Talk about bizarre. The government decided to post everyone's tax records online as a measure of transparency or something. Vincenzo Visco, the Deputy Economic Minister, is quoted as saying:

Governments basing decisions off American soap operas? wtf!?

Linky:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7376608.stm

Why am I not surprised it's in Italy? That country is a joke. It should be run as a EU protectorate or something.

LMFAO; that's Italy for you. Arathorn is right, it's a madhouse down there. Their Prime Minister is a former low-life singer who turned media tycoon/football club chairman and then became a politician to bend the law to his liking (and to prevent himself from being charged with all sorts of fraud lawsuits). Kinda like Schwarzenegger, only worse.


The North has a dominant fascist political party that would like to be independent from the rest of Italy, the South is controlled by the mafia and is living (quite literally) on a burning trash heap.

Pretty much the only thing the Italians have going for them now is Rome. The history, that is.

lol, I'm surprised Derf hasn't commented. He probably hasn't seen this. He might go into fits. :p

I've never really been, so I can't comment. But yea... they must be crazy.

Oh, definitely. They're also generally friendly people and hospitable, but when it comes to politics they're absolutely bonkers.

I've been there 2-3 times...once for a week or two, travelling from the North to the South and staying in Rome for a few days. Other times were short, both on Sicily (I went there by boat from Malta). Sicily is hawt, volcanoes rox0rs!

I saw that article too. I can't disagree with your comments. Italian politics are a goddamn shambles.

The south can't compete economically with the north for 3 reasons:
- The north has easy access to europe
- Mafia in the south
- Fucked up socio-political mismatch*

*A good part of southern popular political ideology is for fascist-esque shit (thanks to WW1/WW2 history and CIA cold war ops), which means they prefer to vote conservative. Conservative parties don't tend to give a shit about poorer citizens, so the southerners shoot themselves in the foot with this one without noticing.
On the other hand, the super-lucrative north** don't like voting left because, after all, the conservatives look after their wealth better.

** Let's not forget that italy has a huge black economy, barely anyone i know declares proper income, or pays taxes for that matter. Italy is much richer than what most people think. The Po valley in the north is regarded as one of the richest regions in the world.

But hey, the food, women, football, motorsport, cars, sights are unbeatable.

heh...If I had limitless funds, I'd definitely be driving an Italian car. At least on one or two days a week. The rest would be German and American cars. :p

bleh, wish I had the cash to go traveling. I'd really love to see Europe some (at least the places I haven't already seen).

Heh...with the strong euro and the weak dollar, I would be inclined to go the opposite direction. If I had money.

hah....I guess I could go to asia. But I've already been there. Or maybe Africa. I hear they love the American dollar there,

Asia is big.

lol, ok. But where in Asia to go?

Korea... been there.
Japan... that'd be cool, but something tells me it's freakin' expensive.
Philippines... sounds nice other than the terrorists abducting people on a semi-regular basis.
Sri Lanka .... hell no.
China... HELL no.
Thailand.. maybe. I don't really know much about its tourism industry. Anyone?

I guess there are option. I'd almost rather go to New Zealand or Australia, though. Australia is really high on my "must go there" list.

Depends what you like to do. Thailand is da shizzle, or so I hear.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002_Bali_bombings

Satis and his American passport could get him killed in a lot of places. Not that I would be that much safer, but still. You can't have dual nationality as a US citizen right? Apart from having it by birth, I mean. Or you could have cashed in on that Hungarian/German thing.

One of my colleagues at my previous job was born in Puerto Rico from Dutch parents. So he has the Dutch nationality as well as American citizenship. And if necessary he could claim he is Puerto Rican too, given that they're not a proper US state.

Kinda jealous though...he could roll in and out of the US and/or the EU without much restriction. No need for work permits or visa etc. And American and Dutch passport will give you a lot of leeway internationally (Canada, Australia, you name it). Bastard.

hah, yea. I never had the option for dual citizenship. I'm not sure of the laws surrounding that on the American side. Whatever, I don't really want to owe allegiance to another country. :p

And yea, Americans aren't exactly beloved. Then again, most countries are pretty careful to protect tourists. All it takes is a few deaths and they lose assloads in tourist revenue. So as long as you stay in the American-town areas you should be fine.