What you neglect to mention is that both Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi were beneficiaries of being related to famous men. Bhutto’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged by the dictator Zia al Haq, and was elected because of sympathy for her.
Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Nehru, and was groomed for the role as his heir.
BTW, both were spectacularly bad leaders.
What you neglect to mention is that both Benazir Bhutto and Indira Gandhi were beneficiaries of being related to famous men. Bhutto’s father, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, was hanged by the dictator Zia al Haq, and his daughter was elected because of sympathy for her father’s martyrdom…
Indira Gandhi was the daughter of Nehru, and was groomed for the role as his heir and the choice of the Congress party.
BTW, both were spectacularly bad leaders.
So, what’s your point and…what’s your point?
Also, media aside, our government only reveals to us what it wants to reveal. Hence the existence of so many conspiracy theorists. Whether you like it or not, we’re not that different from the less-sophisticated and less-educated people of the 3rd world, and we’re never going to get the whole story. Just think throughout our history about how many big stories were broken by reporters or leaked by staff. And then think about how many big cover-ups weren’t discovered until decades later. I’d bet that there were many, many more that never became public.
[Hijack]
You’re calling them backwards, not me.
[/Hijack]
I’m not making excuses, bumblefuck, I’m pointing out that if Hillary Clinton is disliked by some (myself included), it isn’t because she’s a woman.
And WTF does getting to a plateau have anything to do with it?
Gobear is right. The women prime ministers of Pakistan and India have more in common with women monarchs of Europe than they do with modern, democratically-elected leaders.
I know that if I were a homosexual, pork chop eating, pagan I’d think the culture in the mid-east was just as valid as that of the United States or Canada.
Marc
gobear, expect the Belgian army to come knocking on you door for leaving them off the “Countries that produce Great Beer”-list. If they can locate the US, that is. 
And I’ll second the OP. Silvio, you ignorant FUCK. A man who thinks in viewers per show and Champions League trophies per decade should NOT be trusted with moral judgments of other cultures. Evidently.
Not to be difficult (or maybe that’s “In order to be difficult”) but don’t we have a rule about posting in foreign languages? Even with a translation, as the moderators can’t trust us to make truthful translations? For all we know, Matt could be saying something nice to Premier Berlusconi. Coldfire, rather than coming to the defense of Belgian beer, perhaps your time could be better spent enforcing the rules.
OK, droppie wants to play tough guy. Sure, I can do that.
[Moderator Clogs ON]
Goddammit, dripzone! You know damn fucking well complaints about the moderation of this MB belong in the Pit!
looks around
Errrr…oh.
Carry on then. But there’ll be no more crap about Belgian beer, you hear?
[sub]Don’t worry, I speak enough Italian to translate a menu, and to curse at a football ref. matt_mcl’s words were spot-on.[/sub]
Dude, rules are rules. And weren’t you supposed to be in bed several hours ago?
JJ, according to your principle, you and I cannot even criticize the Nazis, because America had the KKK. :eek:
I disagree with the idea idea than only someone from a perfect culture may criticize another culture. Since perfection doesn’t exist, no criticism would be permitted.
Furthermore, there’s a difference of degree. E.g. apartheit was worse than Jim Crow. Woould you not agree that the US was right to work against apartheit, despite our own race problems?
December, you should remember that over the course of history far more Jews have died at the hands of Europeans than at the hands of Muslims. By a factor of 10 to 1, at least.
Besides, I have to say, European Anti-semitism scares me a hell of a lot more than its Muslim counterpart. As an Israeli, I can understand why an Arab would hate me; I wouldn’t exactly condone it, of course, but I’d see where they’re coming from. European (or American) hatred, on the other hand, freaks me out - what the hell di we ever do to them?
Oh, and as for the OP: I don’t know about you guys, but the fact that the words are coming from an Italian leader strikes me as hilarious. maybe it’s just me, but I’d pay good money just to watch the Italian army try and conquer anything.
Well, you did kill our God.
OK, maybe not my God, as I’m an atheist, but you know what I mean. And maybe not you personally, either, but you know what I mean.
[Note: I am only saying this as a reason (not excuse) for some Christian hatred of Jews, and do not at all subscribe to such views]
Jackknifed Juggernaut: *“Whether you like it or not, we’re not that different from the less-sophisticated and less-educated people of the 3rd world…” *
JJ (if I may), I’d be the last person on the SDMB to argue with you about the shoddy state of US mass media; and I also think we have a long way to go before we achieve equality between the sexes. I totally agree with you that Hillary Clinton gets much more grief for being an outspoken woman than she would if she were either a male politician or a conventional wife.
All of that said–and with all due respect to Indian and Pakistani cultures–I think women have more opportunities in the United States than in almost any other country in the world. More than in Britain, more than in India, and definitely more than in Pakistan.
As to the OP, Berlusconi (who, IIRC, owns just about every television station in Italy) is out of his mind; the man is several noodles short of a lasagna.
Nonetheless, fascist or even quasi-fascist rhetoric uttered by the head of state of European nation is pretty troubling.
And so is the prospect of anti-terrorist policies being used to curb those protesting unfair globalizing practices.
Thanks for posting matt_mcl
Am I dreaming or did waterj2 just post that the Jews killed the Christian’s god?
Mandelstam, I appreciate it.
BTW, when we talk about the response to anti-globalization protesters in Genoa, we’re not talking about the wrongful application of anti-terrorist tactics; that is, unless legitimate anti-terrorist tactics include
etc., etc., ad nauseam. At the very least the EU should be reviewing Italy’s membership.
For links à go go, check out url=“http://sf.indymedia.org/display.php?id=102089”]this site. It has first-person accounts, reports from the BBC and other mainstream news sources, etc.
Dammit. This should work.
Well, as something some Christians have against the Jews, from what I understand. Not as something that I personally believe.
Hadn’t you noticed that the Romans were involved in the matter?
And, if so, shouldn’t Christians hate all Italians?
Indeed, shouldn’t Italian Christians hate themselves?
:eek: I think you’ve just helped me figure out why it is that the Italians put up with Berlusconi! Thanks, waterj.
Damn. I’m not saying it makes sense. Just that I have heard that some Christians accuse Jews of killing their God. I’m not trying to say that it is a valid conclusion to come to after reading the Bible. In case you hadn’t noticed, some Christians seem to think that God has lifted his veil of protection over the US due to People for the American Way, the ACLU, abortionists, and the legitimacy of the gay lifestyle. Bottom line: some Christians are complete jackasses who just want a pretext to hate others, and aren’t necessarily willing to be logically rigourous in finding that pretext.