The Italians are trying to outdo the French with their overly infalted self-image. Not too long ago, I read about the Italian Prime Minister criticizing Michael Schumacher for basically not being enough of a patriotic Italian (he’s German). The guy gives Ferrari its first F1 championship in 21 years, and the Italian Prime Minister complains that while he sings along with “Duetschland Uber Alles” [sic], he only waves his hands to Italy’s national anthem. At least Schumacher probably knows the name of Italy’s national anthem, which isn’t a courtesy extended by their PM.
As for the election, how long has Italy been a democracy? Methinks maybe they shouldn’t be giving us advice in that realm until their elective process is free of the clear cut simplicity of car bombs.
Quite a farce, isn’t it? Just when you think it couldn’t become even more ludicrous, it does.
I burst out laughing at an item (in our local newspaper) about the instant frenzy to collect major newspapers with incorrect headlines the day after the election. The media brouhaha pre-and-post election was so spectacularly awful. For weeks the “news” was, “the polls are inconclusive”.
Now the whole damned election is a tangled clusterfuck. But what happens? Stand-up comics are having a field day, daily life goes on as usual and “wrong headline” newspapers have replaced beanie babies as the collector craze du jour.
Dave Barry’s column on this mess cracked me up–and most of it a straightforward account of the election. (Okay, the 4th time Dan Rather reversed himself and reported Hubert Humphrey had been elected exaggerated a bit–but not by much.)
You couldn’t make up this shit! Castro volunteering Cubans to monitor the recount. Politics as theater of the absurd…
Maybe its because who actually runs the whole show is as inconsequential as to be ludicrus. The system looks after its self. All that is done is an occasional attempt to alter it in a minor manner.
Seen on t-shirts: “My grandma can punch the right hole
Why can’t yours?”
BTW, if you want real entertainment, check out the British parliament on C-SPAN. One dude was talking and it was like watching 100 Al Gore’s in the audience - they were rolling their eyes, thumping their desks, muttering and sighing. What got their wigs in a knot? Sheep grazing.
What happens in the UK’s house of commons is largely theatre, very little legislative activity takes place there.
Yes its true all you fellow Brits.
Yes they bay like…er… baying things and do daft things such as waving parliamentary papers and bashing on the seats,but at least it keeps them from interfering with the way the country is governed by the civil servants, it also gives them something to do in between taking turns at Miss Whiplash and inviting Guardsmen and sailors to their private parties.
I do think you need some cnadidates from our Monster Raving Loony party, just to give everybody a sense of reality.
First correction -and I don’t wanna sound too condescending, for this is a fantastic anecdote indeed, waterj2- : it was a former prime minister. Rest assured, a sitting PM, even an Italian one, would have had his ass ROASTED over the comments that were made. As will be seen later on.
The comment was as such: according to this former PM, Schumacher was standing straight and seriously during “Deutschland Ueber Alles” ‘like a Wehrmacht soldier’ (!!), whereas he was ‘directing the tune of the All Mighty Italian national anthem like a clown, disgracing our fair nation’.
Instead of telling this Mussolini-felching idiot to shut the fuck up and go take a flying hike -which is what I would have done-, Schumacher was even wiser: he held an official press conference and apologised for having offended such an esteemed former PM - he did by no means have any derogatory intentions whilst directing the Italian anthem (something he does after EVERY won race, BTW).
There just is no more elegant way of telling someone he’s an outright asshole. No word was uttered about the “Wehrmacht soldier” comment - which was of course an OUTRAGEOUS one. Believe me, a sitting Italian PM would have caused a diplomatic row with such a comment.
Back to your scheduled thread. Already in progress, or at least it will be, once we’re done counting the posts in a week or so.
I believe the Wehrmacht soldier line was edited into something like “trained monkey” in the account I read. I blame any inaccuracies in my statements on the dearth of quality coverage of Formula One in this country. Anyways, my point was about the national arrogance of the Italians, which I believe was even better illustrated by the true account, as faithfully provided by Coldfire.
I’ve been very amused as well. What’s behind the couch? Another 400 votes!!!
I do think it a bit unfair about the death penalty on Chads. I think that is a bit of namism.
As for interesting parliaments, Australia has a rule that anything said inside parliament cannot be used in libel cases, so the politicians are expanding the world of vitriol and insults to an incredible degree. Sanctimonious scumbag being one of the more memorable.
Atracite,
I really don’t like to take issue with people I like, but you are starting to sound as if The US is the only country where the Population would act normal in the current situation. Its not as if any other country would suddenly proclaim the end of the world and start rerunning the “duck and cover” films. Most countries would do what you are doing. Of course, I would expect some countries to take an election dispute entirely differently, as witnessed in Yugoslavia recently.
I also think it’s great fun (and kind of reassuring).
The notion of Fidel sending the boys over conjures up wonderful imagery of sweaty, bearded, cigar chewing soldiers in combat fatigue’s marshalling the Floridian wrinklies into voting booths.
It was nice to hear that Texas is the only State that allows ballots to be posted from Space (1997 Houston Mayoral election) – might explain quite a lot about the Idiot Son’s political antecedence.
Lastly, it was also interesting to discover “punching the wrong hole” didn’t involve lashings of lubrication – but maybe the jury’s still out on that one.
The Onion this week says, “BELGRADE–Serbian president Vojislav Kostunica deployed more than 30,000 peacekeeping troops to the U.S. Monday, pledging full support to the troubled North American nation as it struggles to establish democracy.”
