Copping a feel

Remember that?

If you were a teen guy coming up in the latter half of the 20th century, I'll bet you at least tried to cop a feel. I mean you had to try. It's what your date, not to mention society at large, expected of you.

The girls knew it too.

"Oh! I've been out with Benny three times now, and he hasn't even tried to cop a feel... I think he must be a fag!"

Yup, people talked like that.

I guess it's one thing to try for a feel when you're a teen out with another teen, and it's a little different when you're a fifty year old exec in the entertainment biz auditioning a teenage wannabee.

But here's the thing; all those middle-aged exec types are still teenagers at heart.

Hell, even Silvio Berlusconi still feels like he's a teen at heart!

They're not trying to take advantage of vulnerable kids...

They're just trying to recapture their youth.

The Berlusconi of Quebec announces his retirement from politics

Sorry we never even got to know you, PKP.

I don't know if PKP would ever have got round to doing any important things, but there is no doubt he was on the cusp of interesting things.

Actually, it was interesting enough that he got himself elected as top dog in the PQ, the Quebec separatist party. That was interesting on multiple fronts. PKP's history of anti-labour activism throughout his vast media empire, while nabbing the PQ leadership, the most pro-labour party in Quebec, was just one example.

But it was a stunning example. We really and truly believed PKP was following in the footsteps of Berlusconi.

Apparently not.

On being "world class"

For fifty years Toronto has aspired to "world class" status.

What does that mean?

Who remembers when Mayor Mel was ruminating about whether the natives would want to toss him in a stew pot when he visited Africa?

That was pretty world-classless.

Now we've got Mayor Ford.

The Toronto press, and especially the Toronto Star, are agog at his antics. In fact, they are so agog at the stain that Ford has besmirched their world class city with that they have fully endorsed the short-circuiting of the democratic process just to get this world-class buffoon out of the picture.

After all, Toronto's reputation as a "world-class" city hangs in the balance.

What nonsense!

The democratic process has tossed up the occasional world-class screw-up from time to time long before Rob Ford hit the front page.

Ford has a ways to go before he matches the boorish buffoonery of Silvio Berlusconi.

Have Berlusconi's foibles prevented tourists from visiting Italy? Have Berlusconi's antics caused head offices to flee from Italy to Luxembourg and Lichtenstein?

Of course not!

Italy remains a serious country and a serious tourist destination in spite of Berlusconi. That's because Italy is a world-class destination that is bigger than the personal peccadilloes of whoever sits in the big chair.

Same goes for Toronto.

The power of bare boobs

I see where the Ukranian FEMEN group has once again garnered world-wide attention with their topless protest of a National Front rally in Paris.

The rally was in honour of French icon Joan of Arc, who has been adopted quite against her will as a mascot of the far right in France.

FEMEN founder Anna Hutsol describes the group as the new wave of radical feminism. That's good news I suppose; who isn't beyond sick and tired of the old wave of radical feminism?

While there does not appear to be a unifying theme to who and what they protest, if you connect the dots between their targets you can see a pattern of sorts:

• human trafficking
• sex trade
• Islam
• Christianity
• Strauss-Kahn
• Berlusconi
• Putin.
• Pope Benedict.

As you can see, they seem to hold a grudge against anyone who ever told them to sit down and shut-up.

I like that about them.

They are also consistently against the many faces of sexual exploitation, and that too is worthy of support. They've also protested the lack of public toilets in Kiev, although I'm not sure how that ties in with the broad strokes of what appears to be an anti-exploitation agenda.

They have protested the Davos summit too, although there is no explicit anti-capitalist plank in their somewhat chaotic platform.

What's noteworthy is their methodology. Plenty of middle-aged men and women have been protesting the National Front for years, but you don't see them making international headlines, do you?

But get a few attractive young women to remove their shirts, and suddenly we have front page news.

Which raises the question; is the international news-consumer interested in their message or merely in their breasts?

Bare boobs greet Berlusconi at protest

This strategy seems unlikely  to make the desired impression on Prime Minister "Bunga Bunga," at least when the bare breasts belong to young hotties. Silvio Berlusconi has seen more naked young women than any politician in the world with the possible exception of Bill Clinton.

This protest group needs to find a few older gals who have fought the forces of time and gravity for fifty years. Let a few raging grannies flash their sagging bosoms. That would shake up the old lecher.

As for "Basta Berlusconi," I'd certainly agree they've had more than enough, but anybody on the ticket who would turn away from the fraudulent austerity agenda that has been foisted on the country by the previous IMF stooge would get my vote.

By the way, looking at those pictures from the Mail Online, just how many big he-man cops does it take to subdue a 100 pound woman?

Mario Monti: most important man in the world

Actually, when Time magazine put him on their cover, he was only the "most important man in Europe".

Well, if this blog had a cover, we'd fix that caption. Obviously an oversight by the folks at Time.

So why is this Goldman Sachs advisor and un-elected Prime Minister of Italy the "most important man in Europe/the world?

Damned if I know. Seems to have something to do with his links to Goldman Sachs.

After all, they're the mega-bullies who've engineered the current economic crisis, and they're also profiting most handsomely from it. I shouldn't say Monti was not elected. Goldman Sachs elected him to be the democratically elected leader of Italy.

Getting their boy on the cover of Time must be something of a coup.

But I can see why Berlusconi had to go. His insatiable appetite for teen tarts was becoming a bit of an embarrassment.

So now Mario has his big test in front of him. He has to tame those commie-infected Italian labor unions. You know the ones. All about a living wage and paid holidays and the usual smorgasbord of union demands.

Enough of that!