In Italy a blog has managed to capitalize growing discontent of large sectors of society with their political class. Beppe Grillo, which is Italian for Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio’s conscience), is a 59 Genovese comedian who, a couple weeks ago, organized a march in Bologna that brought together 50,000 people, and which got over 300,000 signatures in support of the “Vaffanculo” manifest.
Beppe Grillo is the most visited blog in Italy, with over 100,000 entries per day. It sponsors candidacies for municipal elections and proposes steps to purge the Parliament, such as limiting time in office to two terms, allowing open-list direct voting and forbidding anyone who has been convicted of a penal crime from holding a seat.
In Italy the debate is thickening upon the massive audience: there are people who accuse Beppe Grillo of having a powerful demagogic, conservative and anti-political agenda, and whose criticism is overflowing into the party system, the media and institutions.
The comedian is banned from Italian public television since 1986 because of a joke he told on the RAI against the president at that time, socialist Bettino Craxi.
A political blog capitalized discontent in Italy
Sheriff days
Yesterday afternoon, as I was going down route 315, on the stretch that goes from Curva de los Vega to Cartujana, I caught some guys robbing electrical cables from the street lamps which we had inaugurated in Villa Carmela, at the end of July. I stopped the truck, put my hazard lights on, I moved the truck, I beeped the horn. I called the police. Other people stopped their cars too. The police arrived and they went out into a small local farm and apprehended the suspects. The cables were repaired and the lighting is up and running appropriately. And that’s it. I prefer to tell the story rather than have everyone calling me sheriff.
Successful international trip
One month away from the presidential elections, Nestor Kirchner and his wife, presidential candidate Cristina Fernandez, are finishing up their trip around the United States. They could be seen on the main international political marquees: the United Nations General Assembly, the Council of the Americas and the Clinton Global Initiative.
Speaking before the United Nations, President Kirchner stated that our countries are the ones that have contributed the least to climate change and first-world countries are the ones that have been receiving, for some time now, subsidies from us, which has allowed them to keep enjoying the high levels of consumption that lead to this very situation. The President stated that “The world, as well as under-developed countries, is in debt to first-world countries. This situation has lead to a moral and environmental debt that must be corrected in order to resolve the concerns brought up by the adverse effects of climate change.”
Cristina Fernandez, who is considered to be the “Latin American Hillary Clinton” (according to Time magazine), stood out with her participation on the Council of the Americas Committee. She imparted upon the U.S.’s top businessmen a strong message of predictability and continuity for the country's economic architecture.
At that lunch in New York, the senator said that "earning money is not something shameful", but she warned us that an economy shouldn't only be looking at "business profitability" but instead is fundamentally linked to "social profitability”.
Kirchner and his wife also took part in the Clinton Global Initiative, together with around twenty presidents, businessmen, intellectuals and celebrities, intending to face the main global challenges, such as climate change and poverty.
The President called upon regional governments to have “social inclusion policies”, after his 45 minute chat with Bill Clinton ended.
We mustn’t forget that Hillary Clinton, wife of former president Clinton, is the popular candidate for the Democratic Party, and is the person who will most likely succeed George Bush in the White House.
Clinton’s joke came after the chat: “They are always asking us how we are going to spend our time when the ladies are in office”, referring to the “mirrored” campaigns of Cristina and Hillary. Clinton then told Kirchner: "We both can give the same answer: I'm going to do whatever she tells me."
The presidential couple’s message in the United States was clear and precise. It also outlined policies of a government that is already thinking about the challenges that will arise over the next four years.
The first laptops from the OLPC program are now on sale
The OLPC program, which proposes that each child living in underdeveloped countries have a laptop at his or her desk, launched the “give one, take one” campaign. Under this campaign two low-cost laptops are bought, at US$ 399; one is for private use and the other one goes to a child in the program.
At first the sales will take place in the U.S. and Canada, start on November 12th and will last two weeks.
Suing God
According to the La Nacion newspaper, Nebraskan senator, Ernie Chambers, is suing God.
Chambers is accusing God of having caused calamitous catastrophes, resulting in wide-spread death and destruction.
Since God surely was not present during the hearing, Chambers calls upon representatives of “various religions, denominations and branches of worship who, notoriously, admit to being agents of the defendant and speak on his behalf”.
Chambers is considered to be the most open and passionate black leader in his state and is known as the “angriest black man in Nebraska”.
The plaintiff says he has made “reasonable efforts” to contact the defendant, calling out “come out, come out, wherever you are”, but without success.
The senator accuses God of having caused “fearsome floods, egregious earthquakes, horrendous hurricanes, terrifying tornadoes, pestilential plagues, ferocious famines, devastating droughts, genocidal wars”.
In light of all this, the senator says that God “has manifested neither compassion nor remorse”, proclaiming that the defendant “will laugh” when calamity comes.
Chambers, who has been a Nebraskan senator since 1970, assures that “the defendant’s past behavior and history show that his terroristic threats are credible”.
He is asking the judge to file the suit against God, but without asking him first to permanently stop his “destructive actions and terroristic threats”.
The senator, who does not participate in the morning prayer sessions at the Congressional building, and who frequently criticizes Christians, pointed out since God is everywhere, he can be sued in the United States. He is filing for a permanent restraining order against the Almighty.
The presidential cybercampaign
Next Friday, only one month away from the presidential elections, at Generation K we will launch a work marathon across the country in order to assist our candidates with the tools that Internet has to offer.
From the main cybercampaign platform, hosted at Sumate a Cristina (Join Cristina), we will offer the Kirchnerist militancy 24-hour online support in adding more voices to our network of networks. Just as we have doing with our classroom and distance courses, we will teach how to become a part of the Internet through blogs and which tools are most effective to empower candidates from the Internet.
This way we will open another new collective construction space which aims to bring the political debate face-to-face with the people.
They will stop making cluster bombs
Congratulations is in order for the blogosphere. At the beginning of the month, Paco Polo, a Spanish diplomacy student, started a campaign from his blog against the manufacture of cluster bombs. The campaign quickly sounded all over the Spanish blogosphere, which lead to them being prohibited by the Spanish government.
Cluster bombs are projectiles that shoot out a large number of smaller bombs. They turn the area hit into a mine field, in the same way as antipersonnel mines, which have been banned by Spanish legislation since 1998.
20 Words gets started
This is an innovative product. It promises to keep us informed by using news reports of around 20 words, which will be uploaded by 20 journalists from their cell phones and PCs. There is no newsroom, or editors. It is developed by journalists Dario Gallo and Pablo Mancini.
