Post by Eagle on Jul 2, 2005 14:27:07 GMT -5
Is anyone else following the concerts today? I've been watching the concert from Barrie intermittently this morning, and the other world venues as well when they choose to switch the live feeds.
I figure I may as well watch TV as we're suffering through yet another torrential downpour this morning, which is definetely unusual for the Okanagan at this time of year - it's supposed to be hot & sunny now!!! It's unfortunate as we have thousands of people from all over North America here for the big Funtastic Slow Pitch tournament this weekend. There have been license plates spotted from New York, Massachusetts, and Alaska and of course the Pacific Northwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
It's sure great to see some of the "old timers" and Canadian legends performing again - BTO, Deep Purple, Gordon Lightfoot, Burton Cummings, Bryan Adams, Neal Young, etc. (brings back some memories!). I believe the London concert is going to feature Pink Floyd back together again! It's incredible to see the scope of these concerts, with so many thousands taking place in so many corners of the world! Amazing they could put this together so quickly! C.T. - are you at the Paris concert???
However, I have to wonder whether Bob Geldof & company will achieve their desired result? Certainly the goal of the concerts is very worthwhile, but from a realistic point of view, is it practical or possible for all western countries to devote 0.7% of their G.D.P. to fight famine in Africa?
According to a Poll just released in this morning's paper, the majority of Canadians (about 75%) agree with Prime Minister Paul Martin's "hard line" limiting the levels of Canada's foreign aid budget, a position he'll be taking into next week's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries in Scotland. The headline read "Martin's right, Bono's wrong says Poll" (seems like Martin & Bono are not exactly seeing "eye to eye" now, a decidedly different situation than previous occasions when the were congratulating and complimenting each other). I suspect that it would probably be wise to stay away from Edinburgh for the next week or so, as it's going to be a "madhouse" of Protestors, Police, perhaps riots.......
We went through this process a number of years ago with "Live Aid", which was supposed to fix some of the problems in Africa. I'm not exactly sure why we're going through this again? Is this going to be something that occurs now about once per decade?
Unfortunately, there are other needs besides Africa. Another headline from today's paper - "Hungry children roam streets of Mongolia". Closer to home, Haiti sure needs some help right now, as it's the poorest country in the western hemisphere. There are also problems in some South American countries, and the list goes on...... I think most of us want to help, but at times this becomes a bit overwhelming!
I thought I'd post a note, just to see if anyone else is watching the concerts, and to gauge the opinions of our members on the whole thing.
Cheers!!!
I figure I may as well watch TV as we're suffering through yet another torrential downpour this morning, which is definetely unusual for the Okanagan at this time of year - it's supposed to be hot & sunny now!!! It's unfortunate as we have thousands of people from all over North America here for the big Funtastic Slow Pitch tournament this weekend. There have been license plates spotted from New York, Massachusetts, and Alaska and of course the Pacific Northwest, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
It's sure great to see some of the "old timers" and Canadian legends performing again - BTO, Deep Purple, Gordon Lightfoot, Burton Cummings, Bryan Adams, Neal Young, etc. (brings back some memories!). I believe the London concert is going to feature Pink Floyd back together again! It's incredible to see the scope of these concerts, with so many thousands taking place in so many corners of the world! Amazing they could put this together so quickly! C.T. - are you at the Paris concert???
However, I have to wonder whether Bob Geldof & company will achieve their desired result? Certainly the goal of the concerts is very worthwhile, but from a realistic point of view, is it practical or possible for all western countries to devote 0.7% of their G.D.P. to fight famine in Africa?
According to a Poll just released in this morning's paper, the majority of Canadians (about 75%) agree with Prime Minister Paul Martin's "hard line" limiting the levels of Canada's foreign aid budget, a position he'll be taking into next week's meeting of the Group of Eight industrialized countries in Scotland. The headline read "Martin's right, Bono's wrong says Poll" (seems like Martin & Bono are not exactly seeing "eye to eye" now, a decidedly different situation than previous occasions when the were congratulating and complimenting each other). I suspect that it would probably be wise to stay away from Edinburgh for the next week or so, as it's going to be a "madhouse" of Protestors, Police, perhaps riots.......
We went through this process a number of years ago with "Live Aid", which was supposed to fix some of the problems in Africa. I'm not exactly sure why we're going through this again? Is this going to be something that occurs now about once per decade?
Unfortunately, there are other needs besides Africa. Another headline from today's paper - "Hungry children roam streets of Mongolia". Closer to home, Haiti sure needs some help right now, as it's the poorest country in the western hemisphere. There are also problems in some South American countries, and the list goes on...... I think most of us want to help, but at times this becomes a bit overwhelming!
I thought I'd post a note, just to see if anyone else is watching the concerts, and to gauge the opinions of our members on the whole thing.
Cheers!!!
