elevatedmole
Rock n' Roll Doggie
Copyright 2002 MGN Ltd. ?
The People
June 9, 2002, Sunday
AS BONO MEETS WORLD LEADERS, FIGHTS FOR DYING AFRICAN AIDS VICTIMS AND
CRUSADES FOR POOR, ALL US MAG CAN SAY IS 'HE'S A SLOB'
BYLINE: Eamonn O'hanlon
AN American magazine has outrageously branded U2 frontman Bono a slob
following his 10-day fact-finding mission to Africa.
The influential US News & World Report, read by around 10 million people a
week, has attacked the Irish rocker for packing only one tie for the
historic four-nation trip.
Ignoring Dubliner Bono's groundbreaking talks with political leaders in
Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia, the magazine also criticised his
allegedly poor timekeeping. The nit-picking report followed a press
conference last week where Bono described himself and mission partner, US
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill,as the 'Odd Couple'.
This was a reference to the 1970s hit television series about the
obsessively neat Felix Unger and his slovenly roommate, Oscar Madison.
"I'm the messy one, I don't have a very tidy room and I eat pizza," Bono
joked with reporters as he and O'Neill prepared to fly to Africa.
The Washington-based US News claimed Bono's comments were spot on.
"Now we learn just how close to Oscar Madison he really is," the magazine
said.
"Tipsters say he's habitually late and brought only one tie. And it has soup
stains on it."
Bono's supporters dismissed the report as muck-raking, claiming the
criticism was politically motivated.
"What would it matter if his tie had horse dung on it," a friend said.
"The important thing is that Bono is out there fighting for the poor and
dispossessed of Africa."
Bono wrapped up the tour in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last week with
an impassioned plea for rich nations to increase aid to Africa and drop past
debts.
Swapping his casual clothes for a suit and that allegedly soup-stained tie
for an address to the African Development Bank's annual conference, he
attacked Western institutions like the International Monetary Fund for
helping perpetuate poverty.
"In the last 10 days while we have been on this trip in sub-Saharan Africa,
55,000 people have died of AIDS, $ 400 million has been spent by Africans on
debt payments - much of this to the IMF and World Bank - and 14,000 mothers
have given HIV to their children in childbirth," Bono said.
"Can you believe that? I cannot believe that. It is insanity."
He said it was unacceptable that Ethiopia, where 62 percent of adults cannot
read, was paying $ 100 million a year to the west in debt repayments.
"This is not acceptable on any level, anywhere, anyhow," he added.
The People
June 9, 2002, Sunday
AS BONO MEETS WORLD LEADERS, FIGHTS FOR DYING AFRICAN AIDS VICTIMS AND
CRUSADES FOR POOR, ALL US MAG CAN SAY IS 'HE'S A SLOB'
BYLINE: Eamonn O'hanlon
AN American magazine has outrageously branded U2 frontman Bono a slob
following his 10-day fact-finding mission to Africa.
The influential US News & World Report, read by around 10 million people a
week, has attacked the Irish rocker for packing only one tie for the
historic four-nation trip.
Ignoring Dubliner Bono's groundbreaking talks with political leaders in
Ghana, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia, the magazine also criticised his
allegedly poor timekeeping. The nit-picking report followed a press
conference last week where Bono described himself and mission partner, US
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill,as the 'Odd Couple'.
This was a reference to the 1970s hit television series about the
obsessively neat Felix Unger and his slovenly roommate, Oscar Madison.
"I'm the messy one, I don't have a very tidy room and I eat pizza," Bono
joked with reporters as he and O'Neill prepared to fly to Africa.
The Washington-based US News claimed Bono's comments were spot on.
"Now we learn just how close to Oscar Madison he really is," the magazine
said.
"Tipsters say he's habitually late and brought only one tie. And it has soup
stains on it."
Bono's supporters dismissed the report as muck-raking, claiming the
criticism was politically motivated.
"What would it matter if his tie had horse dung on it," a friend said.
"The important thing is that Bono is out there fighting for the poor and
dispossessed of Africa."
Bono wrapped up the tour in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa last week with
an impassioned plea for rich nations to increase aid to Africa and drop past
debts.
Swapping his casual clothes for a suit and that allegedly soup-stained tie
for an address to the African Development Bank's annual conference, he
attacked Western institutions like the International Monetary Fund for
helping perpetuate poverty.
"In the last 10 days while we have been on this trip in sub-Saharan Africa,
55,000 people have died of AIDS, $ 400 million has been spent by Africans on
debt payments - much of this to the IMF and World Bank - and 14,000 mothers
have given HIV to their children in childbirth," Bono said.
"Can you believe that? I cannot believe that. It is insanity."
He said it was unacceptable that Ethiopia, where 62 percent of adults cannot
read, was paying $ 100 million a year to the west in debt repayments.
"This is not acceptable on any level, anywhere, anyhow," he added.
The article in the paper that criticized the article that was supposedly in this magazine came out yesterday. I wonder if U.S. News pulled the plug or.......this is weird. They've run some incredibly tasteless articles on celebrities including a nasty piece about Russians after a Russian figure skater died of a heart attack at the age of 28. I was ready for the worst when I picked up that magazine today, but honestly, I can't find the damn thing. Maybe we can say good riddance? What happened? This is nuts. I could not believe that they were going to waste paper on a trashy article about a soup-stained tie, either........
