last week, as US congress discussed whether to push through the $700-billion bailout, singer and humanitarian Bono questioned why the wealthy countries that form the G8 were unable/unwilling to come up with enough aid for the world's problems.

“It is extraordinary to me that you can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can’t find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day of preventable treatable disease and hunger,” the U2 lead singer told Clinton’s fourth annual philanthropic summit in New York. “That’s mad, that is mad.”

well, thanks for that Bono. i did a little checking around, and i can't find out how much Bono, who is worth approximately 200,000,000, gave to charity last year. i know he lends his name to a lot of charity giving events and therefore helps raise awareness and LOT of money, but how much does he actually personally pony up?

one fellow who did make lemonade out of lemons, and give profits from his spaghetti sauce and salad dressings was paul newman, who died last friday.

he donated the entire profits of the "newman's own" brand to charity, a sum that is somewhere around $250 million.

that's what i call philanthropy.

i like "brand bono",who has previously been nominated for a nobel peace prize and i know he donated 80,000 at one time and i respect him a great deal for the permanent change for good he is bringing to the need in africa, but at a time when so many people are scrambling to save their homes and quality of lives, a repudiation isn't what they need on top of their fear.

meanwhile, newman's "hole in the wall" camps are a place where kids with cancer can "raise hell" to quote newman himself, and just be kids, unselfconscious and free of fear.

paul newman, one of the greats. lives on not just through family and movies, but through the quality of life he so drastically improved for so many.