Hanging Out with Susan Boyle! The UK Singer That Made Simon Cowell Smile

Today we celebrate the power of faith and the beauty of Susan Boyle – The UK Singer whose audition on “Britain’s Got Talent” made Simon Cowell smile. 

See below for what we’re calling “Hanging Out with Susan Boyle”. It’s a compilation of several recent interviews and we’ve even got her singing another song 🙂

Click to see video of Susan Boyle having fun.

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Click here to see High Quality Video of Susan Boyle's Britain's Got Talent Audition.

The Beauty of Susan Boyle: The UK Internet Singing Sensation

Okay, you’ve seen the video (click here if you haven’t) of Susan Boyle, the woman auditioning for “Britain’s Got Talent” who surprised Simon Cowell, the other judges, the audience and the world with her singing.

But what is it that has moved her video to be viewed over 30, 000,000 times on YouTube? What is it that moves people to tears?

Is it her singing? Naahh, we’ve heard great voices before.

What we love about her is her having the “temerity” to continue to pursue a dream at the age of 47.  The “audacity” to believe that she had a chance; and the “gall” to actually show up at the audition.

As Peggy Noonan, a columnist from The Wall Street Journal said on “ABC This Week with George Stephanopoulus”, “She was lovely, she was modest, awkard  . . . humble . . . she opened her mouth and she was transformed . . . and it was very tender.”

In addition, she also serves as a reminder that you can’t always judge a book by it’s cover and that it’s the pages of the book that tell the full story.

Kudos to you Susan for holding onto your dreams and in turn inspiring millions!! We’ll be rooting for you on May 23rd!

ej

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Chatting with Britain’s Singing Sensation (The Good Morning America Interview)

Click to see Diane Sawyer's Interview with Susan Boyle

Now that you’ve seen the interview, click on the articles below to learn more about her and even further down you can catch her singing Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On”:

= She Who Laughs Last – Songstress Susan Boyle (The Sunday Times UK)  

 =Susan Boyle, an Unlikely Singer, is a YouTube Sensation (The New York Times)

Click below to watch Susan Boyle’s Interview on “Larry King Live” . During the interview, she gets a chance to talk to Piers Morgan (one of the Britain’s Got Talent judges seen on the video) and she also sings Celine Dion’s song  “My Heart Will Go On”.

Click here to see Susan Boyle sing Celine Dion's "My Heart Will Go On" on "Larry King Live." She starts singing at the 11:10 mark.

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“Slumdog Millionarie” Child Star Rubina Ali for Sale by Her Father?

Rubina Ali – We loved her in the movie. We thought she was gorgeous in her Oscar dress. We smiled at the pictures of her at Disneyland and now we hear reports that her father is allegedly offering her for sale. . .

Her father says he isn’t.

Read below for both sides of the story.

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From News of The World.

Father Tries to Cash In on Daughter’s Fame

Mazher Mahmood, News of the World

The poverty-stricken father of Slumdog Millionaire child star Rubina Ali plans to become a millionaire himself – by SELLING his nine-yearold daughter.

In a bid to escape India’s real-life slums, Rafiq Qureshi put angel-faced darling of the Oscars Rubina up for adoption, demanding millions of rupees worth £200,000.

As he offered the shocking deal to the News of the World’s undercover fake sheik this week, Rafiq declared: “I have to consider what’s best for me, my family and Rubina’s future.”

Rafiq tried to blame Hollywood bosses for forcing him to put his daughter up for SALE.

As he tried to fix the illegal adoption deal, real-life slum dweller Rafiq declared: “We’ve got nothing out of this film.”

Then, almost embarrassed to speak it out loud, he whispered to an accomplice the price tag he has put on his innocent young daughter: “It’s £200,000!”

That was an astonishing FOURFOLD increase on his opening demand. But Rafiq’s equally demanding brother Mohiuddin insisted: “The child is special now. This is NOT an ordinary child. This is an Oscar child!”  More . . .

Picture Credit: News of the World

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From Times Online (UK)

Rubina Ali’s Family Brawl After Father Denies Offering “Slumdog Millionaire” Actress For Sale

Rhys Blakely, Mumbai, Times Online (UK)

There were ugly scenes outside the home of one of the child stars of Slumdog Millionaire today when Rubina Ali’s mother demanded that the young actress be removed from the care of her father.

Rafiq Asghar Ali Qureshi is alleged to have offered the nine-year-old for sale for £200,000 in an illegal adoption deal.

“We are considering Rubina’s future,” he is claimed to have told an undercover newspaper reporter from the News of the World, who was posing as an interested buyer from the Middle East.

“We’ve got nothing out of this film. They haven’t looked after us. They gave some money at the start but they gave nothing afterwards. They gave us around 150,000 rupees (£2,000).

“They’ve been talking about giving us a house, but all they do is talk.”

Mr Qureshi and his brother-in-law Rajan More allegedly initially asked for £50,000 for Rubina – a sum that was hiked to £200,000 at a later meeting.

More . . .

Picture Credit: Gautam Singh/AP

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Afghan Women Protest New Law That Regulates Marital Sex, Ability to Work Outside the Home & Their Freedom to “Dress Up”

Afghan women are fighting back! More specifically, many of them have been participating in protests against a recently enacted law that regulates their home life.

Their goal is to have Parliament repeal a new law that imposes restrictions on women and permits – among other things – marital rape.

Update: According to Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, “The law will be revised.” In an interview with Fareed Zakaria on CNN’s GPS, he states, “This law was signed without knowledge of the articles in it.”  >:| Click here to see video of the interview.

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Women critical of new restrictions applying to Shiites demonstrate in Kabul.

Afghan Women Protest New Law on Home Life

Dexter Filkins, The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — The young women stepped off the bus and moved toward the protest march just beginning on the other side of the street when they were spotted by a mob of men.

“Get out of here, you whores!” the men shouted. “Get out!”

The women scattered as the men moved in.

“We want our rights!” one of the women shouted, turning to face them. “We want equality!”

The women ran to the bus and dived inside as it rumbled away, with the men smashing the taillights and banging on the sides.

“Whores!”

But the march continued anyway. About 300 Afghan women, facing an angry throng three times larger than their own, walked the streets of the capital on Wednesday to demand that Parliament repeal a new law that introduces a range of Taliban-like restrictions on women, and permits, among other things, marital rape.

It was an extraordinary scene. Women are mostly illiterate in this impoverished country, and they do not, generally speaking, enjoy anything near the freedom accorded to men. But there they were, most of them young, many in jeans, defying a threatening crowd and calling out slogans heavy with meaning.

With the Afghan police keeping the mob at bay, the women walked two miles to Parliament, where they delivered a petition calling for the law’s repeal.

“Whenever a man wants sex, we cannot refuse,” said Fatima Husseini, 26, one of the marchers. “It means a woman is a kind of property, to be used by the man in any way that he wants.”

The law, approved by both houses of Parliament and signed by President Hamid Karzai, applies to the Shiite minority only. Women here and governments and rights groups abroad have protested three parts of the law especially.

One provision makes it illegal for a woman to resist her husband’s sexual advances. A second provision requires a husband’s permission for a woman to work outside the home or go to school. And a third makes it illegal for a woman to refuse to “make herself up” or “dress up” if that is what her husband wants.  More . . .

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Picture Credit: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images for The New York Times