Davos touches the MTV generation (Commies in Switzerland)

BBC ^ | 1/30/05 | Tim Webber

[pissant]

It was the most caring, sharing World Economic Forum yet, but do movie stars, politics and business really mix?

Hold on, can this be right? There is U2 lead singer Bono, enthusiastically shaking hands with UK Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Millionaires swoon as Angelina Jolie, actress and UNHCR goodwill ambassador, walks through the Davos conference centre.

Forget macroeconomics or technology trends, the session with 'cultural leaders' like Richard Gere, Lionel Richie and Ms Jolie is fully booked first.

'Funding the war on poverty' - with Republican Senator Bill Frist, Microsoft boss Bill Gates, Tanzanian president Benjamin Mkapa, Brazil's President Lula da Silva, UK Chancellor Gordon Brown and others - could have been on the programme of any year.

But who is the woman in the audience who gets up, pledges $10,000 to fight malaria in Tanzania, and asks the others to follow suit.

It's Sharon Stone, and the business leaders in the audience forget their thrifty basic instincts and within 10 minutes have made pledges worth $1m.

[pissant]

What a pathetic display. Tony Blair should be ashamed of himself for partaking in this crap.

[ckilmer]

too bad they didn't come out with a pledge to turn the world's desert's green.

[Rodney King]

I don't know if y'all saw the story in the NY Post, but on the way back Ms. Jolie stripped naked in first class and tried to jump into the sack with some random passenger. Of course, we all know about Richard Gere and his gerbil problem. Then there's Lionel Ritchie's video about seducing a blind chick. This is one hell of a group of cultural leaders.

[pissant]

I thought Lionel Ritchie's claim to fame is that he got abused and beaten by his ex-wife. Now that's a real man.

[ScottFromSpokane]

Jay Nordlinger on Davos:

http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus200501270744.asp

http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus200501281006.asp

http://www.nationalreview.com/impromptus/impromptus200501310755.asp

[AmericanChef]

-...'cultural leaders' like Richard Gere, Lionel Richie and Ms Jolie...-

Cultural Leaders for Dummies, maybe.