Bill and Melinda Gates donate $10 billion

File this under "Being good without Gods" — The Gates' are atheists.

Thats awesome!

Things like this make it more difficult for me to be bitter against King Bill. sigh.

it is encouraging to see people who have much, working to give-much as well.

Where have I insulted you? I just like your way of thinking. I liked it before I started posting here. I use to just read things before I signed up. I was just a "lurker" (I believe that is what the internet term is). Why can I not appreciate how I think you are smart? I had no idea that that would be insulting to anyone. I'm very confused.

I apologize if this has become annoying, but I did just start posting today and got an email with this reply but I cannot find it anywhere. I just wanted to address the comment:

-- Autifk said ----- Jan... The problem with your question is that it carries an assumption. The assumption is that Bill and Melinda Gates will benefit from their donation. I don't think you know whether that is true. A fairer question to ask would be, "Why are they donating $10b to this cause?" But, you jumped right out with the assumption (i.e. without knowing whether your assumption was true or false). That's what's wrong with your so-called question.

Maybe she was busy and she just said what she thought at the moment. Maybe she was going to come back (as we all see) and post the information as to why she thought that. She is not someone that just posts things without backing them up. I knew she could do it.

Also if anyone knows why this was deleted (I'm assuming...sorry) I'd like to know so that I do not make the same mistake, though I'm in good light because the site is liberal. It's like if I were a conservative on FoxNews I'd be liked more than a liberal on FoxNews.

thanks bill...thank u melinda!

The work that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has done has saved tens of thousands of lives and significantly improved millions more. The criticisms leveled by others here may well be justified...I haven't done the research myself on those areas...but even assuming for the moment that they ARE justified, Gates could still engage in that conduct and NOT donate tens of billions of dollars.

http://current.com/items/91463545_sierra-club-responds-to-bill-gates-comments-on...

Right on the mark.

If you care about children's health, you don't support GMOs. And ask Mr. Gates as well why he supports a 'technology' that is now deforesting great swaths of land in Latin America as well, and causing illness and death amongst its children due to pesticide exposure.

When it is done without offsetting it by supporting the very companies polluting the planet and making children sick, it is noble. I happen to appreciate people who give any amount of money or time out of the goodness of their hearts with no ulterior motives. I don't really know that here and neither do you. And the question that needs to be asked then is: when will we live in a world where our children won't have to worry about being vaccinated from the diseases we create because we cure them? When will we use our money for that? When will they be able to live in a world where pollution and disease are a thing of the past because we give our money to actually protecting this planet and them instead of trashing it to make money off of vaccines that may well not even do as they should?

.

Haha I read this at the apple store

I happen to be one of those people who likes it when another person donates $10 billion dollars to a worthwhile cause. So yes, I think the Gates' donation is awesome and, quite frankly, speaks to their character.

http://www.whale.to/a/bill_gates1.html

Bill Gates: Philanthropist or Profiteering Polluter?

Reprinted from The Los Angeles Times, January 7, 2007 with an introduction by Barbara Loe Fisher of the National Vaccine Information Center

"The Gates Foundation has poured $218 million into polio and measles immunization and research worldwide, including in the Niger Delta. At the same time that it is paying for inoculations to protect health, it has invested $423 million in Eni, Royal Dutch Shell, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and Total of France — the companies responsible for most of the flares blanketing the delta with pollution, beyond anything permitted in the United States or Europe. A sampling of the Gates Foundation's largest investments between $100 million and $1 billion: Abbott Laboratories, Archer Daniels Midland, British Petroleum, Canadian National Railway, Exxon Mobil, Freddie Mac, French Government, Japanese Government, Merck, Schering Plough, Tyco International, Waste Management...Indeed, local leaders blame oil developments for fostering some of the very afflictions that the foundation combats." - Charles Piller, Edmund Sanders, Robyn Dixon, LA Times

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has more than $60 billion at its disposal - an amount higher than the gross domestic products of 70 percent of the world's nations - is reportedly financially backing corporations which pollute the same areas of Africa that are targeted for vaccines made by companies that Gates also funds. A report in the LA Times points out that:

"Oil bore holes fill with stagnant water, which is ideal for mosquitoes that spread malaria, one of the diseases the foundation is fighting. Investigators for Dr. Nonyenim Solomon Enyidah, health commissioner for Rivers State, where Ebocha is, cite an oil spill clogging rivers as a cause of cholera, another scourge the foundation is battling. The bright, sooty gas flares — which contain toxic byproducts such as benzene, mercury and chromium — lower immunity, Enyidah said, and make children more susceptible to polio and measles — the diseases that the Gates Foundation has helped to inoculate against.

There have been suggestions in the past that most of the diseases affecting modern man have been caused by negligent multinational corporations seeking high profits and doctors and scientists, who mistakenly believe they are helping people by encouraging the use of many toxic drugs and vaccines marketed by multi-national corporations. Sadly, Africa appears to be a place where this is occurring and the poorest people are suffering the most. They are being exploited twice: first by being sickened by manufactured toxins which poison their bodies; and again when that sickness is used to justify purchase and use of many vaccines to theoretically prevent the manmade illnesses.

Ironically, the clueless average American is also helping to exploit the children of Africa and other underdeveloped countries: the more mandated vaccines which Americans are forced to use and pay high prices for, the wealthier the drug companies making vaccines get. The vaccine manufacturers use the high profits they make off of American vaccine mandates to sell the stuff to poor countries like Africa at a reduced rate.

And so the little children are exploited and suffer, American and African alike, and will continue to suffer until Americans stand up and stop the vicious cycle.

—Barbara Loe Fisher
_______
It's like investing in the disease and the cure to get a return on it. And with all of the money they have how many have they cured by actually also supporting the very companies destroying this planet? Also, again, Gates is a staunch GMO advocate and friend of Monsanto who appoints their former employees to high level positions in his foundation. Right there that discredits them in my eyes. You cannot have a relationship with a company like Monsanto that has done and continues to do so much to destroy this environment and children's health, and make me believe you give a damn about children or their health.

Also see:
http://www.whale.to/vaccine/journal1.html

Bill Gates is filthy rich,but he seems to be a smart guy! Most people if they had money like that (lets be honest!) would spend the majority on themselves! Good Job Bill & Melinda & all those willing to care about people other then themselves ! Nice to know in a world where so many people seem completely careless, that there actually are people that do care about stuff!

I guess when you make $300 a second, donating 10 billion is highly feasible. Either way, cheers to you Bill.

I like when rich people donate more money than i can even fathom. It makes other rich j-holes look like greedy tools when they just sit on their money.

thats it?

Holy crap thats alot of money, but i thought he had about a 40 billion net worth i could be wrong though

don't forget about warren buffet. He donated 85% of his 44bill (back in 2006) to the B&M Gates foundation.

I applaud his charity but $10 Billion to help fight AIDS while the Catholic Smurch tells 3rd world countries not to use condoms and children starve in their own state & country. Why is that Americans are so concerned with helping 3rd world countries and we can't even help our own fellow citizens?? The very citizens that buy his programs.

BILL GATES ON THE SCENE!

like...

i applaud them for the way they're spending their money. it's nice to see.

nice :D