Silvio Berlusconi Expelled From Italian Parliament

Reason

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been expelled from parliament by the Senate because of his tax fraud conviction, and could face arrest over other cases now that his immunity has been lifted.

Berlusconi said that today is a "day of mourning" for democracy.

From the BBC:

The Italian Senate has voted to expel ex-Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from parliament with immediate effect over his conviction for tax fraud.

Berlusconi, who has dominated politics for 20 years, could now face arrest over other criminal cases as he has lost his immunity from prosecution.

He told supporters in Rome it was a "day of mourning" for democracy.

Ahead of the vote, he vowed to remain in politics to lead his Forza Italia in a "fight for the good of Italy".

Berlusconi told supporters gathered outside his Rome residence that "no political leader has suffered a persecution such as I have lived through".

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Comments

[Mad Scientist]

Berlusconi told supporters gathered outside his Rome residence that "no political leader has suffered a persecution such as I have lived through".

He may have lost his job, but at least he's keeping things in perspective.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

You are telling me!

/Louis XVI

[GILMORE]

Its good to be the king

[Generic Stranger]

Well, until your subjects get sick of your shit and guillotine your ass, anyway.

[Dr. Frankenstien]

Et Tu Berlusconi

/Great Caeser's Ghost

[BladeDoc]

Ummm, not even the most persecuted Italian. Not that he didn't deserve it.

http://www.custermen.com/Italy.....solini.htm

[sloopyinca]

Fuck Michigan!

That is all.

[Almanian!]

We're still here, sitting on Ohio. Enjoy the shitstorm, fuckeyes! HAHAHAHAHA!

[sloopyinca]

[narrows eyes]

[John]

All you good government types can posture all you like. But tell me you wouldn't want to be this guy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....0-000.html

[sloopyinca]

You know the thing about a whore, she's got... lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll's eye. When she comes at ya, doesn't seem to be livin'.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

You're going to need a bigger bunga bunga.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

Always, RHSM,V... always.

[Bill Dalasio]

And if it's their eyes you're paying attention to, they're wasted on you.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Indeed.

[Almanian!]

that's fucking awesome

[Heroic Mulatto]

Eyes can be one of the most beautiful aspects of a woman.

[Warty]

Exactly. Whorish, glassy, dead eyes are the most beautiful of all.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Are you sure their "glassy" as opposed to merely being coated in a thin film of semen?

[jesse.in.mb]

Are you sure their "glassy" as opposed to merely being coated in a thin film of semen?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKNZICoKSdA

Miss Coco Peru: Oh right, so I'm lickin his balls and the next thing I know, he cums in my eye and he's out the door. Gone. You ever get cum in your eye Gabriel, HMM? It BURNS. So, there I was, laying in the middle of my bed completely naked with an eye full of cum, thinkin' to myself "oh hell no."

[Heroic Mulatto]

You ever get cum in your eye Gabriel, HMM? It BURNS.

That's why I prefer to make passes at girl who wear glasses.

Because I'm compassionate.

[jesse.in.mb]

That's why I prefer to make passes at girl who wear glasses.

Huh, I usually just tell guys it's time for sexy scientist role playing time and make them wear chemist safety goggles during sex.

[Ted S.]

Huh, I usually just tell guys it's time for sexy scientist role playing time

Wouldn't that involve ejaculating into test tubes?

[jesse.in.mb]

Wouldn't that involve ejaculating into test tubes?

How could you possibly...

If you're going to lurk outside my window at night you might as well just come in and join the fun, Ted.

[Ted S.]

That must have been Warty, not I. Why would I een want to go out to the left coast, anyway?

[jesse.in.mb]

That must have been Warty, not I. Why would I een want to go out to the left coast, anyway?

Warty can't travel peeping-tom. He exerts constant, high-intensity, area-of-effect, rape damage.

[Zeb]

I don't think those are her real eyes.

[AlmightyJB]

Forget about the eyes. She's not getting near me with those choppers.

[tarran]

I wouldn't.

He's the fucking prime minister of one of the wealthier countries in the world, one of its most powerful businessmen...

and he's primarily fucking whores. He is paying millions of dollars for sex with nothing to show for it.

Sure, it's not at Hugh Grant getting a blowjob from a cheap trannie in a pickup truck levels of pathetic, but it's on the same order of magnitude.

[Zeb]

I'm sure he likes it, but personally, I agree with you. In his position, I'd expect at least hot groupies who are giving it away.

But mostly I just think it is all hilarious. And that's just how it works in Italy.

[John]

What is with the whore hate? I thought this was a sex positive blog.

[tarran]

I don't hate prostitutes.

I do, however, find men who spent millions of dollars on them pathetic. I don't consider it a mark of success. Like blowing hundreds of thousands of dollars on gambling holidays, it's the mark of a loser.

[JW]

For a loser, he sure does seem to be having a pretty good time. Better than me, anyway.

If you were in your 70's and could bang hot 18 year olds with what amounts to walking around money, you wouldn't?

[BakedPenguin]

Yeah, if you're going to spend that kind of cash, get dedicated mistresses.

[tarran]

Exactly.

John has oft expressed the idea that for men sex is one of the most emotionally aspects of their feelings of self worth. To me, what differentiates sex from masturbation is the emotional connection with one's partner.

There are prostitutes who provide an emotional connection. Mistresses and wives provide that connection. The 18 year olds he was showering with gifts... it strikes me that he was essentially engaging in a very expensive VR form of masturbation.

Again, I just don't see this as an accomplishment to be proud of. I mean, who boasts about how well they masturbate? Who (aside from people who've lost both arms) envies how well others masturbate?

[John]

I agree. I have never found whores fulfilling. But in my fantasy if I were this guy life the whore really lik me. Stop raining on my parade. 😉

[Ted S.]

Better than raping hotel maids. But the politician who did that is liked by the political class, so that was OK.

[Almanian!]

Mary liz, Italy, 2 years ago
Anna Murphy-what the hell are you talking about!...You sound like a typical leftie-or maybe you have a communist companian seeing as Florence is very "red" Berlusconi is doing a great job with his government and these stories are all lies

Oh, where are you NOW, Mary Liz? Berlusconi NEEDS your support!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Hopefully this doesn't negatively impact his chances of nailing Brazilian models.

[The Rt. Hon. Serious Man, Visc]

Oh please, given Italian history I'd say he got off easy

[Aresen]

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been expelled from parliament by the Senate because of his tax fraud conviction

Note that he is being expelled for a tax fraud conviction. If Italian parliamentarians were simply expelled for tax fraud, there would be none left.

[BakedPenguin]

What I'm wondering about is, if he had immunity, why was there a trial? Is it just immunity from being imprisoned?

[sloopyinca]

Man, who gives a fuck about Berlusconi's journey through the Dago Justice System when there's a much more interesting trial getting underway over there.

[IDPNDNT]

Pigs will fly before the US ships her over on a double jeopardy kangaroo court conviction.

[Brett L]

Now if she wasn't hot, female, and white? Never would have made it out of Italy in the first place.

[Ted S.]

Is it really a double jeopardy kangaroo court conviction?

Seriously, the US media has been as bad at propagandizing that Amanda Knox is innocent as they were at propagandizing that Casey Anthony and George Zimmerman were guilty. So I don't know what the real truth is.

[Zeb]

I've read a few articles that go into some depth about the case and, at least by American standards, the case seems really weak. No physical evidence or reliable witnesses and lots of really bizarre speculation by the prosecution with very little to back it up.

[tarran]

There is no doubt of her factual innocence.

For her to be guilty, she needed a magic cloth that wiped her and her boyfriend's DNA off the scene while leaving Rudy Guede's DNA.

Kercher was covered with Guede's DNA. There is no DNA evidence other than trace amounts of DNA on a knife in the boyfriend's apartment. The problem is that the prosecution improverly stored the knife and the amounts are so minute that they are likely the product of contamination at the lab.

The one other bit of evidence the local cops came up with was that they claim that they came upon Knox trying to dispose of the body. What had happened was Knox had found the body and called the Italian military cops (Italian law enforcement is bizarre and the military cops handle these calls when they come in on the equivalent of 9/11). The local PD had found Kercher's cell phone and showed up to investigate it's theft. Knox led them to the body. When the Military cops showed up the local PD sent them away. They then somehow convinced themselves that Knox had called the military cops after the local cops showed up, although the time stamps on the phone logs support Knox's version of events.

The local PD in that town are a bunch of animals. They fucked up every aspect of the investigation. They have this weird Italian fascination with American Women as Jezebels and were convinced that Knox had to be involved.

[GILMORE]

She's got hot eyebrows.

[JW]

She looks like Tom Cruise in drag.

[GILMORE]

yeah, *exactly*! HAWT

[Snark Plissken]

I think the fraud predates his parliamentary immunity. I know he was being tried for fraud when he was PM but managed to delay it till the statue of limitations ran out. I've sort of lost the thread since I let my subscription to the (now decidedly leftie) Economist run out.

[sloopyinca]

Wait, so their statute of limitations runs out if a trial has not commenced? So someone can be charged and all they have to do is force delays, which a government official can pretty much do at their leisure, and they're off scot free?

Holy fuck, that's some perverted shit right there.

[tarran]

It's Italy.

We should be thankful: some of their prosecutors are monsters that would be laughed out of American courts in the 1600's.

[Zeb]

And they also convict scientists for making insufficiently alarming predictions of earthquakes. As absurd as the Amanda Knox thing has been in many ways, I think that one takes the cake.

[Snark Plissken]

I think that's why Silvio went into politics in the first place, but I really haven't been following this for a long time.

[Entropy Void]

We could send the Eye-Ties Il Douche'!

[Hugh Akston]

Expelled seems like the wrong word to use in this situation.

[sloopyinca]

Silvio Berlusconi Poison Turd Expelled From Italian Parliament Diseased Bowels

Meh, sounds about right to me.

[Brett L]

So my wife just discovered net versus gross pay. I got a spate of angry texts. "OMG! The government is STEALING from us!!!" "I'm pissed!!!"

I guess when you work for the state (university) and don't make shit, it didn't matter until we agreed to a joint budget. And then it took her about six months to start participating. But now, holy Gods do I live in terror of going over my play allotment. And, to be fair, she's perhaps even more strict about sticking to her "unsupervised" budget limits.

I'm almost as proud as the day she pulled right into the "hybrid and alternative vehicles only" spot that the idiots in Tallahassee have started requiring in new shopping developments.

[sloopyinca]

Hey, when the hell is your baby coming?

[Brett L]

Fuck if we know. She was, in doc speak "1cm dialated, 60% effaced, and engaged". Which I took to mean, "not coming before Thanksgiving". Due date is next Tuesday, wife wants to hold out for Friday the 13th if she has to be induced. How's your project?

[sloopyinca]

If she's 1cm dilated and 60% effaced, she could pop any day now. I'd get a bag packed and at the door. You could also feed her a lot of spicy food and have her walk a couple of miles...that would do it.

We're due to go in and be induced on Monday if she doesn't come out before then. I guess that's a hell of a 1st Birthday present for Baby Reason.

[Brett L]

Cool! We're trying the walk tomorrow. 5K Turkey Trot. And sex. we've been trying that. "For the baby".

[sloopyinca]

We did the trot last year and it did us no good at all. I can't do it this year because I have to cook for 14 people while my wife puts her feet up and fucks off with her family.

Thanksgiving is bullshit.

[Mad Scientist]

I can't do it this year because I have to cook

You have to cook? For a guy with a kid named Liberty...

[Heroic Mulatto]

Dude, when you have a professional chef in the house, you let him do the cooking.

Let me guess, you actually like the "log" version of cranberry sauce?

[Mad Scientist]

C'mon, HM, we have to rib Sloopy whenever we have the opportunity. It's in the bylaws. Also, all kids love log.

[The Last American Hero]

It's better than bad, it's good!

[Brett L]

I like the version of cranberry sauce that tastes least like cranberry. If that's the "log" version, I'm guilty.

[Heroic Mulatto]

I like the version of cranberry sauce that tastes least like cranberry.

You, sir, are nothing more than a villain and a common rogue!

[Nikki just says no]

Jeez, HM, all right-thinking people love cranberry sauce from a can. What's wrong with you?

[Heroic Mulatto]

What's wrong with you?

I like lumps?

What you gon' do with all that junk?
All that junk inside that can?
I'ma get, get, get, get, you drunk,
Get you turkey drunk off my (cranberry) lump.

[Brett L]

Cranberries have always struck me as one of those poor people foods from previous generations that is supposedly "good" now. Like corned beef hash or fish and grits. The difference being that I like the latter two, and only like sweetened cranberry goo as a sweet relish counterpoint to the flavor of a good stuffing in a turkey and fixings sandwich.

[sloopyinca]

Don't talk shit about corned beef hash!

[Brett L]

Corned beef hash is awesome. But really, its leftovers from poor people food.

[Mad Scientist]

Same thing with lobster. That stuff was only good enough for servants, who often wrote into their contracts that they wouldn't eat it more than twice a week.

[sloopyinca]

"Cheffin'" and cooking a T-day dinner for a bunch of family are so totally opposite it's ridiculous. First off, I was typically allowed to get good and loaded when we did a dinner service. I've got to not only stay sober because the time of day but also because I have to be at the ready to drive to the Hospital if necessary.

And FWIW, cranberry sauce is for losers anyway, so who gives a fuck if it's from a can or not.

I'm doing a 20 lb bird and a 12 lb ham this year by the way, which will be a bitch to pull off with a single oven. But I'm sure I can pull it off.

[Brett L]

I've got to not only stay sober because the time of day but also because I have to be at the ready to drive to the Hospital if necessary.

This is also cramping my Saturday plans, which were to chug a beer while UF-FSU was still close, and then drink steadily through the rest of the day until I was incoherently raving at the 8:30 announcers.

[Ted S.]

which will be a bitch to pull off with a single oven.

Try a married oven instead. 😉

[Brett L]

Well, at least my wife won't outrun me this year. And, I don't have to cook. So go me.

[Ted S.]

Make them toast and popcorn like Charlie Brown did.

[GILMORE]

"First a you getta de money, THEN a you getta the Power, THEN..."

[Heroic Mulatto]

OT:NSA 'planned to discredit radicals over web-porn use'

And by "radicals" they, of course, meant only those frothing-at-the-mouth Islamo-crazies and not those "domestics" who expressed the radical idea that Obama is not an apotheosized lightworker.

[sloopyinca]

And in other "News From Hours Ago," the sun came up at 6:05 this morning.

/sarc

[Heroic Mulatto]

It bears repeating.

[Heroic Mulatto]

It bears repeating.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

Indeed.

[Swiss Servator, referendiffic!]

Indeed.

[bassjoe]

He's not going to jail. He's one of the richest people in the country and controls major media outlets. It would be like America sending Bill Gates, Warren Buffett AND Rupert Murdoch to jail.

Also, he's over the age of 70 which makes him exempt from actual imprisonment for many crimes in Italy, including tax fraud (whether that includes the other issues winding their way through court, I'm not sure; I think even Italy must frown on 60 year olds soliciting sex with minors).

[pan fried wylie]

Berlusconi told supporters gathered outside his Rome residence that "the Italian Senate is full of racist obstructionists."

ftfhere

[Kid Xenocles]

Puttana setta me up!

[Eduard van Haalen]

You can't hold him in prison - he'll jump up, smash the ceiling with his head, then leap through the hold and escape!

Wait, that's Mario.

[Eduard van Haalen]

through the hole

[Kid Xenocles]

That's what got him in trouble in the first place.

[Robert]

What are Forza Italia's policy preferences like?