13-12-2003 03:10									#1
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Berlusconi joke jars at EU summit
Fri Dec 12, 1:30 PM ET


BRUSSELS (Reuters) - One of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's wisecracks has jarred at a European Union (news - web sites) summit after he joked about being thrown from a helicopter, participants say.



Polish Prime Minister Leszek Miller, who broke his spine in a helicopter crash last week, arrived in a wheelchair shortly after Berlusconi told fellow leaders the joke over lunch on Friday.


The Italian leader joked that he and his wife were flying over a crowd of protesters. He told her: "I could throw out one 10,000 euro note and make one person happy. I could throw two 5,000 euro notes and make two people happy. Or I could throw 10,000 one-euro coins and make 10,000 people happy."


The helicopter pilot, he said, replied: "We could throw you out and make everyone happy."


One EU diplomat said that in the light of Miller's accident, "it is quite remarkable he would tell a joke about helicopters".


Berlusconi's sense of humour got him into trouble at the start of his six-month stint in the EU chair, when he joked that a German member of the European Parliament should play the role of a guard in a film about a Nazi concentration camp.






I still thought the helicopter joke was funny though.

	13-12-2003 03:11									#2
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Helicopter ejection...
Rabid conservativism...


This is FEZ's doing!!!!!

	13-12-2003 03:14									#3
	Re: Some people just aren't lucky. Support Apolyton or Terrorists Win

quote: Originally posted by paiktis22 We could throw you out and make everyone happy.

	13-12-2003 03:31									#4
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Fez = Berlusconi?

It was a good joke though. If Berl already knew about the accident, he should've held back, but I wouldn't hold it against him if he didn't. ALL jokes are bad if someone just suffered them. "Why did the chicken cross the road?" "My pet chicken got ran over..."

	13-12-2003 03:38									#5
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Please...just because the Polish president had an accident involving a helicopter, Berlusconi can't tell a joke about him being deliberately thrown out of a helicopter.

I don't like Berlusconi, but this is just too much.

Asmodean

	13-12-2003 04:02									#6
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He's the Italian version of Prince Philip...

'I'm surprised you haven't turned all slitty-eyed by now'

	13-12-2003 04:08									#7
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quote: I still thought the helicopter joke was funny though.

Me too

	13-12-2003 04:09									#8
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Berlusconi is a total ******* but the joke is kind of funny. I hardky think he would be as good-humored if others started to make such jokes about him during official meetings and to the media though.

	13-12-2003 04:22									#9
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What the article didn't tell you is that Berlusconi response to the pilot was,

"I'll throw you out of the helicopter... you criminal!"

	13-12-2003 04:37									#10
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for the helicopter pilot

	13-12-2003 04:42									#11
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This seems like the old joke about the driver...

Stalin [or Hruscov or insert your politician] drives through a village and his car hits a farm animal. His driver stops, exits the car and enters the nearby bar to find the owner and pay for the damage. He doesn't return for two hours and when he is back he is totaly drunk. Stalin asks him "what happened? Why did it take so long and why are you drunk?". He replies: "I told them I was Stalin's driver and I ran over the pig, and they wouldn't stop paying me drinks..."



Anyway this really is overreacting. The EU politicians are really stiff and Berlusconi is a real refreshment wrt humor (not other things)

	13-12-2003 04:54									#12
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Yeah sure, I bet you'd love to be compared to a kapo at your job. Very refreshing.

	13-12-2003 06:43									#13
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They provide no proof. They provide NOTHING! and yet they wish to destroy Berlusconi. Those criminals!

	13-12-2003 12:02									#14
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I didn't know Fez was Italian.

	13-12-2003 12:23									#15
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This thread had me laughing so much...

	13-12-2003 13:54									#16
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Somehow the helicopter joke reminds me of Fezzie.

	14-12-2003 13:23									#17
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Great joke. Our leaders should all have a sense of humour. (I know I would need it to have the job.)

My personal favorite was one by President Reagan. They were doing a mike check before a speech but what he didn't know was that the microphone was live and broadcasting. He said: "Ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to announce that congress has outlawed the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes." The Soviets, of course, were not amused.

The title of this thread made me think of how lucky I am. I have a wife and six kids (what am I saying?! ).

	14-12-2003 13:54									#18
	Avatar Enlargement: We've got the solution

6 kids?