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The Loft, film a Los Angeles

Cronaca da Los Angeles:

Geert Criel, da un anno e' il nuovo console generale belga per la California, dopo avere lavorato con successo a Washington DC a fianco dell'ambasciatore. Giovane, molto motivato professionalmente, da quando e' arrivato a Los Angeles ha rianimato la comunita' belga e le sue iniziative sociali sono diventate un punto di attrazione anche per gli esponenti di altre comunita'. A cominciare da quella italiana grazie alla presenza, attiva e discreta della bella moglie Elisabetta.
Al Christal Theatre il Console Criel ha sponsorizzato la proiezione di "Loft" un film di produzione belga diretto dal regista Erik Van Looy. Una storia avvincente di cinque amici che decidono di prendere un loft situato in una delle zone piu' eleganti della citta', nel quale consumare le avventure extra matrimoniali. Ottima la recitazione e le tecniche di ripresa. Molto efficace la colonna sonora. Il film, che vive su una suspence accentuata, e' forse troppo lungo (quasi due ore) ma si fa perdonare alcune incertezze di sceneggiatura grazie ad una confezione accurata. La storia si basa sul ritrovamento del corpo di una ragazza nel letto circolare del loft e si dipana attraverso colpi di scena con mogli e mariti che si mettono allegramente un numero imprecisato di corna, in mezzo a fiumi i di droga e alcool. "Questo e' lo standard comune in tutta Europa" ci dice sorridendo una spettatrice italiana. Presente tra le varie autorita' anche il console generale italiano Nicola Faganello e signora accompagnati dall'attache' commerciale Mariella Salvatori.

Tempi duri per il vizio a Las Vegas

Cronaca da Las Vegas:

Il fine settimana di Halloween ha rianimato le halls degli alberghi di Las Vegas. La citta' del gioco, del sesso e della droga da un paio di anni (causa la pesante recessione) non sa dove sbattere la testa per riempire gli hotels e costringere la gente a sedere davanti ad una slot machine nell'illusione di rifarsi unsa vita. Se si percorre il Las Vegas Boulevard, meglio conosciuto come 'the Strip', e si procede verso downtown, si vedono gli scheletri delle nuove imponenti costruzioni che avrebbero dovuto assicurare migliaia di posti di lavoro e che la recessione ha addentato facendo ritirare precipitosamente le banche che si erano esposte troppo facilmente alla richieste dei palazzinari. Vi parlo dal Luxor Hotel, sapete?: quello fatto a piramide che venti anni fa era considerato il migliore di Vegas. Oggi offre camere a 59 dollari pur di attrarre la clientela che si muove solo nelle ricorrenze di festivita' per dare sfogo a quella malattia nazionale che e' il gioco d'azzardo. Una malattia che colpisce tutti senza distinzione di sesso e di censo. Si' perche' qui intorno a chi vi parla ci sono centinaia di anziani che si giocano sino all'ultimo cent la pensione, donne mature divorziate alla ricerca della felicita', molte di queste obese ai limiti della mobilita'. La sera chi ha da spendere ancora qualche centinaio di dollari va a vedere uno show. Al Luxor attrae molto Chris Angel, un giovane illusionista greco-americano, che oltre ai soliti numeri monstre delle rinomata ditta 'Le Cirque du Soleil', ha il merito di gestire il pubblico in maniera spigliata assecondato da un corpo di ballo eccezionale che lavora sotto la direzione del coreografo del defunto Michael Jackson. E si vede. All'ingresso nel grande teatro le assistenti spontaneamente cambiano il tuo biglietto che prevede un posto in piccionaia e ti mandano nelle prime file graziosamente. Non perche' siano attratte particolarmente dal nostro aspetto, ma perche' bisogna dare al magician e ai suoi attori e ballerini la sensazione che il teatro sia quasi pieno.

Tutta colpa delle vacche e dei maiali

Bisogna cambiare stile di alimentazione a livello mondiale e tornare ad essere vegetariani, abbandonando la carne, se vogliamo contrastare i cambiamenti climatici che stanno sconvolgendo gran parte del pianeta. Questo in sostanza il messaggio lanciato in una intervista al Times di Londra da Lord Stern of Brentford. L'aristocratico inglese ha aggiunto che la produzione industriale di carne e' un dispendio di acqua e la massa di gas metano prodotta dagli allevamenti di bovini e suini e' 23 volte superiore all'anidride carbonica derivata dagli scarichi industriali e del traffico.

Lord Stern of Brentford, ha lavorato come chief economist alla Banca Mondiale, e' uno degli esperti climatici piu' noti a livello internazionale. Ha detto che le abitudini della gente devono cambiare. "E del resto-ha aggiunto tanto per fare un esempio-il modo di bere e di guidare e' mutato da quando ero ragazzo. Quindi si tratta di una impresa non impossibile." Il lord inglese ovviamente si riferiva a quel terzo della popolazione mondiale che mangia carne ma che e' responsabile per l'inquinamento. Tutti gli altri che sono sottoalimentati non erano destinatari del messaggio del lord inglese il quale ha detto che il Presidente Obama dovra' intervenire di persona alla prossima convention di Copenhagen sul clima per sottolineare l'importanza di un approccio globale al problema.



In America si parla di massoneria...

In America si parla apertamente di massoneria sulla scia del successo del libro "The Lost Symbol". Ogni giorno l'Istituzione raccoglie tra i Fratelli milioni di dollari che vengono destinati alla beneficenza mirata.
Sarebbe interessante vedere in Italia gli uomini pubblici dichiarare la loro appartenenza e giustificarla non in termini di potere (che la Massoneria non garantisce, al di la' delle leggende metropolitane), ma in termini di impegno personale per costruire un Uomo Migliore.


Auguri a Bersani, al PD e alla democrazia italiana

  • Auguri al nuovo segretario del PD.
  • Auguri ai quasi tre milioni di cittadini che in Italia (ed in minima parte all'estero) sono andati ai gazebo a votare oppure hanno espresso la propria preferenza per via elettronica.
  • Auguri all'Italia in cui una Opposizione seria e' l'ultima boa di ancoraggio di una democrazia alla deriva.
  • Quanto al caso del governatore Lazio, Marrazzo, non riusciamo a nascondere il nostro stupefatto disorientamento per una storia squallida da cui emana un lezzo che ammorba non solo il diretto interessato ma anche tutti coloro che, sicuramente, erano a conoscenza delle oblique inclinazioni di questo uomo politico ed hanno avuto la faccia di bronzo di ripresentarlo come candidato alle elezioni.
  • Chi emerge da questa sordida vicenda e' la giovane moglie del governatore, una donna sulla quale ricade il peso di una orrenda realta', la scoperta di essere stata accanto ad una persona disonesta e squallida moralmente e di dover gestire la propria vita e quella della figlia nel tentativo di recuperare una normalita' assai diffcile oggi da intravedere.
  • Auguri al famoso amatore nazionale che milioni di italiani auspicano possa seguire l'esempio del citato Marrazzo e ritirarsi dal proscenio pubblico a vita privata come si conviene ad un anziano abbiente.

Piloti che dormono, si azzuffano, non seguono le procedure...etc.


Il volo 188 della Northwest arrivato sul cielo di Minneapolis, scalo finale, non ha dato segno di vita. I controllori di volo dell'aeroporto hanno inutilmente cercato di mettersi in contatto con i piloti, temendo il peggio (un dirottamento terroristico, una avaria in volo ai motori, etc.). Caccia militari sono stati allertati per cercare l'aereo scomparso.
Nel frattempo, da quanto risulta dai giornali americani, i piloti stavano litigando aspramente. Argomento del contendere la politica attuata dalla direzione del personale (che continua a penalizzare i gia' ridotti stipendi dei piloti) e la fatica alla quale sono sottoposti.
Secondo il regolamento approvato nel 1960 un pilota non puo' volare per piu' di 25 ore al mese e per un massimo di otto ore nell'arco delle 24 ore. Ma a questa tabella si devono aggiungere le ore che il pilota impiega per raggiungere l'aeroporto. In America la maggior parte del personale viaggiante si sposta negli aeroporti con i propri mezzi. Nei terminal si vedono piloti e hostess che mangiano qualche panino seduti in uno snack bar. Ovviamente a proprie spese. La copilota dell'aereo Colgan che e' precipitato nel maggio scorso in fase di atterraggio per formazione di ghiaccio sulle ali, era stanca per la privazione del sonno ed il suo stipendio annuale era di 14mila dollari. Si', avete capito bene. Uno stipendio medio di un pilota non supera i 35 mila dollari all'anno.
I continui tagli agli stipendi e salari operati dalle compagnie aeree che cercano di ridurre i costi a 360 gradi, stanno creando un pericoloso mix di frustrazione cui si aggiunge la stanchezza accumulata e non smaltita.
Ecco perche' i piloti del volo 188 per Minneapolis, mentre questionavano, hanno allungato il tragitto di 150 miglia prima di reinserire il contatto radio con la torre di controllo dell'aeroporto di Minneapolis, invertire la rotta ed atterrare. Appena le porte si sono spalancate nell'aereo sono entrati armi in pugno agenti dello FBI. I piloti sono stati sospesi dal servizio mentre e' in corso una indagine della FAA, l'agenzia federale del volo.
Tensione, bassi salari, sfruttamento fisico portano a asituazioni come quella di un volo Air India caratterizzato da una fiera scazzottatura tra i piloti. Oppure quel volo per le Hawaii che non rispondeva ai richiami dei controllori. E finalmente i piloti si sono svegliati e sono tornati indietro. A giustificazione del loro comportamento hanno detto che il sole delle Hawaii che entrava in cabina li aveva fatti addormentare.

Tumore al cervello con il cellulare



Saturday October 24,2009




By Daily Express reporter




LONG-term mobile phone users could face a higher risk of developing cancer in later life, according to a decade-long study.

The report, to be published later this year, has reportedly found that heavy mobile use is linked to brain tumours.

The survey of 12,800 people in 13 countries has been overseen by the World Health Organisation.

Preliminary results of the inquiry, which is looking at whether mobile phone exposure is linked to three types of brain tumour and a tumour of the salivary gland, have been sent to a scientific journal.

The findings are expected to put pressure on the British Government – which has insisted that mobile phones are safe – to issue stronger warnings to users.

No comment...




Reuters
ANALYSIS-Berlusconi's TV tactics stir unease in Italy
10.23.09, 5:39 AM ET

ITALY -

By Daniel Flynn

ROME, Oct 23 (Reuters) - When Italy's top court stripped Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of his immunity from prosecution, he vowed to defend himself in the only arena that really counts.

"The two trials against me are false, laughable, absurd, and I'll show this to Italians by going on television," he said.

In court, Berlusconi faces two cases expected to resume later this year. He is accused of tax fraud and false accounting in the purchase of TV rights by Mediaset and of bribing British lawyer David Mills to give false testimony to protect his business empire. Berlusconi denies any wrongdoing.

But in a country where nearly 80 percent of citizens regard TV as their main source of information, the power of television in shaping Italian public opinion can hardly be overstated.

And few people are more aware of its power than the prime minister, whose ownership of Mediaset and control over state broadcaster RAI give him sway over channels watched by almost 90 percent of Italians every day.

"Don't you understand, that if something is not on television it doesn't exist," Berlusconi once told a close associate.

But with the prime minister on the defensive after months of sex scandals and legal setbacks, many now fear he is using his grip on Italy's media to suffocate criticism.

When a judge ordered his Fininvest holding to pay 750 million euros in damages for bribery in a 1990s takeover battle, Berlusconi promised: "You'll hear some good stuff about him."

Days later a crew from Mediaset's Canale5 tracked the judge through Milan's streets, criticising his heavy smoking and his "eccentric" turquoise socks -- raising howls of protest from magistrates and a rash of similar footwear among the opposition.

"Berlusconi has always used his own media to destroy, smear, ridicule and humiliate his perceived enemies," said Alex Stille, an author on Italy. "But the intensity of the latest campaign, whereby anyone who speaks up against Berlusconi is singled out for character assassination, is singular and very disturbing."

PREDATOR OF PRESS FREEDOM?

When the editor of the newspaper of the Catholic bishop's conference criticised the premier's relationship with a teenage model, the Il Giornale newspaper owned by Berlusconi's brother accused him of homosexuality, prompting his resignation.

Berlusconi is suing newspapers in Italy and abroad for their coverage of a call girl's allegations that she was paid by a businessman to sleep with the premier after a party in November.

Italians have also been treated to the bizarre spectacle of a newspaper owned by the prime minister's family campaigning for citizens not to pay the licence fee for the state broadcaster, after Berlusconi bridled at its muted criticism.

A protest for press freedom in Rome this month drew some 100,000 people. Watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers said Italy has slipped down its rankings for a second year, to 49th, and that Berlusconi was close to being added to its list of Predators of Press Freedom, a first for a European leader.

"The situation is quite worrying and Berlusconi wields an influence that is pretty dangerous for the quality of Italian democracy," said Daniele Albertazzi, senior lecturer in European Media at the University of Birmingham.

Berlusconi narrowly avoided an embarrassing rebuke from European lawmakers on Wednesday when his conservative allies overturned by three votes a resolution to chide him. But the gesture was largely symbolic: Brussels has no power to intervene and Berlusconi has not broken Italy's media ownership law.

ONLY TV MATTERS

The 2004 media law, drafted by his previous government, specifies an individual must control over 20 percent of the media to incur sanction, including everything from Internet, to 800 local TV channels and the 150 national papers.

Berlusconi, in addition to his grip on television, controls Italy's largest publisher and advertising agency, and a weekly news magazine but that is only a fraction of the whole media.

"The problem in Italy is that the only system that has any importance is the television market in terms of how people think and vote," said Albertazzi.

Internet penetration in Italy remains well below the European average and newspaper circulation is low and limited to the higher income brackets. Italy's best-seller, the stately Corriere della Sera, sells half a million copies: a fraction of the 3 million sold by tabloid The Sun in Britain.

In contrast, 46 percent of Italians spend between two and four hours a day in front of the TV, with 17 percent spending more than four hours. While the Agcom media regulator has fined Mediaset channels for political bias, it has had little impact.

Opposition lawmakers have criticised as political RAI's decision to pull its programming from Rupert Murdoch's Sky Italia pay TV and launch a joint service with Mediaset, its direct competitor in the free-to-air advertising market.

Many backers of the opposition Democratic Party -- including its current leader Dario Franceschini -- have publicly regretted that the left did not pass a conflict of interests law despite governing twice since Berlusconi entered politics in 1994.

Instead it is Berlusconi who is now planning legislation. He has promised to embark on a constitutional reform process, aimed at increasing the powers of the prime minister and bringing public prosecutors under more direct government control.

"This would be a very serious change in the constitution, a shift to a populist form of government without the checks and balances used in a democracy," said James Walston of the American University in Rome. "Much needed economic reforms are now almost certainly going to go on the backburner."

Copyright 2009 Reuters


Qui Washington - Negli Usa si discute di quotidiani non profit


Prima Comunicazione, n. 399, Ottobre 2009

Dal marzo di quest’anno giace al Congresso americano una proposta di legge, il Newspaper Revitalization Act, presentata dai democratici Carolyn B. Maloney, deputata di New York, e Benjamin L. Cardin, senatore del Maryland, con l’obiettivo di aiutare i giornali locali facendoli diventare delle organizzazioni non profit, simili alle stazioni radio e televisive pubbliche.
“Il Philadephia Inquirer, il Seattle Post-Intelligencer, il San Francisco Chronicle, il Rocky Mountains News, il Baltimore Sun stanno per chiudere a causa del calo della pubblicità e degli abbonamenti, dovuto non solo alla recessione ma anche alla concorrenza di Internet”, aveva sottolineato all’epoca la Maloney. “Se non si farà qualcosa presto molte aree metropolitane non avranno più il proprio giornale con grave danno per la democrazia”. Studi recenti hanno infatti dimostrato che, in assenza di quotidiani che assolvano alla loro funzione di ‘cani da guardia’, nelle città aumentano la corruzione nella gestione della cosa pubblica e il disinteresse del cittadino medio.
A fine settembre per la prima volta anche il presidente Barack Obama, che finora aveva escluso la possibilità di aiuti governativi alla stampa, si è detto disponibile a studiare proposte di legge che prevedano un aiuto economico per quei quotidiani che si strutturino come fondazioni senza fini di lucro.
Anche se riguarda solo la stampa locale, il Newspaper Revitalization Act prevede proprio questo: pubblicità e abbonamenti sarebbero esenti da tasse ed eventuali contributi e donazioni potrebbero essere dedotti dalla dichiarazione dei redditi, come negli Stati Uniti già avviene per qualsiasi organizzazione non profit.
In cambio la proposta di legge prevede che i giornali non possano fare endorsement politici, cioè schierarsi apertamente a favore di un partito, mantenendo però ovviamente la libertà di scrivere su qualsiasi tema e di seguire le campagne elettorali.
I due firmatari democratici speravano in una convergenza bipartisan sul provvedimento. Ma i repubblicani si sono tirati indietro: a loro interessano poco i giornali locali e molto di più i milioni di persone che seguono con passione Fox, la tivù di Murdoch apertamente schierata a destra, oppure il commentatore radiofonico Rush Limbaugh che ogni giorno vomita accuse e insulti sul presidente Obama.

Oscar Bartoli

La versione integrale dell’articolo è sul mensile Prima Comunicazione n. 399 - ottobre 2009


La Washington massonica e "The Lost Symbol"






La folta delegazione della Loggia Sardegna n.981 all'Oriente di Cagliari si trova nella Capitale per visitare la Washington massonica. Alcuni fratelli di Italia Lodge n.2001 (diventata il ponte diplomatico massonico tra la Grand Lodge of Washington DC e il Grande Oriente d'Italia), li accompagnano nei luoghi piu' noti della capitale degli Stati Uniti.

Tour guidato a Capitol Hill. Il gruppo si trova nella Rotunda, insieme ad altre centinaia di persone che vengono soprattutto da altri stati della Federazione. Ammirano l'affresco detto "L'apoteosi di George Washington" dipinto da Costantino Brumidi, celebrato negli Stati Uniti come il Michelangelo americano ed il cui nome e' ignorato dalla stragrande maggioranza degli italiani.

Un tale chiede alla giovane guida che indossa una fiammante giacca rossa: " E' qui che e' apparsa la mano tagliata del noto massone americano?".
La guida con espressione quasi annoiata (chissa' quante volte si sente rivolgere la stessa domanda) risponde: "No, assolutamente. Si tratta dell'immaginazione di Dan Brown...".

L'ultimo libro dello scrittore americano, famoso per avere superato il muro dei 50 milioni di copie vendute in tutto il mondo con il suo "Da Vinci Code", si sta rivelando come la migliore guida turistica di Washington DC.

Da quando e' uscito nelle librerie (ma ci sono cataste di copie nei supermercati vendute con un piccolo sconto) "The lost Symbol" attrae migliaia di americani in visita ai luoghi massonici della Capitale.

Capitol Hill, House of Temple (sede dello Scottish Rite), il George Washington Memorial in Alexandria, the Washington Monument, the Alma Shrine, Mount Vernon (la farm di Washington e di sua moglie Martha) sono presi d'assalto da gruppi di turisti che chiedono informazioni basandosi sul thriller di Dan Brown. Un libro che sembra avviato a bissare se non superare il successo editoriale di questo scrittore.

"The Lost Symbol" sta assolvendo anche ad un'altra funzione: quella di rendere pubblico il contenuto di rituali massonici,visti, a differenza di tanta predicazione antimassonica, con un occhio di riguardo per quanto il Craft ha rappresentato nella fondazione degli Stati Uniti d'America.

La struttura del libro si articola in capitoli, in genere molto brevi, che lasciano il lettore in costante 'sospensione'. Un artificio importato direttamente dalle sceneggiature dei migliori film di azione di Hollywood. Ed infatti, ormai, questo genere letterario si qualifica come una sorta di 'script' cinematografico, dato che l'autore scrive guardando strabicamente alla versione cinematografica della sua fatica editoriale.

Negli ambienti massonici della Capitale si e' cominciato a parlare di questo libro di Dan Brown piu' di tre anni fa. Lo scrittore, noto per il puntiglio con il quale si documenta, ha preso numerosi contatti con esponenti dell'Istituzione anche se, ovviamente, non risulta alcunche' di ufficiale.

Del resto basta andare in qualsiasi grande store di una catena libraria, per trovare centinaia di libri che illustrano i rituali di questa antica associazione che non tralascia occasione di ricordare che non si tratta di una religione, ma di una istituzione che mira a costruire un uomo migliore.

E nel libro di Dan Brown sono molte le pagine dedicate a illustrare i principi della Massoneria intesa come istituzione universale che affratella individui di cultura e razza diversa, superando i confini spesso posti e rafforzati dalle differenti religioni.

Nelle logge massoniche americane convivono fratelli ebrei, musulmani, cristiani di diverse confessioni, cattolici, buddisti, induisti, seguaci del reverendo Moon. E le 'tornate' delle logge iniziano e si chiudono con la preghiera del 'cappellano' che ringrazia il Grande Architetto dell'Universo per avere offerto l'opportunita' di stare insieme cercando costantemente quello che ci unisce piuttosto che inistere su quanto ci divide gli uni dagli altri.

A nostro parere "The Lost Symbol" pecca di precisione quando espone alcuni dettagli dei passaggi di grado massonici, laddove la tradizione ha fatto riferimento alle punizioni alle quali i candidati potevano essere sottoposti se avessero rivelato i segreti dell'Istituzione.

Sarebbe stato opportuno ricordare che un conto e' la massoneria operativa e un conto e' quella speculativa. La prima, nata nel medioevo per aiutare coloro che lavoravano a diverso titolo professionale alla costruzione delle grandi cattedrali. Dovevano difedersi da tutti, a cominciare dai committenti ecclesiastici che cercavano di minarne la coesione per averne vantaggi economici.

Oggi la massoneria speculativa, pur basandosi sui simboli di quella operativa (squadra, cazzuola, filo a piombo, grembiule, scalpello), ha come scopo quello della costruzione della cattedrale Uomo, predicando e praticando la tolleranza e la reciproca comprensione in un mondo che e' afflitto da divisionismi, polarizzazioni e sistematico lavaggio del cervello da parte delle centrali mediatiche e politiche.

Al termine delle 500 pagine di "The Lost Symbol" il lettore e' sollecitato a cercare di comprendere meglio questo immenso calderone di razze e culture diverse, chiamato America fondato da un gruppo di raffinati intellettuali che hanno dato vita ad una Costituzione che resta ancora, a oltre 200 anni di distanza, il punto di riferimento per chi voglia vivere in una democrazia.

Feds to issue new medical marijuana policy

By DEVLIN BARRETT

WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal drug agents won't pursue pot-smoking patients or their sanctioned suppliers in states that allow medical marijuana, under new legal guidelines to be issued Monday by the Obama administration.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines to be issued by the department do, however, make it clear that agents will go after people whose marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law or use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes, the officials said.

The new policy is a significant departure from the Bush administration, which insisted it would continue to enforce federal anti-pot laws regardless of state codes.

Fourteen states allow some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

California is unique among those for the widespread presence of dispensaries - businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Colorado also has several dispensaries, and Rhode Island and New Mexico are in the process of licensing providers, according to the Marijuana Policy Project, a group that promotes the decriminalization of marijuana use.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in March that he wanted federal law enforcement officials to pursue those who violate both federal and state law, but it has not been clear how that goal would be put into practice.

A three-page memo spelling out the policy is expected to be sent Monday to federal prosecutors in the 14 states, and also to top officials at the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration.

The memo, the officials said, emphasizes that prosecutors have wide discretion in choosing which cases to pursue, and says it is not a good use of federal manpower to prosecute those who are without a doubt in compliance with state law.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the legal guidance before it is issued.

"This is a major step forward," said Bruce Mirken, communications director for the Marijuana Policy Project. "This change in policy moves the federal government dramatically toward respecting scientific and practical reality."

At the same time, the officials said, the government will still prosecute those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other illegal activity. The memo particularly warns that some suspects may hide old-fashioned drug dealing or other crimes behind a medical marijuana business.

In particular, the memo urges prosecutors to pursue marijuana cases which involve violence, the illegal use of firearms, selling pot to minors, money laundering or involvement in other crimes.

And while the policy memo describes a change in priorities away from prosecuting medical marijuana cases, it does not rule out the possibility that the federal government could still prosecute someone whose activities are allowed under state law.

The memo, officials said, is designed to give a sense of prosecutorial priorities to U.S. attorneys in the states that allow medical marijuana. It notes that pot sales in the United States are the largest source of money for violent Mexican drug cartels, but adds that federal law enforcement agencies have limited resources.

Medical marijuana advocates have been anxious to see exactly how the administration would implement candidate Barack Obama's repeated promises to change the policy in situations in which state laws allow the use of medical marijuana.

Soon after Obama took office, DEA agents raided four dispensaries in Los Angeles, prompting confusion about the government's plans.

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Tele-voyerism




Si prenda un pallone aerostatico costruito nel garage di casa da una sorta di scienziato domestico , tale Richard Heene di Fort Collins, in Colorado.

Si prenda una intera famiglia alle prese col suddetto pallone dalla forma di un disco volante che, nell'intenzione del suo ideatore, dovrebbe costituire un modello di aerostato di basso costo che permette di volare a 50, cento metri d'altezza per superare gli ingorghi stradali. Si prenda un ragazzino di sei anni di nome Falcon che sparisce da casa mentre il piccolo pallone si stacca da terra e se ne va a dondolare a tremila metri nel cielo. Si prendano le televisioni che si scatenano sulla notizia. Il piccolo Falcon e' sicuramente nella navicella del pallone, le autorita' mandano in volo gli elicotteri per cercare di agganciarlo, milioni di telespettatori seguono con la bava alla bocca l'avventura, i cronisti inventano quello che possono perche' si tratta di una non notizia. I genitori del piccolo si spremono in lacrime e autolamentazioni temendo che il pallone possa andare a toccare i cavi dell'alta tensione. Il pallone si sgonfia a 50 miglia di distanza dalla abitazione degli Heene. Ma del ragazzino nessuna traccia. C'e' chi asserisce di avere visto durante il volo seguito da televisioni ed elicotteri qualcosa cadere fuori dal cestello del pallone. Il dramma si aggiunge al dramma e vengono intensificate le ricerche del corpo di Falcon su una larga areaa senza alcun risultato. Poi la storia si sgonfia all'improvviso (e' proprio il caso di dirlo): Falcon e' stato ritrovato nell'attico di casa sua dove si era nascosto perche' i genitori lo avevano sgridato. Interviste ai familiari che dichiarano di essere dispiaciuti di avere rimbrottato il piccolo imbecille. La domanda che ci si pone e': chi paga per le spese sostenute dalle autorita' locali per la ricerca el ragazzino e la caccia al pallone? Non vorremmo essere nei panni dello scienziato domestico.

Richard Heene holds his 6-year-old soeenen, Falcon, as he talks to the media after his son was found hiding in the attic of his family's garage in Fort Collins, Colorado. Oct. 15, 2009.

FORT COLLINS, Colo. - The storyline was bizarre, dramatic and terrifying. A 6-year-old boy, trapped inside a helium balloon, racing across the Colorado sky at high altitude with very little chance of survival. Thankfully, it wasn't true.

The flying saucer-shaped experimental aircraft drifted away from a backyard in Fort Collins Thursday morning, setting-off a media frenzy amid reports that 6-year-old Falcon Heene, whose father built the contraption, had climbed inside.

According to the family, Falcon's brother, Brad, told his parents that Falcon climbed into a utility basket attached to the balloon and, somehow, the rope holding it in-place became untied, allowing the balloon to drift away around 11:00 a.m.

The boy's father, Richard Heene, said the family was tinkering with the balloon earlier in the day and that he scolded Falcon for getting inside a compartment on the craft.

Fears the boy was inside the balloon prompted a massive emergency response. Helicopters tracked the balloon in-flight, waiting for it to come down on its own. Authorities also planned for a possible mid-air rescue in case it did not.

Authorities say the balloon may have risen as high as 15,000 feet in altitude as it drifted over Colorado's eastern plains. Around 1:40 p.m., it crashed into an open field near 160th Ave. & County Road 79 in Adams County, approximately 50 miles southeast from where it first took flight.

Once the balloon crashed without Falcon inside, authorities intensified their search for the child. Reports that something, or perhaps someone, had fallen from the balloon shortly after it took flight only helped fuel speculation that Falcon had suffered a terrible fate.

A little over two hours later, the drama came to an abrupt end.

"He's been located. He's alive. He's at the house," Larimer County Sheriff Alderden told reporters, giving a 'thumbs-up.'

After the balloon floated away, the boy apparently fled to the family's garage, climbing a pole into the rafters and hiding in a cardboard box.

The Heene family addressed the media a short time later.

"It was in the really early stages of the invention," Richard Heene said of the experimental aircraft, holding Falcon in his arms. "This little guy got inside of it...I thought he did anyway, according to Brad."

"He videotaped it and we watched it back and, sure enough, he got in," He said. "But obviously he got out."

"I was in the attic and he scared me because he yelled at me," Falcon said. "That's why I went in the attic."

"I yelled at him. I'm really sorry I yelled at him," Heene said, choking up and hugging Falcon to him during the news conference.

Heene said the balloon wasn't tethered properly, and "it was a mishap. I'm not going to lay blame on anybody."

Richard Heene, a self-described amateur scientist, said the balloon was a "3D-LAV" - an experimental, futuristic low-altitude vehicle that would hover above the ground at an elevation of 50 to 100 feet.

He said there was an electrical charge on the outside of the balloon designed to steer the aircraft.

"Our biggest fear is that he was inside, he would kick the wires and get electrocuted," Heene said.

Should the Heene family have to pay for the search-and-rescue operation? Vote Here

The Heene family appeared on the ABC television show "Wife Swap." A website for the show said when the family isn't together chasing storms, "they devote their time to scientific experiments that include looking for extraterrestrials and building a research-gathering flying saucer to send into the eye of the storm."

A
photo of the family on the show's website shows what appears to be the helium saucer in the background.

When Falcon's family was last on "Wife Swap" in March, favorites of the audience who had voted to have them featured again on the show's 100th episode. In "Wife Swap," two mothers trade places for a few weeks. Producers try to match families with wildly different attitudes and lifestyles to see if sparks fly.

Diamo una mano ed un voto a questa giovane artista italiana. Forza ragazzi!

Daniela Troina Magri, is participating to a national award organized by Terna. Italy. Terna is the company managing the Italian electricity transportation network.

The award is finalized at the promotion of the artists, the contemporary art and the valorization of the link between art and industry.

The painting presented by Daniela is Cenerentola 2000 (Cinderella 2000) connected to the theme of “Energy.

Her comment of the art work indicates that it represents “the Energy (=environment) and Humanity (= future) that can let us hope of a bright future”, in particular the future represented by women.

Her painting highlights the brightness of Cenerentola 2000, a thin woman, although with a strong arm like Popeye, heading towards the future.

Please vote it before the 19th of October (US time) by connecting to the link http://www.premioterna.it/it/scheda/cenerentola-2000.

You will be asked to enter your email address. After you will receive an email that will ask you to confirm your vote.

Thank you in advance

Area 51


Area 51, e' la piu' famosa istituzione militare del mondo. Se fosse possibile trovarla dovrebbe essere a cento miglia fuori di Las Vegas nel deserto del Nevada, inserita tra una base della Air Force ed un sito abbandonato dove si facevano esperimenti nucleari. Proprio quegli esperimenti che si dice siano costati la vita a John Wayne a a tutti quelli che giravano i film di cow boys colpiti dalle radiazioni.
Secondo quanto pubblicato in una inchiesta del Los Angeles Times, cinque vegliardi con eta' dagli ottanta ai 90 che hanno lavorato nell'Area 51 hanno cominciato a parlare. Il segreto ha nei decenni favorito il sorgere di teorie cospirative (che in America nascono come funghi contro il presunto assolutismo di Washington) e le tesi degli ufologi che giurano essere nell'area 51 dei siti nei quali sono conservati corpi di extra terrestri in frigorifero.
Un fatto certo e' che per otto anni nell'Area 51 sono stati sperimentati e mandati in missione di intelligence gli U2. Aerei che stavano costantemente in volo e venivano riforniti da aerei cisterna.
Quando Frances Gary Powers fu abbattuto sopra Sverdlovsk, Russia, nel 1960, il programma U-2 fu scoperto e chiuso. Ma nel frattempo la CIA gia' aveva 200 scienziati, ingegneri e piloti che lavoravano a tempo pieno nell'Area 51 al progetto dell'aereo A-12 OXCART, che doveva sfuggire ai radar sovietici grazie all'altitudine alla quale poteva volare, alla sua velocita' ed alla forma che ne impediva il riconoscimento.

Arrivano gli UFO?

A Halo Over Moscow

by Mike Krumboltz

7 hours ago


And you thought rainbows were cool. A few days ago, a mysterious cloud shaped like a halo appeared over Moscow, and the buzz has yet to break.

We're the first to admit that a photograph of the heavenly cloud appears to be photoshopped. It's just so...perfect. But meterologists have spoken up and said the cloud wasn't digitally altered. However, it wasn't exactly what it appeared to be, either.

When the cloud initially formed, some UFO enthusiasts declared it to be a "true mystery." Some even compared it to the giant spaceship hovering over Earth in the movie "Independence Day." Reality quickly dashed any predictions of an alien invasion. An article from the Daily Mail explains that the "luminous ring-shaped cloud" was simply an optical effect.

An official spokesperson for Moscow's weather department said, "Several fronts have been passing through Moscow recently, there was an intrusion of the Arctic air too, the sun was shining from the west — this is how the effect was produced."

The cloud loomed last week, but the searches are still soaring. Lookups on "halo cloud" and "moscow cloud" are both booming, and a video clip has garnered hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube. You can check it out for yourself below...

Dicono di Voi e di noi


Dal Washington Post

La Dolce Berlusconi

By Anne Applebaum
Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Silvio Berlusconi has been accused of bribery, tax evasion, corruption and subversion of the press. His wife has left him on the grounds that he consorts with prostitutes and holds orgies at his villa in Sardinia. He makes embarrassing jokes (and then repeats them, as he did with the one about President Obama's "suntan") and periodically disappears to undergo more plastic surgery. He is at war with the Italian legal establishment, with almost all of the journalists who don't work for him, and with the Catholic Church. Last week the Italian constitutional court lifted his immunity from prosecution, which means Italians can look forward to a whole new series of lawsuits and scandals.

Yet by far the most interesting thing about the Italian prime minister is this: Italians keep voting for him. The somewhat ragged coalition he leads -- Il Popolo della Libertà, the People of Freedom -- won a decisive general election victory in 2008 and trounced the opposition in European parliamentary elections in June 2009. Whether or not you agree with his daughter, who says he "will go down in the history books as the longest-serving and most loved leader in the history of the Italian republic," you cannot argue with the fact that he has been the dominant force in Italian politics since he first became prime minister in 1994. But why?

There seem to be several answers, some of which are connected to the weird impasse that brought him to power in the first place. In the early 1990s, Italy's political system unraveled following a series of judicial investigations that revealed profound corruption permeating the entire Italian political class. As a result, all of the major political parties and all of the leading political figures vanished overnight, sometimes literally: Bettino Craxi, leader of the Italian socialist party for nearly 20 years, fled to Tunisia to escape prison and eventually died in exile.

Berlusconi stepped into the vacuum, promising to talk about issues no one else had dared touch -- notably mass immigration from North Africa -- and to deal with problems no one else could solve, including the convoluted tax laws and notorious bureaucracy. But in retrospect it is clear that Berlusconi (whose record on actually carrying out any of his reforms is pretty slim) has also brought the counterrevolution: He had made his career under the old system -- as had many other people -- and, once in power, he brought an end to the judicial purge. Italians, journalist Beppe Severgnini told me, "were afraid of their own bravery." They were also afraid of chaos, and in a country that has had, on average, a different government every year for the past six decades, Berlusconi, a familiar figure for many years, has come to represent a kind of stability. The Italian left is disorganized, the center-right is paralyzed, and a lot of people prefer the devil they know.

Of course, Berlusconi also has at least one tool that none of the others have: popular television. He controls three mainstream channels and various digital channels because he owns them. He also in effect controls state television because he is the prime minister. There are newspapers, magazines and late-night talk shows that criticize him, but they don't reach the same numbers of people: Much like his friend Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, he doesn't try to exert influence over all of the media, just the media that reach most of the voters.

That may not determine the outcome of elections, but it sure helps. It has also made Italy the center of the largest movement for press freedom outside the former Soviet Union.

But in the end, even that dominance can't explain all of his votes. There has to be something appealing about Berlusconi himself as well. Severgnini has called him a "mirror" of modern Italy, and one sees what he means: Nouveau riche (like almost everyone in the country) and not afraid to show it off (remember that Sardinian villa); a lover of women and soccer (he owns the team A.C. Milan); loyal to his friends (even protecting them from the law); and clearly enjoying himself at those parties and on his yacht, Berlusconi leads a kind of caricature version of the ideal Italian life. And precisely because he is a caricature, he gets away with things that other people can't. One hears Italians regale one another with Berlusconi stories and then howl with laughter.

Besides, with Berlusconi as your prime minister, you don't have to take yourself too seriously. You don't have to trouble yourself with geopolitics or the state of the planet, or poverty and failed states. You can stay at home, remain unserious and argue about the latest legal scandal. And maybe that, too, is part of the Italian prime minister's appeal.

applebaumletters@washpost.com

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Silvio, it's Time to Go

Italy can no longer afford the antics of its playboy in chief.

Published Oct 12, 2009

From the magazine issue dated Oct 19, 2009

Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's record of intimidating and outfoxing his enemies, rewriting laws to suit himself, and generally leading his public as well as private life in flagrante delicto puts him in a particularly Italian pantheon. One thinks of Nero, or the Borgias, of bread and circuses, debauchery and corruption. Never mind that this is 2009; consider just a few of the scandals that have rocked Berlusconi's throne in the past few months. There was the allegation by his estranged wife that he was flirting with underage girls; the sleazy sex tapes made by a call girl who said she serviced Il Cavaliere, as he's called, and that he offered her a seat in the European Parliament; and the allegations of an influence peddler and cocaine dealer that he'd furnished hookers for Berlusconi's parties in Rome. All that on top of paparazzi photos taken at the prime minister's villa in Sardinia that showed at least one distinguished guest cavorting like a priapic satyr.

Then, last week, the besieged media mogul turned politician got hit with a pair of devastating court rulings. One declared him partially responsible for a corruption case in which a judge was bribed in a corporate battle during the early 1990s, and ordered Berlusconi's holding company to pay €750 million ($1.1 billion) in damages. The other ruling, by the Constitutional Court, threw out a law that gave the prime minister immunity from criminal prosecution, thus potentially exposing him to further trials for bribe paying and investigations of ties to organized crime. The prime minister maintains his innocence about all the allegations, sleazy or otherwise. He is appealing the damage judgment and has criticized the Constitutional Court. He claims to be a victim of a witch hunt led by left-wingers, communists, and foreign business interests. You might think all the trouble would be enough to make this 73-year-old former cruise-ship crooner and self-made billionaire decide to start winding up his political career. But you'd be wrong. Berlusconi plans to hold on—and he just might succeed. His approval rating is 63 percent in recent polls, his left-wing opponents are in complete disarray, and his would-be successors on the right are still jockeying for position. If Berlusconi uses the court's new ruling to force elections, he may even manage to strengthen his parliamentary majority. Just because he can stay in power doesn't mean he should, however. It's high time for Italy to draw the line. It's neither conspiratorial nor condescending to say, Silvio, it's time to go. It's just common sense. In the United States there's a saying: "Friends don't let friends drive drunk." Berlusconi has never been a tippler, but it's obvious with every passing day that he's drunk on power and drunk on himself—and that if he stays at Italy's wheel, he's likely not only to wreck the country but also to damage Europe and possibly even the North Atlantic alliance. These are perilous times for Rome, with dangerous roads to navigate from Wall Street to Afghanistan. Italy faces pressing problems. Yet instead of focusing on what's in front of him, the scandal-racked Berlusconi now has his eyes firmly fixed on the rearview mirror, looking for the prosecutors, press, communist conspirators, and scheming competitors—not to mention angry women—out to get him. There was a time when Berlusconi saw himself as the savior of his country, and could actually make a plausible case. In the early 1990s, his choice to enter politics may have been selfish in part. It's often alleged he worried that his vast media empire would fall prey to corruption inquiries if he did not find a way to put himself or someone very close to him in power. Many of his business moves had been facilitated by politicians who were under indictment. But Berlusconi also played a valuable role at that moment in Italian politics. The country's political class had been decimated by the "clean hands" corruption investigations, leaving a void at the center-right that Berlusconi managed neatly to step into and fill. "Moderate voters no longer had anyone to vote for," he told NEWSWEEK in 2006. "I know that cemeteries are filled with 'indispensable' people. But at that time I think there was no other possibility for my country" to emerge from the political crisis. He wanted, he said, to give centrist voters "dignity in terms of their past, and hope for their future." Berlusconi the businessman became the quintessential antipolitician. His mistrust of government and dislike of taxes played well among small-business owners, who are the driving force of the Italian economy. He also spoke for many in the working class who felt threatened by immigrants moving into their neighborhoods and competing for their jobs. The Italian left, meanwhile, had grown ossified, vilifying authority and clinging to idealistic notions of social justice that the rest of Italian society had left behind. If anyone could move Italy into the 21st century, Il Cavaliere seemed to be the one. In this sense, Berlusconi's greatest crime is not legally actionable. It's that he never delivered on this early promise. Instead, like a late Roman emperor, he has pandered to society's weaknesses, indulged extravagance, and encouraged irresponsibility at almost all levels. If he were the father of his country, he'd be feeding his children pure sugar. Nobody likes to pay taxes. But rare is the politician who would actually say, "We must fight against tax evasion but also defend the rights of tax evaders, or companies that make mistakes," as he did in 2006. Even though Berlusconi claims that his popularity stems from the way he reflects what Italians want, he has done everything he can to make Italians a reflection of himself. The prime minister's demeaning attitude toward women, for example, is for him as much a political device as a personal vice. "I think Italians recognize themselves in me," he recently told a youth rally. "I am one of them. I was poor. I am interested in the things that interest them. I love football. I smile. I love others and, above all else, beautiful women." A documentary shown at the Venice Film Festival last month, Videocracy, records in painfully funny—and then just painful—detail the way Berlusconi played on prurience to build his private TV empire in the 1980s. A symbol of those years was a game show where sexy housewives stripped off a piece of clothing every time a contestant gave the right answer to a question. With each apron, rubber glove, or hair scarf that fell to the floor, Berlusconi reinforced an image that would help marginalize Italian women for decades to come. Today on his networks—and, to some extent, even on the state-controlled channels he dominates—the housewives have been replaced by ever-younger women wearing sequined pasties, garter belts, and rubber thongs, who writhe around older men in tableaux reminiscent of King Neptune surrounded by mermaids—or, indeed, of Prime Minister Berlusconi at one of his parties. Il Cavaliere's faithful supporters buy into that image to such an extent that at a recent convention of his Popolo della Libertà party in Milan, even women delegates rushed to his defense, claiming the stories about his philandering were either idle gossip, fabrications by his enemies, or validations of his masculinity. "If he has so many women," said housewife Carmela Mamone, "this means he's a real man." What's missing amid this spectacle is the political will to do anything but survive. And Italy simply can't afford such narrow egocentricity. It now has the oldest population in Europe and the second oldest in the world, after Japan. Immigrants who replenish the labor force are exploited and reviled. The cost of pensions is eating up the national budget. The country's commercial infrastructure is doddering along as well, crippling chances for economic growth. Until the start of the 1990s, Italy was one of Europe's best-performing countries; ever since, it's been one of the worst, and the IMF now expects Italy's GDP to drop by 5.1 percent this year, far more than the euro zone as a whole. Public education is an embarrassment. (As a recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development pointed out, the only OECD countries where children get worse schooling are Mexico and Turkey.) Development depends on the rule of law, but Italy's mafias still rank among its biggest businesses, raking in an estimated €130 billion a year. Berlusconi's policy failures are everywhere. His attempts to improve education have amounted to little more than cost cutting. He's done almost nothing to tackle welfare reform. And despite his rhetoric on taxes—during the last general campaign he promised to lower rates—the government now predicts they will rise this year. During an earlier stint of his as prime minister, Berlusconi's police did help bring down one of Sicily's last powerful godfathers, Bernardo Pro-ven-za-no. But prosecutors in Sicily have so often tried to tie Berlusconi himself to the mob, although they've never made the charges stick, that this undermines his accomplishments. Internationally, Berlusconi's personal demeanor and scandalous reputation are not just cringe-inducing—they are directly harming Italy's interests. Having caused an uproar soon after President Barack Obama's election by remarking on the first African-American president's "suntan," Berlusconi thought he'd try out the joke again after coming back from the G20 meeting in Pittsburgh last month. He brought greetings from the U.S.A., he told conservative supporters. "What's his name? Some tanned guy. Ah, Barack Obama," the prime minister quipped to uncomfortable laughter. "You won't be-lieve it, but the two of them went to the beach—the wife is also tanned," he added. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, a longtime Berlusconi ally, is quick to defend his boss. "Italy should be judged by our merits and accomplishments, not our scandals," he says. But they don't make his job any easier. "I have to spend time explaining the real story," he says. "If you look at the front pages of the press you see the scandal in the headlines, but if you look at page four or five, you see how the world asks Italy's help in Lebanon, how America appreciates Italy's work in Afghanistan … But you know that good news is no news." If only it were that simple. Italy still has the world's seventh-largest economy, and is a member of NATO, the G20, the euro zone, and just about every other club of powerful nations. But it punches well below its weight. Berlusconi's off-color jokes and reputation make other leaders uncomfortable. No surprise, then, that Italy is often left on the sidelines; to cite one important recent example, Rome has been excluded from the core contact group dealing with Iran over its nuclear weapons. Berlusconi doesn't help matters by claiming credit for initiatives where his role is marginal—for example, in the summer of 2008 he claimed it was he who sent French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Georgia to fend off the Russian invasion. Italy's military has served in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffered tragic losses. But it -left Iraq long ago and wants out of Afghanistan sooner rather than later. Always inclined to put show over substance, Berlusconi works hard to make sure—through lawsuits, investigations, and political pressure—that good news is about the only news Italians ever see. When an estimated 100,000 protesters turned out on the streets of Rome recently to support press freedom, the event got little or no coverage on the TV shows most Italians rely on for news. And no wonder: Berlusconi controls all three state TV networks, the three largest private channels, the country's largest publisher, a weekly newsmagazine, and a newspaper owned by his brother. Whenever a state network airs a critical segment, he declares that state media should support the government, and he has fired journalists who crossed him. Those outlets he doesn't control are frequent targets of legal action. The tragedy is that Italy—a nation of brilliant intellectuals and artists, talented public servants, and creative business leaders—could do so much better. A few names are now being touted as possible successors to Berlusconi: Fiat chairman Luca Cordero di Montezemolo; Gianfranco Fini, the progressive heir to the former Fascist mantle; the economics minister, Giulio Tremonti; Foreign Minister Frattini; and Mario Draghi, governor of the Bank of Italy. But after years of indictments, investigations, leftist infighting, right-wing race baiting, and Berlusconi's habit of sucking up all the air in the center, true saviors for Italy are in very short supply. The ultimate blame may lie with ordinary Italians. Author Umberto Eco wrote last month that the Italian public has accepted Berlusconi, and will accept the gagging of the press. "So why write about this when most Italians know very little—because the media, so tightly controlled by Berlusconi, tell them very little?" Eco asked. "The answer is simple. In 1931, Mussolini's Fascist regime made all 1,200 university professors swear fidelity. Only 12 refused, and lost their jobs … Those 12 saved the honor of our universities—and of our country. That's why you have to say no, even when it may do no good." And that's why Italy must say no once more. And tell Silvio it's time to go.

With Jacopo Barigazzi in Milan and Barbie Nadeau in Rome