Friday, October 31, 2008

Wanda Sykes on Prop 8

Wanda Sykes was on Ellen today, I am told. On account of it being Halloween, she showed up dressed as a Wall Street man in a golden parachute.
Wanda talks to Ellen about Proposition 8 as well as race and gender.
Sykes' line worthy of mention: "The bible says Adam and Eve, it doesn't say Eve and Mary J. Blige."
So, the pumpkin today for funniest line of the week needs to go to Wanda Sykes, simply one of our best female stand-up acts!

Here it is:

Berlusconi, Bias, Gender, and Beauty Queen Turned Politician


Ah, Italy!
The land of Dante.
The land of Manzoni.
And, the land of Berlusconi.
Spiegel.de via the Italian newspaper, La Reppublica informs us today that Italy's premier, 72-year-old Silvio Berlusconi's at it again. When talking with extreme enthusiasm about one of his youngest cabinet members, former Miss Italia contestant, Mara Carfagna, Berlusconi apparently observed: "If I weren't already married, I'd marry her right this instant!"
Those of you who read German will find this Spiegel bit quite interesting. Berlusconi's words with regards to Carfanga were: ""Wenn ich nicht schon verheiratet wäre, würde ich sie sofort heiraten.""
Nice going!
Right after he made this public praise, his wife, Veronica, turned to the papers and said that she felt deeply hurt. Incidentally, this is not the first time that Berlusconi has gotten in trouble with the Mrs. A similar instance happened two years prior when he publicly told a reporter: ""With you, I'd go anywhere"."
Spiegel notes: "Seine Frau Veronica fand das gar nicht witzig und veröffentlichte ein paar Tage später einen Brief in "La Repubblica", in dem sie die Äußerung ihres Mannes als Verletzung ihrer Würde verurteilte."

Yes, no other medium can settle a domestic dispute the way the press can. Way to go!
Berlusconi, that beacon of enlightenment and symbol of collected wisdom, gets the prize of the week as the most politically correct and not gender-biased politician of the West, perhaps?
My diagnosis of the billionaire: Signor Berlusconi, you're suffering from a case of open mouth insert foot! Times a few times.
Berlusconi, quite democratically, wrote back to his wife on the newspaper - don't these people have a kitchen table where they can talk things over?! - that he talks a lot but does nothing. Then he had the proverbial nerve to self-compare to none other than John F. Kennedy. He says - my translation - 'Dear Veronica, I talk a lot but I don't do anything. Jackie Kennedy wrote a letter once to the Washington Post when her own husband was busy in other beds. Your husband, who is always in love with you, Silvio."
Right. Scusi?
If you read Italian, here is the full article.
graph per spiegel