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Bono Tells Greeks Not to Despair
A
couple of weeks ago, U2 performed in front of more than 100,000 fans at
the Olympic stadium in Athens. My sister, my brother-in-law, family and
friends all attended the concert but I had yet to arrive in Greece, so I
missed my favorite band.
It seems some Greeks were peeved off with some comments Bono made
regarding the Greek and Irish economy. I don't know why, his comments
were straightforward and he told Greeks not to despair (see below). I
did take issue with him comparing himself to Alexander "the M-F" Great
and the fact that U2 didn't play some classics like "Bad", "Who's Gonna
Ride Your Wild Horses" and "All I Want is You".
I will have to wait till July
11th, 2011 when U2 rolls into Montreal. Wonder who Bono will compare
himself to then. :)
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enjoyed those... thanks.
Serving their "master" from the beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp26vedLKDM&feature=related
That guy narrating the clip is a gnarly Coaster for sure, lol.
As for them having a snowballs chance in Hades staying Greece as we know it? No clue...
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/grcp-m21.shtml
Doubt it. Rotten from the inside out I fear.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the KKE’s unswerving defense of Stalin and Brezhnev, Papariga felt the need to briefly address the question of “20th century socialism,” as she called it—that is, the Soviet bureaucracy. She unblushingly repeated the Marxist movement’s traditional demands to ensure that officials in a socialist state remain answerable to the population: instant recall of state officials and their payment at skilled workers’ wages. Stalin and Brezhnev were hardly subject to these demands. And those who challenged the bureaucracy along similar lines were massacred in Stalin’s Great Purges.
Papariga closed with calls for “sacrifice”—which, coming from her, are not inspiring but ominous.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41d-vFc76mY&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PrhGkguKSE&feature=related
Bono is just another guy who took singing lessons early in his music career. If he gives, or save his money good for him.
As a musician I can say with some credibility that U2 is the musical equivalent Keynesian economics. Tired and fresh out of new ideas...
In the name of debts
I still love that early Daniel Lanois sound on the Edge's guitar, though.
Is anybody else performing musik like that these days?
No, thank God. Well, maybe The Jonas Brothers.
I'm hopeful that with their latest exhibition of creativity burnout that they will finally sell their instruments and get jobs manning the drive-thru at McDonalds. I do remember Bono singing 'and Gold is the reason for the wars we wage'. War or not, he better be converting his Euro's and FRN's into AU/AG soon or he won't be a millionaire for long.
What the hell was that song anyway?
"Would you like fries with this sanctimonious sermon, ma'am?"
Bono... Bono... wasn't he with Cher at one point?
Good old days. Things were Sonny then.
and then a tree went and ruined everything. More politicians should downhill ski while taking painkillers....
hi hulk, Kennedy ran into a tree on copper run, he was really dumb, could of been on meds. but living at 8000ft isn't all that easy. especially for these fat fuck politicians that take the lift to 10,000ft and think they are superman cause they have a good slave ski instructor. they fall like fly's. no harm intended to any family members. but you just can't take big mountain skiing lightly.
Bono can eat a dick.
Less talk. More rock.
good, bye bye
trials and tribulations
i can't find the post right now, of course not, that said he puts his pants on one leg at a time, just like everyone else. i just realized i don't put my pants or underpants on, one leg at a time. if your sitting on your bed you can throw up both legs at the same time and put your legs through both legs of the pants, at once. it is fun and also different than what everybody else does. freeing really.
try it head first some time. it's liberating at first...
dup
the kind of head you have, and i don't?
Jesus wants him to wear those sunglasses.
Millionaire rock stars can afford to be detached from reality.
Bono has a self-concept based on false assumptions about his own and other nations and societies bred by a childhood spent in isolation and an adulthood in a fantasy world of adulation and lack of hardship; leading to an inflated ego and arrogance bordering on megalomania.
Bono - you put your pants on one leg at a time like the rest of us; unless you are going to give all your money to Greek citizens don't tell fairy tales and bedtime stories to people who paid you to sing their favorite songs.
Relevance: 0.
Perhaps Bono should campaign for the forgiveness of Greek debt, following his Africa ventures... then move on to Ireland... and work his way through the PIIGS. Is THAT the relevance?
for $1000 a pop what the heck, right? somebody' s gotta pick the bones clean.
SOLAR, BLOODY, CHINA SOLARS!!!!
Oh, thank god, Bono . . .
now my life is complete
U2's suckiness is not the issue here (though for the record they do, hard). The issue is a world that thinks celebrities opinions should be lent credence (now there is a real band) based on celebrity alone. We should be yawning instead, so thanks again Leo for another non-starter.
Christ, what is Alec Baldwin going to sound off on the impending California state default next?
I have no time for people who are professional spokesmen for World Misery.
how about people who are spokesmen for your uplift?
You mean like those women pimping for Playtex on TV?
I can't fault anyone who doesn't want to pay taxes, considering what TPTB do with the money!
"I did take issue with him comparing himself to Alexander the Great"
LOL...good move...right after him saying the Greeks & the Irish are broke but capable of being "god-like"...ROTFL.
He would make a great politician. He could ramble on for hours on end contradicting himself every other minute. Don't get me wrong, like the music, but poets and songwriters really kinda suck at leadership.
I dig Pink Floyd, but I wouldn't vote for Roger Waters, they are entertainers & dreamers.
The rest of us live outside their world, in the real world ;-)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1bgxfxchkQ&feature=related
i'd consider a vote for Roger Waters. Is he out of the looney bin yet?
YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!!!
YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!!!
Everything looks OK from <YEAH!> my perspective!
YEAH! YEAH! YEAH!!!
Do as I say, not as I do.
Helping people is always good. When it gets political, you can bet there is an ulterior moitve.
South Park captured Bono perfectly. If you haven't seen the episode, then watch it. Here's a clip: http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/155665
plus a google.
he isn't even the top turd
cool music, but a gigantic self righteous nimbyist
south park rules
Episode 3, Series 13 - 'Margaritaville'
This is so ironic. Bono the tax evader entertaining tax evading Greeks and telling them not to despair.
From the Irish Independent:
Fifteen minutes. That’s how long it would take for U2 to move the publishing arm of their multi-million euro empire back to Ireland.
No red tape, no small print or binding contracts; there is nothing stopping the band from paying the royalty taxes toBrian Lenihan.
On Friday the band’s "people" dismissed questions about their future tax status . They were too busy to comment, they said.
With their new album No Line On The Horizon just launched sources said it was "all hands on deck" and it would be too difficult to get an answer.
But that is exactly what fans are demanding.
A poll conducted for the Sunday Independent this weekend has shown that the vast majority of respondents, 84 per cent, believe that all U2’s business operations should be based in Ireland and that they should pay tax here too.
Respondents also felt that their decision to avoid tax here was hypocritical given their outspokenness on debt relief and poverty.
In recent days, as the U2 publicity machine went into overdrive, a handful of newspapers and magazines were presented with a rare chance for face-to-face time with the group.
Serious questions had to be asked. And this time it’s wasn’t about the music. Times have changed spectacularly since the publishing arm of the U2 consortium moved to the tax-friendly Netherlands and there is a sense of anger among many.
Job losses are mounting, the country’s treasury is in desperate need of taxes and everyone from special needs children to old age pensioners are being targeted for cutbacks.
In the past, people listened patiently while Bono shouted about the need for governments to pump taxpayers’ money into alleviating third-world poverty during times of plenty. But now that has come to an abrupt end, so too has their attitudes to Bono’s preaching.
The band’s answer to criticism was simple: what they were doing was not illegal and that their tax affairs were a private matter between them and the tax man.
It’s clear to see that the band has seriously missed the point.
No-one is claiming they are acting illegally. But the moral dimension to taxation is too strong for U2 to ignore, a view borne out by the Sunday Independent poll.
The band also no longer has the right to claim their taxes are their own private affair.
For 10 years, U2’s frontman has campaigned for third-world debt relief though government intervention.
In recent days, when pressed, Bono claimed "I can’t speak up without betraying my relationship with the band — so you take the shit."
One has to wonder if Bono is referring to his own personal desire to move home and pay his own dues in line with his public campaigning.
But Richard Murphy, director of Tax Research LLP, which undertakes work on taxation policy for governments, commercial organisations and aid agencies, quickly puts paid to that idea.
"If he really wanted to, Bono could take his share of the royalties back to Ireland," he says.
Murphy says it is impossible to get an accurate figure for how much the group are saving as tax exiles because they do not publish their full accounts.
But in response to the band’s claims that they are a worldwide brand who pay their taxes globally, Murphy says that their explanation is "completely and utterly disingenuous".
"The Netherlands was not chosen by chance to be the location for their royalty collection company. It is a tax haven that creates an incredibly low tax route for collecting royalty income."
"This is a deliberate move to avoid tax," he continued. "Yes they are a worldwide brand, but they deliberately decided to structure their affairs to pay the lowest amount of tax that was absolutely possible to do. And at the same time Bono is begging the world to use taxpayers’ money to support development."
Asked how long it would take for U2 to relocate the company back to Ireland, Murphy responds without hesitation. "15 minutes," he says. "And there is absolutely nothing the Dutch could do about it."
If U2 eventually took that decision to move home they would have to pay "an astronomical" 12.5 per cent of tax, laughs Murphy, tongue-in-cheek.
"That’s in comparison to the 5 per cent they are currently paying in The Netherlands".
In the meantime, as U2 continue to come under a hail of criticism for their tax exile status, the band will have to take time to decide where they go from here.
If they don’t act now, it could be the biggest PR disaster of their career.
Great comment hairy one.
Bono is an even bigger twat than i thought. and that was bigggg.
Rock n Roll is fine when they are either have no cash- usually their most creative period, or high on drugs and lifestyle. But when they start talking shit in the meedja and to be fair that's been the problem for twat face for a while- they make no sense. Bono and U2 produce flag waving music that has no bite. Bono that narcissistic of all people in ' the industry ' is another rich sponger who wants people with less to pay more.
And at the same time Bono is begging the world to use taxpayers’ money to support development."
Ever wonder why this affliction seems to take effect among rock stars, movie stars, and writers? Those who have suddenly had large amounts of cash dumped on them from adoring throngs who just keep piling it on. Of course they don't want this avalanche to stop and they damn sure wouldn't think of giving more than a small percent away so they have to appear as though they on their benefactors side. It's a big lie. Why? Because they feel GUILTY about what they have earned. I would have much more respect for these people if they just said "I worked for years and years for nothing to be able to earn what I do today. With enough hard work and determination you can do this too!" But no they can't seem to do that because their heads have gotten so fat. Fuck em.
Bono says "don't despair" -> you're screwed.
When he comes here and tells us this, I want to have left already.
Fuck you, guys ;) U2 is the greatest living rock and roll band. A U2 show is a surreal, emotional, wonderful experience of light, sound and emotion. Like no other concert you've ever attended.
Bono is an interesting dude. Classic small-mans complex. Undereducated, intelligent man. A classic, European, populist philosopher. He writes great lyrics, Adam riffs a mean bass and Larry is a world class drummer but the band would be nowhere without The Edge. Edge is a once-in-a lifetime musical savant. God Bless U2, the soundtrack of my life.
A U2 show is a surreal, emotional, wonderful experience of light, sound and emotion
All I really care about when at a concert is the music and I don't really care for U2.
Give me Rush anyday! Talk about a great live band! I will also take the intelligently written, but not pretentious, lyrics of Neil Peart over Bono anyday!
Can't disagree,
btw, The Stones are still alive and they have a pretty good body of work.
yeah but he has lost something in my eyes by going all corporate, cuddling blair and u.s. national security advisors etc...
i like the old U2 when they were angry at ronald ray-gun
U2 = Kak of the lowest order
TF-
Agreed- The Edge is a one of a kind guitar genius. More effects technician than virtuoso- that's what makes him great. Bono became a great singer despite limited natural ability- gotta give him credit. Clayton is a mediocre at best bass player who hasn't come up with anything original since the Unforgettable Fire days and Mullen is a pretty good drummer who is stuck with a lazy bass player and therefore is part of a below average rhythm section. Somehow they put on a great live show with a huge sound for a 4 piece. Bono is a ridiculous megalomaniac who looks like a 50 yr old pudgy idiot in leather trousers. I grew up on this shit, but they lost me after Achtung.
yeah... 50 year olds and leather rarely mix... especially with the $1500 anal explorer shades. Iggy Pop might be an exception.