GLF pro or con

It seems the generous GLF (Gates
Library Foundation) is a bother to some folks.
ewtn.com has a story that is
very critical of The GLF and
its\’ policy of funding certain organizations.

The seattletimes
has a story that says the critisim is overblown, and they don\’t
understand the attacks.

I\’ve also collected a few other stories to throw in for a
"Mini Quickie" on the GLF. Read on for more…

It seems the generous GLF (Gates
Library Foundation) is a bother to some folks.
ewtn.com has a story that is
very critical of The GLF and
its\’ policy of funding certain organizations.

The seattletimes
has a story that says the critisim is overblown, and they don\’t
understand the attacks.

I\’ve also collected a few other stories to throw in for a
"Mini Quickie" on the GLF. Read on for more…

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/1997/06/23/daily4.html
Here\’s a story from when he origianlly announced the start of the
fund.<BR>
"Our public libraries represent free and open access to
important information and knowledge," said Melinda Gates.
"Bill and I are excited to be helping libraries ensure that
children and adults from all walks of life will have access to
the wealth of information and understanding that computers and
digital information make possible." Patty Stonesifer, former
senior vice president of Microsoft\’s Interactive Multimedia
Division and consultant to DreamWorks SKG, is the foundation\’s
president and chairman."

http://www.pilotonline.com/news/nw0629net.html
<b>VIRGINIA BEACH — </b>After five years of limping
along with one computer for public Internet use, Virginia Beach\’s
seven library branches will surge into the 21st century today.<p>
All branches will offer computers with Internet access, 94
terminals in all, beginning today. The Central Library has been
testing the service on about 20 computers since last week.<p>
“People expect to have the Internet in libraries,\’\’ said Marcy J.
Sims, director of public libraries for Virginia Beach. “It\’s a
major addition to our resources, and it\’s been a long, long
process getting to this point.\’\'<p> Norfolk has 60 Internet
computers spread among 12 libraries, and Chesapeake offers 50
machines divided among six libraries. Portsmouth, with four
library branches, has three public computers. Suffolk has no
public access among four libraries.<p>

http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/stories/2000/02/07/story7.html
Writing recently in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, historian Mark
Dowie — who is writing a book on American foundations — advised
that Bill Gates should extricate his wife as well as his father,
William H. Gates, from the foundation\’s operations. Dowie wrote
that such personal involvement has a poor history of success.
Instead, he opined that Melinda and William H. Gates would be
better traded for two executives at the New York-based Ford
Foundation — until recently the nation\’s largest — and that
both institutions would benefit from the cross-pollination of
ideas.
Dowie also wrote that the Gates family should turn a deaf ear to
advice they receive from existing foundations and strive to
create their own, less bureaucratic, structure. Currently, the
foundation has perhaps a few dozen employees, not counting the
100 staffers who work installing computers for the foundation\’s
effort to bring the Internet to schools and libraries. The Gates
Foundation has achieved this low employee count by outsourcing
much of its research and program implementation to other
nonprofits. The Ford Foundation, by contrast, has more than 500
employees.

http://www.ewtn.com/vnews/getstory.asp?number=5299
"It is the ultimate hypocrisy for Bill Gates, in the name of
philanthropy, to give financial support to the UNFPA and other
groups which fund and perform abortions," said Judie Brown,
president of ALL. "He is responsible for perpetuating the
war against poor women of color throughout the developing world
and their babies. Our prayer campaign will continue until this
contraceptive imperialism comes to an end."
In the name of God, Bill, haven\’t you had enough?" begins
American Life League\’s full-page ad that appeared this week in
metropolitan Seattle newspapers-the home of Microsoft\’s world
headquarters.
The ads are the next step in ALL\’s campaign to educate Microsoft
mogul Bill Gates about the cruel realities of the abortion and
population control programs that his foundation has funded with
tens of millions of dollars in donations. The "Educate Bill
Gates" campaign began a year ago with a national prayer
petition.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/news/local/html98/gate_19991027.html
Anti-abortion groups are off the mark in attacking Microsoft
founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, for their contributions
to family planning and population-control efforts, says a
spokesman for the Gates\’ philanthropic foundation.
At the couple\’s direction, the foundation does not allow its
money to fund abortion services of any kind and spells out that
policy in its grant contracts, says Trevor Neilson, spokesman for
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Then it tracks
expenditures.
"That\’s why these attacks are somewhat confusing," says
Neilson.
But, protesters say that argument doesn\’t wash.
"If he\’s giving to Planned Parenthood, he\’s giving to
abortion whether he wants to admit it or not," says the Rev.
Johnny Hunter, national director of the Life Education and
Resource Network Inc. "His money helps to keep them in a
position to do the things they\’re doing, and the biggest share of
that is abortion."

Here is the GLF official press
release page
.