Big Ell's Soap Box

Fred Phelps and Bono hate taxes.

After a few months off, I am back with another edition of the wildly unpopular Big Ell’s Soapbox. I am going to look at two phenomenon, Fred “I hate Fags,’ Phelps and Bono “I hate taxes’ Vox. I am not saying that Bono's hypocrisy is in any way comparable to Phelps hate I just had two posts I wanted to tell. I do think it is quite funny though.

First, I want to talk about Reverend Fred Phelps. You may remember Fred ‘God Hates Gay People’ Phelps. Who could forget such memorable quotes like:

"You can't preach the Bible without preaching hatred."
"God doesn't hate them because they're fags; they're fags because God hates them."

Fred Phelps has done a lot of hating in his life according to the Wikipedia. He has actively hated Mormons, public kissing, Sears, Carolene Brady, Ronald Reagan, Calvinism, Gays, Matthew Shepard, the Laramie Project, HBO, Reggie White Al Gore, Al Gore’s Dad, Lutherans, Finland, Sweden, Canada, Coretta Scott King and Mr. Rogers. Damn you Fred Phelps for going after Mr. Rogers, is nothing sacred.

Fred Phelps supporters protest at Mr. Rogers funeral

Well Reverend Fred Phelps also hates American Soldiers and claims that American soldiers deserve to die because it is part of God’s vengeance against America for tolerance of homosexuality.

I’m telling you that is the only righteous message for this evil nation that has gone the way of the Brokeback Mountain.

He also isn’t a big fan of funerals for fallen soldiers and has been protesting at them across the USA. The American government has passed the "Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act" that would bar protests within 300 feet of the entrance of a cemetery and within 150 feet of a road into the cemetery from 60 minutes before to 60 minutes after a funeral. Evidently, this law was created to deal with assholes like Fred Phelps.

• Here is a funny site that contains pictures, press releases, videos and anything any Fred Phelps lover/hater could ask for.
• Here is a clip from one of my favorites Lewis Black from the Daily Show talking about Conservative Christians and the Reverend Fred Phelps.

Now I am going to look at Bono Vox. He is the front man of U2 and a major activist or what we Albertans call a do-gooder. Bono and U2 have been making music for a long time. I was hoping that his humanitarian work would stop or slow the recordings. Unfortunately they haven’t as witnessed by All that You Can’t Leave Behind and How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Bono has won all sorts of awards in his quest to alleviate third-world countries from debt. He is on the rolodex of many world leaders and was Time person of the year with Bill and Melinda Gates. While it is admirable that Bono wants to help the unfortunate, he also likes to help himself.

Bono and his U2 mates have exploited a 1969 Irish tax loophole intended to help poor artists. The groups estimated worth in 2002 was $700 million US. Now the Irish government has closed the loophole and U2 are on the run to hide avoid taxes in the Netherlands. I have nothing against cheating the taxman but Bono’s hypocrisy is as heavy as Big Ell. Bono does not seem to have a problem railing against the Irish government to increase aid but hates to pay taxes himself. Who knows but maybe the U2 taxes could go towards Aid for the poor? Joan Burton, Irish Labour's finance spokesperson, said it best:

Having listened to Bono on the necessity for the Irish Government to give more money to Ireland Aid, of which I approve, I am surprised that U2 are not prepared to contribute to the Exchequer on a fair basis along with the bulk of Irish taxpayers.

One of U2's many armored cars that can be seen driving around Dublin.

Bono and his mates are also involved in a number of other business ventures. They plan to build the U2 tower in Dublin; the locals are not impressed. He also bought a piece of Forbes Magazine, the bible of capitalism. He also invests in companies that make video games like Mercenaries 2; a war game that simulates the invasion of Venezuela in the year 2007.

I guess George Monbiot was correct:

At what point do Bono and Geldof call time on the leaders of the G8? At what point does Bono stop pretending that George Bush is "passionate and sincere" about world poverty, and does Geldof stop claiming that he "has actually done more than any American president for Africa"? At what point does Bono revise his estimate of Tony Blair and Gordon Brown as "the John and Paul of the global-development stage" or as leaders in the tradition of Keir Hardie and Clement Attlee? How much damage do Bush and Blair have to do before the rock stars will acknowledge it?

Geldof and Bono's campaign for philanthropy portrays the enemies of the poor as their saviors. The good these two remarkable men have done is in danger of being outweighed by the harm.

Tags:[Fred Phelps] [Hate] [Bono] [U2][tax evasion]