Return of the A line?

[johnny9fingers]

Y'know, there was a time when I thought of Italy as a civilised and sophisticated nation, and that Mussolini had been a blip, an aberrant anomaly....but

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jan/11/italy-rosarno-violence-immigrants

You have to admire these folk. Just when one thought Ethnic Cleansing was so last century, up pops a newly fashionable version. As an aside I thought Northern Ireland's intriguing way of getting rid of its Roma was pretty imaginative (pipe bombs, or IED's to you and me) as it showed that a community didn't have to be locked into hating just its traditional enemies (be they Protestant or Catholic) but could unite against a new common and relatively powerless incomer; using the tools of terrorists fighting occupying armies, against a powerless minority, including women and children.

However it seems the Italians, unlike the Irish/Anglo-Irish, don't appear to feel anything in the way of guilt for such actions.

It's quite wonderful that Pope Benny Raztinger, a chap who was in the Hitler Youth, can chide the Italians over their treatment of their extremely-low-paid immigrant orange-picking community.

This year it seems that 800 million Kilos of fruit are rotting on the trees. Perhaps the Calabrian fruit farmers will find that next season, when prices for their produce have risen, they still won't be able to get anyone to pick the oranges from their trees. Shame that, really, isn't it?

Comments

[felephant.livejournal.com]

"Look at dogs."

But not bulldogs or dachshund. (I know next to nothing about dog breeds, but presumably bulldogs and dachshunds are mongrels which then, because they were popular and bred with each other, became a breed proper?)

[johnny9fingers.livejournal.com]

If you think about it, all 'pure bred' dogs have gone through a selective breeding process that limits their gene pool. Most of them have problems of one kind or another. King Charles Spaniels have problems with skull bones limiting brain area and are prone to headaches; Irish Wolfhounds have problems with their joints; Pugs have breathing difficulties....etc & etc.

Few pure breds live more than twelve years: most mongrels manage better.