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Mamma mia. Let’s hope the Italian left realizes history is repeating itself and beats back the Right-Wing attempt to steal this election, retroactively, like the Bushies did in 2000.

Eerie Historical Parallels:

- Wafer-thin margin: Romano Prodi’s Center-Left Coalition officially won by 49.8% against Berlusconi’s Center-Right coalition’s 49.7% according to official results. The difference for one of Italy’s two chambers of Parliament is 25,000 votes.  Read more 

There’s an election coming up on April 9 in Italy. Right-Wingnut Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is about 5% behind in the polls. But he may have found a high-tech, all American solution.

Il Blog di Beppe Grillo (English edition):

The “Diario” of Enrico Deaglio came out today with an edition devoted to possible election frauds due to electronic voting, to be used for the first time in Italy in national elections thanks to the decree dated 3 January 2006.
…
This operation, which is not necessary and has not been requested by anyone, costs 34 Million Euro and was outsourced by private negotiations for reasons of urgency, “since the time interval available was very short” according to Stanca. The contracts were won by three companies: Accenture, EDS and Telecom Italia. Deaglio points out that the son of the Minister of the Interior Pisanu is a partner in Accenture and that EDS is the company involved in the presumed electoral fraud in Florida for the election of Bush.

More Italian election tragicomedy:  Read more 

Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister of Italy, wanted to set the record straight: He was “joking” when he compared himself to Napoleon.

“I am the Jesus Christ of politics,” he corrected himself a day later in a speech on Saturday. “I am a patient victim. I bear everything. I sacrifice myself for everyone.”

This came the same day that Berlusconi put himself in Churchill’s league and not long after he made a vow to a priest not to have sex until the end of his already strenuous exertions to be re-elected in April.

- Ian Fisher, NYT via IHT (Hat tip: my Ma)

You thought our Leader was ridiculous? At least Slimeeo Berluscojones has flair:  Read more 

Bad Boys, Bad Boys, What you Gonna do? The Beeb:

An Italian court has issued Europe-wide arrest warrants for 22 suspected CIA agents accused of helping to kidnap a Muslim cleric in Milan in 2003.

The suspects are accused of abducting Osama Mustafa Hassan, also known as Abu Omar, without Italian permission, and flying him to Egypt for interrogation.

The new warrants allow for the suspects’ detention anywhere in the 25-nation EU, a prosecutor said.

Warrants for Domestic Surveillance? We don’t need no stinkin’ warrants.

Notifying an allied goverment before kidnapping and rendering a refugee in their country? Feh!  Read more