Re: HLA v1.78 is now available

On 2005-10-21 sevagK said:

   >  <snip>
   >
   > Bill Gates is a business man who became successful.  Perhaps too
   > successful and success always draws anger and envy from some who
   > don't have it.  It's not enough to knock him for his success, you
   > have to knock him for his philanthropy too.
   >                                         _____ 
   > -sevag.K                               (((   `\
                                            _ _`\   )
       You seem to hold an underlying       (^  )   )
       assumption that philanthropy          ~-(     )
       is, in itself, always a good          _'((,,,)))
       thing.                             ,-' \_/    `\
                                         (          ,  |
       That may or may not be true.       `-.-'`-.-'/|_|
       Looking at America's welfare          \     / | |
       system as it's presently               =()=: / ,' aa
       constituted might lead some
       to reject that assumption.

       In any case, I live in Bill Gates' "back yard," so to speak.
       I've had the op****tunity to see him operate at relatively
       close range.

       It's my perception that his philanthropy is disingenuous.
       Bill is fundamentally an apolitical nerd with megaloman-
       ical overtones...which were exacerbated by his success.

       All indications are that The Gates Foundation was mostly,
       if not solely, the brainchild of Melinda. Without her
       influence, and left to his own devices, it's questionable
       that Bill would ever have underwritten that foundation.

       In placating Melinda's naive impulses, I'm betting that
       Bill "stacked the deck" in ways that would bring him the
       the greatest possible benefit...both financially, and
       PR-wise. Can't prove it at the moment, but that would be
       in keeping with his established operating procedure, from
       his first beginnings to the present day.

       Then, too, one would be well-advised to look at the recip-
       ients of the largesse, and try to determine the efficacious-
       ness of the donations. A ****tion of the foundation's money
       has gone right down rat holes. Like (to cite one example)
       the donations of computers and software to African villages
       that DIDN'T EVEN HAVE ELECTRICITY to run the computers.

       Nevertheless, the mere fact of the donation ITSELF got Bill
       a lot of mileage with the politically-correct crowd...even
       though the donations were essentially worthless in actually
       "helping people."

       Naturally, you're free to perceive and believe whatever you'd
       like, for whatever reasons.  And I require the same privilege.

       So we'll have to agree to disagree. Hehe!