Look To The Stars News: Colin Powell

Stars Join Larry King To Talk Charity For Haiti

Tue, 19 Jan 2010 12:30:00 -0000

As reported earlier by LookToTheStars.org, a host of stars joined Larry King on CNN last night to encourage people to help the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The broadcast raised over $5 million for UNICEF and the Red Cross.

Famous faces such as Alyssa Milano, Mick Jagger, Ben Stiller, Ringo Starr, Colin Powell, John Mayer, Seal, Ryan Seacrest, Benicio del Toro, Tea Leoni, Scarlett Johansson, Christian Slater, Ashley Judd, Sarah Ferguson, Russell Simmons, P. Diddy, Kobe Bryant, Danny Glover, David Spade, Susan Sarandon, Nicole Richie, Benji Madden, Joel Madden, Jeff Probst, Molly Sims, Peter Wentz, will.i.am and many more took the chance to appear on the show.

Each star took the time to speak about the disaster and appeal for donations.

“When these terrible disasters happen in a very poor place, the result is magnified. …This is a huge, massive disaster for one of the poorest countries,” said Rolling Stone Mick Jagger. “It’s very gratifying to see such an outpouring of help from many countries.”

“What’s the difference between this crisis and maybe the tsunami?” asked Tea Leoni who appeared for UNICEF. "After the tsunami we were able to prevent the death of any child in the second wave of the disaster… We’re looking at a much more desperate situation, here.  

“The children of Haiti before this crisis were already in sort of a dire situation and kids who are malnourished are much more susceptible to suffer from disease, they’re more apt to contract cholera, dysentery.”

“Those people that are out there that can help, help; it’s important for humanity, for love, life… You have to help for America because we don’t have help,” added Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am.

“I’ve been watching at home with my family and have been incredibly moved and saddened by everything that has happened,” said Jennifer Lopez. “It’s daunting. It just feels so huge, and you just want to do anything you can and I urge everybody to do the same. … Every little bit helps.”

A visibly shaken Molly Sims – who visited the country last year – fought back tears to add: "Words can’t even describe what I saw and I consider myself a very well-travelled person. It was absolute devastation.

“They had no safe drinking water then, imagine now.”

Paula Abdul added: “The overwhelming despair and families not knowing who’s alive, not being able to account for [people], it’s just [sad]. It’s the most helpless feeling. There’s so much that you wish you could do. … It’s so overwhelming.”

Larry King revealed that over 150,000 have died in the quake, and many more are homeless and face terrible conditions.

Larry King To Host Star-Studded Haiti Special

Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:40:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Larry King will host a special two hour show tonight, Monday January 18, on CNN featuring a plethora of celebrities, leaders and activists talking about how YOU can help victims of the Haiti earthquake.

Expected to take part are Alyssa Milano, Mick Jagger, Ben Stiller, Ringo Starr, Colin Powell, John Mayer, Seal, Ryan Seacrest, Benicio del Toro, Tea Leoni, Scarlett Johansson, Christian Slater, Ashley Judd, Sarah Ferguson, Russell Simmons, P. Diddy, Kobe Bryant, Danny Glover, David Spade, Susan Sarandon, Nicole Richie, Benji Madden, Joel Madden, Jeff Probst, Molly Sims, Peter Wentz, will.i.am and more.

The show will air on CNN at 8pm ET.

Click here for more info.

Star-Studded Event Honors CNN Everyday Heroes

Mon, 23 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

This year’s CNN Heroes event featured a host of famous presenters including Nicole Kidman, Kate Hudson, Neil Patrick Harris, Pierce Brosnan, Dwayne Johnson, Eva Mendes, Randy Jackson, Greg Kinnear, George Lopez and Julia Louis Dreyfus.

Presented by Anderson Cooper, the third annual event honored the top 10 CNN Everyday Heroes of 2009, and was taped in front of an audience of 2,500 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood. Performances by Leona Lewis, Carrie Underwood and R&B singer Maxwell enhanced the evening, which took place on November 21 and will be broadcast on CNN on November 26.

The winners of the awards were selected by a panel that included Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Malaak Compton-Rock, Kirk Cameron, Masi Oka, Shakira, Ted Turner and Colin Powell.

The honorees – as listed by CNN – were:

Brad Blauser is providing hope and mobility to disabled children and their families in Iraq. Since 2005, his Wheelchairs for Iraqi Kids program has distributed nearly 650 free pediatric wheelchairs to children in need.  
Roy Foster started Stand Down House to help veterans struggling with addiction and homelessness in Florida. Since 2000, his program has provided life-changing services to nearly 900 veterans. 
Doc Hendley is providing clean water to communities worldwide. Through creative fundraising, his nonprofit Wine to Water has brought sustainable water systems to 25,000 people in five countries. 
Breast cancer survivor Andrea Ivory is bringing early detection to the doorsteps of uninsured women. With mobile mammography vans, her group has provided more than 500 free screenings in Miami, Florida. 
Zimbabwe native Betty Makoni founded the Girl Child Network to provide a haven for young victims of sexual abuse. The organization has rescued more than 35,000 girls since 2001.  
 School bus driver Jorge Munoz is helping hungry New Yorkers make it through tough times. Since 2004, he has handed out more than 70,000 meals from his mobile soup kitchen in Queens — for free.  
Efren Peñaflorida gives Filipino youth an alternative to gang membership through education. His Dynamic Teen Company’s 10,000 members have taught basic reading and writing to 1,500 kids living in the slums. 
 Budi Soehardi founded a children’s home in one of the poorest areas of Indonesia. Today, Roslin Orphanage in West Timor provides food, shelter and education to more than 45 children.  
 Derrick Tabb started The Roots of Music to give young people an alternative to New Orleans’ streets. His music education program provides free tutoring, instruments and music instruction to more than 100 students. 
Jordan Thomas, 20, of Chattanooga, Tennessee, lost both of his legs in a boating accident in 2005. Since then, his Jordan Thomas Foundation has raised more than $400,000 to provide prosthetics for children in need.

Each of the top 10 Heroes receives $25,000, with the top Hero – Efren Peñaflorida – winning $100,000.

“With the recognition they receive on our stage,” said Anderson Cooper, “they’ll be able to help thousands and thousands of people. Through their efforts, lives will be changed and lives will be saved.”

To find out more about the winners, visit the CNN Heroes website.

Top Rockers Protest Against Music Torture At Guantanamo

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0000

A coalition of US and international musicians, including Trent Reznor, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rise Against, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and The Roots have announced they are joining the National Campaign to Close Guantanamo—a campaign led by retired Generals Robert Gard, John Johns, former member of Congress, Tom Andrews, and Vote Vets Chairman and Iraq War veteran, Jon Soltz.

The musicians have also launched a formal protest of the use of music used in conjunction with torture that took place at the prison and other facilities and announced they were supporting an effort seeking the declassification of all secret government records pertaining to how music was utilized as an interrogation device.

Musicians include Trent Reznor and Tom Morello whose music with the bands Nine Inch Nails and Rage Against the Machine has been linked to torture tactics at the prison, according to public records.

Under the Bush/Cheney administration, music torture was commonplace in Guantánamo and at US secret prisons in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. One notorious technique involved blasting prisoners with ear-splitting music for months on end; this ‘no-touch’ method is yet to be banned by the Army Field Manual.

The FOIA request aims to expose the widespread use of music torture by the US, and was orchestrated by the US campaign group No More Guantánamos and supported by Reprieve. It will be sent today to the CIA, FBI, Department of Defense, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, U.S. Central Command, U.S. Southern Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Department of Army.

Retired General Robert Gard, a critic of the previous administration and staunch advocate to close Guantanamo said, “the torture that went on there is disgraceful and puts our troops at risk everyday – Guantanamo will remain al Qaeda’s biggest recruitment tool unless its shut down – I sympathize for the musicians whose music was used without their knowledge as part of the Bush administration’s misguided policies.”

“Guantanamo is known around the world as one of the places where human beings have been tortured – from water boarding, to stripping, hooding and forcing detainees into humiliating sexual acts – playing music for 72 hours in a row at volumes just below that to shatter the eardrums,” said Morello. “Guantanamo may be Dick Cheney’s idea of America, but it’s not mine. The fact that music I helped create was used in crimes against humanity sickens me – we need to end torture and close Guantanamo now.”

The United Nations has banned the use of music as torture under the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, although the Convention has gone largely unenforced. Colin Powell and General David Petraeus have both advised President Obama to shut the Guantanamo facility down.

“Having these acclaimed artists join the campaign to close Guantanamo will help ignite a prairie fire of grassroots support across the nation. We are thrilled and grateful to have them aboard” said Tom Andrews who is a former Congressman (ME) and director of the National Campaign To Close Guantanamo.

“At Guantanamo, the U.S. government turned a jukebox into an instrument of torture,” said Thomas Blanton, executive director of the National Security Archive, a freedom of information act organization that is assisting the musicians in seeking the documents. “The musicians and the public have the right to know how an expression of popular culture was transformed into an enhanced interrogation technique.”

Musicians are united in response to finding out about the abuse.

“We signed onto the campaign in complete support of President Obama and the military leaders who have called for an end to torture and to close Guantanamo,” said R.E.M. in a statement. “As long as Guantanamo stays open, America’s legacy around the world will continue to be the torture that went on there. We have spent the past 30 years supporting causes related to peace and justice – to now learn that some of our friends’ music may have been used as part of the torture tactics without their consent or knowledge, is horrific. It’s anti-American, period.”

Said the Roots, “When we found out that music was being used as part of the torture going on at Guantanamo, shackling and beating people – we were angry. Just as we wouldn’t be caught dead allowing Dick Cheney to use our music for his campaigns, you can be damn sure, we wouldn’t allow him to use it to torture other human beings. Congress needs to shut Guantanamo down.”

Tim McIlrath, lead singer of Rise Against said, “Guantanamo Bay has been synonymous with torture and inhumanity since its inception. Coupled with its complete ineffectiveness, the shameful legacy it will leave behind in American history is something Americans will have to deal with forever. Let us be the generation that erases this symbol of injustice and fear-mongering from the map so that we can begin to learn from our mistakes.”

UK based charity Reprieve supports this request for freedom of information. The charity has been campaigning against music torture throughout 2009 with its ‘zero dB’ initiative.

Partnered with the UK Musicians Union, ‘zero dB’ has been uniting prominent musicians via an online silent protest and petition. The campaign has gained the support of thousands of fans and prominent musicians including Dizzee Rascal, Elbow, Peter Gabriel, Massive Attack and Doves.

The campaign aims to raise awareness and to encourage widespread condemnation of music torture.

Click here for more information about the campaign.

McEnroe Serious About Standing Up To Cancer

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 11:00:00 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Tennis great John McEnroe is joining the fight against cancer, becoming the latest ambassador for Stand Up To Cancer.

McEnroe, 50, has witnessed his father’s strength against the disease over the last five years. In an interview with CBS News, he says of his father, “He’s a tough guy. I thought he was indestructible, but things happen.”

The 7-time Grand Slam winner and Stand Up To Cancer are encouraging men to get tested for prostate cancer with a simple blood test starting at the age of 40. He tells people, “Be proactive, instead of reactive.”

In an interview with FOX News, he encourages wives to push their husbands to get tested, joking that men won’t even stop to ask directions.

1 in 6 men in the US will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime.

“When my dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer, it was a big wake up call for me. I was really surprised by the prevalence of this disease,” said McEnroe… “I am hoping my story and involvement in this campaign may help a few more guys start managing their risk.”

Free screenings will be available across the US during Prostate Cancer Awareness Week, Sept. 20-26. These are organized through the Prostate Conditions Education Council. Colin Powell is a spokesperson for this organization.

“I personally have battled prostate cancer and won,” Powell states. “Early detection is the best weapon we have against this silent killer.”

For more information on prostate cancer and what you can do fight it, visit ProstateCancer.com and ProstateConditions.org.

Aid For The World Presents An Evening With Colin Powell

Fri, 28 Nov 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Aime Pingi

Aid for the World, the global humanitarian organization that uses everyday resources to meet the most basic needs of people worldwide, will be hosting its first annual gala benefit “Leader In Action” featuring keynote speaker General Colin Powell – who will speak on " Diplomacy: Persuasion, Trust and Values" – and honoring His Excellency President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi.

71-year-old Colin Powell was the 65th United States Secretary of State (2001-2005), serving under President George W. Bush. He was the first African American appointed to that position. During his miltary career, Powell also served as National Security Advisor (1987–1989), as Commader-in-Chief, U.S. Army Forces Command (1989), and as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (1989–1993), holding the latter position during the Gulf War.

General Powell is the recipient of numerous U.S. military awards and decorations including the Defense Distinguished Service Medal (with three Oak Leaf Clusters), the Army Distinguished Service Medal (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit (with Oak Leaf Cluster), Soldier’s Medal, Bronze Star Medal, and the Purple Heart.

There will be only 1000 seats available for this unforgettable evening which will take place on Wednesday, February 4, 2008 from 6.30 pm to 10 pm at the America Museum of Natural History of New York. The program also includes performances by the Grammy and CMA award winning Peasall Sisters and The Orphan Unification Drummers of Burundi. Orphaned by war, the twelve children come together – each from a different province of the nation – and create drum music as part of a unification, reconciliation and healing.

For more information, sponsorship opportunities or VIP inquiries contact: Melissa Hoffman: mhoffman@aidfortheworld.org or call 347-522-1742.

Colin Powell Gets Funky For Africa

Wed, 15 Oct 2008 14:30:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

Christina Aguilera and Seal may have headlined last night’s Africa Rising THISDAY Gala in London, but it was former US Secretary of State Colin Powell who stole the show with his funky Hip Hop dance.

The 71-year-old joined Nigerian rappers Olu Maintain on stage at the Royal Albert Hall for the show, which aimed to highlight the continent’s culture and talents.

“I stand before you as an African American,” he said before joining the group for their item. “Many people have said to me you became Secretary of State of the USA, is it still necessary to say that you are an African American or that you are black, and I say yes, so that we can remind our children. It took a lot of people struggling to bring me to this point in history. I didn’t just drop out of the sky, people came from my continent in chains.”

The musical acts were followed by a fashion show featuring Sudanese model Alek Wek and Tyson Beckford and the latest trends from the House of Momo.

“Asia is expanding, it created jobs for people, and Eastern Europeans are doing the same, in my continent – Latin America, it’s happening also – it’s now Africa’s turn,” continued Powell. “[With] all this wealth creation going on in the world, it won’t happen with just wishing, it will be done with hard work. Africa needs aid, but more than that it needs trade – it needs capital, but it has the same potential as Asia and Eastern European countries. There’s no reason a new Africa can’t be created here and now.”

The concert was the final leg in a four-show series that kicked off in Abuja in July before heading to Lagos and Washington DC, and featured performances from Youssou N'Dour, Jay-Z and John Legend. The shows also raised money for Africa Rising, an organization established in 2006 to reflect the culture and positive attributes of Africa’s social, political and economic progress.

“As Secretary of State, I pushed for support for the continent,” said Powell. “Aid quadrupled during my tenure. We supported the fight against HIV/AIDS with over $15 billion. However, Africans must rise and take the responsibility for the development of the continent. They must end the wars. They must fight corruption.”

Taylor Swift Teams With Def Leppard For TV Gig

Tue, 30 Sep 2008 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Tim Saunders

On October 6, a very special fusion of musical styles will take place in Nashville when teen country sensation Taylor Swift joins with classic British rockers Def Leppard for a one-off gig for TV. And although the event is invitation-only and closed to the public, they really want you to be there.

Swift and the Leppards have organized a charity auction that will let two couples attend the taping of Crossroads, with proceeds going to Country Music Television’s (CMT) One Country charity, Hands On Nashville.

“Every time I’ve seen ‘Crossroads’ on CMT I’ve always thought, ‘If I ever get to do one of those, it HAS to be with Def Leppard!,’ so this is really a dream come true for me,” said Swift. “I have been screaming the words to Def Leppard songs for years so it’s amazing that I’m going to get to share a stage with them this year!”

Led by Advisory Board members former President Jimmy Carter, Maya Angelou and Gen. Colin Powell, CMT One Country offers tools that enable virtually anyone to start making a difference immediately. They also celebrate the accomplishments of everyday heroes and showcase other nonprofit partners – including Second Harvest, the Boys' and Girls' Clubs of America, the USO, and Habitat For Humanity – working to keep America great.

According to CMT executive vice president and general manager Brian Philips, “CMT will enlighten our fans and inspire them to take action in the places where they live. With the help of our biggest stars, we’ll reinforce the messages that resonate in so much of CMT’s music. We know our viewers care deeply about the needs of their neighbors. One Country will make it easy for them to help.”

The auction, which runs until October 2, can be accessed via the CMT Auctions website.

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