Italian Premier Uses Age As Defense Against Sex Charges

Berlusconi: I'm too old for so much sex

Mar 16 2011
ALESSANDRA RIZZO


(AP Photo/Kerstin Joensson, file)

FILE - This March 3, 2011 file photo shows Karima el-Mahroug, nicknamed Ruby, prior to the Opera Ball in Vienna, Austria. An Italian news agency reported that Italian prosecutors opened an investigation Monday, March 14, 2011, into a newspaper report alleging that two Italians offered cash to a Moroccan official to change the birth certificate of the teenage girl at the center of Premier Silvio Berlusconi's prostitution scandal. Berlusconi faces trial on charges he paid for sex with a Moroccan girl nicknamed Ruby, who at the time was a minor.

ROME — Premier Silvio Berlusconi has sat down with the enemy, telling an opposition newspaper that he is too old to have had all the sexual encounters he is accused of by Italian prosecutors.

The 74-year-old faces trial in Milan next month over charges he paid for sex with a Moroccan minor and used his influence to try cover it up. In court documents, prosecutors have identified 33 women, including the Moroccan teenager, who allegedly prostituted themselves during parties at Berlusconi's villa near Milan.

"Even though I am a little brat ... 33 girls in two months seems like too much even for a 30 year old," the premier said in an interview published Wednesday in La Repubblica, a leftist newspaper that has led a campaign for his resignation in the wake of the scandal.

"It's too much for anybody," Berlusconi is quoted as saying. He insisted he has a girlfriend, whose identity is secret, who was always with him and would not have allowed what the prosecutors allege.

"She would have ripped my eyes out," he said.

Berlusconi spoke to La Repubblica a few hours after Milan prosecutors notified three of his associates that an investigation into their alleged role in the scandal is closed. The move paves the way for the prosecutors' request for an indictment against the three, accused of procuring women for the premier and, for one suspect, handling payments.

Berlusconi has already been indicted in the case and his trial opens on April 6. The premier said he plans to attend all hearings, and to appear on TV to defend himself and the women involved.

The prosecutor's document details how the soirees at Berlusconi's villa allegedly took place: They started with dinner; continued with "bunga bunga" parties in a room used as a disco, in which the women, sometimes masked, performed a striptease or an erotic dance "touching each other mutually, touching or being touched in their intimate areas by Silvio Berlusconi;" and culminated with Berlusconi's choice of a sex partner, or partners.

Berlusconi told Repubblica "I could not believe my eyes" when he read the reports. He said "the girls were just shaking a leg in the disco _ alone, as I've never liked dancing."

The premier also rejected allegations that money changed hands via bank transfers, saying, "How can it be that someone pays for a sexual performance via bank transfer?"

He said he was just trying to help people in need, taking care of everything from dentist and surgery bills to university fees.

Paying for sex is not a crime in Italy, but it is if the prostitute is under the age of 18.

The Moroccan teen, Karima el-Mahroug, known by her nickname Ruby, turned 18 in November, but was a minor at the time of the alleged encounters.

Berlusconi is also accused of abusing his influence when he called police in May to get Ruby out of custody in Milan, where she had been held for an unrelated theft.

The prosecutors say the premier sought to keep his sexual relation with the girl secret. Berlusconi has said he intervened because he believed Ruby was the niece of now ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and wanted to prevent a diplomatic incident.

"I can swear that a week before, I had spoken with Mubarak about this girl for at least 15 minutes," Berlusconi said in the interview. "The interpreters and fellow dinner participants can confirm it."

He insisted he only sought information and did not exert any pressure.

Pakistani Pay As You Murder Plan Invoked

Breaking News Alert
The New York Times
Wed, March 16, 2011 -- 8:55 AM ET
-----

Lahore, Pakistan
March 16, 2011

Pakistan Frees American Killer Who Worked for C.I.A., Officials Say

American officials on Wednesday won the release of a C.I.A.
contractor under investigation for two counts of murder, after spending more than six hours at the jail with the families of the victims, the lawyer for the families told reporters.

The families accepted payment of blood money, the lawyer said. He said he thought the C.I.A. contractor, Raymond Davis, 36, had already left the jail.

The Punjab law minister Rana Sanaullah confirmed on television that the blood money payment has been paid and that Mr. Davis has been handed over to the U.S. Consul General.

It has been reported that the CIA contractor killer's arrest and detention had strained U.S. Pakistani relations with the U.S. insisting the killer be released to U.S. custody in order to be present for a special awards ceremony planned for him.

Newspeak for Total Disaster, Complete Failure, Inevitable Catastrophe

March 14, 2011
Japland

Nuclear fuel rods


News outlets, government spokespersons, public officials even scientists have gradually developed a new, bland form of speech which converts really, really, really bad news into something that doesn't sound so bad, like saying Charles Manson had a difficult childhood or Adolph Hitler was moved around too much as a boy.

In the story below we read that nuclear fuel rods in a Japanese nuclear reactor are FULLY EXPOSED, meaning about the worst possible scenario you can think of. So, the news writer informs us in bland, news speak that it is a "troubled nuclear reactor."

Troubled? Yes,it is certainly "troubled." It is in catastrophic mode and all hell is poised to break loose. Why doesn't the reporter write: "The odds are very, very good that several million Japanese are going to be glowing in the dark in a couple of days?"

I mean that is the real story and the real news. It's bad. Very bad! So say so, already.

And where are the authorities "racing" to? One would think they were already doing something, not racing to do something.


***USATODAY.com Breaking News***Tokyo Electric Power Co. says fuel rods are fully exposed at a troubled nuclear reactor. That reactor and two others at the plant are dangerously overheating and authorities are racing to prevent meltdown.

Cornucopia of Erotic Activity - Don Juan and Lucrezia Borgia

Autoeroticism - The Art of Sex in a Moving Vehicle

Note the striking resemblance between Jessica, 31, and Lucrezia, who celebrated her 511th birthday last April.

MARCH 4--Meet Jason Kircher and Jessica Talarovich.

The Kentucky couple was traveling early yesterday in Louisville when a cop spotted their car speeding and weaving in and out of traffic. The officer's concerns were aroused when he noticed a head bobbing up and down in the vehicle whilst the driver appeared to be unconscious with his eyes closed.

When the officer pulled over the 2005 Toyota, Kirchner, 31, offered a simple explanation for his erratic driving: He was "getting a blow job" from Talarovich while attempting to navigate Interstate 64, according to the police report.

While that admission may explain the grin on Kircher’s face in his mug shot, it did not keep cops from arresting him for careless driving and speeding. And since he failed a series of field sobriety tests--despite having a blood alcohol level below the state limit--Kircher was also charged with drunk driving.

Talarovich, 31, was charged with public intoxication and possession of an open container of alcohol in a car. Going down on a driver in a moving vehicle apparently is not considered a crime in Kentucky.

While investigators noted that Kircher reeked of booze, it is unknown what they may have smelled on Talarovich’s breath. Officers declined to administer a breathalyzer test to Talarovich and refused to get any closer than 15 feet from her during booking.

Bad Hair Day - Or Half-Assed Mohawk

Why Arguing in the Middle of a Haircut Can Lead to a Bad Result


Correction, March 25, 2011

When this item was first posted, on March 10, the editor made a small error and used the wrong photo for Mr. Davis. While the photo posted originally was indeed a photo of a really bad hairdo, it definitely was not a Half-Assed Mohawk.

The correct photo of Mr. Davis and his half-assed Mohawk is reproduced here. The editor doesn't know who the other dude with the weird hair is but he probably could use some of the same advice one would dispense to Mr. Davis: "Get a better barber and enroll in an anger management class.

While on the subject we decided to add another off-beat hairdo that sort of looks Mohawkish in a bizarre kind of way but really isn't, just bad. The editors don't know who he is either but he could use some orthodontic work as well.

Thursday, March 10, 2011

With a name like David Davis (yes, that’s right) and a hairstyle like his, you’d know better than to bug the man in the middle of his haircut, right?

But apparently someone didn’t listen, which led to a ghastly incident with some scissors and a very unusual haircut. Following an exchange of harsh words with his barber that degenerated into physical violence, an angry Mr. Davis ran out of the hair salon where he was being groomed, leaving carnage in his wake, but was soon caught.

It was not clear how police were able to locate him so quickly.

Bizarre Drinking Tool Developed By Cave Men And Women

Cheddar cave dwellers ate their own dead and used their skulls as drinking cups


Photo: Derek Adams/Natural History Museum

Skulls unearthed in a Somerset cave were skilfully fashioned into cups with the rest of the bodies probably cannibalised. There were no Christians around at the time to protest the eating of human flesh.

The cup depicted above was made from a human skull, one of numerous 'skull cups' from the cave. The skulls were scrupulously cleaned of any soft tissues soon after death, even though maggots, worms, slugs and other revolting creatures would have done the job for free.

The macabre collection of bone cups made from human skulls, unearthed in a Somerset cave, are the oldest of their kind, researchers believe.

The extraordinary vessels are the handiwork of early modern humans, who used stone tools to prepare and finish the containers around 14,700 years ago after the last ice age. Coming off a 20,000 year ice age these cave dwellers were taking no chances that they might get caught without enough soup bowls and drinking cups again. They could always eat one another but needed the skull bowls to drain off the blood from their brother and sister corpses and to melt snow for fresh water.

Three cups, made from the skulls of two adults and one three-year-old child, were dug up several decades ago, alongside the cracked and cut-marked remains of animal and human bones at Gough Cave in Cheddar Gorge, south-west England, famous for its delicious cheddar cheese. They have now been re-examined using new techniques.

The human bones show clear signs of butchery, suggesting that the bodies were stripped for meat and crushed for marrow before the heads were severed and turned into crockery.

There is no suggestion that the cups are trophies made from the remains of dead enemies. It is more likely that making skull cups was a traditional craft and their original owners died naturally.

"It would probably take a half day to prepare a skull cup," said Silvia Bello, the palaeontologist who led the study at the Natural History Museum in London. "Defleshing the skull was a skilled and lengthy business."

Researchers said it was impossible to know for certain how skull cups were used, but historically they have held food, blood or wine. Some are still used today in Hindu and Buddist rituals. "To us they can still seem a little strange," said Bello. "I wouldn't have my cereal in one."

Writing in the journal Plos One, the scientists describe revisiting excavated remains from the cave, including a skull cup unearthed in 1987 by Chris Stringer, head of human origins research at the museum. Detailed examination of 37 skull fragments and four pieces of jaw using a 3D microscope revealed a common pattern of hard strikes followed by more finessed stone tool work that turned a freshly decapitated head into a functional cup or bowl.

"This is the first time we've understood how this material was processed, and the fact that the skulls were not just cut and butchered, but were shaped in a purposeful way," said Stringer. These people were making good use of every resource available to them and had no need for grave yards.

The discarded human bones had the same cut and saw marks found on butchered animal bones at the site, and some were cracked open or crushed, as was done with animal bones to expose nutritious marrow. Only the skulls seem to have been treated with special care. The cuts and dents show they were scrupulously cleaned of any soft tissues soon after death.

"They systematically shaped the skulls to make them into cups. They scalped them to remove the hair, removed the eyeballs and ears, knocked off the faces, then removed the jaws and chiseled away the edges to make the rims nice and even. They did a pretty thorough job,' Stringer said.

While scientists go on an on about the so-called precision with which these artefacts were shaped by these primitive cannibals, the cups really look pretty rough and jagged around the edges and it's a real stretch to call them great examples of handiwork.

The smaller cup, made from the child's skull, would have leaked anyway because the cranial bones had not fully fused together, but the larger two might have carried food and up to two pints of stout or other beverage of choice.

"We assume it was some kind of ritual treatment. If there's not much food around they may have eaten their dead to survive. Or perhaps they did this to honour the dead, to celebrate their lives," Stringer added, grasping at straws. Let's face it, they ate each other. End of story.

The cave dwellers were among the first humans to return to Britain at the end of the last ice age. The island was unpopulated and almost completely under ice 20,000 years ago, but as the climate warmed, plants and animals moved across Doggerland, a now submerged land bridge that linked Britain to mainland Europe. Where food went, early humans followed and brought art, craft and toolmaking skills with them.

The ages of the remains at Gough Cave suggest it was home to humans for at least 100 years. The cave is well-sheltered and, with skin flaps over the entrance, would have made a cosy abode, Stringer said, "a little nook where lovers nest and get it on. Just Molly and me...and baby makes three, we're happy in our cave heaven." The residents were ideally placed to hunt passing deer and wild boar, while up on the Mendip Hills roamed reindeer and horses.

In the 1900s, several hundred tonnes of soil were removed from the cave to open it up as a tourist attraction, a move that may have destroyed priceless ancient remains. The skull cup and other bones unearthed in 1987 survived only because they were lodged behind a large rock.

In 1903, field researchers working in the cave's entrance uncovered Cheddar Man, made famous modernly by the "cheesehead" fans of the Green Bay Packers professional football team. Cheddar man is the oldest complete skeleton in Britain at more than 9,000 years old. Because the cave dwellers had no milk producing domestic animals it remains a mystery how they were able to produce their famous cheddar cheese.

A painting of a mammoth was found on the cave wall in 2007. Other artefacts from the site include an exquisitely carved mammoth ivory spearhead.

A precise replica of one of the skull cups, complete with cut marks, will go on display at the Natural History Museum in London from 1 March for three months. Museum visitors will be permitted to sip water from replica for a fee of two quid. The consumption of human blood will not be allowed for sanitary reasons.

How the Hell and Why Did the Chimp Penis Ever Develop Sharp Spines To Begin With?

How the Human Penis Lost Its Spikes - Thank Goodness



March 9, 2011

By Zoë Corbyn

Sex would be a very different proposition for humans if -- like some animals including chimpanzees, macaques and mice -- men had penises studded with small, hard spines. (Yikes!)

Now researchers at Stanford University in California have found a molecular mechanism for how the human penis could have evolved to be so distinctly spine-free. They have pinpointed it as the loss of a particular chunk of non-coding DNA that influences the expression of the androgen receptor gene involved in hormone signaling. Got that?

"It is a small but fascinating part of a bigger picture about the evolution of human-specific traits," said Gill Bejerano, a developmental biologist at Stanford who led the work along with colleague David Kingsley. "We add a molecular perspective to a discussion that has been going on for several decades at least."

Published in Nature today, the research also suggests a molecular mechanism for how we evolved bigger brains than chimpanzees and lost the small sensory whiskers that the apes -- who are amongst our closest relatives and with whom it has been estimated we share 96% of our DNA -- have on their face.

Monogamous strategy

It has long been believed that humans evolved smooth penises as a result of adopting a more monogamous reproductive strategy than their early human ancestors. Those ancestors may have used penile spines to remove the sperm of competitors when they mated with females. However, exactly how this change came about is not known.

What can be speculated, however, is why forcible rape became the sexual norm among certain mammals with spiked penises. Female chimps probably were not overjoyed about mating with a male chimp with sharp spikes adorning his penis. Ouch!

David Haussler, who studies the molecular evolution of the human genome at the University of California, Santa Cruz, added that our ancestors' loss of penile spines is our gain today."Couples everywhere can be thankful that this particular piece of DNA was ditched," he says.

Another theory for why the human penis lost its sharp spines is that females threatened to withhold sex if the males didn't make it more fun for the females, too. The female chimp in the above photo is making it clear to her guy that she doesn't care about continuing the family name until he gets a spinectomy.

Sheesh, guy....that hurts.....find someone else. I'm outta here.