Posted on 01/12/2007 12:44:08 PM PST by Howlin
Edited on 01/13/2007 12:51:31 PM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
You're welcome.
CNN is sure pushing the Bee-otch.
I was waiting in line to get a prescription filled today and the TV was on CNN. It was all Hillary all the time. I left sicker than when I went in.
I don't know if you have seen this yet.
http://mensnewsdaily.com/2007/01/14/cnn-hires-clinton-operative-as-2008-presidential-polling-unit/
You're famous!
BTTT.
and again BTTT!
save ping
.....
From Telegraph India..
How did a multimillionaire from Nebraska, become a buddy of the charismatic former president? The origins of the friendship are easy enough to figure out. It started when Gupta held a fundraiser that raised $100,000 for the president?s re-election campaign. Clinton has even visited Rampur, Uttar Pradesh at Gupta?s invitation. ?Bill loves India,? says Gupta.
It isn?t only the Clintons who?ve been the recipients of Gupta?s generosity. The multimillionaire has, over the years, donated around $8 million to IIT, Kharagpur, his former alma mater. A decade ago, he instantly became Kharagpur?s biggest individual donor by giving $2 million to start a school of management (it?s called the Vinod Gupta School of Management). Now he has stepped forward with another $1 million for a department that will focus on the finer points of intellectual law (including sectors like trademarks and copyrights). ?It will be a key sector in the globally competitive world,? says Gupta.
Like most other Indian millionaires, Gupta?s story combines an extraordinary mix of farsightedness and sheer grit. Back in the ?60s, he picked up a degree from IIT Kharagpur and then hopped on an aeroplane for the next leg of his studies at the University of Lincoln-Nebraska. Soon afterwards he found himself working at the Omaha-based Commodore Corporation which made mobile and other recreational vehicles.
But his entrepreneurial saga really began when his boss asked him to put together a list of all their rivals in the recreational vehicle business. Gupta took the job more seriously than his employer probably intended. He promptly wrote out for all the 4,500 Yellow Page books in the US. They arrived and mouldered for months in a corner of the company?s offices, until Gupta was ordered to get rid of them. He finally dumped them in his garage at home.
Over the next few months Gupta began an extraordinary exercise that would have daunted all but the most foolhardy. In an era before extensive computerisation, he ? aided by his wife and another person who later became a partner ? combed through all the 4,500 directories, mining them for information. Finally, he returned to his boss and asked for permission to sell the information to other companies. In return, for the nominal fee of $1, he handed over the list of rival recreational vehicle manufacturers. This was 1972 and with that action, Gupta?s InfoUSA came into being.
In today?s world, that might not seem like much of a feat. We live in a world surrounded by computerised lists of one sort or another. But in 1972 it was nothing short of extraordinary. And, it was only 11 years later, in 1983 that Gupta computerised his databases. Today, the company is worth around $340 million and it has over 4 million customers.
The world has changed since 1972 but the basics of InfoUSA remain unchanged. Gupta and his team of about 1,500 are still putting together lists of one type or another. He even has a three-member team selling databases in India and West Asia.
Nevertheless, he?s still wary of doing business in India. InfoUSA farms out work to local sub-contractors and has about 1,000 people working on its projects in places like Bangalore, Hyderabad and Noida. But Gupta doesn?t want to start InfoUSA operations here. ?We tried to do it ourselves 10 years ago but we ran into a lot of problems,? he says tersely.
Gupta comes to India about three or four times a year. In Delhi, he cultivates bureaucrats and politicians but in an extremely low-key fashion.
Gupta?s father was a doctor and the family lived in one Uttar Pradesh village after another. So, even moving to Kharagpur was a giant step for him back in the ?60s. But he never had the slightest doubt that moving to the United States for higher studies was the right move.
India may be the land of opportunity with its booming software sector on a roll. But Gupta is still a die-hard believer in the United States and its giant economic machine. He reckons that even today youngsters should travel to the US for higher studies and then decide whether they want to return or not. ?They should get a technical education and go to the US. Right now they should look at the Internet opportunities.?
He has an unwavering faith in the United States that hasn?t been in the least diminished by the departure of the Clintons from the White House and the arrival of a new regime under George Bush. In fact, he likes to compare the United States in the 21st century to the Roman Empire or the British at the height of their power. ?For the next 100 years the American influence is going to be strong.?
And, according to his worldview, the world economy would be in dire straits without the American locomotive at its head. Says Gupta, ?It?s the American consumer market that drives the world economy. Who would China and India sell to if the Americans weren?t buying??
Gupta says that he eventually wants to give his money away to charity. But what type of charities does he believe in? He?s extremely clear about that: money only goes to educational and health charities. He defends his views on charity in a slightly clich?d fashion. ?You give someone who is hungry a fish and they feed for a day. You teach them how to fish and they won?t be hungry again.?
He has acted more than once on these beliefs. A few years ago he donated money to his old school in Rampur for a science block which was inaugurated by Bill Clinton two years ago. Another training institute for women got $1 million and is named after Hilary Clinton.
Gupta has invested some money in India via venture capitalists who are always on the look out for promising new projects. But, in the end, he believes the opportunities are endless in his adopted country , the United States.
ping.....I NEVER trust a man who has a goattee like this....he looks DIRTY.
Those outfits in India are just for money-laundering through to The Campaign...
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