According to this Toronto Star article, Irish rock star Bono is a little peeved at Prime Minister Paul Martin for being a tightwad and ‘holding up history’ from being made by not upping the Canadian foreign aid budget. Perhaps some earnest soul could enlighten Bono on how the Liberal Party does business in this country; a well timed sizable donation to the Liberal Party coffers might have gotten him the result he wanted and saved himself some aggravation.
Though I do find it a tad offensive to be lectured about my government’s responsibility to thief more money from the likes of me and mine to give away from a man who benefits from a quirk of Irish Tax Code that allows him to not pay one thin damned dime in taxes because he is an “artist”.
2 comments:
Well, Paul Martin did use him for pleasant headlines, a year and a half ago. So I'd say that he has reason to feel a bit ill-done-by.
Really, though, if we wanted to help other countries, we would invest in our own military and get into the regime change business. Most problems come from bad or corrupt governance.
He walked in with his eyes wide open. I am sure Martin isn't the first politican who used him. It just ticks me off to hear someone like him lecture my country on where my tax dollars should be spent when he does not pay income taxes himself.
I am all for funding the military and even a little regime change here and there(if only to inspire less hand outs and to remove potential threats to my own society) but I get nervous with a standing policy of regime states for failed governance.
Look at Haiti - there have been a number of times since Haiti's conception as a state where an outside military force has been used for an intervention all to no avail in the end. Haiti has existed for the last 50 years almost exclusively on handouts and yet it is not better off now then before the aid.
I think its like the story of the Exodus. You can lead a people out of captivity with the promise of taking them to the promised land but if they refuse to put the "yoke of the Torah" (rule of law)or to accept that with freedom comes responsibilities both individually and collectively, they will just change one set of miseries for another. Hence the need for wandering around a desert for 40 years.
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