this man is quite dangerous, and models himself on murdoch and the shrub group. it is no sure thing that he's going to loose the next election.
R
----- Original Message ----- From: L. To: rhisiart at charter.net Sent: Tuesday, May 25, 2004 1:40 PM Subject: Strike
I thought you might be interested in this. Bear loose has it in for the magistrates since they've dared to put him on trial for his illegal business tactics (corruption, etc.). He's trying to pass a law so he can put a collar and leash on them. The only way to contrast [for berlusconi to counteract] this is by referendums which can later revoke the laws (which eventually do pass since he has the majority in Senate and House). This is only one of the administration's projects to Berluskize Italy.
Italian magistrates strike against legal reform
By Crispian Balmer
ROME, May 25 - Italian magistrates staged a one-day strike on Tuesday to protest against government efforts to overhaul the legal system that they say will curb their cherished independence.
Courtrooms across the country were deserted as almost 90 percent of magistrates and judges adhered to the strike call, upping the ante in the bitter battle between the judiciary and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition.
Berlusconi has waged a long-running campaign against the judiciary, accusing it of persecuting him for political reasons in a decade of legal investigations into his business empire.
The government says its legal reform will speed up Italy's notoriously slow judicial process and create more clearly-defined career paths for magistrates.
Tuesday's strike marked the latest is a series of protests the government has faced in its efforts to reform Italy.
Unions are on the warpath over attempts to overhaul state pensions, teachers have staged numerous demonstrations over plans to shake up the education system and doctors are up in arms over lack of cash in the health sector.
The National Association of Magistrates (ANM), which represents almost all of Italy's 9,000 magistrates, says the root cause of the judiciary's problems is a lack of resources.
''This reform won't improve the quality of justice one little bit and instead puts at risk our independence,'' ANM President Edmondo Bruti Liberati told reporters on Tuesday.
The proposed reform would force magistrates to chose early on in their careers if they want to be judges or prosecutors. At present, they can swap between the two roles in a system the government says gives the judiciary a pro-prosecution bias.
The reform also prevents magistrates from joining political parties and discussing cases with journalists.
''This strike has a political and propagandist air to it,'' said Communications Minister Maurizio Gasparri. ''If anything, our reform reinforces the autonomy of the judiciary and strengthens measures to prevent justice and politics mixing.''
However, magistrates argue that the proposals would increase government control over the judiciary and open the way for the Interior Ministry to oversee the prosecution service.
Magistrates say many of the systems' woes could be resolved if the government invested more heavily in the law courts.
To support their case, the ANM has presented a list of complaints, including a lack of computers, a lack of money to buy lavatory paper and even some cases of rat infestations.
The White Book also reports that a shortage of magistrates in the Sicilian city of Messina has halted a major Mafia trial for five years, while hearings in the Sardinian province of Oristano sometimes have to be held in the garden or a bar because people in wheelchairs have no access to the courtrooms.
Justice Minister Roberto Castelli denounced the dossier as a ''pack of lies'' and said the government had increased spending on the justice system by 27.5 percent over the past three years.