realthog

Believe it or not, this isn't a parody from The Onion but a report from the Beeb about Silvio Berlusconi, who has recently suffered some setbacks in his efforts to set himself, Il Buce-style, above the law.

Berlusconi 'most persecuted man'

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has described himself as the most persecuted person "in the entire history of the world".

Mr Berlusconi also said he was "the best prime minister we can find today".

In an impassioned statement, he then mistakenly told reporters he had spent millions of euros on "judges", before correcting himself to say "lawyers".

Mr Berlusconi was speaking two days after Italy's top court lifted a law granting him immunity while in office.

Correspondents say the Constitutional Court's ruling means the 73-year-old billionaire will probably have to face a number of trials for corruption and bribery within months.

He has described the cases against him as "false, a farce", saying he will defend himself in court and make his accusers look ridiculous.

Bribery trial

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy in Rome says it has been a dramatic week for Mr Berlusconi, and he ended it with a typically defiant flourish.

He was asked by reporters about calls by opponents that he step down because his personal and legal problems were damaging Italy.

"The reality is completely the opposite," he replied. "In my opinion, and not only mine, I am the best prime minister we can find today." [. . .]

"I am without doubt the person who's been the most persecuted in the entire history of the world and the history of man," he declared. [. . .]

I mean, where the hell do they get these egos? Is it narcissistic imbecility or just stark insensitivity that makes Berlusconi think himself more persecuted than Jews in the Holocaust or in the Soviet pogroms, Native Americans who suffered under God's imperative to the White Man, any victim of slavery or a racist lynch mob anywhere . . .? You could add to the list pretty well bloody indefinitely, and there'd be damn' few among those tortured, tormented and slaughtered people who were reclining in the comfort of billionairedom.

This is Mugabe-level egotism. I hope the prosecutions for bribery and corruption pull Berlusconi down. We could do with fewer of such self-infatuated scum in humanity's corridors of power.

Current Music: Albeniz: Iberia Suite

today people are rioting on the streets of Tehran
because their presidential election was rigged
the US might reach out to them, but cannot
because two out of the past three US presidential elections have been rigged
you know it
I know it
only liars don't know it

so what happens?

there are Iranians on the streets of Tehran
who're risking death because their election has been stolen
what did Americans do
when their elections were stolen?

there are Iranian women on the streets of Tehran
baring their faces because their election has been stolen
even though for this crime
they may suffer a slow death

we watched television when our election was stolen

let's name some names

Katherine Harris and the Supreme Court stole the US election in 2000
Kenneth Blakewell and perhaps Jeb Bush stole the US election in 2004
Karl Rove and who knows how many anti-democratic foot soldiers stole the US elections in 2000 and 2004

and those people, and the rest of us who rolled over quiescently
who didn't riot in the streets
who let US democracy be made a laughing stock
who thought it was okay to just hang around another four years for a fair election
who didn't notice a million Iraqis being killed
who still bought newspapers that regurgitated lies
who forgot the lessons of Buchenwald
who kept on going to Wal*Mart
who just did not fucking care

all of us are the reasons we cannot complain about the Iranian election being rigged

and, you know, we could have done things differently
but we didn't
we squandered our moral authority
because to do otherwise might have been . . . inconvenient

the people I admire
are the people who're rioting on the streets of Tehran
they have more courage than I'll ever have
and they're right

Current Music: Correlli: Concerti Grossi

It'd seem a somewhat elementary principle when running a political campaign to avoid pissing off FactCheck.org, but it's one the McCain campaign has ignored in its latest whopper-packed ad. Here's from FactCheck.org itself:

McCain-Palin Distorts Our Finding

. . . With its latest ad, released Sept. 10, the McCain-Palin campaign has altered our message in a fashion we consider less than honest. The ad strives to convey the message that FactCheck.org said "completely false" attacks on Gov. Sarah Palin had come from Sen. Barack Obama. We said no such thing. We have yet to dispute any claim from the Obama campaign about Palin.

They call the ad "Fact Check." It says "the attacks on Gov. Palin have been called 'completely false' ... 'misleading.' " On screen is a still photo of a grim-faced Obama. Our words are accurately quoted, but they had nothing to do with Obama.

Our article, posted two days earlier, debunked a number of false or misleading claims that have circulated in chain e-mails and Internet postings regarding Palin. There is no evidence that the Obama campaign is behind any of the wild accusations that we critiqued.

It strikes me that John McCain has now gotten himself into a position where he can no longer legitimately run for the office of President of the United States. A large part of what Presidents have to do is negotiate with foreign leaders, allies or otherwise. An important component of all such activity is that the parties involved must have some confidence in the honesty and integrity of the people they're dealing with; you have to know that others will not say one thing and do another.

John McCain has over the past few weeks lied so frequently, so blatantly and so prolifically that it will be impossible for any foreign leader -- let alone people within the US -- to place the slightest degree of trust in him. He is therefore incompetent for the role of President, and, if he has a single shred of that patriotism he's constantly telling us he has galore, should stand down at once.

Oh, but of course he's probably lying about the patriotism too . . .

Current Music: Brahms: Violin Concerto

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Entries tagged with corruption

pass the shoebag, Alice

gutless

and you used to think George W. Bush lied a lot?

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