Cari Amici

Cari Amici, questo blog fra poco chiudera'. Insieme ad un paio di amici stiamo mettendo su un sito dove speriamo le nostre elucubrazioni di natura politica avranno piu' spazio. Il sito ha per adesso il nome di Step In Now !. e una bozza la trovate su

www.stepinnow.org.

Io spero di ritrovarvi li e soprattutto spero vogliate partecipare, anche mandando di volta in volta un articolo.
un abbraccio

Intanto vi lascio un altro post..

Che significa l'Abruzzo ?

Reputo il voto in Abruzzo abbastanza emblematico. Parto da un punto, come detto da piu' parti, dalla questione morale. D'Alema la ritiene secondaria, la gente ha risposto che non lo e' affatto. E' chiaro tuttavia che il voto espresso ieri non e' solo questo. Il PD paga una pochezza e inconsistenza nelle linee guida della sua politica, le incertezze del suo leader, ma soprattutto l'incapacita' di una proposta seria e credibile. Accanto a questo si aggiungono i problemi con la giustizia del centro sinistra. Bisogna essere chiari su questo punto.
Non e' che la questione morale sia un problema di adesso, se e' vero come e' vero, che, il piu' volte citato, Berlinguer, in questi giorni, la pose qualche decennio fa. C'e' pero' accanto a questo l'evanescenza del PD. L'una e l'altra questione sono inscindibili, perche' senza una reale forza ideologica, senza la motivazione delle idee, la politica perde anche la sua etica e diventa solo potere. Inutile pensare che la discussione interna al PD sia una questione di linea politica, perche' il rincorrere l'ultimo sondaggio non dimostra visione, ma solo la ricerca del consenso. Ovvio che la politica ha senso solo attraverso questo, ma il consenso si costruisce sulla ragione delle proprie idee, nella convinzione nostra prima che degli altri di un progetto condiviso, non puo' basarsi sugli umori della gente.

Quel 47% di abruzzesi, che non sono andati a votare, non lo ha fatto perche' la sfiducia in questa classe politica deriva dalla mancanza di un'idea da perseguire, nel vuoto istituzionale che essi rappresentano. Quella gente, cari dirigenti di destra e sinistra, vi ha dichiarato morti.
Io spero che il PD ne tragga le necessarie conseguenze e che il 19/12 Veltroni dichiari pubblicamente il suo fallimento. Si badi che non e' il fallimento di Veltroni, e' il fallimento dell'intera dirigenza. Il PD e' un soggetto da cui ripartire, in questo momento e' un albero senza foglie in cui solo la base sopravvive. Si faccia tesoro almeno di questo.

sergio

Il Codice Etico del PD

Ricevo da Stefano Minguzzi estratti dal codice etico del PD.
5) Condizioni ostative alla candidatura e obbligo di dimissioni
1. Le donne e gli uomini del Partito Democratico si impegnano a non candidare, adogni tipo di elezione anche di carattere interno al partitocoloro nei cui confronti, alla data di pubblicazione della convocazione dei comizi elettorali, sia stato:
a) emesso decreto che dispone il giudizio;
b) emessa misura cautelare personale non annullata in sede di impugnazione;
c) emessa sentenza di condanna, ancorché non definitiva, ovvero a seguito di
patteggiamento; per un reato di mafia, di criminalità organizzata o contro la libertà personale e la personalità individuale; per un delitto per cui sia previsto l'arresto obbligatorio in flagranza; per sfruttamento della prostituzione; per omicidio colposo derivante
dall'inosservanza della normativa in materia di sicurezza sul lavoro.
2. Le donne e gli uomini del Partito Democratico si impegnano a non candidare, ad ogni tipo di elezione anche di carattere interno al partito, coloro nei cui confronti, alla data di pubblicazione della convocazione dei comizi elettorali, ricorra una delle seguenti condizioni:
a) sia stata emessa sentenza di condanna, ancorché non definitiva ovvero a
seguito di patteggiamento, per delitti di corruzione nelle diverse forme previste
e di concussione;
b) sia stata emessa sentenza di condanna definitiva, anche a seguito di
patteggiamento, per reati inerenti a fatti che presentino per modalità di
esecuzione o conseguenze, carattere di particolare gravità;
c) sia stata disposta l'applicazione di misure di prevenzione personali o
patrimoniali, ancorché non definitive, previste dalla legge antimafia, ovvero
siano stati imposti divieti, sospensioni e decadenze ai sensi della medesima
normativa;
3. Le condizioni ostative alla candidatura vengono meno in caso di sentenza
definitiva di proscioglimento, di intervenuta riabilitazione o di annullamento delle misure di cui al comma 2 lett. c).
4. Le donne e gli uomini del Partito Democratico si impegnano a non candidare, ad ogni tipo di elezione anche di carattere interno al partito:
a) i proprietari o coloro che ricoprano incarichi di presidente o di
amministratore delegato di imprese che operano a livello nazionale nel settore
della informazione, ovvero il loro coniuge, parenti o affini;
b) i proprietari ovvero coloro che ricoprano incarichi di presidente o di
amministratore delegato di imprese che operano nel settore della informazione
a livello locale, nel caso in cui l'organo di garanzia territorialmente competente
previsto dallo Statuto accerti che per il rilievo dell'attività dell'impresa si
possa determinare un sostegno privilegiato a loro esclusivo vantaggio.
5. Ove sopravvengano le condizioni di cui ai commi precedenti, gli eletti, i titolari di incarichi all'interno del partito, ovvero il personale di nomina politica, rassegnano le dimissioni dal relativo incarico.

a voi il giudizio!

L'IIT

..ed eccolo il nuovo MIT italiano, l'Instituto Italiano per la Tecnologia. Questo instituto, sorto nel 2003 (idea di Tremonti) e che gia' mi sembrava una cazzata, quand'ero oltreoceano, perche' sembrava un'altro di quei dinosauri dove far confluire soldi per la ricerca per pochi, dopo 5 anni guardiamo alla sua produzione scientifica.

Nasce sulla carta come una buona idea, niente a che vedere con il MIT americano ma focalizzato su alcuni rami interessanti della ricerca applicata.
E' chiaro che un progetto del genere necessita di tempo adeguato per poter essere valutato.
Dati alla mano, su 86 ricercatori, l'ITT ha prodotto in 4 anni, ben 114 pubblicazioni, cioe' circa 0.3 pubblicazioni all'anno per ricercatore. Davvero un bel record !
A questo pero' bisognerebbe aggiungere che dubito molto che il centro abbia funzionato appieno immediatamente, ma che piuttosto occorrano almeno un paio di anni perche' si sia in grado di produrre qualcosa di significativo. Tuttavia il dato di quest'anno ovvero di 4 pubblicazioni su 86 ricercatori, mi sembra segnare un trend tutt'altro che significativo.

Perche' me ne occupo ? perche' questo Instituto e' saltato adesso all'onore della cronaca grazie al fatto che e' l'unico instituto, sebbene privato, a cui non sono stati ridotti i fondi strutturali. Di certo e' presto, ma e' difficile poter fare un discorso di meritocrazia riguardo questo centro, dunque non si capisce per quale motivo, se non quello per il quale esso sia sorto sotto il protettorato di Tremonti, ad esso non vengano tagliati i fondi come e' successo per tutti i centri di ricerca italiani...

Il problema Italia

Parto da uno dei miei status : perche' se 56.000.000 di italiani pagano i debiti di Alitalia, di fatto salvandola, Berlusconi definisce patrioti i componenti di CAI che prendono una societa' senza debiti, senza mettere per molti di loro neanche un centensimo ? La questione non e' nel senso della frase, ma piuttosto nel fatto che nessuno, dico nessuno si sia scandalizzato, neanche un giornalino di provincia. Perche' Berlusconi puo' fare un'affermazione del genere ? Questo da il senso di come i valori in questa Repubblica siano sottosopra.
Paola suggerisce che la rivoluzione culturale negli Stati Uniti sia partita dagli intellettuali allarmati dalle politiche neocons. Io credo sia assolutamente vero. Aggiungo pero' che se la gente non l'avesse sentito nelle proprie tasche, non si fosse vista decurtato il potere d'acquisto dei propri stipendi, quella battaglia sarebbe finita nel nulla. Qui succede il contrario. Il potere d'acquisto dei nostri salari e' sceso ben al di sotto dei valori medi europei portandoci a livelli di poverta' quasi indistintamente, purtuttavia, non c'e' traccia di rivoluzione culturale degli intellettuali. Con una classe politica e una sinistra incapace di andare oltre le beghe personali che non siano il confronto D'Alema-Veltroni, tocca a noi, alla gente comune, portare avanti le battaglie di riforma. Lo si e' visto sulla scuola, sui precari, dove solo una mobilitazione di massa ha consentito l'apertura dei ministri del governo. L'opposizione e' rimasta immobile, quell'opposizione tacciata di troppo intellettualismo. Ecco perche' credo che rispetto agli USA ci sia un processo inverso. Adesso, rimbocchiamoci le maniche, le svolte non accadono dal nulla.

Domande sul PD del Nord

Ma con tutta la buona volonta', che diavolo deve essere il PD del Nord ? Che bisogno c'e' di avere un partito federale ? Non sono sufficienti i segretari regionali ? Non sono sufficienti i segretari provinciali ? Piu' territorialita' di cosi !
Perche' le politiche territoriali al nord, come al sud o al centro, sarebbero migliori se ci fosse un PD del Nord, del Sud o del Centro ? Perche' soprattutto continuiamo a farci del male ?Non bastava D'Alema ? Non bastava Veltroni ? Non bastavano le correnti ?... e chiudete un po' questa cazzo di finestra che fa freddo !!

evabbe'...

alla fine si e' deciso per fare il congresso del PD il prossimo autunno. La cosa non mi entusiasma perche' non credo affatto che la dirigenza, questa dirigenza, sia in grado di dimostrarsi compatta fino ad allora. Girano tra l'altro voci insistenti che vorrebbero il Rutellone gia' pronto a smarcarsi dal partito per formare una nuova coalizione. Le ragioni sono individuabili facilmente nel poco spazio trovato all'interno della nuova formazione che sembra molto piu' dominato dagli ex DS. Se cosi' fosse, credo che l'esperimento PD sia da considerarsi un fallimento.

Comunque, se da un lato affrettare il congresso a marzo, come a me sarebbe sembrato piu' logico, potesse essere un rischio, visto che le iscrizioni procedono con una lentezza esasperante e non per colpa della gente, ma piuttosto perche', a mio avviso di proposito, sono state farte partire molto in ritardo, c'e' da sperare che Veltroni disegni una linea politica del partito ancora molto nebulosa. Rilevo pero' che le premesse non sono positive.
Intanto in termini di alleanze sul fronte interno.
Non e' chiaro con chi si schierera' il Partito perche' certamente le posizioni UDC, comunque legame inviso a tutti quelli di buon senso, non sono certo condivisibili dall'IDV, con cui sembra sempre esserci una lotta sotterranea, salvo poi mettersi insieme, come succede in Abbruzzo, per carita' scelta logica, anche dopo gli scandali recenti, ma certo discutibile visti le posizioni dipietriste che stanno esasperando.

Sul fronte europeo, di certo la scelta di non volersi collocare con nessuno dei gruppi politici non aiuta a capire quale sia la direzione che si vuole intraprendere. E' chiaramente una scelta opportunistica che non risolve le lacerazioni interne, se non temporaneamente. E' una scelta "maanchista" degna del miglior Crozza, ma non di certo di un partito come il PD che per sua stessa vocazione nasce aperto all'Europa, mentre invece, in questo momento, vi si isola. Ancora di piu' se si pensa che i DS, in Italia confluiti nel PD, ma che in Europa ancora esistono, hanno aderito con Fassino al PSE.

Insomma il quadro non e' affatto chiaro e, viste le premesse, la mia impressione e' piuttosto che il 19 dicembre, giorno in cui la dirigenza del Partito Democratico si riunisce, questo programma di forte innovazione, cosi come Veltroni annuncia, non si vedra' e saranno le solite parole generiche e i soliti proclami urlati alla gente a cui siamo abituati. Spero sinceramente che non sia cosi.
Per adesso, non resta che rimanere alla finestra a guardare, cosi come in fondo il nostro segretario ci ha insegnato a fare .....

E adesso che facciamo ?

La soluzione attuale del caso Villari insieme alla scena pietosa di Latorre beccato come uno scolaretto delle elementari non sono altro che il malessere di questo PD, un malessere che in qualche modo doveva sfociare e di cui siamo costretti ad affrontare le conseguenze in maniera urgente.
Come ho scritto in una nota precedente, il problema della leadership nel PD e' il piu' grave. Sottolineo che e' ben piu' che una questione di persone quanto, soprattutto, di idee.
Saro' forse l'unico nel PD, ma io non sono d'accordo che il paese stia scivolando a destra. Per me, il segno tangibile rimane il 25/10 e il disgusto generalizzato di questi mesi. Piuttosto, e' un paese, il nostro, che ha bisogno di sicurezze, di una politica chiara, netta, di una direzione motivata da interessi comuni. Del resto, il successo dei vari movimenti populisti o le affermazioni demagogiche di Di Pietro, una cosa la dicono, ed e' esattamente questa. E' un corale "Basta!". Basta con una politica che non serve a nessuno, basta con i baroni della politica.
Qual e' la risposta del PD a questo e alla sua gente ? Puo' esserlo un partito che riunisca, e in che modo, la Binetti o Villari ? Spostare il baricentro verso posizioni ancora piu' moderate rischia di confondere anche le persone piu' convinte.
Il problema sostanziale e' che il PD non nasce con una collocazione chiara, ma soprattutto non nasce con una comunita' d'intenti. Lo sviluppo e' ancora piu' drammatico. Vuole essere di sinistra ma si appiattisce su posizioni di destra, vuole essere riformista ma si aggrega a posizioni teocon, accusa Berlusconi di essere plurindagato e fa l'occhiolino all'UDC.
Se il berlusconismo ha portato qualcosa alla destra e' la sua leadership, indiscussa e soprattutto accettata da tutti. Questo nonostante le uscite clownesche del Premier. Il messaggio pero' e' chiaro, ripetuto come nelle pubblicita'. Soprattutto, il PdL e' formato da pochi seguaci pensanti e da molti saltimbanchi.
A sinistra invece, chi si aspettava proprieta' taumaturgiche dall'ex sindaco di Roma e' rimasto deluso e la sinistra e' rimasta al palo, statica forse perche' le anime pensanti sono anche troppe, ma con nessuno in grado di poter o voler prendere in mano le sorti del partito e con Veltroni che sempre piu' sembra agire, non con un piano ben preciso, ma piuttosto secondo gli umori della piazza. Il problema e' che la piazza lui non sa proprio dirigerla. Al contrario del suo avversario che ne percepisce i sentimenti prima, Veltroni si adagia prima per poi scalpitare nervosamente a seconda delle "quotazione del mercato". Qui non c'e' politica, non c'e' anima, non c'e' un contenuto. Allora forse sarebbe meglio fare un congresso, subito, che riunisca le idee. Veltroni prenda atto del suo fallimento e lavori a un progetto di Partito come fino ad ora non e' stato in grado di fare, smettendo persino i panni a stelle e strisce, sfrutti quel po' di potere che gli e' rimasto e si adoperi a modernizzare la struttura, svecchaindo le gerarchie e immediatamente indica un congresso cosi da dare una deadline, meglio approfittare del congresso di marzo del PdL, in modo da confondersi nella confusione e fino a quel momento stare zitti sperando che la barca non affondi.

DA La Stampa...cazz me ne sono andato !!

Terence Hill torna al western
L'attore sta girando a Santa Fe «Doc West», un film per Mediaset diretto da Giulio Base


Bud Spencer e Terence Hill in «Lo chiamavano Trinità» (da archivio Corriere) SANTA FE - Terence Hill torna al primo amore. L'attore che da qualche anno dà il volto a Don Matteo (fiction Rai su un parroco di Gubbio che spesso aiuta i Carabinieri nelle indagini) sta girando un film western per la tv a Santa Fe (New Mexico). Nel ranch di Bonanza Creek, villaggio cinematografico creato dagli artigiani italiani 15 anni fa per Lucky Luke (e poi usato per la serie «Bonanza») un cast quasi tutto italiano, diretto da Giulio Base, sta girando «Doc West», film per la tv in due puntate prodotto da Mediaset, che vede il ritorno di Terence Hill al genere cinematografico che lo ha reso famoso.

COL CAVALLO DI ZORRO BANDERAS - L'uscita è prevista per la primavera del 2009, ma «Doc West» è una scommessa ancora in corso: il genere western, per tanto tempo dimenticato e ora tornato di moda a Hollywood, piacerà ancora al pubblico televisivo italiano? Per scoprirlo non c'era che da trovare una storia interessante e un protagonista credibile. Nessuno avrebbe potuto esserlo più di Terence Hill, affiancato in questa avventura da Ornella Muti, Paul Sorvino, Clare Carey e da un cavallo non meno famoso: Casey, il magnifico frisone cavalcato da Antonio Banderas in Zorro.

TRAMA - In «Doc West» Terence Hill rivestirà la parte di un dottore che, oppresso dai sensi di colpa per aver fatto un grande errore nella sua carriera medica, abbandona la professione e vaga per il selvaggio west giocando a poker e tirando di pistola, nel tentativo di dare di che vivere ad un bambino, rimasto orfano a causa del suo errore. All'inseguimento di un gruppo di banditi, si ritrova in un villaggio guidato dallo sceriffo Basehart (Paul Sorvino). Qui Doc West torna ad esercitare la professione medica. «La forza di questa storia è aver dato un passato al mio pistolero - spiega Hill -. Avevo rinunciato all'idea di fare western, perché l'eredità di quanto fatto in passato era pesante ma Doc West è una scommessa che mi sono sentito di giocare. È una via di mezzo fra Il mio nome è Nessuno e Trinità. Rispetto ai film di allora però non si ride, si sorride. I tempi sono diversi, il pubblico è diverso».

..ma c'hai ragione..

Quello che avverte il carissimo Zoro, sono mesi che lo diaciamo tutti, in tutti i circoli. Io non aggiungo altro, perche' il video e' veramente esplicativo..

Il dubbio PD

Gli avvenimenti di questi giorni, credo invitino a riflettere. Dalle elezioni politiche, l'opposizione del PD e' sempre stata piuttosto flebile. Il nuovo vigore dato dalla riuscitissima manifestazione del 25/10 ha sollevato delle questioni che mi sembra siano affrontate nel modo sbagliato.
Innanzitutto, bisogna capire che 2500000 di persone sono un segnale difficilmente trascurabile. L'intenzione di chi come me voleva dare un impulso alla dirigenza del partito, piuttosto che al suo leader, era evidente, ma assolutamente non scontato era il risultato. E' triste vedere oggi come la voglia di sinistra di quelle persone si sia tradotto soltanto in un gioco al massacro. Chi ne fa le spese e' il PD, ma questo alla nostra leadership non risulta.
Ricordo che il PD e' nato come un nuovo partito, che avrebbe dovuto mettere la gente al centro e soprattutto rompere con la vecchia partitocrazia del passato.
Ad oggi questo non si vede.
Due sono i segni piu' tangibili: il primo, l'assoluta mancanza e rispetto per cio' che e' stato il motto fin dalla nascita, ovvero primarie sempre. Qui c'e' la prima contraddizione di fondo. Se la gente chiede la possibilita' di votare alle elezione europee a liste aperte, non si capisce per quale motivo questo non avvenga all'interno del partito, nel quale con un colpo di mano vengono assegnati i segretari di PD Lazio e PD Roma.

Secondo, come intendere poi la vergognosa spartizione e lo scempio che sta avvenendo dietro l'elezione del Presidente della Commissione di vigilanza ?
Non sono forse questi segni di una partitocrazia strisciante ?
E come interpretare, in termini di leadership del Partito, la questione di Villari ?
Non m'interessa il giudizio politico su Veltroni, m'interessa il dato e questo mi dice che Veltroni non ne e' il suo leader.

Io credo sia necessario non un maquillage, ma una ben piu' profonda soluzione, perche' il PD non puo' continuare a seguire, ne' la destra, ne' il Partito Democratico Americano. Quei 2500000 di individui hanno voglia di riconoscersi in un soggetto politico di sinistra, pensante, propositivo e rinnovante, capace di dare un'impronta e una scossa ad una sistema e a una societa' ingessata, non di seguirne delle orme identificate tra i sondaggi.

Tuttavia, lo sappiano D'Alema e Rutelli, che neanche loro, non solo Veltroni, sono l'anima di questo partito. Il PD ha bisogno di una leadership aggregante e soprattutto unitaria che ne' D'Alema, ne' Rutelli, ne' Veltroni sono in grado di offrire. Prima ce ne accorgiamo, meglio e'. Il rischio non e' piu' un partito allo sbando, ma la morte politica del PD.

The Italian Democratic Party

The Italian Democratic party (PD) had decided, by the words of his leader, Walter alias Uolter Veltroni, that for any major charge in the party, the latter should have been decided through Primaries. This was supposed to be in its bylaws. Now this has been put on hold, because of the internal contrasts inside the PD against the lines of Veltroni. In fact, the major charges of the Lazio PD and the Rome PD has been decided the former belonging to Veltroni's area the latter to Rutelli's one. I strongly oppose this, since this is against all the intentions with which this party was born and would make it fall in the same old concept of party bureaucracy.

Damn, if I only knew that...

Do you want to get married ? you don't have a place where to celebrate the event ? Problem solved, the Department of Medicine of the Universita' La Sapienza in Rome, makes available to (almost) everybody the Aula Magna in the Patology division.
Look at Prof Luigi Frati, already Dean of the Department of Medicine, for over 17 yrs, and now Dean of the all University, celebrating his daughter's wedding in the Aula Magna... then you wonder why things don't work in Italy !

UPDATE: it seems they took off the video !

S. Peter !

In all this economical chaos, the words of Pope Ratzinger resonate to me stunning and opportunistic in a very wicked way.. It has been a long while since this Pope has decided that we need to take a few steps back. The problem is that there is no step forward.

Chi se lo ricorda il mitico Mario Braga..

how much does your house cost ?

Being abroad, I got to the Second US Presidential debate a little late. I went on youtube to hear the most unbelievable proposal from any sane person... According to some out of this world runner for any country, moreover for the US, McCain tells people that for those who can't keep up with mortgages, the US would buy their house... a little search on the web (repubblica.it) and this would cost something like 300 billion dollars. Forgot to mention, these are tax payers money. Dude, please, give me back the money you already spent for the banks and, maybe, you will find somebody who will agree with you ! Then, Congress may agree to save the Banks, but it will never do the same for normal people. It is just worth mentioning, that to save children in Africa from starvation and diseases, 25 billions would be enough.

Trip to Romania

The new job has some positive aspects. Now I am in Romania, exactly in Cluj, Transilvania. No, guys, I have not seen Dracula, please do not ask me about it. As a good italian, filled up of prejudices from the stunning and professional informative media, I arrived thinking that there was nothing interesting and expecting criminals and poverty everywhere. Well, guys, I must tell you, I find this place quite nice. People are very kind, nice stores, nice pubs and clubs. With an economic growth of about 10%, this country will reach Italy in a couple of years, maybe more, but you get the message.

Obama vs McCain: round 1

I watched the debate, not live but from the videos on Youtube. I think both in the economy and the war strategies McCain seemed to be connected with the same old Bush, tax cuts for the riches and same (failing iraqi) tactics (which for McCain does not include China and Russia) against Iran. On the other hand, although Obama seemed more on the point, he was way too cold without punishing McCain for the awful week he has had (it was not mentioned even once !! ). This may hurt him a lot. On issues like foreign policy, McCain was clearly up in terms of what he knew (although Obama caught him on Zapatero, who, for the Republican, was the chief of the zapatist movement). What will hurt McCain about this is the continuing referring to old stories, which make him look older than what he is. After all, i think it's a draw, although all polls (besides Fox's, but that's expected) give Obama winning with a large margin (for many it's been a draw). Probably the CBS' one is the most relevant, done on the undecided, with a 40% Obama and 22% McCain, 38% tie.

McCain, that is how dumb can you be ??

For the Americans, this is no news. McCain called off his appearance on the Late Show and David Letterman just goes bisurk on him. Just for McCain to be caught on another show on the same TV channel ...ehhhhhh?!?!?

Wooow, that is some big crisis, i better stop talking to everybody about what i would do...

well, that's more or less what John McCain announced two days ago. I guess we are now used to this kind of great leadership....

Alitalia : (political) game over

It sounds like an agreement has been reached and all the major Unions -20% of the air crew (50 % of the ground crew)- have signed it. Most likely all the independent ones, which count for 80% (50%), will sign tonight. The difference don't seem to be so relevant, although they make clearer some key points, such as salaries and foreign airline involvement which were blurry in the previous one. After criticizing so much the left, I must say that now its tactic gets a little clear to me. What they have achieved, and I hope they will push on this, is that this cannot be seen as a success of Left for sure, but not even for the Right. The sneaky moves of Veltroni, such as the public letter to Berlusconi, the mediating role played, with of course pictures, journalists, between the CAI (the new company ) and the CGIL, the Union who had not signed the agreement previously, were smartly laid out. I would like to remind the reader that Colaninno is from the Democratic Party, as well as the CGIL is a leftist Union. If they now were able to capitalize on this, it would be awesome.

Incontro

Ciao ragazzi, il 2/10 incontrero' Marco Minniti (Ministro dell'Interno del governo ombra) sul tema legalita' e sicurezza.
Nel caso vi venisse qualche bella domanda giratemela che mi faccio portavoce.

Obama vs McCain

The most recent poll , on the WP, gives Obama 52 % and McCain at 43%. I find it quite interesting how the economical crisis in the US gives more credit to Obama, despite being a neophyte of the political class. Of course and more likely, this result might have nothing to do with that rather might just be the result of 8 yrs of the despicable Republican governance.

Alitalia

I have been trying to follow the situation. In all that has been happening, it is tough for me to have an informed opinion. It is tough since politics is strictly interwined with economical interests. The problem is that lives of 20000 people and their families will pay the cost.
Two things, though, seem to me relevant. First of all, it is really troublesome for anybody or foreign company to have to deal with the Unions, which are really powerful in Italy. Unions in all this matter have been pushing it way out of their league and should take a step back. In spite of the zeroing of Alitalia's debt, who seriously could be interested in a company (Alitalia) where everybody can stop you working properly.
Second of all, from a political standpoint, although this acquisition was worst than any plan before, although all the fake promises of the electoral campaign, the general feeling is that, once more, it is the left's fault.
No matter how bad the situation for the Right is, we are always unable to provide a serious opposition !

fantastico..

How much foreign policy do you need to know to be vice-president of the US ?

Steve Doocy, a journalist from Fox News, is commenting McCain's pick as Vice-President, Sarah Palin, Alaska's governor. There is some debate whether she has any international experience whatsoever. Doocy comes back to that :"Of course, she does ! Alaska is so close to Russia" .. I am not sure I can reply to that...

Un esempio di giornalismo a senso unico...

Vi propongo questo articolo di Repubblica, l'intervista a Colaninno, imprenditore (di sinistra) della cordata per salvare Alitalia.
Vorrei farvi notare le domande del giornalista. Si puo' essere d'accordo o no (non conosco a sufficienza l'argomento per esprimermi) su come Berlusconi stia agendo su Alitalie, ma sembra di assistere ad un'intervista condotta da Sean Annity o Bill O'Really di Fox.

A windy transmission

Today I was reading the NYT and I ran across this article. Within our discussion, one issue has never been considered, that is the problem of grid's limits. The power lines are indeed so limited that also the a minimal increase in the power line, which is that coming from windy power plants, cannot be sustained. How dumb is that ?

Risiko

well, not as smart as the game is, but it is clear that something like a game is being played in Ossetia and Abkhazia. The oil pipe line which supposedly would have made Europe less dependent from Russia lies there. With Russia arming the separatists and the US-Poland missile shield agreement, this may change completely. Russia now backing the secession from Georgia has another ace in its pockets. Energy supremacy is clearly what is at stake. This might be highly costly for Italy and all Europe.

SUD

Ieri sera ho visto il film su Don Puglisi, prete ucciso dalla mafia. Ogni volta si rinnova il dolore, come ogni anno all'anniversario dell'uccisione di Falcone e Borsellino, come se fosse successo oggi, per chi come me, del Sud, adora la propria terra. Ed ogni lacrima e' un grido strozzato. Come ogni volta, mi sono sentito inutile...

Joe Biden VP

Finally Barack Obama has chosen. The ticket will be formed with Joe Biden. I really like the guy. He has been very outspoken and very active against the Bush policies. He is very well spoken and experienced on both foreign as for homeland security matters. He has been in the Congress forever, thus he knows the system as well. I think it is one of the best choices by Barack.
Here is the article from the NYT

Nuclear Development in Italy: where are we ? (2)

Italy was a pioneer of civil nuclear power and in 1946 established the first scientific body to pursue this. In 1952 it established an agency to develop and promote nuclear power, and this was reorganised in 1960 to become CNEN (National committee for nuclear energy).
Following a referendum in November 1987, provoked by the Chernobyl accident 18 months earlier, work on the nuclear program was largely stopped. In 1988 the government resolved to halt all nuclear construction, shut the remaining reactors and decommission them from 1990. As well as the operating plants, two new nuclear BWR plants were almost complete and six locally-designed PWR plants were planned. ENEA (formerly CNEN) also closed various fuel cycle facilities.

Despite its previously high level of activity and expertise, Italy remained largely inactive in nuclear energy for 15 years.

In 2004 a new Energy Law opened up the possibility of joint venture with foreign companies in relation to nuclear power plants and importing electricity from them.
In 2005 Electricité de France and ENEL signed a memorandum of understanding to give ENEL some 200 MWe from the new Flamanville-3 EPR nuclear reactor (1650 MWe) in France, and potentially another 1000 MWe or so from the next five such units built. As well as the 12.5% share, ENEL was also to be involved in design, construction and operation of the plants. However, early in 2007 EdF backed away from this agreement and said it would build Flamanville 3 on its own and take all the output. Nevertheless, in November 2007 an agreement was signed confirming the 12.5% ENEL investment in Flamanville - expected to cost EUR 450 million - plus the same share of another five such plants. The agreement also gives EdF an option to participate in construction and operation of future ENEL nuclear power plants in Italy or elsewhere in Europe and the Mediterranean.
In 2004 ENEL bought 66% of Slovenske Electrarne (SE) with its four VVER 440/V213 Bohunice and Mochovce reactors there. ENEL's subsequent investment plan approved in 2005 involves EUR 1.88 billion investment to increase SE generating capacity, including EUR 1.6 billion for completion of Mochovce units 3 & 4 - 942 MWe gross - by 2011-12.
In October 2007 Italy became the 17th member of the Global Nuclear Energy Partnership (GNEP) which is developing new nuclear fuel cycle technologies to improve proliferation resistance while increasing recycling and reducing wastes.
In 2008 Energy Lab, described as a think tank and involving major utilities, began a feasibility study on building four new nuclear power plants in Italy.

Some simple facts on Italy's energy resources: the magnitude of the problem (1)

Stimulated by the lack of infos and the comments on the previous post, I think it is useful to understand where all this started. I believe Italy is emblematic of the Western situation, since it is quite embarrassing.

Electricity supplied in Italy in 2005 was 330 billion kWh, giving per capita consumption of 5640 kWh/yr.

In 2006 local production from 81 GWe of plant was 315 billion kWh gross, 49% from gas, 15% from oil, 16% from coal and 14% from hydro. Imports of 50.3 billion kWh (effectively, some 15% of its needs) are required, mostly nuclear power from France( More than half comes immediately from Switzerland - 26 TWh in 2005, which imports much of it - 29 TWh in 2006, from France and Germany). This is equivalent to output from about 7 GWe of capacity at 80%.


ENEL (originally Italian Electricity Generation Board) is responsible for electricity production and transmission. In 1992 it became ENEL SpA, a joint stock company, and in 1999 40% of its shares went public. Also generating subsidiaries were formed and sold off with the aim of limiting ENEL's share of the market to 50%. Due to the high reliance on oil and gas, as well as imports, Italy's electricity prices are 45% above EU average.

Italy today is now the only G8 country without its own nuclear power, and is the world's largest net importer of electricity.

How convenient is a nuclear plant ?

In a previous post, I started talking about the renewed interest in Italy about nuclear energy produced through fission. On this post, I wanted to say a few words on whether this choice would be convenient for other reasons.
First of all, according to the Energy Information Administration, by 2030, the contribution from nuclear energy production will go down from 15.8 % to 11.8 %. So
The UK have no intention to build new ones as well: British buildings equipped with solar, wind and other micro power equipment could generate as much electricity in a year as five nuclear power stations, a government-backed industry report showed.

In any event, estimated costs are about 6/10 billion euro per power plant (Wall Street Journal 30/05/08) , from E. On, German industry working on one in FInland and from Florida power and light, US provider.
Another thing to consider is that there are not so many mines of Uranium in the world. Three countries have about the 50%, Australia, Kazachistan and Canada. Then, Niger, Russia, Namibia, Uzbekistan, Usa, South Africa and China. Should be expect a New OPEC from the poorest coutries or a new energy dependence like Italy from Russia ?
How much will the cost of Uranium increase in 10 yrs ? According to IAEA, resources will be close to finish in the next 30/35 yrs.
It will be necessary other sources like Plutonium or torium, which are very costly and limited as well and convert to other technologies, like fast reactos.
It should also be considered that at the moment, the cost of raw Uranium is only 22% of the total processing cost an only 15% to the total cost.
These considerations do not take into account maintenance, security and safety and waste.

....YEAHHHHHHHHH !!!!!

Dear ALL,
NUNTIO VOBIS GAUDIUM MAGNUM

GONE ON VACATION ! from 9/8 - 17/8. No more than that, i could get spoiled !!
CALABRIA ASPETTAMI !
ciao ciao

The Health Care debate in the US

Many Italians don't know how big the debate is in the US regarding their HC system. In fact, more and more people would like a more "socialist" or universal one, as Canada or Europe have, whereas in Italy, we debate whether we should go for a more private one, like in the US . I find this article on New Politics quite interesting. I will give an excerpt here, where some common points, with references in the original article, against universal care are discussed.

---Universal coverage costs too much---.
No, it doesn't. Every other industrialized nation offers its people universal coverage, and at a cost much lower than we now spend in the United States, which covers only part of its population. In 2005, we spent 15.3 percent of our Gross Domestic Product on health care compared to France's 11.1 percent, Germany's 10.7 percent, and Canada's 9.8 percent.1 Yet, in 2005 we had 45 million uninsured (it's two million more at this writing!) while other industrialized countries covered everyone's health care.
---Your taxes will go up. ---
Perhaps, but you are still likely to come out ahead when you consider the overall expenses. Single payer will cost most people the same or less than the premiums and medical bills they are paying today, and will be secure regardless of employment or income. Both the Congressional Budget Office and the General Accounting Office have testified that the United States could insure everyone for the amount of money we're spending.
---Americans get world-class care ---
don't mess around with that. The fact is that the average American doesn't get world-class care. Sure, if you are wealthy and have the best private insurance, your chances of getting excellent care are high. But on almost all measures of health care and mortality, we lag behind Canada and Europe.
---Other countries have much longer waiting times than we do. ---
In actuality in other industrialized countries there are no waiting lists for emergency surgery or urgently needed procedures. It's true that the United States has shorter waits for elective surgery than Canada and England. But recent studies show that some waiting times in the U.S. are longer than in other countries. For example, in a study of seven developed countries, the Commonwealth Fund looked at how many sick adults had to wait six days or more for an appointment. By this measure, only Canada's record was worse than ours. Within our market-driven system, an appointment for cosmetic surgery may be scheduled sooner than an appointment for possible skin cancer. A recent study reported an average wait of 73 days for patients with possible skin cancer in Boston.
---People get care even if they're uninsured---
there is no problem. Don't tell that to the American Cancer Society (ACS), which in September 2007 worked with its sister advocacy organization, the ACS Cancer Action Network, to launch a major initiative to make the access to health care a state and national priority. Research shows that uninsured patients were much more likely to have their cancers diagnosed at an advanced stage, when they are less curable, than were patients with insurance. John Seffrin, the Society's chief executive, has stated that unless the health care system is fixed "lack of access will be a bigger cancer killer than tobacco." And of course the problem isn't limited to cancer: the Institute of Medicine estimates there are 18,000 deaths per year due to lack of insurance. Unnecessary suffering and disease affect millions more who have no insurance or are under-insured.
---Single payer is socialized medicine.---
But single payer is not socialized medicine, because for the most part government will not own the hospitals and physicians will not be on salary to government. It simply changes the financing of health care; the health care delivery system remains the same. It will operate like the Medicare program for the elderly today, in which patients are seen by private doctors in (mostly) private hospitals; this clearly isn't socialized medicine. Single payer is actually "social insurance" rather than "private insurance."

It does strike me that the author had to argue against the "socialized" medicine. Why does the left feel the need to justify the word ?

The Bradbury Museum and Repubblica.

Today, on Repubblica, there was an article, on the Bradbury Science Museum in Los Alamos, New Mexico. Of course, I might be a little biased by the fact I lived there for 3 yrs and I actually visited the museum, but this article seems to me more ridiculous than the actual Museum.
The article points out that there is an apology of the bombs and accuses the Museum of short memory, since it forgets those who died and the devastations because of the bombs.
Now, I have some doubts that this woman really went to the Museum. She mistakenly drives the reader to the conclusion that the bombs were actually built there, whereas they were only designed at LANL. One of them was actually produced at the Oak Ridge Natl. Lab. It does make a difference when you are reporting on something, since you want your facts straight.
In any event what i contest here is the approach of the article. The purpose of the Museum is not to remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki, not even the bombs. It is plenty of Museums doing that. Rather, its purpose is to lead the visitors through the steps and the emotions during the years of the Manhattan Project, from the very place were this was started. The Manhattan project was a majestic endeavor with a dignity in itself. That is the message of the museum, nothing else.
Furthermore, the Museum is basically of the Los Alamos Natl Lab. Any consideration should start from here.
If you go to the Guinness brewery they show you how they produce it, they don't show how many people died drinking beer. There are many other things why the Museum is ridiculous, definitely, not this one. The perspective is quite different.

PS: It is clear that the people who actually stayed at LANL find this article quite idiotic. Stefano talks about it on his blog, as well... eheh

The long tail of Katrina

It is quite sad that after almost three yrs from Katrina, which devasted the South-East of the US, only 133,966 out of almost 200,000 households in Orleans Parish could receive mail and only 40 percent of pubic schools had reopened. From the IPS website, on the side of the blog: "The rapid erosion of New Orleans parallels the erosion of small town America. Up and down the Mississippi, travelers see business districts boarded up and factories rusting. Young people are strikingly absent. In late June, victims of the latest natural disaster – the Midwestern floods – saw bridges floating away, dams and levees surrendering, aging sewage systems collapsing. Their crops and animals floated away.On July 4, politicians repeated the “We’re the greatest” rhetoric while ignoring the country’s decrepit infrastructure.
The American Society of Civil Engineers estimates that an additional expenditure of $1 trillion is needed to bring infrastructure up to par with modern needs and standards, not counting the cost of repairing damage caused by the recent floods.
Mr. Bush requested $1.8 billion for flood recovery — a drop in the proverbial bucket. While billions per week flow to Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands of deteriorating bridges, levees and dams await attention." This is all very sad !

you have got to see this....

A few days ago McCain had Paris Hilton on a campaign spot, trashing some celebrities because unfit to lead, as Obama would be. That's Paris' video reply

...and now, let's patrol Italy's streets with the Army

This is the new campaign bluff in Italy. Despite the fact that, statistically speaking, the streets in Rome are safer than, for instance, Amsterdam and London, Berlusconi decided that we need the Army on the streets. This is to create fear, not security, usual spur to make people worried and in need of certainties and it was the same kind of campaign played in the US after 9/11 by the neocons. In Italy you can get killed more likely in your workplace rather than in the streets (statistics at hand) and it is the Nation where there are more deaths on work than in any other EU country. Maybe the Army should be put in dockyards or builders' yards... yours, dear Berlusconi, would be better, damn fool !

The Cluster bombs and the US wonder

Well over half the world’s governments agreed at the end of May to “consign cluster munitions to the trash bin of history,” in the words of the Cluster Munition Coalition, the civil society collective that delivered the treaty. Meeting in Dublin, Ireland, representatives of 110 governments completed negotiations on a new international treaty that bans the production, use, and export of all existing cluster munitions and commits them to destroy their stockpiles within eight years.
The U.S. government did not attend the negotiations, instead arm-twisting its allies to weaken the treaty. In the end, though, all other major NATO countries joined with the majority in agreeing to get rid of these weapons, which are designed to kill or maim every living thing in an area as large as two football fields. The vast majority of victims of cluster bombs have been civilians.

Stephen Mull, Acting Assistant Secretary for Political-Military Affairs, held a press briefing in the midst of the negotiations to explain why the U.S. government was not at the table. His explanations were creative.

If the convention passes in its current form, any U.S. military ship would be technically not able to get involved in a peacekeeping operation, in providing disaster relief or humanitarian assistance as we're doing right now in the aftermath of the earthquake in China and the typhoon in Burma, and not to mention everything that we did in Southeast Asia after the tsunami in December of 2004. And that's because most U.S. military units have in their inventory these kinds of weapons.
A reporter astutely asked Mull why it wasn’t possible to “just take the munitions off your ships?” Mull responded:

Well, we - the number one priority of any country's military is to defend its country. And if our military planners are determined that these are necessary to protect American interests, we - it's not something that we're going to unilaterally get rid of.
The cluster bomb treaty would be unilateral…except for the other 110 countries that also agreed to abandon cluster bombs in Dublin.

And why are cluster munitions a necessary defense? Mull again had an answer:

These [cluster munitions] are weapons that have a certain military utility and are of use. The United States relies on them as an important part of our own defense strategy.

When the media inexplicably pushed back, asking what, exactly, this military utility was, Mull ruled out some possibilities:

How many wars like that is the United States going to be in, in the foreseeable future. My personal guess is probably not a lot. I don't think we have that kind of threat from Canada or Mexico, by the way, for example.

No doubt the Canadian and Mexican governments are reassured to hear that the United States does not plan to go to war with them anytime soon.

McCain, the nice guy

Senator John McCain presents himself as a what-you-see is what-you-get presidential candidate: clean, pragmatic, following his convictions even when not politically expedient. He considers himself to be someone who would make an excellent foreign policy president. But this image sits in contrast with the International Republican Institute (IRI), for which McCain has served as board chairman since 1993. Under the cover of spreading democracy and a free market economic system, the IRI installs U.S.-friendly governments and undermines those that are not by supporting coups and ousters.
Formed in 1983, the IRI is one of several umbrella organizations under the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), created by the Reagan administration in 1983. The NED was formed at a time when CIA covert action was coming under increasing scrutiny, prompting its critics to see it as a surrogate for covert action.
The Nation in 2002, for example, argued that the “NED was designed to run a parallel foreign policy for the United States, backing and assisting entities that Washington might not be able to officially endorse.” The IRI is funded by U.S. tax dollars to the tune of $75 million a year.

IRI activities in countries like Haiti and Venezuela are more controversial. In Haiti, even those opposed to Jean-Bertrand Aristide would agree that he was democratically elected. Yet the IRI consolidated democracy against him leading to his violent ouster. Mother Jones reported that “several of the people who had attended IRI trainings were influential in the toppling of Aristide.” Today, Haiti is more poor, divided and violent, and less democratic than it was at the time of Aristide’s ouster.

In 2002 the then-IRI president George Folsom is reported to have applauded the failed Venezuelan coup against President Hugo Chavez. "Last night, led by every sector of civil society, the Venezuelan people rose up to defend democracy in their country," he said in a statement the IRI released.
Not expecting the coup to fail, he went on to proudly claim that the role of the IRI had been to “serve as a bridge between the nation's political parties and all civil society groups.”

It’s not surprising that Egypt views the IRI with so much suspicion that in 2006 it asked the IRI to suspend its efforts at democracy building until it received official permission.
Egypt isn’t an emblem of democracy, but as it turns out, neither is the IRI. As the board chairman of this outfit, McCain would have some trust issues in international gatherings right from Day One if he were to win the U.S. presidential election.

The questions that McCain needs to answer are obvious: As board chairman has he been fully aware of the more covert IRI activities? As president, would he endorse a coup if he felt the end result would be a democratic government friendly to the United States? Is the IRI fully accountable and transparent to the American people? As President, would he continue to fund the IRI without an investigation into its mandate?

ENEA final report

This morning I went to the workshop on the ENEA final report for the Year 2007/08, that is Results and Perspectives.
The introduction to the Meeting was done by the President of ENEA, dr Paganetto. I think it was agreeable for the most part. The core was on the expected goal, by 2020, imposed by the EU, of the reduction of 20% of the greenhouse gases by each Nation, the relevant role which ENEA is expected to have in the achievement of this result and the role of investments and funds for this goal to be reached. Clearly, this implies that many things have to change. First of all, our lifestyle, by adopting simple measures to spare energy. Second of all, the replacement of oil with more clean sources of energy. What to me is astonishing is the major portion that fission nuclear energy should be given to. It is an astounding 7% ! Already being optimistic, we need between 10 to 15 yrs to have working nuclear power plants. These, as not stated, but written on the board, are third generation power plants. Technology for the 4th generation is already on its way. This means that as soon as we finish to build these power plants not only we are already beyond the EU deadline, but also they will be old. Needless to say, we have had problems with normal and toxic trash, I don't even want to think about the problem of nuclear waste. The ITER project, that is the fusion based nuclear power plant will be completed in 2016. Of course, whether it will be possible to implement it on a commercial scale is argument of discussion, but it clearly shows the direction to go. I think Paganetto had to pay a toll to the newly Berlusconi and Scaiola wrong bet. I just hope we don't waste our money.

Why can't there be any gay in US troops ?

Well, since there is quite a need to increase the number of troops, the US are loosing up a little the standards. The new policy is called "Don't ask, don't tell". This was done to include also gay people. Now, of course, some far right idiots questioned it and there has been quite a debate in the congress. Please listen to this and to what some had to say.



I just miss Jon Stewart. How to make a real comic show from real news !

A new era

I thought I would have never seen this, but it happened today. The EU officials declared publicly that Italy is violating the human rights. Statements can be briefly reassumed in the following : The recently passed bill on public safety contains some ground rules that make a charge worse if you are an immigrant; There is no protection shield against raids towards Roma people ; the approval of violence towards the gypsies camps are particularly worrisome.

Immigration is not a new issue. Why are we not able to deal with it ? There are settlements of people who have been here for over 40 yrs and the latter are in despicable conditions. Moreover, people who have been here for over 40 yrs can be considered Italian? Should they be allowed to access the same rights of Italians ? Are they subjected to the same duties ?
If so, the situation is clearly unacceptable. Why if somebody steals from you is worse if you are a foreigner ? would you accept it more gladly if an italian stole your wallet ?

Obama boys...

I beiieve Obama's visit to Europe is quite an event. Now I don't think there has been any recent US Presidential candidate coming to Europe before the elections. To me, this has, clearly, two positive consequences. First of all, on the european side, this means a change towards the US and its allies, at least on paper, and, for sure, puts him on the "good" side of the board, in a commonly quite hostile basin, as generally the US are perceived here. If on one hand, this visit tickles the European leaders' pride, on the other, I believe this is an electoral move. If there is one thing that is certain among Americans is the sense of insecurity they feel when they are abroad. This has been more accentuated thru the Bush administration.
Obama is loosing consensus in the US. Recent polls give Mccain much closer to the Democratic candidate. As everybody knows, Bush arrival was not really embraced in Europe. This is in stark contrast with how Obama has been welcomed. At home, I am pretty sure, this has some effect. Will it make any difference in November ? I doubt it, but I think it is a good move to give some momentum to a stagnant campaign.

La falsa intervista

Ieri ho sottoposto Jennifer all'interessantissimo incontro della Festa dell'Unita' tra Gianni Riotta e Uolter, detto Valter Veltroni.
D'accordo che eravamo alla festa del PD, d'accordo che non c'era contraddittorio, d'accordo tutto, ma me lo potevano dire che era un monologo. In circa un'ora e mezza di "intervista" Riotta ha fatto 5 domande. Lascio a voi il calcolo di minutaggio per risposta.
Roba che ad un certo punto ho visto Riotta sbracato sulla sedia a ronfare. Cio' che lascia sconcertati pero' non e' tanto quello, quanto piuttosto la quantita' di banalita' dette da Veltroni. Nulla, dico nulla e' stato detto di informativo. Mi e' sembrato chiaro pero' che Veltroni si sia reso (finalmente) conto dell'impossibilita' di un qualunque tipo di dialogo con Berlusconi. Preannuncia manifestazioni e azioni di protesta. Certo gli si poteva chiedere perche' dunque non abbia voluto partecipare alla manifestazione dell'8 luglio, ma Riotta tace. Gli si sarebbe potuto chiedere per esempio se non sia piu' sobrio discutere con Di Pietro, con tutte le sue pecche, piuttosto che con la Lega. Ma niente ! hai voglia a dire che la discussione con la Lega sia piuttosto nel merito del federalismo. Ma di che merito vuoi discutere con uno che manda affanculo la bandiera italiana e l'inno nazionale ? Putroppo Veltroni parla e discute nel merito con uno con cui non condivide nulla, piuttosto che con uno (Di Pietro) che fa molto piu' sobriamente una battaglia di cui Veltroni condivide motivi e ragioni in toto.... Misteri della fede !

ENEA

Working for the ITER project has a considerable positive side. For one, I don't have to be worried on whether the project is going to be funded. So in principle that means I'll be ok. There is a quite big amount of physics I am learning. Everything is accompanied by the fact that I can do things hands-on, since I am also doing experiments. The guy i am working with, who is my guide through this new route, is nice. So right now i am enjoying my stay here. It has been only a week, but positive. The bad side, which I am hoping, i'll get used to, is that i have to get up at 7 am, get out at 8:15 and deal with Rome traffic. Actually, despite living close to downtown, it takes not that much to get to the GRA. I think I am finding my way around that, but if i had a bazooka I would likely kill a few belonging to the human specie called "Romans on cars". The ride can be quite nice actually, through the countryside and especially now, since the weather is always fantastic. It's a little bit like going from Santa Fe' to Los Alamos, although the scene is completely different, but i am trying to keep the same laid back spirit.

GRA...

The GRA is the belt surronding Rome. With my new job at the ENEA, I have to reach Frascati. I think I am close to the record... 28 km, yesterday in 1h 30', whereas today i managed a 2h 36'.. The experience on the GRA is dramatic. Today there was an accident, yesterday... nothing, normal traffic. In any case, I had a really bad start. Yesterday i was supposed to be there at 8am.Well, when reading the contract, I never reached that part. Contracts are boring to read. So at the HR office were a little mad at me. I arrived just late.. only at 11:00, easy, dude, easy. I was expecting to get there around 10:00, still late, but early for my standards. Today, i was trying to get there earlier, but I was there at 11:36.. not bad!! I am going to try earlier tomorrow. I will leave home around 8:15am. This is dawn for me !!

The amazing thing about ENEA is that people get there around 9/9:30, but almost everybody leaves at around 5 pm. Generally all the adm. people get there around 8am and leave at 4pm. At that time, the drill goes off. Do you remember the drill sound you hear in the movies, calling everybody to the shelter ? That is exactly what that thing sounds like.

PD and DP

The new italian Democratic Party (PD), born from the ashes of Democratic Left (DS and ex Communist Party) and Margherita, wants to be a new progressive political project. It should be in principle a great gathering of ideas giving a common ground to the more moderate and more extreme leftist politics. As such, it resembles very much the American Democratic Party (DP) and indeed the DP is ideally its reference party. I believe there is more than that.

For instance, both parties have been very soft in facing the fears of the Nation. DP was not able to counter the political aberrations of the Republican Party the day after 9/11. In the same way, PdL was able to spur and talk to the worries of Italians causing a sense of instability and insecurity. The reaction from these, in both parties, has been a chase to the right, instead of a real and different answer to the problem.

More interestingly, it's the fact that both are progressive and leftist parties, as such, they should be closer to the people. Despite their history, they are perceived as elitist and most of all, far from the problems of real people. Indeed, nowday, the majority thinks, astonishingly, the conservative party, that is the party of the Industry and Capitalists, is able to provide answers, favoring the middle and lower classes(?!?!).

How is this possible ?

What did they say about him today ?

July 10th
The Guardian;
El Pais;

July 8th
The International Herald tribune;

and the jewel from July 7th
How to make a fool of yourself

P.za Navona, media and one street man reaction

Quite interestingly, the rally of two days ago was generally commented by italian newspapers mainly for the "insults" to the Pope and President Napolitano. So I and many from the PD who participated were asked whether we regret we were present that day. My personal answer is a definite "NO".
As it is clear from one of my posts, I criticized the speeches made by Grillo and Sabina Guzzanti, who are comedians, not politicians. As i said, I left the rally NOT because of what they were saying, but because I knew the effects those words would have had and how those words would have been reported on the media. So i deem their behavior to be idiotic.
Having said that, most of the speech made by Grillo was quite clean. You can find it here both the transcription (which unfortunately does not include his comments on the President) and the full video (of course, in italian). You can definitely say that it was off topic a few times or that it was populistic.
Let's break this down, though, to understand the media critics. He referred to the President by the nickname Morpheus, since Grillo thinks the President has been sleeping while some (unconstitutional) laws were passed. This nickname is a consequence of a fact. Is this really an insult ? Or maybe should one shut up and say nothing ? The other sentence referred to Napolitano calls for another fact. Namely, while there were riots on the streets of Naples due to the Trash problems of the region, the President (who is from Naples) was in Capri sunbathing or listening to music with Bassolino (PD and who has been in charge for solving the trash situation in Campania with the known results). Is this an insult ? or is it rather disgusting that Bassolino is doing nothing in Capri, instead of overseeing the situation together with the President, while there is a riot in the streets of the area ?
In a free Country, there is freedom of speech. Look at for instance the video I posted on Bush, or look at this other. There was no scandal after these in the US and actually any reaction is considered a sign of weakness.
Next, there is no mention of the Pope on his speech. What is outrageous here ? Who is the moralist ?
About Sabina Guzzanti. She never made me laugh. That is my problem. I judge her participation to the rally useless. Not only, she was out of line, a lot. Not because she can't say what she likes, she was out of line because that was a political demonstration and not satire, moreover, completely off topic. Indeed I (and many others) left.
That said, this was one of the speeches, NOT all. The demonstration lasted over 3 (or more) hrs, not 20 min, as her speech. The hypocrtical reaction of the Democratic party is briefly condensed in Fassino's words.
My reply to that, which you can find (in italian) within the comments is briefly reassumed in the following:
With those words, he is saying that the Democratic Party does not believe in a demonstration which poses at the center of the question the democratic process and system of the Country. Because this is what the core of the rally was, not what he states. He perfectly knows, that is his history, that opposing a government means actions at the Parliement, but also outside of it where one involves the people.
He should stop placing political interests before the interests of the Country. Because this is what is going on here. And many people from PD know it (see for instance D' Alema's interview at the Festa dell'Unita' in Rome). Moreover, one thing should be clear. The rally is not made by the people on stage, but by the 40/50000 people who were in the square. If there was one word said at the rally, that one was from 50000 people.

I was joking..

In all this quagmire, some news went overlooked. Berlusconi had one of his moments, which makes Italy proud of his Prime Minister. Robert Mugabe was recently confirmed in a quite controversial election. He has been Zimbabwe ruler for 28 yrs.
UN had decided sanctions against him, but Berlusconi argued against them. This caused a strong reaction on many international newspapers. The pantomime eventually ended with Berlusconi voting for sanctions since "Allies explained me the reasons why this was the right thing to do".

Moralists and Justicialists in P.za Navona

Last night, i went to the protest against the recent bills regarding Justice matters in Italy. Without going too much in depth, one (Lodo Alfano) of the bills states that President, Prime Minister, Senate President and House President cannot be charged for anything (they could even kill, in principle, without being prosecuted) during their mandate. In the second bill (Safety Decree), trials for "minor" charges (from stealing an apple to kidnapping and rape) are blocked. Thus, there is, in my opinion, the serious risk of undermining the italian democratic system.
I arrived around 18:15. P.za Navona was not completely full.

First talking is Paolo Flores, editor of Micromega. Honestly quite disappointing his speech full of rhetoric and nothing really new. The only interesting thing was a complete list of charges blocked by the amendment in the Safety decree.
The square gets fuller and fuller. I try going a little bit more in front and closer to the stage. At some point I just stop 'cause it's a freaking hot day and i don't need to sweat and become a sardine. After that Moni Ovada. Fiorella Mannoia takes the mike and says the only thing for which participating to this gathering: " Maybe nothing will happen, but it won't be my fault. I was here and did something". Do you understand Mr Veltroni ? Pancho Pardi then follows with a reasonable call to prevent Berlusconi from becoming President :" Who has tried slashing our Constitution cannot become its Warden, who has come out from trials only because he made laws for himself, cannot become president of CSM (Supreme Council of Magistrate), who boasts of despising the 25th of April (Italian freedom day ) cannot become the President of a Republic born from the Resistance Movement". Then the irony, Camilleri at 87 starts fighting with his uncivil poems.
The square is full now

Definitely we are not 100000, as some claim, we are probably closer to what the police says than to what stated by people from the stage, but i don't know exactly how many can fit in the square. Apparently, the police and the guys on stage use different counters. Definitely, I am not able to do a head-count, I guess i just don't have their talent (do they hire people for that?).
Finally Antonio Di Pietro. He does what expected, talks only about Justice and the implications of the bills. Nothing offensive in my opinion, nothing that can lead to denigrate the non participation of the Democratic Party, which has strongly been against this rally. One thing Di Pietro talked about raised my attention. Rumors has it, confirmed today by other sources as Repubblica and Corsera, that either there is some sort of exchange between the two sides of the Parliament. The opposition should vote for the Lodo Alfano (as Travaglio said:" The only Minister who has been able to make 5 unconstitutional-according to the EU-laws in one month) and then they will likely withdraw the "block-trials" Amendment from the Safety Bill or this agreement should be something that sounds like "we will not vote anything for the Country before we pass the Lodo, eventually we could also modify the Safety bill." Now these things have been said yesterday by Di Pietro and Travaglio (i seem to remember) and they are also on some newspapers. I am just hoping this is not true.
Then, Marco Travaglio, who played it smart, but he is too much of a prima donna. I am not so often in agreement with him, but his cinicaI views are interesting.
I left after Grillo (honestly I should have not listened to him at all) and the nonsensical Guzzanti. I was quite disgusted by these two, who have not considered the consequences of what they were saying, by attacking the Pope and President Napolitano. 

After all, except few things, nothing new, but i guess this was never the purpose. Still the atmosphere was good and most people were aware of the game. Not many applauded Grillo and Guzzanti, some loudly disapproved and this is a good sign. As stated by Fiorella Mannoia and as i said previously, the only relevant thing was to be present and express my "no" to provisions which i do not agree upon.

I want to add here one thing on this.
Those who participated at the rally were called moralists and justicialists. Well, this is quite a perverted way of using the terms. Yes, I want people who committed crimes to go to jail and I want politicians to be transparent or at least that they are not under prosecution while they are in my Parliament.  I don't want anybody who calls Mangano a hero to be neither my Prime Minister nor my President. I don't want people with a Crime record to be allowed and be part of the executive of my Government. If that is what you mean with those words and Democracy is not a priority for the Democratic Party, i will just be a happy and glad moralist and justicialist.

List of the major charged stopped by the Amendment known as "blocca-processi" (in Italian):
A
- aborto clandestino.
- abuso d’ufficio.
- adulterazione di sostanze alimentari.
- associazione per delinquere.
B
- bancarotta fraudolenta.
C
- calunnia.
- circonvenzione di incapace.
- corruzione.
- corruzione giudiziaria – è quella per cui Mr.B. ha fatto questo decreto.
D
- detenzione di documenti falsi per l’espatrio.
- detenzione di materiale pedo-pornografico.
E
- estorsione.
F
- falsificazione di documenti pubblici.
- frodi fiscali.
- furto con strappo.
- furto in appartamento.
I
- immigrazione clandestina (”pensate, dopo tutte le menate che fanno con la storia dell’immigrazione clandestina, adesso sospendono i processi” – Marco Travaglio).
- incendio e incendio boschivo.
- intercettazioni illecite.
M
- maltrattamenti in famiglia.
- molestie.
O
- omicidio colposo per colpa medica.
- omicidio colposo per norme sulla circolazione stradale vietata.
P
- peculato.
- porto e detenzione di armi anche clandestine.
R
- rapina.
- reati informatici.
- ricettazione.
- rivelazioni di segreti d’ufficio.
S
- sequestro di persona.
- sfruttamento della prostituzione.
- somministrazione di reati pericolosi.
- stupro e violenza sessuale.
T
- traffico di rifiuti. (sapevate che alcuni tipi di rifiuti che sono considerati tossici in Italia, a Napoli non lo sono ? (grazie Alfano))
- truffa alla Comunità Europea.
U
- usura.
V
- vendita di prodotti con marchi contraffatti.
- violenza privata.

About Fora and Holes.

Two days ago, I was at home watching the painful panorama of the italian TV shows. As many times happens to me, while working on my computer, I was letting the Tv go on without paying any attention. At some point, Forum starts ( just for comparison, it is very similar to what in the US is known as Judge $NAME$). While the decision of the judge is waited the hosts, 3/4 of them, plus questions from the audience in the studio start a debate. For some unknown reason (i wasn't paying too much attention, as you can imagine) today's was on whether daycare for kids was supposed to be given to foreigner's children as well. The idea was that was passed and it is, indeed, generally accepted, is that first daycare has to be given to italian families and then to foreigners'. Why ? One of the reasons is that also other states do it (!!). This statement was also put forward in this show. Now let's break it down, because i really don't understand the logic of this. Without falling into extremely important moral issues, there is a misconception here.
We are Italians because we were born here. Fine. The question is the following: Is this something that we choose ? I mean, we were given a list of Countries where to choose from at the beginning and then, they made the wrong one and we did the right one (and given the situation in Italy i don't see that either). So what is the privilege ? That we were lucky of being born here ? Is it our fault of being born in Africa or Romania or Italy ? The only discriminant I see is that you need to have a regular permit to stay here and pay taxes for these services. That's it ! If there are Countries (and these are not Countries where I have been-USA-FRANCE-CANADA for instance, since these are taken as examples, but not for this of course) were this principle is not considered is their fault not Italy's. This is a matter of being civilized and understanding everybody's rights! To me, it is just astonishing that such a principle can pass on TV without any filter!

Impressions under the rainbow

So, last night, we had one of Jen's friend over for dinner and she is lesbian. I am quite used to that, since Jen and I lived with a lesbian when we were in Boston, so it is not a big deal. She is south african ( by the way, not all southafricans are black.. actually she is really really white !) and she broke up with her italian girlfriend. The reason i say this is just that she is having problem to hook up with other girls. Apparently italian girls are quite tough to hook up with. It is interesting because also another friend (straight and foreigner) of mine told me the same thing. From my experience, for what that is worth, it is true. We are used in Italy to play a lot more, men and women alike. Generally, mind games have to be part of your repertoire whereas, in the US, for instance, things are much more clear. If girls are interested they are straightforward, if they are not, they'll cut you off. In any case, i felt strange, when she asked me how to behave with women ! It is strange to say to a woman how to behave with women....I mean she is also quite cute and feminine, not the "butcher" kind of lesbian and it is interesting the feeling of the fact that she cannot have any interest in you. In any case, after dinner we went to the Gay Village, which is some gay event going on right now in Rome. So I and Jen had to gay up our looks, otherwise we would have had problems to get in. So I wore a tight T-shirt and some tight jeans, put some more gel on my hair, so i thought i was ready (although according to this friend not enough, which i still have to understand whether it is a compliment or not..). Still I felt quite ridiculous, since the T-shirt was actually Tshirt underwear. In any case, I put on my best gay behavior and get to the entrance. I was in front and let the girls stay behind me. No problem. I get in easily. So either i looked gay enough or they just had pity of me and let me in. Once in, i was quite surprised, there were no extreme kind of people, i mean those that you usually see on the gay parade. It was actually quite mixed, there were hetero and gay couples and I liked the atmosphere. There was nothing like a gay pride thing, nothing dirty, nothing you would not find in any normal hetero disco, nothing overboard. Jen and I really had a good time. I am hoping there are just more things like this and maybe everything gets normalized, as it should be.

Clintonian affairs..

Between a BJ and a wank under the table, Berlusconi was supposed to find the time to explain to the Nation the recent bills regarding Justice and Tappings. The show was supposed to be, of course, held on one of his TVs with one of his journalist who, apparently, had spent all the previous day at Fedele Confalonieri's (MEDIASET tycoon, let's call him #2) house, to be instructed on how to behave with Berluskevil (given his height, there cannot be any Mini ME). In spite of the good job done by the doctors, it seems, but it has to be confirmed and I am pretty sure some zealous news agency will fill up the gap, he has declared to one of his trusted kiss-ups, there was no remedy for his, let's say, hard(ness) problems other than a surrogate of Viagra ! Now dear all, at risk of disappointing everybody, I have to tell you one thing here and i understand if this comes to you as totally unexpected but I DON'T GIVE A SHEER FUCK if Mrs Carfagna wants to give him a bj. I know, I know, some of you could reply that in these times of grief, it is better than nothing. Yeah, I understand that, but she is not giving it to me for God's sake ! I am freaking jelous (I mean she is probably the hottest chick who has ever walked the House of Parlament since Nilde Jotti..). It is just stupid for Di Pietro to be carried in a meaningless discussion on things which are irrelevant for the Country, but the fact that it makes the news in such a way, it means that Italians are just a bunch of monkey asses.

Breakfast in America

I just downloaded from iTunes this Album. It's probably Amarcord more than anything. I remember I bought it in England in 1983. I was thirteen ! It was my first LP ever bought. Probably, this was my first image of the US (although I am pretty sure these guys were English) and what i've always imaged in my mind US to be. I've always liked the way it sounds, since I first heard it at one of my cousin's house. I guess it's because it is very melodic, but still quite structured. Lyrics are quite ironical, but i guess at that time I had no idea of this. It is amazing the way it sounds despite there is no lead guitarist.

A stunning report from The Onion:

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By....


ahaha...

Impeachment for Silvio Berlusconi..

Mi fanno pisciare 'ste cose.. non si sa mai..

Ancora la Z di...

Zoro, dal suo blog su excite, vi propongo il seguente post : <<"Sull'Unità di oggi Roberto Cotroneo alza l'asticella. Nel suo pezzo intitolato "Il pericolo dell'autogol", spiega che le ragioni per manifestare ci sono tutte, ci mancherebbe e che però o si va sopra al milione di partecipanti o sarà flop.
Aggiunge Cotroneo: "Andare in piazza l'8 luglio va bene, è anche un modo per dare voce a una opposizione, quella antagonista e girotondina, che dal risultato delle ultime elezioni non ha più voce in parlamento".
Ecco, Cotroneo, famo a capisse.
Come puoi pretendere che sti poracci antagonisti e girotondini portino da soli un milione di persone in piazza visto che so pure spariti dal parlamento? E però, se pensi come scrivi "che le ragioni per manifestare ci sono già da ora e non si può rimanere con le mani in mano e guardare Berlusconi che con la forza di una maggioranza larga e piuttosto compatta dispone delle istituzioni, e del parlamento come gli pare", perché non muovi il culo pure tu?
Insomma, il rischio di autogol è sicuramente alto, ma non si capisce bene di quale porta tu stia parlando (scusami il tu, m'è venuto così, all'improvviso)." >>. Il discorso di Zoro mi trova d'accordo, su molti punti. Un'opposizione statica non paga, di sicuro non mi pare che la favella veltroniana abbia portata ad alcunche'. Ergo, domenica saro' alla Festa dell'Unita' a Roma, per il circolo PD Balduina, a cui sono iscritto...e vediamo di muoverci cazzo ! Veltroni muoviti pure tu, che e' l'ora !

Public Safety and Berlusconi.

In Italy, last elections were based on the general ground that public safety had been undermined by Prodi, our ex prime minister. As a consequence,Berlusconi's party, who has the largest control on public media ever allowed in any modern democracy, with the coward immobility and, i would dare to say, consensus, of the Left party, had triggered all his media in order to increase the perception of fear and unsafety in all our major cities. Of course, the Left party was to be held responsible because of its "connatural" and indiscriminate tolerance and acceptance of everybody, instead of a safer policy which would have allowed a more regulated flow of immigrants. Although, to some very little extent, I can justify the claims of the Right and I am not going to discuss why Prodi's cabinet dealt in this way with the problem, as an example of such change was brought Rome, which, by chance, had Veltroni as a Mayor (Veltroni was Berlusconi's opponent in the last elections). As a matter of fact, Rome is actually quite safe, don't forget it is Italy Capital and it is the largest city and thus, like any big city has problems. Traveling a lot, I can say that it is not comparable to NY, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, or in Europe, Madrid, Barcelona, London which are much more dangerous cities. I am very far from saying it is the safest, but everything has to be put in the right context. It is not reasonable to ask for Rome to be as safe as Gaiano. Propaganda against Rome('s mayor) was done in spite of the fact that Milan is, actually, the most dangerous city in Italy, according to the numbers, but little to nothing was said during the campaign because its Mayor is from PDL (Berlusconi's party). I should add that the Left Party was literally unable to provide a logical counter-campaign. Let's go back to the reason of this post. What is happening now ? As anybody in Italy knows, even those who are with Berlusconi, he has been suited for a number of crimes, for some of which, because of laws his previous governament has passed, he has not been condemned. In the last days, he is trying to avoid another one in different manners. First, through what is known as Lodo Schifani. Briefly, this would imply that the highest authorities in Italy cannot be charged during their public service. Now, as said in one of my previous posts, this is unprecedented in Italy. It puts on different levels authorities and normal people and moreover, in the way it is proposed, it seriously undermines the possibility of controlling their legal actions. This is at the basis of our democratic system. Second, with the excuse of speed up the Justice process, in the "public safety bill", he has added an amendment through which he is blocking "minor" trials. This implicitly blocks his, but also charges like extortion, rape,robbery, kidnapping just to name a few and most of those for which this bill has been made. Contrary to what he had claimed during the electoral campaign, from the economic side, his cabinet has cut the funds for the State and Defense Deparments, which will put a stop at increasing the salaries of the police forces (1200 euro per month), and seriously, more than even the Left had done, undermine the normal police operations (car, gas, overtime hours), plus a 6000 agents cut, for a total of 1.5 billion euro. Is this what Berlusconi means when he talks about Safety ? Or is he just talking about his own ?

what if..

your woman were like that ?

Mr Sulu

Man, I love the irony of Jon Stewart. He is a mad-man ! You should know that Jewish mothers are thought to be like mostly italian mothers..

quanti..

Cucchiaini di zucchero mette Gigi Proietti nel suo caffe' nel video del post precedente ?

FF.SS

Since we had to settle a few things for the wed, Jen and I decided to take a ride by the night train to Reggio Calabria (RC). I generally book a two bed compartment on the Wagon lit (T2), so Jen has generally had a relative good impression about trains in Italy....that was until last week-end. Since the T2 were sold out, worst than a U2 concert in the late 80's, I booked two beds on a "ordinary" 4 beds car, called cuccetta. There is honestly not that much difference on the beds, between the T2 and the Cuccetta, i can really do without the awful cappuccino in the morning or the Gazzetta del Sud (with local news from Vibo Valentia, which i really don't care about). What's the difference then ? Growing older, I am becoming a little more aware of schedules, so i got at the train station at 10:30 pm, whereas the train leaves at 11:10 pm. We did make the last metro train to the train station barely, running to the metro station. I just say this because Rome in the last week has been scorching hot and any step weighs as if you are carrying the marine's backpack, with the boots of the 1945 Red Army. So at 10:35 the train is on the sidewalk and we get on. It is an Espresso train, well it is what it sounds like.. a coffee machine. The cuccettista (that is the guy in charge of these sleeping-cars) is from RC (I am too). Now the 4 bed cars are nothing more than a 6 bed cars, from which two beds are not used. I really mean that. Indeed there are two beds just not turned to be used. As soon as we get on the train we start sweating like mad horses, there is no freaking air conditioning on and it feels like there is 40 C out! That is not surprising, the train is not running and so it is normal. In the wait, you can't notice that the sits are quite dirty and there is an awful smell coming from the toilettes and we haven't yet left the station. It's 11:20 pm the train finally leaves the station. The air conditioning will be on soon! ....12:00 pm the air conditioning is not yet on. The woman of the couple who is sharing with us the compartment is feeling sick. She is pregnant ! The cuccettista finally arrives and we start discussing. So why the AC is not on ? well, you know, he says, because everybody is hanging with their heads outside with the windows open !! Sure, we reply, we could melt if you like ! The AC cannot be on if the windows are open and I can't force anybody to shut the windows. We tell him that we are close to boiling temperature and that we even saw climbing out of the womb, the little kid of the pregnant woman asking for "MERCY" !!. Finally at around 1am and after finishing all the names you can call somebody with, the AC is on ! we can start sleeping. At 5 am, there is a problem on the engine car. The train stops and the AC is off again !! I am sweating like a pig, but i keep still. After half an hour the train is moving again, the AC is off for goods at 6:30 am. We get at the arrival station at 8 (30 minutes late, but that's ok). I am just at the beginning of a long day and I already look like a zombie. I have meetings at 10am to 1pm. At 3pm till 6:30 and at 7:30 till 8:30...I sleep within breaks and manage to stay alive without killing anybody. Left this morning at 10am to Rome. Finally relaxing. Tonight there is the European football final. I am soooo ready to enjoy it BY MYSELF !

No No and more no(s)...

Recently in Italy there has been the big gathering of the Italian Episcopal Conference (CEI), where Cardinal Bagnasco talked about Eugenics. The reason was that Livia Turco, our ex Health Minister, modified the guidelines on the Italian Law 40, which, among other things, regulates "assisted hatching". On this regard, she claims, the guidelines settle a problem which needed to be clarified, that is, the possibility of diagnosis on the embryos before they are "implanted" in the womb. Basically that means that the couple can ask the doctor to run some tests beforehand in order to see whether there are genetical problems on the embryo. Catholic Church (sooner or later I will post something on its "new" path), with Cardinal Bagnasco, states that such a choice " brings objectively the risk to promote a eugenic mentality, which is not acceptable". Now, in my opinion, although there is a clear selection which is made among embryos, there is no clear evidence of eugenics in these guidelines. A proof of the awareness on the consequences that such a choice can lead to, is in the ex minister suggestion that a definition of eugenics should be determined by law, indeed. Let me ask a simple question. What about a couple carrying genetical pathologies ? Is this a case of eugenics ? would the possibility of choice preserve the health (also psychological) of the mother and as a consequence of the family ?
To me, when this is not done to meet some standards, blonde vs dark hair, or to establish some kind of "superiority" of a race, law should be flexible, to some extent..but i believe it is an interesting question, also for those, like me, who deeply believe in a secular State.

Pride..

I really don't like self-celebrations, but i have one of those rare moments of sheer pride from this referee report of one of my papers, which you may find on the archive.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Report of Referee A -- LS11794/Gaudio
----------------------------------------------------------------------

I find this theoretical discussion of the experiments on nonclassical
rotation in solid helium interesting and suggestive. It raises
questions and poses solutions to problems of sufficiently wide
interest to justify publication in Physical Review Letters, unlike
most of the papers I am sent to review for you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------

The reason is very simple. This is for me a completely new subject and it has been tough to find something relevant to say on it. But it is not that much the fact that he agrees on publishing it on PRL rather is the last sentence which made me laugh really really a lot ! I am just wondering who he is. I don't think it is common for a referee to reply in this way to the Editor of PRL, i guess he is a big shot..