- I am writing this column because I am not sure what we are fighting for in Yugoslavia...
Some people want to send US forces.. i.e. US ground troops over there, but why? Is it because of ethnic cleansing??
Why do we always have to be the ones that go in? We are a superpower. We are the most powerful country in the world. Shouldn't we try to make friends instead of pissing more people off? What will bombing do to Kosovo? Won't it just piss people off? Won't it make more people upset with the United States? Other countries are gearing up... testing missles that have nuclear capabilities.... We can't deal with our own problems here at home...
We have to deal with sex, drugs, and other shit that other struggling countries don't have to as much.... They have to worry more about where their next meal is coming from rather than, "Who am I going to sleep with tonight?" or "Where can I get my next fix?"
Innocent people are dying in Yugoslavia, but there are many people back home here that are killing themselves.....
The sights of mass graves, dead bodies, and blown up buildings flood the airwavves at night.... The innocent kid that is beig bandaged up from a war he cannot understand... The old man that is too weary from all the years of fighting... sits there... with no home.... one of the many refugees... Then why do we want to get involved.... Is it because we want our fellow brothers on that same TV instead of these faces we don't know??? Or is it because we want to do the right thing? Do we really need to get involved in another war and spend the money and lives it would take..... Would there really be a winner... How many lives need to be wasted to find out who is right?? Would you want to be right after all is said and done?? How do we know we are right? Maybe we are the outside force that people really don't appreciate... Maybe the world is growing up and doesn't want it's "big brother"......
Taken From SonicnetPearl Jam Fan Club Single To Aid Kosovo Refugees
Superstar Seattle rockers Pearl Jam have agreed to commercially release their cover of the J. Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers' song "Last Kiss" to raise money for refugees of the war in Kosovo.
The single, which was issued in December as a Christmas single exclusively for fan club members, will be officially released to radio Monday and should be available in stores by month's end, according to representatives for the band.
"It's philanthropically consistent with what Pearl Jam has been about all along." -- Phil Manning, KNDD-FM program director in Seattle "I think the spirit in which they're releasing it is really great," said Phil Manning, program director for Seattle's KNDD-FM (107.7), which has been spinning the song for several months. "It's philanthropically consistent with what Pearl Jam has been about all along."
The move comes just as the song has been gaining airplay at tastemaker radio stations across the U.S., despite its not having been officially released as a single. Manning said his only quibble with the move is that it compromises the exclusivity fan club members have come to expect from the annual Christmas single.
All proceeds from the single -- which is backed by a cover of a similarly obscure early '60s rocker, Arthur Alexander's "Soldier of Love" -- will go to the Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, which is raising funds to provide food, shelter and other basic needs for refugees of the war in the former Yugoslavia.
According to the "Rumor Pit," a band-sanctioned PJ website, Sony Music, PJ's label, has agreed to make a substantial contribution to CARE next week, prior to the single's release, to assure that funds reach the refugees as soon as possible. A Sony spokesperson could not be reached for comment at press time.
Epic Records is compiling an album whose proceeds also will benefit CARE, according to a spokesperson for that label. The album, due June 8, will include the PJ single; information regarding other participating artists was not available at press time.
An intensive bombing campaign was initiated several weeks ago by NATO in an attempt to stem what is believed to be a program of "ethnic cleansing" against Albanians carried out by Serbian forces led by Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. NATO and U.S. leaders have expressed fear that unrest in the former Yugoslavia could lead to a political crisis that would affect such neighboring countries as Greece, Albania and Macedonia.
It has been reported that thousands of Albanians have been killed by Serbian forces during the conflict. A flood of refugees has been streaming out of Kosovo since the beginning of the air campaign, creating a massive humanitarian crisis and a virtual nation of displaced people.
According to its official website, CARE is a confederation of 10 agencies that delivers relief assistance to people in need and provides long-term solutions to global poverty, donating millions of dollars to 63 countries each year. More information on CARE can be obtained by calling (800) 521-CARE or by visiting www.care.org.
"Pearl Jam have always been a band with a social conscience and [a] desire to make a difference when many other bands could not be bothered," wrote fan Shanil Virani, 25, of Toronto, in an e-mail. "Many thought [the band's] best years were in the past, yet they took an old, obscure, '60s single, made it only available to their die-hard fanbase and have had it turn into a surprise radio hit. I think that's a testament to the band's continued relevance and artistic integrity."
Prior to the announcement of the charity release of the song, a grassroots effort to play "Last Kiss" as a single landed the song on a number of important trendsetter stations across the country, including WPLY-FM in Philadelphia and WBCN-FM in Boston.
Jim McGuinn, program director for WPLY-FM, said he began playing the emotionally forthright, slightly surfy PJ version two months ago, simply because it "sounded cool and I figured PJ fans would dig it," he said. The song suddenly took off, according to McGuinn, becoming the most requested PJ track since the string of singles from PJ's 1993 multiplatinum sophomore album, Vs., which featured such tracks as the protest song "WMA".
"It gets beyond [the normal fanbase]," McGuinn said of the cover song, which is getting played every four hours on his station. "You normally don't have 40-year-old moms calling up saying, 'Can you play that Pearl Jam song?' Never have I gotten so many requests from the general public."
The song was added to the rotation at WBCN-FM, according to program director Steve Strick, as soon as the vinyl single was serviced to fans. Strick said the song was added for a simple reason: "because it's a Pearl Jam tune. Plus, the minute we heard it we knew it would be a hit."
