Bono on "Idol"

We are excited to announce that Bono (!!??!) will be making an appearance Wednesday night on American Idol. --email from Susan McCue of ONE.org

Now there is a sentence I never expected to read. You know, one with Bono and American Idol. As in Bono making appearance on the kitschy-est show on TV. Bono appearing with Simon, Paula, Randy and Ryan? Must be a joke. But it's real.

Thinking on it, I am amazed by Bono's comitment to fighting poverty. American Idol is not a shine on his personal brand, and Bono is very protective of his rock-star brand. He describes himself a rock-star. He likes being a rock star.

Bono is stepping out in a way that would make other brands squirm, or even retch. Stepping out because he knows that this is a huge stage from which he can bring his message to millions of AI viewers. Millions of young people and not such young people. He is committed to raising awareness and raising money. And if American Idol is a good venue, then let's go.

Now, though, this is my PROOF that the fix was in to get rid of Sanjaya. I was very suspicious as his final performance was no worse than the weeks before when he wasn't even in the bottom three.

But I bet that no matter how much Bono is committed to raising money to fight poverty and aids in Africa, standing on a stage with Sanjaya was probably too much. Crap, I bet he would even have done that. Bono shows us how to make ourselves better.



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Why Didn't They Leave

Blowing out with the remnants of the once and future Hurricane Ernesto, was this week's "Katrina-fest." Amid the 20 ga-zillion stories [a Google News search pulls 56,000 Web stories this week. and that doesn't include radio and TV like the CNN-FOX-MSNBC gaggle] was alot of talk about people who didn't evacuate. Folks left behind. And some commentators, around the water-cooler for example, blame the people who stayed. That doesn't seem right, though. Let's think about why some people stayed.

Well, some people didn't have a place to go--cost of going someplace, wherewithal. Frankly, I could easily pack up the kids, dog and spouse and head off with a credit card to the Holiday Inn.

Some people didn't have a way to get there. There were problems with public transportation, no transportation. Again, me and my VISA resolves all such issues.

But here's an obvious thing that hasn't gotten much attention. Some people didn't believe it would actually happen. "It" being the worst case scenario.

"Well," you say, "some people are just stupid."

I say, then, most of us are stupid.

How many of you think that you will in a car accident on your way to work tomorrow? As you are fiddling with your coffee in one hand, changing radio stations, shaving, putting on makeup, talking on your phone, reading your Blackberry while you drive?

Here's another one. How many are actually prepared for a disaster? Have fresh water for 3 days, food stuff, family emergency plan. Time Magazine reports that only 16%--yup like less than 2 houses on my block--are "well prepared" for an emergency. These are post-Katrina numbers.

Who wants to think about bad things? Who wants to take their minds to the place where the unthinkable happens. OF COURSE, we want to keep our families safe. But we can't stand to imagine the worst case. So we do our personal risk management assessment and figure, it's highly unlikely to happen to me.

Folks that didn't leave New Orleans couldn't believe that the worst would happen. They aren't stupid. They are just human. It hurts too much to be prepared.