Berlusconi fumes after snub at EU

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=60acfc3428ccfc17&cat=c08dd24cec417021

Berlusconi fumes after snub at EU


Mr Buttiglione also takes conservative views of marriage
Italy's prime minister has blamed leftists after a European Parliamentary committee rejected his conservative nominee for justice commissioner.
The Civil Liberties Committee narrowly rejected Rocco Buttiglione, a Roman Catholic who told an EU hearing last week he thought homosexuality a sin.

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The vote smacked of "fundamentalism if not obscurantism" because it called into "question the freedom of conscience and opinion of a Catholic commissioner, contesting the distinction he makes between morality and the law", the Italian prime minister added.

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It looks Like EU does not like Berlusoni!!!

[saracat]

1. I think I like the EU!

[lovuian]

2. Me too!!!

LOL!!!

[German-Lefty]

3. yeah, Berlusoni is the bastard stepchild of the EU.

"It looks Like EU does not like Berlusoni!!!"

Yeah, when it was his turn at the EU presidency, he made some Nazi "joke" that pissed off us Germans quite a bit. Everyone breathed a sign of relief when his term was up.

He owns most of the private media, and of course the public media in Italy is also under his influence. He's also been able to disable different criminal processes against him through his power. So we worry about him being a threat to Italian democracy.

He took his country to Iraq, even though they were against it. 1 million demonstrated against this on the streets of Rome (wish the Americans would show up in those numbers).

So even though he's a Mafiosi, we still have to put up with the Italians voting for him. On the bright side he does seem like a nice guy, if you didn't know what he was up to.

[murielm99]

4. Dang!

The parallels to * are incredible!

[truthisfreedom]

5. the Americans did show up in those numbers, in the streets of New York,

but the numbers were purposefully under-reported by the conservative-controlled press here.

[koopie57]

7. I wish just once

* would pick on people his own size.

[Kolesar]

6. They refer to his attitude as "Berluscismo" eom

[CityHall]

8. Funny, "Rocco Buttiglione" sounds like a gay porn star name

Not that there's anything wrong with that.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

9. Berlusconi and his ilk

are an embarassment to all of us progressive Italians... Why Berlusconi's coalition is still intact, considering Italy's overwhelming majority disapproving of the Iraq war and Italy's involvment in it, is still a mystery to me.

I am ashamed that Mr. Berlusconi is my Prime Minister. I would hope that the Italian electorate will come to its senses and give the Berlusconi coalition a sound defeat next time around (note that the PM is not elected by the people).

As to Rocco Buttiglione, I have already discussed this issue in another thread, but I will repeat my argument...

You have to understand that Italy, like the U.S., has its own "blue" and "red" states (except that, in Italy, you would look more in terms of north vs. south).

Mr. Buttiglione is from an area of southern Italy (Puglia, to be exact) which is very traditional and conservative (as most of southern Italy still is), which is kind of ironic, since apparently the traditionalism extends far enough to sustain one of the most ancient forms of organized structures: the "family" (as in the mob, by its many names: mafia, camorra, ndrangheta, etc.), which arose as a result of the nation-states of medieval times and the need for powerful families to protect their members to the exclusion of other families, an organization often encouraged by the Catholic Church.


By contrast, take a person like Romano Prodi, a Bolognese (north-central Italy) whose views are progressive and more in line with modern Europe and its values.

For the U.S., the contrast would be like having a judge from rural conservative Alabama pinned against a judge from Massachusetts.

[JitterbugPerfume]

10. hey thanks!

you post was enlightening regarding Italian politics


cool