Politics

Reason Morning Links: Ohio Votes to Repeal Collective Bargaining Restrictions and Block Individual Mandate, Joe Paterno Still Appeals to Psychotic Penn State Fans, Fannie Mae Needs Another Bailout

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  • Tuesday was election day. Here's a snippet of what happened: Ohio voters repealed restrictions on collective bargaining privileges for public sector workers while at the same time, opted out of Obamacare's individual mandate; Arizona immigration law architect Russell Pearce lost his recall to a fellow Republican; Mississippi voted down a "personhood" law; New Jersey passed an initiative allowing sports betting in casinos. 
  • Looking forward: Missouri drug reformers will begin collecting signatures for a 2012 ballot initiative that would legalize marijuana for people over 21 and allow the state to levy a $100-per-pound tax on the plant. 
  • Despite his awareness that Coach Jerry Sandusky was raping children, and his habit of saying things like, "The kids who were victims or whatever they want to say, I think we all ought to say a prayer for them. It's a tough life when people do certain things to you. But anyway, you've been great. You've been really great," Coach Joe Paterno is still much loved by some number of Penn State students. 
  • Occupy Whatever news: A protester was found dead in his tent at Occupy New Orleans; he was in that state for at least two days. Occupy Portland participants have been pushing, cursing, and otherwise harassing local news crews. Oakland blog Hyphenated-Republic takes the temperature of small businesses around Occupy Oakland and finds some of them are doing really well because of the protesters, and others doing really poorly, but not because of the protesters. 
  • The NAACP is preparing its own national protest, to oppose voter I.D. laws. 
  • Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced his resignation; Italy's ten-year borrowing rate nevertheless jumped above the dreaded 7 percent ceiling. 
  • Fannie Mae asks for a bailout. A tiny one. Just $7.8 billion. 

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