We arrived home from Italy yesterday to find Brian Mulroney testifying on Parliament Hill. Once I turned on the television I couldn’t turn it off: it was compelling television, both because of Mulroney’s skilled rhetoric and because of the questioning (and sometimes goading) he received from the members.
The most amazing thing about Mulroney’s testimony is that by the end of it he had me thinking that it was the most normal thing in the world to have $225,000 in cash squirreled away in safe deposit boxes, cash that doesn’t get income tax paid on it until the heat is on five years later.
It’s only on sober second thought that the craziness of it all bubbles to the top.
If you have an opportunity to watch the video, I recommend it: you’ll learn a lot about how to win friends and influence people.
Comments
I always liked Mulroney: he’s like a Canadian version of Bill Clinton. Only with more money scandals the sex scandals. Plus, he made Air Farce hilarious in the 90’s.
Irony of ironies Mr. Blog Master…you just returned from the most corrupt country in the WORLD (save Columbia). Have you ever heard of the Mophioso ?
Mulroney wouldn’t make the choir in such a twisted, institutionally corrupt country as your beloved Italy. While I don’t condone his attempt at tax evasion it pales in comparison to murder, extorsion and the general illegality that rules the day in Italy.
Perspective Mr. Blog Master, persective.
Touche. Isn’t there a never ending stream of litigation in Italy concerning substandard olive oil? If memory serves me correctly, diluted used motor oil was being blended with olive oil and packaged as ‘extra virgin cold pressed’ olive oil. Ah, those entrepreneurial Italians never seise to amaze and frighten simultaneously.
Here’s hoping you didn’t ingest any unknown toxins from the land of dubious deals, scandals and intimidation (see Sopranos).
Our Irish son ‘lian Brian’ still has a soft spot in my GST heart…
Just because it’s Sunday and snowing and am bored, I decided to jump on the old hyberbole train and explore the idea that you, Mr. Blog Master, “just spent time in the world’s most corrupt countries (save ColOmbia)”.
I am always impressed when someone is able to dash out these important bits of information so easily. I would never have ever guessed that Italy and Colombia were the top two of corrupt nations in the world today — I’d have guessed Cote D’Ivoire, Uzbekistan, Somalia, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan, or many others — but I haven’t done and research on it.
I did find, in the briefest of Google searches, that there is an organization, based out of Berlin, called Transparency International, that rates countries in an annual Corruption Perceptions survey, and in its 2007 rating, there are around 150 countries considered to be more corrupt than Italy, and according to their rating system, Italy is not considered to be a country with a serious corruption problem. Colombia is considered to have a corruption problem, but it is hardly in the top two — and in fact, is beat out by China, India, Mexico, Peru and 100 other countries.
Anyway — it’s interesting stuff. At least for a snowy Sunday when you are bored. And at the end of the day, I’m not sure if or how the rating of any of those countries would affect my desire to travel there. I guess it’s all a matter of perspective.
Fact check the world’s most corrupt DEVELOPED countries…you’ll find Italy at or very near the top.
The Mafia doesn’t only operate in Montreal and New Jersey, it’s home base is ITALY !!