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The first time Bono and Madonna got together to save Africa, the unintended consequence was the death of perhaps as many as 100,000 people. That's aid expert David Rieff's conclusion in the July 2005 issue of the resolutely liberal American Prospect magazine regarding the end result of Live Aid in 1985. Billed as "The Greatest Show on Earth," Live Aid was a multi-venue rock concert held on July 13, 1985 in London and Philadelphia in order to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. With an estimated 1.5 billion viewers watching the live broadcast in 100 countries, the event reportedly...

As everyone surely knows by now, the purpose of the Live 8 concerts that were held last Saturday was not to raise money for Africa. They had a twofold purpose; to raise awareness about the economic plight of Africans and to pressure the leaders of the G8 countries to increase foreign aid to the African continent. It is doubtful that either of these goals will be accomplished; at least to the extent that any starving African children will see any benefit. Many people who had little or no knowledge of Africa before Live 8 were likely to forget about it...

EDINBURGH -- Bob Geldof Tuesday dismissed protesters who fought running battles with the police in Edinburgh as "a bunch of losers." The Live 8 organizer said that they had nothing to do with the Make Poverty History campaign and he ridiculed the so-called anarchist clowns with "white painted faces" who thought they could "cause world revolution by standing on top of park benches and hitting the police." He also praised the police's handling of the protests. Geldof arrived in Edinburgh Tuesday night on the eve of the G-8 summit at Gleneagles Hotel, as dozens of those arrested appeared in court....

OSLO, Norway (Reuters) -- A Norwegian member of parliament nominated Irish rocker and charity champion Bob Geldof on Wednesday for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize for his work to help poor nations.

There’s one absolute: Star Power is the answer when you want to bring attention to a world issue. Live 8 proved beyond a doubt that, if asked, the young people of the world would come together on an issue such as poverty in Africa. As a journalist, I have lived through two of Sir Geldof’s promises to have the greatest concerts ever. The first one, 25 years ago, Live Aid, realized $100 Million in aid to be spent in impoverished Africa. Countries delivered on their promises — some even cancelled debts owed to them by African countries. Now, Sir Geldof’s...

...Mr. Bush said the U.S. would "absolutely" drop its system of farm subsidies if the European Union eliminated its $40 billion a year Common Agricultural Policy. Now, that's a radical idea. It certainly trumps the calls by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and others to double official development aid to sub-Saharan Africa or to forgive more debt. Getting rid of U.S. and EU farm subsidies -- and the protectionism they entail -- would do far more to address what liberals like to call a "root cause" of poverty. Too many African exports, particularly farm commodities, are kept out of Western...

What a weekend! What a holiday! Millions of Americans celebrating the very freedom they fear, and that nice man Bob Geldof telling us evil Americans what we should be doing with the money we work so hard for! Why, we should be sending it to Africa, that's what. Lets give thanks that Live 8 is over. What a bunch of sanctimonious, self-righteous, narcissistic jerk-offs. They top off their great multi-venue circle jerk Sunday with a demand that the United States cough up some more money for something they refer to as "aid and justice for Africa." These rock stars have...

Live 8 boss Bob Geldof today condemned violent protesters as “idiots” as he set off on a train to Scotland on his anti-poverty crusade, but he dismissed last night’s clashes in Edinburgh ahead of the G8 summit as a “side issue” compared with the “extreme violence” of third world suffering. Geldof said it was “unacceptable” for politicians such as Chancellor Gordon Brown to warn that campaigners may be disappointed by the outcome of the meeting of the world’s richest nations. The former rock star was joined by Hollywood acting couple Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon as he boarded a...

JOHANNESBURG - Irish rocker Bob Geldof fired a broadside at President Robert Mugabe at the weekend branding the Zimbabwean leader "a thug" who has destroyed his country. Geldof, who organised the Live 8 aid concert for Africa at the weekend, was speaking during an interview with South Africa's 702 Talk Radio on Saturday. "What about the absolute, absolute thuggery, brutality and mayhem of that mad creep Mugabe (President Robert)? Why does Africa refuse to acknowledge what is happening in that country? This man is mad. He's destroying his country, he's killing his people," he said. Geldof also criticised South Africa's...

There was a time when young people who wanted to save the world would become doctors, scientists or teachers; move to Africa to devote their lives to helping the poor; or even study economics, human rights law or international relations. Now, it seems, they go to rock concerts. Its much less hassle. Welcome to the brave new world of pop star economics, where sentiments matter more than results, emotion triumphs over reason and hedonistic Westerners can feel good about themselves in Londons Hyde Park, safe in the belief that they are doing their bit for starving African babies while listening...

With a song in their heart and not much at all in their heads SIMON JENKINS How is a sensible person to react to last night’s Live 8/G8 extravaganza? It defies hyperbole. It steamrollers scepticism. The money swilling, the masses migrating, the greenhouse gases combusting, the publicity bingeing, are beyond all reason. Live 8 claims political status, but the politics is totalitarian, using celebrity to mobilise a crowd. The crowd has a noble place in politics, but it is a transient one. Tomorrow it is gone and its punch leaves no bruise. Small wonder Tony Blair is playing Pope Innocent...

A tiny band of boats have sailed into a south coast port after completing a symbolic voyage across the Channel in support of the Live 8 protest.The final number of yachts fell far short of the 73 expected to take part in the Sail 8 flotilla announced by Bob Geldof and Dame Ellen MacArthur last month. And the aim of bringing French campaigners back to join the G8 protest in Edinburgh also proved over-ambitious after nobody turned up to accept the free lift. Bob Geldof, who was expected at Portsmouth to meet the boats, also cancelled earlier today. In fact...

Jon Super/Associated Press The rock star Sir Bob Geldof is leading a drive for aid to Africa. LONDON, June 30 - It is virtually impossible these days to open a newspaper or turn on the television here without confronting the cavalier locks, rumpled visage and hectoring tones of Sir Bob Geldof, the former Boomtown Rats lead singer now cast by friends and foes alike as Africa's savior. With awesome ubiquity - a rock concert here, a documentary there, interviews at every turn - he offers his listeners a blend of profanity, rage and messianic imprecation, urging the political leaders of...

Lennon on Live 8 A timely excerpt from David Sheff's September 1980 Playboy interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. Sheff: Just to finish your favorite subject [the Beatles], what about the suggestion that the four of you put aside your personal feelings and regroup to give a mammoth concert for charity, some sort of giant benefit? Lennon: I don't want to have anything to do with benefits. I have been benefited to death. Sheff: Why? Lennon: Because they're always rip-offs. I haven't performed for personal gain since 1966, when the Beatles last performed. Every concert since then, Yoko and...

Last week we learned that the situation in Africa is significantly worse than we thought. I am not talking about poverty. I’m talking about theft. In Nigeria alone, some US $400 billion was stolen by that country’s leaders during the last four decades of the 20th Century, according to Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, Chairman of Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. "We cannot be accurate down to the last figure, but that is our projection," said Commission spokesman Osita Nwajah. This staggering sum, equal to six times the amount that the Marshall Plan provided to rebuild Europe, was taken by Nigeria’s...

Bob Geldof, the fading B-class rocker formerly of the "Boomtown Rats", recently made it known that Prime Minister Paul Martin wasn’t welcome at the upcoming G-8 summit unless he was prepared to cough up .7% of Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to help "fight poverty" in Africa. Geldof must have the balls of a canal horse to think that who is or is not invited to attend the summit depends on him. Some 20 years ago Geldof’s Live Aid concert, which was held to alleviate poverty and starvation in Ethiopia, accomplished very little, if anything to that end. At least...

    Who does Bob Geldof think he is?     John Derringer   Fri, June 24, 2005   It's official. Sir Robert Geldof has lost the plot. In the days running up to the July 2 Live 8 concerts, which as a whole appear to be hurried and ill-conceived, Geldof has dropped any subtlety from his act, and is now appearing as heavy-handed and self-righteous as the tin-pot dictators against whom he's fighting. His latest salvo was fired against our prime minister. In a taped message played at Tuesday's media conference to promote the Barrie portion of the show,...

Leave Bush alone, Geldof warns stars By Hugh Davies (Filed: 21/06/2005) Bob Geldof has reportedly warned a top recording artist not to publicly criticise the White House during the worldwide television broadcast of the Live 8 concerts next month. The warning came after Geldof insisted that President George W Bush had done more for Africa than any other American leader. The manager of the singer was quoted as having been told: "Please remember, absolutely no ranting and raving about Bush or Blair and the Iraq war. We want to bring Bush in, not run him away." Geldof was said to...

**Exclusive** LIVE 8 founder Bob Geldof is determined to see his international concerts stay focused on the plight of Africa's poor -- and not fall into cliched Bush bashing and global warming rhetoric! Geldof has ordered show organizers and producers to redouble all efforts to keep LIVE 8 performers "on message" during the July 2 event, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned. "Please remember, absolutely no ranting and raving about Bush or Blair and the Iraq war, this is not why you have been invited to appear," Geldoff said to the manager of a top recording artist, who asked not to...

Geldof Defends Bush on Africa By Victoria Ward, PA, in New York Live 8 organiser Bob Geldof claims George Bush has done more for Africa than any other US president. He said he had recently defended Bush on the issue in France. “They refuse to accept, because of their political ideology, that he has actually done more than any American president for Africa,” Geldof told Time magazine. “But it’s empirically so.” Geldof and U2 singer Bono have teamed up to recreate the 1985 Live Aid event in a string of free concerts taking place around the world on July 2....