BlogWood: MT Archives

Welfare Daddy update: Why are we paying this man's mortgage?

Tampa Corporate Welfare Daddy supreme Mel Sembler hosted pResident Bush in Italy this week. Sembler’s company is responsible for the empty pile of bricks known as Centro Ybor, and since the Dick who used to be Tampa’s mayor never met a development he didn’t want to subsidize with city funds, Tampa is now on the hook for Centro’s mortgage payments, because Mel is really roughing it in Italy, and he’s obviously very deserving of a little public assistance:

Protesters in the city were yelling ``George Bush, terrorist,'' yet the president was insulated from the anti-war demonstrations, tucked safely away in plush digs behind high stone walls and razor wire.

During Bush's 36-hour visit to Italy and Vatican City, he was staying at the home of U.S. ambassador to Italy, Melvin Sembler. The manicured grounds feature stucco buildings with red-tiled roofs, small mazes of hedges interspersed with roses and gurgling fountains.

A security perimeter extended several blocks out from the residence, situated on a six-acre plot. The blare of Italian sirens drifted over the walls as faintly as if they were miles away. Noise from outside the compound was practically drowned out by the sounds of birds chirping and breeze rustling through pines.

What was unclear Friday was whether noise from inside the compound is audible from outside the walls. Aides said Sembler has thrown parties virtually every night for the last week.

Sembler also summoned tailors Friday from a well-known suit maker in the heart of Rome, Brioni. They brought dozens of suits for the men in Bush's entourage to try on. There was no immediate word on whether Bush modeled suits, too.

Hmmm... George better check with sister in law Columba before he hits customs - she’s an expert in foreign clothing.

After partying with Mel and playing dress up, Bush dissed the pope: (from the same AP article cited above)

President Bush arrived 15 minutes late for his meeting with Pope John Paul II -- unusual for a president who makes no secret of his impatience when others keep him waiting.

It was a rare breach of protocol in Vatican City, too, and raised eyebrows in the papal delegation.

``The president is 15 minutes late,'' John Paul's secretary, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz, pointed out to Vatican reporters.