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Is The USA Getting Its Very Own Berlusconi?

It seems Republican Presidential wannabe Mitt Romney has bought the massive media conglomerate Clear Channel – possibly with a view to having his own media mouthpiece during his presidential run, posssibly to counter Fox’ stranglehold on the GOP’s messaging, who knows.

What we do know is what a similar situation did for Italian politics:

That the Italian elections of 2001 were won by Silvio Berlusconi, Italy?s biggest media mogul, surprised no one. Berlusconi?s media muscle was a major factor in his success, but not in the way that many might imagine. There is little evidence that Berlusconi used his three television networks to broadcast overt propaganda, still less that the Italian electorate are so unsophisticated as to be bludgeoned into supporting him through saturation of their TV screens. In fact, the impact of Berlusconi?s media empire was both less obvious and far more significant than that.

[…]

Berlusconi?s television empire counted more as a resource for negotiation and bargaining with other political, economic and social actors than as an instrument for propaganda. At the hub of an empire with tentacles reaching across multiple media and financial services, Berlusconi clearly had resources unavailable to any other politician.

To some extent, this is a result simply of the sheer economic size of his holdings. His personal fortune alone could bankroll an election campaign. We still do not know exactly what economic resources he used, and whether they were compatible with what is allowed by law. But it is crucial that Berlusconi?s empire is based in television and in the mass media more generally: television does have a central role in modern economic, political and social life ? though in a more subtle way than many commentaries on Berlusconi suggest.

Staff transfers: business to politics

First Berlusconi was able to draw on a wealth of human resources within his economic empire, resources which have particular relevance to the conduct of politics in the media age, and which are not in abundant supply in Italy outside Berlusconi?s empire: this is one of the lesser-known political consequences of media concentration. Berlusconi called on these resources seven years ago when he created the structure of Forza Italia, which was mainly based on employees transferred from his Fininvest organization. He did it again in the last campaign, using personnel from the old and new Mediaset structure (the former Fininvest) and above all from his advertising sales unit, Publitalia.

There are numerous examples of this staff crossover, from business to politics. The most important one regards Berlusconi?s pollster in the 1994 campaign, Gianni Pilo, who was in charge of Fininvest?s market research department until just a few days before the owner of the television company for which he worked prophetically entered the race. Marcello Dell?Utri, who was fundamental to the organization of Forza Italia, had been general manager of Publitalia.

Secondly, in Italian politics, bargaining among political elites is crucial and endemic. Berlusconi”s wide-reaching empire puts him in an extremely favourable position to horse-trade. He has jobs and business opportunities to offer. And even if he is careful not to run blatantly afoul of Italy?s rules on pluralism in election coverage, he can use the content of his media outlets in more subtle ways to advance his political ends, offering other politicians favourable publicity or support on particular issues in return for their cooperation.

There are no guarantees Romney won’t do the same.This is not a positive development for US politics.

Read more: US politics, Media, Clear Channel, Mitt Romney, GOP, Presidential election 08

Diplomacy News: Faux Pas De Deux

Will this display of silky Bush skill and suavity never end? Someone get these people a protocol droid, since they haven’t got any damned manners whatsoever:

One:

Yesterday, the White House website featured a graphic with the flags of the three countries he?s visiting on his trip ? Singapore, Vietnam, and Indonesia. One problem: instead of displaying the Vietnamese flag, the White House graphic featured the old flag of South Vietnam. That flag hasn?t been the official flag of Vietnam since South Vietnam surrendered to North Vietnam in 1975.

Wow, I bet that went down well with their hosts.

Two:

Laura Bush in Indonesia. Yes, she might well look as though someone died…

“White is the colour of mourning. Ancient Chinese people wore white clothes and hats only when they mourned for the dead. That tradition is still practiced right now all over SE Asia. “

Oops.

(h/t Watertiger)

Read more: Bush family assholery.

Sex, Socialism, Lies & Videotape

[A quick rundown to bring non-British readers up to speed: member of the Scottish Parliament, Tommy Sheridan is the former leader of the Scottish Socialist party, who resigned from it to ‘spend more time with his family’. The Murdoch-owned tabloid the News of The World accused Sheridan of resigning for having been an active participant at swingers’ clubs and having admitted it in an internal party meeting, a meeting the paper alleged it had on tape.

Sheridan sued for libel and won, in the process branding over a dozen loyal SSP members liars and scabs and denying the existence of any such taped admission, despite the evidence of 16 people who said they’d heard him say those very things. The party split: Sheridan now heads his own faction called Solidarity. Further allegations of perjury have surfaced and he’s still being investigated by the police. Now read on.]

Another reason from The Scotsman, (if more were needed), why Tommy Sheridan is a liability to socialism:

Coming to a screen near you
EDDIE BARNES

BY ANY standards, it is an astonishing admission. “All of that muck that could be raked on me as an individual, of course it is the truth,” says Tommy Sheridan. “What I said in the course of my trial – garbage. Socialists and socialism – let’s face it, a disaster. What we stand for – garbage. Socialism – garbage.”

Is this what Sheridan’s many enemies have been waiting for – sensational new evidence that the former SSP leader lied in court when confronted with allegations of adultery and hypocrisy? The incendiary quotes come from an audio tape currently available for download on YouTube, the wildly successful internet site sold earlier this month to Google for ?883m. Placed there by an anonymous mischief-maker, the download is a fake, created by splicing together some of Sheridan’s public pronouncements to achieve the desired effect. [My emphasis]

Those intent on humiliating the embattled Sheridan have not stopped there. Another spoof video takes footage of his mother Alice performing an excruciating version of the song ‘Impossible Dream’ at the launch of her son’s new Solidarity party, and mixes it with montages of Sheridan engaged in a fight with his successor and now hated rival Colin Fox. It has so far attracted more than 3,000 hits. In fact, Sheridan has his own little corner in YouTube: as well as these two spoofs there are genuine clips of his more celebrated speeches, including the one delivered after winning his libel action against the News of the World earlier this year.

This kind of public vilification will continue until such time as the latest perjury investigations are concluded (though probably not even then).

Personally, I think Sheridan lied through his teeth, the not guilty verdict and subsequent media hoohah notwithstanding – but right now his guilt or innocence of perjury is rather a moot point. Sheridan’s dog and pony show makes all socialists look like petty, venal, backstabbing infighters by association. With the upcoming appeal by the News of The World and the continuing investigations ny Lothian & Borders police, he continues to make all Scottish socialists, whether pro- or anti-Sheridan, look very dodgy indeed.

Now it seems he’s working with Channel 4 on a film about the case. No doubt he’ll try to spin the story as the braw wee working class fighter taking on the big bad Murdoch press, rather than the gross betrayal of his family, his party and his comrades it actually was. There certainly was malign intent by the NoW, but Sheridan has shown himself to be economical with the truth at best and an egotistical liar at worst.

What makes me really angry is the public shame at being branded liars that he brought on the women in his party, who understandably were not happy at being lied to and told him so. Here’s what one of the witnesses labelled a perjurer in court had to say after the verdict:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: too many men calling themselves socialists have hijacked the movement and the work of thousands of committed leftists, many of them women, purely for the greater glory of their own massive egos. Blair is one, John Reid another and Sheridan is too – but he’s worse, because he dragged his party and its members down with him deliberately to save his own skin.

Sheridan should return to private life post-haste, stick to his tanning booth nd his burgeoning media career and stop putting his own private ambitions ahead of the cause.

Read more: UK, Scotland, Socialism, SSP, Perjury, Tommy Sheridan, Video spoofs, YouTube

Linky Linky

Yummy mummies strip for Farepak victims: For those not aware of the story, Farepak has become a British national scandal: it was an unregulated Christmas ‘savings company’ that was deliberately wound up, leaving thousands of poor UK families a total of 40 million pounds out of pocket, with no Christmas for their children and no prospect of recovering what they’ve lost.

“A group of Cumbrian women have stripped off to raise cash for families hit by the crash of the Farepak hamper firm. It was the idea of Anna Stewart, a childminder, who attends a mother and toddler group where the demise of Farepak has hit five mums and 14 children. She hopes to sell hundreds of copies of the calendar and will donate the proceeds to local Farepak victims, reports the News & Star. The mother-of-three organised a photo-shoot at Venture studios in Carlisle, which offered facilities free of charge.”

Well done, those women. If you’d like to help or get a calendar, contact details are available here.

War on youth: chucked out – foto-novela gallery with soundtrack of what happened when a group of young lads in hoodies tried to visit their local taxpayer-funded, public Manchester art gallery.

My Half-Year of Hell With Christian Fundamentalists: a Polish exchange student shares the horror. (Via):

One day I was talking to my host parents about my mother, who is separated from my father. They were appalled — my mother’s heart was just as possessed by the devil as mine, they exclaimed. God wanted her to stay with her husband, they said.

The Golden Winger nominations are up at The Poor Man:

The Soggy Biscuit Award: (biggest circle jerk)

A) Lee Seigel and ?sprezzatura?, The New Republic Lee Siegel is a genius?

B) Assorted, ?Glenn Greewald is eeeeeeevil?

C) Assorted, ?James Webb writes kiddie porn!?

D) The Washington Post, ?stop being mean to Deborah Howell!?

I’d vote for Lee Seigel because he’s such a twat, but in view of the breadth of the ensuing fallout, it has to be the WaPo. Nominations are still open, so I may have to nominate Sadly No’s pet insane winger Jeff Goldstein for something, the Palme D’Hair perhaps. It’s all a bit insular, but still fun.

Sometimes you just want to bang your head on the keyboard…
The same conference that reiterated the Catholic Church’s hardline position on homosexuality (“No 1: Be celibate”) voted more money for research into priests’ sexual abuse of children. Ow, ow, ow ow, the wilfully blind, it hurts……

America’s first socialist senator has his own video game

Oy, how I miss Channel 4: luckily there’s bittorrent for things like Black Books and Green Wing. This is one series I have to obtain somehow: the first series of The IT Crowd is now out on DVD, with subtitles in ‘leet. $w337!

SF publisher gives away books to disabled:

“Baen Books, a publisher of science fiction, will provide its books to fans who are blind, paralysed, or dyslexic, or are amputees, in electronic form free of charge, effective immediately. Baen Books is making this offer in recognition of Veterans Day, and all our disabled military veterans. Many Baen authors are veterans themselves, using a military setting as the setting of their tales. Right now convalescing vets might welcome an exciting, fast-action tale to pass the time.”

And finally: Is that all? We British spend 3 full days a year moaning, apparently. Seems a woeful underestimate to me. Bloody useless bloody surveys.

Read more: UK , Farepak, Fundraising, Publishing, Veterans, Fundies, Disability, Catholic Church, Sex, TV, Channel 4, IT Crowd, Demonised youth , Nude Calendars

Resignation Petition On Blair’s Own Website

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Some clever bod Edward Clarke has managed to get 10 Downing St’s own website to accept “We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Resign immediately “ on its survey page. (There’s a screenshot above just to prove it, before it’s gone). Oh dear, one of the cronies is in the shit now… I bet there’ll be a tiny little foot being stamped later today.

So what are you waiting for? Go tell No. 10 what you think.Vote soon, vote often, vote quickly before it’s gone.

Read more: UK politics, Tony Blair, Resignation survey , 10 Downing St. Website, Political errors. Petitions