Binned

Thanks to Steve Bell for this. If only Thatcher were well enough to enjoy the sight of disastrously deregulated banks being nationalised throughout the free world….

Carnevale (no, not that one)

Only yesterday, Italy’s minister of justice ‘Choochieface’ Alfano was talking about rejuvenating the judiciary. Now it appears there are plans to pass one of those ad personam laws for which Italy is becoming sadly famous (or would be if the country had any international standing left). This time, it’s an article which removes the age limit for supreme court judges, currently set at 75. And who’s the persona for whom this is being done? None other than Corrado Carnevale, a man who earned himself the nickname ‘sentence-killer’ after annulling a series of mafia convictions on the basis of formal legal quibbles. If the law passes, Carnevale looks set to become the head of Italy’s supreme court. He’s 80 now and he’ll be 83 when he steps down, so he’ll be be able to do a fair amount of damage to a legal system that’s already under seige from the executive. He’s already been saved from prosecution for being associated with the Mafia by another little law passed some years ago (yes, when Berlusconi was last in power), a law that not only granted him full pension rights, but allowed him – to the hooror of most of his colleagues – to be reinstated as a judge. As usual, the question is: Cui bono?

Borges and di Giovanni

When I first read Borges as a teenager I was thrilled, enthralled, puzzled, inspired. Years later, a collected Borges was published and I thought it would be a good oportunity to reacquaint myself with the entire body of work. As I read on though, I found myself wondering why – despite the fact that the stories were clearly the stories I had read, and loved, thirty years earlier – the language consistently failed to thrill, enthral, puzzle and inspire me. I looked at the translator’s name: Andrew Hurley. I went back to look at the name of the translators of the books I’d read as an adolescent: Anthony Kerrigan and, more often, Norman Thomas di Giovanni. Thanks to Scott Pack (from whom I’ve borrowed this photograph of Borges and di Giovanni) and Warwick Collins (who gives his own account of what he calls the ‘greatest literary crime of the century’ here), I know a little more about why Hurley’s translations have replaced much better ones made during Borges’ lifetime and with his collaboration and approval. Di Giovanni now has his own site, with a description of what happened and some previously unpublished texts by Borges. If you love Borges, you know where to go.

Monkey

Another gem, via Jesus’ General. Who is this jerk?

Matthew Shepard

Ten years after Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left to die on a barbed wire fence, Barack Obama has this to say.

“Today, we pause to remember the heartbreaking and senseless murder of Matthew Shepard. A freshman at the University of Wyoming, Matthew was a young man committed to fighting for equality and changing the world around him. He was tragically taken from us far too early, an innocent victim of an abhorrent hate crime, and never had the chance to see his dreams realized.

“In the ten years since Matthew’s passing, Congress has repeatedly and unacceptably failed to enact a federal hate crimes law that would protect all LGBT Americans. That’s not just a failure to honor Matthew’s memory; it’s a failure to deliver justice for all who have been victimized by hate crimes, regardless of race, gender, or sexual orientation. All Americans deserve to live their lives free of fear, and as Americans, it is our moral obligation to stand up against bigotry and strive for equality for all.

“Today, Michelle and I send our thoughts and prayers to Matthew’s parents, Judy and Dennis, and to all whose lives have been touched by unconscionable violence.”

John McCain doesn’t appear to have said anything.

Pat Boone surprised by joy

After the extraordinary success on this blog of Silvio Berlusconi’s penis, I thought I’d lower the hurdle of acceptability even further by posting this. I don’t remember where it came from – maybe someone can help me? What I do remember is falling for Pat Boone in The Voyage to the Centre of the Earth, when I was young and impressionable and PB was young, though less so, and extremely fit (and didn’t sing a note). I remember the way he lost articles, and then sub-articles, of his clothing scene by scene, finally being belched out of a volcano in very little indeed. In fact, almost the only detail that wasn’t visible at the end of that film is the one Mr Boone seems so delighted by in the photograph above. The one to the right, on the other hand, shows Boone at some point between the surface of the earth and its centre. Measured in garment loss, this depth is known as the boxer-short stratum. Believe me, he goes deeper. Presumably, the information he picked up on this journey will also have come in useful in his new career as debunker of Darwin.

And if you’re really keen, you can watch the trailer here.

After the march

Good riddance, Joerg Haider

For Mario Borghezio, a great European is dead. 

Trust the teller, not the tale. 

Red

Yesterday in Rome, the horribly disorganised and fragmented Italian left still managed to pull together something like 250,000 people to walk Rome’s streets in protest against the Lodo Alfano, the law that gives judicial immunity to the holders of the four most senior institutional positions in the country: the premier, the president and the heads of the senate and the camera of deputies. The aim of the law is to ensure that the running of the country isn’t disturbed by pesky communists a politicised judiciary with no respect for authority. In practice, its aim is to get Berlusconi out of the few remaining legal crocks of shit he hadn’t been able to avoid by other means during his last stretch in power, which ended just over two years ago. The legislation of the last few years is littered with ad personam laws designed for precisely this purpose. Indeed, it would be hard to find any other kind of legislation, other than an electoral reform that makes it impossible for Italian voters to actually vote for people. Which would explain why parliament is full of people no one has heard of, including an impressive selection of the capo’s lawyers and girlfriends. 

It was a good march, full of joy and colour and music. I’m glad I was there for it.

Click on the hand below to see more photos of the march. 

2008-10-11 anti-berlusca march

Hockey mom alert!

According to Popbitch: “Wasilla was recently named the meth capital of Alaska, with 42 meth labs busted in a single year.”