Bono's remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast this week in Washington are a must read! I mean, when I hear this guy talking I think of a raggedy, wild-eyed Old Testament prophet telling God's people to repent. A few excerpts:

The church was slow but the church got busy on this the leprosy of our age [AIDS]. Love was on the move. Mercy was on the move. God was on the move.

God is with the vulnerable and poor. God is in the slums, in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house… God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives… God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war… God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives, and God is with us if we are with them.

Thus sayeth the Lord: 'Bring the homeless poor into the house, when you see the naked, cover him, then your light will break out like the dawn and your recovery will speedily spring fourth, then your Lord will be your rear guard.' The jewish scripture says that. Isaiah 58 again.

That is a powerful incentive: 'The Lord will watch your back.' Sounds like a good deal to me, right now.

Bono makes a compelling case for setting aside just 1% of the US budget for AIDS and poverty in the developing world. It remains to be seen if US lawmakers will put good intentions in practice after leaving the prayer breakfast and returning to the world of beltway life and lobbyists. There just aren't that many highly-paid lobbyists for African AIDS orphans.