SUBJ: It's a Beautiful Day for Africa and for U2 Fans! Thank You! 

The heart is a bloom, shoots up through stony ground
But there's no room, no space to rent in this town
You're out of luck and the reason that you had to care
The traffic is stuck and you're not moving anywhere
You thought you'd found a friend to take you out of this place
Someone you could lend a hand in return for grace

It's a beautiful day
Sky falls, you feel like it's a beautiful day
Don't let it get away

You're on the road but you've got no destination
You're in the mud, in the maze of her imagination
You love this town even if that doesn't ring true
You've been all over and it's been all over you

It's a beautiful day 
Don't let it get away 
It's a beautiful day, woo hoo hoo 
Touch me, take me to that other place
Teach me love, I know I'm not a hopeless case

See the world in green and blue
See China right in front of you
See the canyons broken by a cloud
See the tuna fleets clearing the sea out
See the bedouin fires at night
See the oil fields at first light
And, see the bird with a leaf in her mouth
After the flood all the colours came out

It was a beautiful day 
Don't let it get away 
Beautiful day....

From "Beautiful Day," Music: U2, Lyrics: Bono.

As many know, "Beautiful Day" was partially inspired by the debt relief
that occurred during Bono's activities as part of the Jubilee 2000
campaign. The lyrics of "Beautiful Day" compare opposites, which is
reflective of Bono's comments about the process of working to toward
debt relief and aid for Africa. On the one hand, you have many people,
including many politicians like yourself, who want to do the right
thing, and yet it is still like pushing a boulder uphill for the
well-intentioned among us to accomplish this goal. Still, Bono's hope
as he works to help push that boulder, and the small successes that
occur in the process, keeps him pushing, and makes it possible for him
to speak as a man who is struggling with adversity and still can think
it is a "Beautiful Day." 

Today we write because we feel there has been a BIG success, there is
new light and new hope, and you are responsible. It truly is a
"Beautiful Day"!

Thank you for passing H.R. 1298. Imagine our delight and surprise to
learn that you had passed the House version so that it would not have to
go to conference!

This is such a positive step. The watering can Bono speaks of is now a
bucket. Let's keep moving in this positive direction so that we
ultimately have the resources to stop the holocaust of HIV/AIDs in
Africa.