As someone whose hotel was sold out weeks ago for the days in question, it was cool to see this story.

Very cool ;)

I saw that story first thing yesterday morning and the beauty of that man's gesture struck one of my last remaining chords which made me cry with the coolness of the whole thing. Now you can take a breath.

Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

Nice as this is... does anyone else get that weird feeling that we are doing a bread and circuses routine for a guy who isn't even the President yet? I thought we weren't supposed to trust politicians, not have Roman Empire-style celebrations for them.

tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

The Catholic church certainly endorsed that position at one time or another.

The Billdozer: Nice as this is... does anyone else get that weird feeling that we are doing a bread and circuses routine for a guy who isn't even the President yet? I thought we weren't supposed to trust politicians, not have Roman Empire-style celebrations for them.

I think of it more of a celebration of "we the people" than for Obama. We overcame centuries of racism and prejudice. We overcame the huge corporate donors with our grassroots funding. Yes we did.

Whatsleft: tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

The Catholic church certainly endorsed that position at one time or another.

Spending money unselfishly on the needy? Ol' JC himself specifically and directly endorsed that as a way into heaven:

16. Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
* 17.Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
* 18."Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
* 19. honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
* 20."All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
* 21.Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

No, but charity is recommended quite highly.

/Atheist
//This guy is doing a good thing™

Hobodeluxe: I think of it more of a celebration of "we the people" than for Obama. We overcame centuries of racism and prejudice. We overcame the huge corporate donors with our grassroots funding. Yes we did.

The "we the people" factor is what inspires me that he was elected: he inspired people to care and get involved. People in this country have hope again, and trust in the guy they put into office.

Hobodeluxe: The Billdozer: Nice as this is... does anyone else get that weird feeling that we are doing a bread and circuses routine for a guy who isn't even the President yet? I thought we weren't supposed to trust politicians, not have Roman Empire-style celebrations for them.

I think of it more of a celebration of "we the people" than for Obama. We overcame centuries of racism and prejudice. We overcame the huge corporate donors with our grassroots funding. Yes we did.

Honestly, I think its going to be a long time before any of that's overcame... but at least its a good start.

The Billdozer: Nice as this is... does anyone else get that weird feeling that we are doing a bread and circuses routine for a guy who isn't even the President yet? I thought we weren't supposed to trust politicians, not have Roman Empire-style celebrations for them.

Yes because certainly there was nothing similar for Bush's inaugurations. The Ritz Carlton never offered a $150,000 hotel stay package (new window)for Bush's supporters for instance in 04


Speaking as someone involved in Planning an "unofficial" innagural ball that looks to have a $20 ticket and attendance of 3-5,000, I would say this is an expression of pent up joy by people rather than some wretched excess.

Wasn't there some biblical story where the rich man donating a lot of money was told that his donation wasn't as awesome as the poor old lady who only donated a gold coin (because it was all she had)?

Typical lib. This only enables these people to be wounded and disadvantaged.

Magorn: Speaking as someone involved in Planning an "unofficial" innagural ball that looks to have a $20 ticket and attendance of 3-5,000, I would say this is an expression of pent up joy by people rather than some wretched excess.

Might want to learn how to spell "inaugural" if you are planning the event. That could lead to some embarrassing typos in the near future.

Tried to sneak in before the Christian bashing, but couldn't quite make it. Oh well, it's early.

Good for this guy.

/salute

HotWingConspiracy: Typical lib. This only enables these people to be wounded and disadvantaged.

Ok, that was damn funny :)

Magorn: Whatsleft: tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

The Catholic church certainly endorsed that position at one time or another.

Spending money unselfishly on the needy? Ol' JC himself specifically and directly endorsed that as a way into heaven:

16. Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
* 17.Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
* 18."Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
* 19. honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
* 20."All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
* 21.Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

* 22. "Screw that." the young man said. "I'm never selling my Giant-Size X-Men #1."

He's using our bailout money...

Magorn: Whatsleft: tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

The Catholic church certainly endorsed that position at one time or another.

Spending money unselfishly on the needy? Ol' JC himself specifically and directly endorsed that as a way into heaven:

16. Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
* 17.Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
* 18."Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
* 19. honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
* 20."All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
* 21.Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

WWJD?

He'd be poor and attempt to make everyone around him poor with false promises and fairy tales.

Mind you, this is financially speaking.

But hey, just think about how many unfortunate souls you could assist if you stopped paying for TV, Internet, and Phone service. Don't forget about leaving your house and adopting a nomadic lifestyle. Remember, sell it all and donate the proceeds!

His generosity makes baby Oprah shed tears of joy.

DeRosso: Wasn't there some biblical story where the rich man donating a lot of money was told that his donation wasn't as awesome as the poor old lady who only donated a gold coin (because it was all she had)?

The Widow's Mite - it was more like half a penny, but yeah, you have it right. It's a percentage thing. The idea of not just giving when it's comfortable.

Yes, but will Barry actually make an appearance??

Me thinks not.

tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

Don't be a dick. Giving your money away to a good cause is, in fact, commanded by Jesus.

This guy is awesome to spend that money on vets and the disadvantaged instead of himself and his friends. God bless him, 100fold.

Inauguration week is going to be one hell of a week for everybody. Especially with people like him in attendence instead of the usual 'I'm rich and connected and/or sleeping with the rich and connected' idiots.

tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

Giving money to real groups who do good and not mega churches is fine by me, the mega churches Mormans and Catholics who horde the money and use it for influence suck.

Churches who run actual services that benefit society/needy are great to donate to.

I'm Agnostic but believe in Karma

Somebody will probably sue him for being discriminatory.

The Billdozer: Hobodeluxe: The Billdozer: Nice as this is... does anyone else get that weird feeling that we are doing a bread and circuses routine for a guy who isn't even the President yet? I thought we weren't supposed to trust politicians, not have Roman Empire-style celebrations for them.

I think of it more of a celebration of "we the people" than for Obama. We overcame centuries of racism and prejudice. We overcame the huge corporate donors with our grassroots funding. Yes we did.

Honestly, I think its going to be a long time before any of that's overcame... but at least its a good start.

If we beat it once, we can beat it again. Yes, we can.

One crack is all it takes to start taking down even the biggest wall.

CarnySaur: Magorn: Whatsleft: tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

The Catholic church certainly endorsed that position at one time or another.

Spending money unselfishly on the needy? Ol' JC himself specifically and directly endorsed that as a way into heaven:

16. Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
* 17.Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
* 18."Which ones?" the man inquired. Jesus replied, " 'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony,
* 19. honor your father and mother,' and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
* 20."All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
* 21.Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."

* 22. "Screw that." the young man said. "I'm never selling my Giant-Size X-Men #1."

To be fair, great bronze age comics will be currency in heaven. They're money, and entertaining.

I really think he is doing a good thing.

However, this causes me to pause:

"At least a third of the tickets to the event will go toward people who are needy or underprivileged, and the rest of those participating could be people from sponsoring foundations, companies or volunteers."

So, if my math is right, of the $1 million being spent, only 1/3 of that will actually allow the disadvantaged and disabled to enjoy the spectacle, with the remaining 2/3 to be sponsors and volunteers?

Whatever.

HotWingConspiracy: Typical lib. This only enables these people to be wounded and disadvantaged.

As a lib, I say you win the day, all threads, we can all log off and go to sleep.

FTA: "I was inspired to do this by the Lord. ... It's not about us but about us helping other people," he said.

A Christian behaving like a Christian? What's this world coming to?

But profits and capitalists are pure evil. He shouldn't have had that $1mil to give, the government should have appropriated it and ignored the veterans, as they are so good at doing.

Tax the hell out of this evil may, so he doesn't show up the government anymore!

tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

Who pissed in your cynical flavored cheerios.

/This is too cool. The man should be an isnpiration to others. I hope this type of alltruism spreads across the nation, especially in these coming hard times.
//aww heck this is fark, "a fool and his money are soon parted"

"The tickets are supposed to be free, but with demand outpacing supply, some people have been trying to scalp tickets for thousands of dollars."

I hate people.

iawai: But profits and capitalists are pure evil. He shouldn't have had that $1mil to give, the government should have appropriated it and ignored the veterans, as they are so good at doing.

Tax the hell out of this evil may, so he doesn't show up the government anymore!

Nobody is against people making money. Hell I want to make enough to give away a million dollars.

gilla: "The tickets are supposed to be free, but with demand outpacing supply, some people have been trying to scalp tickets for thousands of dollars."

I hate people.

Just to put this is context, this is not for this guys party it is the 240K tickets the Congress criters get to give out, and yes I agree, scalpers are the bain of enternainment.

Podna, if you want to look into churches who really try to help out people and are heavy into civil rights causes, try your local UU. Wonderful people, completely non-judgemental and encourage you to find your own path.

The Billdozer: Nice as this is... does anyone else get that weird feeling that we are doing a bread and circuses routine for a guy who isn't even the President yet? I thought we weren't supposed to trust politicians, not have Roman Empire-style celebrations for them.

THIS!

All2morrowsparTs: gilla: "The tickets are supposed to be free, but with demand outpacing supply, some people have been trying to scalp tickets for thousands of dollars."

I hate people.

Just to put this is context, this is not for this guys party it is the 240K tickets the Congress criters get to give out, and yes I agree, scalpers are the bain of enternainment.

why? it just means the entertainers didn't price their tickets right or have enough space. You can't break supply and demand. No one is being forced to buy the tickets.

phansen: All2morrowsparTs: gilla: "The tickets are supposed to be free, but with demand outpacing supply, some people have been trying to scalp tickets for thousands of dollars."

I hate people.

Just to put this is context, this is not for this guys party it is the 240K tickets the Congress criters get to give out, and yes I agree, scalpers are the bain of enternainment.

why? it just means the entertainers didn't price their tickets right or have enough space. You can't break supply and demand. No one is being forced to buy the tickets.

Well when Jesus comes, I'll make a good dollar off my ticket. wait does that make me jewish..

HotWingConspiracy: Typical lib. This only enables these people to be wounded and disadvantaged.

Lucky Ducky nods sagely.

Whatsleft: tarvuz: Because spending money is a way to get into heaven.

The Catholic church certainly endorsed that position at one time or another.

And Jesus said it explicitly several times. Give all your money to the church = virtue. It's one of his conversations with the rabbis that says it most explicitly, but I forget which of the epistles it's in.

Congratulations, you're going straight to hell.

-St. Peter

PS Hell is dry. 1 million dollars of booze = fiery eternity