StreetProphet

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/07/romney-invest...

When Huffington Post reported earlier this year that Bain Capital invested in Stereocycle, a medical waste company which among other things, disposes of aborted fetuses, Bain officials insisted that Mitt Romney, the currently pro-life Republican presidential candidate, had already left Bain when it happened, in 1999. But a trove of financial filings uncovered by Mother Jones appears to show the very opposite.

An SEC filing notes that Romney was the "sole shareholder, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of BCI, BCP VI Inc., Brookside Inc. and Sankaty Ltd."

The document also states that Romney "may be deemed to share voting and dispositive power with respect to" 2,116,588 shares of common stock in Stericycle "in his capacity as sole shareholder" of the Bain entities that invested in the company.

Another SEC document filed November 30, 1999, by Stericycle also names Romney as an individual who holds "voting and dispositive power" with respect to the stock owned by Bain.

Could this be why Governor Romney is so hesitant to reveal his tax records? How would staunch pro-life conservatives react to his earning millions off a company that disposes of aborted fetuses?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oye4rhUa2Fk&feature...

This new ad, entitled "New Morning," was paid for by the Campaign for American Values, a super PAC associated with evangelical leader Gary Bauer.

It depicts an average American couple stressing "forced gay marriage" while perusing the morning paper. The tagline of the ad is, "That's not the change I voted for." The husband, who looks extremely suspect once the wife brings up the subject of gay marriage with disdain, suggests they can stop this horrible travesty by "voting for someone with values!"

No this is not an SNL skit. Although it looks as if Dan Aykroyd might pop up any second to let you off the hook, this is a serious ad. They actually spent just under $30K on it, you know... what the average American earns in a year.

Putting aside the fact that the production values are horrible and the acting makes Shatner look like Sir Lawrence Olivier, is this really what passes for a strategic ad to beat Obama in November? Who exactly are they appealing to? Gay marriage is being "forced" on us? Is the imaginary couple in this ad going to be forced by law to divorce and subsequently marry Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres? Do they actually think this ad will sway anyone who wasn't already voting for Romney on the mere issue of his stance on gary marriage into voting republican?

This ad was coincidentally tested in North Carolina first, just days before the Democratic National Convention took flight in Charlotte. Does anyone else smell desperation? And bullcrap? Lots and lots of bullcrap?

http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/08/14/mitt-romne...

GOP Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney held a fund-raising event Monday evening at El Palacio de los Jugos, a Miami business famed for its tropical juices, fruits, and Cuban-style food.

The owner of the business, Reinaldo Bermudez was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine in 1997.

Sarah Palin accused President Obama during the 2008 election of "consorting with terrorists" because Bill Ayers, a Distinguished Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a former leader of the Weather Underground hosted a gathering at their home in 1995, where Ayers' wife Alice Palmer introduced Obama as her chosen successor in the Illinois State Senate. The result was a large amount of conservative supporters of McCain calling Obama a "terrorist" on the campaign trail.

Should the Committee to Re-elect the President now accuse Romney of "consorting with drug dealers?" Obama had a dinner held by an accredited educator 13 years before his campaign. Romney, just three days after announcing his running-mate, is campaigning at a business owned by a known felon and former cocaine distributor. What's worse, a former 60s radical or Tony Montana?

When Bermudez introduced Romney to the cheering crowd of supporters, did he yell, "Say hello to my little friend!" Why is it okay for a conservative republican to accept invitations from drug dealers but so shocking for a liberal democrat to have lose ties to a former radical? Isn't that largely hypocritical of the right-wing base?

I was raised by liberal, open-minded parents not to judge people based on color, race, creed, ethnicity or sexual orientation. I take pride in that and pride in the fact that I do not judge people on any of the above-listed things. I have friends of all walks of life. I supported, campaigned and voted for President Obama and will vote for him in the upcoming election. Even my record collection (yes, I still own records) has more black artists than anything else -- Sly & the Family Stone, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, Michael Jackson, Otis Redding, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Prince, Curtis Mayfield, The Isley Brothers and the Temptations just to name a few (I like the old school music as you might have guessed). I support equal rights, I abhor racism and bigotry, I have spoken vehemently against it in the past and will continue to do so in the future.

Every weekday I take the train to work. I currently live in a low-income neighborhood due to being, like many Americans, under-employed. I am blessed to have any job at all and to have a roof over my head, as well as living in a city that has public transportation to get me to and from work, as I currently do not own a car.

That being said, I have noticed lately that many young African-Americans from the inner city seem to intentionally perpetuate the most negative stereotypes possible.

Young black men board the train and walk around the various stations in pants so baggy, I can't imagine how they keep them from falling to their ankles without either Velcro or a safety pin. They wear t-shirts which display marijuana leaves and promote the use of illicit drugs (I'm no prude, I have smoked pot many times.... I just don't advertise it on my clothing). When they are on the train, they use vulgar, profanity-laced language. "F" bombs are dropped in front of women and children with the frequency of a cheap ham radio. What's worse, the "N" word apparently has no taboo. When others work so hard to eradicate that word from our culture, these men call each other that word without blinking an eye. Their English is poor as well. I've never cared for the term "Ebonics" but some of them sound as if they did not get past third grade Grammar and I know this is not the case with most, if not all of those who speak in such a manner.

The women are also guilty of putting forth a negative image seemingly lacking of self-respect. Many of them dress provocatively and also use profanity as if there is no reason to censor themselves in public. Many of them are very young and have children with them who go ignored as they carry on loud conversations over their cell phones and they are unruly and undisciplined. I have noticed some of the children as young as six also use the same profanity they hear from their mothers' mouths.

One of the guidelines of riding the train is that there is no loud music allowed. Yet, many of them still blast very loud music from their i-Phones and the music is also riddled with profanity and the "N" word. It promotes violence, promiscuity, and a lack of respect for authority.

It breaks my heart.

In my city, our County Commissioner, Mayor Pro-Tem, and Chief of Police are all African-American. These men are enthusiastic, well-educated, community oriented and none of them seem ashamed of their culture or their heritage. I have met with our County Commissioner on several occasions (he frequents the building where my office is located) and he is a respectful, highly intelligent man.

Why in this day and age where equality is still an issue we strive for, when there is a proud black man as Commander in Chief of this nation, when we still have positive black role models, and when our young African-American men and women should take pride in themselves and carry themselves with a sense of empowerment do so many of them insist upon acting in a manner that honestly promotes others into vindicating their own racism, bigotry, and intolerance?

I know there may be some of you who think that as a white man, I have no right to make such assertions. And you may be right. But I am not asking because I have singled out these young men and women as being disrespectful. I am asking because I strive for a world where people see past color and into the personal makings of each and every person. I don't see these people's behavior as being indicative of race. I see it as being an outward expression of a lack of respect, for themselves and others. And I don't see the necessity for this anymore, not in an age where anyone of any social background can set their sights as high as they wish.

Why do so many dismiss the opportunity to do this in lieu of patterning your behavior after someone who seemingly has no goals to be much more than a negative stereotype?

Or am I out of line for even asking this question?

Today would have been my uncle's 61st birthday. He died on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, 1997, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Joe was always struggling with demons. He was a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who never could stay on the wagon more than a year or so. He also suffered from serious depression. At 46 years old, after nearly half a century of mis-steps and failures, he called his aunt and uncle, said he'd be late for dinner and to start without him, locked himself in his room and shot himself.

I was about 15 when I witnessed my Uncle Joe give his life to The Lord. For a while, he prayed, studied his Bible, attended church, and loved me and his family very, very much. He was more than an uncle, he was a best friend during those years. But he fell apart, his life fell apart, and his health fell apart. He had been diagnosed with sclerosis of the liver shortly before he took his life. He had no money, he had no insurance, his history in and out of rehabilitation and detox centers guaranteed he'd never make a donor's list, and he was over $100,000 in debt.

At the time, I was 25 and in seminary. Many of my friends told me that Joe went to hell. I couldn't bear the thought of that. I couldn't imagine a loving God sending someone to eternal damnation. Now that I'm older, and since I dropped out of seminary, I realize my uncle's death was a symptom of a disease -- depression. And I still don't believe God would send someone to hell for a disease they never asked for and never wanted. If someone has heart disease and dies of a cardiac arrest, would they go to hell had they loved God with all their heart?

I don't want Sunday school answers nor do I wish for any regurgitation of Scripture. Remember, you're talking to a former seminary student. I'm pretty sure I've heard it.

I just want honest spiritual answers from honest spiritual people. He'd have been 61 today and I'd like to just once think of him being surrounded by his parents and his loved ones and by the Father and not burning eternally in hell.

Thank you.

It's been quite some time since I've heard anything as horrible as "We Are Young" by Fun. What a complete piece of crap! I didn't even think it was a real song at first, I thought it was a freaking soda commercial! First of all, that chord progression has been used about a half million times. Secondly, the first verse is completely different in structure and rhythm than the rest of the song, leading me to believe they actually fused two unfinished songs together into one, which worked only for The Beatles. And last but not least, the lyrics are about as trite as anything I've ever heard in my life! Wow! You rhymed "higher" with "fire!" That's never been done before! But, oh wait... it's been done about 100 times before. Fun has about as much staying-power as the band Chumbawumba. Remember them? Yeah, I didn't think so!

So who do I talk to about this? In one generation we've gone from the cutting edge of Kurt Cobain and Nirvana to this commercialized crap-o-la disguised as music! How the hell does this happen?

You're pro guns. You're against universal health-care. Your pastors are coming out in droves claiming the desire to put homosexuals in prison camps to let them die off.

Yet, you all claim to be pro-life.

Does your @ss hurt from sitting on the fence so often? How does a contradiction of values like this not give you whiplash? So what you're saying is your pro-life right up until the fetus evacuates the womb, then they're on their own. Is that it?

Why is it the life of an unborn child to you is sacred, yet the lives of poor people with preexisting medical conditions, the 11,493 who died last year from firearms, and gay people are as disposable as a Bic lighter?

Follow up question: What about this kind of value system is "Christian?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2agsAZcA3fU

Is this what "Christianity" has come to? This is what people do in the name of a loving Christ? It's not bad enough we have these well-dressed rednecks preaching that we should "break the limp wrist" of our children, or to put homosexuals into caged prisons so they can die, but we're now passing this on to children. Notice how the congregation of so-called Christ followers cheer him on and laugh as if this is something to be thought of as amusing!

The Bible also says that says a rebellious child can be brought to the city gates and stoned to death. It says that adulterers should be punished with death. It says men can be polygamous and slavery is acceptable. For all I know, that thinking reflected the best wisdom of its time, but it's just plain wrong by any modern standard. And the fact that some are passing this on to children too young to understand how perverse this is makes me physically ill. What happened to "This is my ONE COMMANDMENT... LOVE ONE ANOTHER"? Am I the only one who put stock into those words? As Christians, we need to think about the love we show to others. In the past, people have used the Bible to rally against abolition, suffrage, segregation, and interracial marriages. The Klan have used Scripture to explain generations of violence. This is the next generation of Scripture perversion. As Christians, I beg us all to stand up against this. Because this has not one thing to do with what Christ taught us. This is not Christian. This is the perversion of God's Word. And there is no excuse for it!

http://digitallife.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/...

Really, if you're running for the President of the United States of America, you should learn to spell the name of the country that you wish to run! And since so many conservatives made such fun of Obama's "57 states gaffe" (never mind the fact that Palin needed Germany pointed out to her on a map, didn't know there were two Koreas, and thought Saddam Hussein was behind the 9-11 attacks, let alone couldn't even name one newspaper!), I think it's fair game to point out the fact that this isn’t just a “type something into a slot” thing that one intern looked at and passed on. This is a graphic image. A designer sat down, drafted a pitch, built this in Photoshop, and it was looked over by several people in Romney’s marketing department, and then it was sent to the app developer, who probably had to layer this on dozens of pictures to test and make sure the app wasn’t going to eat your phone.

And none of them noticed. Not a single person saw the typo.

I know I spend a lot of time griping about how the GOP is filled with idiots. Only now do I realize how much I've been low-balling it!

Go ahead and make your stale "57 states" joke now. At least Obama can spell the name of our nation!

Here are just a few of mine...

"Like a Rolling Stone"

"Jokerman"

"Hurricane"

"It's All Right, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)"

"Simple Twist of Fate"

"You Gotta Serve Somebody"

"Tangled up in Blue"

"Positively 4th Street"

"Highway 61 Revisited"

"Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35"

"My Back Page"

(There are more... but I don't want to list them all)

...does that mean Obama can criticize Romney's Mormon faith?

Mormon founder Joseph Smith was arrested and convicted of being a con artist in the state of New York [http://www.exmormon.org/mormon/mormon430.htm]. The entire Book of Mormon was translated by Smith by reading an invisible text inside of his own hat [http://zarahemlacitylimits.com/essays/BookOfMormon... a translation incidentally that Smith claimed could only be read by him and no one else. Mormon's believed for 150 years that anyone with black skin was "cursed by God" and forbid interracial marriages [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_people_and_earl... This belief was upheld by the Mormon faith until 1978. Mormon's also preached that polygamy was acceptable until 1904 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mormonism_and_polygam... though many leaders of Latter Day Saints sects are still charged with polygamy to this day, including the recent conviction of sect leader Warren Jeffs, who had multiple wives, some as young as fourteen years old!

And since we're on the subject of loose affiliation, Romney's chief fund raiser Fred Malek was arrested in 1959 for killing and barbecuing a dog in a state park in Peoria, IL. Why not bring that into the campaign as well, since Palin thinks targeting a man who is no longer affiliated with President Obama and who's words have been denounced several times by Obama is "fair game"?

Putting aside the fact that Palin proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to any educated voter that she lacked the salient knowledge necessary to pour piss out of her boot, why does the GOP resort to such cheap muckraking in presidential elections? Is it because they're afraid of the multitude of campaign ads that will eventually surface featuring the thousands of American workers who were left jobless and without benefits after their companies were bought out by Bain Capital? [http://www.dallasobserver.com/2012-04-19/news/mitt... Is it because they are so desperately afraid of losing the presidency two times in a row that they realize their bread and butter is using cheap scare tactics aimed at the ill-informed minions of Fox News? Or is it that they lack the conviction and intelligence to run a campaign based on honest to God issues such as the economy, the job market, taxes, foreign and domestic relations, and the current war on terror?

In short, isn't it about time that Palin and her ilk drink a nice tall glass of "Shut the hell up"?

...and his criminal past of torturing a dog by skinning it, putting it on a spit and barbecuing it?

http://www.boutiquegeartalk.com/politics-other-dis...

As a child while living in Indonesia in the most abject and gut-wrenching poverty, Obama's family ate dog when there was nothing else for them to eat.

Fred Malek, Mitt Romney's chief fundraiser was arrested in 1959 with four other men n a Peoria park when police found them covered in blood. Police found a skinned animal on a spit. It turns out they had barbecued a dog. This was not an impoverished youth, incidentally, but a spoiled-rotten college student who tortured a dog for pleasure.

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/po...

It's also important to note that Fred Malek used to be President Nixon’s Jew-counter: at his boss Nixon’s direction, he compiled a list of Jews (or, rather, people with Jewish names) at the Bureau of Labor Statistics; actively worked to demote or halt the promotion of some of these people; then lied about it; and since has neither corrected his lies nor apologized for his original actions.

So what's worse? Having to eat dog to avoid starvation or tormenting and killing a dog for kicks? Plus we have it in record that he committed horrible acts of anti-semitism at the request of the only president to have resigned in disgrace.

I'm sure you'll have no funny-funny jokes to make in response to this little nugget of information.

http://blogs.wsj.com/speakeasy/2012/05/11/bristol-...

Isn't that like Ted Kennedy speaking out against marital infidelity? I mean, she did have a baby out of wedlock, the father was in the wind faster than a fart in a dust-storm, and now that child has no father and a mother who thinks she has a right to speak out against a president's call for civil rights?

Because as we all know, the Palins believe that marriage should only exist between two unwilling teenagers! Oh, the irony! Please make it stop!

For fans only -- What's your favorite U2 song and/or concert memory?

I literally don't have a favorite U2 song... I like them all for different reasons. If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the original version of "Bad" from Unforgettable Fire.

My favorite concert memory was from back in 2001 during the "Elevation" tour. My brother and I had floor seats just outside the heart that circled the stage. During "Until the End of the World", Bono charged at Edge like a bull as Edge played the soaring guitar that ends the song. At the last few chords, Edge's chords knocked Bono to the ground and Bono started kicking at Edge's guitar, making a great noise. At the very end of the song, Bono put his mic up to Edge's guitar and the feedback screeched through the arena. The whole place erupted. Before the final encore, my brother started singing the chorus to '40' (How looooonnng.... to sing this soooooonnnng..." By the time he got through it once, everyone in the general admission area was singing it. By the second time around, the whole place was singing it. And like that, the Irish foursome were back on the stage to play the song themselves. It was the best concert I'd ever seen!

And to you sphincters out there who post your moronic "Bono sucks" or "U2 is sh!t" comments, don't waste your time... I will just thumbs down your remarks and they will be hidden and no one will read them.

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2%E2%80%A6

On Sunday, April 29, 2012, Sean Harris, senior pastor of the Berean Baptist Church, in a sermon dealing with North Carolina’s controversial “Amendment One” which would ban gay marriage in the state of North Carolina, said the following:

“So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, ‘Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,’ you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed….Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male.”

Harris further added in his sermon, “When your daughter starts acting too butch, you reign her in. You're going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl, and that means you're going to be beautiful and you're going to be attractive and you're going to dress yourself up.”

Is this what passes for Christianity today? The encouragement of abuse against any child who does not fit this man’s (and apparently his congregation’s) twisted view of what a man is? Putting aside the fact that the Berean Baptist Church should lose its tax-exempt status for preaching what is clearly a politically charged sermon, should Child Protective Services of North Carolina investigate Pastor Harris for advocating the physical abuse of children who display possibly homosexual traits?

Also, which of these words reflect the teachings of Christ, who commanded us to “Love one another”? Did I miss something? When Christ commanded His disciples to love unconditionally, did He add “unless of course you think they’re homosexual. Then beat the crap out of them!”? Maybe I have a lose translation of the Bible.

**Incidentally, this past week, Pastor Harris retracting his words in a statement reading, “If I had to say it again, I would say it differently, no doubt. Those weren't planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly. I'm not going to compromise on that.”

This only came after flocks of protesters gathered outside of his church the following Sunday and the pastor was flooded with angry letters from the gay and lesbian community. Isn’t this a little like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube?

http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2012/05/03/...

On Sunday, April 29, 2012, Sean Harris, senior pastor of the Berean Baptist Church, in a sermon dealing with North Carolina’s controversial “Amendment One” which would ban gay marriage in the state of North Carolina, said the following:

“So your little son starts to act a little girlish when he is four years old and instead of squashing that like a cockroach and saying, ‘Man up, son, get that dress off you and get outside and dig a ditch, because that is what boys do,’ you get out the camera and you start taking pictures of Johnny acting like a female and then you upload it to YouTube and everybody laughs about it and the next thing you know, this dude, this kid is acting out childhood fantasies that should have been squashed….Can I make it any clearer? Dads, the second you see your son dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist. Man up. Give him a good punch. Ok? You are not going to act like that. You were made by God to be a male and you are going to be a male.”

Harris further added in his sermon, “When your daughter starts acting too butch, you reign her in. You're going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl, and that means you're going to be beautiful and you're going to be attractive and you're going to dress yourself up.”

Is this what passes for Christianity today? The encouragement of abuse against any child who does not fit this man’s (and apparently his congregation’s) twisted view of what a man is? Putting aside the fact that the Berean Baptist Church should lose its tax-exempt status for preaching what is clearly a politically charged sermon, should Child Protective Services of North Carolina investigate Pastor Harris for advocating the physical abuse of children who display possibly homosexual traits?

Also, which of these words reflect the teachings of Christ, who commanded us to “Love one another”? Did I miss something? When Christ commanded His disciples to love unconditionally, did He add “unless of course you think they’re homosexual. Then beat the crap out of them!”? Maybe I have a lose translation of the Bible.

**Incidentally, this past week, Pastor Harris retracting his words in a statement reading, “If I had to say it again, I would say it differently, no doubt. Those weren't planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly. I'm not going to compromise on that.”

This only came after flocks of protesters gathered outside of his church the following Sunday and the pastor was flooded with angry letters from the gay and lesbian community. Isn’t this a little like trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/03/al-qua...

In the memos recently released from the raid on bin Laden's compound last May, one of the letters that was translated contained snippets of bin Laden criticizing Fox News for "lacking neutrality" and he even suggested the 24-hour news network should "die an angry death."

My question is, if cave-dwellers and terrorists on the lam half way across the globe can see that Fox News is not functional as a news network, then why can't the millions of conservative republicans who glue themselves to the network as if it were the Gospel truth see this as well? Are they really brainwashed, or just not intelligent and informed enough to know the difference between news and propaganda?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/may/03/al-qua...

In the memos recently released from the raid on bin Laden's compound last May, one of the letters that was translated contained snippets of bin Laden criticizing Fox News for "lacking neutrality" and he even suggested the 24-hour news network should "die an angry death."

My question is, if cave-dwellers and terrorists on the lam half way across the globe can see that Fox News is not functional as a news network, then why can't the millions of conservative republicans who glue themselves to the network as if it were the Gospel truth see this as well? Are they really brainwashed, or just not intelligent and informed enough to know the difference between news and propaganda?

Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things – every one.

So why do the use the word 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from?

Liberals are progressive and forward thinking. Conservatives by the very definition of the word wish not to move forward. However, I have noticed during the recent GOP debates that most conservatives actually favor moving backwards. They are against a woman's right to choose, which leads me to believe they just assume have Roe v. Wade overturned. They are against gay marriage and in favor for a Constitutional amendment banning it, even though Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, and Vermont have passed a law granting licenses for same-sex marriages.

What's next on the conservative agenda? Will they rally to overturn Brown v. The Board of Education and return segregation to this school? Will they repeal the Civil Rights Act and force minorities to be eligible only for menial labor for little pay? Will they repeal the Voters' Right Act and leave women out of the political voice, therefore allowing them to pass any law they want to restricting a woman's right?

I'm not sure why they think I should be ashamed of being a progressive thinker. I am proud of being a liberal.

I also work two jobs, I am not on welfare, I am patriotic, and I am not against using military force when it comes to wiping out terrorism or ending mass genocide. I am no peace-loving hippie. My grandfather was a World War II veteran who risked his life in the name of spreading international freedom, so that old chestnut won't work either. I am college educated and proud of it, yet my best friend is not, so I am not an elitist.

Whether you care for U2's music or not (and I say 'to each his own') why do people constantly refer to Bono as "conceited" or "an @ss" or other names?

Truth be told, he has done more than most presidents and religious leaders to bring a halt to the famine, disease, and horrible living conditions for most Africans. He has dedicated countless hours of time and effort to this cause. The catch-all remark of "Tell him to shut up and write a check with all of his money" is ill-informed at best. Even now being worth around $6 billion (net worth), the poorest nations of Africa are in debt over $44 billion. A check for Bono's entire worth wouldn't scratch the surface. And he's not asking for people's money. He's asking people to join his campaign to convince the richest nations to drop their debt owed by the poorest nations, which is actually encouraged in the Old Testament. He has been a loving husband to the same woman (Ali Hewson) for 30 years, a devoted father of four children, and has never been seen acting like a drunk or a drugged out rock star. He has true convictions behind his words. And even though some might not like U2, they recently became the highest grossing live act of all time, they have more Grammys than any other band (22), and they have sold over 140,000,000 albums in their three-decade spanning career.

There's the old expression of "50 Million Elvis fans can't be wrong." Well, 140 million U2 fans can't either!

Is it just because society is jaded or because in the age of modern media and social networking even the completely misinformed have a voice? It's a damn good thing John Lennon wasn't around for the internet, or people would be slacking him off for rallying for world peace and unity.

It baffles me. Why would anyone insult a man for caring?