http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/10/19/D8DB6HVG0.html

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Bush, Bono Have Lunch at the White House
Oct 19 11:40 AM US/Eastern
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WASHINGTON


In town for a concert, U2 rock star Bono was invited to lunch Wednesday with the president. White House press secretary Scott McClellan said the meeting at the executive residence would be a follow-up on talks he had with President Bush in July at the G-8 summit in Scotland.

"They had a very good discussion about some of our common priorities," McClellan said. "Both share a deep commitment to combating AIDS, preventing malaria and expanding trade to lift people out of poverty."

McClellan said Bono also planned to meet with National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley later in the day, before U2's concert at the MCI Center. The spokesman laughingly told reporters that Bush was not planning to attend the concert.

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On the Net:

http://www.whitehouse.gov

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Say what you will about the man, but I really admire his approach, especially since I imagine that he and Dubya would have some major philosophical differences. It would be nice to see more artists take the bull by the horns, rather than sit back and take potshots to the roar of their adoring fans.

That thread title is almost erotic.

Far too many people spend too much time bitching. I'm glad to see someone is at least attempting to negotiate some common ground with Bu$h on issues we can all get behind.

You know when I heard Bono on the Conan OBrien show talking about this approach, I was sold completely. We can't possibly agree on everything, it's important to work together and compromise on issues that are important to each other.

There was an excellent article on Bono in the NYT Magazine a month back or so. He's been commited to working with Bush, and it seemed like he's been appealing to his vanity to try and get things done.

Oh come on. Who isn't for combating aids, preventing malaria, and expanding trade to lift people out of poverty? I've never in my life heard a single person say the following things.

I love AIDS. I hope it kills more people. I am totally against combating AIDS.

Malaria is the shit yo. No pun intended.

Nawww, fuck those people over in the third world. They don't need trade. I wholy encourage that those people remain in poverty for the rest of eternity.

Please...

Bono is a sham. Politicians don't care about the third world. And rock stars will never change anything. I think Live 8 and the G8 proved that.

Bono Discusses the World's Poor With Bush
Oct 20 8:13 AM US/Eastern


By NEDRA PICKLER
Associated Press Writer


WASHINGTON


Before getting on stage before his fans in a Wednesday night concert, U2 frontman Bono bent President Bush's ear about the world's poor.

The rock star and the president had lunch in the private dining room off the Oval Office, ordering from the menu at the same mess hall where White House staffers get their lunch. Bush, dressed in the classic presidential uniform of suit and red tie, also showed Bono, dressed in his trademark black jeans and sunglasses, around the Oval Office.

Bono told Rolling Stone magazine in an interview before they dined that he had no fear of meeting Bush or any other world leader.

"They should be afraid, because they will be held accountable for what happened on their watch," Bono told the magazine for an article on newsstands Friday. "I'm representing the poorest and the most vulnerable people. On a spiritual level, I have that with me. I'm throwing a punch, and the fist belongs to people who can't be in the room, whose rage, whose anger, whose hurt I represent.

"The moral force is way beyond mine, it's an argument that has much more weight than I have. So I'm not feeling nervous."

Over an hour and 40 minute meeting, Bono and Bush discussed debt relief, AIDS, malaria and world trade, said presidential spokesman Scott McClellan. McClellan said they also talked about the concerts that U2 was preparing to put on at Washington's MCI Center Wednesday and Thursday night.

In the Rolling Stone interview, Bono heaped praise on Bush for providing $15 billion to help fight AIDS in Africa, money that is helping pay for anti-retroviral drugs. He said he was disappointed that Bush and Congress had cut the Millennium Challenge program that gives foreign aid to countries that pursue political, economic and human rights reforms, but he'll keep pushing them to fund the full amount that the president promised.

Bono said he is "capable of having a row" if he doesn't get what he wants. He said he once criticized Bush for not getting the Millennium Challenge money out quick enough and was rebuked for it.

"One senator threw a newspaper at me in a meeting. 'How dare you disrespect the president of the United States!'" Bono told the magazine.

Bono said he doesn't support any president from the left or the right, but he has a hard time criticizing Bush after he has sent the money to Africa. He said he's made it clear that he doesn't support the war in Iraq, but he doesn't campaign against it because his main priority is helping the poor and disadvantaged.

"I work for them," Bono said. "If me not shooting my mouth off about the war in Iraq is the price I pay, then I'm prepared to pay it."

But, he added, "I'm a big-mouthed Irish rock star. Of course it frustrates me."

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I *gasp* agree with little wing that cockstars have little weight with politicians. But every bit helps.

That's very cynical. Completely and absolutely correct. But still very cynical.

Shouldn't we just have one big Bono Politics thread, because they all just break down into trashing/defending Bono for being politically active, regardless of who he meets with?

Not a bad idea

So all that 3rd world debt relief he was working for that actually happened just doesn't count?

i pretty much agree with you... i just think they are both a sham... and i think bush gives bono the time of day, so people on pearl jam and u2 message boards will be fooled into believing bush actually gives a fuck....

i'd rather Ed meet Bush, so he could punch him in his face... it'd mean more to me than these pointless encounters

Again, Oh please. Whatever amount that is agreed upon in political circles... It's a drop in the bucket and you know it. See, this is how politician's and greedy rock stars work. They whisper little epithets into the world's ear like, "We're gonna fix global poverty, and we're gonna get all this money." But in the end, the initial price tag is never enough, it gets widdled down, and widdled down, and then the politicians all shake hands with one another and pat each other on the back. Mainly because they're doing nothing more than servicing themselves and their own self interests. I think in the meetings it goes something like this.

Politician A: Well, how much money can your country afford to give?
Politician B: This much.
Politician A: Great. It won't fix anything, but it will look good on your resume. People are stupid, won't realize how insignificant your contribution really is, and will vote for you anyway because you're compassionate.

Then Bono rolls in, sips tea with the president, and rolls off with a bunch of bullshit like, "Good job, but I wish we could do more *wink*." I swear while he does this, he has a T-shirt that says "I'm an attention whore." Then he goes to the press, and to Rolling Stone, and rings of the same old lines of bullshit that he always does trying to promote himself just a little more. He's a rich man. Live's a rich life. There's a lot of people that he "cares" about that live in festering slums.

Sometimes I think that Bono has never been here. Sometimes I feel like he's never even seen a slum and how some of these people live. When I here him speak, when I hear him say he's satisfied, wished we could have done more, but satisfied, I almost want to vomit. When he comes out and says we need X amount of dollars, I wonder if he ever thinks about what the fuck he'd do with that money even if he had it. I'm tired of sounding like a broken record. You've all seen my pictures, and if you haven't yet, click on the link below. Djibouti is just one city, a small city at that. What Bush has given wouldn't scratch the surface of the city of Djibouti's problems. Let alone the countries problems. Let alone the Horn of Africa's problems, let alone this continent, or mass global poverty on the whole.

They all do nothing but blow smoke up your ass. They pay lip service, to service themselves.

If any of these people were serious about poverty, you'd hear a completely different tone coming out of their mouths. You'd hear about some new landmark plan that's never been tried before. But instead, all you hear about is the same non-stop round about bullshit that isn't helping anyone. Some of the kids of Djibouti have cute little one dollar blue bags to carry their books around in. It's a good advertisement for UNICEF, considering how far they have to walk to school everyday. Bravo UN. How about helping out with the festering soars crawling up their legs next time. Some clean water would be nice. How about some basic social services. Oh, small steps at a time you say? Oh. Well, just let AS keep patting you on the back some more.

Well, why do we have to do anything? Instead of bitching about how we could be doing so much more, why don't you stop and realize that we're doing anything at all and be grateful for it. Why not get upset with the other 190+ countries in the world that aren't helping out AT ALL instead of getting pissed at the few at are doing something?

Maybe there are too many flaws inherent in capitalism...should we start considering that money doesn't belong to anyone, but just changes hands? It seems that a billionaire holds on to the money for the sake of power, and to the detriment of the economy that created that wealth...this is one of those "at work" posts where I have to pretend I'm working...sorry I can't elaborate better...

this all still doesn't change the fact that he is doing something at all...whatever his motives, it is talked about. this brings the issues to the forefront. Maybe not the individual "look how poor this tiny little town is and there are no school books or food or clean water" issue...but the main issue that life is shitty in the 3rd world, and we can all do our best to help. maybe ONE person will go online and research the problems, and donate some personal money. maybe someone else will donate money at a u2 concert towards a charity. small steps DO count.

yes, i understand you're in djibouti and i'm in central ny, probably living very different lives and seeing very different things everyday.

however, your shitty cynical attitude NEVER has gotten anyone anywhere, and only serves to discourage others from seeing a little hope even in a non perfect situation

I can understand being cynical, but you're just fucking lame.. You're like a textbook of fucking lines about how everybody is in it for themselves and noone really cares, especially rick rock stars and politicians. You spout all of this shit out your ass like you know wtf you're talking about.. I know Bono doesn't give a shit, I especially know he didn't give a shit when he went to work at an orphanage in Etheopia with his wife, writing simple songs to teach people simple things like not eating seeds, but planting them. I especially know he didn't care when a child's dad told Bono to please take his son otherwise he would surely die, but yah, Bono's never seen a slum, or a child dieing from a senseless disease, cause you know this shit better than everyone else.

A drop in the bucket is better than nothing, and at least he's doing something. WTF are you doing that's so fucking great. Are you doing anything to make the world better? Or just bitching about how we aren't doing enough? Sometimes the benefits of shaking your enemies hand are greater than that of punching them in the face.

And yah, the political system here is fucked up. We don't give enough money, sometimes the money doesn't go where it should. It's not just going to get better overnight, and just complaining about it gets nothing done. So take your "I'm a Cynic" textbook and go shove it up ass cause that'll get about as much done as your senseless bitching is.

"Look, I know I can't change the world, but we can." - Bono

*starts slow clap*

I love you all. I really do. I'm not even gonna waste my time posting all kinds of quotes by Bono, Bush, and Blair, because it's you guys and all of them that are backtracking here, not me.



Prove me different. It's so funny. Because results should be what matters, but to you people, it's all lip service that matters. To the world, it's lip service. People come out and make promises, they're gonna do this, and that, and the other, but when it all boils down, very little is ever done. To me, proof positive that Mr. Gallagher from Oasis was spot on with his comments about that total crock of shit Live 8, which made promoters, radio stations, MTV, the media tons of fucking money, and gave an outrageous amount of exposure to a bunch of fucking rock stars. But did absolutely nothing for the people here (Imagine if Bono would have charged just five bucks a head). Again, if Bono cared so much as he did, why is he living the flamboyant rich rock star life that he leads.



I bet he has his, "I'm a Media Attention Whore" T-shirt on when he does that stuff. Do you seriously. And I really mean this. Do you seriously think farmers in Ethiopia don't know to plant seeds? I guess I do know a tad bit more about life out here than you do. The communicate in grunts and clicks too.



No. You misread. So slow down for a moment ripping into me needlessly. I said, from what Bono says, from his actions, that it seems that he has never been anywhere near this continent. I know he's been here. Lilongwe Malawi seems to be his favorite. There's a lot of nice hotels there.

What I mean, is that I think Bono would do more personally, not live so fucking lavishly as he does, make the comments that he made, and be satisfied with what's being done here, if he had really been here. Seeing a real life urban slum is pretty fucking humbling. It doesn't seemed to have humbled him very much. Especially after this meeting with Mr. Bush.

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It seems to me, that my frustrations aren't coming across very well. My frustration is this. Rockstars and politicians bragging about all they are doing non-stop, when Mr. Sachs has been saying non-stop, that we're not even gonna come close to meeting the petty requirements of the Millenium Project. Mr. Bush brags about increasing foreign aid 100% from what it was when he took office. Tony Blair goes on and on about how much Brittain is doing, and we're gonna crush poverty. Same goes for the EU. Then you have Bono. They all come out, they say the time for drastic change is now, just like twenty years ago. They pledge all this money, and only 1/6 of it ever arrives where it is needed. They make promises, they break them. They say they're gonna change the world. They say they are going to end poverty. When they KNOW they're not gonna.

That is my biggest beef. That is my biggest problem with this whole charade. As you all have said, they've done something. They've done a little, it's a small step. So why the empty promises? How can you people, being leftists, sit idly by and condone this bullshit? Just because it's a little, and it's better than nothing?

If Bono came out, promoted this huge rock concert and said, "Our goal is to take a small tiny step in the fight against poverty. Our goal is to raise enough money to buy 100,000,000 mosquito nets to fight malaria, and that's it." (Which is about what he did). If that were the case, then I'd be happy. Nobody would buy concert tickets for that though, so we gotta ramp it up, exaggerate things a little bit, or else we won't sell records, so raising a petty sum of money, getting a petty sum of money out of politicians hands turns into, "WE'RE GOING TO CHANGE THE WORLD AND END POVERTY NOW!" "WE'RE GOING TO END POVERTY IN OUR GENERATION!" I'm sorry, that's where I throw the bullshit flag.

Again, I'd be perfectly happy if everyone was just honest about this. It's the lack of honesty and sincerity that pisses me off more than anything else. They don't tell you the truth. They don't tell you how bad it really is. They don't tell you how immense the required work is. They don't tell you what this money will buy, or how it will be spent. They don't show you results, because there are no results. Just a bunch of kids walking around city slums with blue hand bags and old clothes from America (Which ironically has killed the textile industry in Africa). And that's how it goes. They lie, and it should piss all of you off too. You shouldn't aimlessly defend the man just because you like his music or what he says. For once, let's be results oriented, and realize that in the grand scheme of things, we have hardly scratched the surface of fighting total poverty. As your idols John Lennon, and Mr. Vedder say and once said, "All I want is the truth, please just gimme some truth." Stop applying it to just the war. For just a minute.



Talked about for what? Two weeks? Talk is cheap, and it doesn't feed people in Chad or Niger who it would seem nobody gives a shit about. They're dying by the tens of thousands right now because these generous donors don't want to buck up and feed people to keep them alive (let alone lift them out of poverty).



I'm am grateful for what is done. I am extremely grateful for the people who are doing it. I'm not going to get upset with the 190+ nations that aren't helping at all, because that's their perogative. At least they're being honest about it, instead of saying, "We're gonna save the world," and then not do shit. I don't believe that it's governments job to fix poverty. I think it's our job.



I'm sorry. I hate to be the barer of bad news. But there is very little hope. That's the reality of the situation, and there's no way I could convey this to you without you spending a lot of money on a plane ticket to see it, smell it, feel it, bask in it for yourself. It's like that for an ungodly number of people on this earth. Sadly, what we do, provides very little hope to them as well. I'm not being cynical. That's just the way things are. And you know something, patting one another on the back for baby steps, that hasn't gotten anyone anywhere either. There are more people living in total poverty today than ever before.



You're not very familiar with my life at all are you?

This is very true. I mean, honestly--what did Live 8 accomplish? The G-8 media coverage was completely overshadowed by the London bombings, and all we saw was Tony Blair walking in and out of various buildings, and awkward group shots of uncomfortable world leaders forced to make statements of unity. I would have to agree with the Gallagher statement. Sure, hundreds of thousands turned out for the concerts, but they were chuggin Pepsis and professing adoration for Jon Bon Jovi. I don't think it's cynical to be critical of what littlewing calls "lipservice." I think the world needs to turn to the powerful--the money--and demand some serious results, since it's obviously not a question of supplies, just a question of distribution of wealth.

Maybe we should start re-thinking unbridled free-market capitalism.



I don't know what Bono has in his heart and mind. I'm not going to comment on that . What I will say is that Bono doesn't appear to have forsaken his way of life for the greater good. I'm sure he contributes generously, but the real question is what is equitable? What are we to contribute to global fairness? Is a way of life--cheap sneakers, cheap oil, rugs and candles from target, etc--is it worth the cost to other parts of the world that contribute these things? Can we afford these cheap things? We don't pay for the labor--that comes off of the backs of the laborers. We don't pay to clean the environment--that cost is exacted from planet Earth.




I think you might be connecting complacency to egotism. Rockstars come out and scream things at a crowd and the crowd screams back and that is the rockstar's job. I agree that it would be nice to hear more specifics as opposed to rhetoric (even in the entertainment industry), but I also think that people would come out to a U2 concert even if Bono did say something about buying mosquito nets.



You want honesty? Here it goes:

I worry about the state of the world, but I have no idea what to do about it. I voted, I make small donations to different organizations, but outside of that I feel helpless. What can I do? I can't afford that plane ticket to see these forgotten parts of the world; I can't get a response from my congressman, and my local newspapers won't print my letters. I wear sneakers made in China, and I shop at target despite my pangs of guilt. I'll eat at McDonald's, and spend considerable amounts of money on entertainment and booze. I feel guilty for my way of life, but I'm fuckin' lost. I wish I had more money so that I could help...

So I ask: who are our leaders?

All these corporations seem to be giving our leaders to us, telling us it's all right, and amassing obscene wealth from vulnerable spots on the planet in the mean time. It's the way of the organization to work in its best interest, and we can't expect corporate and government organizations to appeal to those without power (money).

On the other hand, we have people who are in the media (Bono) who might have a conscience and use their face time to speak of things they are becoming aware of. Since many of us have a conscience, we listen intently and are glad that somebody is paying "lip service." Unfortunately, "leaders" like Bono don't tell us what to do, aside from visiting websites and donating to various charities.

What it all comes down to is that we are going to have to hope the power brokers do the right thing...and I don't necessarily think we should trust those bastards...