The Gates foundation and MS make sure that anything they give is accompanied by equal amounts of self congratulatory PR.

If he was truly "philanthropic" he would donate to some foundation that doesn't havehis name emblazoned for all to see and on the qt.

Think Woz teaching in public HS without fanfare.

How is MS giving away a MS program that run on Mac's "sudsidizing " Apple? This means that you agree by giving away Windows only programs that the donations were nothing more then a tax payers paid subsidy for Windows - MS.

Generosity and alturism are suppose to be acts with out personel benefit. MS and Gates fail on that standard. They give nothing away that does not benefit themselves.

As for the aids Foundation after a lifetime of anti trust behavior, stealing programs ( Stacker - Basic) vialation of the rules of business and human decency ( MS use of Perma -Temps) he like a mafiosa is using a pittance iof his ill gotten gains to buy respectability.

And don't forget to thank MS and Bill for thier contribution in giving the world 8 years of GW just so they could buy a complaint Justice department and a slap on the wrist after lossing the anti trust trail.

No just as Michael Milliken can't buy respectability by his supposed charities after a life of crime so does the burden of past dark deeds and dubious business practices hang over Gates as he, like old J.D Rockefeller, spread a pittance around to buy his indulgence's.

It seems that the MSand the Gates foundation use a disproporitionate amount of time and money telling the world how good they are instead of just doing good.

I am glad if the Foundation is actually doing something useful but do not doubt that is incidental to the real purpose of cleaning up his reputation and buying social cachet.

Friends/ neighbors / relatives who help nurse the sick volunteerly and considering the increasingly stratified nature of the US society are probably with out health insurance either.

No this is not just cathartic but more of the Viet Nam protests that sought to Bring the War home. Until those who are obstructing health care for all out start to feel the effects of the lack of medical attention for all they will continue to count there money ( from Campaign Contributions, Lobbying fees, Ins Premiums) while the body count goes up.

So no I do not believe that this is simply cathartic no more then self defense when some one is attacking you is simply cathartic.

Without Health Care Reform a lot of people are already getting sicker and dying from lack of prevenitive care and lack of ongoing care. What I would like to see is that burden transfered from the innocent to the guilty.

Let the insurance companies suffer the loss of work hours and increase in thier own health care costs as a result of their greed, let the Congress members opposed to health care suffer the loss of work hours as a result of their callous political calculations and let the lobbyists feel the result of their manipulation of the system.

ps Isn't it funny a single 40+ year old episode of the Twilight Zone is remembered by so many.

I only import direct quotes and web sites.

It is not just oil. When these routes become major shipping lanes the increased pollution goes up dramatically even if tankers are banned.

The exhaust from the engines, waste discarded over the side, invasive species introduced name the form and it will ride in the wake of the shipping even with strict regulations.

I do not beleive we can stop it. And considering the saving in fuel etc. it may have some benefits but only with stringent regulations strictly enforced. That I fear will not happen.

It's not just a matter of fish . There is the issue of environmental racism/classism where the immediate environmental costs are, literally, dumped upon the poorest and politically weakest in our world.

It is also the issue that the northern ocean is relatively untouched by immediate pollution ( v. indirect pollution) sources. This environment is fragile and slow to recover from any shock to the system.

After befouling almost all of the rest of the world do we wish to see one of the last, comparatively, unspoiled areas dragged down to the standard of the Pacific ocean's plastic garbage patch?

The scientific loss should not be ignored. As it is now the Arctic Sea's is as close as we can come to a "control" against which we can measure effect's of human activities on other waters.

Sorry this is a red herring you are trotting out trying to equate hate mongers such as Beck, Limbaugh and the rethuglican party structure with reasonable sane people such as Al Gore, Barney Frank and Howard Dean.

There is no equivalence. The center is not between the far right whacko's of the Rethuglican party and the false flag Blue Dogs D's rather it is between Progressives such as Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich versus Corporate D's such as Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Your Faux news delusions may not accept that but check the polls on americans positions on a range of issues. But alas I fear fats have a "liberal" bias.

Don't worry I can't be bothered to return to your comments I have wasted enough time on such dribble.

I did try to check couldn't find anything on the net with a Google search.

?????