Valentines Day Sermons

The Sweet Poison of Berlusconi - Italy's downward spiral accelerates

Monday, July 18, 2011 — in the Milan Palace of Justice, a building protected by steel gates and blocks of marble, the next hearing in a trial got underway. It is the 16th trial against Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi since the early 1990s — and by far the most spectacular. The proceedings are only now moving forward after delays due to questions about the court’s jurisdiction and because the defendant was unable to attend because he was traveling on official business.

Indeed, Berlusconi has yet to appear in the courtroom, whose front wall is adorned with the images of three women — allegorical depictions of Truth, Justice and the Law. Cages once used to hold defendants in Mafia trials are lined up along the side.

A 782-page dossier, numbered 5657/2011, was created in this Mussolini-era building near Milan’s cathedral. It is filled with recordings of telephone conversations held by Berlusconi’s party girls, their text messages, their diary entries and the transcripts of their police interrogations.

Berlusconi is said to have had sex with 33 women during private parties at his estates, such as the 145-room Villa San Martino in Arcore. One of those women was only 17, a nightclub dancer who uses the stage name Ruby Rubacuori. The indictment by the Fourth Chamber of the Milan Criminal Court includes charges of abuse of office and the promotion of underage prostitution.

‘Say Nothing’

The investigators have compiled several pieces of evidence that support the indictment, even though both the defendant and Rubacuori deny the charges. Nevertheless, recorded telephone conversations between Rubacuori and her friends suggest the opposite is true. In one of many examples, Rubacuori says: “He called me yesterday and said: Ruby, I’ll give you as much money as you want. I’ll pay you, I’ll cover you with money, but it’s important that you keep everything a secret. Say nothing — to anyone.”

Il Cavaliere — a sinner caught in the act. Not just the Milan court, but all of Italy must once again confront the buffooneries of its aging prime minister — and this at a time when the country is in economic difficulties serious enough to threaten its very survival, and when the future of Project Europe depends in part on whether the third-largest economic power in the euro zone is being run decently and with sound judgment.

The Story of Fathers Day | Buy Abercrombie – Fitch Mens Polos

The Story of Fathers Day

The story of Father’s Day is an interesting one. Some say it is little more than a fake holiday, designed by card shops to fill a summer lull in holidays and separate punters from their cash, but that couldn’t be further from the truth (it’s also not true for Valentine’s Day, the holiday most commonly accused of this – look it up).

Father’s Day got its start in 1909 Washington, when Sonora Smart Dodd was listening to a sermon about Mother’s Day, which had just been created two years ago. Mother’s Day was started by a woman named Anna Jarvis, because she wanted to honour her own mother, and she quickly found official support to get it made into a holiday. Sonora, however, had no mother – her father was a single parent who raised her and five other children single-handedly. She thought fathers should have a day too, and the story of Mother’s Day inspired her to try to start one.

The idea quickly caught on, through press coverage and word of mouth, and by the ’20s thousands of people celebrated it, including then-President Woodrow Wilson. It was controversial at first, as many thought it would be seen as an attempt by men to get their own Mother’s Day and diminish the contributions of women, but eventually common sense won out and the day was added to the calendar.

The tradition rapidly spread around the world to countries that didn’t already have a day for fathers – today, most of the world’s countries celebrate it in some form. Many places, including America and the UK, celebrate Father’s Day on the third Sunday in June, but some countries use other dates. Today, Father’s Day is the fifth-largest holiday when it comes to the number of cards sent each year, coming in after Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.

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