While I have never been a Bill Gates or M$ devotee, I do admire the foundation and the work it does -- which truly is a humanitarian effort. They have made great inroads into inocula- tion programs for children. They also run the foundation like a business -- thereby gutting the bloated "administrative costs" that seem to gobble up the lions' share of other so-called charities. As a 30-year computer veteran, 22 of 'em as a UNIX snob, I indeed regard M$ as the Evil Empire -- but smart is smart -- and I admit respect for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and its work.
penelope S. -- Excellence is a journey, not a destination. > > from my local paper, bill gates throws $400 million at india, > some of it ostensibly for "charitable" works. uh huh. > > www.therecord.com/business/technology/z111219A.html > > you have to love the idea of the "bill and melinda gates > foundation" -- the perfect vehicle for legal bribery. > honestly, i can just see the top-secret microsoft board > meeting now ... > > "OK, guys, you know that we've been controlling all > these foreign markets basically by buying off those > cheap, local politicians. But, man, with this antitrust > nightmare, and all those yahoo open-source fanatics > jumping up and down, we have *got* to be more careful. > I mean, if it comes out that we're just bribing these > guys, the sh*t is seriously going to hit the fan. > We need another approach. Well?" > > "Um, how about, lessee, we can still bribe them, we > just don't call it a bribe. We call it ... uh, charity. > Yeah, that's it. Charity. Money for ... what's that big > word everybody likes to use ... 'humanitarian' purposes. > Yeah, that's it." > > "We start a charitable foundation. But, Bill, we can't > just put your name on it. I mean, come on, nobody's gonna > buy that the world's most predatory, convicted monopolist > suddenly grew a conscience or anything, know what I mean?" > > "So ... yeah, that's it, we put your wife's name on it, > too. Gives it that nice, motherly touch. I mean, you > have to be pretty callous to criticize moms, right?" > > "And we need a good cause. Big time good cause. > Save the whales? Nah, who gives a crap about the whales? > Whoa, brainstorm! AIDS. Does it get any better than AIDS? > I mean, there's even *kids* with AIDS. It's perfect. Can > you *imagine* anyone trying to pick a fight with you over > AIDS? This is perfect! We start this foundation, and > we can plow millions, I mean *millions* into these other > countries, call it ... whatever ... humanitarian support > for AIDS. We look like heroes, Bill ... I mean, freakin' > heroes! And once we get the cash to those guys, well, > who's to say where it really ends up? Know what I mean? > Nudge, nudge, wink, wink. Know what I mean?" > > "And ... oh, man, here's the best part ... it's *tax > deductible*! Can you believe this?? We're gonna bribe > foreign officials, and we're gonna get a tax writeoff > for doing it!" > > "Is this a great country or what?" > > rday > > p.s. yes, i really do have better things i could be > doing right now. > > > > > -- > redhat-list mailing list > unsubscribe mailto:redhat-list-request@;redhat.com?subject=unsubscribe > https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list -- redhat-list mailing list unsubscribe mailto:redhat-list-request@;redhat.com?subject=unsubscribe https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/redhat-list
