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Bono to Rock His Opinions in the New York Times

CitizenSugar — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 03:00:30 -0700

He is a world famous singer and songwriter, a spokesman for Africa, a Noble Peace Prize nominee, and now he’s a writer for the New York Times. My David Brooks is looking at some rocking competition. Bono, lead singer of U2, is set to be a contributing writer for the NYT, offering his insight on topics including Africa, poverty, and a little Frank Sinatra too. Bono will be penning as many as 10 pieces for the paper spreading throughout 2009.

Editorial page editor Andrew Rosenthal, who announced this new appointment this week, may also have had an ulterior motive: it seems as though Mr. Rosenthal is learning the guitar. Bono’s pay may also be a factor in his assignment, as he will be receiving no money whatsoever.

Does a Bono op-ed sound like music to your ears? Or does it hit a sour note?

Source

What Is the Clinton Global Initiative?

LibertySugar — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 10:00:39 -0700

This week heads of state, nonprofit leaders, and philanthropists met for the fourth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI). By gathering global leaders, the ex-Pres hopes they will devise and implement concrete solutions to some of the world's biggest challenges. Since 2005, CGI has committed $30 billion to programs that have impacted 200 million lives in more than 150 countries.

Some of the highlights from this year have included:

Bono spoke out about global priorities: "It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G-8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable disease and hunger."
Wyclef Jean's foundation committed to providing hot school meals for 14,000 poor children, food for 20,000 families a month, thousands of new agriculture jobs, micro-enterprise grants for 165 small businesses, 36,000 farmers with seed, fertilizer, and training, and implementation of a broad communications campaign to engage international and local Haitian musicians in the Together for Haiti Campaign.
Al Gore was joined at the opening session by Clinton, Queen Rania of Jordan, President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf of Liberia, Bono and E. Neville Isdell, chairman of Coca-Cola Co.'s board. Gore called for civil disobedience against new coal plants.
Lance Armstrong, who is planning to race in next year's Tour de France, pledged $8 million to a global awareness campaign for cancer, including a meeting that would convene in Paris after the tour.

To see more pictures from the event, including shots of Jordan's Queen Rania, the presidential candidates, Drew Barrymore, and Sarah Palin,

Part II: Interview With Tom Sheridan, Lobbyist to the Stars

CitizenSugar — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 11:00:49 -0700

Here's the continuation of our interview with Tom Sheridan, the lobbyist who works with Bono on his ONE campaign to end global poverty. Liberty took in a ONE campaign panel with Ben Affleck, Madeleine Albright, and Tom Daschle at the convention yesterday — more details on that event soon! Here's the continuation of our conversation with Tom:

Who else do you work with?

Julia Ormond is another great example, she's a client of ours who is doing work on human trafficking and slavery, and speaking out before anyone was really talking about. She wasn't only talking about it, but she was immersed, was deeply immersed in the substance of it. You know, what are the major policy issues that need to be launched in order to track people, things like a universal birth certificate. She was on top of that stuff before anyone really wrote about this.

What makes a celebrity seek you out?

To see his answer and more,

Meet a Celebrity Lobbyist Committed to Star-Powered Activism

CitizenSugar — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 15:45:08 -0700

Parked in the intersection of politics and pop culture is the celebrity activist. There all kinds of ways celebrities get involved in causes from serving on boards to inspiring laws on Capitol Hill, and Tom Sheridan knows how to harness that fame and make the issue the real star. A lobbyist based in DC, he represents Bono and his work on the ONE campaign against global poverty. We sat down with him this week ahead of the big ONE event Kanye is headlining to benefit the organization here at the convention, and we couldn't have been more impressed. Tom Sheridan is using the intersection of fame and charity to inspire real change and a legion of committed issue advocates.

Can celebrities distract from an issue or a message? What are the hallmarks of a happy marriage between celebrity and activism?

It really comes down to two Cs. One is commitment and the other is credibility. I think if we go with alliteration and add in celebrity, I think that is where people will discern the difference between a celebrity using an issue to distract and/or promote themselves. There may be a fair trade in that but it doesn't always sustain a cause, and it doesn't get to the level of a policy change that we look for celebrities to engage in.

Well, we see celebrities speaking out on issues all the time. Is that enough to motivate change?

To see his answer,