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...there are enough worthy causes that even if Bill Gates emptied his bank account, many would leave needy.
But money is hardly the only way we can help fight this. Find out who your D.A. is. Let them know that you want them to cooperate with the Innocence Project and other such groups. Let them know you are watching.
The urge to save humanity is almost always a false face for the urge to rule it. ~ H.L. Mencken
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:44:02 AM PDT
[ Parent ]
we should have learned that
a) There should BE no Bill Gates, and b) Society should and can solve the problems we historically and evidently now depend on our Gates' to address for us.
We are called to speak for the weak, for the voiceless, for victims of our nation and for those it calls enemy.... --ML King "Beyond Vietnam"
by Gooserock on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:49:30 AM PDT
...which doesn't have anything to do with the topic at hand, I'll point out that point b is the case here. The Innocence Project is funded by ordinary Americans like myself. It is staffed by volunteer attorneys and law school students using their meager spare time.
We need to do far far more. But we are not holding out for Bill Gates, Soros, or anyone else to buy our justice for us.
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:53:17 AM PDT
there would be no Mr Paper Clip Helper Guy and where would I be then?
</snark>
Our current healthcare system is simple. Don't get sick.
by tiggers thotful spot on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:57:52 AM PDT
by Jay Elias on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:58:50 AM PDT
Mr Paper Clip Helper Guy part of the reason there is an Open Office?
We must be the change we wish to see. -- Gandhi
by i know on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 01:38:31 AM PDT
to see if they could make a user interface as bad as that in MS Office.
by wondering if on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:21:40 AM PDT
Including de facto standards like the MS Office user interface.
But in order to play in the market, you have to embrace the standard.
User training and barriers to adoption are a very big deal if you want companies to transition to Open Office.
We're pro-choice on everything! - Libertarian slogan
by CA Libertarian on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:36:31 AM PDT
stop hijacking
by debedb on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 02:12:08 PM PDT
Before he caused me to implode from utter and complete irritation.
You can tell you have created God in your own image when it turns out that he or she hates all the same people you do. - Anne Lamott
by javelina on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 06:44:16 AM PDT
It was a bright day when I figured out how to kill Mr. Happy Dancing Paperclip. A bright day indeed.
Say buh-bye to Jim Inhofe...Andrew Rice for U.S. Senate
by deha on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:59:39 AM PDT
into Mr. Paper Cat. Or is it Ms.?
And then I turned it off.
-8.00, -7.08
It isn't easy being green.
by emeraldmaiden on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:34:35 AM PDT
by javelina on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:39:59 PM PDT
Want any help? Mind if I go ahead and put the date over on the right hand side of the page? I'm going to go ahead and single-space your lines and double-space your paragraphs. Hope that's cool with you. By the way, don't forget to end with a closing salutations! Mind if I humbly suggest "Respectfully Yours,"? I think that sets the right tone. You know what, how about I just write the whole fucking thing for you? Would that work? I'm going to bend myself into the shape of a star, because you're a motherfucking star. Best buddies forever, right? Right?
You can have your "Under God" back when I get my "Liberty and Justice For All" back.
by karateexplosions on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:36:07 AM PDT
"Everyone is tired of this man...you have to remember he is a member of a social class which has profited from wars." -Doris Lessing on Bush
by perro amarillo on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:29:49 PM PDT
I am absolutely screaming with laughter.
Thank you!
by javelina on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:40:48 PM PDT
but not a crime...
So many impeachable offenses, so little time... -6.0 -5.33
by Cali Techie on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 10:07:50 AM PDT
he's creepy. it always looks like he's leering at me...and i don't need to take that from a software program
"I don't have a problem with change, I just don't want to be there when it happens." - Adrian Monk
by betsyross on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 07:54:54 AM PDT
Bill and Melinda as well as William Sr all donate to the UW Law school and several related programs. I can only assume they support the ipnw. http://www.law.washington.edu/...
It is located in William H. Gates Hall, Suite 265
I can ask the step daughter who did research for ipnw all three years of law school.
The biggest threat to America is not communism, it's moving America toward a fascist theocracy... -- Frank Zappa
by NCrefugee on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 10:00:43 AM PDT
I'm defending Bill Gates, but point A, to me, is a bit extreme. There is nothing at all wrong with people amassing fortunes legally and honestly. (I know, I know - a lot of people think Gates has done neither, but that's another discussion for another time.)
We can have a society where society works together for the common good, AND individuals are free to profit HONESTLY from talent, energy and innovation. (I know, I know...) When it's done honestly, and with the acknowledgment that none of us succeeds in a vacuum and that we all have responsibilities to society, personal success is a good thing. It's the Enrons and Halliburtons of the world, those who profit from illegal and unethical behavior and from the abuse of others, who should be scorned.
Hey, I'm a Mac guy, I'm no fan of Gates. But he is making the effort to give back. And his father campaigned publicly to preserve the estate tax, which should be worth a kudo or two.
-8.25, -6.26 "I'm not superstitious. But, I AM a little stitious." - Michael Scott
by snookybeh on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 04:03:34 AM PDT
the disparity could not possibly become so huge.
And you're right, Bill Gates did not do either. I applaud his philanthropy, but it's like closing the barn door after the stampede. I'm sure the people he's 'helping' might have rather helped themselves, had they been given a chance.
by xysea on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:13:13 AM PDT
When wealthy people make their money by walking over the bodies of others I have absolutely no respect for their philanthropy. They give their money to strut their stuff not because they care about others. After all, if they cared about others, they would have been honest in their dealings in the first place.
Bill Gates and Microsoft has no problem making sure that the majority of people who work at Microsoft are not Microsoft employees. That includes the janitors, receptionists, mail and travel people just to name a few. I worked there for awhile for a contract company that makes deliveries from one building to another. I was really shocked to learn that none of the people I usually had contact with were actually Microsoft employees.
Bill Gates sure wouldn't want all those people working on his acres and acres of Company property to have decent benefits. Benefits would cut into his billions in bank.
by twinpeaks on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:59:21 AM PDT
But his philanthropy started free public libraries in communities across America -- libraries that opened windows to knowledge, and doors to a better future, for all succeeding generations of lower-income Americans.
People aren't binary. Nobody's all good or all bad. (Dick Cheney doesn't disprove this rule; the undead are allowed to be wholly evil.) It's perfectly possible to applaud a philanthropy, while condemning methods used to amass the fortune that made it possible.
Folly is fractal: the closer you look at it, the more of it there is.
by Canadian Reader on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 12:12:44 PM PDT
Although technically legal (I suppose, since he's not in prison . . . ), the early machinations behind the rise of Microsoft were hardly honest or ethical . . .
by Roadbed Guy on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:13:15 AM PDT
Microsoft wouldn't hire so many people for one-year contracts, then make them sit out of work for 100 days before rehire, to avoid paying them full salary and benefits.
Bill Gates does a lot of good with his money around the world. Would that he could look across the water from his fancy house on the east side and see the people in downtown Seattle without jobs, housing, and food.
Give me a job, Bill. Me and lots of others. Take care of the people at home too.
by Brooke In Seattle on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 08:15:42 AM PDT
Microsoft tries like hell to monopolize the software industry. There is no reason why IE should be a mandatory part of the OS. And IE does not follow W3C standards - purposely - so that MS can advance their proprietary monopoly.
look at the lawsuits in Europe. MS paid $$$$ big time for illegal monopolistic practices.
by MJ via Chicago on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 09:05:42 AM PDT
...after the Netscape antitrust charges were filed. Don't you remember the timing of this?
And then his foundation focused on giving away computers and software to schools and libraries - who would of course need Microsoft software upgrades.
As Melinda Gates says in the most recent issue of Fortune, the only reason he shifted gears to more human issues like health care is because of her prodding.
Gates is a monopolist and a weasel.
All those dollars he's giving away were never his in the first place.
by CA Libertarian on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 05:12:01 PM PDT
is a dick and struggling for his political life.
[-6.25, -5.59] "The love you take is equal to the love you make." - J. Lennon, P. McCartney
by Phil N DeBlanc on Wed Jan 23, 2008 at 10:04:34 AM PDT
wide narrow
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