Miscellanea - Rubrica d'attualita`

(WASHINGTON, DC -- July 16, 2001) The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) commends President George W. Bush on his nomination of the Honorable Melvin F. Sembler to be the next United States Ambassador to Italy.

    "President Bush has chosen an eminently qualified individual to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Italy," said NIAF Chairman Frank J. Guarini. "The President has selected an individual of experience who obviously has his ear.     The nomination of Ambassador Sembler comes at a most important time in U. S. - Italy relations. Prime Minister Berlusconi has expressed a desire to have Italy be the strongest U.S. ally in the new Europe. We wish
him good luck in his new post."
    "We congratulate Ambassador Sembler and the President on the nomination. The NIAF looks forward to working closely with Ambassador Sembler when he assumes one of the most important assignments in the diplomatic world, " said NIAF President Joseph R. Cerrell.
    Former U.S. Ambassador to Australia and Nauru (a Central Pacific island) during the Bush Administration, Ambassador Sembler serves as finance chairman for the Republican National Committee and is the Florida National Committeeman to the RNC. He served as the international leader and spokesperson for the shopping center industry as 1986-87 president of the International Council of Shopping Centers, a position that capped 25 years of active service to the worldwide trade association. He is the chairman of the Drug Free America Foundation, Inc. and an activist in the anti-drug movement with his wife, Betty. Mrs. Sembler is the founder and president of Save Our Society From Drugs.
    He graduated from Northwestern University with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1952.

The National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC and dedicated to preserving the heritage of Italian Americans. Visit our website at: niaf.org

Dear President Bush:

We are extremely disappointed that you didn't select an Italian American as our Ambassador to Italy.

Dr. Emanuele Alfano
Italian American One Voice Coalition Inc.

Dear Mr. President,

Italian American organizations across the country, including the two I
represent below, are extremely upset that an Italian American was not
selected as Ambassador to Italy.
Respectfully Yours,

Joseph Anastasio
Italian American Web Site of New York
http://www.italian-american.com
Italian Americans Unite Forum
http://clubs.yahoo.com/clubs/italianamericansunite

I will try to mask my disappointment at a Non Italian American being selected despite strong recommendations from the Italian American Community - Richard Annotico

Why mask our disappointment? Bush couldn't find a qualified Italian American
for the post? so he appoints a party hack? What is called for is a vigorous
protest. - Rudolph J. Vecoli

What, and expose one's self to the slings and arrows of the protesters who protest vigorous protests.... and expose Italian-Americans as a bunch of cream puffs who spend more time arguing with each other than delivering solid refutations of actions such as Dick Cheney has cooked up in order to satisfy the Floridians rather than to satisfy the "cream puffs."
A refutation of the Bush (the son as clone) action should come from a strong, well-placed group of Italian-Americans who object to this blatant insult. Do any such people belong to NIAF??? - Jim Mancuso

Bravo, Rudy!
This is where NIAF, OSIA, UNICO, and other such organizations that profess to speak for most Italian Americans (except Sorpano-watching IAs, I supose) fall short of the mark. Rest assured that if Giovanni Pincopallino were appointed US ambassador to certain non-Italian parts of the world, hyphenated citizens of the US from these parts would surely raise an eyebrow, at the very least. Oh well! "Poeri noi," as they say in certain parts in Italy. Anthony Tamburri

Dear Ms. De Sanctis,

I have been a staunch supporter of NIAF since I became familiar with it's existence. I have praised many of your undertakings, especially the recent conference at the Hilton Hotel in New York City. However, I am saddened by the endorsement by NIAF of the new non-Italian-American Ambassador to Italy. If you did not believe a protest was in order, I would have preferred silence to your disgraceful display of boot licking. The obsequious statement by Mr. Guarini serves to lend credence to the belief of NIAF detractors that your organization is more concerned with maintaining a rapport with the politicos than in serving the best interests of the Italian-American community. eaa097@aol.com

HAVE NIAF LEADERS LOST THEIR MINDS ???

CONGRATULATIONS FOR WHAT ????

Bush not only slapped all Italian Americans in the face by appointing a non-Italian as Ambassador to Italy, he sent a politico who specializes in an entity that is potentially the most damaging thing to Italian culture as we know it: SHOPPING CENTERS

What is Bush thinking with this appointment and at this time??? Is he trying to start a revolution at the already seething G8 forum in Genoa???

And just when I thought NIAF was only a detriment to Italians just in America. But now we find that NIAF openly applauds Bushes choice of Mel Sembler???

Is this what the hundreds of thousands of Italian Americans pay dues to NIAF for?? To have NIAF Chairman Frank J. Guarini and NIAF President Joseph R.Cerrell clap like penguins and spout things like "eminently qualified individual."

QUALIFIED FOR WHAT ???

Sembler has been schlepping shopping centers around the world for twenty five years. Nothing could be more distant to Italian culture.

EMINENTLY QUALIFIED ??? He was ambassador to Nauru??? The island is a
disgrace, and the pinnacle of exploitation. A once lush and tropical island of LESS THAN 10,000 people that was ecologically raped for phosphates. The majority of the island has been rendered a barren pit; causing the most radical man-made climate changes ever found in the world. The people of Nauru no longer have access to self-sustaining fresh water and must rely totally on desalination. And while there is less than ten years
of phosphates left, on what is actually left habitable on this island, is now host to all sorts
of joint-Anglo "off-shore" business intrigue and shenanigans. I am convinced that any diplomat such as Mr. Sembler, associated with the extremes of neocolonialism found in Nauru would not be good for Italy.

Given Italy's concern about "Echelon" in particular, Semblers service in Australia is no bonus for Italy either.

And Mel Sembler is worst than a globalist. This guy is not only just bringing McDonald's Happy Meals and McNuggets, he's bringing Hickory Farms, Orange Julius, and all the other superficial materialism that has dullened the minds of millions of Americans, and continues to strip them of their regional of character and individualism. Even small towns in the United States have finally realized how shopping centers have destroyed the fabric of their own communities. Ambassador Sembler because of his background, could only be a threat to Italian culture.

JUST HOW is an international wheeler dealer in Shopping Centers going to help our brethren in Italy????? Maybe the generations old shopkeepers that will be forced to close their century old businesses due to the shift away from the TRADITIONAL village centers; particularly in the already semi-deserted villages in the south. And who will profit??? American franchisees to be sure. Not likely Italians.

And how convenient, when all the shopping center mentality is finally established in Italy, and Italian kids have lost track of their solid cultural foundation finally turn to drugs; then Mel's wife, Mrs. Sembler can initiate her American-style Drug-Free America Foundation.

Apparently, NIAF plans to work closely with Mel Sembler on his ambassadorship to Italy. BUT if NIAF really thinks they can actually have any influence on Sembler, do us all a favor and tell him to help preserve Italian culture by KEEPING HIS SHOPPING CENTER DEALS AWAY FROM ITALY !!

For years it seems, that anything associated with Italian Americans, whether it be in the Media or Politics, is a consistent disappointment. However, it is clearly our own fault. I can equivocally state that if those that portend to be the representatives of the Italian American community were actually acting in the best interest of MILLIONS OF ITALIAN AMERICANS: Bush would have chosen an Italian American as ambassador, instead of one of his father's buddies.

The best thing NIAF could have said to Bush is NOTHING, short of letters of
indignation, disgust and disappointment.

Either the leaders of NIAF are intentionally colluding in the destruction of Italian culture, or they are all just a bunch of powerless and passive MOZZARELLAS !!!!

Philip Celeste