Mayor Thomas M. Menino exchanged greetings with President Shimon Peres of Israel during a break Friday at the conference in Cernobbio, Italy. (Giuseppe Gualtieri/Associated Press)
Do I even need say it?
The article's focus will prove the unsaid point:
"In Italy, Menino unveils vision of a global Boston" by Donovan Slack, Globe Staff | September 7, 2008
CERNOBBIO, Italy - On an expansive veranda overlooking Lake Como, Mayor Thomas M. Menino cut a determined path through dozens of executives and dignitaries chatting and sipping cappuccinos during an international conference this weekend at one of the world's most exclusive hotels.
Did Boston taxpayers pay for this elbow-rubbing extravaganza?
And one paragraph in the story has already been censored, I mean, "updated."
Networking is what Menino came to this five-star luxury resort nestled in the Italian Alps to do and to talk about, the only mayor of a US city in this gathering of money and power whose 300 attendees included Vice President Dick Cheney and Jose Maria Aznar, the former prime minister of Spain.
In his formal remarks yesterday, delivered to a packed conference room with vaulted ceilings and crystal chandeliers, Menino unveiled a plan to launch a Boston alumni network that links former residents from around the world and taps their creative energy to generate ideas to benefit the city.
Menino, who was invited to speak at the conference by Tom Ridge, the former homeland security chief, said he believes that people are one of the most valuable assets in a globalized economy, and therefore in Boston, his administration has focused on educating its residents, creating beautiful and livable neighborhoods to retain them, and supporting core industries where they can contribute their skills, including higher education, technology, medicine and research.
Menino arrived Friday at the Ambrosetti Forum, dubbed "mini-Davos" after the premier economic conference held each year in Switzerland. The guest list, along with political luminaries, features top executives from
The setting is the Villa d'Este, a five-star luxury resort in a Renaissance villa nestled in the Italian Alps on the southern tip of Lake Como Guests, including Cheney, often arrive by helicopter. Some come by private yacht.
Menino is staying with his wife, Angela, in a fourth-floor room with a mountain view. He has attended several sessions, including one on science and technology and another about institutional development, but has spent most of his time networking.
Translation: He's partying it up and having a good old time!
Israel's president, Shimon Peres, was emerging from the lobby of the Italian resort with a phalanx of special guards when Menino approached. "I met you at Brandeis," Menino said, thrusting his hand out in greeting. Peres, who had just finished debating Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas about prospects for peace, didn't stop to chat but smiled and shook Menino's hand.
"It's all about who you meet," the mayor said later. "That's what it's all about.
By last night, Menino had chatted with the president of Stanford University, former assistant secretary of state Richard Holbrooke,
"It's always about networking, who you meet," he said. "You never know who'll be able to help you later."
Maybe a run for PRESIDENT, mayor?
After all, you are working on Globalist/Zionist approval, aren't you?
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