Buon Natale da Blogiorno!

Hello my dear friends all over the world. As you may have noticed, I have not posted any entries in a while. Alas, I have been out of town for weeks on end due to work-related things, but now I'm back home for the holidays. I would like to wish each and EVERY one of you a very happy, healthy and joyous Christmas. Thank you for reading and commenting here at Blogiorno. I do appreciate it very much, and it has also given me the opportunity to visit your blogs in return.

Take care and may God bless you greatly during this holiday season.

With my warmest regards,

-Aaron

I Dieci Ordini? (The Ten Commandments?)

Greetings my friends! You may have heard on the news that in the great country of Italy, a gentleman named Salvatore Lo Piccolo was arrested just outside of Palermo, Sicily, on suspicion of Mafia "activity". The police allege that Lo Piccolo inherited the mantle of former Mafia kingpin Bernardo "The Tractor" Provenzano. Provenzano was on the lam for an incredible 43 years, and Lo Piccolo for 20. Perhaps more interesting, however, is that when Lo Piccolo was arrested, in his stylish brown leather briefcase was a list of ten rules, or commandments, by which all good mobsters should live. Yes, mafiosi are not always smiles and sunshine; they do have their serious side too. And, they are apparently bound by ten commandments which include punctuality, avoiding bars and being nice to their wives. Lo Piccolo reportedly carried these with him everywhere he went.

Why, you may ask, does such a list exist? Isn't the essence of Cosa Nostra, according to The Godfather movies--the most accurate depiction of the Family, according to former mobster Sammy "The Bull" Gravano--that honor and gentlemanly behavior reign supreme, to such an extent that no one need even speak of such things?

Well, it seems that some of the oldtimer mobsters haven't been too happy with the youngsters who are climbing the ranks of the Mafia. And according to Mafia experts, these ten commandments reflect a desire to curb licentious or extravagant behaviour seen by old-style Mafia chieftains as "immoral". It is as if Cosa Nostra bosses want to rein in the flamboyant behaviour of the starry-eyed younger mobsters who have joined the organisation in recent years. For example, Trapani boss Matteo Messina Denaro, a Porsche-driving playboy often seen as a rival to Lo Piccolo, reportedly enjoys a semi-mythical status among newer, more ambitious Mafia initiates. Denaro's flagrant behavior suggests that crime definitely does pay, and this is the sort of exposure that Cosa Nostra definitely does not want. Indeed, Michael Corleone must be rolling over in his grave at such indiscretions.

So my friends, here are the Mafia's ten commandments. Conspicuously absent is the Judeo-Christian commandment of, "Thou shalt not kill." I choose to believe that the dons of Cosa Nostra are working on getting that in there too as an addendum or something. The other possibility is that it is "implied", which is a reasonable assumption. But, either scenario works. For me.

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1. No one can present himself directly to another of our friends. There must be a third person to do it.
2. Never look at the wives of friends.
3. Never be seen with cops.
4. Don't go to pubs and clubs.
5. Always being available for Cosa Nostra is a duty - even if your wife is about to give birth.
6. Appointments must absolutely be respected.
7. Wives must be treated with respect.
8. When asked for any information, the answer must be the truth.
9. Money cannot be appropriated if it belongs to others or to other families.
10. People who can't be part of Cosa Nostra: anyone who has a close relative in the police, anyone with a two-timing relative in the family, anyone who behaves badly and doesn't hold to moral values.

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Hard to take issue with, isn't it? In fact, the words "organized" or "crime" aren't even mentioned once. Nothing incriminating there. So eat your hearts out, you crooked, bribe-taking, gin-guzzling, cigar-smoking, day-and-night-philandering, sanctimonious Senate-sub-committee-hearing guys. Or...people...uh...members? Eh, you know what I mean. See, now you got me all bothered.

Thank you for reading! Your comments are welcome, and I will be sure to forward them on to Signori Lo Piccolo and Provenzano.

Ciao amici miei!

Italian Teacher Too Sexy For Religion Classes?

ROME, Sept. 6, 2005 (Blogiorno and Reuters) - Was it her looks or lifestyle that led the Roman Catholic Church to fire an Italian religion teacher this year?

Professor Caterina Bonci, a 38-year-old religion instructor described in Italy's leading newspaper, Corriere della Sera, as a "leggy, long-haired blonde," has caused a major sensation, getting axed by the Catholic Church from her position in state-run schools. Bonci said Church authorities in the seaside town of Fano, Italy, decided she was just too attractive and dressed too sexy to teach religion after 14 years on the job.

"They shouldn't treat me like this after 14 years of teaching," Bonci said. "It's pure nastiness."

The headmaster at her former school, Father Alcide Baldelli, has said that some parents and teachers had complained about Bonci because she would "show up in a mini-skirt."

Bonci says she had never worn mini-skirts to work, and had "the right to wear a bikini if I go to the beach, and to wear a skirt the same length as thousands of other women…I am not a nun."

However, The Catholic Church states that it sacked the Professor because she is divorced. Local media quoted Giorgio Paolucci, lawyer for the diocese of Fano, as saying that she was fired because she was divorced and so should not be teaching religion for a Church that does not recognize divorce. According to Paolucci, the version supplied from the woman to the local press is "wrong and misleading".

"The diocese’s motivation is that she lacked suitability for the instruction of the Catholic religion", declared the lawyer.

Aesthetic Qualities Not Desirable?

Bonci said she separated from her husband in 1995, divorced in 2000 and that both events had not affected her job or raised eyebrows from her employers at the time. She said that she has never hidden her divorce from Church authorities, dresses down when teaching and defended her right to dress how she likes in her private life.

“I don’t see what it matters if a teacher is good looking or not as long she is qualified,” she told Reuters by telephone. “In school, I dressed normally. In my private life, I have every right to dress any way I want.” She added, “When a woman is considered too sexy and attractive in a small town it becomes a big thing.”

Media Frenzy

Bonci has been all over the Italian media demanding to go back to her job teaching religion to children in state schools on behalf of the diocese. Even Italy’s Corriere della Sera gave readers a break from pages of stories about scandal at the Bank of Italy and government bickering with the teasing headline: “Teacher in mini-skirt fired by diocese.”

Gawking Fathers

Bonci said reports that fathers accompanied their children to school so they could look at her meant little to her as long as the children came to class.

She added, "I have always been attacked by my female colleagues and by the rest of the staff because of my attractiveness." Bonci continued, "And if you consider that at our parent-teacher meetings it was always the fathers who came to see me, one can see why I have so often been at the center of attention and a target for gossip."

She has now become a minor celebrity on the Adriatic coast and national television talk shows are queuing up to interview her, but she says she wants only one thing.

“I would like my job back. I think it is my right,” she said. “For this job I have sacrificed and have lived a secluded life in order to attain the demanded morality, and this how they repay me".
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Your Turn

Blogiorno asks, “What do you think?”

Should divorcee Caterina Bonci be allowed to teach religion? Do you believe she was fired for being too attractive? Can a woman be “sexy” and still professional, or would it be better to forgo that to squelch accusations of impropriety? Should a Christian woman even aspire to be "sexy"?

Leave your comments! Grazie mille!

Italy Top Court Upholds Berlusconi Graft Acquittal

ROME, Fri Oct 26, 2007 (Reuters) - Italy's top court upheld a verdict on Friday acquitting former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi in a corruption case, a lawyer for Berlusconi said.

"It was high time. Twelve years have gone by since the start of this trial, in which Silvio Berlusconi was crucified, has been slandered around the world and now his innocence has finally emerged crystal clear," lawyer Niccolo Ghedini told Reuters.

Italy's richest man, owner of broadcaster Mediaset, was first acquitted in the case in 2004. An appeals court upheld that verdict in April this year, and it was again upheld on Friday by Italy's Cassation Court, meaning the verdict is now definitive.

Berlusconi, head of the centre-right opposition, was accused of bribing judges to stop the sale of food group SME to a rival businessman in the 1980s.






Blogiorno Editorial Commentary: As we have noted time and again, there are vast differences between the United States and Italy. It is important to note that upholding justice is one such difference, as evidenced by this Reuters article. Here in the United States, well-coiffed celebrity lawyers stand firmly upon the necks of those who attempt to administer the scales of justice. Furthermore, those in America with greater means and social stature can be assured of alternate--and spectacularly unequal--forms of said justice. We here at Blogiorno wish to point out that, refreshingly, the same is NOT true in Italy. As Silvio Berlusconi's lawyer will attest, in Italy good does triumph over evil, for Italian lawmakers have not dulled their collective consciences as their counterparts have in America. Indeed, the Italians have sought and answered the higher calling of their Lady of Perpetual Justice. Therefore, today the irreproachable judges of the Italian court system have spoken. Justice has prevailed in Italy!

Thanks to Reuters for bringing us this important news. Reuters: Know. Now. Or something.

Ducati's Greatest Day

Ciao my friends! And now, for your reading pleasure, a bit of noteworthy news from the exciting world of motorcycle racing. Last weekend, the Ducati motorcycle racing team, with the help of a fine son from the Koala nation of Australia, made some serious history by clinching the 2007 MotoGP World Championship. As we've noted before here at Blogiorno, Italy is perhaps THE center for all things excellent in the world, and racing is foremost in their achievements. Ducati set about to win the MotoGP championship in 2002. Five short years later, they did exactly that, taking their very first title. Their rider, 21 year old Casey Stoner of Australia, clinched the title for Ducati and all of Italia at the Japanese Grand Prix, which took place at Motegi Circuit in Japan. Even better, the race was won by the second Ducati rider, Italian Loris Capirossi.

To clinch the championship, MotoGP rookie Casey Stoner only needed to finish ahead of Italy's beloved son, Valentino Rossi. Casey finished sixth, and it was done. Normally, anyone beating Valentino Rossi triggers an immediate blacklisting here at Blogiorno, but we paused, took several deep breaths into the oxygen masks we knicked from British Airways and let the rage pass on by. Only the balm that is Ducati could quell such anger, which was soon replaced by unbridled joy, knowing that the manufacturer of our beloved street bike has been rewarded for their travail. The result of the race in Japan was, as you might expect, laughter and tears in the Ducati Marlboro Team pit, as well as in the Borgo Panigale factory headquarters, where more than one thousand fans watched the race alongside the Ducati dignitaries. Talk about rejoicing!

In my visit to the Ducati factory, I would have loved to see the Italians building the MotoGP race bikes; in fact, the racing shop is located in the center of the factory floor. However, visitors are forbidden from entering that area, and actually, you cannot even so much as point your camera in the general direction of said shop without politely getting your hand slapped by one of the beautiful Italian tour guide girls. Why? It is because of the millions and millions of dollars that it takes to field a MotoGP team, much less finish in the top 5 or fight for the championship. We're talking hundreds of millions of dollars just to get into the game. The pressure to win is very intense, and the danger of losing your technological edge via industrial espionage is equally as intense--that is no joke, and it happens all the time.

So this--the big money game that is MotoGP--is the reason for all the secrecy. It is also the reason for big tobacco's presence in motorsport, and for Marlboro being the chief sponsor of the Ducati racing team; large conglomerates like theirs are the only ones who have that kind of money to throw around. Here at Blogiorno, we don't have any objection to large corporations sponsoring racing teams, nor do we see any reason to pile on the already fledgling tobacco industry, especially because demonizing that industry was, for a time, the favorite chia-pet cause of Hollywood elitists...at least until they got distracted by all the shiny objects eminating from--cue Darth Vader's theme song--Walmart. (Cue a big eyeroll too, while you're at it. Grazie.) So while we simultaneously acknowledge the dangers of smoking AND laud the how-can-they-be-THAT-bad people at Marlboro, we also state unequivocally that if Walmart sponsored the Ducati Racing Team, we'd still be right there, sporting that smiley face mascot of theirs proudly on our official Ducati Racing Team merchandise.

So there you have it...the good folks at Marlboro, with their smooth good taste and rich tobacco flavor, now have themselves a World Championship racing team. But much more importantly, the Ducati Racing Team have realized their dream of taking motorcycle racing's highest honor, the MotoGP World Racing Championship.

Here are a few memorable quotes from the champions:

CASEY STONER, 2007 MotoGP World Champion
"At the moment it all feels a little bit unrealistic! I'm struggling for words, I don't think there's any feeling that can compare to this...we finally did it!"

LORIS CAPIROSSI, race winner, 7th in World Championship
"We struggled a lot this weekend, but I won my third consecutive race here...it's a great moment for me. It's also a great day for Casey, for Ducati and for the team."

GABRIELE DEL TORCHIO, CEO Ducati Motors
"This success is the best demonstration of Ducati excellence, is a triumph of Italian intelligence, talent, competences and the warmth that is one of our country's most vital assets. It's an important and remarkable achievement. It is a dream come true. We are speaking of a great feat realised thanks to Casey's commitment, bravery and team work, united with the work of our draughtsmen, technicians, engineers, team members, sponsors and everyone at the factory."

CLAUDIO DOMENICALI, Ducati Corse CEO
["Corse" means "Racing" in Italian. - AA]
"It is a dream come true - a fantastic feeling, really fantastic. I don't have enough words to thank all the guys who have contributed to this incredible achievement, which shows that Italy is a nation whose passion and talent can succeed in a hugely technically advanced field. It's certainly a good reason for Italians to be proud."

Bravo Signor Casey Stoner, Scuderia Ducati, e Italia!