Reason Morning Links: Good News for Hispanics in Maricopa County, Smokers in West Virginia, and Turks Who Want to Trade with Armenians

• The Nobel prize in economics goes to Ben Bernanke Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson.

• Sheriff Joe Arpaio loses some of his immigration enforcement powers.

• Barack Obama pledges to end "don't ask, don't tell." The gay reaction includes a healthy dose of skepticism.

• Local governments rescind or postpone smoking bans.

• Turkey normalizes relations with Armenia.

• Happy Uniform Holiday #3!

Comments

[Johnny Longtorso]

For those who missed it earlier:

Joe (from Lowell) responds to his comments about ACORN:

http://highclearing.com/index......ent-603964

And more CRA loan stats:

http://www.city-journal.org/2009/19_4_snd-cra.html

...In Cleveland, Third Federal Savings and Loan has a 35 percent delinquency rate on its CRA-mandated "Home Today" loans, versus a 2 percent delinquency rate on its non?Home Today portfolio. Chicago's Shorebank?the nation's first community development bank, with largely CRA-related loans on its books?has a 19 percent delinquency and nonaccrual rate for its portfolio of first-mortgage loans for single-family residences. And Bank of America said in 2008 that while its CRA loans constituted 7 percent of its owned residential-mortgage portfolio, they represented 29 percent of that portfolio's net losses....

[SugarFree]

First one goes to a page not found, Johnny.

[Suki]

He is horning in on your turf!

The Onion finally catches up with reality.

[Johnny Longtorso]

It worked yesterday. Other H&Rers; can back me up on that.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Try this one:

http://highclearing.com/index......ent-603970

[Cabeza de Vaca]

I love how Joe's sock puppet followed him to his new site to continue debating him.

[alan]

Early in those comments was this gem by someone nicked,
Hellmut:

No matter how bad things were at home, there was always America that would shelter the downtrodden. When Bush broke that by shredding the Geneva Conventions, he broke people's hearts and deprived the world of hope.

Barack Obama restored America as the world's best hope. To many people around the world, that is worth a lot.

There were people who set stones for the pyramids who had a less superstitious and slavish attitude than that.

[alan]

Actually, that link was a hell of a lot more fun than I thought it would be. When joe described ACORN registering poor people in such glowing, heroic terms God bless ACORN for all the good work they do. Registering the most put-upon members of our society to vote and take their share of political power, I got a mental image of ACORN canvassers dodging bullets coming from the defenders of wealth and privilege (who) hate them like a seen out of Sarajevo in the early 1990's. A more dishonest jerk would be hard to find, but that is what makes him such a fine and fitting subject of massive ridicule.

[alan]

Eeeek!

like a seen out of Sarajevo

If I was playing the part of Captain James T. Kirk, homonyms would be playing the part of Khan.

[BakedPenguin]

"He repeated his promises that he's made to us before, but he did not indicate when he would accomplish these goals and we've been waiting for a while now."

Repeat this for how many policies?

[Johnny Longtorso]

Obama's promises are like his healthcare plan. You aren't told 'no'; you're just told to wait indefinitely.

[hmm]

? The Nobel prize in economics goes to Ben Bernanke Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson.

There is no Nobel Prize in Economics. There is only the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economics which is in memory of Alfred Nobel. You non-elite non-intellectual surfs!

Someone had to be 'that guy.'

Thank you for the reimplementation of the retarded errors mitigation device otherwise known as the preview button.

[Attorney]

"surfs" = Joez Law.

[hmm]

It's early and Imatard. I embrace my tardness instead of reject it. It's my call to action.

[hmm]

? Happy Uniform Holiday #3!

Which lead to only the most regulated industry (banks) and civil servants taking the day off. Unintended consequences, Go figure.

[Lamar]

Happy paisan day!

[Suki]

Merry Columbus Day to you too!

I am giving all of the slaves two hours off today.

[PantsFan]

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

[Attorney]

Giving the prize to Williamson helps a little to make up for Krugman's getting it.

[VM]

obviously, you're a student of economics to make such an enlightened, and correct, statement.

he completely earned the prize for his work in econ. as a political beast, he's a fucktard, but those two things are separate.

[Rich]

The implementation of restrictions across the country is uneven, though, because many states like West Virginia leave the question of regulating cigarette smoke up to counties and municipalities.

I smell a Smoking Czar ...

[Xeones]

Good god, Mr. Longtorso. I threw up in my mouth some reading that joe bit. You owe me a new esophagus.

It's a shame joe is too much of a fucking coward to come back to Hit'n'Run and defend his utterly retarded fellation of ACORN, but after reading that i've made my peace with it. Fuck joe from Lowell, yo. What a terrible human being.

[Johnny Longtorso]

Just doing my part to make the world a better place, X. 🙂

[Seamus]

From the article:

Washington's Birthday (later demoted to the beloved "Presidents' Day")

If you check the statute (5 U.S.C. ? 6103), you'll see that the the federal government still recognized the third Monday in February as Washington's Birthday, not Presidents' Day.

[Xeones]

Just doing my part to make the world a better place, X. 🙂

I don't really see how causing my nose to be filled with digestive juices makes the world better, but ok.

[Suki]

Betcha there is a whole fetish community devoted to that.

[Kyle Jordan]

There sure is Sukster. (Pronounced "Sook-ster" for those who don't know.)

[R C Dean]

Barack Obama pledges to end "don't ask, don't tell." The gay reaction includes a healthy dose of skepticism.

I believe the straight reaction also included a healthy dose of skepticism.

[Rich]

Does *anyone* "bi" into it? 😉

[Kyle Jordan]

Well done.

[Xeones]

It's my call to action.

Paging the Nobel committee!

[P Brooks]

What a terrible human being.

Sometimes good people do terrible things.

[alan]

We are talking about a guy who at least on one occasion bragged about owning a convertible. Yeah, he is that guy.

[R C Dean]

You are what you do when it counts, P.

[The Gobbler]

Giving circles - like do-it-yourself United Ways - are expanding rapidly.

Food stamps. Government welfare. Free clothes at a church. Food from a food shelf.

Of all the charity Mala Thao has received over the years, there is one gift she considers the most important ? the gift that turned her into a gift-giver.

"It was the giving circle," said Thao, who lives in St. Paul.

When the nation's first Hmong women's giving circle was created in 2004, Thao and other members began to pool their own money and give to the charities that mattered to them. Then, a strange thing happened ? the women were transformed from feeling like victims to being benefactors.

"We are redefining philanthropy," said a beaming Thao, whose group gave money to three Hmong groups last year.

Giving circles ? like do-it-yourself United Ways ? are on a roll. "Their popularity continues to skyrocket," said Buffie Beaudoin-Schwartz, spokeswoman for the Virginia-based Forum of Regional Associations of Grantmakers.

[The Gobbler]

http://www.twincities.com/loca.....k_check=1#