Cassola hawks his wares between two countries
You’ll find Arnold in the pot of gold at the end of the Rainbow Left
Having failed to convince us that he would make a superb MP to hold the country hostage, Arnold Cassola was back in Italy for some time, hawking his wares around the Italian electorate.
He found a coalition grouping to take him in: the Rainbow Left, or Sinistra Arcobaleno. It sounds right up his street. Ivan Camilleri in Brussels, writing for The Times, got him on the fact that this grouping campaigned for wider access to abortion. Cassola told him that this makes no difference to the price of eggs (my phrase) given that abortion has been legal in Italy for three decades, and that the issue was decided by the people in a referendum.
And he’s right. You can’t exactly campaign on an anti-abortion ticket in a country where abortion is legal. Where I’m not square with him is when he says that he’s not uncomfortable with the idea of contesting under that particular banner.
Then in the same breath, he says:
“I repeat that I am against abortion and I have a different manifesto addressing issues related to my constituency – Italians who are living outside Italy. I am in this coalition just because of the way the Italian electoral law is at present. I am contesting as a candidate of the Italian Greens who are together with other parties in Sinistra Arcobaleno.”
Cassola claims that he will vote against extending abortion rights if it comes to that. Well, we all know that this man likes to have his cake and eat it too. I would have more respect for someone with the guts to say, ‘Yes, I’m standing for election under this ticket and I don’t give a stuff what you in Malta think about abortion because this is Italy and for the time being I am Italian.’
But no. He campaigned in Italy, where people have no problems with abortion and where abortion is legal (in fact, it’s where most Maltese have theirs, other than London), while at the same time keeping the Maltese electorate happy by remote control, for when he pops back to Malta again next year and becomes Maltese long enough to contest the MEP elections.
I think that this man’s natural home is in the Labour Party.
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Ma cara Daphne, voi a’ Malta pensate che l’universo e’ tutto la’. In Italia milioni di gente non sanno neanche cose e’ Malta. Cassola ha fatto e continua a’ fare la scelta giusta. In questo caso il provinciale del quale tu parli troppo, non e lui ma lei.
@Luca …
hope this is not another Mr Said ….mmmmmmm
[Moderator – No, I think he’s just another Italian irredentist who thinks that Maltese people are provincials who live in a province of Italy called Malta.]
Cassola non fa il provinciale ma l’opportunista. Visto che le elezioni sono stati vinti dal berlusca, se cassola verra’ eletto un altra volta avra’ molto da divertirsi al parlamento dato che dal dopo guerra questo sembra il teatro del bagaglino. E lo pagano pure! E avra’ una pensione da favola! Ma che bravi ‘sti italiani, truffati da un arlecchino.
I doubt “Luca” is Italian. Twice he’s placed an apostrophe after “a”. No Italian would make that mistake. What’s Italian for “elf”?
[Moderator – I think it’s ‘elfo’.]
Cassola…il vu cumpra’ per eccellenza
http://www.segnalidifumo.it/public/1767vign.jpg
@Luca and Romegas: se me lo permettono, desidererei suggerire a questi due di imparare l’italiano meglio prima di tentare a scriverlo. La loro contribuzione contiene molti errori. Luca non sa usare il congiuntivo e mischia il “tu” con il “lei” nell’ultima sentenza. Dopo il verbo “pensare” bisogna usare il congiuntivo. Non si dice “milioni di gente” ma milioni di persone. Romegas – la parola “elezioni” e’ femminile e quindi si dovrebbe dire “sono state vinte”; dopo “se” bisogna usare il condizionale “avrebbe”. Sarebbe meglio scrivere in inglese come di solito fa la maggiorparte di quelli che scrivono qui (anche se in un inglese povero) piuttosto che massacrare il dolce idioma di Dante.
Cara Luca – Se devi far pensare a tutti che sei un italiano vero, devi scrivere il “Lei” proprio cosi’ come l’ho scritto io, e non come hai fatto tu (… non e lui ma lei)!
Pull the other one, Luca – What Italian (unless he goes by the name of Cassola) would be interested in this blog, today of all days, when the results of the Italian election are probably more important …
Casa Luca – Un’ altro sbaglio (apparte tutte quelle che hanno trovato gli altri!):
… che l’universo e’ LI (non LA)
It looks like the elf’s Italian needs a little bit more brushing up than mine does.
lala, lala, lala …..
@ Luca
If this guy’s Italian, then I’m Swiss!
Caro Luca, ha mai pensato di prendere lezioni di grammatica? Ha degli o/errori che farebbero venire un infarto anche a Toto’! Ha mai sentito parlare del congiuntivo?
(note: I’m using the ‘lei’ form which, as I’m sure Luca here appreciates, is… erm.. SHOULD BE used when addressing a person who is not a relative)
@ Amanda Mallia
Maybe ‘Luca’ is Anglu Bellu practising his Italian…
@ Albert Farrugia
The way you go on about PfP and dropping of masks it’s as if the Govt has signed a pact with the devil. Aktar huma gosti ta’ certi nies dawn
Anyhoo I’m off to see what pearls of wisdom The Brain will delight me with today…
Why are you wasting so much energy on the little pipsqueak, pray tell?
Italy deserves him, yes?
@Meerkat
You are really one of a kind dear! You did this once yesterday and twice today… put posts under the wrong entries!!
Ha iggeninni insegwi l-argumenti tieghek!!! ;-)
Freethinker,
‘anche se in inglese povero”…. why ‘se in un ….’
Meerkat – Or maybe he spelt his name backwards, and dropped the last letter along the way :)
Meerka – If it’s Anglu Bellu practising his Italian, then he’d better go and work on his English instead, because it’s far worse!
La Sinistra Arcobaleno has been thrashed in today’s election. Maybe Cassola will be back soon to start his new MEP electoral campaign now. Alternattiva get ready to welcome him back.
@lino: yes, “anche se in un inglese povero” which means “even if it is in poor English..”. By this I mean that, rather than writing in bad Italian, it is better to write in English, even the very poor English which is used by some on this blog. Though the language used on blogs is certainly not ideal, I belong to the school of thought that whichever language is used, it should be used correctly or not at all.
Which language will come up next? French?
@ amrio
I was put in this world to drive you crazy :-D
@ Amanda Mallia
re Luca aka Anglu Bellu
Perhaps he is getting ready to visit Italy and ride some elephant in Villa Borghese
@ Phaedra
Yes. Italy deserves him!
@ freethinker
Ben detto! Pero’ si dice ‘frase’ non ‘sentenza’, sempre se il contesto no sia un’aula di corte!!! Del resto, mi congratulo con lei per la formidabile spiegazione dei verbi. Che ricordi! “Il dolce idioma di Dante”… quasi quasi vado a rileggere la Divina Commedia! Peccato che non viviamo ancora nel Trecento!
Freethinker,
What I meant was that “(anche se in un inglese povero)”
is wrong and should read (anche se in inglese povero) because ther are no different types of poor English. English idiom (or any other language idiom) is either correct or poor.
The problem is that it seems that next year we shall be lumped with Cassola and his nonsense for the MEP elections – the rainbow party (basically communists and greens – Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows with due respect to The Bard) has completely disappeared from both the parliament and senate. Now he shall become a pure Maltese again.
Freethinker & Combinaguai – I thought that this extract from Maltastar.com might be of interest to you, once you were on the subject of Dante …
“It is now official – Roberto Benigni, the Italian Oscar-winning director and actor, will be in Malta between 21 and 24 April, to perform a mythical ‘Serata Dantesca’ at the University of Malta.
In recent months, Benigni’s popularity in Italy soared with his television programme ‘Tutto Dante’ on RAI, the Italian national broadcaster. The programmes reached unexpected popularity levels, with viewership exceeding 12 million. The climax of the events is when Benigni superbly recites whole ‘cantos’ of Dante Alighieri’s Divina Commedia by heart.”
Enjoy!
errrrm…. to get back to the topic of the article…. Bad news. Arnold’s loony left/green coalition in Italy hasn’t made the threshold this time, so he’s coming back this way….. :)
My oh my, how “Luca” has managed to divert our attention (albeit unintentionally, possibly) from the real issue here – The fact that Cassola will probably soon be back amongst us, clamouring for our vote for the next MEP elections.
As the Maltese saying goes, “wiccu u ximkien iehor xorta”.
@ Combinaguai
Bravo! Freethinker doveva usare ‘frase’ non ‘sentenza’, proprio come dice Lei. Ma poi, Lei, a quale ‘corte’ fa riferimento? alla corte reale di Elisabetta regina d`Inghilterra o alla corte di giustizia? sia piu` preciso, per cortesia. E giacche` ci siamo, abbiate tutti la cortesia di ritornare al piu` presto all`uso dell`inglese … altrimenti saremo qui a cercare gli errori di lingua e dimenticando, intanto, il vero scopo del sito.
Intanto, pare che la Sinistra Arcobaleno abbia preso una vera batosta e che il nostro amico Cassola dovra` purtroppo far presto ritorno al nostro ‘universo’ ‘provinciale’ (veda Luca sopra)
Se l’Italia vuole la nostra Cazzola, allora avranno la Cazzola……a noi non ci serve. Ne lui ne quelli che presumilibilmente lui rapprezenta. E che elettorato…..l’Italiani del mondo….inclusi quelli che sono fugiti dalla giustizzia. Signior Cazzola, o sei Maltese, o Italiano. Deciditi. Questa schizzofrenia politica non non la vogliamo!
@combinaguai: hai ragione tu! E’ la solita interferenza linguistica inglese che succede, ahime! troppo spesso malgrado la mia concentrazione. Quando parlo francese qualche volta mi scappa qualche italianismo. Sei sicuro che non siamo ancora al trecento, visto che non ci sia ancora da noi neanche l’ombra di leggi della civilta’ moderna – p.e. il divorzio? (scusami, ma la lingua batte, come si suol dire, dove il dente duole…)
@amanda: thank you very much for this piece of news. I have watched all the shows Benigni gave in Florence, that wonderful city, on TV but will be unable to go and see the one in Malta. Would that I could!
@ pete: io preferisco usare “tribunale” invece di “corte” – dal punto di vista giuridico credo che sia piu’ preciso. Se dovessimo correggere le barbarie commesse qui in confronto della lingua inglese, impiegheremmo lo stesso molto tempo. Purtroppo, il livello linguistico a Malta e’ calato ad un livello allarmante. Comunque, io amo l’italiano forse piu’ dell’inglese. L’inglese e’ il piu’ utile, l’italiano il piu’ dilettevole…
Forgive me for not quite sharing in toto the views expressed here with regards to Cassola. But aren’t we all Europeans now? Isn’t the time of nationalism on the way out? Isn’t the EU’s final goal that of federal integration? There should be a time, perhaps in the not very near future, when all Europe will be one federal State and there will be one federal legislature (not the present European Parliament which is really not a parliament)and its MP’s will hail from all European countries… may I invite you to think of this too?
Go Green, the cure for greed.
Some people get infected with disease that ravishes many entrepreneurs and politicians alike. The ones so caught up with the tree hugging save the planet recycle reuse banter, which every news article becomes a political or business opportunity, with large fiscal returns. Infected with mockery the hottest topic around, the environment… you want votes, pop on the environmental Go green wagon and yes you will look holier then the pope and the easily influenced green suckers will cast their ballot.
Jason Micallef should have joined the environment prank and changed their Centru’s red aluminum green. That would be great he can also start his new episode of Naturambjent from ic-centru. Applying for MEPA’s permit wouldn’t be a problem, piece of cake! One don’t have to go from Directors to assistant of Parliamentary Secretaries or call any Chairmen, it will be issued in one day because it’s green.
On a serious note…
Last week, the president of the World Bank, warned that 33 nations are at risk of social unrest because of the rising prices of food.
“For countries where food comprises from half to three-quarters of consumption, there is no margin for survival,” he said.
The US cannot control inflationary factors like petroleum prices or Chinese and Indian food demand. But ethanol mandates, subsidies, and import tariffs are within Uncle Sam’s grasp. Crop prices are increasing, frightfully these factors stir Third World hunger and chaos. In the European Union, most countries exempt biofuels from some gas taxes or slap a mere tariff.
There are several reasons to put an end to these interventions. At best, Corn ethanol delivers only a small reduction in greenhouse gases compared with gasoline.
[Moderator – Leonard, you’ll be happy to know that the British authorities have made it mandatory that all petrol and diesel sold is at least 2 per cent biofuel. This should drive food prices up even further. A report on BBC World Service this morning said that the measure was introduced overnight, and environmental organisations have only begun to react now.]
I wonder if it’s the Nationalists’ fault that the Greens didn’t make it in Italy too.
Cassola non sara eletto in Parlament perche la Sinistra Arcobaleno non ha ottenuto il necessario 5% dei voti per eleggere dei deputati in Camera e dei senatori in Senato. Per la prima volta nella storia Italiana non ci saranno rapresentanti dei Partiti Socialisti in Camera e in Senato.
@ freethinker
I always thought that we are heading for a ‘United States of Europe’ along the lines of the USA, with a central government (federal?) in Brussels and a local one in individual countries. Correct me if I am wrong :-)
Not everyone agrees that the EU should evolve into a federal state and for that reason if it ever happens it will be a long way away. The point is that even within the current framework, you cannot be an MEP AND an MP, because of the workload. I’m not sure if its (a) an EU rule (b) a rule in some countries or (c) a best practice approach applied at ones discretion. I think its (b) but I could be wrong.
So although a reasonably moderate amount of nationalism is not a bad thing, the principle objection (at least mine, anyway) is not that Arnold should choose his nationality, but that I would not be happy paying him two salaries to do two jobs badly.
Back to the nationalism issue though, I DO resent the fact that his website makes virtually no reference to his involvement in Maltese politics. Are we his second choice? I think I would resent being a second class citizen anywhere, including inside the head of a person who is asking for my vote in order for him to represent me.
So under the current system of national parliaments, and as long as a parliamentary seat in any parliament continuess to have a direct link with a specific localised group of voters, Arnold should avoid generating the impression that he wants to collect an MP’s salary at any cost and irrespective of where it comes from, and decide who he wishes to represent and in which forum, once and for all.
I am under the impression that the treshold is 8% not 5%.
Do you think Cassola really thought he had a chance ? I wonder if all those small parties will continue or call it a day. Most of them didn`t even get 2% of the votes.
Well this means we get to welcome him back here .
Is it a record – trying for a seat in two countries within one month ? And there is still the fun of the EU parliament awaiting.
@ Amanda Mallia
My paws are clutching a ticket for the Serata Dantesca…being a university hamalla has its perks…
http://www.di-ve.com/Default.aspx?ID=72&Action=1&NewsId=50809&newscategory=33
The manner in which Vu Cumpra’ Cassola is sandwiched between Bertinotti and Prodi is like one of those groupies who try to grab the warholian 15 mins of fame… His starry-eyed expression says it all. Patetico!
Bertinotti: Chi e’ ‘sto qua, Prodi?
Prodi: E che ne so Fausto!
re Meerkat’s link
Oh come on Cassy! Don’t be such a BAD LOSER! I mean, DO come back to planet Earth! Did you REALLY think you’re so popular with Italians!? And come to that, who would seriously consider putting in government a party with such a ridic… erm… exclusive name? I thought rainbows in Europe had particular affinities, and I’m not referring only to the fact that they curl up soon after a (sic) downpour! But, pray, I may be wrong!
On second thoughts… well, I think Italians WOULD elect a party with such a name! After all in 1987 they DID elect Ms Ilona Staller as an MP!
(And guess which party presented her as a candidate for the first time, way back in 1979! – La lista del sole, Italy’s first Green Party. Whom did you say Rainbow Left sided with?)
This is Italy after all!
@ combinaguai
Let’s play connect four
Arcobaleno, Sole, Maltastar, soleil, etoile…
cue snigger
Did Vladimir Luxuria make it to the Italian Parliament?
What a cheek! This is what dear Arnold had to say after his party’s trashing:
Asked where the versatile politician’s future lay in light of his defeat at the Italian polls, Prof. Cassola commented, “My future is Alternattiva Demokratika, as is the present and as has been the past.”
Go tell it to the marines.
[Moderator – Source: Cassola fails to be re-elected to Italian parliament]
@ Romegas
This best describes Cassola…
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/911/scan0004vf2.jpg
(with Sincere Apologies to Budd Schulberg, scriptwriter – On The Waterfront (1954)
http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/911/scan0004vf2.jpg
@ marika mifsud
Actually the treshold was 4% and not 5% as I stated. Apologise!
@ Tupelo
Well, he.. she.. erm.. she.. he… whatever, did make through in the 2006 with the Communist refoundation party (in coalition with Prodi), but not this time!
source: http://www.corriere.it/Politica/2008/elezioni08/parlamentari_rimasti_esclusi_344e6d1a-0a67-11dd-bdc8-00144f486ba6.shtml
However, one can’t say that Mr/Ms Luxuria was that popular among her.. his fellow MPs. Elisabetta Gardini (of Forza Italia) objected to Luxuria’s (ab)use of the ladies toilets, seeing that s/he still has a superfluous… erm… protrusion (even though it is quite useless).
Apart from this little Italian potitics trivia, how about hearing Alessanra Mussolini – Italian MEP, former Playboy cover-model and bunny (August ’83) and grand-daughter of nonno Benito – say her views regarding politics and sexual orientation.
http://tv.repubblica.it/multimedia/ricerca/155091?brand=&keyword=mussolini&category=&format=
@ combinaguai
Farfar iz-zokkor minn ma’ halqek! hehe
Meerkat – You left out the Moonie :)
Ciccolina made twice to the italian parlament but Drrrrr.Cassolaaaa was elected only once.lol
@Paul
Cicciolina had more interesting ‘arguments’…
@ amrio
You mean Cicciolina had more interesting augmentations LOL
@Phaedra Giuliani; my belief is that the ultimate goal is that of a federal state close to the US model. This, however, remains in the distant future. It depends on the EU Member States to decide if and when a federal state will come into being and what from it would take. At present, popular feeling in EU MS seems not to be developed enough to pressure for a federal state. As is known, in the past, Europe was made up of a lot of tiny subjects of international law – principalities, dukedoms, kingdoms etc and then much larger nation states came along and it was a long process. Therefore, it is not surprising that a Pan-European federal State would also take many decades to become a reality.
@ Meerkat
I can’t! Ate too many figolli this Easter. And still have an abundant storage.