re: Stromboli pictures

From: Alfio Puglisi (puglisi@arcetri.astro.it)
Date: Mon Jun 16 2003 - 03:14:56 MDT

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    On Sun, 15 Jun 2003, Amara Graps wrote:

    >Of course my curiosity for why the Tax Police were risking dirtying
    >their shoes on the peak at Stromboli piqued my interest and I looked
    >further into the strange situation. Historically, they are the police
    >force that has the most mountaineering experience, so when Italy
    >needs a group of people with a particular skill, it looks at what it
    >has, and selects the group with those skills, no matter what
    >is their mandated function today.

    This seems strange to me. I would select the Alpini, which is an infantry
    squadron specially trained for combat in the Alps mountains. But maybe,
    all the Alpini are in the far North Italy, and those volcanoes are in the
    far south... :-))

    >1) the Cararbinieri (under the control of the Ministry of Defence).
    >They are highly militarized, the best dressed (they wear Armani
    >uniforms), used to be an all-male police force until just a few
    >years ago, they have a well-trained, anti-terrorist group, plus a
    >calvary division with some of the best horsemen in Italy, who win
    >prizes every year.

    Carabinieri have both highly skilled divisions and lots of totally dumb
    members - a result of high unemployment in the south: the public sector
    hires as many people it can to remove them from the streets, gives them an
    uniform, and ships them all over Italy in the form of Carabinieri
    policemen. This police force is also used as "welfare" for
    international-grade athletes.

    Some other common jokes:

    Actor: "Now I'll tell you a Carabinieri joke..."
    Voice from the spectators: "I'm a Carabinieri general commander!!!!"
    Actor: "OK, don't worry, I will explain it later for you"

    Carabiniere #1: "Is the turn signal working?"
    Carabiniere #2: "It works. No wait, it doesn't. Now yes. Now no. Now
    yes..."

    Ciao,
    Alfio



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