Berlusconi -- An Inspiration to So Many

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been in the news lately, namely for calling American President-Elect Barack Obama "sun-tanned."

His reveling in a disco as financial markets crashed was also mentioned in a story in the New York Times last month, which we linked to here.

Now, some Italians feel they need to speak up, if only to say Berlusconi is not speaking in their name.

And they have launched a Web site called, drumroll please, I'm Italian and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi Is Not Speaking in My Name.

The site is a series of photos of Italians as they hold signs saying, appunto, that Berlusconi does not speak for them! Here's the link:

http://www.notspeakinginmyname.com

Allora, ripeto: chi lo vota e perché? Fatevi sentire!

Berlusconi's also the subject of a new article in last week's New Yorker by Alexander Stille, a respected historian. The story summarizes reporting seen elsewhere, including Berlusconi's visit to the disco, and gives Americans a good survey of just how wacky this guy is!

How wacky is he? Well the story is called, ahem, "Girls! Girls! Girls!"

You can find an abstract at the link below, but you need to register to read the whole story:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/11/03/081103fa_fact_stille

Ah il Berlusca!