2/24/2006

London Mayor suspended

London Mayor Ken Livingstone has been found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute by comparing a Jewish reporter to a Nazi concentration camp guard.

Mr Livingstone was suspended from duty for four weeks from March 1 after being found guilty of bringing his office into disrepute. This is rather weird. Maybe the reporter was being unreasonable, so the Mayor made an unreasonable comment, but it was not like he threatened to kill him. People are too sensitive. I would of thought that Prince Harry wearing a nazi uniform to a party a year or two back would have been more off color than the Mayors comment. Did the Mayor know the reporter was Jewish? Even so it was a comparison not a accusation.

The three-man Adjudication Panel for England unanimously ruled that Mr Livingstone had been "unnecessarily insensitive and offensive" to Evening Standard reporter Oliver Finegold in February last year.

David Laverick, chairman of the disciplinary panel sitting in central London, said: "His treatment of the journalist was unnecessarily insensitive and offensive. He persisted with a line of comment likening the journalist's job to a concentration camp guard, despite being told that the journalist was Jewish and found it offensive to be asked if he was a German war criminal."

Mr Livingstone was not present at the hearing.

Since Mr Livingstone lost the case he must pay his own costs - estimated at more than £80,000. He can appeal the decision at the High Court.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone later said of the tribunal result: "This decision strikes at the heart of democracy. Elected politicians should only be able to be removed by the voters or for breaking the law."

I think that it is proposterous that a Mayor of anywhere let along London can be suspended for any amount of time for something said that really doesn't have anything to do with his job at hand. I am not condoning his comment, but what a waist of time and money to appease a journalist with hurt feelings.

2/23/2006

William J Clinton in Auckland

Number 42 ( as GWB #43 calls him ) rolled into Auckland last night after a brief flight on a private jet from Australia. President Clinton had a bout of the flu and was forced to cancel a press conference in Australia yesterday. It seems that he was visiting India and Pakistan before arriving in Australia and may well have picked up a form of Delhi Belly, possibly the shits. He managed to get himself sorted out and checked into Sky City just after 120am today.

President Clinton first came to NZ for APEC held from September 9-13th 1999. He seemed to befriend Jenny and Burton Shipley, and I will be interested to see or hear if they manage to catch up on this particular visit. Who cares what side of the fence you stand on politically, most people would like to have a chat with #42.

Business leaders have paid up to $2400 a ticket to hear President Clinton speak. He is a particularly charasmatic speaker, and I can see the validity of the cost to see him, especially if it is tax deductable. It also seems that for that fee, you get a bonus. Prime Minister Helen Clark will be on stage during his speech. Hopefully he wont get distracted with her there and ruin the speech.

Other speakers at the SkyCity event include former Disney chief executive Michael Eisner and former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina.

Police protection is being paid for by New Zealand taxpayers which is causing a bit of a stir. Having said that, every EX President is allocated a secret service detail that protects him for life..... If they were allowed to pack heat I am sure they would not need to much help from NZ's forces. But when in Rome....... NZ would not like to get publicity because an Ex President was hurt or killed because of a security breech, so I can justly understand why NZ Police and the NZ govt are protecting President Clinton.......

2/07/2006

Ronald Reagan Day February 6th

This is interesting. On February 6th 2006 (Ronald Reagans 95th birthday) Governor Schwarzenegger proclaimed that in the State of California Feb 6th will be now known as Ronald Reagan Day..... The proclamation can be seen here on the Governors web site.

Did you know that the first trip that Bill Clinton took when he was President Elect was to California to see President Ronald Reagan to ask for his advice, and show his respect for the former President?