Decorations for Christmas can say a lot more about people than the words they use to talk about it. Even the distinguished French sociologist Pierrre Bourdieu would agree with me as he had argued about such meaningfulness in Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. To put it less esoterically, the stuff lying and hanging around someone's home says an awful lot about them, whether they like or not. The things you own, and perhaps that own you, may also have hidden meanings that require more explanation.

As one looks closely at the behavior and battles of Bloomberg and Berlusconi it seems that, besides being big buck billionaires, they have a great deal more in common than lots of money.

Even before the turn of the 21st Century and the election of Barack Hussein Obama as the 44th US President there were numerous, pronouncements about increasing American diversity. Much has been explained by the scale of immigration, yet compared to a century earlier, the current foreign-born proportion is hardly as great. More likely, extra attention to diversity is related to other factors such as the “racial” composition of the “Newest Americans,” conflicted attitudes toward diversity among all Americans, and Post-9/11 fears.

While I was watching the excruciatingly partisan Senate Judiciary hearings on the nomination of supremely qualified, but “otherwise Latina,” Sonia Maria Sotomayor to be seated on the highest court of our land, I increasingly felt an urge to throttle someone (tenía el impulso de estrangular alguien) just as I had felt a couple of evenings ago while watching my grandson (mi nieto) Spencer and his team valiantly playing, and losing, a championship baseball game against the umpire.

As I have often said; the difference between American and Italian politics is that, unfortunately (purtroppo), there is no difference in that on both sides of the Atlantic the trivial is deemed importance and the important is trivialized. But the reason for the apparent electoral sex appeal of Silvio Berlusconi to many similarly endowed, ungracefully aging, surgically and/or chemically enhanced, round-faced, bald Italian voters who are the Italian versions I assume (presuppongo) of Karl Rove, Glen Beck, Lou Dobbs, Bill O’Reilly, and Rush Limbaugh is obvious.

National Public Radio reported July 30, 2008 on" Congress Apologizes for Slavery, Jim Crow."

There are many Italian American World War II heroes from Brooklyn. Between my wife's family and mine we have about a dozen or so. To name a few: her Uncles Joe, Frank, Anthony, and Sal, and my Uncles Matthew, Jerry, and Tommy served in every theater of war. All of their lives are worth knowing. This is a little piece of the lives of Frank Sabia and Joe Carbonaro. On this day, Barack Hussein Obama is standing where they once stood and hoping, as Frank and Joe did, that the killing will finally stop. On days like today we all should remember how much we really prefer not to need heroes.

Is it any wonder that Americans are so stupid? For me, Will Rogers Jr (1911-1993), epitomized America and Americans. The Cherokee-American cowboy was a well-known actor, humorist, and especially keen social commentator. Growing up with a crackly radio and a flickering, sometimes rolling, black and white television, I especially enjoyed his monologues focused on current events at the start of which he would slowly drawl out "Well, what shall I talk about?

The special focus where I also blog at www.i-Italy.org reminded me of times past, so I visited the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on line and found this there about INTERNATIONAL HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY:

Now that BHO has become the new tenant at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW it seems that everybody wants to get into the act with offering advice and guidance. The assumption is that not only does he have a mind, it is also a more open one.

As anyone who has taken a look at some of my posts here on ww.brooklynsoc.org or at my "Traces" blog on www.i-italy.org knows all too well, I believe that one of the keys to an effective democracy is a vigilant, intelligent, and multi-partisan free press. Until a few decades ago America had something approaching that ideal. Unfortunately, since then, we have lost many intelligent competing voices as newspapers folded or were consolidated with radio and television stations. Those that are left seem to have become almost pure vehicles for conveying advertising.

I was interviewed by two reporters for the New York Daily News about US Census reports on population changes in Brooklyn between 2000 and 2006. They did a good job on the data and quoted another Brooklyn College colleague, David Bloomfield and me. I thought they were worth noting here. You can cut and paste the links below.

Now that Barack Obama is officially our President-elect I can breath a little easier, but not let down my guard. I thought some who visit Brooklynsoc.org might be interested in reading some of the articles I have been writing for i-italy.org about the Presidential race from the point of view of Italians in the United States and Italy, (and one meta-siciliano). They are listed below with short abstracts and web links.

"Obamania or Obamaphobia: Italians in a Post-Bush America" (November 12, 2008)

Today is September 11, 2008. Seven Years Later and still America has not come to terms with what happened to us and what we did to others as a consequence. I have entered here some of what I wrote immediately after and one year later. I’ll post soon the photos I took in my Park slope neighborhood a few days after 9/11 and which was misinterpreted by many as simple patriotism as opposed to thoughtful commemoration of the victims and sympathy for friends and family. I’m going out soon to see how things have or have not changed on the streets.

When I read European newspapers and watch television news programs, like those in Italy, I know that political objectivity is not a problem for them as there is no claim of, or even illusion about, it. You get essentially whose ideas you paid for.