Posts Tagged ‘Benito Mussolini’
It’s Turkey Day!…
As we politely decline a third serving of green bean casserole, we might recall that it was on this date in 1922 that the Italian Parliament granted Benito Mussolini dictatorial powers “for one year.” Mussolini held the position until 1943, though he changed his title in 1925 to “Il Duce,” then again in 1936 to “Sua Eccellenza Benito Mussolini, Capo del Governo, Duce del Fascismo e Fondatore dell’Impero” (“His Excellency Benito Mussolini, Head of Government, Duce of Fascism, and Founder of the Empire”). Any resemblance to Sylvio Berlusconi is coincidental.
Putting the “bust-er” in filibuster…
The Taiwanese Parliament, upholding the tradition that won it the igNobel Peace Prize in 1995, when their citation read:
The Taiwan National Parliament, for demonstrating that politicians gain more by punching, kicking and gouging each other than by waging war against other nations.
As we prepare for the weigh-ins before the November elections, we might recall that it was on this date in in 1938 that Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, French Premier Edouard Daladier, and British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Pact– and sealed the fate of Czechoslovakia, virtually handing it over to Germany. Back in Britain, Chamberlain declared that the meeting had achieved “peace in our time.”
Rather, by formally ceding the Sudentenland, the Pact granted Hitler and the Nazi war machine 66 percent of Czechoslovakia’s coal, 70 percent of its iron and steel, and 70 percent of its electrical power, and thus, in short order, control of all of Czechoslovakia– which, by the time Poland was invaded, a year later, had disappeared as an independent nation.
Chamberlain, who had thought Hitler’s territorial demands were “not unreasonable,” and Hitler, a “gentleman,” was ruined as a political leader. He was hounded from office, to be replaced by Winston Churchill who later observed, relevantly to both subjects of this missive:
Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.
– speech in the House of Commons (November 11, 1947)
The Banality of Evil– The Next Generation…
From the BBC:
The granddaughter of Italy’s fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has said that blood and parts of his brain have been stolen to sell on the internet.
Alessandra Mussolini, a former showgirl turned MP, said she immediately informed the police when she found out.
The listing, on auction site Ebay, reportedly showed images of a wooden container and ampoules of blood.
Ebay, which does not allow the sale of human matter on its site, said that the listing was removed within hours.
The initial price requested for the material was 15,000 euros ($22,000; £13,000).
The rest of the story– including doctors’ assurance that it must be a hoax, as Mussolini’s remains were destroyed years ago– here.
As we shudder our way from the ridiculous to the sublime, we might recall that it was on this date in 1697 that the “new” St. Paul’s Cathedral in London opened– designed by Christoper Wren after the Great Fire destroyed it’s predecessor (which had been designed by many over the years, most presently, by the extraordinary Inigo Jones).
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