OPM - Y'know, I"ve been

OPM - Y'know, I"ve been a U2 fan since "Boy", in 1981. I may have been one of five people in North Dakota to have bought that album when it was released. And along with Springsteen, there is no better on-stage showman than Bono. Yes, he's an arch-liberal, but goodness knows that if a conservative tried to listen to conservative rockers, we'd be limited to the late Joey Ramone and the interminable Ted Nugent.

And you have to hand it to Bono - he was one of very few performers after 9/11 who checked in as an unabashedly pro-human patriot (as distinct from National Chauvinist).

Of course, his big topic is third world debt. A valid sentiment? Sure. The stupid debts accumulated by stupid, almost invariably socialist or statist governments are indeed crushing the economies.

But, as Mike Lynch argues, just giving these socialistic and/or autocratic countries the money is about the same as giving a 16-year-old his entire inheritance in advance, wagging your finger at her, and telling her "make sure you don't spend it all on CDs and spring breaks in Cancun!".