The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Gives 750 Million Dollars To The Global Fund to Fight AIDS

For those of you who think Bill Gates and Microsoft are evil.  Maybe they really aren’t that evil after all.

Via Press Release:

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today renewed its commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, the Gates Foundation is giving $750 million through a promissory note—a new and innovative funding mechanism. “These are tough economic times, but that is no excuse for cutting aid to the world’s poorest,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Gates Foundation. “The Global Fund is one of the most effective ways we invest our money every year.” Providing funding through a promissory note gives the Global Fund the flexibility and authority to distribute funds efficiently based on immediate needs, leading to greater impact. “By supporting the Global Fund, we can help to change the fortunes of the poorest countries in the world,” said Gates. “I can’t think of more important work.”

Up until now Bill Gates has donated over 29 BILLION DOLLARS to AIDS Education and Research

Father Who Campaigned Against Bullying Found Dead

Roger Crouch and his son Dominic

 

This I think is a first--- a parent of a gay teen suicide victim of bullies has tekn their own life as well.  This is VERY sad indeed.  What, in my mind this begs of us to ask is...  Doesit get better?  From some I say the answer is yes, for others the answer is clearly no.  It also begs of us to ask what will it take to really make it better for everyone?!

A U.K. man who started a campaign against antigay bullying in honor of his son who committed suicide in 2010 has apparently taken his own life.

Following the death of his 15-year-old son, Dominic, who was teased after purportedly kissing a boy on a dare while playing spin the bottle, Roger Crouch launched a Facebook campaign against homophobic bullying and became a patron for Diversity Role Models. His efforts led him to schools, where he sought to ensure that antibullying policies were put into place and advocated for the teaching of coping strategies for youth. He also visited the House of Commons to urge members of parliament to get involved in the fight against bullying.

Last month the U.K. organization Stonewall named him its “hero of the year,” an honor for which he beat out fellow activists Lady Gaga and Joan Armatrading. At the event, Crouch said, “I see this as an award for Dom. By choosing us for this award you've also chosen to take a stand alongside all the young people whose lives have been ended by bullying.

“We are parents who loved our son. We stood by him in life and we stand by him in death.”

The Guardian reports that on Monday, Crouch himself was found dead at his Gretton, England, home after Gloucestershire police went to the residence citing “concerns” for his welfare.

On Thursday a police spokesperson said the death was not considered suspicious.

Crouch’s wife, Paola, posted a heartbreaking message on their Friends of Dom Crouch against Bullying Facebook group, saying, “The changes you have started for young people everywhere, the work you have done against bullying, will remain as a towering monument to you.”

NYC 2011 Slut Walk: Against Women's Classification as Sluts after Rape

Thousands marched through lower Manhattan yesterday at Slutwalk 2011, an event meant to encourage women to report rape and to denounce "slut shaming." The walk got its start in Toronto after a local cop told women to stop "dressing like they want to be raped." A similar thought was voiced just this week by Brooklyn police who are seeking a rapist in Park Slope. Many more photos and a video at the link.

One woman, Holly Meyer, explained why she was marching in a post on the Daily Kos:

One night in January after a lot of dancing at a friend’s house party in Brooklyn, a male neighbor and I made our way back to our building less than a mile away. We’d both consumed alcoholic beverages but nothing unusual for twenty-somethings on a Saturday night. My roommate had a new love interest at home with him, so to give him some privacy I went back to the neighbor’s apartment to crash, which I’d done several times before. I felt safe going back there as I’d spent a lot of time with this neighbor in a Will & Grace, Glee-watching, Katy Perry-listening kind of way. He’d had a homosexual relationship for more than a year prior to our being neighbors and for all intents and purposes I thought of him and treated him like a gay, male friend.

The next thing I know I’m feeling my pants being pulled down off my body. I heard the neighbor mutter, “Time to take charge of this situation.”

You can read most about Meyer's awful experience here—she adds, "When I finally felt able to tell people what happened, I was asked numerous times about what I had been wearing and if I had anything to drink. The fact that I was wearing grey pants and a black sweater and had consumed alcohol that evening should not have any bearing on what happened to me that night in January."




One woman, Holly Meyer, explained why she was marching in a post on the Daily Kos:

One night in January after a lot of dancing at a friend’s house party in Brooklyn, a male neighbor and I made our way back to our building less than a mile away. We’d both consumed alcoholic beverages but nothing unusual for twenty-somethings on a Saturday night. My roommate had a new love interest at home with him, so to give him some privacy I went back to the neighbor’s apartment to crash, which I’d done several times before. I felt safe going back there as I’d spent a lot of time with this neighbor in a Will & Grace, Glee-watching, Katy Perry-listening kind of way. He’d had a homosexual relationship for more than a year prior to our being neighbors and for all intents and purposes I thought of him and treated him like a gay, male friend.
The next thing I know I’m feeling my pants being pulled down off my body. I heard the neighbor mutter, “Time to take charge of this situation.”

You can read most about Meyer's awful experience here—she adds, "When I finally felt able to tell people what happened, I was asked numerous times about what I had been wearing and if I had anything to drink. The fact that I was wearing grey pants and a black sweater and had consumed alcohol that evening should not have any bearing on what happened to me that night in January."
One woman, Holly Meyer, explained why she was marching in a post on the Daily Kos:

One night in January after a lot of dancing at a friend’s house party in Brooklyn, a male neighbor and I made our way back to our building less than a mile away. We’d both consumed alcoholic beverages but nothing unusual for twenty-somethings on a Saturday night. My roommate had a new love interest at home with him, so to give him some privacy I went back to the neighbor’s apartment to crash, which I’d done several times before. I felt safe going back there as I’d spent a lot of time with this neighbor in a Will & Grace, Glee-watching, Katy Perry-listening kind of way. He’d had a homosexual relationship for more than a year prior to our being neighbors and for all intents and purposes I thought of him and treated him like a gay, male friend.
The next thing I know I’m feeling my pants being pulled down off my body. I heard the neighbor mutter, “Time to take charge of this situation.”

You can read most about Meyer's awful experience here—she adds, "When I finally felt able to tell people what happened, I was asked numerous times about what I had been wearing and if I had anything to drink. The fact that I was wearing grey pants and a black sweater and had consumed alcohol that evening should not have any bearing on what happened to me that night in January."