White House Circulates Unflattering Bio of Berlusconi

When you run a disgraceful operation such as the current White House--one built by ideologues on lies, smearing people, and ruining anyone who is critical of what they do--you'll get things like this.

An embarrassed White House apologized on Tuesday for an "unfortunate mistake" -- the distribution of less-than-flattering biography of Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi at the Group of Eight summit. Still, the gaffe led to headlines in Italy.

The summary of Berlusconi was buried in a nearly inch-thick tome of background that the White House distributed at the summit of major economic powers. The press kit was handed out to the White House traveling press corps.

The biography described Berlusconi as one of the "most controversial leaders in the history of a country known for government corruption and vice."

It was just last month that Berlusconi welcomed Bush to Rome, calling him "a personal friend of mine and also a great friend of Italy." And Bush responded then: "You're right. We're good friends."

The biography, written by Encyclopedia of World Biography, said Berlusconi burst onto the political scene with no experience and used his "vast network of media holdings" to finance his campaign on a promise to "purge the notoriously lackadaisical Italian government of corruption."

The biography went on to say that Berlusconi was appointed to the prime minister's office in 1994, "however, he and his fellow Forza Italia Party leaders soon found themselves accused of the very corruption he had vowed to eradicate."

How did this happen? Well, if you believe it happened by accident, fine. But if you believe it was done out of malice, or a half-assed form of unintended malice in that someone had the bio and unwittingly tipped their hand by accidentally releasing something they agreed with, you're on solid ground when it comes to this White House.

The adults are not in charge. They run everything based on smearing, slamming or denigrating their opponents. A basic biography of Silvio Berlusconi issued by the White House should be simple enough to produce. If your modus operandi is to keep the nasty, partisan material OUT of your day to day operation, then something like this should have stood out and revealed itself for what it was--something that could embarrass an ally.

But if your modus operandi is to deal in sleaze and bullshit, then what's the difference between slamming Berlusconi--whose country pulled out of Iraq and whose judiciary is pursuing a legal case against some CIA operatives--and smearing him with the material that got swept into a package which should have been thoroughly vetted to avoid insulting a G-8 ally?

After seven and a half years, the White House should be a tight ship when it comes to preparing material for foreign travel. These are the final overseas trips--where is the . These mistakes happen in the fledgling days of an unsteady team. This was not a mistake--this was someone deciding on payback, Fox News style, and they might as well admit it.

"I am no longer prepared to wait until everyone is in agreement"

So says Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi about the ongoing saga of uncollected trash in Naples, Italy:

[from the BBC] Firefighters battled overnight in the southern Italian city of Naples to extinguish dozens of blazes as angry residents set rubbish piles alight.

The city has some 3,500 tonnes of uncollected rubbish, piled up around its streets.

Italy's prime minister is due to hold a cabinet meeting in the city on Wednesday to address the crisis.

Silvio Berlusconi has hinted he may force local councils to accept new rubbish dumps, despite opposition.

"I am no longer prepared to wait until everyone is in agreement, while the piles of rubbish become mountains of trash," Mr Berlusconi is quoted as saying in Italy's La Repubblica newspaper.

Last week, residents of towns in the region took to the streets in Naples to protest against planned rubbish dumps and processing plants.

There are an estimated 45,000 tonnes of rubbish on the streets in the wider Campania region.

Despite the fact that railcars are expected to begin hauling the trash to Germany this week, the US military has been looking into whether or not to remove Navy personnel from Naples because of the health risks:

The Navy would consider relocating some sailors and their families if health studies show that the continuing trash crisis in the city poses short or long-term health risks.

While details for any plans still are too premature to discuss, Navy officials want people living in the area to know that relocation is an option that the Navy is taking seriously, said Lt. Cmdr. Wendy Snyder, a spokeswoman for Navy Region Europe.

And, yes--it's because of the mafia:

Over the past 13 years, the authorities are estimated to have spent over 1.3bn euros ($2bn) trying and failing to clean up the streets.

Italy argues that part of the problem lies with the local mafia, the Camorra, who are said to control much of the waste business.

In a separate development, the European Commission issued a warning to the Italian government that it was not complying with an earlier ruling from the court of justice on the way rubbish was collected in the Lazio region.