Berlusconi the burlesque

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is at it again.

Less than a year after he created a hubbub by calling President Barack Obama tan, he went back to the well this weekend. Back from the G20 summit in Pittsburgh, Berlusconi told Italians at a rally Sunday night:

I have to bring you some greetings, greetings from a man, what is his name, what is his name -- just a minute it was someone with a tan -- Barack Obama.

He also brought the First Lady into the gag, saying the Obamas "went together to the beach to get a tan because even his wife is suntanned."

So one of two things must be going on. Either Berlusconi is a racist who doesn't learn from his mistakes, or he's an idiot who doesn't realize Obama is black.

I kind of hope it's the latter, since calling someone "tan" is perhaps the greatest compliment Berlusconi can pay someone.

In any event, Berlusconi now has his own NaturalBlog tag, which is bragable.

Two for the road

1. A Tufts University scientist studying mating and reproduction found that females in a study group were very picky. According to a New York Times write-up, the females would "start dialogues with up to 10 males in a single evening and can keep several conversations going at once. But a female mates with only one male, typically the one she has responded to the most." The researcher was studying fireflies.

2. The Prime Minister of Italy and NaturalBlog fav Silvio Berlusconi is defending himself against charges that he paid prostitutes to attend his parties. The 72-year-old Berlusconi said the suggestion is laughable because he's never paid for sex. "I never understood where the satisfaction is when you're missing the pleasure of conquest," he said.

They should call it the Group of 40 oz.

That's a picture from this week's G-20 economic summit in London. Left to right, we've got hope mongerer Pres. Barack Obama, grope mongerer Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi, and nope mongerer Russian Pres. Dmitry Medvedev. ("In Communist Russia, sideburn burns you!")

This picture has a real facebook feel to it. You know the kind -- you're at a party, maybe a drink or two too deep. You're posing for a picture with people you don't like. You're smiling like a goofball.

I can just hear Obama now. "Silvio -- Don't tag me in this picture, man. Don't do it. I'll totally untag myself."

If the G-20 is as big a party as it appears, I can only hope French first lady Carla Bruni is the drunk girl.