wish i had a clue stick to smack buffet upside the head!

[Jamon Camisso]

ted leslie wrote:
> "Warren Buffett, the world's second-richest man, said he will soon start giving away almost all of his fortune to charity, most of it going to a foundation controlled by the world's richest man, Bill Gates, Fortune magazine reported Sunday."
> 
> man this is sad!
> give the world most sucessful mob boss 30+ billion $ to selectively spend on "good deeds".
> Man i wanna frick'n puke.
> 
> Here's a thought Warren ... donate 2 billion of it to linux, and in 5 years you'll be the richest man
> after Gates tanks, but i guess that never occured to him!

"The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation on Sunday announced $258.3 million
in new grants to fund the development of a vaccine and new drugs to
combat malaria."

http://news.com.com/Gates+charity+boosts+funding+for+malaria+vaccine+research/2100-11393_3-5923651.html

"New York, NY (May 25, 2006) — The Global Alliance for TB Drug
Development (TB Alliance) announced today that it is receiving $104
million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to advance a pipeline
of new TB drugs over the next five years in the global pursuit to find a
faster and more effective cure for tuberculosis."

http://www.tballiance.org/gates.asp

"The foundation's grants have provided funds for underrepresented
minority college scholarships, AIDS prevention, diseases that strike
mainly in the Third World, and other causes. The Foundation currently
provides 17% (US$86 million in 2006) of the world budget for the
attempted eradication of poliomyelitis (polio)[3]. In June 1999, Gates
and his wife donated US$5 billion to the foundation. They have donated
more than US$100 million to help children suffering from AIDS. On
January 26, 2005, it was announced that the Foundation had made a
further contribution of US$750 million to the international Vaccine Fund
to help fight diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, measles,
poliomyelitis and yellow fever. As of 2006, the foundation has an
endowment of approximately US$26.9 billion. To maintain its status as a
charitable foundation, it must donate at least 5% of its assets each
year. Thus the donations from the foundation each year would amount to
over $1 billion at a minimum."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_and_Melinda_Gates_Foundation

While there is likely much spin and people involved in these groups
making everything sound all rosy and such, those are some significant
numbers. Even if Buffet donates only $1billion a year through Gates, who
is loosing? Granted there may be a distribution pipeline, drug companies
skimming etc. etc. but still, Linux is irrelevant in this case... since
anything is better than nothing with such large sums involved.

Jamon

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