It's his money and his to do with whatever he wants.

ITS A TRAP!

/Coming soon to a wingnut near you

re: #1 MandyManners

It's his money and his to do with whatever he wants.

Hookers and blow for all my closest friends!

Isn't that always the way of liberals, spreading the wealth around?

Very respectable list there, it's geared towards the future too. I like it.

you beat me to it! He'll redistribute his wealth!

re: #5 jamesfirecat

Isn't that always the way of liberals, spreading the wealth around?

It's HIS money, not money taken from the tax-payers.

Damn...#3 didn't last long enough for me to see it.

Not even one thin dime for the Cato Relief Fund?

[heads for homemade time machine, sets dial for November 4, 2008]

I wants my vote back!

Merlin Olsen has just passed away from cancer at the age of 69.

Sorry, Charles.

I'm so depressed. Aetna informed me they are increasing my health insurance premium by $100 beginning in May.

If I choose a different plan I have to be re-evaluated so that they can reject me based on my BMI.

re: #10 Cato the Elder

Not even one thin dime for the Cato Relief Fund?

[heads for homemade time machine, sets dial for November 4, 2008]

I wants my vote back!

Maybe you should try working together with the Faith Based Faith of Stephen with a "PH"?

Nothing for the National Rifle Association? Waaahhh!

re: #13 Alouette

That fucking sucks, especially since BMI is largely genetic.

I'm sorry.

...how are the wingnut blogs going to spin this to demonize Obama?

Hmmm...
One way to find out...putting on hip-waders...gas mask...heading for the fever swamp...firing up the dredger...

Oh, here we go.

He should give it back ... so they can award it to someone who actually deserves the award

He WILL? WHEN? And will anyone actually be watching...not that we don’t TRUST Hussein completely!!

Why should I believe this ??

It is illegal for him to accept money. Its in the constitution.
Will he give any to the Hopital in Kenya?

I’m shocked he’s giving anything at all to Fisher House. I bet that was a typo.

(Fisher House) And the rest pretty explicitly to nonwhites:

re: #13 Alouette

I'm so depressed. Aetna informed me they are increasing my health insurance premium by $100 beginning in May.

If I choose a different plan I have to be re-evaluated so that they can reject me based on my BMI.

Serves you right for getting sick in America. What on earth were you thinking?

(((Alouette)))

re: #16 Obdicut

That fucking sucks, especially since BMI is largely genetic.

I'm sorry.

I don't smoke, I'm not diabetic, my cholesterol is normal, but I weigh more than what the charts say I'm supposed to weigh.

Bad, bad overweight person! No health insurance for you, fatso!

Why would anyone find any problem with this list?

Hmmm...trying to guess the wingnut spin. First guess: Too much money going to 'brown people'!

I'm guessing they'll object to these two:

# $100,000 to AfriCare, which reaches communities in 25 countries in that continent, primarily in Sub-Saharan Africa. Its programs address needs in three principal areas: health and HIV/AIDS; food security and agriculture; and water resource development.
# $100,000 to the Central Asia Institute, which promotes and supports community-based education and literacy, especially for girls, in remote regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Institute’s co-founder, Greg Mortenson, was also a Nobel Peace Prize nominee this year, whose book, Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace, One School at a Time, recounts his attempt to successfully establish dozens of schools and promote girls’ education in rural Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Guess at objection 1: Whyfore that $ not going to Amurkins, huh?

Possible objection 2: if Africare includes condoms as part of its HIV/AIDS prevention work.

Really though, it's hard to say. We can only be sure of one thing: there WILL be wingnut outrage.

re: #20 Walter L. Newton

Why would anyone find any problem with this list?

Cause I'm not on it!
*wink*
Hi Walter!

FReepers freaking out even as we speak.

re: #19 Alouette

The health of my rotund gramma was always better than that of my skinny gramma.

They'll use any excuse they can to deny you coverage. Even self-contradictory ones.

re: #21 iceweasel

Hi Ice! I sent you an email today...
Hope you are well

There goes the SOCIALIST again, spreading the wealth ... /sarc

Where is a good plumber/journalist when you need one !?!

re: #1 MandyManners

It's his money and his to do with whatever he wants.

re: #8 MandyManners

It's HIS money, not money taken from the tax-payers.

Thanks for 'splaining that. These new Progressive glasses won't let me read anything but Marx and Lennon anymore.

re: #26 HC4BO

There goes the SOCIALIST again, spreading the wealth ... /sarc

Where is a good plumber/journalist when you need one !?!

Busy not paying his taxes in Ohio.

re: #20 Walter L. Newton

Why would anyone find any problem with this list?

Because it was made by Barack Obama. Simple.

Those seem like worthy charities. The list is also carefully chosen to cover a lot of politically important bases, but a president would be pretty tone deaf to give it all to, say, efforts to eradicate measles. Even if that would be the strictly logical best use of the money.

You won't find this conservative complaining.

My differences with Obama have to do with what he thinks will be a reform of our health care system and I think will make matters worse, with what he thinks will help the economy and I wonder if there doesn't come a point at which the sheer expense of it all sinks us, and maybe another quibble here and there.

He's done a decent job with the war, so far, and the economy hasn't entirely crumbled so that's some sort of a passing grade.

We could do worse. We dodged a bullet when Hillary lost the nomination.

re: #15 The Curmudgeon

Nothing for the National Rifle Association? Waaahhh!

You are too funny! Upding for you!

re: #24 Obdicut

The health of my rotund gramma was always better than that of my skinny gramma.

They'll use any excuse they can to deny you coverage. Even self-contradictory ones.

The Senate health care reforms will include discounts and other rewards to people who maintain their health in wellness programs.

This is a good idea.

Promote individual and community prevention activities. Promoting health and reducing the incidence of chronic disease at the community level will help prevent the onset of chronic disease and better manage any chronic conditions individuals may have. Supporting community programs to reduce chronic disease associated with things like obesity, tobacco use or mental illness will help create stronger, healthier communities. In addition, Senate health insurance reform will fund efforts to develop a comprehensive and systematic model for reducing childhood obesity.

Promote workplace wellness. Senate health insurance reform allows health insurance plans and employers to offer premium discounts and other awards to individuals who participate in workplace wellness programs, and directs the CDC to study and evaluate best practices in employer-based wellness programs.

[Link: dpc.senate.gov...]

re: #12 Cato the Elder

Sorry, Charles.

I missed it. Say it again so I can see it this time.

re: #24 Obdicut

The health of my rotund gramma was always better than that of my skinny gramma.

They'll use any excuse they can to deny you coverage. Even self-contradictory ones.

Incentives within the U.S. Senate health care bill designed to encourage healthy lifestyles unfairly target the poor, elderly, overweight and disabled, and could be exploited by insurance companies for financial gain, advocacy groups claim.

[Link: abcnews.go.com...]

re: #28 recusancy

Busy not paying his taxes in Ohio.

If that were the case he'd be on the president's staff.

re: #21 iceweasel

Hmmm...trying to guess the wingnut spin.

The main two I've seen so far are, he's doing it for the tax write-off, debunked here:
[Link: www.cbsnews.com...]

CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that the president is letting the Nobel Committee distribute the prize money according to his list of charities. He will not get tax deductions for the donations.

And that U.S. Code prevents him from even accepting the prize (and he needs to turn it over to the treasury), debunked here:
[Link: blogs.wsj.com...]

Most government employees are prohibited from accepting more than a certain amount of “outside earned income” from moonlighting in another job. They are also prohibited from accepting “honorarium” for articles or speeches. But a prize is not “earned” income and a 1992 advisory opinion from the Office of Government Ethics says that it isn’t an honorarium either.

Furthermore, Obama and Vice President Joe Biden are not covered under that statute. “He is expressly exempt from all of these rules,” said Ken Gross, a lawyer who specializes in federal ethics and campaign laws and has worked for both Republicans and Democrats.

The Foreign Gifts and Decorations Act prohibits government employees, including the president, from receiving any award from foreign governments or their agents. The members of the Nobel Committee who pick the prize winners are selected by the Norwegian parliament, but the institute itself is a private entity so there would be no restriction under that law either.

re: #21 iceweasel

Hmmm...trying to guess the wingnut spin. First guess: Too much money going to 'brown people'!

[snip]

I would prefer to wait for the wingnut spin... it will be better than anything we could come up with here.

$125,000 to the Posse Foundation, which

[SNIP]

"OMG the "Posse Foundation" Can this be true - Obama wants to round us all up by sundown?"

re: #37 Walter L. Newton

I would prefer to wait for the wingnut spin... it will be better than anything we could come up with here.

What? Wingnut spin? Say it ain't so!//

Gah, I hope the negativity is minimal.

If not, combine this with the Great American Fishing Ban, and I think we are very close to the tipping point.

At least for this week.

re: #33 RogueOne

I missed it. Say it again so I can see it this time.

It was an over-the-top parody of what some of the racists might say. Since "parody" is not a genre that these self-parodying fools tend to get, Charles was right to delete it.

re: #38 Jimmah

[SNIP]

"OMG the "Posse Foundation" Can this be true - Obama wants to round us all up by sundown?"

Don't worry Jimmah, he can't reach you thank God! ;-)

I don't think there will be much in the way of a negative reaction, save for a few whackjobs.

Obama did a classy thing. Good for him.

Ah, Jimmah and Ice are here. The progs that blog together, snog together.

Hi, you cute couple, you!

re: #41 Cato the Elder

It was an over-the-top parody of what some of the racists might say. Since "parody" is not a genre that these self-parodying fools tend to get, Charles was right to delete it.

Cato, once again your classy streak shines through...

Wait, wait, wait...

re: #13 Alouette

I'm so depressed. Aetna informed me they are increasing my health insurance premium by $100 beginning in May.

If I choose a different plan I have to be re-evaluated so that they can reject me based on my BMI.

re: #19 Alouette

I don't smoke, I'm not diabetic, my cholesterol is normal, but I weigh more than what the charts say I'm supposed to weigh.

Bad, bad overweight person! No health insurance for you, fatso!

Do you mean that insurance companies can use a bogus metric like the Body Mass Index to deny you coverage?

re: #42 Dragon_Lady

Don't worry Jimmah, he can't reach you thank God! ;-)

Heh- well it won't be long now before I am within reach. Of course, it's the wingnuts whose fantasies I was parodying there that one should be worried about :D

re: #44 Cato the Elder

Ah, Jimmah and Ice are here. The progs that blog together, snog together.

Hi, you cute couple, you!

Hello, dear Cato-bot!
We're hatching a nefarious plan as I type...lookin' good on the visa front!

re: #46 Slumbering Behemoth

Wait, wait, wait...

Do you mean that insurance companies can use a bogus metric like the Body Mass Index to deny you coverage?

The can set my premium to something ridiculously high that I can't afford based on the BMI.

re: #47 Jimmah

Heh- well it won't be long now before I am within reach. Of course, it's the wingnuts whose fantasies I was parodying there that one should be worried about :D

You commin to visit your lady? Awe that's nice! Upding for romance!

re: #50 Dragon_Lady

You commin to visit your lady? Awe that's nice! Upding for romance!

Hell, upding for husband and wife living together!

They are tough cookies, obviously.

re: #23 Alouette

FReepers freaking out even as we speak.

Wow, the Fisher House donation really took the wind out of their sails. Other than that the most common sentiment is one of absolute denial, a refusal to believe it until a full forensic audit is performed on each charity proving the donation. Very birtheresque.

re: #51 Stanley Sea

Hell, upding for husband and wife living together!

They are tough cookies, obviously.

Gotta have spine to stay together these days. Divorce is way too easy to come by.

re: #49 Alouette

The can set my premium to something ridiculously high that I can't afford based on the BMI.

This is not directed at you, but that is the dumbest shit I've ever heard. Using the BMI formula to evaluate a person's health or insurance risk is ridiculous and arbitrary. I did not know insurance companies could do this.

Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger in his body build prime, I bet his BMI score would probably be double what yours is.

I am so sorry you have to deal with this kind of mind-numbing idiocy.

{{{Alouette}}}

re: #50 Dragon_Lady

You commin to visit your lady? Awe that's nice! Upding for romance!

Thanks Dragon Lady! Well, we've just got everything we need together documentation-wise, now it's time to buy that plane ticket :) Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to being in NYC with my ice-ski again.

re: #50 Dragon_Lady

You commin to visit your lady? Awe that's nice! Upding for romance!

Looks like he'll be able to be here soon! Actually, we're hoping we won't be separated again-- the plan is for Jimmah to wait with me here in the US while the British Consulate does the rest of that voodoo they have to do.
They have to collect my biometric data still. Heh.

How to Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)

I find it offensive that an insurance company can use such a simple, yet meaningless formula to set premium rates. Disgusting!

re: #55 Jimmah

re: #56 iceweasel

Good luck, you guys. Hope everything works out smoothly for you two.

re: #58 Slumbering Behemoth

re: #56 iceweasel

Good luck, you guys. Hope everything works out smoothly for you two.

Thanks, SB! Appreciated.

Fully agree with your comments in re: BMI, btw. Alouette, so sorry to hear that-- it sucks. Unbelievable.

re: #57 Slumbering Behemoth

How to Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)

I find it offensive that an insurance company can use such a simple, yet meaningless formula to set premium rates. Disgusting!

I think I read that the person (or persons) who came up with the BMI say it is just one tool and really kind of a bullshit thing to use.

re: #48 iceweasel

Hello, dear Cato-bot!
We're hatching a nefarious plan as I type...lookin' good on the visa front!

That is good news indeed.

Is SOROS providing the forged nirth certifikit?

And the list of Obama's charites?
I call BS, we all know he is giving it all to Soros and ACOEN.
//

re: #62 webevintage

And the list of Obama's charites?
I call BS, we all know he is giving it all to Soros and ACOEN.
//

And SOROS is giving a big chunk to me and Weasel.

re: #13 Alouette

I'm so depressed. Aetna informed me they are increasing my health insurance premium by $100 beginning in May.

If I choose a different plan I have to be re-evaluated so that they can reject me based on my BMI.

I'm so sorry. I've been rejected based on my BMI before. It's insulting, as well as, well, a problem.

re: #61 Cato the Elder

That is good news indeed.

Is SOROS providing the forged nirth certifikit?

I got my birth certificate right here for ya!

re: #60 webevintage

I think I read that the person (or persons) who came up with the BMI say it is just one tool and really kind of a bullshit thing to use.

It is a bullshit thing to use. I don't even know Alouette personally (as in "real life"), but I am pissed as hell for her right now.

I just calculated my BMI (33.2), and that puts me in the "obese" category. I could stand lose a few pounds, sure, but I am no where close to being "obese". And that's the problem with using BMI, it's just a simple height/weight formula, and does not account for things like dense muscle mass.

re: #20 Walter L. Newton

Why would anyone find any problem with this list?

Obama generated it.

re: #46 Slumbering Behemoth

Wait, wait, wait...

Do you mean that insurance companies can use a bogus metric like the Body Mass Index to deny you coverage?

Uh, yes.

re: #64 SanFranciscoZionist

You too!?! Fucking Bullshit! I don't have insurance, so this is the first time I am hearing about this BMI bullshit, and it is pissing me off.

re: #54 Slumbering Behemoth

This is not directed at you, but that is the dumbest shit I've ever heard. Using the BMI formula to evaluate a person's health or insurance risk is ridiculous and arbitrary. I did not know insurance companies could do this.

Imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger in his body build prime, I bet his BMI score would probably be double what yours is.

I am so sorry you have to deal with this kind of mind-numbing idiocy.

{{{Alouette}}}

Interestingly, given my frame, I could probably be anorexic and still be in what they consider a healthy range.

re: #57 Slumbering Behemoth

How to Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)

I find it offensive that an insurance company can use such a simple, yet meaningless formula to set premium rates. Disgusting!

Doesn't take muscle mass into account, that's the beginning of what's wrong with it.

re: #55 Jimmah

Thanks Dragon Lady! Well, we've just got everything we need together documentation-wise, now it's time to buy that plane ticket :) Can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to being in NYC with my ice-ski again.

re: #56 iceweasel

Looks like he'll be able to be here soon! Actually, we're hoping we won't be separated again-- the plan is for Jimmah to wait with me here in the US while the British Consulate does the rest of that voodoo they have to do.
They have to collect my biometric data still. Heh.

I'll put a prayer out to the universe that you two can be together! Like RWC said in an earlier thread, we'd go crazy separated for so long! Our phone bills would be outrageous to say the least. :-)

re: #71 SanFranciscoZionist

It certainly does not. It can't, it's just a simple math formula. And that is what is pissing me off about this whole thing. The metric is arbitrary and meaningless. There are much better and more accurate methods for determining total body fat, and many have been in use much longer than this BMI bullshit.

*GRRR!!!*

re: #57 Slumbering Behemoth

How to Calculate Your Body Mass Index (BMI)

I find it offensive that an insurance company can use such a simple, yet meaningless formula to set premium rates. Disgusting!

They might as well do phrenological profiling while they are about it - another cutting edge 19th century medical concept.

re: #73 Slumbering Behemoth

I like your three layers of antagonism you've got going on with your avatar, Slumbering!/
Cheely monkey.

re: #74 Jimmah

They might as well do phrenological profiling while they are about it - another cutting edge 19th century medical concept.

That's another infuriating thing about this nonsense. BMI is a relatively new concept compared to other forms of measuring body fat.

re: #75 prairiefire

Shhh!

re: #72 Dragon_Lady

I'll put a prayer out to the universe that you two can be together! Like RWC said in an earlier thread, we'd go crazy separated for so long! Our phone bills would be outrageous to say the least. :-)

Yes, the phone bills! Tell us about them :) T'internet does help a lot though, it must be said.

re: #65 iceweasel

I got my birth certificate right here for ya!

You know, you're both probably wondering what happened to your wedding present.

Well, there was a little problem with the last SOROS check. It went to Mandy by mistake. I don't think she's planning to return it. ;^)

On account of the delay, I want to reveal what it is - so you can have the pleasure of anticipating a morocco-bound, hand-tooled, gilt-edged, marble-endpapered, manually typeset compleat edition of the works of Marx and Lennon.

I'm getting a bit of a headache so I'm going to say tootle loo! Have a nice evening everyone and Keep Laughing! :-)

re: #79 Dragon_Lady

I'm getting a bit of a headache so I'm going to say tootle loo! Have a nice evening everyone and Keep Laughing! :-)

Feel better! Give our best to your honey, please!

re: #76 Slumbering Behemoth

That's another infuriating thing about this nonsense. BMI is a relatively new concept compared to other forms of measuring body fat.

re: #75 prairiefire

Shhh!

The formula itself is Victorian, SB - watched a BBC science programme a little while back that ripped it -or rather it's misuse - to shreds. I think it got a major boost a few decades ago though, in terms of popular uptake of the idea for assessing individual's health.

re: #78 Cato the Elder

You know, you're both probably wondering what happened to your wedding present.

Well, there was a little problem with the last SOROS check. It went to Mandy by mistake. I don't think she's planning to return it. ;^)

On account of the delay, I want to reveal what it is - so you can have the pleasure of anticipating a morocco-bound, hand-tooled, gilt-edged, marble-endpapered, manually typeset compleat edition of the works of Marx and Lennon.

Cultural Progressivism!

re: #70 SanFranciscoZionist

Interestingly, given my frame, I could probably be anorexic and still be in what they consider a healthy range.

It is almost impossible for me to get out of the overweight range. It would be absolutely impossible for me to get into the "thin" category

re: #81 Jimmah

The formula itself is Victorian

It is? I thought it was more recent than that. Learn something new everyday. Except when I hang out here, I tend to learn three or four new things every day.

re: #77 Jimmah

skype is da bomb diggy.

Speak for free to my lady in Tx for hours at a time - with vid.

Am so glad it's working out for you both.

how are the wingnut blogs going to spin this to demonize Obama?

I haven't read through the comments so this is probably a repeat but my guess is they will look at the organizations Obama donated to play the Kevin Bacon game with George Soros.

nobody can argue with that list

What??? Nothing to League of the South or the Discovery Institute?

re: #4 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Hookers and blow for all my closest friends!

(So I'll just be a casual friend of yours, ok?)

re: #11 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Merlin Olsen has just passed away from cancer at the age of 69.

& Corey Haim, at 38. Rotten day all around.

But, to get back to the subject at hand:

As disgusted as I was at the Nobel Committee's thinly veiled "We Hate George Bush This Much" Award, that's how proud I was at Obama's self-effacing, America-praising response - first the verbal one, & now this one (tho' the cynic in me knows darned well he couldn't have kept the money w/out a lot of bad political karma).

Not entirely sure, but I don't think he is allowed to give it away. IIRC, any gifts the President and the First lady get become the property of the Country.

empty award, empty donation.

are you serious? this is noteworthy?

re: #91 KICKSTAR1

It must be noteworthy since it got under your thin skin enough to actually comment about.
Let's see - you've got 23 comments and -49 karma, meaning you are just a drive by troll.

$125,000 to the United Negro College Fund

RRRAAACIST!!!

//