trafficking in illegal antiquities. Polaroid photographs seized in 1995 in a raid on two Swiss warehouses used by the dealer, Giacomo Medici, showed works either encrusted with dirt or in pieces, as if recently unearthed. Ms. White and her husband bought some of those objects from Robin Symes, a London dealer.

Ms. White has always maintained that she and her husband, Leon Levy, who died in 2003, bought their artifacts in good faith and had no knowledge that any may have been clandestinely excavated.

When Mr. Rutelli was asked whether Italy was also focusing on additional private collectors.He said only, "The coming year will be full of surprises."


Collector Returns Art Italy Says Was Looted
New York Times
By Eisabetta Povoledo
January 18, 2008

After 18 months of intense negotiations, the New York philanthropist Shelby White has ceded 10 classical antiquities from her private collection that Italy contends were looted from its soil, the Italian culture minister confirmed this week.

Nine of the 10 ancient Greek and Etruscan objects were delivered on Wednesday to the Italian Consulate on Park Avenue and will soon be crated and shipped to Italy, the minister, Francesco Rutelli, said in an interview in Rome. The remaining piece, a rare fifth-century B.C. Greek vessel, will go to Italy in 2010.

Mr. Rutelli said that Ms. White’s decision was "extraordinarily positive" as well as groundbreaking. "It is a generous and open-minded gesture," he said.

Although Italy has successfully brokered accords for the return of artifacts over the last few years from American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, he said the arrangement with Ms. White was its first negotiated pact with a private collector in the United States. Unlike the museums, which will receive long-term art loans under the agreements, Ms. White will receive nothing other than Italy’s thanks in return.

Ms. White did not respond to messages left on Thursday. A spokesman for Ms. White, Fraser P. Seitel, said by e-mail, "We have nothing to report at the moment but will let you know."

Ms. White has always maintained that she and her husband, Leon Levy, who died in 2003, bought their artifacts in good faith and had no knowledge that any may have been clandestinely excavated.

Ms. White, who sits on the Met’s board of trustees, is a major force in the city’s arts and educational philanthropy. With Mr. Levy, a Wall Street financier, she gave $20 million to finance the Met’s expanded wing of Greek and Roman art, which reopened last spring; the Leon Levy Foundation, for which she is the lead trustee, in 2006 made a $200 million gift of cash and real estate to New York University that will finance a new Institute for the Study of the Ancient World.

The artifacts given back by Ms. White include some of the finest showpieces in any private collection of classical antiquities in the world. Until recently, some were on view at the Met in an extended loan, including a red-figured vessel depicting Herakles slaying Kyknos, signed by the celebrated fifth-century B.C. painter Euphronios, and a pot with scenes of Zeus and Herakles attributed to the fifth-century B.C. painter Eucharides.

Italian investigators say that they have traced the Eucharides and some of the other artifacts to be returned to an Italian dealer convicted in 2004 of trafficking in illegal antiquities. Polaroid photographs seized in 1995 in a raid on two Swiss warehouses used by the dealer, Giacomo Medici, showed works either encrusted with dirt or in pieces, as if recently unearthed. Ms. White and her husband bought some of those objects from Robin Symes, a London dealer.

Italian government officials have not contended that the couple was involved in any crime, nor have they threatened Ms. White with prosecution. (A former curator from the Getty Museum has been on trial in Rome since 2005 on charges of conspiring to traffic in illicit artifacts.)

Although not accusatory, the negotiations with Ms. White were arduous and sometimes bitter, Italian officials have said. "It was “extremely complex,” Mr. Rutelli said.

One sticking point was Ms. White’s insistence that the Italians pledge never to pursue any other piece in her collection again.

Ultimately Italy agreed that it would not lay claim to any additional objects that were cataloged for a 1990 exhibition at the Met, "Glories of the Past: Ancient Art from the Shelby White and Leon Levy Collection." But if evidence were to surface that any other artifacts she owns were looted in Italy, the accord would allow Italian prosecutors to pursue their return.

Mr. Rutelli, who met twice with Ms. White last year, in Washington and New York, said he had been impressed by her "firm determination" during their talks. Others privy to the negotiations, which involved lawyers on both sides of the Atlantic as well as former and current diplomats, described her as a tough negotiator who doggedly maintained that the works in question had been bought from dealers and auction houses in good faith.

“She had an attitude of ‘Why me? There are other collectors out there,’ ” said one official who asked not to be identified for fear of offending Ms. White by describing the talks. "The truth is, because she’s lent so many of her pieces, she was very visible. Other collectors tend to keep their antiquities at home."

While the 1990 show of nearly 200 objects at the Met was a crowd pleaser, the exhibition catalog stirred questioning among many archaeologists and scholars about the objects’ provenance and the couple’s aggressive collecting practices.

In a 1999 study, two British archaeologists, David Gill and Christopher Chippendale, wrote that 93 percent of the pieces in “Glories of the Past” had no known provenance, suggesting that they were spirited away from archaeological sites. And Italian investigators also relied heavily on the catalog to match Levy-White objects to paper and photographic documentation from the Swiss warehouse of Mr. Medici.

The evidence yielded in the Medici warehouse raids has also been crucial to Italy’s successful recovery of works from American museums, including the Met, the Getty, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Princeton University Art Museum. Still, the criticism Ms. White has drawn from archaeologists is somewhat of a paradox. Passionate about archaeology, she and her husband were long known not only as collectors but also as major sponsors of excavations in Israel, the Aegean, Iran, Turkey, the Balkans and elsewhere. Ms. White continues to finance digs and the publication of archaeological discoveries.

Under the terms of the accord, Ms. White’s Euphronios vessel will remain in her possession for two more years before returning to Italy.

In the museum world, much speculation now centers on where Ms. White’s priceless antiquities collection " hundreds of objects ranging from prehistoric Aegean artworks to artifacts from the Middle East and Central Asia " will ultimately end up. She has always said that the works will be given to public institutions.

As the Italian investigation into artifacts in museum collections in the United States and Europe continues, Mr. Rutelli was asked whether Italy was also focusing on additional private collectors.

He said only, "The coming year will be full of surprises."

Friday, January 18, 2008

Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Protest in Rome

A Half a Million multi-colored plastic balls were thrown and bounced down Rome's famed Spanish Steps and into a 17th-century fountain on Wednesday morning in the latest stunt by Graziano Cecchini, a 55-year old artist and right-wing activist who last year dumped a can of dye in the nearby Trevi fountain, turning it into a blood red pool.

"Even when they protest, Italians can't help but create something beautiful", laughed a tourist from Washington. "It's a sight to behold".

Photo by REUTERS/Remo Casilli (ITALY)


Goodness, Gracious, Great Balls of Protest in Rome
Reuters
Wed Jan 16, 2008
ROME (Reuters Life!) - Half a million multi-colored plastic balls bounced down Rome's famed Spanish Steps on Wednesday morning in the latest stunt by a man who has become famous for his self-styled protests at the city's landmarks.

The balls were thrown down the steps and into a 17th-century fountain by Graziano Cecchini, a 55-year old artist and right-wing activist who last year dumped a can of dye in the nearby Trevi fountain, turning it into a blood red pool.

"Italians' balls are broken," was written on leaflets distributed at the scene.

Cecchini, who was later detained by police along with three other protesters, said his was "an artistic operation which shows, through art, the problems we have here in Italy".

"The colors of the balls weren't chosen by accident. In fact, the majority are red - I wanted people to remember the Trevi fountain".

Wide-eyed tourists and shopkeepers watched in disbelief as the balls were thrown from the balcony of the Holy Trinity Church, at the top of the Spanish steps.

Shopkeeper Lucia Russo sighed at the garbage trucks which quickly started to line up at the scene to collect the balls.

"Yes, it's a statement, yes, it looks nice, but let's spare a thought for the cleaners," she said.

Others took a more light-hearted approach. "Even when they protest, Italians can't help but create something beautiful", laughed John Hyde, a tourist from Washington. "I don't see any meaning in it, but it's a sight to behold".

(Reporting by Liz Rusbridger, editing by Paul Casciato)

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSL1615306220080116

Learn How to Live Life by Copying the Italians

Danny Bernardi who lives in Birmingham England, but visits Italy frequently, spoke to a number of young Italians who were educated and frustrated, seemingly unable to capitalise on their skills and academic qualifications (in Italy). Some of these young people told me they wanted to come to the UK where they had heard there were rich pickings. ‘Was it true?’ they asked me. ‘
Yes, it’s true. You will probably find a job and earn some decent money,’ I told them. I felt it only fair to point out the downside. ‘Rents and mortgages are high and the food is not only bad but also expensive. More importantly,’ I continued, ‘everything is incredibly hectic and you will probably be so busy commuting and working that you won’t have a life! There will also be less time for your friends and you can forget lunch! The leisurely evening passeggiata with it’s slow stop for gelato or coffee will be replaced by the Great British Pub Crawl which involves liver numbing quantities of alcohol consumed within a staggeringly short time span.' My anecdotal observations of British life seemed to be enough to discourage most I spoke to.


Learn How to Live Life by Copying the Italians
American Chronicle - Beverly Hills,CA,USA
By Danny Bernardi
January 16, 2008
In the United Kingdom The Children’s Society is to set up an independent inquiry to look at all aspects of childhood amid growing concerns over the health and quality of childrens’ lives. Complex family structures and an overwhelming number of exams and assessments means our kids are filling their faces with junk food, spending hours alone in front of computer screens and suffering from stress. Their poor parents, meanwhile, seem oblivious to all this as they rush around trying to cram as much as possible into already overcrowded schedules. It would seem our lives are now lived at breakneck pace with little time for some of the simpler pleasures. Being idle is a sin and slowing down practically unthinkable! The importance of paid work and the primacy of economic competitiveness, whatever the personal costs, is almost accepted wisdom in here in the UK.

Having just returned from an extended writing trip to Italy (where I live for part of the year) it has become obvious to me that the contrast in lifestyles between the two countries could not be greater. Sure, the Italians have their own problems and their fair share of stress but they do seem to have their priorities better thought out. The Italian government doesn’t need to trumpet family friendly policies or work life balance initiatives because it's people instinctively value leisure time and realise what is important.

In Italy the extent to which the different generations mix with ease is also striking. Older members of the community sit around chatting whilst keeping a watchful eye on children playing in the square. At first glance these children seem to be running amok in a very unstructured manner. In reality their play is simple and unhurried while our own offspring seem stuck in their rooms, glued to shoot ‘em up games or else they are being frantically ferried around from one organised activity to another.

The importance of taking a few moments out of the day to sit down for a break is also important for Italians. A coffee stop is considered a virtual human right and there appears to be a national commitment to living life at an even pace. Meals can take hours to consume and lunch is a non-negotiable part of the Italian working day. The typical British schedule, however, leaves us guilt-ridden if we’re still for more than a few moments. Sadly, frantic activity and full diaries have become the norm.

Visitors to Italy should also be aware of a social phenomenon which I have dubbed ‘The Italian Distraction’. Far from being unpleasant this social technique is, in fact, designed to force you to relax. I suspect it may even be some covert government initiative to preserve the quality of Italian life. The Italian Distraction invariably involves two people meeting by chance. There then follows a lengthy conversation about nothing in particular. A third or even a fourth person may join in. After a respectable amount of time a joint decision is invariably taken to continue the discussion over coffee, a glass of wine or perhaps a meal. Thus, a five minute trip out for a pint of milk or newspaper could take all morning. Italians do not seem to consider such time wasted – far from it – the Italian Distraction is an important part of daily life.
Ultimately, any way of life is all about choices. Here in the UK we’d rather spend our spare time at home engrossed in DIY or consuming in huge shopping malls. The Italians would rather just wander out and about to see what emerges.

Obviously, I am generalising and there are exceptions to the rule. I spoke to a number of young Italians who were educated and frustrated, seemingly unable to capitalise on their skills and academic qualifications. Some of these young people told me they wanted to come to the UK where they had heard there were rich pickings. ‘Was it true?’ they asked me. ‘Yes, it’s true. You will probably find a job and earn some decent money,’ I told them. I felt it only fair to point out the downside. ‘Rents and mortgages are high and the food is not only bad but also expensive. More importantly,’ I continued, ‘everything is incredibly hectic and you will probably be so busy commuting and working that you won’t have a life! There will also be less time for your friends and you can forget lunch! The leisurely evening passeggiata with it’s slow stop for gelato or coffee will be replaced by the Great British Pub Crawl which involves liver numbing quantities of alcohol consumed within a staggeringly short time span.'

My anecdotal observations of British life seemed to be enough to discourage most I spoke to. Sure, Italy has an underperforming economy, it's fair share of corrupt politicians and the world’s most frustrating bureaucracy but it still possesses a great quality of life and there are some things money just can’t buy. What’s the point working crazy hours, sacrificing your family and social life if you’re going to die before your time of a stress related disease due to over work? It is no accident the Italians stay healthier for longer than we do. Maybe this is because our Mediterranean cousins view their existence as a joyful jog rather than some crazy lone sprint where profits and short term efficiency gains are placed above anything else.

Danny Bernardi is a writer and novelist based in Birmingham, the UKs second city. He is a regular contributor of articles and fiction to various online ezines and news sites. He is the author of "Under the Rotunda", a novel which deals, in part, with the work life balance. It is available from www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk

A free extract can be viewed at www.dannybernardi.zoomshare.com

bernardi.d@googlemail.com

Disco Italian Style... In America.... Tongue in Cheek ???

This is ONLY for the very Young and Hip. I was in the Music Business at one time, and I have no idea what the author is talking about, but it is intriguing.
For instance.......

Italo, is a chuckle-worthy misnomer. Italo is a ridiculous--listening from this side of the ocean, anyway--Italian interpretation of disco that took everything cheeselike and upped it by a factor of 10 and Eurofied it in kind of the same way our president ups his Americanism with a cowboy hat and trips to the family farm. Italo is Italian pop music, in the boy band/American Idol sense, not the three-square-meals, all-your-fruits-and-vegetables, Alicia Keys sense. "If it was real Italo, people wouldn't listen to it," Simonetti says with a tinge of incredulousness.

I think it's saying it's an Italian styled mocking parody of American disco. !! :) :)


Disco Italian Style...
As Made and Envisioned by a Group of Young Americans From The Rose City
Baltimore City Paper by Michael Byrne January 16, 2008

Glass Candy

You get the feeling that the only club in existence that would make any sense for Glass Candy exists in a post-apocalyptic disco dimension. With its sultry detachment, group-suicide love poetry, and Ziggy Stardust glam, you can't help but feel lucky being in the same room with the Portland, Ore., band, the showpiece and raison d'Ăªtre of 2007's upstart label Italians Do It Better. Its music makes you feel like you've stumbled onto something you're not worthy of seeing, like a fantastically well-dressed bouncer is gently yet firmly going to usher you out the door, pointing you to the indie club down the block. And when you get there and look back, there'll just be a brick wall with maybe a lipstick-smeared cigarette crushed at its foot. You can't help but feel hopelessly uncool listening to this stuff.

Our phantom club isn't far from the truth. Glass Candy haunts in the duo's longtime Portland home were the darkest of the dark, the most unmarked of the covert. Rotture: a signless bass thump in a warehouse maze of half-paved-over rail lines and freeway overpass pylons. Dunes: what looks like the service entrance to the kung fu studio next door; dim and so fogged with smoke you could barely tell what sex the person you were making out with was (and you were making out, at least, with someone); the place where you could see the Gossip play to 75 people, all crushed together, sticky with bodily fluids and gin, dancing

That was until Italians Do It Better--which is provisionally interchangeable with Glass Candy: GC beatsmith Johnny Jewel does production for many of the IDIB bands--became very, very hip. That was before it became as much a slogan for those who wanted more than Day-Glo indie-techno fare, or wanted the next thing beyond it--and there are many of those people--as it is a record label. Glass Candy now sells out the same venue in Portland--Holocene, the cream of Cascadian dance clubs--that a touring Justice sells out. Most IDIB releases now being pressed en masse were originally released as microruns of CD-Rs.

And the duo's labelmates--notably Chromatics, Mirage, and Farah--aren't many tiers down. Chromatics' somnolent dance noir "In the City" is an oddball crate staple, as recognizable now on a dance floor as half the stuff in the Ed Banger catalog, and with the sort of creeping, subtle groove that makes us think that the attention spans of the swelling techno-loving masses--"it's the new indie-rock," Italians co-owner and DJ Mike Simonetti stated simply from a Jersey City diner last week--aren't totally f*****d, that dance music has hope beyond the heavy, easiness/obviousness of the Simian Justice Noize "blog-house" microgenre.

This is, after all, disco music. The blog posse--and beyond into should-know-better print criticism--insists on tagging all of it, blanket style, as Italo. The word itself gives off a sort of attractive aura of the exotic and, thus, the exclusive (see also: M.I.A.), and, we suspect, that foreignness makes it much more palatable than saying disco. It will be a long time before that is hip again to associate with in the United States (if Spectral/Ghostly moved to Paris, it could take over the world). Don't forget disco's perma-associations with the Bee Gees and other assorted late-'70s cheeses.

So, it's Italo, a chuckle-worthy misnomer. Italo is a ridiculous--listening from this side of the ocean, anyway--Italian interpretation of disco that took everything cheeselike and upped it by a factor of 10 and Eurofied it in kind of the same way our president ups his Americanism with a cowboy hat and trips to the family farm. Italo is Italian pop music, in the boy band/American Idol sense, not the three-square-meals, all-your-fruits-and-vegetables, Alicia Keys sense. "If it was real Italo, people wouldn't listen to it," Simonetti says with a tinge of incredulousness.

Simonetti has been watching the momentum of both his label and disco in general build from behind a computer screen. "[I] can see what's hip by looking on eBay," he says. "When prices go down, it means people are flooding the market. I see people in shops now all the time buying up [12-inch singles]."

So, if the market's flooded, what's next? Cynics that have watched the ascension (again) of techno into the indie ranks--and will certainly watch it tumble back into the surf after the hype crests--have to wonder if this wave of interest isn't just the next in a line. Simonetti recalls running into an old associate--once "a total indie-rock kid"--a few weeks ago at a New York club where he was DJing, now a dance fan on his way to the next club, and probably one after that. One example of God knows how many of the suddenly reformed. Disco itself was a climax trend in the first place.

"Every movement is doomed from the start," Simonetti says without much regret. "People just want to release records and be involved in some kind of scene."

And there's the matter of who can even make disco music any more. "You can't have a whole horn section, a whole string section, a drummer, a whole band to make a proper disco album," Simonetti says. "It's impossible in this day and age, especially with a bunch of privileged Williamsburg hipsters."

And few producers even understand the mechanics of disco: The slick arpeggios, vocoders, and 4/4 beats are mainly what hit our ears as disco signifiers, but the guts of it are microrhythms so complex that they took Glass Candy's Johnny Jewel almost the lifetime of the band, 11 years now, to get. In 1996, GC came out as a kind of Contortions/DNA no-wave with disco twitches--"the first disco-punk band" Simonetti boasts--and now it's icy, disturbingly intricate, postmodern disco, the apex of something, trend or not.

A trend, however, is never the whole--or even close to the whole--of a music. Simonetti knows this music isn't leaving because it never really left, whether it's being parodied by Italo or hanging on in deep house music, where it survived the '80s. Hipsters are fickle, yes. But, music's always survived hipsters. And Italians Do It Better will be no exception.

Baltimore City Paper

Gino Bucchino -Ensuring the Rights of Italians Living Abroad

Ensuring the Rights of Italians Living Abroad

Gino Bucchino insists Italian government gives his constituents more respect

Tandem
Canada's Cosmoplitan Newspaper
By Letizia Tesi
January 20-27, 2008

Gino Bucchino is optimist and calm, but he doesn't mince words. "Up to now we have obtained almost nothing. The problem is that we have to work so hard in order for Italians living abroad to receive adequate attention and recognition from Italy's parliamentary and governmental structures," he says.


Bucchino, deputy of the Italian Ulivo party and the Italian parliamentarian of North America with Salvatore Ferrigno (a deputy of the Italian Forza Italia party) and the senator Renato Guerino Turano, doesn’t use political jargon. He prefers talking about facts. For this reason he considers his first 18 months on the job as a type of testing period, but actually he has accomplished some goals. "Until now politics was concerned with demagogy. Italians living abroad are really a resource and it’s time that this is recognized," says Bucchino. But this isn’t an easy job. First of all the Italian deputies have to change the commonly held belief that the parliamentarians living abroad are at an advantage.


“The Italian parliament considers us aliens. Many deputies, some who belong to our side, say that we are new and we have to pass through the ranks before asking for something. I’m totally faithful to my government and I think that my commitment is to be the spokesman of the needs of Italians living abroad."


The deputies elected abroad have difficulties getting the attention of the Italian government, but Italians living abroad are considered a resource. "We have the same rights that parliamentarians have in Italy. We love our country and we pay taxes, sometimes double the amount of taxes."

Corriere Canadese/Tandem recently interviewed the Honorable Gino Bucchino about his strategies and aspirations.

What goals have you achieved in your first 18 months on the job?
“First of all the ratification of the new bilateral agreement regarding social safety is almost complete. The Canadian government approved it in record time. Italy is late. But the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Massimo D’Alema, committed himself to the issue by writing a letter in which he presents the ratification to Italy's parliament as soon as possible."

Do you have any particular personal goals?
“Yes, the one regarding Ici (Imposta Comunale sugli Immobili " a local council property tax) and the one regarding INPS (Istituto Nazionale della Previdenza Sociale " an Italian state body that coordinates national insurance funds)." In regards to ICI, a law issued in 1993 establishes that all Italians, including those living abroad, have the same rights and duties regarding the first real estate property tax. But actually Italians living abroad didn’t benefit from the deductions provided for the last financial bill yet. Did they forget the law issued in 1993? I wrote an amendment, which was not included in the financial bill, and an order of the day, which was received in parliament. In addition, I wrote a letter to Minister Padoa-Schioppa. If I do not receive a satisfactory answer, I will contact a superior official. This discrimination has to stop.

Regarding INPS, I’m struggling in order to guarantee seniors the additional pension established by INPS. As of 2001 INPS introduced a type of Christmas bonus for pensioners whose benefits are unknown to Italians living abroad. I wrote a letter to Minister Damiano. If they don’t solve this problem, I will charge INPS because this is an illegality.”

What about teaching the Italian language abroad?
“I signed a bill, which renews the old law (n. 153, 1970) regarding teaching and promoting the Italian language abroad. The Italian language has to be considered a cultural language. Italian immigrants don’t loose their roots; they’re able to transmit the best of their culture and to welcome new cultures. In this way integration becomes interaction. The parliamentarian should pay attention to this need, not only in order to guarantee the rights of Italians living abroad, but also to improve Italy."

***
On Jan. 22 at 7 p.m. the Honorable Gino Bucchino will head the conference "The Experience of Italians Living Abroad" at St. Michael’s College (85 Mary Street, on Queen’s Park, Charbonnel Lounge). The conference will be launched by Prof. Bruno Magliocchetti, of the Italian Department at the University of Toronto.
On Jan. 27 at 1.30 p.m. at the Oshawa Italian Recreation Club (245 Simcoe Street, Oshawa) a fundraiser will be held to raise money for The Pink Box, a not-for-profit organization that helps Ecuadorian children. Gino Bucchino is the co-founder of the organization.

Hammonton, NJ Most Italian Town in US - New Cultural Center

Hammonton, NJ celebrates all things Italian, and according to the 2000 census, had more Italians per capita than any other town in the USA! The NEW Pinetina Center for Italian Arts and Culture School will incorporate Language and Culture Lessons.
The Italian Sons and Daughters of Italy were instrumental in the founding.


Italian School Coming to Country's Most Italian Town

The Hammonton News
By Ben Meritt
Staff Writer
Jan 16, 2008

HAMMONTON -- Interested in exploring the Italian language and culture? The Pinetina Center for Italian Arts and Culture may be the place for you.

And Hammonton is the place for the center, said its founder, Antonina Bellesorte.

What better place for a school that celebrates all things Italian than in the town that, according to the 2000 census, had more Italians per capita than any other town in the country?

Bellesorte said she is close to relocating the school to the Italian Sons and Daughters of Italy headquarters at 335 Pratt St., accepting an offer from chapter president John Rodio.

Hammonton Town Council member Tracy Petrongolo is helping Bellesorte find another facility for the school, one that could possibly be the center's permanent home.

Classes in Hammonton begin Jan. 24, Bellesorte said.

"I started out in Medford, then moved to Haddonfield. The reason to expand into Hammonton is because there are so many Italian-Americans," said Bellesorte, who was born and raised in Montella, Italy, in the province of Avellino, near Naples. "When you are taking a lesson with Pinetina, you not only are taking a lesson in the language, you are incorporating the culture."

She said the cultural aspect is what separates her school from a course at a community college.

"Our philosophy at Pinetina is you shouldn't learn the language without the culture," Bellesorte said. "You should know where your dialects came from. You should know why you say a word a certain way."

Bellesorte said Pinetina's small class sizes are conducive to better comprehension of the lessons.

"You cannot really learn basic conversation when you are in a classroom with 10 to 20 people. You learn best after a certain age -- a mature age," Bellesorte said. "If you keep a class at four to six people, it's really semi-private. Then you are really going to be successful."

Brimming with enthusiasm, Bellesorte has a simple goal for her center, which celebrates its four-year anniversary this spring.

"Once you know how you sound, how you do it, it becomes a passion. It's how you communicate with someone else," Bellesorte said. "It's imperative that the children, especially, learn how and where they came from. That to me is really mandatory."

Bellesorte is a graduate of Temple University, where she received a degree in social work. Her parents brought her here to the United States in 1955 as a child, but her parents didn't like it, so they returned to their homeland.

In 1968, after many years of English classes at both the elementary and high school, Bellesorte came back.

The classes at Pinetina, which means "small pine forest" in Italian, are open to everyone.

"You don't have to be Italian to love this culture," Bellesorte said.

In addition to language, Pinetina features culinary arts classes, travel to Italy, opera appreciation and English as a Second Language lessons.

Bellesorte said learning the Italian language -- especially for the children -- is important to her.

"I really do specialize in the children's program first. They are our future," Bellesorte said. "They don't have Italian in the schools, so they almost don't have permission to say its OK to learn about my culture other than what the parents can do, and sometimes the parents don't know."

bmeritt@thehammontonnews.com

Gannett News Service contributed to this report.

http://www.thehammontonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080116/LIFESTYLE/801160302/1024&template=printart

"Let Yourself be Charmed by an Italian" -Isabella Rossellini as Italian Fashion Spokesperson

Isabella Rossellini has been chosen to be the spokesperson for the government-financed Italian Fashion advertising campaign aimed at American consumers.
Deciding which label Ms. Rossellini would wear for the campaign was a quandary. Rossellini decided on an outfit by Cristina Bomba, a designer unknown outside of Italy, "because (choosing) either Armani or Missoni ... would make the other one jealous."

Isabella is so disarming. She didn't consider Dolce & Gabbana, although at one time it was her favorite. Apologetically she said: "I’m not fat, or maybe I’m vain and don’t want to think of myself as fat. But now I don’t fit, and that is a mystery to me." That's Adorable!!!!

Also, she remembers how fashion was perceived when she first came to New York at 19. She resented "all these (Italy) stereotypes about spaghetti and meatballs, which we never eat in Italy," she said.

Italian Charm for Sale
The New York Times
By Eric Wilson
January 17, 2008

AFTER the clobbering Italian fashion has taken of late - in some accounts for its inability to produce a new generation of hot designers, in others for using underpaid Chinese immigrants to make overpriced handbags - Isabella Rossellini is making a stand for Milan.

Ms. Rossellini, the actress and model, appears in a new government-financed advertising campaign that urges American consumers to "Let yourself be charmed by an Italian" And although Ms. Rossellini, is, of course, half Swedish and now lives in America, she was born in Rome, is indeed charming, adores Italian fashion and is disarmingly honest in her sales pitch.

“Quite frankly, I think it is appropriate because I have worked as a model," she said. "They might have chosen Sophia Loren or Monica Bellucci, but I think I might have worked in fashion more".

She has, as they say, kicked the tires.

She has been out with Giorgio Armani and been surprised to see crowds treating him as the star. She remembers Max Mara as a coat house and Prada when it sold only purses. She remembers how fashion was perceived when she first came to New York at 19. (She resented "all these stereotypes about spaghetti and meatballs, which we never eat in Italy," she said.)

Ms. Rossellini, who was once the face of the French cosmetics company LancĂ´me, is well versed on the intricacies of the American marketplace and how difficult it can be to succeed here. Perhaps this makes her sensitive to the competitiveness among Italian designers trying to do the same.

Deciding what Ms. Rossellini would wear for the campaign was fraught.

“Obviously, everything had to be Italian", she said. "The great debate was whether I would wear an Armani or a Missoni."

Ms. Rossellini coyly suggested an outfit by Cristina Bomba, a designer unknown outside of Italy, "because either Armani or Missoni would be such a strong signature that it would make the other one jealous."

She praised Armani and Missoni, mind you. She once wore a lot of Dolce & Gabbana, too, but this is where Ms. Rossellini went a bit off message.

“I’m not fat," she said, "or maybe I’m vain and don’t want to think of myself as fat. But now I don’t fit, and that is a mystery to me."

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/17/fashion/17ROW.html?_r=1&ref=fashion&oref=slogin

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Pasta all’Amatriciana - Simple Dish Frought with Controversy

It is an amusing to see how wrought Italians can get when they think their traditional dishes, even the simple one's like pasta all’amatriciana are "bastardized", with the wrong pasta shape, addition of "alien" ingredients, which leads to arguments even as to the dishes "origins", etc.
Even such well regarded Italian Chefs in the USA as Marcella Hazan or Alfredo Viazzi who recommend bacon or pancetta, have it all wrong say purists, otherwise known as the "pasta police". To be authentic, It must be made with guanciale, which means pillow, a description of its shape, a cured, unsmoked pig jowl, that has an especially rich, sweetly porky flavor and a buttery texture. They claim ordinary bacon - is too smoky - or Italian pancetta, is too lean.

Oh yes, there are a number of other disputes about this simple pasta dish...... read on. :)


The Meat of the Matter in a Pasta Debate
The New York Times
By Florence Fabricant
January 16, 2008

FOR a simple dish, pasta all’amatriciana is freighted with controversy.

People in Amatrice say it originated in that central Italian town, as the name implies. But in Rome, about 60 miles away, chefs proudly claim it as their own and say its name has nothing to do with its origins.

In Amatrice, the dish is simply pasta, tomatoes, cured pork and cheese. But Romans include onions and olive oil. Even the type of pasta is in dispute.

After half a dozen plates of it during a recent trip to Italy, one detail became clear: for any pasta all’amatriciana to be authentic, it must be made with guanciale - cured, unsmoked pig jowl.

Italians take guanciale for granted, but it’s fairly new to American kitchens. Almost all the recipes in American cookbooks call for ordinary bacon - which is too smoky - or Italian pancetta, which is too lean. Guanciale, which means pillow, a description of its shape, has an especially rich, sweetly porky flavor and a buttery texture.

Anne Burrell, the chef at Centro Vinoteca in Greenwich Village, who once worked with Mario Batali, makes her bucatini all’amatriciana with very crisp rashers of guanciale. "It’s all about the guanciale," she said of the dish.

When I asked Sandro Fioriti, chef and owner of Sandro’s on the Upper East Side, what he used in his bucatini all’amatriciana, Mr. Fioriti, a Roman, pointed to his cheek. "Guanciale", he said.

But most cookbooks never mention guanciale. Even if they did, where would the American cook find it? That’s why, until recently, it was nearly impossible to prepare bucatini all’amatriciana properly outside of Italy. Salumeria Biellese at 376-378 Eighth Avenue (29th Street) was about the only shop in New York that sold guanciale.

Now, however, there are new American sources. La Quercia, a producer of cured pork in Iowa, makes it and sells it online at laquercia.us and at Fairway markets. Armandino Batali, Mario Batali’s father, has a Seattle company, Salumi Artisan Cured Meats, that sells it at salumicuredmeats.com.

Good guanciale makes all the difference, said the actor Michael Tucker, an accomplished cook, who, with his wife, the actress Jill Eikenberry, has a house in Umbria. In his book, "Living in a Foreign Language" (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2007), he describes buying guanciale from Ugo Mazzoli, the butcher in Campello sul Clitunno, near his house.

“I first started making bucatini all’amatriciana nearly 30 years ago, after I was working on a movie in Rome and was taken to a restaurant near the Vatican that served it," he said. "If you look in Marcella Hazan’s book, or Alfredo Viazzi," he said of two Italian cookbook authors, "they recommend bacon or pancetta. It’s not the same."

To expand my understanding, Mr. Tucker and Ms. Eikenberry came with me on a fact-finding trip to Amatrice.

The road to the town is lined with signs trumpeting the local specialty. A tip from Fred Plotkin, a food writer and expert on Italy, led us to the restaurant Albergo La Conca, where the owner, Roberto Antinori, explained that a first-rate rendition of the dish required only guanciale, tomatoes, thick spaghetti (not bucatini, which he said comes from Rome), lavish amounts of grated aged local pecorino cheese (a sharp, salty sheep’s cheese), plus pinches of chili or peperoncino. In Amatrice, this dish does not contain onions, an important ingredient of the Roman version.

At La Conca we also tried pasta alla gricia, sometimes called "white amatriciana" because it is made with slivers of guanciale, black pepper, drifts of pecorino and no tomatoes. Often, a short macaroni like rigatoni, locally called mezzemani, replaces the bucatini. It is supposedly a more ancient recipe, predating the arrival of tomatoes. Mr. Antinori said it was a shepherd’s dish from Grisciano, a nearby town.

We found Grisciano and, tempted despite a two-pasta lunch in Amatrice, stopped on the way back to Umbria. It was a dismal hamlet with no restaurant.

The tomato-less version can be overwhelmed by the richness of the guanciale. But when the dish is well made, as it was at La Conca and at Sandro’s in New York, where I tried it after returning from Italy, the sharpness of the cheese and pepper balance the pork. I also noticed that in Italy, the guanciale is tender, not crisp as in American versions, so its flavor is more pronounced.

Extending my research to Rome, I had intended to try the dish again at Il Matriciano but the restaurant was closed. So I ate in Lo Scopettaro, in Testaccio, Rome’s meatpacking district, where the dish was made in strict Amatrice fashion, without onions or olive oil. At ’Gusto Osteria, part of a modern complex of wine bars and restaurants not far from the Piazza Navona, it was made with rigatoni and, certainly to the dismay of purists, shreds of fresh basil.

L’Ambasciata d’Abruzzo in the Parioli district also makes it without onions, and furthermore, claims that the dish is from Abruzzo, since Amatrice was once within that region, not Lazio, the region where Amatrice and Rome are now located. That’s what Anna Teresa Callen also contends in her book "Food and Memories of Abruzzo" (Wiley, 2004).

Mr. Fioriti of Sandro’s insists the dish comes from Rome. And he uses onions.

There are also some theories that the name of the dish has nothing whatever to do with Amatrice, and that, indeed, it should be called bucatini alla matriciana, as it sometimes is in Rome. The exact meaning of matriciana is open to question, too, with one theory suggesting that it refers to a wild herb, called matricale in Italy. But except for the basil at ’Gusto, we never had it with herbs. Another possibility that was put forth is that alla matriciana is the same as amatriciana, with the absence of the initial "a" because of a Roman dialect.

Back from exploring, Mr. Tucker prepared his version at his Umbrian home. He started his guanciale in a little olive oil and used onions, the traditional Roman way. The tomatoes were the canned San Marzano variety, which is what restaurants use. And he also added garlic and some Parmigiano-Reggiano to the pecorino - touches that distressed his Roman friend Bruno Rubeo, a set designer who lives nearby. Nonetheless, Mr. Rubeo, whom Mr. Tucker refers to as "the pasta police", admits that Mr. Tucker’s amatriciana, while unorthodox, is delicious. It is.

“That’s because I used Ugo’s guanciale", Mr. Tucker said, heaping praise on his butcher. He’s probably right. But even when I made it with La Quercia’s guanciale from Iowa, my bucatini all’amatriciana was infinitely better than it ever was with bacon or pancetta.

As for the bucatini alla gricia, it is not worth attempting without guanciale. And from now on, even when I make spaghetti alla carbonara, I will use slivers of guanciale instead of bacon or pancetta. I’m a convert.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/16/dining/16ital.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

Italy’s Foreign Minister D'Alema Ridicules Bush’s Accusations Against Iran

D'Alema had immediate support from at least Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Egypt and Turkey President Abdullah Gul, who warned against war on Iran and called for a peaceful solution. "There is no need for the use of force. Use of force will lead to very serious consequences in the region and the world." "The problems must be resolved diplomatically."
As most of you know, When a leader is faced with Disaster, you create a Diversion. Iraq is the Disaster,Iran is one of the Diversions.
In the "The Bush Tragedy" by Jacob Weisberg in a just released book, he states "Many of us will no doubt continue to ask ourselves how the Bush presidency squandered so much of the power, prestige and wealth that were left to us by earlier generations, and why we entrusted the fate of the nation to a man so plainly unfit for that responsibility."
Even though you may have read "The Fall of the House of Bush" by Craig Unger of just a few months ago, this is worth your time.
The Review of "The Bush Tragedy" is at:


Italian FM Ridicules Bush’s Accusations Against Iran
Mehr News
January 14, 2008
TEHRAN, Jan. 14 (MNA) – Italy’s Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema has ridiculed U.S. President George W. Bush’s harsh tone against Iran, declaring that Rome doesn’t consider Iran as a threat to world security.

In an interview with the Channel 3 of the Italian TV, D'Alema said such a harsh tone by the president of the world’s most powerful country that Iran threatens the security of all countries is over-exaggerated.

Bush claimed on Sunday in the United Arab Emirates that Iran is threatening the security of the world and that the United States and Arab allies must join together to confront the danger “before it’s too late.”

“Iran’s actions threaten the security of nations everywhere,” Bush claimed. “So the United States is strengthening our longstanding security commitments with our friends in the (Persian) Gulf, and rallying friends around the world to confront this danger before it is too late.”

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=621541

Acclaimed for Beauty, Violinist Nicola Benedetti Has Talent and Depth to be Taken Seriously

A remarkable prodigy, Benedetti was named the BBC's Young Musician of the Year at 16. Still, it wasn't talent alone that then enticed Deutsche Grammophon to offer her what has been reported to be the label's best deal in 25 years -- six recordings, and $2 million. By comparison, Esa-Pekka Salonen's contract with DG is for peanuts.

Happily, success and fame (thus far mostly in Britain, where her photos are favorites of the newspapers and magazines) don't seem to have gone to her head. In Europe, she gets big gigs, but in America she has been honorably working her way up the ranks, gaining experience. Last spring, she was soloist with the Dayton Symphony. This year, she will make her debuts with the Colorado, Virginia and Phoenix symphonies. Her West Coast debut was a recital in La Jolla two years ago.


Not Just Another Pretty Prodigy
Acclaimed for her beauty, violinist Nicola Benedetti has the talent and depth to be taken seriously.
Los Angeles Times By Mark Swed, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
January 15, 2008
No doubt with some justification, Nicola Benedetti, a violinist of 20 from Scotland who performed a recital at Pepperdine University on Sunday afternoon, has complained in the British press about reviewers who focus more on her beauty than on her music-making. She can hardly be surprised, though.

A remarkable prodigy, Benedetti was named the BBC's Young Musician of the Year at 16. Still, it wasn't talent alone that then enticed Deutsche Grammophon to offer her what has been reported to be the label's best deal in 25 years -- six recordings, a free say in repertory and something in the neighborhood of $2 million. By comparison, Esa-Pekka Salonen's contract with DG is for peanuts.

Happily, success and fame (thus far mostly in Britain, where her photos are favorites of the newspapers and magazines) don't seem to have gone to her head. In Europe, she gets big gigs, but in America she has been honorably working her way up the ranks, gaining experience. Last spring, she was soloist with the Dayton Symphony. This year, she will make her debuts with the Colorado, Virginia and Phoenix symphonies. Her West Coast debut was a recital in La Jolla two years ago.

Her first appearance in these parts, Sunday,..was in Malibu...on a flawless day, when the violinist's loveliness competed with nature's and a glorious sunset....

Despite all this, Benedetti coped graciously. Her program was not trivial. She began with the famous Chaconne from Bach's D-minor Partita for solo violin, followed by Brahms' Third Violin Sonata.

The second half was French, devoted to Ravel and Saint-Saëns. She plays a fine instrument, a 1712 Stradivarius. She has a sumptuous tone. She digs into a phrase with plenty of intensity and clearly enjoys showing off her technique, but she never crosses the line to showiness.

An admirable violinist, ...She enjoys grand moments the most, and her Brahms was rhapsodic and lusty....

The French music suited Benedetti best.... In Ravel's Sonata in G, she was smooth and elegant and comfortable with the jazz elements. Although never exactly flirtatious, she brought elegance to Saint-Saëns' "Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso" and flair to Ravel's "Tzigane."...

Benedetti is a developing artist. Her technique is not flawless, and she had some moments when her intonation slipped. But she is doing a lot right. James MacMillan and John Tavener have begun writing for her, and her next recording, to be released shortly, will include a new Tavener concerto.

Meanwhile, the world of glamour beckons for this young musician who could probably find far greater fame and fortune in fashion than in classical music. Benedetti deserves credit for tenaciously sticking to her art...she's certainly earned the right to be taken seriously....
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-benedetti15jan15,1,5596109.story?coll=la-headlines-calendar&ctrack=1&cset=true

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

"Soft Earth - Black Grape": Experience of Italian Winemakers in California

"Soft Earth Black Grape" provides evidence that previously deterministic assumption found in much of the available scholarly literature that Piedmontese immigrants successfully transplanted a shared, traditional wine culture to California thanks to
striking geographic, climatic, and environmental similarities between the place they had left behind and the Golden State, were Totally Incorrect..
To the Contrary, None of the successful entrepreneurs had any enological training prior to immigration, let alone the skills that a modern wine industry would have required. Lacking the initial capital, the would-be winemakers typically purchased marginal and poor tracts of land, which scarcely resembled the hilly landscapes of their native surroundings. Intensive immigrant labor, first and foremost, transformed what would have been hopeless efforts into profitable investments.
The book also touches on the Racial Discrimination against Italians and how Prohibition effected the Italian grape growers.


Soft Earth Black Grape:
Labor, Social Capital, and Race in the Experience of Italian Winemakers in California
By Simone Cinotto
At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Italian-Swiss Colony of Asti in Sonoma County shipped thousands of gallons of wine each year from San Francisco to large cities along the eastern coast of the United States, as well as various destinations abroad.
Its director, a former pharmacist named Pietro Carlo Rossi, was widely considered one of the brightest minds in the California wine industry.
At the same time, Secondo Guasti, the founder of the Italian Vineyard Company in Cucamonga (some fifty miles east of Los Angeles), could claim to possess the largest vineyards in the entire world. And in 1933, Ernest and Julio Gallo established the Gallo Winery in Modesto, California that was destined to become the leading American wine company after World War II. Rossi, Guasti, and the Gallos were all first- and second-generation Italian immigrants who had come to California from Langhe and Monferrato, two small neighboring rural areas in southeastern Piedmont.
Why did such a negligible number of immigrants from a single Italian region have such a dramatic impact on a major trade in California’s economy? Soft Earth Black Grape deconstructs and rejects the deterministic assumption found in much of the available scholarly literature whereby Piedmontese immigrants successfully transplanted a shared, traditional wine culture to California thanks to striking geographic, climatic, and environmental similarities between the place they had left behind and the Golden State.
None of the successful entrepreneurs discussed in the book had any enological training prior to immigration, let alone the skills that a modern wine industry would have required.
Lacking the initial capital, the would-be winemakers typically purchased marginal and poor tracts of land, which scarcely resembled the hilly landscapes of their native surroundings. Intensive immigrant labor, first and foremost, transformed what would have been hopeless efforts into profitable investments.
In fact, it was social capital - their ability to access limited resources like credit and cheap labor through personal, ethnic, and family social networks - that gave Piedmontese winemakers the initial edge over competitors who were richer in financial capital. As for labor relations, they could not only take advantage of a constant source of skilled manpower - supplied by professional chain migrations from Piedmont - but they were also able to keep both wages and conflict to a minimum.
Race was a major factor. As opposed to what happened to their more numerous counterparts in industrial cities like New York and Chicago - where a major in-migration of Blacks from the South did not take place until the interwar years- from the very beginning (in the 1870s), Italian immigrants entered a complicated racial mosaic in California that included a significant population of people of color (Chinese, Latinos, and later Japanese, African Americans, and Filipinos).
Scientific racism and a racial division of labor caused them to be placed in what labor historians David Roediger and James Barrett have called in-between jobs: unskilled, low-paid occupations in agriculture, destined for immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe whose racial identity - and sometimes even whiteness - was disputed. In 1911, the survey on "The Wine-Making Industry of California" by the US Congress Immigration Commission discriminated among "white" (American born and non-Italian European immigrants), Italian, Japanese, Chinese, and Mexican winery workers. Italians and Japanese were among the lowest-paid workers in the trade.
On the other hand, due to the presence of "non-white" groups that were permanently marginalized and discriminated against (which in viticulture meant being assigned the most demanding, dangerous, and tiresome temporary jobs for minimal salaries), Italian immigrants enjoyed the wages of whiteness - the privileges inherent in the fact of never being at the very bottom of a racially-determined social ladder.
Piedmontese winemakers resorted vigorously to paternalism, non-monetary benefits, and open discrimination against their "non-white" workers in order to secure the loyal cooperation of their coethnic employees. [ This was similar to the Jewish "We help each other mentality.]
Race was also an important factor in determining the success of Piedmontese winemakers over other competing Italian groups. Racial discrimination among compatriots had been a feature of Italian life since the political unification of the country. In California "different again from what was happening in the rest of the United States" Northern Italians were more numerous than Southerners, and regional-sectional conflicts exploded out of the efforts by different groups to control economic niches, which were narrated and construed in terms of racial differences.
Their early take-over of the wine niche provided the Piedmontese with a dramatic advantage over later comers, which they transformed into cultural capital- the narrative of the "Piedmontese as skilled winemaker." Ironically, the historiography of Italian immigration to California has subsequently transformed this capital into the "explanation" for the success of the Piedmontese in the California wine business.
Matters of race further overlapped with the accumulation of social and cultural capital in determining the consolidation of the Piedmontese presence in the California grape and wine industry during Prohibition. While wine was never considered a truly “American" product in the United States before the 1960s, the Temperance movement managed to attach a nasty stigma of foreignness to the production, commerce, and consumption of it from the 1820s on. In the cultural and political climate of World War I and its aftermath, it was exactly the association of wine, along with other alcoholic beverages, to any "alien force" present in American society that led to National Prohibition (not incidentally concurrent with the racist Immigration Acts of 1921-1924, mainly directed against Italians and other Southern and Eastern European national groups).
Spurring the retreat of German Americans (who were especially targeted by the 100 percent Americanism of WWI and the Red Scare of 1919-1921) and other competitors from the wine trade, Prohibition was paradoxically the main factor in creating a distinctive Italian niche in viticulture. Because of the dispensation in the Volstead Act that allowed the domestic production of wine for selfconsumption, Piedmontese winemakers turned into grape growers and shippers, and they relied on a commercial network of ethnic growers, distributors, and auctioneers to flood the markets of immigrant consumers in enclaves of the eastern industrial cities. Much of the wine produced out of the grapes they shipped eventually entered the illegal market. In fact, the illegality of transforming those grapes into wine for commercial purposes supported the price of the product sent off by the Piedmontese viticulturists to their fellow-countrymen in the east, and in turn allowed them not only to survive Prohibition, but also to gain even further shares of the market and to emerge at the time of the Repeal as major actors in the wine business. Prohibition frustrated the dream of earlier Piedmontese entrepreneurs to create a national market for wine, forcing them to rely on a relatively vast, but still limited and risky, ethnic market. Even the Gallos, who eventually realized the dream of their first-generation predecessors, had to depend on an ethnic market for several years: their early products "cheap and fortified wines" were designed for and mostly consumed by poor consumers in the Black ghettoes of the decaying inner cities. It was only in the late 1960s that their efforts to turn wine into a mainstream American beverage could be considered successful.
Rich in anecdotes and oral histories, and complete with more than one hundred photographs, "Soft Earth Black Grape" is an interesting case study of the social history of wine, the history of ethnic entrepreneurship, and the history of Italian immigration in the United States.
The Author is a member of the Piero Bairati Center for American and Euro-American Studies at the Universities of Turin and Eastern Piedmont, Italy. He teaches Food History at the University of Gastronomic Sciences, Pollenzo and Colorno, where he is the Coordinator of an International Graduate Program in “Food Culture: Communicating Quality Products”. He also teaches US Social History at the University of Turin. He is the author of Una famiglia che mangia insieme: cibo ed etnicit? nella comunit? italoamericana di New York, 1920-1940 [A Family That Eats Together: Food and Ethnicity in the Italian AmericanCommunity of New York City, 1920-1940] (2001). His article “Leonard Covello, the Covello Papers, and the Eating Habits of Italian Immigrants in New York” won the 2004 David Thelen Prize awarded by the Organization of American Historians for the best article on American history published in a
language other than English, and was published in The Journal of American History. He has been Fellow of the Italian Academy for Advanced Studies in America at Columbia University (2004), Visiting Fellow of the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies at Cornell University (2000), Visiting Scholar of the History Department at Columbia University (1998, 2000, 2007) and Resident Fellow of The Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies in Philadelphia (1998, 2000).

Monday, January 14, 2008

Britain Plotted Coup D'état to Topple Italy's Communists in 1976

Let me get this Straight........... Western Democracies (like the US and England) are attempting to spread Democracy to the entire Globe.....Unless we don't like the type of Democracy Elected, then we will use "whatever" tactics to change the government to one more "sympathetic" to OUR view.
And Oppressive Monarchies, Dictators, or Military that are "sympathetic" to our positions, or do as we tell them, regardless of how oppressive they are to their citizens, such as Myanmar (Burma), are of little concern to us.
Is there something wrong with this picture.???
Keep in mind that Italian Communists had ties to Moscow, but it was Italian Communism, of an Entirely Different Style.

UK discussed Italian Coup to Halt Communists
Guardian Unlimited
Tom Kington in Rome
Monday January 14, 2008

The British government considered backing a rightwing coup in Italy in 1976 to prevent the rising Italian Communist party from taking power, recently released documents have revealed.

Foreign Office planners wrote in May 1976 that "a clean surgical coup" to remove the Communists from power "would be attractive in many ways", according to documents obtained from the British national archives and published yesterday by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.

But planners concluded the idea was "unrealistic" since it could lead to "prolonged and bloody" resistance by Italian communists, a potential civil war and even intervention by the Soviet Union.

At the height of the cold war, alarm bells were ringing in London as the governing Christian Democrats grew weak through infighting while Enrico Berlinguer's Communists edged closer to taking power in elections due to be held in June.

"(Berlinguer's) entry into government would create a serious problem for Nato and the European Community and could turn out to be an event with catastrophic consequences," Sir Guy Millard, the British ambassador to Rome, wrote in a memo quoted by La Repubblica. Officials argued that if Communist ministers joined the government, sensitive Nato documents would be sent to Moscow.

A Foreign Office memo in April had listed options for tackling the Communist ascendancy, ranging from financing rival parties to "subversive or military intervention against the Italian Communist party".

Fears receded as the Christian Democrats finished 4% ahead of the Communists in the lower house of parliament.

RE: Child Slavery in Sicily 1910 : "The Man Farthest Down"

On the H-ITAM {History-Italian American} Bulletin Board of the AIHA (
American Italian Historical Association) - a group of 300+ Academics
interested in Italian American History there appeared a Post by Tom Verso
of the University of Rochester that complained that Italian Americans had
permitted "nostalgia" to "sugar coat" their view of Italy. (see below the
full Post)

My response to Mr Verso was as Follows: Tom,

FIRST, Does ANYONE believe the MASS EMIGRATION from Italy (1880-1922) to
the US, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, etc was because things were
so WONDERFUL in Italy. Every writer that I have read has made it clear,
that even worse than the Inhumane Working Conditions, were the fact that
EVEN these AWFUL jobs were Not even available!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Unification of Italy in 1870 (Otherwise known as the Occupation of
Southern Italy by Northern Italy) appeared to substantially contribute to
the collapse of the South Italy Economy.

SECOND those Sulfur Mines were owned by the Nobility and Gentry in Northern
Italy.
In the US we called them Robber Barons. Today we call them Corporate
Oligarchies, or Plutocracts !

THREE, Child labor was utilized to varying extents through most of history,
but entered public dispute with the beginning of universal schooling, with
changes in working conditions during industrialization, and with the
emergence of the concepts of workers' and children's rights.Child labor is
very common, and can be factory work, mining, or quarrying, agriculture,
helping in the parents' business, having one's own small business (for
example selling food), or doing odd jobs. Some children work as guides for
tourists, sometimes combined with bringing in business for shops and
restaurants (where they may also work as waiters). Other children are
forced to do tedious and repetitive jobs such as assembling boxes,
polishing shoes, stocking a store's products, or cleaning. However, rather
than in factories and sweatshops, most child labor occurs in the informal
sector, "selling on the street, at work in agriculture or hidden away in
houses — far from the reach of official labor inspectors and from media
scrutiny."

According to the International Labour Organization, CURRENTLY there are an
estimated 218 million children aged 5 to 17 in child labor worldwide,
excluding child domestic labor. The most widely rejected forms of child
labor include the military use of children as well as child prostitution.

FOUR: How did these horrific working conditions for Children, differ much
from the Child Coal Miners, or Sweat Shop Factories (Triangle Fire) in the
US at the same time?????

SEE PHOTO: <<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_labor

FIVE: Isn't Ironic that the ability for the US to produce Sulfur at lower
prices (with Indentured Servants, Slave Labor, and Horrific Factory Towns)
eliminated those Horrific Jobs????

SIX: Specifically, you refer to a search for.... 'Campofranco' brings
forth scores of web sites celebrating the beauty and pageantry of the town.
Most interesting from the "reminiscent nostalgic recall" point of view is
the complete absence of any reference to or signs of the sulphur mining
days.

Tom, these are mainly Sites to encourage Tourism.Please point out to me
the various US Tourist sites that "tout" their broken Indian Treaties,
Indian Masacres,or the Inhumane Working or Living Conditions for
Immigrants, or the Plantations that treated their Black slaves the worst,
or Atrocities committed during the Civil War, etc. Where is your Academic
Impartiality????

SEVEN: Curious, you exerted no effort to determine and share with us what
WONDERFUL Northern Italian Noble Families who owned and PROFITED from those
businesses that Exploited Child Labor.

EIGHT: Are you a Vigorous Advocate against Man's Inhumanity to Man/Greed,
and therefore campaigning vs Republicans????

If you complain about other writers "sugar coating" history, then I ask you
to put yours in "context"

Regards,
Richard Annotico

PS. Was Booker T. an Italian American? The T. in Booker T. Washington was
Taliaferro. At that time Slaves often adopted the name of their Slave
Owner. Taliaferro was the surname of his Mothers Plantation owner. His
Father was a White Plantation Owner, although not specifically Taliaferro.
Booker T. was a "freedman" at the age of less than 9, and he then assummed
the name of his Black Step Father "Washington". Most of the Italian
"Taliaferro"s, anglesized their name to Tolliver.


Subject: Child Slavery in Sicily 1910
From: Tom Verso

CHILD SLAVERY IN SICILY: 1910
----
Abstract: "The cruelties to which the child slaves of Sicily have been
subjected are as bad as anything reported of the cruelties of Negro
slavery." Booker Taliaferro Washington: "The Man Farthest Down"
----
Anthony Tamburri of the Calandra Institute posits: "We need to take
[Italian American] culture more seriously. We simply cannot continue to
engage in a series of reminiscences that lead primarily to nostalgic
recall. Instead, we need to revisit our past, reclaim its pros and cons.we
need to figure out where we came from"

One "series of reminiscences" leading to "nostalgic recall" and needing
disengagement is the pastoral romanticism about the conditions in Italy at
the time of the diaspora. Sadly, in my opinion, some our most outstanding
writers and scholars such as Jerry Mangione, Ben Morreale, Donna Gabaccia,
etc. have been instrumental, by errors of omission, of perpetuating images
of Italy that lend themselves to "nostalgic recall." In an effort to
"revisit our past", "reclaim its pros and cons" and "figure out where we
came from" one can do no better than to read Booker Taliaferro Washington's
book "The Man Farthest Down."

In the year 1910 Booker TaliaferroWashington- former African American
slave and founder of Tuskegee Institute - traveled to Europe to acquaint
himself, in his words: "with the condition of the poorer and working
classes in Europe, particularly in those regions from which an
ever-increasing number of immigrants are coming to our country each year."
In as much as, at that time approximately a hundred thousand Italians were
arriving in New York every year, not surprisingly he traveled extensively
in Italy. He published his observations and conclusions in a book he
called: "The Man Farthest Down: A Record of Observation and Study in
Europe."

Mr. Washington presents an 'oh-so-not' romantic description of the horrific
reality of diasporic Italy, including the de facto enslavement of sulphur
mining children in Sicily... Mr. Washington devotes five and a half
chapters to describing life and labor in Italy and Sicily. In chapter XI,
"Child Labour and the Sulphur Mines", he makes one of his most cogent and
poignant observations: "Certainly there is no other country [i.e. Sicily]
where so much of the labour of all kinds, the skilled labour of the artisan
as well as the rough labour of digging and carrying on the streets and in
the mines, is performed by children, especially boys."

Mr. Washington recorded descriptions of child labor in Catania, Palermo and
Campofanco. In Catania Mr. Washington describes macaroni production, metal
tool making, mandolin fabrication, boat and tile manufacturing. His
description of a "little girl" metal worker and boy tile makers captures
the essence of the others.

He writes: "About nine o'clock Saturday night my attention was attracted to
a man engaged in some delicate sort of metal tool-making. What particularly
attracted my attention was a little girl, certainly not more than seven
years of age, who was busily engaged at this late hour in polishing and
sharpening the stamps the man used. I could but marvel at the patience and
the skill the child showed at her work. It was the first time in my life
that I had seen such a very little child at work, although I saw many
others in the days that followed."

"I came across a tile manufacturing plant where almost all of the actual
work was performed by the children, who ranged, I should say, from eight to
twelve years of age. The work of carrying the heavy clay, and piling it up
in the sun after it had been formed into tiles, was done by the younger
children. I am certain that if I had not seen them with my own eyes I
would never have believed that such very little children could carry such
heavy loads, or that they could work so systematically and steadily as they
were compelled to do in order to keep up the pace. I was so filled with
pity and at the same time with admiration for these boys."

In Palermo, Mr. Washington goes on to describe what reasonable may be
characterized as 'boy-mules' - he writes: "I remember, one day in Palermo,
seeing, for the first time in my life, boys, who were certainly not more
than fourteen years of age, engaged in carrying on their backs earth from a
cellar that was being excavated for a building. Men did the work of
digging, but the mere drudgery of carrying the earth from the bottom of the
excavation to the surface was performed by these boys. It was not simply
the fact that mere children were engaged in this heavy work which impressed
me. It was the slow, dragging steps, the fixed and unalterable expression
of weariness that showed in every line of their bodies."

But all the exploitation of children that Mr. Washington saw in Catania and
Palermo, as shocking as it may have been, was 'a day in the park' when
compared to the "carusi" of the Campfranco sulphur mines. "Carusi is the
name that the Italians give to those boys in the sulphur mines who carry
the crude ore up from the mines to the surface."

He describes the organization of the work in a sulphur mine: "The actual
work of digging the sulphur is performed by the miner, who is paid by the
amount of crude ore he succeeds in getting out. He, in his turn, has a boy,
sometimes two or three of them, to assist him in getting the ore out of the
mine to the smelter, where it is melted and refined. The caruso is
purchased by the miner from the parents."

Then he describes the process of enslavement: "The manner in which the
purchase is made is as follows: In Sicily, where the masses of the people
are so wretchedly poor in everything else, they are nevertheless unusually
rich in children, and, as often happens, the family that has the largest
number of mouths to fill has the least to put in them. It is from these
families that the carusi are recruited. The father who turns his child over
to a miner receives in return a sum of money in the form of a loan. The sum
usually amounts to from eight to thirty dollars, according to the age of
the boy, his strength and general usefulness. With the payment of this sum
the child is turned over absolutely to his master."

Mr. Washington a former slave himself concludes: "From this SLAVERY (emp.+)
there is no hope of freedom, because neither the parents nor the child will
ever have sufficient money to repay the original loan."

READ AND WEEP- Life of the Sicilian boy-slaves:

"Strange and terrible stories are told about the way in which these boy
slaves have been treated by their masters.one sees processions of
half-naked boys, their bodies bowed under the heavy weight of the loads
they carried, groaning and cursing as they made their way up out of the hot
and sulphurous holes in the earth, carrying the ore from the mine to the
smelter.

"The cruelties to which the child slaves have been subjected, as related by
those who have studied them, are as bad as anything that was ever reported
of the cruelties of Negro slavery. These boy slaves were frequently beaten
and pinched, in order to wring from their overburdened bodies the last drop
of strength they had in them. When beatings did not suffice, it was the
custom to singe the calves of their legs with lanterns to put them again on
their feet. If they sought to escape from this slavery in flight, they were
captured and beaten, sometimes even killed.

"As they climbed out of the hot and poisonous atmosphere of the mines their
bodies, naked to the waist and dripping with sweat, were chilled by the
cold draughts in the corridors leading out of the mines, and this sudden
transition was the frequent cause of pneumonia and tuberculosis.

"Children of six and seven years of age were employed at these crushing and
terrible tasks. Under the heavy burdens (averaging about forty pounds) they
were compelled to carry, they often became deformed, and the number of
cases of curvature of the spine and deformations of the bones of the chest
reported was very large. More than that, these children were frequently
made the victims of the lust and unnatural vices of their masters. It is
not surprising, therefore, that they early gained the appearance of gray
old men, and that it has become a common saying that a caruso rarely
reaches the age of twenty five."

"It seemed incredible to me that any one could live and work in such heat.
in a burrow, twisting and winding its way, but going constantly deeper and
deeper into the dark depths of the earth where the miners loosen the ore
from the walls of the seams in which it is found, and then it is carried up
out of these holes in sacks by the carusi."

"All the ore is carried on the backs of boys. In cases where the mine
descended to the depth of two, three, or four hundred feet, the task of
carrying these loads of ore to the surface is simply heartbreaking. I can
well understand that persons who have seen conditions at the worst should
speak of the children who have been condemned to this slavery as the most
unhappy creatures on earth.

Mr. Washington sums up: "I am not prepared just now to say to what extent I
believe in a physical hell in the next world, but a sulphur mine in Sicily
is about the nearest thing to hell that I expect to see in this life."

Today a Google search of 'Campofranco' brings forth scores of web sites
celebrating the beauty and pageantry of the town. Most interesting from
the "reminiscent nostalgic recall" point of view is the complete absence of
any reference to or signs of the sulphur mining days. Campfranco is seen
today in an idyllic setting nestled in a valley between the panoramic
mountains. How different is Mr. Washington's description the Campofranco
countryside:

He writes: "For many miles in every direction the vegetation has been
blasted by the poisonous smoke and vapours from the smelters, and the whole
country has a blotched and scrofulous appearance which is depressing to
look upon, particularly when one considers the amount of misery and the
number of human lives it has cost to create this condition. I have never in
my life seen any place that seemed to come so near meeting the description
of the "abomination of desolation" referred to in the Bible. There is even
a certain grandeur in the desolation of this country which looks as if the
curse of God rested upon it. I am not prepared just now to say to what
extent I believe in a physical hell in the next world, but a sulphur mine
in Sicily is about the nearest thing to hell that I expect to see in this
life."

I am sure that all the professors of Italian American studies nod their
heads in agreement with Prof. Tamburri admonitions to "revisit our past
[and] reclaim its pros and cons." I wonder how many require their students
to read "The Man Farthest Down"?

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Italians Win and Tie for Third in Luge European Championship

This cracks me up. The names of the ITALIANS taking Gold are Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber
The names of the ITALIANS tying for the Bronze are Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder.
Now that's Italian ??????

Italians Oberstolz, Gruber win luge European Championship

Canadian Press January 12, 2008

CESANA PARIOL, Italy - Christian Oberstolz and Patrick Gruber won the doubles title at the luge European Championship on Saturday for the first title of their career.

The Italians won both heats and finished with a combined time of one minute 33.779 seconds.

Brothers Andreas and Wolfgang Linger of Austria took the silver medal on the track where they won gold at the 2006 Turin Olympics, with a time of 1:33.938.

There was a tie for third between Gerhard Plankensteiner and Oswald Haselrieder of Italy and Patric Leitner and Alexander Resch of Germany, with both pairs timing 1:33.962.

In the women's singles, Natalie Geisenberger of Germany edged her teammate Silke Kraushaar-Pielach by two-tenths of a second.

Geisenberger finished with an overall time of 1:35.364 after the two heats. Kraushaar-Pielach won the first heat and placed fourth in the second heat. Veronika Halder of Austria took the bronze medal.

For Italians: Skiing is Romantic Opera, a Drama of Victory and Seduction, and La Dolce Far Niente

Italians never forget: Skiing is romantic opera, a drama of victory and seduction.

The allure of skiing the Italian way is not only about doing, but about doing nothing, what the Italians call La Dolce Far Niente, "The Beautiful Doing Nothing." Think sensuality with a side of skiing.

Italy straddles two-thirds of the Alpine Arc and has practically all of Europe's sunny southern slopes, more ski areas than France and higher terrain than Austria.
Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games twice, the first being held in Cortina D'Ampezzo in 1956, the latest in Turin in 2006.

Falling in Love with the Lifestyle of Italy's Alpine Resorts
Chicago Daily Herald - Chicago,IL,USA
By Jonathan D. Auerbach
Daily Herald Correspondent
January 12, 2008

Diana, my longtime Italian lady friend, made her last morning run on the grand ski slopes of Cortina D'Ampezzo, Italy. She executed expert turns down a chute called Eye of the Needle for the rock formation skiers thread at the top of a 50-foot-wide rock wall and 800-vertical-foot drop.

Textbook, yes, but Diana's true tutorial in Italian ski technique came later. I'd rapturously watched her descend, and then skied solo until last bell.

The last cable car down whisked me from the steeps to Cortina's chalet-chic village and onto its main pedestrian runway, the voguish Corso Italia, or "Corso." There the glitterati draped in plush fur coats and designer duds promenaded and prowled the boutiques, galleries and the Cooperative di Consumo, Cortina's Harrods.

I stopped for a glass of red at Enoteca Cortina, the intimate "in" wine-tasting cellar, and later caught up with Diana ensconced at the bar of the "Posta," the Hotel de la Poste, Cortina's famed inn and boite.

The Posta, a landmark on a prize corner of the Corso, dates back two centuries. Its bar is as storied a watering hole as Harry's Bar in Venice: same swells, same spirit(s). It's de rigueur to have the veteran barman, Antonio, prepare the house special Puccini (champagne and mandarin juice), which Diana was sipping.

She gleefully recounted with tuneful Italianate flare her lunch on the sundeck of Son Forca, Cortina's choice mountainside rifugio, or open-air cafe. A sensory feast of antipasti and pasta putanesca with a carafe of vino rosso ended with gelato con cioccolato caldo. She'd shared the dessert with the guy sitting next to her now, a rakish Italian ski instructor demigod with a bravura tan.

My snow diva had staged a stylish reminder of what Italians never forget: Skiing is romantic opera, a drama of victory and seduction.

Skiing had been all downhill since the Norse Frost Giant invented winter and the ski goddess Skadi shacked up with the ski god Ull and gave birth to snow and mountains. Then the Italians invented amore (and Jacuzzis).

The allure of skiing the Italian way is not only about doing, but about doing nothing, what the Italians call La Dolce Far Niente, "The Beautiful Doing Nothing."

Think sensuality with a side of skiing. Though the euro has hit a high versus the dollar, consider the epic highs it buys. Italy straddles two-thirds of the Alpine Arc and has practically all of Europe's sunny southern slopes, more ski areas than France and higher terrain than Austria.

Cortina, a mere hundred miles north of Venice, nestles at 4,000 feet in the Dolomite range. These 11,000-foot peaks of multihued rock spires rose from the coral beds of a primordial sea. Peaks freakishly change color with the sun from dawn to sunset.

One ski pass, the Dolomite Super Ski, links Cortina's three distinct ski complexes of Tofane, Faloria and Cristallo to the Dolomite circuit: 464 lifts, 700 miles of ski runs in 11 valleys at 38 different ski centers. It comprises the most inter-country ski runs in Europe and the world's largest ski grid. While experts can attain the outermost reaches and extremes of this ski space, lesser ski jocks will find themselves cruising more manageable dream slopes than anywhere else in Europe.

Most American skiers know little of these stupendous snows, despite the 2006 Winter Olympics celebrated in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy hosted the Olympic Winter Games, the first being held in Cortina in 1956. The official motto of the 2006 Olympics, "Passion lives here," is sporting tribute to the switched-on playful Italians themselves and what makes a getaway here so sexy.

Between the tease and the terrain, an Italian ski fling can indeed become a loving lifelong affair. Mine began a few years back in Courmayeur. This coveted hideaway ski village perches at more than 9,000 feet in Italy's Aosta Valley at the Italian-Swiss-French border, a two-hour drive north of Milan.

Churches, monuments and castles dating from the Roman era dot the valley, crowned by the awesome, famed peaks of Mont Blanc (15,771 feet), Monte Rosa (15,200 feet) and the Matterhorn (14,689 feet). On Courmayeur's own Val Veny slopes, skiers and snowboarders can traverse more than 22 miles of blissfully superb, wide-open rolling pistes as well as hardcore off-piste challenges.

For the discerning, great digs come in small packages. None in Courmayeur is better for furthering intrigues at a fair price than the family-run chalet Auberge de la Maison. The European cognoscenti lodge there for the 33 elegant Alpine bedrooms, each with balcony and panoramic views of Mont Blanc. The topper is the sublime Franco-Italian fare, convivial service, a small spa and cozy 17th-century Alpine salon with bar and roaring hearth. I'd holed up there through pasa parola, or word of mouth, referred by a friend of owner Leo Garin, whose goal is never a full house, but a welcoming one.

By twist of fate on my second night at dinner in the hotel, there was Diana on ski holiday. She was dining alone, all soignee, fixing me a thrilling look … leading to a week together of pure simpatico. Charmed ski days gave way to languorous apres-ski strolls among the cozy bars and shops of the cobbled, traffic-free Via Roma, the central street of Courmayeur village.

We'd taste classic pastries at Caffe della Posta and at Mario, such as tegole (a local dry, chocolate-glazed almond pastry), the Baci of Courmayeur (a chocolate-filled biscuit) and the Mont Blanc (chestnut pudding topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings).

After dinner we'd forgo the discotheques and dancing 'til 4 a.m. at hotspots Bar Roma, Poppy's and Le Clochard in favor of quiet time together.

Unbeatable was the ultimate Italian Jacuzzi: the Terme Pre-Saint-Didier thermal hot springs of the Aosta Valley. One of Europe's most spectacular baths, it's a 20-minute drive from Courmayeur.

The Romans revered the Terme. The current spa building and connecting indoor-outdoor complex of pools, built in 1834, were a favorite retreat of the Italian royal family during the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century and are today a top draw in the valley. Diana adored "taking the waters" of those 99-degree Fahrenheit mineral springs. I discovered the higher heights of relaxation in those mountain-spawned pools, thanks to the spectacular view of Mont Blanc.

Cherished are the euphoric Italian ski escapes we've since logged. Memories conjure the rush of Alpine air on cheeks still glowing red, warmed by grappa at the hearth, toasting a matchless ski day, to be repeated tomorrow.

And the friends made and revisited each winter are spiritedly, theatrically Italian. Marco Xausa, national-level racer and ski instructor of the Courmayeur Ski School, reigns as carefree lord of the slopes. Igor Scappin, jokester and genius ski tech at the Ski Man Service shop in Cortina, is venerated by the Italian national ski team for his gear skill.

Throughout, Diana herself has stayed true to her Italian nature, impressively on the make and a master of mischief. On skis she taunts and tantalizes, giving me the slip to schuss off-piste or to spring into a snow-bowl, hollering "Hop-la!" -- the oft-spoken Italian skier's devilish dare to follow.

Invariably, the scenario involves a stunt of drama and derring-do, an Italian movie moment. One unforgettable go was on a frightfully steep Cortina slope named Staunies. A cornice-thin ribbon of snow, Staunies plunges down an abyss-like 1,000 vertical feet. From the top, the abyss stares back; it's enough to spook a yeti. I'd looked dizzily down this white elevator shaft, when suddenly Diana bounded in, initialing perfect figure eight turns, trailing on the wind refrains of that damnable "Hop-la."

I hated this lady.

Snarling, I leapt after her; in an instant I got my groove, watching myself as in slow motion zoom past Diana waving me on.

I loved this lady.

And as that day waned, and the alpen glow of Dolomite rocks ranged from orange to rose to violet, we walked on air. First a Puccini aperitif, then arm in arm down the Corso Italia for a dinner of grilled venison and a bottle of Barolo at our favorite rustic bistro, El Zoco, and afterward a nightcap and dance at the trendy VIP at the Hotel Europa.

Ah, the heady eternal do-nothing beauty of the La Dolce Far Niente.

If you go

Courmayeur and Cortina, Italy

Go: To relish, at a relaxed pace, a perfect pairing of Europe's loftiest ski resorts in all their dazzle and dash

No: If you're wired to sprint out the door, trail mix in pocket, for the day's first lift up and tuck it to last run

Need to know: Courmayeur Tourist Office, www.regione.vda.it/turismo; Cortina Tourist Office, www.dolomiti.org; Italian Government Tourist Board, (312) 644-0996, www.italiantourism.com

Getting there: Italian ski resorts are easily reached by car, train or bus from the major gateway cities of Milan, Venice and Turin. Alitalia and Delta airlines offer some nonstops from Chicago to Milan and several U.S. and international airlines have one-stop service.

When to go: November to April. Prices vary substantially at Italian ski resorts according to the season. High season this year is Feb. 6 through March 20 and April 3-17. Low season is now through Feb. 5, March 21 through April 2 and April 17 until the runs close.

Is Unrestricted Illegal Immigration in Italy or the US, Compassionate or Design for Self Destruction ??

This clip from the longer video, Immigration by the Numbers, features Roy Beck demonstrating the catastrophe of the huge numbers of illegal immigration by Third World people into the modern nations. He uses standard statistics and simple gumballs to show this disaster in the making.
It is not strident, it is very factual, and eye opening.
It offers a Better, MORE Compassionate Alternative.



San Francisco New City Plazas: Digital Interactivity Conduit to City History including Italian American

Mint Plaza and Yerba Buena Lane are "walk through" Plazas that are the harbinger of an even more ambitious interactive space, the Mint Project.

Voice and motion triggers will be incorporated in the $90 million museum - not just to be au courant, but because it will make the museum truly interactive. Computer chips embedded in walls and tabletops will enable people to summon information for their own versions of history, allowing them to chart the progress of their own ancestors from the time of the Gold Rush. For example, Italian Americans with roots in the city will be able to call up maps that show where Italian Americans lived in the city and find documents or photos provided by the California Historical Society that might even lead them to the first place their family lived.

New City Plazas: Digital or Not, Interactivity Key to Great Design

San Francisco Chronicle - CA, USA
By Zahid Sarder Saturday, January 12, 2008

In San Francisco, two relatively new pedestrian lanes - Mint Plaza and Yerba Buena Lane - each linked to Jessie Street and within walking distance of each other, signal the rise of interactive design emerging and melding with street life downtown.

These clearings in the urban jungle point to what we can expect as the city grows; the best designs and spaces will be interactive in the way these plazas are, with new stores, arts and music venues and digital playgrounds.

They are interactive in the simplest way - you walk through them. In addition, venues linked to them use technology to make it possible for visitors to personalize their experience, whether it is while looking at art or engaging with a history museum.

These plazas are not Disney-fied in the way of Belden Alley or other gentrified alleys in the city, which have French or Italian themes. Instead, the new spaces provide a smorgasbord that you can mix and match at will, just as you do when you go inside some of the buildings. Museum placards and curators' captions alone will not be the only voices you hear. You will hear artists' points of view, too.

Mint Plaza, the $3.5 million, 290-foot-long, L-shaped paved piazza that opened in November next to the dilapidated Old Mint building, took the place of dingy sections of Mint and Jessie streets off Fifth Street between Market and Mission streets.

It is the harbinger of an even more ambitious interactive space, the Mint Project. This project, including the restoration of the Greek Revival building, built in 1874 by Arthur Mullett, is being designed by Patri Merker Architects and museum designers Christopher Chadbourne & Associates of Boston. When it opens in 2011, it will contain the Museum of San Francisco and the Bay Area with an interactive approach that will offer visitors a personal view of local history.

Upstairs, digital presentations related to important Bay Area milestones - the quake in 1906 and the rebuilding of the city, the rise of newspapers, the first television, the first motion pictures, the era of Beat poetry, the '60s, the advent of computers, the Internet - will be shown through interactive digital maps, documents and holographic moving images of poets and singers such as Allen Ginsberg and Janis Joplin.

A room called "The Big Story" will be lined with historic newspaper clippings and headlines from the Examiner, The Chronicle and other Bay Area newspapers. Clicking on a classified advertisement, for instance, will bring up an archival image of workers.

Chadbourne, who has also planned exhibition spaces for the Smithsonian Institution, will include a multimedia presentation of Bay Area history in a new sunken courtyard (formerly a cistern). The goal is to take an honest look at the Bay Area's history since the 1860s, and its remarkably exclusionary underbelly - it was anti-Chinese, anti-black, anti-Japanese, anti-gay and anti-labor at various times.

Voice and motion triggers will be incorporated in the $90 million museum - not just to be au courant, Chadbourne explains, but because it will make the museum truly interactive. Computer chips embedded in walls and tabletops will enable people to summon information for their own versions of history, allowing them to chart the progress of their own ancestors from the time of the Gold Rush. For example, Italian Americans with roots in the city will be able to call up maps that show where Italian Americans lived in the city and find documents or photos provided by the California Historical Society that might even lead them to the first place their family lived.

Because the museum will not be set up in a chronological fashion, self-guided podcasts will let visitors customize their visits.

On the ground floor, the American Money Museum and the San Francisco Visitors Information Center will make the Mint the starting point of any visit to the city, the developers hope.

"The experience does not stop at the four walls of the Mint," says San Francisco Museum and Historical Society Director Erik Christoffersen. "We hope that city guides will begin here."

Those who want a quick glimpse of the city will be able to view periodic sound and light shows in the new central two-story courtyard.

To get people to stop and enjoy the new plaza space right away - its east/west and southern exposures allow the sun to shine in - Patrick McNerney, whose Martin Building Co. owns several condominium loft buildings along the former alley, and his newly formed Friends of Mint Plaza nonprofit, provide bright orange plastic chairs designed by Jasper Morrison. The chairs, as they get moved around through the day, stipple the simply paved plaza with random color.

People are relaxing on the long wooden benches, which are also containers for excess storm water when it rains heavily. Come summer, as musical performances, cafes (four restaurants and a coffee stand are planned) and activities intended for the plaza go into full gear, more people will come.

The space is crowned by a coast live oak tree at the Fifth Street end and a stand of ginkgo trees on the other. Planters that contain understated native grasses along the center of the plaza and connect the gingko grove and a triangulated planter around the oak are also part of the animated design. The paving is sloped to drain into those planters, which in turn direct rain to a large subterranean infiltration basin.

The storm-water filtration system is low tech, but landscape architect Willett Moss says that it is the first time it is being used for public space in the Bay Area, in part to alleviate the stress on the city's sewer system during storms.

"It is a prototype that the city may use elsewhere," says Moss. The system, functioning imperfectly because the sandy soil is too porous and the water percolates through too rapidly, is still being fine-tuned.

But even as it is, San Francisco's latest interactive plaza succeeds.

To get an idea of what to expect at the Mint, walk over to Yerba Buena Lane, designed by Walter Hood.

Yerba Buena Lane is a model of how San Francisco's urban districts are developing, with old and new architecture serving as arts and music venues, exhibition spaces and outdoor "living rooms."

In use - and evolving - for nearly seven years, the lane is a living, interactive history walk where new discoveries can be made on every visit.

The lane connects Yerba Buena Park and Mission Street to Market Street between Third and Fourth streets, taking you past several cafes, the historic 19th century St. Patrick's Church....

Just beyond it, the Museum of Craft and Folk Art is both a store and exhibition space for contemporary crafts and traveling shows.

The lane ends at the Four Seasons Hotel on Market Street, in whose fifth-floor lobby you can ask for a free, downloadable podcast tour of the hotel's extraordinary collection of contemporary art by California artists.

Tim Halbur, who interviewed the artists in their studios, sees podcasting coming into its own as a way for people to interpret art and the history of art for themselves.

Rather than a museum catalog or caption interpretation regulating visitors' points of view, "artists can tell their own stories," says Halbur. "And listeners can reach their own conclusions."

Online resources

www.mintplazasf.org

www.themintproject.org

www.yerbabuena.org

www.fourseasons.com/sanfrancisco/art/podcast

Zahid Sardar is the Chronicle design editor. E-mail your ideas for Design Spotting to him at zsardar@sfchronicle.com.

"Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies" - What it REALLY means to be Italian American !!!

The roots of the idea for this 1 hour Documentary took root when Rosanne De Luca attempted to organize an Italian-American film festival devoid of "made" men, rubouts and the like. Such films proved hard to find, though.
I commend her efforts, but I have no high expectations, since Ms Braun, is unable to accept the source of Negative Stereotyping, the torrent of "mob" movies, which she acknowledges, YET she states "I relate to the characters. And in the case of a great work of art, I don’t view it as Italian-American " it’s American.".
That's absurd!!!!! How you view it is of no consequence, it is how 300 million Americans view it. And we KNOW the answer to that. "Mob" = "Italian"
I am also concerned about the fact that the greatest contributors to "our problem" are deeply involved with this Documentary.
People like David Chase, Spike Lee, and Mr. Chianese.

Refusing to Let the Mob Hijack What It Means to Be Italian
New York Times By Karin Lipson January 13, 2008

DON’T get her wrong: Rosanne De Luca Braun loves "The Godfather." Ditto, "The Sopranos." But she has devoted much of the last seven years to exploring why certain Italian-American stereotypes " especially the gun-toting, cannoli-loving mobster " loom so large on screen, and in the national psyche.

The result of her labors is the documentary "Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies" which will have its Long Island premiere on Jan. 20 at the Cinema Arts Center in Huntington. Dominic Chianese, who played Uncle Junior in "The Sopranos" television series, is scheduled to make a guest appearance at the theater.

Running 57 minutes, "Beyond Wiseguys" interweaves celebrated movie and TV scenes with interviews with scholars and members of the film and TV industries. Among those appearing are the directors Martin Scorsese, David Chase and Spike Lee, the actor-director John Turturro (who was co-executive producer of the documentary with Ms. Braun), and, from the acting ranks, Marisa Tomei, Paul Sorvino, Ben Gazzara, Isabella Rossellini, Susan Sarandon and Mr. Chianese.

Some tell of having endured typecasting or of fighting ethnic clichĂ©s. Yet Ms. Braun, 59, of Sicilian and Calabrian descent herself, says she is not merely beating a drum against intolerance. "I’m not anti mob movies," she said recently over lunch in her condominium overlooking Long Island Sound in Northport. (She shares it with her husband, Edward Braun, the chairman of the technology-instrument company Veeco.)

I don’t relate to the fact that these are ‘stereotypes,’ ” Ms. Braun said. "I relate to the characters. And in the case of a great work of art, I don’t view it as Italian-American " it’s American."

Nevertheless, "Beyond Wiseguys" has its roots partly in community concern over negative screen images. In 2000, Ms. Braun, then director of marketing and development at the Cinema Arts Center, worked with its co-directors, Vic Skolnick, Charlotte Sky and Dylan Skolnick, to organize an Italian-American film festival devoid of "made" men, rubouts and the like.

Such films proved hard to find, though. The depiction of Italian-Americans as voluble, emotional and sometimes murderous had remained "largely formulaic," Ms. Braun said, from the earliest days of the movie industry.

That was true, she said, even though "we found an endless supply of Italian-American craftsmen working behind the scenes in Hollywood from Day 1 " set designers, composers, writers, costume designers,- making their mark in often sophisticated ways.

Convinced she was "really onto something," Ms. Braun left her job in 2000 to work on the idea. She sent her outline to Mr. Turturro.

In the film business, "I was nobody," Ms. Braun explained. "I knew I was going to need a name attached to open some doors for me."

Mr. Turturro soon signed on. The issue of ethnic sterotyping is something he deals with daily on a professional level, he said through an assistant.

It worked. "I could have said, ‘This is Daisy Duck,’ as long as I said, ‘John Turturro,’ " said Ms. Braun, who rounded up interview subjects and, over time, raised "about $350,000." (”Beyond Wiseguys" got its major financial backing from Italian-American sources, including LiDestri Foods of Rochester, a maker of pasta sauce and other products, and the National Italian American Foundation, but they had no editorial input, she said.)

When it came to making the film, two veteran documentary makers, Steven Fischler and Joel Sucher, collaborated with Ms. Braun, a neophyte.

Given the documentary’s many strands, Ms. Braun said she would most like viewers to take away the sense that Hollywood’s Italian-American sagas, at their best, transcend stereotype: "They’re filled with the aroma, and the real experiences, of Italian family life and Italian history," she said.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

My Wife Is Italian ! No Really!!!!

The author's wife is an Italian from Italy, so he had to explain to her that: Here in the United States,people identify themselves as belonging to whatever country their parents came from. Though, since most of their parents came from right around the corner they actually identify themselves with whatever country their grandparents came from. Though, since most of their grandparents came from just a state or two away, they actually identify themselves with wherever their great, great, great, great grandparents came from. And so they say they're Polish.

Why is it that the most aggressively self-satisfied citizenry - who'll tell you everything that's "best" about the United States, even though they've never visited anywhere else - never identify themselves as belonging to the place they're so proud of?

Except when they're overseas, that is. Put them on any other soil and they'll bray it to the heavens."Oh, no. I'm AMERICAN," they yell.

Then think about the insult being hurled around the world when a US politician makes the proclamation of US superiority. Imagine how this must sound to everyone else on the planet. Many who have millenniums of Culture, compared tom our mere 250 year old country.

My Wife Is An Immigrant !!!

Huffington Post - New York,NY,USA

Evan Handler

January 10, 2008

My wife, she ain't from around here. She's Italian, I tell people. Or she tells them herself.

"Oh, and have you ever been to Italy?" they ask her.

"I'm Italian," she says, with as much patience as she can muster. "That's where I'm from."

"Ohhhhhhhhhh...," they say. "So you're really Italian."

As if there were another kind.

But there is. The American kind. For the United States is the only place a conversation like that can happen. At least it's the only place I've seen it happen.

Yes, the United States, the land of the self-satisfied, overfed, under taxed, and inferiorly educated; the land where nearly everyone strains as if trying to dislodge a mammoth bowel movement to refute each of those facts; the nation whose politicians still use an eighteenth century phrase like "American Exceptionalism" as if it were an edict from their private God, is the only place on Earth where there are no Americans.

It's true. Just walk up to one and ask. I know what you'll hear.

'What's your nationality?"

"Oh, I'm Italian."

"I'm Greek."

"Russian on my mother's side, French on my father's side."

"Spanish and Irish. That's why I'm so crazy!"

It was within days of my wife and I meeting each other that she first turned to me and asked, "What are these people talking about? Are they really from all those places? None of them seem to have any accents."

And I had to explain it to her. Here in the United States, I said, people identify themselves as belonging to whatever country their parents came from. Though, since most of their parents came from right around the corner they actually identify themselves with whatever country their grandparents came from. Though, since most of their grandparents came from just a state or two away, they actually identify themselves with wherever their great, great, great, great grandparents came from. And so they say they're Polish.

I wish I could show the rest of my nation the look she gave me when she heard that.

"These people who say they are Polish are not really from Poland?" she asked.

No. I'm afraid not, I told her. And the Italians aren't from Italy, the French aren't from France, the Swedes aren't from Sweden, and the Dutch aren't from wherever Dutch people come from.

"Then what are they talking about?"

And I have to tell her that I don't know.

Why is it that the most aggressively self-satisfied citizenry - who'll tell you everything that's "best" about the United States, even though they've never visited anywhere else - never identify themselves as belonging to the place they're so proud of?

Except when they're overseas, that is. Put them on any other soil and they'll bray it to the heavens.

"Oh, no. I'm AMERICAN," they yell. "Can you believe it honey? He thought I was from CANADA!!! HA HA HA HA HA."

But here at home, they're German. Because their last name is Schmidt.

I'll confess, I never thought about it much before my wife pointed it out to me. Though, personally, I never identified myself as being from anywhere else. I don't even know where my ancestors came from. A no-man's-land called Russia-Poland, according to my parents - though they could never name a specific town. They couldn't even pin it down to a nation, apparently. If people really push, I tell them I think my relatives were eastern European. But really I have no idea.

It's the audacity of it that gets to my wife, I think. The same audacity that allows Americans to call themselves American, even though the term only delineates between two continents out of seven. It doesn't even come close to naming a country. (Hell, if you want audacious, there's not even another word in the English language to describe someone who comes from the U.S. Unless you want to use "idiot.")

The question most often asked of my wife by her friends and family back in Italy, though, isn't about the absurdity of school children pledging allegiance to a flag (with our without any "under Gods"); it's not about the frightening sight of seeing the national anthem played before every sporting event; it's not even about the requirement that politicians ask God to bless their nation at the end of every speech - none of which is done where she comes from....

Nor do we have "the best healthcare" in the world, as each and every Republican presidential candidate proclaimed during their New Hampshire debate. Wouldn't it be great if an electric shock could be administered each time one of those politico Bozos distorts someone else's record, or lies about their own, or says something as inane and contemptible as "I believe the United States is the greatest nation on Earth." Saying we've got the best healthcare is bad enough. What we have here is the best automobiles. Period. We don't design or make them, though. We just buy them and drive them around.

Again, the ferocity of the insult being hurled around the world when a politician makes the proclamation of superiority didn't hit me until I was living with my wife. But then I started to hear the declarations through her ears, and to imagine how they must sound to everyone else on the planet.

Both my in-laws have had successful major surgeries. They were performed promptly, and they didn't have to pay for them. When we traveled to Italy with our then three-month-old daughter this past year, we brought her to two different pediatricians.

We told each that we'd been giving her Zantac, an anti-acid medication for acid reflux that nearly every infant I know in Los Angeles is given these days. She looked at us as if we'd told her we were administering strychnine to our child. It took a while for me to get the message, but I realized within a few weeks that my daughter didn't have anything like acid reflux. She had a very mild case of colic (chronic crying and apparent abdominal discomfort that no one in human history has been able to definitively determine the cause of). Because babies can't talk. But that kind of mysterious, ill-defined state of grace is too disturbing for urban American sensibilities. So we're prescribed medication.

I suppose, if anyone were actually reading this and I wasn't just typing it to myself, there'd be a contingent shouting "If you don't like it here, why don't you go live over there?" Just the same way the eleven year olds I went to junior high school with foamed at the mouth and screamed "America! Love it or leave it!" when anyone voiced any opposition to the Vietnam war. And, even though they were children and we were in the Hudson Valley less than an hour's drive from Manhattan, their bulging necks and the hatred shrieking off them actually made them resemble the crackers who tried to stop Vivian Malone and James Hood from registering at the University of Alabama in 1963. Oh, well. I guess it was only nine years later.

And now it's thirty-five years later than that. Too late, it could be speculated. I heard Randy Newman singing on the radio the other day. He's a songwriter I've long admired, but in my own foolishness I'd kind of subconsciously written him off as being past his prime. This was a recent, live performance that was playing. He sounded great. His voice was strong.

Newman sang:

The end of an empire is messy at best
And this empire is ending
Like all the rest
Like the Spanish Armada adrift on the sea
We're adrift in the land of the brave
And the home of the free
Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye.

It's called "A Few Words in Defense of Our Country," and it's great. Like all great songs, it does what this fifteen hundred-word post does in a fraction of the space. You can see him sing it at what looks like his piano at home on YouTube. You should definitely check it out.

Of course, right under Randy's video, the top response read:

Go to any major city in Europe, Asia, Africa or Latin America. Check out the different embassies. You will find more people waiting in line to get visas to go to the United States than you will find at all the other embassies combined. Let me repeat that because some of you may not have understood, "more all the other embassies combined." People vote with their feet.

So there you go. Even if we don't question the responder's source for his data (my guess is the source is his father saying that to him when he was a kid) it's thirty-five years later, three thousand miles away, and it's the same story. Keep your mouth shut or go live somewhere else. Everything here is the best, and don't ever say different. Don't any of these people see the logic behind the argument that every refusal to admit something's wrong prohibits anything from ever improving?

Keep on singing, Randy. If no one here wants to listen, we can sing to each other in London, or Paris, or Florence, or Bologna. Or Madrid, or Sydney, or Melbourne, or Stockholm. Even if they're right that nothing's as good over there (and they're not), at least there are no strip malls. No Denny's. There are far fewer McDonald's. And, while the places are all crawling with Americans - there's no escaping them - at least in those places they all shout it out and admit who they are. They don't pretend over there, like they do here at home. They're too darn proud of themselves.

NAKED Italian News ? The Program with Nothing to Hide !

Naked News, which features female anchors reading the news in the nude or stripping as they present their news segments, in Italian, Spanish, Korean, and Japanese.

The Italian shows will be produced in Milan, and will be available online and through mobile providers, as well as on traditional pay-per-view television stations. Naked News TV is currently available on pay-per-view in the US, Europe, Australia, Asia and Canada.

Created by Fernando Pereira and Kirby Stasyna, Naked News first aired online in 1999. "The original Naked News English version has always focused and presented an international broadcast. Now with the addition of the foreign-language licensees, our intention at Naked News is to be a global media source, much like CNN or BBC World," Warga said. "We have a worldwide audience, but we haven't been able to give them localised news until now."

The channel gets its information from regular news services and uses professionally trained writers and directors to produce the bulletins of political, business, sport and entertainment news.

The website was popularised mainly by word of mouth and during its height in 2001 was registering 6 million "unique visitors" a month, which was almost two-thirds of the 9 million monthly viewers registered by CNN at the time.

Time magazine proclaimed the online news broadcast "offers the best international coverage this side of the BBC.".

Interestingly, a male version of the show was created but was abandoned for lack of subscriber interest.

Naked News in Bid to Flesh out World Coverage
The Sydney Morning Herald
From Associated Press
January 11, 2008

If you speak Spanish, Italian or Korean and long to watch your daily dish of news from a disrobed announcer, you're in luck.

Toronto-based Naked News, "the program with nothing to hide," is expanding its foreign-language coverage in an attempt to gain a worldwide audience.

The program, which features nine female anchors reading the news in the nude or stripping as they present their news segments, will now be broadcast in Spanish, Italian and Korean, along with its already available Japanese broadcasts.

Naked News President David Warga said the licensing agreements are confidential and could not divulge the names of the local affiliates that will be producing the shows in Milan, Mexico and South Korea.

The multilingual broadcasts will be available online and through mobile providers, as well as on traditional pay-per-view television stations. Naked News TV is currently available on pay-per-view in the US, Europe, Australia, Asia and Canada.

The channel gets its information from regular news services and uses professionally trained writers and directors to produce the bulletins of political, business, sport and entertainment news.

Warga said the company aspires to be an international news organisation and that further expansion is planned.

"The original Naked News English version has always focused and presented an international broadcast. Now with the addition of the foreign-language licensees, our intention at Naked News is to be a global media source, much like CNN or BBC World," Warga said. "We have a worldwide audience, but we haven't been able to give them localised news until now."

Created by Fernando Pereira and Kirby Stasyna, Naked News first aired online in 1999 and created quite a lot of attention as anchors aired themselves and the news. The website was popularised mainly by word of mouth and during its height in 2001 was registering 6 million "unique visitors" a month, which was almost two-thirds of the 9 million monthly viewers registered by CNN at the time.

Time magazine proclaimed the online news broadcast "offers the best international coverage this side of the BBC.".

"What Time said is true. A lot of people write in and tell us, we came for the nudity, but stayed for the content. And that was always our intention, to grab you with the nudity and then hook you with the content," Warga said.

Two years after NakedNews.com launched, it hopped over to TV with a 45-minute cable television news show on a pay-per-view station. A male version of the show was created during this time but ceased in October 2007 due to a dwindling subscriber base.

In January 2006, Naked News Japan was launched as a joint venture between Naked News owner eGalaxy Multimedia and Sunrise Corp, a seller of goods and services over the Internet. Japanese broadcasting laws prohibited the presenters to be fully naked, permitting them only strip to their underwear.

The initial success of the show's concept spawned several international imitators including The Daily Flash, a news program on Playboy TV. In 2006, the French Comedie network launched Les Nuz, which features anchors who read the news with only their underwear on.

Warga said he is talking to Les Nuz executives about producing an international French language program. Radio Tango, an Oslo, Norway, radio station, once featured stripping female weather readers on its website. And in 2002, the Czech television network TV Nova launched Pocasicko, a featurette where a nude woman or man gets dressed in clothing appropriate for that day's weather forecast.

The salacious Naked News was also recently the subject of a UK-funded documentary entitled Naked News - Backstage.

Warga, who said the network is expanding into other languages because of the market demand for its brand of "infotainment," said Naked News currently has viewers in more than 172 nations, but could not divulge its subscriber base.

"I can't give you the numbers, but I can tell you we're growing more every day and making a substantial amount of money from it," said Warga. "News and nudity is a concept that just works."

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2008/01/11/1199988554671.html

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Bush Echoes Hitlers Call for Wars

HITLER'S JUSTIFICATION For Invading Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland

Fascinating Comparison with Geo Bush's Justifications

BUT then Read the Words of former Republican President Dwight D Eisenhower (34th -1953-1961), who previously was a Five-star General in the United States Army. During the Second World War, he served as Supreme Commander of the Allied forces in Europe, with responsibility for planning and supervising the successful invasion of France and Germany in 1944-45. In 1951, he became the first supreme commander of NATO. Incidentally, in his farewell speech, he warned America to be vigilant against the Military- Industrial Complex that would profit from "manufacturing" wars!!!!!!

Austria....

"By the most brutal methods of terrorism, a regime sought to maintain an existence that was condemned by the overwhelming majority of its people...I have tried to persuade the responsible authorities that it is impossible for a great nation, because it is unworthy of it, to stand by and watch millions belonging to a great, an ancient civilized people be denied rights by their government... I have endeavoured to find some way to alleviate a tragic fate. One agreement was signed only to be broken. I then tried a second time to bring about an understanding. A few weeks later, we were forced to the conclusion that the government [of Austria] had no intention of carrying out this agreement in the spirit that had inspired it, but in order to create an excuse. I have determined, therefore, to place the help of our country at the service of these millions. Since this morning, our soldiers are on the march across all of Austria's frontiers."

-- Adolf Hitler, March 12, 1938, justifying the German invasion of Austria.

Czechoslovakia.....

"We have no interest in oppressing other people. We are not moved by hatred against any other nation. We bear no grudge. I know how grave a thing war is. I wanted to spare our people such an evil. It is not so much the country [of Czechoslovakia]; it is rather its leader [Dr. Edward Benes]. He has led a reign of terror. He has hurled countless people into the profoundest misery. Through his continuous terrorism, he has succeeded in reducing millions of his people to silence. The Czech maintenance of a tremendous military arsenal can only be regarded as a focus of danger. We have displayed a truly unexampled patience, but I am no longer willing to remain inactive while this madman ill-treats millions of human beings."

-- Adolf Hitler, April 14, 1939, justifying the German invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Poland....

"The wave of appalling terrorism against the [minority] inhabitants of Poland, and the atrocities that have been taking place in that country are terrible for the victims, but intolerable for a Great Power which has been expected to remain a passive onlooker. We will not continue to tolerate the persecution of the minority, the killing of many, and their forcible removal under the most cruel conditions. I see no way by which I can induce the government of Poland to adopt a peaceful solution. But I should despair of any honourable future for my own people if we were not, in one way or another, to solve this question."

-- Adolf Hitler, August 23, 1939, justifying the German invasion of Poland.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_difference_between_Hitler_invading_Poland_and_Bush_invading_Iraq

"The way chosen by the United States was plainly marked by a few clear precepts, which govern its conduct in world affairs. First: no people on earth can be held, as a people, to be an enemy, for all humanity shares the common hunger for peace and fellowship and justice. Second: no nation's security and well-being can be lastingly achieved in isolation but only in effective cooperation with fellow nations. Third: any nation's right to a form of government and an economic system of its own choosing is inalienable. Fourth: any nation's attempt to dictate other nations their form of government is indefensible. And Fifth: a nation's hope of lasting peace cannot be firmly based upon any race in armaments but rather upon just relations and honest understanding with all other nations.

"In the light of these principles the citizens of the United States defined the way they proposed to follow, through the aftermath of war, toward true peace. This way was faithful to the spirit that inspired the United Nations: to prohibit strife, to relieve tensions, to banish fears. This way was to control and to reduce armaments. This way was to allow all nations to devote their energies and resources to the great and good tasks of healing the war's wounds, of clothing and feeding and housing the needy, of perfecting a just political life, of enjoying the fruits of their own free toil.

"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some 50 miles of concrete highway. We pay for a single fighter with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This, I repeat, is the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron."

- President Dwight D Eisenhower, (Republican) 1953

Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Italians More Interested in Football than in Sex ?????

It is amazing, the way facts can be distorted.
The London Telegraph states that proof has finally arrived that Italians are more interested in football than in sex, and rely on a survey that compiled the words most frequently utilized in Google's Search Engines in different regions and different countries.
How odd!! It seems to me that Italians prefer their sex in person, rather than in virtual space,and are not FIXATED on sex, but accord it a proper place, and when they attend to it, do it "artistically", rather than in the "repressed" Anglo-Saxon puritanical manner.

How the Italians Get Their Kicks

Google found that Italians were twice as likely to search for 'football' than 'sex'

Telegraph.co.uk - United Kingdom
By Malcolm Moore in Rome
January 8, 2008

The proof has finally arrived that Italians are more interested in football than in sex.

A survey by Google, the internet search engine, showed that, reversing the trend prevalent in the rest of the world, Italians searched for "football" twice as often as for "sex".
  • "Our kids are simpler than their parents," said Stefano Zecchi, a commentator for Il Giornale newspaper.

    "They understand perfectly that a football derby, if you do not watch it, is an event that is lost forever. Love, however, is something you can do whenever."

    Google also revealed what the preoccupations of Italy's major cities were, highlighting the most-searched phrase per region. In Naples, "sport" was the top, while in Bergamo there was a thirst for "gossip".

    The educated Northern city of Turin, meanwhile, searched mainly for "books" while Florentines entered "exhibitions".

  • http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/01/08/witaly308.xml

  • Calatafimi, Sicily, Little Town, Big Credentials with Brooklyn Connection

    As is true with Italians and other Ethnicities, Immigrants followed their predecessors to the same towns and cities in the US.
    Those from Calatafimi, Sicily ( half way between Palermo and Trapani) concentrated in the Knickerbocker Ave. section of Brooklyn, where they recreated many of the town’s social and cultural structures.
    But little Calatafimi ( recent max of 12k, now 6k) is notable for a number or reasons:
    (1) The extraordinary festival of Il Santissimo Crocifisso (the Most Holy Crucifix) a three-day expression of religious devotion, civic pride, generosity and one-upsmanship that thoroughly exhilarates and exhausts its populace, (The once-triennial event now takes place only every seventh or eighth year.)
    (2) In 1860, it was the site of Garibaldi’s first battle for Italian unification, so every Italian school child has heard of it, and streets throughout Italy are named after it.
    (3) The town name Calatafimi is Arabic for "Castle of Eufemio", referring to the tragic figure Eufemio I, the legendary self-proclaimed first king of Sicily, who inadvertently opened up the island to the Saracen conquest in 827 AD.
    (4) Is best known for its remarkable 2,500 year-old treasure, Segesta, perhaps the best preserved Doric temple in the world.

    ITALIAN AMERICAN MUSEUM PRESENTS
    CASTLE OF EUFEMIO
    (CALATAFIMI)
    A Selection of Photographs From the Festival of the Most Holy Crucifix
    (Festa del Santissima Crocifisso)
    January 16th through March 16th, 2008
    Opening Reception Thursday, January 24th at 6 p.m.
    Artist Led Discussion, Thursday, January 31st at 6 p.m.
    New York, January 8, 2008 -The Italian American Museum of New York is proud to announce a new exhibition on the "Castle of Eufemio" on exhibition of photographs by artist/author Blaise Tobia, will be on view at the Italian American Museum in New York City from January 16 to March 16, 2008.
    The photographs and accompanying texts present the extraordinary festival in the west Sicilian town of Calatafimila three-day expression of religious devotion, civic pride, generosity and one-upsmanship that thoroughly exhilarates and exhausts its populace.
    Tobia has a special relationship with the town - all four of his grandparents were born there and many relatives remain. He had already extensively documented Calatafimi photographically during numerous visits before his first experience of the festival of Il Santissimo Crocifisso (the Most Holy Crucifix) in May, 2004. (The once-triennial event now takes place only every seventh or eighth year.) During the festival, the town opened itself up in a very special way; these images offer remarkable glimpses into its social and cultural life.
    Calatafimi is best known for its remarkable 2,500 year-old treasure, Segesta, perhaps the best preserved Doric temple in the world.
    Additionally, in 1860, it was the site of Garibaldi’s first battle for Italian unification, so every Italian school child has heard of it, and streets throughout Italy are named after it. The town name Calatafimi is Arabic for "Castle of Eufemio", referring to the tragic figure Eufemio I, the legendary self-proclaimed first king of Sicily, who inadvertently opened up the island to the Saracen conquest in 827 AD.
    Like many southern Italian towns, Calatafimi has been weakened by more than a century of emigration; its population once topped twelve-thousand but is now barely half that. From about 1910 to World War II, a large concentration of its emigrants lived in the Knickerbocker Ave. section of Brooklyn, where they recreated many of the town’s social and cultural structures. An exact copy of its marble-relief patroness Madonna was sent from Sicily to the church of St. Joseph on Suydam Street in appreciation of the support the Brooklyn community had sent back home.
    Most of the prints in this exhibition are enlargements of the photographs in Tobia’s recently issued book Castle of Eufemio - a small Sicilian town and its extraordinary festival, published by the Achilles Press in association with the America-Italy Society of Philadelphia. Signed copies of the book will be available at the show’s reception on Thursday, January 24 (6-8 PM) and at an artist’s presentation and discussion on January 31 (6 PM), when Tobia will be showing additional images of western Sicily, the discussion is co-sponsored by the John D. Calandra Italian American Institute, Queens College/CUNY.
    Blaise Tobia is a Professor of Media Arts in Drexel University’s Antoinette Westphal College of Media, Arts and Design, in Philadelphia. He has exhibited and published widely; his most recent one-person show was at the Delaware Center for Contemporary Art. In October, 2006, he was a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome.More on the book and its author may be found on the Web at <achillespress.com>.
    The Italian American Museum is the first museum dedicated to preserving and presenting the cultural and social contributions of Italian Americans to the American way of life. The exhibit, Castle of Eufemio is free and will be open to the public from Monday through Friday 10:00 a.m. to 5 p.m. or by appointment (212.642.2020) at 28 West 44th Street, 17th floor between 5th and 6th Avenues. Major funding for this exhibit has been provided in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and the Columbus Citizens Foundations. Please visit our website www.italianamericanmuseum.org.

    "Italian-Americans Rip Rudy as an UNCLE TOMASO," blared the Boston Herald - Washington Post

    Richard Cappozzola, author of Five Centuries of Italian Americans, single handed got the attention of two important East Coast Dailies.
    Richard lives near Orlando Florida, and is an unrelenting indefatigable well intentioned Italian American Activist. Kudos!!!!!!
    I like the Power of Many !!! But here, The Power of One, Impressive

    Bad Press? Giuliani Gets It Good

    Washington Post By Howard Kurtz
    Staff Writer
    Monday, January 7, 2008; C01

    SOMERSWORTH, N.H. -- After months of stories about his questionable clients, his crooked former top cop, his onetime mistress and his slide in the polls, Rudy Giuliani was hit by yet another negative headline here last week.

    "Italian-Americans Rip Rudy as an UNCLE TOMASO," blared the Boston Herald's cover, citing a single activist who doesn't like the way Giuliani jokes about mobsters.

    The former New York mayor assumes that bad press comes with the presidential campaign territory. "I never see myself as a victim," he says in an interview. "I don't like seeing myself that way. . . . There've been negative stories about everyone. Maybe it's more a function of being a front-runner."

    At a policy level, though, Giuliani is convinced that he and his GOP brethren don't get a fair shake. "I think there is a liberal bias in the media toward Democratic approaches and Democratic candidates," he says. "Republicans have to go against the grain when we're talking about Republican or conservative solutions. . . . I've encountered that from the very beginning."

    Giuliani has his share of self-inflicted wounds, and the less than sympathetic coverage is amplified by a campaign style in which the onetime prosecutor gives little ground and doesn't hesitate to throw punches. He generates few warm-and-fuzzy stories because of his no-nonsense demeanor on the trail, a largely humorless approach in which he talks terrorism and taxes but not about himself.

    Giuliani shakes few hands after speaking, often departing within one minute. Last Wednesday, after a speech at a World War II museum in Wolfeboro about his call to expand the military, he slipped away to do interviews with conservative radio hosts Bill O'Reilly and Dennis Prager and with Fox News.

    Addressing 40 people at a Somersworth restaurant featuring a $7.49 lunch buffet that includes whoopie pie, Giuliani answered questions from two disabled people -- who asked how he would help people like them -- with bloodless policy talk. Giuliani did not inquire about their conditions or express any sympathy. He did, however, take a stand on a pamphlet containing his 12 commitments, saying: "It's like a contract. If I don't do it, you can sue me."

    While other candidates appear softened by the presence of family members, the Boston Globe ran a piece last week noting that Giuliani's third wife, Judith, has largely been absent from campaigning.

    And then there is his temerity in arguing that he can win the nomination without strong showings in Iowa (where he finished sixth, with 3 percent of the vote) and tomorrow in New Hampshire -- a strategy that runs smack into the media's conventional wisdom. "Most national political reporters write off or disparage his chances of winning," Time's Mark Halperin reported last week.

    As if to underscore his unorthodox approach, Giuliani campaigned here the day before the Iowa caucuses, which he essentially blew off, and then jetted off for a campaign swing through Florida.

    In a news conference at the restaurant, one reporter cited a poll that gives John McCain the lead among Republican voters nationwide, saying: "You've always led in the national polls. How do you explain that?" Giuliani said he was not good at explaining polls.

    Another reporter, noting that nearly all his rivals were in Iowa, said: "Are you worried about how the media spotlight on those candidates is affecting you here?"

    "We're doing okay," Giuliani said.

    From the moment he entered the race, many pundits insisted that conservatives would abandon Giuliani once they learned more about his liberal views on abortion and other social issues. When he continued to lead the field, reporters and commentators began questioning how he could survive expected losses before getting to his preferred battlegrounds of Florida on Jan. 29 and several mega-states on Feb. 5.

    The media narrative for Giuliani is that he's built his candidacy around one event, his response to the attack on the World Trade Center. He did little to dispel that notion in New Hampshire, talking about "the 9/11 generation" and likening today's challenge of fighting "Islamic terrorists" to that facing those who won World War II. He has little hands-on foreign policy experience, but he has succeeded in defining himself as the man who most wants to stay on offense against terrorists.

    Whatever the subject, Giuliani is a constant target of investigative reporters. There was even media skepticism about the recent illness -- described as a severe headache -- that sidelined him for a couple of days. But after two decades' sparring with the tabloid-tough New York press corps, he seems to relish the combat, keeping up a steady round of interviews and news conferences.

    On the day Giuliani declared his first mayoral bid in 1989, the New York Daily News reported that the Manhattan law firm he had recently joined represented the Panamanian government of strongman Manuel Noriega, all but overshadowing the announcement. Similar questions have dogged his presidential campaign, such as a recent New York Times story on his firm Giuliani Partners' representing Purdue Pharma, which last spring admitted misleading doctors and patients about the painkiller OxyContin and paid penalties of $635 million. Giuliani has declined to reveal his firm's client list on grounds of confidentiality.

    Another constant source of coverage involves his personal life. In 1997, when NY1 cable reporter Dominic Carter asked Giuliani about rumors that he had had an affair with a staffer, the mayor accused him of having "no decency." Giuliani's messy divorce from Donna Hanover in 2000 turned his life into a soap opera for the press.

    Last spring, after a spate of snarky pieces about his wife, Judith, Giuliani urged reporters to back off, saying: "Attack me all you want. . . . But maybe, you know, show a little decency."

    In November, when the Politico reported that Giuliani had billed obscure city agencies thousands of dollars in security costs for Judith Nathan while she was his girlfriend, he branded the report false and accused the paper of a "political hit job."

    During an hour-long interrogation by Tim Russert on "Meet the Press" last month, Giuliani became the first presidential candidate ever to be asked: "Would it be appropriate for a president to provide Secret Service protection for his mistress?"

    In late December, the Times carried a small article reporting that Giuliani did bill his own mayoral expense account for security on trips to the Hamptons to visit his then-girlfriend while their relationship was still secret. That generated little follow-up. "At least they had the decency to straighten it out," Giuliani says, although advisers grumbled that the story was buried on an inside page.

    Profile pieces rarely fail to mention the controversies stemming from his mayoral tenure, such as the criminal charges against his friend and former police commissioner, Bernard Kerik. And journalists never have trouble finding former city officials to badmouth their onetime boss.

    In a New Yorker piece last week, Jerome Hauer, former head of the city's Office of Emergency Management, now a Hillary Clinton supporter, was quoted as saying: "From my perspective, Rudy would be a very dangerous president." Rudy Crew, a former schools chancellor, said of his falling out with Giuliani: "It's tragic how wounded this man really is. And wounded people inevitably wound other people."

    If Giuliani is steamed about such stories, he isn't letting on. "Being from New York has its pluses and minuses," he says. "You get a lot more attention for the successes. You get a lot more attention for the mistakes. And then you get some that maybe aren't even mistakes, but they're painted that way."

    Asked for examples of what he deems biased coverage, Giuliani says that whenever he argued for vouchers to allow students to attend the school of their choice, "we were attacked -- I hate to overgeneralize -- by the liberal media, or some big portion of it, for wanting to destroy public schools. . . .

    "If I say something like 'you can't take any military option off the table with regard to Iran,' all of a sudden . . . that's seen as wanting to go to war."

    On the night that Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses, Giuliani did a round of television interviews that seemed designed mainly to keep him in the public eye. CNN's Wolf Blitzer asked whether he should have devoted more resources to Iowa. MSNBC's Chris Matthews asked why New York reporters "don't like you much" and whether "you're getting screwed by the press." Fox's Alan Colmes said: "Have you been hurt by the stories about Bernard Kerik, by the stories about your relationship with Judi Nathan using police cars when you were dating her?"

    Since then, Giuliani has suffered a worse fate: garnering little coverage from journalists chasing other candidates. (One exception was yesterday's Washington Post piece: "As N.H. Voters See Less of Giuliani, He Drops in State Polls.") The question is when, and whether, he can grab the spotlight back.

    Father Sica's Playing Mafia Steretypes for Laughs Comes Back to Bite in Buttocks

    It appears that Rev. Joseph Sica lied to a Grand Jury about the degree to which he knew an alleged mobster Russell Bufalino,
    who died 15 years ago.
    In reality, Louis DeNaples, is the target and real prize Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico Jr. seems to be after.

    And why is Mr DeNaples a target? The grand jury was called to determine whether Mr. DeNaples was truthful in his testimony to the state gambling commission during the licensing process for his Mount Airy Casino and Resort, where Mr. Barnes is now entertainment director. As he has for decades, Barnes has denied any ties to organized crime, and Mr. Marsico has yet to produce any proof. And he has yet to charge Mr. DeNaples, who has never been charged - let alone convicted - with any offense related to organized crime, despite decades of investigation and innuendo.

    It’s hard to believe that for all the time and money various government agencies have spent trying to prove Mr. DeNaples is or was connected to the Mafia, all anyone has come up with is a priest with a selective memory about how well he knew a mobster who’s been dead for 15 years.
    Not Really! Italian Mobsters get Headlines. Jews, Irish, Columbians, aren't as exciting.
    The Irony is , as the journalist states: Many have chalked the charge up to prejudice against Italian Americans and Mafia stereotypes, an argument weakened by the fact that Father Sica has often played the very same stereotypes for big laughs in public appearances.

    You can’t simultaneously denounce and embrace a stereotype and be insulted when someone points out the hypocrisy.

    Are you listening Rudy Giuliani ????


    This Sideshow is No Comedy
    Scranton Times-Tribune - PA, USA
    Chris Kelly
    January 6, 2008

    The last time the Rev. Joseph Sica performed for a national audience, he played himself on the funny but ill-fated sitcom, “Life With Bonnie.”

    The guest role was a gift from friend and co-star Chris Barnes, a Scranton native who played Marv the Cue-card Guy on the fictional send-up of a talk show host juggling her often incompatible private and professional lives.

    The show was canceled in 2004 after two seasons, and, since Father Sica’s star turn in an episode titled “Act Natural” came as the show ran out of steam and viewers, it’s safe to say not many outside of family and friends were watching.

    The ratings were much higher for Father Sica’s appearance Wednesday before a judge, collared on a perjury charge and hauled to Harrisburg in handcuffs. The uncomfortable close-up was a command performance directed by a scenery-chewing prosecutor with a yen for the spotlight and what appears to be pretty damning, if circumstantial, evidence that the priest lied to a grand jury about how well he knew the late Russell Bufalino.

    Once described by federal investigators as “one of the most ruthless and powerful leaders of the Mafia in the United States,” Mr. Bufalino’s elegant ghost still haunts the back rooms and dark alleys of the valley he once ruled so ruthlessly.

    According to a grand jury presentment released Wednesday, Father Sica testified in August that he had no personal relationship with Mr. Bufalino, and only met him by chance in the early 1980s while visiting Catholic patients in a Sayre hospital.

    The grand jury, however, turned up letters and photographs that apparently put the lie to the priest’s testimony. Father Sica is innocent until proven guilty, but the prosecution’s burden looks lighter every time you peruse the presentment.

    Still, even if Father Sica and Mr. Bufalino were bridge partners, or for that matter, blood brothers, that doesn’t mean the dead mobster had any relationship whatsoever with Louis DeNaples, the real prize Dauphin County District Attorney Edward Marsico Jr. seems to be after.

    After all, the grand jury was called to determine whether Mr. DeNaples was truthful in his testimony to the state gambling commission during the licensing process for his Mount Airy Casino and Resort, where Mr. Barnes is now entertainment director. As he has for decades, the Dunmore businessman denied any ties to organized crime, and if Mr. Marsico has any proof to the contrary, he has yet to produce it publicly. And he has yet to charge Mr. DeNaples, who has never been charged — let alone convicted — with any offense related to organized crime, despite decades of investigation and innuendo.

    It’s hard to believe that for all the time and money various government agencies have spent trying to prove Mr. DeNaples is or was connected to the Mafia, all anyone has come up with is a priest with a selective memory about how well he knew a mobster who’s been dead for 15 years.

    Maybe Mr. Marsico has more. The presentment strongly suggests that William “Big Billy” D’Elia is cooperating with prosecutors. Mr. Bufalino’s purported successor is in prison awaiting trial on charges of money laundering, witness tampering, kidnapping and solicitation to commit murder. He testified in July before the grand jury investigating Mr. DeNaples.

    In a 2001 federal affidavit, unnamed informants claimed Mr. DeNaples paid Mr. D’Elia “protection money” to keep out-of-state Mafia bosses from moving in on his landfill operation. Mr. DeNaples has never been charged in relation to the claims.

    If Mr. D’Elia is cooperating, one hopes Mr. Marsico will require more than his word as evidence, for Mr. DeNaples’ sake, and his own. If Father Sica is the only person charged by this grand jury, Mr. Marsico will quickly tire of the spotlight. Grandstanding prosecutors who strike out in the big game have a tough time getting out of the farm system.

    Back to the good father, who has been accused of a very bad thing. Many of his supporters (and they are many) have dismissed the perjury charge as unimportant compared to all the good Father Sica has done in his 26 years as a priest.

    Some have said they’d rather see a priest lie than molest a child, a rationalization so repugnant I can’t believe I’m typing it.

    Still others have chalked the charge up to prejudice against Italian Americans and Mafia stereotypes, an argument weakened by the fact that Father Sica has often played the very same stereotypes for big laughs in public appearances.

    You can’t simultaneously denounce and embrace a stereotype and be insulted when someone points out the hypocrisy.

    However the case against him is resolved, Father Sica’s arrest raises some uncomfortable questions:

    ¦ Why does a priest need a handgun? Prosecutors say Father Sica bought one last year. That’s his right as an American citizen, but it’s still odd for a man who took a vow to dedicate his life to turning the other cheek.

    ¦ What was Father Sica thinking when he threatened one of the state troopers who arrested him? He later apologized, but again, a threat is an odd thing for a priest to utter.

    ¦ Should a priest really be in the business of blessing casinos? Jesus kicked the moneychangers out of the temple, he didn’t take the temple to them.

    ¦ If he did lie, why?

    ¦ Can it be long before “Law & Order” rips this story from the headlines?

    The answers to these questions may be revealed as this already weird news year plods along, but one thing is clear — we’re going to be seeing a lot more of Father Sica on television in the near future.

    Like the lead character on “Life with Bonnie,” Father Sica is struggling to juggle his often incompatible private and professional lives, his loyalty to the priesthood and his oldest, dearest friend, and all with cameras rolling.

    Sometimes, playing yourself isn’t as easy as it looks. When the show is “Life with Louie,” acting natural can be downright dangerous.

    CHRIS KELLY, the Times-Tribune columnist, is looking for “Life with Bonnie” on DVD. E-mail: kellysworld@timesshamrock.com

    Libidinous Lindsey Lohan in L'Italia - 3 Italians in 24 Hours in Capri ???

    Lindsay Lohan was awarded the Capri Global Award at the Capri Film Festival on December 31,
    It appears that she should receive an additional Award for "ravishing" THREE Italian Men in a 24 Hour Period.
    I don't believe that I will be able to ever look at Lindsay in the same manner considering that she wears mismatched Bra and Panties. Oh yes, I'm curious what constitutes "extremely flexible and adventurous" bedroom moves. ??

    There is a 13 Slide Presentation of "Evolution of Lindsay Lohan" at : http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22530343/

    Another Lohan Lover Dishes on Bedroom Romps

    MSNBC contributors
    Sun., Jan. 6, 2008

    You know how everybody has a "type"? Turns out Lindsay Lohan likes 'em chatty. Following in the footsteps of Lindsay's blabby rehab ex Riley Giles, Italian waiter Alessandro di Nunzio told News of the World all about his Capri encounter with the libidinous Lohan.

    Alessandro claims he's pained to be only the first of Lindsay's three close encounters on Capri, where the actress attended a film festival. "I was hurt and sad when I found out about the other guys," the self-described former model claimed. More likely, it's money that inspired Alessandro's loose lips.

    From describing Lindsay's mismatched bra and panties and her bedroom moves as "extremely flexible and adventurous," Alessandro found no alleged detail of his Lindsay encounter too personal to keep confidential.

    After spending an evening together, Alessandro claims the two ended up in Lindsay's hotel room. After several hours talking and cuddling, the actress dropped her drawers. "I was shocked she had made the first move - it took a while for me to realize I was supposed to take my clothes too," Alessandro said.

    "To be honest I felt a bit intimidated," the waiter confessed. "I was with Lindsay Lohan. But I took off my clothes and we started to make love," Alessandro yammered on. Little did he know, his Hollywood intimacy would lead to a broken heart.

    "I don't think I will see her again now that I have learned that she was seeing other guys at the same time as she was seeing me," he said.

    Monday, January 7, 2008

    Not ALL Italian Americans are Proud of Rudy Giuliani

    Even though Rudy Giuliani is a Republican, (and therefore presumed heartless), and despite his 3 Marriages, and his Kids don't speak to him (and therefore he falls a little short in Family Values), and 9/11 softened his otherwise dictatorial, and corrupt cronies NY Mayor image, I would still be tempted to support Guiliani for President, although I would hold my breathe, if he were to win, because while he has proven he has prosecutorial skills, he has evidenced few political skills, and could set back the "Italian Image" 2 generations.
    But it is his oblivious "insensitivity" to his heritage by impersonating Mafia bosses and other wiseguy wisecracking , and THEN Despite pleas from leaders and activists of our Italian community to STOP denigrating our "Image", he Offers No Apology for indiscretion, Doesn't Stop, but BLATANTLY IGNORES their reasonable requests and Continues "Shylock" and "Step'nFetchit" type impersonations that would be justifiably shouted down by the Jewish and Black Communities.
    And worst of all, he STILL doesn't realize that the Italian American community that is "tepid" or even "disinterested" could have been a powerful force on his behalf. He sure lost my vote and efforts.

    Cellucci: We're all proud of Rudy

    Boston Herald
    By Dave Wedge
    Thursday, January 3, 2008

    While some Italian-Americans are blasting Rudy Giuliani for impersonating Mafia bosses and other wiseguy wisecracking, former Bay State Gov. Paul Cellucci says the ex-New York mayor is a "proud" Italian who is a credit to their heritage.

    "The vast majority of Italian-Americans are very proud of Rudy, as I am," Cellucci, a Giuliani supporter, told the Herald. "I think it's much ado about nothing. The fact that he jokes around at times should not be taken as anything negative. He's a proud Italian with a long record of accomplishment."

    Giuliani has taken heat from some Italian-Americans, including the Order Sons of Italy, which earlier this year urged him to stop making light of mobsters and playing into Italian stereotypes.

    The Herald reported yesterday that Florida Italian-American activist Richard Capozzola called Giuliani an "Uncle Tomaso," comparing him to blacks who sell out their race by acting like "Uncle Toms"

    Giuliani aides countered that the former mayor sent Mob figures to jail as a federal prosecutor and was honored by the National Italian American Foundation in October.

    "I'm sure some people are offended and fine," Cellucci said of the Mob jokes. "But I don't think it's inappropriate at all. Not for a guy who's prosecuted these guys."

    Other Italian-American organizations have called on Giuliani to drop the shtick, claiming he's denigrating Italians by perpetuating harmful stereotypes. In April, he was roundly criticized by the Sons of Italy after he impersonated Don Corleone - the Mob boss played by Marlon Brando in "The Godfather" - in a TV interview and on campaign stops.

    Cellucci and former state Treasurer Joe Malone, a fellow Italian-American pol from Massachusetts, have campaigned hard here and in other states for Giuliani.

    Cellucci, who will be on the trail in New Hampshire with Giuliani this weekend, said he thinks the former mayor will be "competitive" in the Granite State.

    "He's focused a lot on New Hampshire, but he's also spent a lot of time in Florida, Pennsylvania, Missouri, New Jersey, California," Cellucci said. "His strategy is more of a national campaign. He's looking forward to the Florida primary and Super Tuesday. I think it's a good strategy."

    Book: "Polenta at Midnight: Tales of Gusto and Enchantment in North York" by Glenn Carley

    A Canadian- English guy - who marries into an Italian-Canadian family and embraces the cultural differences, and is enriched by it.
    The book is divided into six acts, in the structure of an Italian opera, with all the dramatic flourishes - arias, serenades, laments, intermissions, finale and curtain call.

    An Italian Flourish
    Anglo marries a woman and her culture
    Montreal Gazette - Montreal,Quebec,Canada
    Enza Micheletti
    Saturday, January 05, 2008

    ...We witnessed some ugly moments of bigotry at the Bouchard-Taylor Commission.... What Quebecers needed instead was a little inspiration, a little reminder of the magic of ordinary lives made extraordinary when cultures meet, mingle, grow together, intertwine. They needed to pick up a copy of "Polenta at Midnight: Tales of Gusto and Enchantment in North York", a debut non-fiction book by Glenn Carley.

    The book is an antidote to all that malaise. On its back cover, the reader discovers some personal history about the author. Carley is a social worker with the Dufferin-Peel Catholic School Board in suburban Toronto. He's an "Inglese" - an English guy - who marries into an Italian family and embraces the cultural differences. More facts emerge as the story unfolds. We meet his wife, Mary, and their two children, and are introduced to the in-laws, Angelo and Lina.

    And that's when the music starts. The book is divided into six acts, in the structure of an Italian opera, with all the dramatic flourishes - arias, serenades, laments, intermissions, finale and curtain call. Carley, the outsider, is drawn into the theatricality of Italian customs, into what he describes as "Garibaldi's Court," the court of the Patriarch. His father-in-law, Angelo, takes on the character of Garibaldi, and the author is named "il Vagabondo" (the vagabond). Carley addresses his readers, calling them "the audience of the Living Opera," and urges them to join him. "We will sing, dance, laugh, cry and eat polenta at midnight, al fresco," he promises.

    It's a call that's hard to resist. You want to believe in this magical spell he is weaving. You are eager for the lights to dim, the curtain to rise, the drama to unfold. And like any ticket-holder, any observer, you pray it will transport you to another place, move you, teach you something. The author makes it clear, too, from the outset that's his goal. "Always there will be the lezione," he writes, "something to learn and then something to eat."

    Does he succeed? In many ways, yes, mostly by finding meaning in little everyday things. He gets us to see the poetry in motion of peeling roasted bell peppers in Garibaldi's backyard; of dining on homemade wine and simple peasant food - boiled pork shoulder, bread, salad (oregano, oil and vinegar dressing, of course); of learning to make gnocchi, little potato dumplings, from scratch. In his detailed descriptions we find beauty and meaning, and it's no small feat. It reminded me of the quiet assurance of another writer, Carol Shields, one of Canada's finest, who always managed to find magic in ordinariness.

    That's not to say I didn't expect to cringe a little, and sometimes did. As a daughter of Italian immigrants, I was on the lookout for stereotypes and oversimplifications. And I found some, like Carley's irritating stage direction, "Shrug shoulders here," as if all Canadians of Italian origin have that exaggerated mannerism. I wasn't impressed by the misspelled Italian (a dictionary could fix that). And all that emphasis on food had me worried, too. It's true that canning tomatoes is a ritual in most Italian-Canadian households, an orchestrated affair that takes place in garages across the country at summer's end. But there's more to Italian culture than sauce-making.

    Thankfully, the author reaches for more meaning and delivers. The audience is drawn into Angelo/Garibaldi's pain. When he loses his wife, Lina, to cancer, the tragedy of it is clear. When he travels back to his hometown in Italy, the disconnect - of past and present clashing - resonates. And when he sits his Vagabondo son-in-law down for a lesson on life's meaning, all ears are tuned to the canto.

    True, I'd have liked a deeper glimpse into Vagabondo's Canadian family. The author only hints at his relationship with his own father, a hole in an otherwise compact, compelling story. And I'm not convinced the opera metaphor was fully explored. But these shortcomings cannot take away the grace of this book - out of love for his wife, a man adopts a family and its culture, and is enriched by it. It's the tale of Canada, lived day to day by so many of us, and it's worth reading and remembering.

    Enza Micheletti is a Gazette copy editor

    POLENTA AT MIDNIGHT: TALES OF GUSTO AND ENCHANTMENT IN NORTH YORK By Glenn Carley

    Véhicule Press, 206 pages, $19.95

    Available at amazon.com: Polenta at Midnight: Tales of Gusto and Enchantment in North York

    http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/books/story.html?id=7ad26ff5-032d-4380-a2b1-461f35acaed5

    Saturday, January 5, 2008

    Tarantella: the Origins, the Myths, the Fallacies

    The Tarantella first recorded episodes appeared during the thirteenth century and persisted on a widespread scale in southern Europe for 400 years. It is considered a Dance Mania, like the St Vitus dance.
    These Skeptical Scientists provide historical background material and then Discuss three Fallacies:

    Fallacy #1: Most "Dancers" Were Crazy

    Fallacy #2: There Was a Spontaneous, Uncontrollable Urge to Dance

    Fallacy #3: Most "Dancers" Were Hysterical Females


    Rethinking the Dancing Mania

    While medieval dance frenzies have long been regarded as a classic example of stress-induced mental disorder affecting mostly women, there is much evidence to the contrary.
    The Skeptical Inquirer
    July 2000
    Robert E. Bartholmew

    Pick up a textbook on abnormal psychology and in the first chapter you are likely to find a discussion of the dance manias. Also known as St. Vitus's dance, between the eleventh and seventeenth centuries, manias swept across Europe as tens of thousands of people participated in frenzied public orgies and wild dances lasting for days and sometimes weeks. It is little wonder why psychiatrists and medical historians classify such episodes as group mental disorder affecting those overwhelmed by the stresses of the period. During outbreaks many immodestly tore off their clothing and pranced naked through the streets. Some screamed and beckoned to be tossed into the air; others danced furiously in what observers described as strange, colorful attire. A few reportedly laughed or weeped to the point of death. Women howled and made obscene gestures while others squealed like animals. Some rolled themselves in the dirt or relished being struck on the soles of their feet. An Italian variant was known as tarantism, as victims were believed to have been bitten by the tarantula spider, for which the only cure was thought to be frenetic dancing to certain music which supposedly dissipated the "poison" from their blood (Hecker 1844; Rosen 1968; Sirois 1982).



    Religious fanatics dancing amid graves in a churchyard.
    From a German engraving, about 1600.

    The term "dancing mania" is derived from the Greek word choros, a dance, and mania, madness. The literal translation of choros mania is dancing madness. The name was adopted after a group of about 200 people danced so spiritedly on a bridge above the Maas River in Germany during 1278 that it collapsed, killing many participants. Survivors were treated in a nearby chapel dedicated to St. Vitus, and many were reportedly restored to full health. Prior to the twentieth century it was commonly referred to as epidemic chorea or choreomania. The word chorea was erroneously evoked to describe these behaviors, as participants were often thought to be exhibiting symptoms of chorea, a central nervous system disorder characterized by brief irregular jerking movements which can resemble dancing.

    The terms tarantism and dancing mania are often used interchangeably as they share overlapping features. Tarantism was mainly confined to southern Italy. Gloyne (1950, 29) describes it as the "mass hysterical reaction" to perceived bites of the tarantula spider. The first recorded episodes appeared during the thirteenth century and persisted on a widespread scale in southern Europe for 400 years, reaching a peak in the seventeenth century, after which it virtually disappeared. Small annual episodes have persisted in southern Italy well into the twentieth century. Hans Schadewaldt (1971) investigated an outbreak in Wardo during 1957. Italian religious history professor Ernesto de Martino (1966) identifies thirty-five cases of tarantism near Galatina in 1959. De Martino conducted his survey between June 28 and 30, as June 29 is the festival day of St. Peter and St. Paul. On that day it is customary for the "victims" to travel from regional villages to the chapel of St. Paul to obtain a cure for various ailments. More recently, it has been observed near Sardinia, Italy (Gallini 1988).

    Medieval tarantism was reported almost exclusively during the height of the hot, dry summer months of July and August:

    People, asleep or awake, would suddenly jump up, feeling an acute pain like the sting of a bee. Some saw the spider, others did not, but they knew that it must be the tarantula. They ran out of the house into the street, to the market place dancing in great excitement. Soon they were joined by others who like them had just been bitten, or by people who had been stung in previous years, for the disease was never quite cured. The poison remained in the body and was reactivated every year by the heat of summer. . . .

    . . . Music and dancing were the only effective remedies, and people were known to have died within an hour or in a few days because music was not available (Sigerist 1943, 218-219).

    Symptoms included headache, giddiness, breathlessness, fainting, trembling, twitching, appetite loss, general soreness, and delusions. Sometimes it was claimed that a sore or swelling was caused by a tarantula bite, but such assertions were difficult to verify because the bite resembled those of insects. The dance frenzy symptoms resemble typical modern episodes of epidemic hysteria, in addition to expected reactions from exhaustive physical activity and excessive alcohol consumption.



    Psychiatrists classify tarantism as a form of epidemic hysteria due to its psychological character and claims that most of those affected were females (Sigerist 1943, 218; Rosen 1968, 204). Early medical observers theorized that a venomous species of tarantula found only near the Italian state of Apulia was capable of producing sporadic tarantism symptoms each summer, but tests on spiders of the region have failed to substantiate these suspicions (Gloyne 1950, 35). Latrodectus tarantula is a nonaggressive, slow-moving spider common in Apulia that can produce psychoactive effects in people it bites. In severe cases, it may temporarily mimic many tarantism symptoms, including twitching and shaking of limbs, weakness, nausea, and muscular pain (Lewis 1991, 514). Ironically, Lycosa tarantula was typically blamed for tarantism symptoms, as it is larger, more aggressive, ferocious in appearance and has a painful bite. Yet neither spider can account for the predominantly symbolic and psychogenic character of tarantism attacks. Latrodectus tarantula is also found in other countries where tarantism does not occur (Russell 1979, 416), including the United States (Lewis 1991, 517). There is no evidence that a venomous species of tarantula, native only to Apulia, may have existed during this period and later died out. As Sigerist (1943, 221) remarks: "The same tarantula shipped to other parts of the country seemed to lose most of its venom, and what remained acted differently." It is also doubtful that some insect or other agent was responsible for causing "attacks," as most participants did not even claim to have been bitten, and would only participate in tarantism episodes at designated times.

    Clearly most cases were unrelated to spider bites. Other psychological aspects include the only reliable cure: dancing to certain types of music. "Victims" would typically perform one of numerous versions of the tarantella, a rapid tempo score characterized by brief, repetitive phrases which escalate in intensity. Such performances also allowed "victims" to exhibit social behavior that is prohibited at any other time. Dancing persisted intermittently for hours and days, sometimes lasting weeks. Participants would eventually proclaim themselves "cured" for the remainder of the summer, only to relapse in subsequent summers. Many "victims" believed they had been infected from those who had been bitten, or from simply brushing against a spider. All that was needed to "reactivate" the venom was to hear the strains of certain music being played to cure those who had already been bitten.

    Dancing Manias

    A variation of tarantism spread throughout much of Europe between the thirteenth and seventeenth centuries, where it was known as the dancing mania or St. Vitus's dance, on account that participants often ended their processions in the vicinity of chapels and shrines dedicated to this saint. Like its Italian counterpart, outbreaks seized groups of people who engaged in frenzied dancing that lasted intermittently for days or weeks. Social scientists typify victims as females who were maladjusted, deviant, irrational, or mentally disturbed. These activities were typically accompanied by symptoms similar to tarantism, including screaming, hallucinations, convulsive movements, chest pains, hyperventilation, crude sexual gestures and outright intercourse. Instead of spider bites as the cause, participants usually claimed that they were possessed by demons who had induced an uncontrollable urge to dance. Like tarantism, however, music was typically played during episodes and was considered to be an effective remedy. Detailed accounts of many episodes appear in a classic book by German physician Justus Hecker, Epidemics of the Middle Ages (1844). He considered the origin of these "epidemics" as due to "morbid sympathy" since they often coincided with periods of severe disease, such as widespread pessimism and despair after the Black Death (Hecker 1844, 87). This epic disease plague, which by some estimates killed half of the population of Europe, subsided about twenty years prior to 1374, the year that most scholars identify with the onset of the dance mania. Benjamin Gordon, in Medieval and Renaissance Medicine (1959, 562) describes the onset of the dance mania:

    From Italy it spread to . . . Prussia, and one morning, without warning, the streets were filled. . . . They danced together, ceaselessly, for hours or days, and in wild delirium, the dancers collapsed and fell to the ground exhausted, groaning and sighing as if in the agonies of death. When recuperated, they swathed themselves tightly with cloth around their waists and resumed their convulsive movements. They contorted their bodies, writhing, screaming and jumping in a mad frenzy. One by one they fell from exhaustion. . . .

    . . . Many later claimed that they had seen the walls of heaven split open and that Jesus and the Virgin Mary had appeared before them.

    As with tarantism, dance manias are considered to have occurred spontaneously, with participants unable to control their actions, and being exhibited primarily by mentally disturbed females. Influential New York University psychiatrists Harold Kaplan and Benjamin Sadock (1985, 1227) state that they represent "collective mental disorder"; Carson et al. (1998, 37) view St. Vitus's dance and tarantism as collective hysterical disorders; while abnormal psychologist Ronald Comer of Princeton University uses the term "mass madness" (1996, 9).

    Let us examine these claims based on several dozen period chronicles translated by E. Louis Backman (1952) in his seminal study of religious dances. Few if any modern textbooks on psychiatry and abnormal psychology cite these early chronicles. Instead they rely on a handful of often-cited influential medical historians of the early twentieth century, using their assessments and well-worn quotations. Medical historians such as Henry Sigerist, George Mora, and George Rosen were giants in their field and astute enough acknowledge Greek or Roman ritualistic elements in the dance manias, but each assumes that the participants used these rites to work themselves into frenzied states of physical and mental disturbance in order to experience cathartic reactions to intolerable social conditions. They also assume that most participants were hysterics.

    Mora (1963, 436-438) writes that tarantism and dance manias used rituals as psychotherapeutic attempts to cope with either individual or societal maladjustments which fostered mental disturbances. Sigerist held a similar view. An abnormal psychology text written by Robert Carson of Duke University and his colleagues (1998, 37) cites Sigerist to support the view that St. Vitus's dance and tarantism were similar to ancient Greek orgiastic rites which had been outlawed by Christian authorities, but were secretly practiced anyway. The authors assume that these "secret gatherings . . . probably led to considerable guilt and conflict" which triggered collective hysterical disorders. Dance frenzies appeared most often during periods of crop failures, famine, epidemics, and social upheaval, leading Rosen (1968) to conclude that this stress triggered widespread hysteria. Yet these same disasters prompted attempts at divine intervention through ritualized dancing, and often produced trance and possession states. Consistent with this latter view, many symptoms associated with tarantism and dancing mania are consistent with sleep deprivation, excessive alcohol consumption, emotional excitement and vigorous, prolonged physical activity. A German chronicle reports that during a dance frenzy at Strasbourg in 1418, "many of them went without food for days and nights" (Rust 1969, 20).

    The European "dancing manias" and its Italian variant tarantism are portrayed within the psychiatric literature as spontaneous, stress-induced outbursts of psychological disturbance that primarily affected females. This depiction is based on the selective use of period quotations by medical historians such as George Rosen and Henry Sigerist, who were reflecting popular stereotypes of female susceptibility to mental disorders. However, based on a series of translations of medieval European chronicles describing these events, many of them first-hand, and by scrutinizing other historical sources which provide a degree of social, cultural, historical and political perspective, it is evident that contemporary depictions of "dancing manias" have been misrepresented. Contrary to popular psychiatric portrayals, females were not overrepresented among participants, episodes were not spontaneous but highly structured, and they involved unfamiliar religious sects engaging in strange or foreign customs that were redefined as a behavioral abnormality (Bartholomew 1998). Let us examine the evidence.

    Fallacy #1: Most "Dancers" Were Crazy

    Period chronicles reveal that most participants did not reside in the municipalities where they occurred, but hailed from other regions, traveling through communities as they sought out shrines and churchyards to perform in. As a result, they would naturally have had unfamiliar customs. The largest and best documented dance plague, that of 1374 involving throngs of "dancers" in Germany and Holland, were "pilgrims" who traveled, "according to Beka's chronicle, from Bohemia, but also from Hungary, Poland, Carinthia, Austria, and Germany. Great hosts from the Netherlands and France joined them" (Backman 1952, 331).

    The behavior of these dancers was described as strange, because while exhibiting actions that were part of the Christian tradition, and paying homage to Jesus, Mary, and various saints at chapels and shrines, other elements were foreign. Radulphus de Rivo's chronicle Decani Tongrensis states that "in their songs they uttered the names of devils never before heard of . . . this strange sect." Petrus de Herenthal writes in Vita Gregorii XI: "There came to Aachen . . . a curious sect." The Chronicon Belgicum Magnum describes the participants as "a sect of dancers." The actions of dancers were often depicted as immoral, as there was much uninhibited sexual intercourse. The chronicle of C. Browerus (Abtiquitatum et Annalium Trevirensium) states: "They indulged in disgraceful immodesty, for many women, during this shameless dance and mock-bridal singing, bared their bosoms, while others of their own accord offered their virtue." In A Chronicle of Early Roman Kings and Emperors, it states that a number of participants engaged in "loose living with the women and young girls who shamelessly wandered about in remote places under the cover of night." If most of the participants were pilgrims of Bohemian and Czech origin as Backman asserts, during this period Czechs and Bohemians were noted for a high incidence of perceived immorality, especially sexual, including prostitution and annual festivals involving the free partaking of sex (Backman 1952, 290).

    Fallacy #2: There Was a Spontaneous, Uncontrollable Urge to Dance

    Period chronicles reveal that dance manias were mainly composed of pilgrims engaging in emotionally charged, highly structured displays of worship that occasionally attracted locals. This social patterning is evident in a first-hand account on September 11, 1374, by Jean d'Outremeuse in his chronicle La Geste de Liege, who states that "there came from the north to Liege . . . a company of persons who all danced continually. They were linked with clothes, and they jumped and leaped. . . . They called loudly on St. John the Baptist and fiercely clapped their hands." Slichtenhorst (cited in Backman 1952, 210), in describing the dance frenzy of 1375 and 1376 in France, Germany, and Gelderland (now southwestern Holland), notes that participants "went in couples, and with every couple was another single person . . . they danced, leaped and sang, and embraced each other in friendly fashion."

    A similar pattern is evident in tarantism. While taranti (as victims were known) are typically described as participating in uncontrollable behaviors in chaotic, frenzied throngs, adherents worshiped in a set pattern, much like modern-day ecstatic religious sects. Australian medical historian and tarantism expert Jean Russell states that taranti would typically commence dancing at sunrise, stop during midday to sleep and sweat, then bathe before the resumption of dancing until evening, when they would again sleep and sweat, consume a light meal, then sleep until sunrise. This ritual was usually repeated over four or five days, and sometimes for weeks (Russell 1979, 413).

    Clearly tarantism episodes were not spontaneous, and the same is true of dance manias. German magistrates even contracted musicians to play for participants and serve as dancing companions. The latter was intended to reduce injuries and mischief during the procession to the St. Vitus chapel (Hecker 1970 [1837], 4). Hecker states that the dancing mania was a "half-heathen, half-Christian festival" which incorporated into the festival of St. John's day as early as the fourth century, "the kindling of the 'Nodfyr,' which was forbidden them by St. Boniface." This ritual involved the leaping through smoke or flames, which was believed to protect participants from various diseases over the ensuing year. A central feature of the dance frenzy was leaping or jumping continuously for up to several hours through what they claimed were invisible fires, until collapsing in exhaustion.

    Not only were episodes scripted, but dance processions were swollen by spectators (Hecker 1970 [1837], 4), including children searching for parents who were among the dancers, and vice versa (Haggard 1934, 187). Some onlookers were threatened with harm for refusing to dance (Backman 1952, 147). Many took part out of loneliness and carnal pleasures; others were curious or sought exhilaration (Rust 1969, 22). Hecker remarks that "numerous beggars, stimulated by vice and misery, availed themselves of this new complaint to gain a temporary livelihood," while gangs of vagabonds imitated the dance, roving "from place to place seeking maintenance and adventures." Similar observations have been noted of tarantism episodes.

    Fallacy #3: Most "Dancers" Were Hysterical Females

    A revisiting of the descriptions of dancing manias based on early chronicles of these events shows that both men and women were equally affected. Where the gender of the participants was noted, the following comments are representative: Petrus de Herenthal's chronicle Vita Gregorii XI remarks that "Persons of both sexes . . . danced"; Radulpho de Rivo's Decani Tongrensis states, "persons of both sexes, possessed by devils and half naked, set wreathes on their heads, and began their dances"; Johannes de Beka's Canonicus Ultrajectinus et Heda, Wilhelmus, Praepositus Arnhemensis: De Episcopis Ultraiectinis, Recogniti, states that in 1385, "there spread along the Rhine . . . a strange plague . . . whereby persons of both sexes, in great crowds . . . danced and sang, both inside and outside of churches, till they were so weary that they fell to the ground"; according to Koelhoff's Chronicle published in 1499, "Many people, men and women, old and young, had the disease [of dancing mania]"; Casper Hedion in Ein Ausserlessne Chronik von Anfang der Welt bis auff das iar nach Christi unsers Eynigen Heylands Gepurt M.D. writes that in 1374 "a terrible disease, called St. John's dance . . . attacked many women and girls, men and boys"; A. Slichtenhorst's Gelsersee Geschiedenissen states that "men and women were smitten by the fantastic frenzy." This gender mixture is also reflected in more recent tarantism reports such as episodes in the vicinity of Sardinia, Italy, studied by Gallini (1988) which found that the vast majority of "victims" were male, while de Martino (1966) reported that most participants that he investigated near Apulia were female.

    What Caused the Dancing Manias?

    Ergot poisoning (pronounced "er-get") has been blamed for hallucinations and convulsions accompanying the dance mania. Nicknamed St. Anthony's Fire, ergotism coincided with floods and wet growing seasons which fostered the growth of the fungus claviceps purpura which thrives in damp conditions and forms on cultivated grains, especially rye. While this could account for some symptoms, many outbreaks did not coincide with floods or wet growing or harvest periods. Convulsive ergotism could cause bizarre behavior and hallucinations, but chronic ergotism was more common and typically resulted in the loss of fingers and toes from gangrene, a feature that is distinctly not associated with dance manias (Donaldson et al. 1997, 203). As for tarantism, most episodes occurred only during July and August and were triggered by real or imaginary spider bites, hearing music, or seeing others dance, and involved structured annual rituals. Also, while rye was a key crop in central and northern Europe, it was uncommon in Italy. Surely a few participants were hysterics, epileptics, mentally disturbed, or even delusional from ergot, but the large percentage of the populations affected, and the circumstances and timing of outbreaks, suggests otherwise. Episodes were pandemic, meaning that they occurred across a wide area and affected a very high proportion of the population (Lidz 1963, 822; Millon and Millon 1974, 22).

    So what is the most likely explanation for dance manias? Based on an examination of a representative sample of medieval chronicles, it is evident that these episodes are best explained as deviant religious sects who gained adherents as they made pilgrimages through Europe during years of turmoil in order to receive divine favor. Their symptoms (visions, fainting, tremor) are predictable for any large population engaging in prolonged dancing, emotional worship, and fasting. Their actions have been "mistranslated" by contemporary scholars evaluating the participants' behaviors per se, removed from their regional context and meaning. Tarantism was a regional variant of dancing mania that developed into a local tradition, primarily in southern Italy.

    In reviewing the dance frenzies, it is important to consult original sources and realize that we are all to some e