The Annotico Report

Italy Convicts 23 US CIA Agents for Rendition for Torture

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:32:00 +0000

The Arrogance or Incompetence of the US CIA agents was Astounding in their Illegal and Undemocratic Rendition, also in violation of Italy's Sovereignty.

A case was easily built against the US CIA agents, since credit card receipts, cell phone call and Email records, and a plethora of other evidence, that indicated that the agents even often dropped their "cover", in bold and brazen actions, that is an embarrassment , and sure

identifies them as Maxwell Smarts rather than James Bonds.

None of the Agents will be surrendered by the US, But all the agents are in Peril if they travel to any EURO country, or ANY country that has an extradition treaty with Italy.

Italian Court Convicts 23 Americans of Kidnapping Muslim Cleric

Case is blow to anti-terrorism program known as extraordinary rendition

Chicago Tribune;.By Maria de Cristofaro and Sebastian Rotella; November 5, 2009

ROME-- An Italian judge convicted 23 Americans on Wednesday of kidnapping an Egyptian cleric off the streets of Milan in 2003, a sweeping verdict against one of the CIA's most valued anti-terrorism tools -- the practice known as extraordinary rendition.

The decision was a victory for Italian anti-terrorism prosecutors and police who spent six years building a massive case. The two-year trial exposed details of a secretive world and was the first anywhere to challenge the program under which the CIA abducted suspects and spirited them to third countries for interrogation.

A clandestine team of U.S. and Italian operatives abducted Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr, also known as Abu Omar, a militant cleric suspected of recruiting fighters for Iraq and Afghanistan, and he was flown to Egypt, where he claims to have undergone months of torture and abuse.

The case sparked international uproar, and the governments of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and his predecessor tried repeatedly to scuttle the trial.

"I think it is very important for everyone that this trial was completed," said Armando Spataro, the lead prosecutor. He added: "The message of this important ruling -- to nations, governments, institutions, secret services, etc. -- is that we cannot use illegal instruments in our effort against terrorism. Our democracies, otherwise, would betray their principles."

Judge Oscar Magi acquitted three other Americans, including the former CIA station chief in Italy, because of diplomatic immunity. He also set aside charges against five Italian intelligence officials, including the former chief and deputy chief of Italy's spy agency. But he convicted two other Italians.

The trial was held in Milan, and the Americans were in absentia. Given that the U.S. government has declined to cooperate with the prosecution, it seemed unlikely that any would spend time in an Italian prison. However, the convicted Americans may be at risk if they travel to Europe.

The judge issued an eight-year prison sentence for Robert Seldon Lady, the former CIA chief in Milan. Testimony indicated that Lady initially opposed abducting Nasr as unnecessary and dangerous but ultimately became the ground-level architect of the operation. The other U.S. operatives were given five-year sentences, and the Italians received three-year terms.

"The Milan court sent a powerful message: The CIA can't just abduct people off the streets," said Joanne Mariner, terrorism program director at Human Rights Watch. "It's illegal, unacceptable and unjustified."

The Bush administration aggressively expanded a rendition program that was already in place. Human-rights advocates believe U.S. agents transported terrorism suspects to the custody of countries including Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Libya and Syria. The exact number of people is unknown.

The Obama administration has cracked down on what it calls abusive tactics, but U.S. officials have said spy agencies will continue renditions, albeit with more oversight. On Wednesday, the CIA declined to comment, as it has throughout.

Special correspondent de Cristofaro reported from Rome, and Rotella from Washington. Tribune Newspapers reporters Julian E. Barnes, Paul Richter and Greg Miller in Washington contributed to this report.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-thur-nw-cia-renditionnov05,0,31329.story

San Diego "Little Italy" Adopts Adjoining Elementary School

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 06:32:00 +0000

While I applaud efforts to teach the Italian LANGUAGE, I have for 40 years been preaching that Italian American kids need to be taught

about Italian and Italian American CULTURE (not merely Cuisine) !!!!

"Little Italy" Merchants have adopted Washington Elementary school, (that was built in 1915, and one of the oldest elementary schools in the city, and at one time served largely Italian-American children who lived in the area), and have encouraged adding to the cirriculum, Italian dance, language, art and history instruction.

Little Italy

School Studies Italian Roots

Nearby Merchants Help Support Washington Elementary Programs

San Diego Union Tribune; By Maureen Magee; Thursday, November 5, 2009

Follow the sound of Italian folk music at Washington Elementary School and you'll find dozens of children practicing traditional Neapolitan dances.

"Forward, two, three, four and back, two, three, four," the students chant as they concentrate on the movements and listen to the melodies of fiddles and accordions.

"I've never danced like this before," said Leo Arellano, 9, as he shuffled through the "Balloindodici" dance. "But it's OK. I like it. This is how they dance in Italy."

Italian dance, language, art and history instruction have recently been added to the curriculum at Washington. The school, located on the edge of Little Italy, has carved out a new relationship with the merchants and residents in and around the neighborhood ? many of whom attended school there themselves.

"The people of Little Italy have deep personal and emotional connections with this school," said Principal Janie Wardlow, who just started her second year at the campus. "I really believe the school and community should be partners. It's also important for the students to know about another culture and, at the same time, to learn about their school's identity."

As part of this new partnership, Washington students were recently invited into the shops and cafes that line India Street to trick-or-treat. Some members of the Little Italy Association bought tambourines for the dance students, who will perform at the neighborhood's annual tree-lighting ceremony in December.

But the association's support isn't limited to Italian programs. It also sponsors the campus jog-a-thon, and some of its members volunteer on campus and tutor children.

"Our community loves to support the Italian heritage and culture, but we also want to make sure the kids are taken care of," said Chris Gomez, district manager of the Little Italy Association. "This is one of the oldest elementary schools in the city, and we want to make sure it carries on and that it thrives."

The original Washington campus was built in 1915, and at one time served largely Italian-American children who lived in the area.

Today, about one-third of the 280 students live in the local 92101 ZIP code, about one-third of their parents work in the area, and nearly one-third attend through the San Diego Unified School District's Choice Program. About 10 percent of the students are homeless.

The association is working with Washington to promote the school and recruit new students. Many fear that if enrollment drops, the district would close the campus to save money.

"We want this school ? and the history behind it ? to live on," Gomez said. "The school is important to Little Italy and to San Diego."

The school is reaching well beyond its neighborhood to enhance the Italian curriculum that supplements its regular comprehensive education.

For example, Washington recently won a $6,000 grant from the Italian government to offer language classes to all students ? preschool through fifth grade. A special instructor will begin giving language lessons during and after school later this year.

In addition, Washington has applied for a magnet grant so it can establish an international studies program. The school also hopes to become part of the rigorous International Baccalaureate program.

"I started teaching here 26 years ago, when we had a lot of Italian students," fourth-grade teacher Leticia Harper said. "This is the first time I can remember us having a real emphasis on the history and culture. It's nice to give them that sense of their community."

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2009/nov/05/school-studies-italian-roots-little-italy/

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino Wins a Fifth Term

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:56:00 +0000

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino won a fifth term Tuesday after a campaign against his toughest challenger in 16 years, City Councilor at Large Michael Flaherty. Menino has served longer than any Boston mayor. Could this be the end of Irish Dominance in Boston/Massachusetts Politics or merely an anomaly?

Boston, NYC, Detroit Keep Mayoral Incumbents

USA TODAY; By Larry Copeland; November 4, 2009

Boston Mayor Thomas Menino won a fifth term Tuesday after a campaign against his toughest challenger in 16 years,

City Councilor at Large Michael Flaherty.

Menino has served longer than any Boston mayor.

The non-partisan race showed how changing demographics affect a city's politics, said Charles Stewart, chairman of Massachusetts Institute of Technology's political science department.

Italian-American Menino and Irish-American Flaherty made appeals to minorities. After the primary, Flaherty announced that Sam Yoon, a losing candidate, a Korean American, would be his deputy.

"Flaherty brought in as his running mate, so to speak, Sam Yoon, a Korean American, and he was attacking Menino for appointing a cabinet that was too white," Stewart said. "You're thinking, this isn't your father's Boston."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-11-03-mayors-race_N.htm

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"The Boston Irish" by Thomas H Connor

The first Irish to arrive in Boston, in the early 18th century, were Protestants from Ulster and were thought of by the local gentry as "members of a barbaric, inferior, and unmanageable race." By the time of the potato famine of the 1840s, these Protestant Irish had assimilated into the population and thought much the same about the new Irish, overwhelmingly Catholic, who emigrated to avoid starvation. In 1847 alone, Boston was inundated with 37,000 immigrants and the locals were appalled by the newcomers' unsanitary practices, indolence and propensity for drink. The prejudice shibboleth of that time read, "No Irish Need Apply," (which was shortly followed with "No Dagas, or Wops Need Aply, by even Irish) and in 1854, the Know-Nothing Party of Massachusetts promised to eliminate "Rome, Rum, and Robbery.

"But with the urging of Boston Bishop Fitzpatrick, Irish Catholics learned to fight bigotry with the ballot. We are introduced to the

featured players: He lovingly documents its growth from the time of scalawag James Michael Curley, mayor, congressman, governor

and prominent rogue; to that of more modern leaders like Raymond Flynn. Hugh O'Brien, the first Irish-born mayor of Boston; John F. Fitzgerald and Patrick J. Kennedy, ward bosses and the grandfathers of JFK; James Michael Curley, and John F. Kennedy, who

completed the cycle of Irish political hegemony when he defeated Brahmin Henry Cabot Lodge for senator in 1952.

O'Connor has written a scholarly yet colorful account of a breed he convinces us is vanishing. He finishes appropriately with a question

mark on the future of the Irish in Boston politics. The only criticism is one of omission. O'Connor ignores Billy Bulger, the long-standing senate president, (who's brother is on the FBI Most wanted List) as though only mayors count. Alongside the works of the late Tip O'Neill, this will provide a thorough history of Boston politics.

Giovanni Falcone: Iconic Italian Judge Tributed by US Supreme Court

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:09:00 +0000

Falcone was instrumental in some of the most important prosecutions against the Mafia in the 1980s and early 1990s, and was driving with his wife in Palermo, Italy in 1992 when a bomb was triggered a bomb that killed them both along with three bodyguards.

Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi said "Italy has become a different country" in the years since Falcone's death, in part because of his legacy in reducing the influence of the Mafia.

Samuel Alito Jr., as an aside, accused the media of using the Mafia to "slander Italian-Americans." and took a swipe at the entertainment industry for the "perversely romantic" image of the Mafia it has "shamefully promulgated."

Alito has a more "Enlightened" attitude toward Italian American Defamation than does Antonin Scalia, who feels that if you if you ignore it, it will go away. although it is still with us over 120 years later. I would love to hear Scalia debate Abe Foxman of the ADL on the position of "assertive" and "pliant" dealings with Defamation.

Justices, Law Enforcement Officials Pay Tribute to Assassinated Italian Judge

The Blog of Legal Times (BLT); Tony Mauro on October 29, 2009

A high-level gathering at the Supreme Court paid tribute on Thursday to Giovanni Falcone, an iconic Italian judge who was assassinated in 1992 as he waged legal war against the Mafia.

Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., along with Justices Antonin Scalia and Samuel Alito Jr., Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, Deputy Attorney General David Ogden, Deputy FBI Director John Pistole, and former FBI Director Williams Sessions, spoke at the tribute, which was co-hosted by the Italian Embassy. Judge Arthur Gajarsa of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, who was a driving force behind the event, also spoke.

Falcone, instrumental in some of the most important prosecutions against the Mafia in the 1980s and early 1990s, was driving with his wife in Palermo, Italy in 1992 when lookouts spotted his car and triggered a bomb that killed them both along with three bodyguards. He was remembered Thursday for developing the "follow the money" strategy that helped expose Mafia operations.

Roberts opened the tribute, saying "Grazie!" when spectators applauded. "Many in America think the best things in life can be traced back to Italy," he said, citing Scalia and Alito as proof of that proposition. More seriously, Roberts said Falcone had "died in a very real struggle to protect the innocent and stop violence," and deserved to be honored.

Italian Ambassador Giulio Terzi called Falcone a "true interpreter" of the meaning of individual freedoms and the rule of law. "Italy has become a different country" in the years since Falcone's death, Terzi said, in part because of his legacy in reducing the influence of the Mafia.

Alito, who was U.S. attorney for New Jersey while Falcone was alive, remembered being briefed with a "glowing account" of Falcone's anti-Mafia tactics. "The international community lost a very great man" when Falcone was killed, Alito said. He accused the media of using the Mafia to "slander Italian-Americans." The justice took a swipe at the entertainment industry for the "perversely romantic" image of the Mafia it has "shamefully promulgated."

Scalia recalled meeting Falcone not long after he became a justice in 1986. "He was obviously a marked man, and he knew it," said Scalia. Falcone's death caused nationwide "revulsion" in Italy that spurred anti-Mafia efforts, Scalia said. He concluded, "Glory and honor to his name."

Gajarsa recalled Falcone telling him that "a country ruled by law will last forever, but a country ruled by man will crumble." Gajarsa announced creation of a new organization in Falcone's honor that will promote exchanges between Italian and American judges. The event at the Court was attended by several Italian-American leaders, including Philip Piccigallo and Joseph DiTrapani of the Order Sons of Italy in America, a national organization for people of Italian heritage.

Napolitano praised Falcone as a symbol that even in the face of the "most entrenched criminality," an individual can make significant inroads. She drew parallels between the Mafia and the Mexican drug cartels. Napolitano, who has been mentioned as a possible Supreme Court nominee, sat next to fellow Italian-Americans Scalia and Alito during the event.

Ogden said many colleagues at the Justice Department still have "extraordinarily fond and strong memories" of Falcone. His strategies have become even more useful, Ogden said, in the "unprecedented explosion" in the use by organized crime of technology and globalization in recent years. Ogden also paid tribute to the three Drug Enforcement Agency employees who died Monday in a military helicopter crash in Afghanistan.

http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/10/justices-law-enforcement-officials-pay-tribute-to-assassinated-italian-judge.html

Italian Tax Amnesty Could Bring $150 Billion Home, But Some Complain about Leniency

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Critics want Italy to ALSO collect Penalties, Interest and Fines. Philosophically that's true, but the TIME, consumed in creating Legislation, to determine the %s of each, and how much that would reduce Collections is also a consideration.

Italian Tax Amnesty Could Bring $150 Billion Home..........

Italy is giving tax evaders amnesty: a chance to bring their money home from tax havens at a cheap price. But critics worry the government is feeding a culture of tax evasion.

Christian Science Monitor; By Anna Momigliano - Correspondent ; October 20, 2009

MILAN, ITALY - When 50,000 Italians received a letter from the tax office last week, they breathed a sigh of relief. They weren’t being billed. Instead, they were given a gentle reminder that they had until Dec. 15 to declare any money illegally held abroad - or else.

The Italian government is desperate to attract capital home in a time of economic crisis, not least to boost tax revenue. The Scudo Fiscale (“fiscal shield”) program allows citizens to bring money from offshore tax havens while remaining anonymous and avoiding sanctions for past tax evasion. All they have to do is move their money to an Italian account within the next two months and pay a 5 percent fee.

But critics say the plan is the latest in a long line of amnesties that have created a culture of tax evasion for wealthy Italians.

“The idea, in theory, is to give people a last chance. It should be an emergency measure", says Paolo Guerrieri, who teaches international economics at La Sapienza University in Rome. "But in practice this is an incitement to tax evasion. Here in Italy these kinds of ‘emergency measures’ are so frequent that people know they can just wait for the next amnesty", says Mr. Guerrieri. "It’s an insult to honest citizens".

But those who do hold illegal foreign accounts may have an extra incentive to take advantage of the amnesty this time around, with Switzerland recently relaxing its banking secrecy rules, which increases the odds that Italian tax cheats will be caught. During the G20 summit in March, Swiss authorities agreed to cooperate more with other nations in tracking down tax evasion. The move came following pressure from the US and European countries worried about the impact of tax evasion on their economies.

Following this change in Swiss policy other European countries are also approving measures to bring capital back home. “Britain and France, for instance, are offering penalty discounts for those who transfer into local accounts money illegally held abroad,” says Guerrieri. “But they don’t grant anonymity, nor do they condone past tax evasion".

Most European nations need extra cash now, Geurrrieri says, but Italy’s situation is unique: "You can’t compare offering penalty discounts with condoning crimes", he says. "We’re openly surrendering the possibility to build a sound fiscal system [in exchange] for an immediate profit. And eventually we’ll pay the price. No wonder Italy has one highest tax evasion rates in the continent", he says.

Italian capital held illegally abroad is estimated at about 300 billion euros ($450 billion), according to government figures. At least a third of that money is thought to be in Swiss banks. Reportedly, 29 000 Italian citizens are formally residents of the so-called "fiscal paradises" like San Marino (a small independent city-State in central Italy) and Monaco.

Authorities say they they expect 100 billion euros ($150 billion) abroad to re-enter Italy with this special measure, which would mean an extra 5 billion euros ($7.5 billion) of tax income for the state.

The conservative government vowed to use this money to build infrastructure, including a mega-bridge that would connect Sicily to the mainland, to renovate the country’s two major airports and to partially reduce public debt.

“Many talk about all the things we can build with the fiscal shield", says Guerrieri, the economist. "But I also wonder about the infrastructure we will not be able build in the future because of the rampant tax evasion".

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/10/20/italian-tax-amnesty-could-bring-150-billion-home-but-at-what-price/

"Aggressive" Italian Tax Tactics Anger Swiss

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Switzerland, historically being by far the Largest, and the most Infamous of Tax Evasion Havens, and therefore assisting in CRIMINAL activity is COMPLAINING because Italy is showing such attention to its closest neighbor, and most popular haven, and "monitoring" the border more closely !!!

"Aggressive" Italian Tax Tactics Anger Swiss

The intensifying Italian tax amnesty has sparked a war of words and protests from Switzerland about perceived heavy-handed tactics from its neighbour.

Swiss Info; Matthew Allen; October 22, 2009

Switzerland has complained about being singled out for tougher treatment and resents Italian police "spying" on the border. Italy says it has had enough of Switzerland encouraging citizens to dodge taxes.

This is not the first time Italy has launched a tax amnesty aimed at repatriating hidden funds back home ? in fact it's the third in nine years. And increased border surveillance using cameras was also in use during the previous amnesty.

However, such filming and sending undercover tax officials to Switzerland has this time drawn a stinging response from Ticino parliamentarian and leader of the centre-right Radical Party, Fulvio Pelli.

"To be filmed and controlled in secret is unacceptable to Swiss citizens," Pelli wrote to the Italian Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Another repeat feature of the tax repatriation drive is closer scrutiny of wealthy individuals and companies that set up home or operations in Switzerland. Italian officials are demanding proof that such activities are not a front for tax evasion.

Feeling of resentment

Many of the 70,000 Italian nationals living in the southern Swiss canton of Ticino have been left "disorientated" by the edicts emanating from Rome, according to Mauro Baranzini, a professor of economics an Lugano University.

"There is a feeling of resentment. They believe the amnesty is just an instrument of the Italian government that does not know what else to do to reduce its budget deficit," he told swissinfo.ch.

Baranzini added that the cantonal authorities send to Italy 40 per cent of income tax levied on the 55,000 Italian workers who cross the border each day to work in Switzerland.

The mood in Switzerland has been blackened this time by the underlying global tax evasion crusade that has laid siege to the country. Switzerland has already been forced to promise closer cooperation with other tax regimes and to hand over records of UBS bank client to the United States.

Many Swiss interpret this as an attack on sovereignty by jealous countries desperate to paper over the cracks of their own mess with a quick-fix cash injection and to divert blame from their own failings.

Inflammatory language

The rising anger has been further fuelled by some of the language being employed over the border. Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti has talked about "bleeding Lugano's banking sector dry".

The Italian measures represent a direct threat to the lucrative banking sector in the canton's largest city. Unlike previous amnesties, Italians must now repatriate assets from Switzerland to take advantage of the generous terms.

Italy believes up to ?125 billion (SFr188.8 billion) of undeclared assets are hidden in Ticino banks, more than half of the worldwide total.

"The problem is not so much the amnesty itself, but the way it is being carried out, such as the way the Italian finance minister expresses himself about the Swiss financial centre," Alfredo Gysi, president of the Association of Foreign Banks in Switzerland, told the Finanz & Wirtschaft newspaper.

The Ticino Bankers Association met Swiss Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz on Thursday to express its concerns. A delegation from the cantonal government is due to meet Merz shortly.

ITALIAN TAX AMNESTY

Italy's parliament voted for a third tax amnesty in nine years on October 2. It will run until December 15.

Tax dodgers who come forward anonymously will receive the relatively light one-off tax rate of 5%.

Italians with accounts within the European Union, along with other countries such as the US, Japan, Mexico and Australia, can keep their funds at those banks. But clients of Swiss banks have been told they must return their assets to Italy.

Amnesties in 2001 and 2003 raised an estimated EU 2.1 billion for the national coffers.

This time, Italy hopes to raise some EU 5 billion in revenues and repatriate many more billions of undeclared assets.

The United States and Britain are among other countries that are operating, or have recently staged, tax amnesties.

http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Aggressive_Italian_tax_tactics_anger_Swiss.html?siteSect=105&sid=11390020&ty=st

Joe Maselli, Champion of N.O.'s Italian Life, Dies at Age 85

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:01:00 +0000

Although Mr. Maselli knew the Italian experience in New Orleans as well as anyone, and better than most, he grew up near Newark, N.J., and did not visit New Orleans until he was shipped here as a young GI during World War II. The son of immigrant parents, Mr. Maselli had grown up speaking Italian on the streets of Belleville, N.J. running with non-Italian kids who thought him not quite American, Later in New Orleans as a successful businesssman, his membership application by Metairie Country Club was snubbed because of being Italian.

Gr. Uff.. Joseph Maselli founded the American-Italian Renaissance Foundation, oversaw an American-Italian Sports Hall of Fame and participated in the civic life of New Orleans as well, as a member of the New Orleans Aviation Board, the French Market Board, the state Board of Ethics and the Metropolitan Crime Commission. Maselli wasTrustee Emeritus of the Italian American Museum of New York of which he took particular pride in.

Original article
http://www.nola.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/joe_maselli_champion_of_nos_it.html

Italian American Museum of New York
www.italianamericanmuseum.org

Italian Banks Freeze Mortgage Payments for Unemployed

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0000

VOLUNTARILY, Italian Banks took the SENSIBLE and COMPASSIONATE choice to allow mortgage holders who are in serious economic difficulty to suspend payments for up to one year, for those who have simply lost their jobs, who are on temporary lay-off plans, who were self-employed but have fallen out of business, and who have lost family members whose income supported the entire family.

The Scrooge and Non Thinking Wholesale Foreclosures that occurred in the US, not only mortally wounded the banks, but caused untold misery for hundreds of thousands of families who were the victim of Mortgage Fraud and Greed.

Original article
http://english.cri.cn/6826/2009/10/22/1601s524207.htm

Spaghetti Bolognese: Migrates Back to Italy, But with a Lot of "English" on it

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:58:00 +0000

The Spaghetti Bolognese Bowles describes sounds absolutely atrocious, and is even worse than canned Chef Boyardee Spaghetti or canned Spaghetti O's, (I hear) certainly Not the "ambrosia" my grandmother served and taught my mother.

Original article
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1220337/TOM-PARKER-BOWLES-Spaghetti-Bolognese-popular-eat-Italy.html

"Barbarossa": Northern Italy's Film of Pride, Flops at Box Office

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:57:00 +0000

Barbarossa (Redbeard), as the Holy Roman Emperor, Frederick I, unsuccessfully fought the clans of northern Italy in the 12th century.

As an epic tale of derring-do and heroic defiance by Milanese rebels, the film's plot was seen by the Northern League ""which dreams of establishing a breakaway country in the north called Padania ", was produced as a "patriotic" film for Italians living north of Florence, and as a political party broadcast, has turned out a box-office disaster.

One Rome cinema-goer leaving Barbarossa said "With the swirling violins, the fighting and the constant cries for liberty, it's like spending two hours inside Umberto Bossi's brain."

Original article
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/18/italy-film-berlusconi-politics

NIAF’s 34th Anniversary Convention and Gala - October 23-24, 2009

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:56:00 +0000

While I believe Keynote Speaker Patricia de Stacy Harrison discussing "How our core Italian values can connect and inspire us". is a positive note, I am not impressed with the use of Sal Paolantonio or Jimmy Kimmel, as much as I like them both and admire their talents, seem beneath the Organization and Occasion. (after all it's a Penguin event ! :)

There appears to be No Mention of Addressing the Continued Media Smear of Italian Americans, the Assault on Columbus Day,

The High Drop Out Rate of Italian American High School and College Students, Developing an "Italians Help Italians" modeled after the Jewish Community, and Greater Emphasis on Educating Italian Americans to their Italian and Italian American Culture, and I don't mean merely Language and Cuisine.

NIAF’s 34th Anniversary Convention and Gala

Weekend on October 23-24, 2009, is nation’s premier Italian American event!

In keeping with our tradition of hosting the President of the United States at this event, President Barack Obama has been invited to attend. But most importantly, your attendance will advance NIAF’s educational programs, including scholarships and trips to Italy for young people, grants to organizations and other special initiatives to preserve and share our great heritage.

NIAF 34th Anniversary Gala guests will join Master of Ceremonies Jimmy Kimmel for a night of Italian food, wine and heritage.

Other gala honorees and celebrity guests from the worlds of sports, politics and entertainment include:

Sports

Vinny Cerrato, Executive Vice President of Football Operations, Washington Redskins

Jerry Colangelo, Chairman of the Phoenix Suns

Sal Paolantonio, Correspondent on ESPN’s "SportsCenter” & “Sunday NFL Countdown"

Tony Reali, host of ESPN’s "Around the Horn"

Mike Rizzo, Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Washington Nationals

Politics

Hon. Samuel A. Alito, Jr., U.S. Supreme Court Justice

Jim Messina, White House Deputy Chief of Staff

General Peter Pace, Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives

2009 NIAF Honoree Janet Napolitano, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security

Entertainment & Media

Maria Bartiromo, Anchor of CNBC’s "Closing Bell With Maria Bartiromo"

Connie Britton, Actor next starring in "Women in Trouble"

2009 NIAF Honoree Carla Gugino, Actor next starring in "Women in Trouble"

Harrison, Paolantonio to speak to Council Members

ESPN reporter Sal Paolantonio will join NIAF Vice Chair Patricia de Stacy Harrison as keynote speakers for NIAF’s Annual Council Breakfast on Saturday, October 24.

Since 1995, Paolantonio has served as a correspondent on ESPN’s " SportsCenter", primarily reporting on the NFL. Beginning in 2004, he also served as host of "NFL Match-Up," a weekly "Xs and Os" football show produced by NFL Films. He received Sports Emmy Awards in 1996, 1997 and 2005 for his contributions to "SportsCenter" and in 2001 and 2004 for his work on "Sunday NFL Countdown."

Harrison, who is president and CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), plans to discuss how our core Italian values can connect and inspire us. A former entrepreneur, she is a frequent speaker and writer on the subjects of leadership, communication strategy and constituency building. In addition to many articles, she has authored two books, "A Seat At The Table: An Insider's Guide for America's New Women Leaders" and "America 's New Women Entrepreneurs."

http://www.niaf.org/

Columbus Day - America Apologizes for its Own Existence

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 06:55:00 +0000

In a bit of "politically correct "lunacy, a headline in the Columbus Dispatch about the Columbus Day festival in the city of Columbus, Ohio. It reads, "Italian Festival honors controversial explorer with its own Columbus Day parade". Once the great discover of America, Columbus is now called "controversial" by a newspaper named after him, in a city named after him.

Additionally, Should Not the same arguments against celebrating Columbus Day, similarly be applied to celebrating the 4th of July?

It may be OUR Independence Day, but it's Losers Day for the Indigenous. (Capitalism vs Witch Doctors)

And if Columbus' Transgressions are SO GREAT as an Explorer, Should we Not consider Renaming the Six Cities in America named after Columbus, and by all means the District of Columbia, and also insist that the great HISPANIC Nation of COLUMBIA change it's name ?????

Places named after Christopher Columbus: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_places_named_for_Christopher_Columbus

http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/15908

Italian American Baseball Heroes - Baseball Cards

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:38:00 +0000

Everyone knows Joe DiMaggio, Phil Rizzuto, Tommy Lasorda, and Yogi Berra, but how many remember the other two fabulous DiMaggio brothers or Sam Mele, Manager of the Year in 1965? The backs of the cards are a treasure trove of Italian American baseball lore.

A Great idea. I would have also liked them to consider issuing them in two Playing Card Decks.

The National Ethnic Heritage Foundation in partnership with the Order of Sons of Italy in America is proud to announce the first-ever limited edition set of heritage cards honoring Italian American Baseball heroes from the pioneer Buttercup Dickerson in 1878 to Dodger manager Joe Torre in 2009.

This historic collectible box of 100 cards, made from original oil paintings commissioned specifically for this set, honors the Italian Americans who contributed to making baseball America's game. For some, this is their first-ever card. For all, this is the most beautiful card ever issued.

Each one is limited edition, never to be commercially sold. These richly boxed cards will make wonderful Christmas gifts and can also be used by your clubs and organizations for fund-raising.

While they last, the Sons of Italy will give you a set in gratitude for a fully tax-deductible minimum donation to the Sons of Italy Foundation, a

charity that has given more than $105 million to scholarships, medical research, cultural preservation, disaster relief, and other projects in the United States and abroad.

See the Card Set & Get Yours! Go to : http://www.osia.org/ or http://www.nehf.org/shop.html

Mussolini, England's MI5' Man in Italy?

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:50:00 +0000

This "expose" has long been known, and I'm trying to determine whether the objective is to "paint" Mussolini in a better light by being aligned with the good guy Brits, or "painting" Benito as a "lackey" of the Brits, or accepting part of the "blame" for what came after.

The Payments he received must have helped him fund the start up of his "Il Popolo d'Italia", and since his objectives were similar to the Brits, he had no compunctions of accepting "funding".

Mussolini left the International Socialists, and Editor of "Avanti" in October of 1914, and started his own newspaper "Il Popolo d'Italia". Mussolini's rift with other Socialist's, was because of his position of ACTIVE Neutrality vs their ABSOLUTE Neutrality. and then in Nov 1914, he split Entirely with them and took the Anti-Socialistic position of INTERVENTION (WAR).. WWI had started on August 1914, Italy stayed Neutral until May 23 1914, when an ill prepared Italy was lured into the War with Great Promises, that England and France reneged on at the Treaty of Versailles. Benito was called up for military service 3 months later, on August 1915, as a private, and served until his discharge in August 1917 from mortar wounds.

Actually, What is fascinating, is to try to analyze Mussolini trajectory. For his first 13 years in power he was admired by leaders of England ,France, and the US. Most people believe the History as written by the Victors, so they paint him falsely as a Right Wing Dictator, who was not replaced by a Military Coup, but was deposed at the Grand Council of Fascism. He was an Icon until 1935, when he was side swiped by Britain /France who had approved his Invasion of Ethiopia. He lid further with his Racial Laws in 1937, but was Pushed over the edge by Anthony Eden's Rejection of Mussolini's offer to become an Ally of Britain /France vs Hitler, whom he viewed as a Maniac.

Mussolini's father was an Anarchist, he was named after a Mexican Revolutionary. Benito was influenced by Internationalist Socialist, by Nationalist Socialists, by Marxism, by Syndicalists, and was Anti-Colonialist.

His regime has been described as a Dictatorship, Corporate-Statism, Welfare Capitalism, etc. Since he had such a varied Leftist background, people found it difficult to "pigeon hole" him, or even describe him, and explained his actions as opportunistic, rather than reality driven, and non -ideologue. He clearly was a desperate and depressed man after the Rejection of Eden, and being driven into Hitler's Arms.

Original article:
Mussolini, MI5's Man in Italy

Benito Mussolini from Wikipedia

Benito Mussolini was born into a working class background; his father Alessandro Mussolini was a blacksmith and an Anarchist activist,Mussolini was named Benito after Mexican reformist President Benito Juárez, while his middle names Andrea a nd Amilcare were from Italian socialists Andrea Costa and Amilcare Cipriani.Alessandro was a socialist, but also held some nationalistic views, especially in regards to some of the Italians who were living under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire,which were not consistent with the internationalist socialism of the time.

Mussolini qualified as an elementary schoolmaster in 1901. In 1902, Mussolini emigrated to Switzerland.He worked as a stone mason and during this time studied the ideas of Nietzche, the sociologist Pareto and the syndicalist Sorel. Mussolini also, later in life, credited as influences on his thought the French Marxian Convert Charles Péguy and Hubert Lagardelle (also a French Syndicalist).Sorel's emphasis on the need for overthrowing decadent liberal Democracy and Capitalism by the use of violence, direct action, the general strike, and the use of neo-Machiavellian appeals to emotion, impressed him deeply.

Soon he joined the Marxian Socialist movement. In February 1908 in the city of Trento as secretary of the local chamber of labor, which was ethnically Italian but then under the control of Austria-Hungary. While there he wrote The Cardinal's Mistress which was bitterly anticlerical and years later had to be withdrawn from circulation after he made his truce with the Vatican^.He did office work for the local socialist party and edited its newspaper L'Avvenire del Lavoratore ("The Future of the Worker").

By 1910 Mussolini returned to Forli where he edited the weekly Lotta di classe. He was now one of Italy's most prominent Socialists. In 1911 there was a riot by Socialists, and Mussolini with them, in Forlì, against the Italian war in Libya. He bitterly denounced the "imperialist war" to gain Tripoli, and he was rewarded with the editorship of the Socialist party newspaper Avanti! Its circulation soon rose from 20,000 to 100,000. By 1913 he wrote the historically and political publication Giovanni Hus, il Veridico (Jan Hus, True prophet) about life and mission of Jan Hus and his military followers Hussite.

In October 1914, finding himself in opposition to the directorate of the Italian Socialist party because he advocated a kind of active neutrality on the part of Italy in the War of the Nations against the party's tendency of absolute neutrality, he withdrew on the twentieth of that month from the directorate of Avanti!

Then on the fifteenth of November [1914], thereafter, he initiated publication of the newspaper Il Popolo d'Italia in which he supported -- in sharp contrast to Avanti! and amid bitter polemics against that newspaper and its chief backers -- the thesis of Italian intervention in the war against the militarism of the Central Empires. For this reason he was accused of moral and political unworthiness and the party thereupon decided to expel him. Thereafter he....undertook a very active campaign in behalf of Italian intervention, participating in demonstrations in the piazzas and writing quite violent articles in Popolo d'Italia....

Inspector-General of Public Security in Milan, G. Gasti in a Report on Mussolini, who was considered important enough to be under constant surveillance, noted he entered the Army and served in the war.

"He was promoted to the rank of corporal "for merit in war." The promotion was recommended because of his exemplary conduct and fighting quality, his mental calmness and lack of concern for discomfort, his zeal and regularity in carrying out his assignments, where he was always first in every task involving labor and fortitude."

"He was sent to the zone of operations where he was seriously injured by the explosion of a grenade."and totalled about nine months of active, front-line trench warfare. During this time he contracted paratyphoid fever. His military exploits ended in 1917 when he was wounded by the explosion of a mortar bomb in his trench. He was left with at least 40 shards of metal in his body^. He was discharged from the hospital in August 1917, and resumed his editor-in-chief position at his new paper, Il Popolo d'Italia

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

Sabaudia, Italy: Designed to win the Battle of Grain, Now an Attractive Resort Area

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 07:49:00 +0000

Sabaudia, about 50 miles southeast of Rome, was one of five towns, like nearby Latina, Pomezia, Pontinia and Aprilia, was created virtually from scratch in the 1930s when Benito Mussolini launched a campaign to drain the coastal marshland, reclaiming acres of farmland. The project was intended to help win Il Duce's Battle of Grain, waged to make the nation self-sufficient in wheat.

Original article
http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-tr-fascistromesabaudiaside18-2009oct18

Denver Columbus Day Parade Survives Hoax

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:03:00 +0000

Every year this decade, The Italian Americans in Denver have valiantly survived physical confrontations from protesters, during it's Columbus Day Parade, and had wisely not reacted, but were disappointed that in all cases, violators that were arrested, were later acquitted or had their cases dismissed.Italians had a grim reminder again of Politics overwhelming Justice, and early century treatment.

This year there were no protesters present, which in itself is a victory, but there was an attempt to Sabotage the Parade with a Hoax Forged Email to the Media falsely claiming that the Parade was canceled. Will the Perpetrator be apprehended ???

Although the New York, Chicago and so many other Columbus Day Parades are far larger, the Denver Parade has GREAT Significance, because Colorado was the first State to Recognize Columbus Day as a Holiday back in 1907, 102 years ago, eventually leading to Columbus Day being declared a FEDERAL Holiday. Denver is also the MOST Besieged and Persevering Parades in the nation.

Note: Baltimore site of the 119-year-old Baltimore parade, said to be the nation's oldest Columbus Day celebration cancelled it's Parade, citing poor attendance, a lack of funding and costly liability insurance, NOT Protestors. In Philadelphia, Financial woes, NOT Protesters canceled their parade. Interestingly Parades/Celebrations have sprung up in numerous communities that never had celebrations before.

Original Article
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/shared-gen/ap/National/US_Columbus_Day_Hoax.html?cxntlid=inform_artr

Columbus Day Celebration Splits Providence, RI, and Entire US

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 06:01:00 +0000

Nicolas Wey-Gomez; Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, Brown University, says that Columbus represents the paradigm of the "great explorer, the great navigator", a person who challenged the scientific notions of the time and created a bridge between European and American cultures. But people should also be reminded that he introduced slavery in the Caribbean and that there was a record of abuses from the men under his command that "cannot be contested".

I CHALLENGE Wey-Gomez to present a List of Columbus' Abuses, AND also present me with a List of the Abuses of Hispanic (Spanish origins) Conquistadores throughout North and South America,

How could Wey-Gomez (of Spanish ancestry) BLAME all the TRANSGRESSIONS of the Spanish Conquistadors on an ITALIAN EXPLORER .The Hypocrisy and Distortion of Responsibility is ATROCIOUS !!!!!!!! Put the Blame where it BELONGS, The SPANISH, or their offspring, i.e., the HISPANIC, LATINO, CHICANO !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is similar to putting the blame of the 40,000 vehicles fatalities a year on Karl Benz (inventor of auto) or Henry Ford (inventor of ModelsT&A ),

instead of the reckless or drunken drivers !!!!!!!!!!

Additionally, For instance at the University of Texas, among many other Universities, MEChA, the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlán - a Chicano student political-action organization recognized Columbus’ arrival to the New World, by holding demonstrations in honor of - Indigenous People’s Day- and protesting the genocide of Native Americans that followed Columbus’ discovery.

MEChA’s positions are extreme. Among other things, the group calls for an organized resistance to classism and capitalism and claims to reside in Tejaztlan instead of Texas. They also claim that the Western part of the US that lies approximately west of a Line Running from Vancouver to New Orleans belongs to Mexico.

Whereas, Hispanic, and Latino, refer to the SPANISH Western Hemisphere residents, Chicano is more specifically used by those from Mexico, and is a term created by the SPANISH.!!!!!!!!

Original article

http://www.projo.com/education/content/BROWN_AND_COLUMBUS_DAY_10-12-09_64G020R_v47.3b3fffe.html#

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/opinion/attention-alone-is-useless-1.1999088

Obit: Al Martino, 82; Singing Legend

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:47:00 +0000

While Martino is a well known Legend in the US, few knew he was the UK's first chart-topper, Martino's song, "Here In My Heart", claimed the number one position when the New Musical Express introduced its chart in November 1952, and it remained there for nine weeks, a run that has rarely been beaten. Only six records have had a longer continuous run at the top, the most recent of which was Umbrella by Rihanna in 2007.

Al Martino

Associated Press, October 14,2009

SPRINGFIELD, Pa. (AP) — Singer Al Martino, who played the Frank Sinatra-type role of Johnny Fontane in "The Godfather" and recorded hits including "Spanish Eyes" and the Italian ballad "Volare" in a 50-year musical career, died Tuesday. He was 82.

Martino died at his childhood home in the Philadelphia suburb of Springfield, in Delaware County, according to publicist Sandy Friedman, of the Rogers & Cowan public relations firm. Friedman didn't cite a cause of death.

Starting in 1952, Martino was known for hit songs including "Here in My Heart" and "Can't Help Falling in Love."

Besides acting in the Marlon Brando classic "The Godfather," Martino sang the 1972 film's title score, "The Love Theme From The Godfather." His Fontane character is a singer and occasional actor and is the godson of Brando's Mafia boss character, Don Vito Corleone.

The Italian-American crooner, born Alfred Cini, was one of a number of South Philadelphia-born singers, including Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian and Chubby Checker. He also was a longtime resident of Beverly Hills, Calif.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jj4yj37U9DWYfLMh8iNpt2MokknAD9BAPRI80

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/showbiz/music/2009/10/14/original-chart-topper-al-martino-dies-aged-82-86908-21746455/

The legacy of Mussolini in modern Rome, Italy

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 03:37:00 +0000

Il Duce was well known for making the trains run on time, exhorting Italians to have big families, censoring the press, eyeing potential Italian colonies in the Balkans and North Africa, mounting colossal Fascist exhibitions and welcoming Adolf Hitler to Rome in 1938.

Not as well known is Mussolini was constructing harbors, railways, aqueducts, roads, schools, stadiums, hospitals and post offices, often in a cutting-edge, modernist style.....

Mussolini's ambitious building results, were derided as "monsters" after WWII by those who were anti- Mussolini. Those same structures are now being reconsidered by art historians as "standout example of Italian modernist architecture, and go virtually unnoticed by all but the well informed.

Mussolini's Legacy in Modern Rome

Most Italians would rather forget 'Il Duce's' place in its history, but his imprint can be found around the city if you know where to look.

Los Angeles Times ; By Susan Spano; Reporting from Rome; October 10, 2009

Along the wide, straight Via dei Fori Imperiali near the Colosseum, sightseers often stop to look at a series of maps showing the growth of the Roman Empire: just a dot on the west coast of the Italian peninsula in the 8th century BC, larger in the next two panels, then at its most expansive in the fourth tablet when the Roman world stretched from Spain to Mesopotamia.

Nothing remains of the fifth map placed here in 1936 to commemorate Italy's conquest of Ethiopia under the direction of Benito Mussolini. Like so many other emblems of Italy's Fascist era, the plaque disappeared shortly after Allied troops liberated Rome in 1944, as one of many a symbol of a discredited time most people would rather forget.....

But Rome still bears the clear imprint of the Fascist dictator....Il Duce...nonetheless, a visionary builder who sought to imbue Italians with a sense of patriotism by reconfiguring their ancient imperial capital."In five years' time," he proclaimed in 1925, "Rome must astonish the peoples of the world. It must appear vast, orderly and powerful as it was in the days of Augustus."

So few know of the Rome Il Duce created and still visible.

When I cross Piazza Venezia, the city's traffic-clogged aorta underneath the grandiose Vittoriano monument, I don't think of King Vittorio Emanuele II, who ruled newly united Italy from 1861 to 1878. I think of Il Duce, who cleared out the area below the Vittoriano, creating an open space where crowds gathered to hear speeches from this squat, florid man who held his finger on the pulse of discontent.

Four ancient temples at Largo Argentina, a square just west of Piazza Venezia, inhabit another frame of Il Duce's dream: archaeological Rome. The Largo Argentina site was discovered when Mussolini ordered the clearing of what was then a slum as part of a wide-ranging project to facilitate traffic and improve hygiene.

But after visiting the square in 1928, he vowed that new construction would never obscure the truncated columns and scattered capitals of the Republican-era temples. Largo Argentina remains a time-warping, mind-bending place where the modern and ancient worlds collide.

Excavating and opening access to ruins -- especially those from the age of Il Duce's hero Emperor Caesar Augustus -- became a Fascist fundamental. Mussolini cared little for the art and architecture of subsequent, decadent periods, resulting in the now-lamented demolition of Baroque churches and whole medieval districts, including the winding lanes on the west side of the Tiber River that took pilgrims to St. Peter's Basilica. In 1936, these were eradicated to make room for the soullessly broad and straight Via della Conciliazione.

Archaeological site "liberation," as it was called, peaked in the Roman Forum area, which looks as it does because of Il Duce. The legions of city planners, engineers and architects he commanded flattened a densely populated district around a saddle of land between the Palatine and Quirinale hills, then drove the Via dei Fori Imperiali through it.

As a result, the ruins take center stage,...Many people now rue Mussolini's blunt stamp, but some welcomed his building scheme. A 1937 article in National Geographic magazine acclaimed Fascist urban renewal as "Imperial Rome Reborn."

Meanwhile, Il Duce was making the trains run on time, exhorting Italians to have big families, censoring the press, eyeing potential Italian colonies in the Balkans and North Africa, mounting colossal Fascist exhibitions and welcoming Adolf Hitler to Rome in 1938.

At the same time, Mussolini was constructing harbors, railways, aqueducts, roads, schools, stadiums, hospitals and post offices, often in a cutting-edge, modernist style..... Buildings such as Rome's Fascist-era Termini train station "stand out....

Art historians have begun to reassess the aesthetic meaning and value of Il Duce's "monsters" (as some critics call them).. Termini station on the east side of town was to serve as the terminus of a new subway line, now called Metropolitana B, linking the historic center to a site about five miles southwest where Mussolini chose to stage Rome's 1942 World's Fair. Conceived to showcase the glories of Fascist Italy in a self-styled " Olympics of Civilization," the Esposizione Universale di Roma (EUR) never took place because of the war. But before work stopped, the 420-acre campus was laid out on a classical Roman model. Ten monumental buildings were completed, and an acronym for the exposition stuck as the name of the district: EUR.

Tourists rarely venture to EUR, though it remains a stunning showcase for early modern Italian architecture.

Leaving the subway at the Magliana stop, I cut through the hillside park leading to the iconic Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, a mystification of a building often assumed to have been inspired by the surrealist art of Giorgio de Chirico. The cube-shaped building has six stories lined with identical rows of columns and is known here as the Square Colosseum.

Its four corners are flanked by huge equestrian statues with naked Greek heroes, sculpted in the same style as the 60 colossal athletes surrounding the sports stadium at Mussolini's Foro Italico, with smoothed-over details arousing none of the curiosity of more realistically rendered classical nudes.

Once I peeked inside the nearby Building of Offices, a handsome L-shaped edifice designed by Gaetano Minnucci in 1937, the only EUR building to have been realized in every detail, from its sleek door handles and balustrades to its then state-of-the-art pneumatic tube message system.

On another day I visited the Museum of Roman Civilization in a pair of identical buildings connected by a columned portico. Inside I found a remarkable, idiosyncratic collection of reproduction Roman artifacts, including a full set of casts from Trajan's Column in the Forum and the Plastico di Roma, a gigantic 3-D model of the capital created for a 1937 exhibition celebrating Fascism's imperial Roman roots.

Wandering around EUR was a strange, dislocating experience. Though the area is a thriving business district surrounded by parks and upscale villas, its Fascist-era monuments seem to reflect an experiment with the future that was abandoned, That may be partly why filmmakers (including Michelangelo Antonioni and Julie Taymor) have been attracted to it.

To understand the architecture, I asked [an expert], to walk me through it. We began near the Piazza Marconi at the axis of the EUR master plan conceived by scores of architects who grew up in early 20th century Italy.

The director was Marcello Piacentini, a gifted and prodigiously productive architect who made room for a full spectrum of approaches. He was awarded commissions by competition, but to work on such a massive project, Fascist Party membership was required. "Architects from all the modernist strands clamored to make theirs the language of Fascism,". "At EUR, we see them striking a balance between modernity and classicism.

"Look at the travertine arches of the Square Colosseum, a commentary on the timeless classical tradition, backed by huge plates of glass that could have come from downtown New York City,"

To the east we saw the Palazzo dei Ricevimenti e dei Congressi, a Fascist convention center designed by Adalberto Libera in the late 1930s. It is a standout example of Italian modernist architecture, with a dome that echoes the Pantheon,

Many empty spaces left on the EUR plan at the end of World War II were eventually filled with office complexes in the then-prevalent International Style, partly to counterbalance the implied Fascism of earlier buildings. When Rome hosted the 1960 Olympics, EUR was further transformed by a Pier Luigi Nervi stadium where Romans still watch basketball.

More changes are underway. A gaping hole at the district's center attests to construction of a futuristic new convention center, and renovation at the Square Colosseum where a museum of Italian design is planned.

I still think of Il Duce clutching the railing of a balcony at Piazza Venezia, boasting of his big new building projects. But now when I walk past Termini station or the Square Colosseum, I see monuments of Italian modernism, not monsters.

http://travel.latimes.com/articles/la-trw-fascistrome11-2009oct11

Five of Eight ML Baseball Playoff Teams have Italian Managers

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:46:00 +0000

Mike Scioscia of the LA Angels, (2000- 2009), Joe Torre of the LA Dodgers, (2008-09),Tony Francona of the Boston Red Sox, (2004- 2009), Tony La Russa Jr of St. Louis Cardinals,(1996- 2009), Joe Girardi of New York Yankees (2008-2009).

The other three managers and teams are Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins, Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies, and Charlie Manuel of the Philadelphia Phillies

Mike Scioscia of the LA Angels, (1999- 2009)

Since 1999, he has served as the manager of the Los Angeles Angels, which was his FIRST Manager assignment, Scioscia led the Angels to their first World Series championship in 2002 as a wild card entry, as well as to American League West division titles in 2004 (their first since 1986) 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009. (In 10 years has only had a losing record twice.and was 97-65 in 2009. Ist in American League 5 of last 6 years.

Joe Torre of the LA Dodgers, (2008-09)

In 2008, Dodgers had first post season series victory since 1988. Torre's Dodgers were beaten in the NLCS four games to one by the Phillies (who went on to win the World Series) In 2009 the Dodgers had the National League's best record (95-67), clinching the top seed in the NL. The Dodgers will face Torre's old club the Cardinals in the NL Division Series. Torre was formerly with the NY Yonkers :) 1996-2007. The Yankees won 4 World Championships, 6 American League Pennants, and his team entered the Playoffs 12 times in a row. He also managed the Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves, New York Mets, and the St. Louis Cardinals.

NY Mets. In May 1977, Torre, who was playing third base for the Mets, was chosen as Manager, and decided to retire as a player.Torre closed out his 18-year playing career with a .297 batting average, 252 home runs, 1,185 RBIs and 2,342 hits Torre managed the Mets through the 1981 season, but was unable to post a winning season,

Atlanta Braves, In 1982, Torre took over as manager and went on to finish 89-73 and capture the NL Western Division title, its first playoff appearance since the 1969 NLCS. In the NLCS against the Cardinals, the Braves were swept. The Braves slipped to second place in 1983, but their 88-74 record was just one game off the previous season, and marked the first consecutive winning seasons for the organization since moving from Milwaukee in 1966. Atlanta slipped to 80-82 the following season, (1984) but again finished runner-up in the division (tied with Houston Astros).

Torre spent the 1985-1990 seasons as a television analyst for the California Angels

St Louis Cardinals. In 1990, Torre was appointed manager and posted a 351-354 record. Though the Cardinals were unable to reach the playoffs during Torre's tenure, they had winning records in each of the three full seasons he spent with the club. Despite a last place prediction from many commentators, the Cardinals finished in second place and won 84 games in 1991, Torre's first full season at the helm. His best record was 87- 75 in 1993. Torre was fired in June 1995.

.New York Yankees (1996-2007) Torre served as the Yankees manager under the controversial owner George Steinbrenner, who was famous for frequently firing his team's managers. Torre lasted 12 full seasons, managing 1,942 regular season games (with a won-loss record of 1173-767). and took the team to the post-season playoffs every one of his twelve seasons with the club, winning six American League pennants and four World Series. This was by far the longest tenure for a Yankees skipper in the Steinbrenner era. Torre's was the second-longest managerial tenure in the club's history: only Joe McCarthy lasted longer. Torre got off to a rough start with the Yankees. The New York City press (and fans) thought his hiring was a colossal mistake and greeted him with headlines such as "Clueless Joe."

With 2,246 wins (through the end of the 2009 season), he presently ranks 5th in all-time Major League Baseball all-time managerial wins. His managerial success, particularly his achievements with the Yankees, have led many commentators to predict Torre to be a first-ballot Baseball Hall of Famer upon his eligibility.

Tony Francona of the Boston Red Sox ,(2004- 2009)

In 2004 Francona led the Red Sox to a 98- 64 record , the second-best record in the American League behind the division-rival Yankees. . As the American League wild card, the Red Sox dispatched the AL West champion Anaheim Angels.in the Division Series. In the 2004 American League Championship Series, the Red Sox fell behind the Yankees, three games to none,However, the club regained its composure and won the last four games of the series, the first time in Major League Baseball history that a team rallied from an 0-3 deficit to win a playoff series (only the third team to even make it as far as Game 6, and the only team to even force a game 7 after trailing a series three games to zero). The Red Sox swept the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-0, to win the 2004 World Series, ending the so-called Curse of the Bambino, believed by many to be the reason behind the franchise's 86-year championship drought. During the 2005 season, Francona was hospitalized after complaining of severe chest pains.

In 2007, two years later, the Sox won the American League East Division, finishing two games ahead of the New York Yankees. Under Francona's leadership, the Sox swept the Angels in the Division Series before dropping three of the first four games to the Cleveland Indians in the ALCS. The Sox, facing elimination, went on to win their next three games, defeating Cleveland to advance to the 2007 World Series, where the Red Sox swept the Colorado Rockies in four games to win the 2007 World Series. Terry Francona is the only manager in Major League history to win his first eight consecutive World Series games and just the second manager to guide two Red Sox clubs to World Series titles, the other being Bill "Rough" Carrigan who led Boston to back-to-back championships in 1915 and 1916.

As of October 1, 2008, Francona's career regular-season managerial record is 755 -703 (.518), while his post-season record is 22-9 (.710). Among managers who have managed at least 20 post-season games, he has the highest winning percentage.

Tony La Russa Jr of St. Louis Cardinals (1996- 2009)

LaRussa earned a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Florida State University College of Law. La Russa started his managerial career in 1979 with the White Sox until 1986, after which he managed The Oakland Athletics to three consecutive World Series, from 1988 to 1990, winning from the San Francisco Giants in 1989. In 1988 and 1990, La Russa's Athletics lost the World Series to the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Cincinnati Reds. He earned two additional Manager of the Year awards with the A's, in 1988 and 1992, again winning the Western Division in the latter year. After the 1995 season, La Russa left to take over for Joe Torre at the helm of the St. Louis Cardinals.

In his first campaign with the Cardinals, in 1996, La Russa clinched the National League's Central Division pennant (and also finished National League Runner-Up), a feat his club repeated in 2000, 2001, 2002 (his fourth Manager of the Year award), 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2009 (the Cardinals also tied for the National League Central crown with the Houston Astros in 2001). He became the first manager to win the award four times. La Russa's fourth Manager of the Year award was arguably the most emotional; La Russa led the Cardinals to the National League Championship Series (where they would ultimately lose in five games to the San Francisco Giants) in a year in which the Cardinals were traumatized by the deaths of beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster Jack Buck and 33-year-old pitcher Darryl Kile just four days later.

In 2004, the Cardinals won the National League pennant, accruing a first place overall record of 105-57. After defeating the Los Angeles Dodgers,in the National League Division Series, and the Houston Astros, in the NLCS, they went to the World Series for the first time since 1987, where they played the Boston Red Sox, but were swept, and because the American League had home-field advantage, La Russa and the Cardinals ended up seeing their home field as the place the Curse of the Bambino died.

2006 saw a return to the World Series, this time with victory over the Detroit Tigers, The team's 83-78 regular season record is the worst ever by an eventual World Series champion, usurping the 1987 Minnesota Twins' 85-77 campaign. La Russa is now the second manager to win a World Series in both the American League and the National League - a distinction shared with his mentor, Sparky Anderson

Joe Girardi of New York Yankees (2008-2009)

In 2005, after rejecting an offer to become the bench coach of the Florida Marlins with a guarantee to become the team's manager in 2006 (although he would eventually get that job anyway), he became the Yankees' bench coach. He even managed a game during a Joe Torre suspension.

After the 2005 regular season, Girardi was named the manager of the Florida Marlins. As a first-time manager for the Marlins, Girardi guided the team into a surprising wild card contention (finishing with a 78-84 record) even though the team had the lowest payroll in Major League Baseball, approximately $14 million for 2006. Despite the success Girardi achieved in his first year as manager, he was nearly fired in early August when he got into a vocal (and visible) argument with Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria during a game.when the Marlins owner was heckling homeplate umpire Larry Vanover. When the umpire warned Girardi about the harassment, Girardi turned to Loria and asked him to stop. Loria had to be talked out of firing Girardi immediately after the game. On October 3, 2006, the Marlins announced that they had fired Girardi.

Girardi was at the top of many teams' list of manager candidates. Girardi was thought to be among the leading candidates to replace Yankee manager Joe Torre after the Yankees' loss in the 2006 American League Division Series, but Torre remained with the Yankees. He was also a candidate for the Chicago Cubs manager position but the Cubs chose to go with veteran manager Lou Piniella. Girardi took himself out of the running for the Washington Nationals' managerial job shortly thereafter and returned to the broadcast booth Despite Girardi's firing, he was rewarded for his achievements with the Marlins in 2006 with the National League Manager of the Year Award and The Sporting News Manager of the Year Award for the National League.

In June 2007, Girardi was interviewed for the Orioles managerial position (left vacant by the firing of Sam Perlozzo), but later passed on the Orioles' offer . Many opined that Girardi would be the next Yankee manager. On October 22, Girardi was the first to interview for the Yankees manager job. Girardi was reported to be the Yankees' managerial choice on October 29, and he officially accepted the deal on October 30

Girardi's first year as Yankee manager was met with disappointment as it was the first time in 14 years the Yankees did not reach the postseason. In his second year as manager, he led the Yankees to a 103-win season and the Yankees' first AL East title since 2006.

Diana Taurasi, High School, College, WBNA Phenom Leads Phoenix Mercury to 2nd Championship in 3 Years.

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 06:44:00 +0000

Diana Taurasi was named the WBNA and Finals MVP (Most Valuable Player) and led the Phoenix Mercury to their second WBNA Championship in three years on Friday Night in Phoenix in the deciding 5th game. This is late coming vindication for a High School, and College Phenom, After being accustomed to High School and College Dominance, Taurasi while chosen # 1 in the 2004 WBNA Draft, but was selected by the cellar dweller Phoenix Mercury who had a record of 8-26 in their 2003 season. Although she received Individual recognition, her team labored through 3 frustrating seasons until the Mercury finally won the Championship in 2007, and then again in 2009.

In 2004, in her WNBA first season, although the Mercury did not qualify for the playoffs, the season was a personal success as Taurasi was named to the Western Conference All Star team and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award.

In 2005, Taurasi, she was an All Star for the second straight year, but the Mercury faded down the stretch and again missed the playoffs

In 2006, Taurasi earned a third straight trip to the All Star Game. She broke Katie Smith's league records for points in a season (741) and is tied with Lauren Jackson for most points in a game (47 vs. Houston), but The Mercury missed the playoffs.

In 2007, Taurasi and Pondexter led the Mercury to their first WNBA title. With this victory Taurasi became just the seventh player ever to win an NCAA title, a WNBA title, and an Olympic gold medal.

In the 2009 season, Taurasi was named the WNBA MVP and later led the Phoenix Mercury to its second WNBA championship in 3 years. Taurasi was named the WNBA Finals MVP as well. Taurasi is one of only two players (the other being Cynthia Cooper), to win the season scoring title, the season MVP award, a WNBA Championship and the finals MVP in the same season.

Diana Lurena Taurasi (born June 11, 1982 in Chino, California) is a professional basketball player who plays for the Phoenix Mercury in the WNBA.

Taurasi grew up in Chino, California and attended Tolleson High School where she was the recipient of the 2000 Cheryl Miller Award, presented by the Los Angeles Times to the best player in Southern California. Her high school accolades didn't stop there as she was named the 2000 Naismith and Parade Magazine National High School Player of the Year. Taurasi finished her prep career ranked second to Miller in state history with 3,047 points

Taurasi was born to her parents Mario and Liliana. Her father was born in Italy and raised in Argentina, which is also the native land of her mother Liliana. Her parents moved to the U.S. before she was born. It is not hard to see where Diana's talent and athleticism comes from- her father Mario was a professional soccer player in Italy.He had logged several years as a goalie.

Following a highly decorated high school career, Taurasi enrolled at the University of Connecticut (UConn) and began playing for the women's basketball team during the 2000-2001 season. Taking the court primarily at point guard and shooting guard, she led the team to three consecutive NCAA championships with the last one coming in the 2003-2004 season. Leading up to that final championship, her coach, Geno Auriemma, would declare his likelihood of winning with the claim, "We have Diana, and you don't.

Taurasi also received many personal accolades at UConn including the 2003 and 2004 Naismith College Player of the Year awards, the 2003 Wade Trophy ,and the 2003 Associated Press Player of the Year award. In addition to the national recognition she received during her time at UConn, Taurasi was held in legendary status by many Connecticut fans. For example, state senator Thomas Gaffey nominated Diana Taurasi to join Prudence Crandall as the state's heroine.She averaged 15.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in her collegiate career. During her time at UConn, her team compiled a record of 139 wins and 8 losses. Diana was a member of the inaugural class (2006) of inductees to the University of Connecticut women's basketball "Huskies of Honor" recognition program

Following her collegiate career, Taurasi was selected first overall in the 2004 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury a team that went 8-26 in the 2003 season.

In her WNBA first season, aAlthough the Mercury did not qualify for the playoffs, the season was a personal success as Taurasi was named to the Western Conference All Star team and won the WNBA Rookie of the Year Award.

In 2005, Taurasi averaged 16.0 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game while battling an ankle injury. She was an All Star for the second straight year, but the Mercury faded down the stretch and again missed the playoffs.

Former NBA coach Paul Westhead became the Mercury's head coach prior to the 2006 season and brought his up-tempo style to Phoenix. Their roster was further bolstered by the addition of rookie Cappie Pondexter, the #2 overall selection in the 2006 WNBA Draft.

Taurasi flourished under Westhead's system, leading the league in scoring and earning a third straight trip to the All Star Game. She broke Katie Smith's league records for points in a season (741 during the 2006 season) and is tied with Lauren Jackson for most points in a game (47 vs. Houston on August 10). In 2006, Taurasi averaged a record 25.3 points, 4.1 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game. The Mercury finished 18-16, but after losing a tie-breaker with Houston and Seattle, it missed the playoffs.

In 2007, Taurasi finally reached the WNBA playoffs. In the first round, the Mercury eliminated the Seattle Storm two games to none. Next, they took down the San Antonio Silver Stars in a hard fought two game series. Taurasi got to her first WNBA Finals, but had to face the defending champion Detroit Shock. In a hard-fought series, Taurasi and Pondexter led the Mercury to their first WNBA title. With this victory Taurasi became just the seventh player ever to win an NCAA title, a WNBA title, and an Olympic gold medal.

Taurasi was a member of both the Women's 2004 and 2008 Gold medal Olympic Basketball Teams.

In the 2009 season, Taurasi was named the WNBA MVP and later led the Phoenix Mercury to its second WNBA championship in 3 years by beating the Indiana Fever 3 games to 2. Taurasi was named the WNBA Finals MVP as well. Taurasi is one of only two players (the other being Cynthia Cooper), to win the season scoring title, the season MVP award, a WNBA Championship and the finals MVP in the same season.

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

The Journey of the Italians in America - A Pictoral History

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 04:05:00 +0000

For those are unlucky enough not to have in their family a copy of "Four Centuries of Italian American History" by Giovanni Schiavo the Dean of Italian American Historians, or any of his other explorations of different facets of the Italian American Experience, this book might be helpful.

I'm not sure whether it was the author or the reviewer that came to the conclusion that In "Italian-American Issues", Vincenza writes, Current issues, such as the celebration of Columbus Day and the popularization of the Italian crime figure in the media, are troubling to those who feel that these images damage the reputation of the entire group.

This infers that "those" (who could be as few as two) are troubled by Celebrating Columbus Day. That is Distorting and Disingenuous.!!!!

I therefore withhold my endorsement, and only report as information.

The Journey of the Italians in America

By Vincenza Scarpaci

Review by Janice Therese Mancuso

The history of the Italians in America begins with the history of European interest in America. Cristoforo Colombo may not have stepped on the soil of what would become the United States, but by landing on the outlying islands of the Americas, Colombo opened the door between the Old World and the New World. With it came trade, immigration, plant migration, religious freedom, differing philosophies, a new society - and the Italians.

In The Journey of the Italians in America, Vincenza Scarpaci creates a pictorial account of the Italian immigrants and their assimilation into America. The photographs "collected through notices in Italian American newspapers and on the Internet" are mostly from Italian American families, but also include images from historical, government, university, and newspaper archives. Each picture includes a detailed caption explaining the photograph, and most include additional information about the sociocultural, political, or economic conditions of the time.

The photographs in the book are divided into nine chapters - *Origins*, *Spanning the Miles*, *Finding a Home*, *Italians and the Land*, *Religion and the Rites of Passage*, *Becoming American*, *Italian-American Issues*, and *Where is Our Heritage?* Each chapter begins with an informative introduction that includes an historical overview of the photographs that follow, and most chapters are further divided into categories identifying an overall topic for each group of pictures.

The book’s *Introduction* provides an historical synopsis of the Italians in America starting with the explorers, Jesuit priests, merchants, and craftsmen. The political and economic environment of Italy during the 1800s is noted in regard to the effect it had on Italian immigration to America. The unstable atmosphere in southern Italy, after Italy became united in 1861, caused millions of Italians to migrate to America from the late 1800s to the early 1900s.

In America, the immigrants made many adjustments, and Vincenza discusses the evolution of the Italian immigrant to American citizen. She touches on their skills and work ethics, their determination, and the challenges they faced to achieve a better life. She mentions the establishments of the Little Italies and how they "provided for some a cultural continuity, and within these locales, the concentration of immigrants supported a way of life that maintained a cultural, economic, and social identity."

Further elaborating on the sociocultural persona of Italian Americans,Vincenza addresses the conflicts between first and second generations, In the public schools, Italian children were encouraged by word as well as example to give up the traditions of their parents; the hardships of nativism, xenophobia, and discrimination; substandard salaries and working conditions, and that somehow crime became an ‘Italian thing.’

The last few pages of the *Introduction* describe not only the progression of the Italian Americans in America, but also the interest that third generation Italian Americans now have in their past. The desire of people to know about their past in an effort to better understand their present lives is as old as human society. This has meant the ability to accept the wide range of Italian influence in American life, from the anarchists and the labor organizers to the pro-fascists and the bootleggers.

The *Introduction* is an important prelude to the chapters that follow. In * Origins*, pictures of street scenes, various groups, and family members depict the Italian lifestyle, and photographs show the migration journey that starts in Italy and ends in the United States. *Spanning the Miles* is an assortment of photographs illustrating how the Italians in America maintained ties to Italy and how they brought their Italian traditions to America.

The photographs,homesteaders, planned communities, tenement homes, joint housing, ranchers, farmers, business owners, and more, in *Finding a Home*offer a look into the various residences that housed the Italian immigrants. *Italians at Work* provides a broad view into the variety of jobs held by Italians. From building the infrastructure of a nation, to providing essential goods and services, to enhancing American life, the pictures show that Italian immigrants worked in all types of trades and professions, greatly contributing to the American economy.

The chapter *Italians and the Land* is a collection of photographs centered on the agrarian nature of the immigrants. Many worked the land for a source of income, others to provide food for their large families. Migrant workers, sharecroppers, dairy farmers, produce purveyors, importers, and store ownersare just some of the ways that Italians made their living from the land.

“For Italians, the Roman Catholic Church and their public devotion to God and the saints were almost inseparable from everyday life. This opening statement in *Religion and the Rites of Passage* is supported by photographs of churches, festivals, religious ceremonies, an elaborate nativity, an impressive St. Joseph’s Table, and more.

*Becoming American* is the largest chapter in *The Journey of the Italians in America*, and with good cause. It’s in this chapter that the Italian immigrant becomes American. Vincenza writes, While immigrants’ lives reflected the customs and traditions they learned in Italy, they, and especially their children, learned the traditions of American society. Both parents and children dealt with cultural contrasts as native-born educators, social workers, labor leaders, and politicians encouraged the newcomers to adopt ‘American’ lifestyles. Within this chapter, categories include Celebrating America, Responses to Events Here and Abroad, Wartime, Seeking Justice, Tragic Loss, American Life, Socialized Needs, Political Involvement, and Interaction.

In *Italian-American Issues*, Vincenza writes, Current issues, such as the celebration of Columbus Day and the popularization of the Italian crime figure in the media, are troubling to those who feel that these images damage the reputation of the entire group. This chapter includes photographs of Columbus Day celebrations and other events honoring Columbus,and pictures relating to crime and law enforcement.

The last chapter, *Where is Our Heritage?* features an assortment of photographs—the Little Italies created in America, Italian Americans visiting Italy, Italians visiting America, and ways that preserve heritage that join Italy and America. Vincenza asks, How do we connect with our story and which story do we acknowledge? and mentions the tendency of present-day Italian American organizations to look to Italy to establish identity [that] veers away from the reality of Italian-American heritage.

Vincenza’s observations on the plight of Italian Americans raise serious concerns; and she addresses issues that are prevalent among those who wonder about the future of the Italian American community. She does note that Ethnic identity is closely intertwined with family; it persevered because of family, and will persist because of family; and this is clearly substantiated by the hundreds of family photographs in *The Journey of the Italians in America*.

An extensive index makes it easy to find names and places mentioned in the captions and the text; and the Italian and American flag designs that border the page numbers are symbolic of the cultural relationship between Italy and

America.

*The Journey of the Italians in America* is more than the journey of the Italians. The book is a chronicle of the growth of a united nation with an emphasis on the Italians’ contributions. Every aspect of American culture is covered, and every aspect includes the influence of the Italians. The book is an excellent learning tool, as the pictures capture interest, enticing the viewer to read the captions and the accompanying historical overview. The pictures will also attract an older child’s attention, providing a parent with the opportunity to offer information not only about the photographs, but also about Italian American history, Italian heritage, and family traditions.

Vincenza Scarpaci Website http://www.italianamericanjourney.com/Home

Vincenza Scarpaci Interview<http://www.wgntv.com/news/middaynews/middayfix/wgntv-mdf-italiansinamerica-040609,0,7170071.story> (Video, April 2009)

Italy can Teach US about Health Care and Travel

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:24:00 +0000

We Americans have this "Superiority Complex" that stems from our Brief Superpower status. We are 19th in "Health Care" in the world, behind Portugal, and our "Cuisine" is based on McDonald's and KFC.

Health-care, Travel Industries in U.S. Could Learn From Italians

Kennebec Journal, Morning Sentinel; George Smith ; October 7, 2009

THE HEALTH

If you are feeling sickly, head to Italy. But avoid New York's JFK airport.

On the third day of our recent Italian vacation, Linda woke with a swollen eyelid. It got progressively worse, spreading the next day to her cheek and making it difficult to see out of that eye.

Getting sick away from home is always worrisome. Not knowing what to do, we went to the tourism office in Greve's square, where a very nice English-speaking woman explained our options.

We could go to a clinic where various specialists visited throughout the week, or we could see Dr. Silva, who just happened to be available until noon in an office on the square. She recommended Dr. Silva, who "speaks very good English."

She called and let the doctor know we were coming. He poked his head out of his office when we arrived and directed us into the waiting room. He had no receptionist. Five others were seated there so we settled in, expecting a long wait.

The folks in the waiting room kept track of the queue and every time a patient left the doctor's office, someone popped up and went in. Amazingly, just 12 minutes later, it was our turn.

The doctor welcomed us in English as he stepped out from behind his desk. He had no nurse but a great personality. Quickly examining Linda and diagnosing an infection, he patiently explained the two treatments he was recommending, a cream applied in and around the eye and a "tablet."

He charged us 50 Euros, took our money, wrote out a receipt, and sent us over to the pharmacy with two prescriptions.

We expected to leave the prescriptions, as we would in this country, and return later to pick them up. But in the pharmacy, we noted three pharmacists at a counter, stepped up to one and handed over the prescriptions. The pharmacist filled the prescriptions, charged us 13 Euros and ushered us out of the store less then 3 minutes after we entered.

Less than half an hour elapsed from the time we entered the doctor's waiting room to the time we exited the pharmacy! The total cost was about $84. And best of all, the prescriptions worked and Lin was feeling much better by the next morning.

Back home, it would have taken a day to work through the process that took a half hour in Greve and the cost would have been substantially more.

THE FLIGHTS

The flights that delivered us to Italy were flawless, and the start of our return home went very smoothly. But our ordeal began at JFK airport. Arriving at JFK four hours before the only flight to Maine, we were stuck in a hot claustrophobic airport with less than half the seating needed by all the travelers waiting for a flight.

We began to get concerned about an hour before our flight when we noticed that all flights were using just two terminals. As our 7:30 p.m. boarding time approached, they were trying to board, at just one gate, five planes waiting out on the tarmac. Chaos transitioned to anger.

When we finally got to a ticket taker, she told us to step aside, we had not been "cleared." While I desperately tried for a half-hour to find out what the problem was, the Delta agents ignored us, growing progressively ruder to all who crowded around them.

Finally, a man explained to me that our plane had loaded too much luggage, was "unbalanced," and had left for Portland with empty seats while a number of ticket-holding customers like us stood in the terminal.

It was a costly mistake for Delta because they had to put us up in a hotel, buy us two meals, and give each of us a $400 voucher for travel over the next 12 months (Italy, here we come again!).

Seems to me it would have been better to take off the luggage and fly the customers to Portland. Perhaps this explains why Delta is in bankruptcy.

But here's the most intriguing thing. On the flight over, Delta served us a terrible chicken dinner. On the flight back, to our surprise, we were served a delicious chicken dinner.

The difference? The inedible dinner was prepared in New York and the delicious dinner in Italy.

We Americans think our country does everything best. We are wrong.

For starters, Delta ought to have all meals prepared in Italy!

http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/view/columns/6947108.html

George Smith is executive director of the Sportsman's Alliance of Maine. He lives in Mount Vernon and can be reached at george@samcef.org.

Italy's Top Court Strips Berlusconi of Immunity -Two Corruption Tials to Resume

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 03:24:00 +0000

Italy's Constitutional Court has stripped Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from prosecution while in office. The Ruling can Not be Overturned.

This paves the way for two corruption trials to resume. In one case, he is accused of paying a British lawyer to give false testimony during two trials in the 1990s.

Berlusconi has previously been charged with corruption, tax fraud, false accounting and illegally financing political parties. He has never been convicted.

Italy's Top Court Strips Prime Minister of Immunity
By VOA News; October 7, 2009

Italy's Constitutional Court has overturned a law shielding Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from prosecution while in office.

The 15-member panel ruled Wednesday that the law, which grants immunity from prosecution to the president, prime minister and the speakers of both chambers of parliament while they are in office, was unconstitutional.

The immunity measure was enacted last year just after Mr. Berlusconi, a billionaire media owner, took office for his third term as prime minister.

The court's decision to rescind the law paves the way for two corruption trials against him to resume. In one case, he is accused of paying a British lawyer to give false testimony during two trials in the 1990s.

Wednesday's court ruling cannot be appealed.

A spokesman for the Italian prime minister said the verdict was politically motivated and that Mr. Berlusconi will not resign.

Mr. Berlusconi has previously been charged with corruption, tax fraud, false accounting and illegally financing political parties. He has never been convicted.

The 73-year-old prime minister has also been embroiled in a series of sex scandals. He has sued newspapers in Italy, Spain and France for their coverage of his private life.

http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-10-07-voa46.cfm

Palladian Villa Tour in Vicenza Italy is Magnificent

noreply@blogger.com (Ercole) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 19:09:00 +0000

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) is widely considered the most influential architect in the history of Western architecture. He revolutionized architecture by adapting ancient Greek and Roman architectural motifs to churches, government buildings and country villas of his day. Through his "Four Books of Architecture," he influenced everyone from Sir Christopher Wren to Thomas Jefferson to itinerant carpenters on the American frontier.

He was born as Andrea di Pietro della Gondola in Padua, then part of the Republic of Venice. His talents were first recognized in his early thirties by Count Gian Giorgio Trissino, an influential humanist and writer. As the leading intellectual in Vicenza, Trissino stimulated the young man to appreciate the arts, sciences and Classical literature and granted him the opportunity to study Antique architecture in Rome.Trissino also gave him the name by which he is now known, Palladio, an allusion to the Greek goddess of wisdom Pallas Athene

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

Indulge me please. I am from Cleveland, which is slightly above Detroit in Culture, and for Vicenza to agree to be a "sister-city" to Cleveland is like Princess Diane or Jacqueline Kennedy agreeing to adopt an "urchin" as a sister. :) :)

Palladian Villa Tour in Italy is Magnificent

The Cleveland Plain Dealer By Emily Hamlin; October 04, 2009

Asolo, Italy -- .as I discovered..., is a small, heavenly Italian hill town (population, 1,500). It perches above wooded slopes on the edge of the agricultural and industrial plain, or pianura, which extends north and west from Venice and the Adriatic Sea to the foothills of the Dolomites, the towering limestone peaks that form the eastern buttress of the Italian Alps.

Beloved by the English poet Robert Browning and the early-20th-century travel writer Freya Stark, Asolo has superb restaurants, arcaded streets lined with shops, great bars and sidewalk cafes, a lively main piazza and a beautiful church installed with religious paintings by the important Renaissance artists Lorenzo Lotto and Jacopo Bassano.

For lovers of Renaissance architecture, Asolo also makes an excellent base for day trips to the world famous Renaissance villas of Andrea Palladio in and around nearby cities, such as Vicenza, Palladio's home town.

From Asolo, we found great destinations in every direction. When we returned each day, we left behind the busy gas stations, factories and shopping strips that line the main arteries nearby and ascended the quiet, fragrant, tree-covered slopes that led to Asolo's cozy, cobbled streets.

There, we plotted the next day's expedition..of the Veneto, the region that arcs around Venice....Palladio (1508-1580) revolutionized architecture by adapting ancient Greek and Roman architectural motifs to churches, government buildings and country villas of his day. Through his "Four Books of Architecture," he influenced everyone from Sir Christopher Wren to Thomas Jefferson to itinerant carpenters on the American frontier.

A cruise along Shaker Boulevard in Shaker Heights (in Cleveland, OH ) is all that's needed to see Palladio's reach. Just about every other house features a simplified version of the classical temple facades Palladio perfected for his Venetian clients.

To see Palladio's influence is to feel a desire to see the real thing, which means traveling to the Veneto (accent on the first syllable), the architect's home region.

I'd read books about Palladio by art historian James Ackerman and other authors, but photographs and floor plans printed on a printed page can never substitute for direct experience.

Setting out every day in a different direction rather than book one of the guided tours that packages visits to the villas and other sights in the region, we rented a car and did our own navigating. Armed with maps, guidebooks and instructions from the concierge at our hotel (the excellent Albergo Al Sole), we set out every day in a different direction, interspersing visits to Palladian villas with side trips to cities within a two-hour drive, including Verona, Vicenza and Trento.

One terrific destination nearby is Possagno, birthplace of Antonio Canova, the great early-19th-century neoclassical sculptor, whose "Terpsichore" is a highlight of the permanent collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Possagno is home to the Canova Museum and Gipsoteca, which houses the artist's studio and plaster versions of Canova sculptures, including the Cleveland "Terpsichore." The museum also includes an addition built in the 1950s by the great Italian modern architect Carlo Scarpa, a work of art in its own right....

Palatial Villa Barbaro

is a masterpiece From Asolo, fortunately, you don't have to go far to find a Palladian masterpiece. On the first morning of our stay, we climbed into our rented Lancia and descended one of the narrow, winding, one-lane roads that runs downhill, out of town.

Within minutes, we were at Maser, a small farm town nearby. We cruised slowly... searching for the driveway to Palladio's Villa Barbaro. Suddenly, we spotted our objective off the highway to the left -- a palatial home that resembled a Roman temple flanked by two broad wings topped with large dovecotes. Set atop a hill, it struck a commanding pose, as if claiming dominion over everything around it. ...

We soon crunched across pea-gravel pathways and ascended to the main level of the house, the piano nobile, and donned large, fluffy slippers, which fit over our shoes and were intended to protect the smoothly polished terrazzo floors inside.

Alone except for a solitary guard, we padded from room to room, marveling at fresco paintings on the walls by Paolo Veronese, a great Venetian Renaissance painter admired for his fluent brushwork and his ability to transcribe the pearly light of the Veneto with a freshness that anticipated French Impressionism 350 years later.

The paintings depicted not only gods and goddesses from Greek and Roman mythology, but members of the original Barbaro household. In one scene, the grande dame leans over a balustrade as if to greet guests. In another, an impish daughter pokes her head through a trompe l'oeil doorway, as if caught by surprise in the middle of a game of hide-and-seek.

From the Villa Barbaro we set off for other Palladian villas, including the magnificently austere Villa Emo in Fanzolo di Vedelago, and the splendid Villa Cornaro in Piombino Dese.

The Villa Cornaro is owned by an American's Sally and Carl Gable, who open the house to tourists on a regular basis. In her lively book, "Palladian Days," Sally Gable describes what it's like to own and restore a Palladian villa, and to join community life in a small Italian town.

Gable's book is a great read, and a terrific way to prepare for a trip to the Veneto. Also excellent is Witold 'Rybczynski's "The Perfect House," a house-by-house description of the principal Palladian villas. It is the perfect guide for a tour of the villas, and I noticed other travelers carrying their own copies.

Driving from one Palladian villa to another is something like a road rally. You plot your course through a half-dozen small towns, taking care not to get disoriented while curving around one of the scores of roundabouts Italians prefer instead of four-way intersections with stop signs or traffic lights.

Because the villas operate on different schedules, it's easy to become part of a small troupe of vehicles leaving or pulling up in rhythmic succession at each stop as the villas close or open at various points throughout the day.

The most challenging villa to find was the most famous: the Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, better known as the Villa Rotonda because a large, central dome surmounts the structure....Beautifully sited atop a hill, the house seems to share DNA with a half-dozen state capitols around the United States, plus key buildings on the campuses of the University of Virginia and Columbia University.

The interior of the villa is a strangely theatrical space, with four identical suites of rooms organized around a soaring and overdecorated central space topped by the dome. The effect is dizzying and disorienting. No matter which direction you turn, the architecture seems to stay the same; only the landscape outside changes.

In Vicenza proper, we found that a short walk up the city's principal street, Corso Andrea Palladio, leads to a half-dozen Palladian masterpieces, including the Basilica Palladiana, a municipal building with arched arcades on two sides for all-season markets.

Palladio's Teatro Olimpico, at the eastern end of the Corso, contains an elaborately fabricated shallow stage that exploits linear perspective to create the illusion of five streets converging on a central piazza. Even when there's no show, the amphitheater-style seats are filled with visitors who marvel at the architectural spectacle.

Vicenza may seem distant, but the city is building ties to Cleveland; last April, Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson visited Vicenza to sign a document creating a gemellaggio, a "twin" sister-city collaboration between the two cities. The idea is to promote exchanges around business and industry.

Cleveland couldn't have a more desirable partner in Italy. Apart from any commercial developments created by the cross-fertilization, the agreement could encourage cultural exchanges with one of the most beautiful cities in Italy and greater appreciation for the Veneto -- a region well worth exploring, no matter which town you pick as a home base.

http://www.cleveland.com/travel/index.ssf/2009/10/palladian_villa_tour_in_italy.html