A.M. Links: France Ends Intolerance With a Ban on Protests, Barry Scoops Up Cash, Californians Unenthusiastic About Tax Hikes

• Faced with vigorous domestic protests over cartoons mocking Mohammed, French authoritied did the obvious thing: They banned all such protests. Pakistan responded to similar protests by blocking cell phone service in 15 cities. You two countries should get a room. With bars on the windows.

• Barack Obama's presidential campaign raised $84.7 million in August — $35 million more than it did in July. The latest poll gives him a five point lead over Romney. Some people never learn.
• Sen. Jim DeMint may throw his financial support behind Todd Akin's controversial Senate bid in Missouri. Because the GOP hasn't doubled-down on enough stupid this year.
• The last of of the 33,000 "surge" troops sent to Afghanistan by President Obama are coming home. Good. Let's declare victory and pull the other 68,000 out.
• New Jersey banned smiling for drivers license photos. It screws with the state's facial recognition software.
• Jerry Brown's scheme to convince Californians to raise their own taxes via a ballot initiative is losing steam. Support has slipped to just 51 percent, and may slide further.
• Spain isn't sure it wants the EU's money, because its rescuers might extract, you know, conditions and stuff. Ummm … I think that's the idea.

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Comments

[Fist of Etiquette]

New Jersey banned smiling for drivers license photos. It screws with the state's facial recognition software.

Plus no one smiles when they're in Jersey in real life.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

That's probably why using a picture with a smile screws it up.

[db]

Just crossing the border depresses me.

[Restoras]

Well, I was smiling all the way from Philly to the GW bridge after a Rush show a few years back - does that count?

[R C Dean]

I wonder if dilated pupils also screw up their facial recognition software.

[Auric Demonocles]

What about when they're on their way out?

[Bee Tagger]

Probably depends on which direction. I've heard drowning can be kind of serene.

[Zeb]

Does it mean that if you smile for the facial recognition software, it will mess it up too?

[Bee Tagger]

Good point. Supporters of whichever president is in charge when this becomes federal are going to have a dilemma on their hands. How to show their satisfaction with the President while making sure his policies function properly?

[Fist of Etiquette]

You people haven't read the Mandatory Botox Provision in ACA.

[Auric Demonocles]

Simple. You write it on the back of your hands.

[generic Brand]

+1 scary ginger

[Auric Demonocles]

Well gingers still won't be able to recognized.

[The Hammer]

Facial recognition software works by detecting souls?

[Auric Demonocles]

Some of the more advanced ones do, but even if the appearance based ones will just think they are washed out indeterminate faces.

[DJF]

A link to a blog post about how the US Army is keeping open unneeded bases in Germany. Almost all the combat troops are gone from these bases yet the Army drags it feet on closing them even though they are support bases with nothing to support except the support personnel. They even spend money on refurbishing them.

"""''The Stuttgart military community may seem busy to visitors, but will soon become hollow shell, with nearly all manpower and money devoted to running five bases that have no military utility. This includes: 1,706 family housing units, four post offices, four fitness centers, four clubs, four schools, three hotels, three chapels, three commissaries, two libraries, two banks, two arts and craft centers, a shopping mall, a bowling alley, a golf course, a theater, a swimming pool, a child development center, a medical center, a dental office, a veterinary office, and an auto hobby shop. All this to support just a few hundred combat soldiers who are better off elsewhere?"""

http://www.g2mil.com/stuttgart.htm

[LTC(ret) John]

Hell, when I was in Germany in 1997, you could have closed everything but Landstuhl Hospital, Ramstein Air Force Base and the Kaiserslautern Industrial Area - maybe keep access to Hohenfels. EVERYTHING else should have been gone. I cannot imagine we need even that much now.

[Restoras]

Maybe they would if faced with an internal guns vs. butter decision?

[LTC(ret) John]

God willing, the next time they get a budget passed - someone will direct DoD to CLOSE these things - sell 'em to the Germans and say Auf Weiderschauen.

[Marshall Gill]

Oh, sure. Close our bases in Germany and who will defend Europe when the Poles invade?

[Not an Economist]

You want to hear the Germans scream, suggest closing the base.

They may not like us, but they abosolutely love our money.

[LTC(ret) John]

I was in Europe in the summer of 1979 - I saw a giant anti-American march (I think it was yowling about Samoza?).

In Germany, in 1997, I saw a modest demonstration outside the 21st TAACOM HQ - it was Germans demanding we stay.

From "Yankee Go Home" to "Yankee Stay Here" in under 20 years.

[Virginian]

A protest outside Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines had a sign that said "yankee go home and take me with you".

[Fist of Etiquette]

Faced with vigorous domestic protests over cartoons mocking Mohammed, French authoritied did the obvious thing: They banned all such protests.

They should just appease all those domestic humor critics with a Jerry Lewis marathon.

[Rich]

They banned all such protests.

I trust they will soon ban protesting all such protests.

[Rich]

I trust they will soon ban protesting the banning of all such protests.

Coffee!

[LTC(ret) John]

If they ban protests of protesting bans of coffee, I'm done with 'em.

[Drake]

Obviously they are worried that "protests" will quickly become riots. Stopping riots requires a vigorous response - which the French authorities are incapable of.

[sarcasmic]

Caregivers beat autistic man hundreds of times. Who do they think they are? The police?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....times.html

[Restoras]

Well plyaed, sarcasmic. Well played.

[Drake]

Is there a difference in the UK?

[Lord Humungus]

this makes me angry.

[sarcasmic]

Prison abuse, Georgian style.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....uards.html

[LTC(ret) John]

For a moment, I thought this was going to be in Atlanta... good to see the NYPD treatment of prisoners has been maintained in the Caucus Mountains.

[sarcasmic]

Man sick of neighbor's gospel music blasts porn!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....-PORN.html

[Fluffy]

New Jersey banned smiling for drivers license photos. It screws with the state's facial recognition software.

More and more it becomes obvious that if states, or the federal government, are allowed to obtain, through the conditional extension of benefits, obedience they could not compel using direct action due to constitutional limits, in the end those constitutional limits will mean nothing.

A DNA sample will be required for a driver's license next.

After that, you will be required to sign a statement waiving your 4th and 5th amendment rights whenever you drive.

[Auric Demonocles]

More and more it becomes obvious that if states, or the federal government, are allowed to obtain, through the conditional extension of benefits, obedience they could not compel using direct action due to constitutional limits, in the end those constitutional limits will mean nothing.

Very similar to the penaltax being used to circumvent the commerce clause.

[Lord Humungus]

people smile in NJ? Why?

[Randian]

You can't see what's going on below the chest in those photos, you know.

[sarcasmic]

Girl breaks arm at school. No ambulance is called. But it's OK. Policy was followed.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new.....n-arm.html

[LTC(ret) John]

Ambulances cost money! Maybe next large fesitval, the Brits could have giant dancing girls with broken arms?

[Randian]

This made me snort louder than I intended. Thanks.

[tarran]

In MA medical costs are spiraling out of control due to the massive government interference in that sector of the industry.

IF the school had called the ambulance, the school would have to pay for it.

On the other hand, if the parent comes and picks up the child, then the cost of any medical care becomes the parent's responsibility.

It's not too different than the care I received a few towns over from where this happened when a bunch of kids slammed a door on my pinkie finger, causing it to hydraulically rupture. The nurse stopped the bleeding and called my parents. It was the most basic first aid until my parents got me to the ER.

I do believe, though, back in the 80's had I had a compound fracture, the nurse would have called the ambulance.

Back then the people in state government were a little less heartless.

[Francisco d Anconia]

God, we've become a nation of whining pussies. It's a broken arm for god sake, not a heart attack. Stuff the brat into the back of mommy's SUV and cart her to the emergency room and quit playing the victim.

Maybe we need a new gubmint program requiring and ambulance be at all schoolz at all times. Can never be too safe when it comes to the chilrenz. Or better yet...a mandate that all schools provide a fully staffed ER?

[tarran]

God, we've become a nation of whining pussies. It's a broken arm for god sake, not a heart attack. Stuff the brat into the back of mommy's SUV and cart her to the emergency room and quit playing the victim.

I have a great idea! Fransisco, why don't you swing by my office.

I'll break your arm in multiple places, keep you prisoner and deny you pain medication for an hour until your mommy can come get you.

After all, it's no big deal right?

[Francisco d Anconia]

City folk.

[JEP]

Agreed. A kid broke his arm at a private school that I went to. From what I remember they just called his parents since school was almost out anyway.

The kid looked pretty pale and uncomfortable, but he was holding his own. Still got to the hospital in 30 minutes or so.

That was in Alabama.

[Night Elf Mohawk]

I don't know... an arm broken in two places and displaced seems non-trivial, and pretty painful, to me.

Back in the day, when someone broke a bone at school, the school called an ambulance.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Where did you go to school?

When a kid broke their arm in my grade school, they made him finish his homework before writing him a pass to hitchhike down to the ER. That's unless they rode their bike that day, in which case they were allowed to ride that if they chose.

[LTC(ret) John]

I think the sarcasm-o-meters are pegging.

[Bobarian]

Oh that's was nothing, when I was a lad we used to live in this tiny old house with great big holes in the roof.

[Bobarian]

Well, when I say 'house' it was only a hole in the ground covered by a sheet of tarpaulin, but it was a house to us.

[Virginian]

We were evicted from our 'ole in the ground; we 'ad to go and live in a lake.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Nothing new. In 6th grade I got a golf ball-sized shiner in music class (I'll leave it to your imagination as to how that happened) and they not only didn't send me to the hospital, they didn't call my parents or send me home early or give me an ice pack (just cold water on a paper towel).

Then there was the time in high school when I fainted and bashed my face on the science lab table and all they did was ask if I was pregnant (fuck no) and sent me back to class.

Two different school districts in two different states.

[Auric Demonocles]

Football roundup:

Good damn it Giants, quit screwing up my picks. I even had you picked until about 3 yesterday when I checked out the injury report. Then you went ahead and got a ton of yards to some guy named Barden and picked off Newton 3 times.

hamilton- Where were you sitting at last week's game? I was up in 304. Do you go regularly?

[generic Brand]

At what point in the season can we start making comparisons? I.e., Carolina beat the Saints, but beat by Tampa and crushed by the Giants. Does that make the Saints one of the worst teams this year?

[generic Brand]

Should've used "e.g." and not "i.e.", damn it. Patricia O'Connor will be so disappointed in me.

[Auric Demonocles]

I think after week 4 is when you can start making judgements on teams (unless they're 0-3 before that).

[RBS]

Wrong, everyone (at ESPN) knows the season is defined entirely by how you play in week one.

[Auric Demonocles]

ESPN knows the season is defined entirely by how many Tebows you have on your team.

[Bobarian]

As to the Saints and Chiefs, this week should answer the 'most disappointing start of the season' question.

[Mike M.]

And someone please tell that toolbox Cam Newton that he looks like a total horse's ass doing his stupid Superman routine while his team is getting curb-stomped into a pulp in front a national TV audience.

[JEP]

Auburn player. What'd you expect?

[hamilton]

Huh, I'm in 305 and a season ticket holder. We should meet up. Although I have to sell a bunch of the tix this time around (the wife found out how much the tix cost, and she doesn't go). I should be at a couple more this season though.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'm on the waitlist, but I've managed to get tickets to all the games except the Broncos so far. I'm bouncing all around the stadium throughout the session.

Tickets in 305 aren't that much, especially if whoever is coming with you pays for their own.

[hamilton]

Yeah, but 4 tickets times 10 games adds up especially when they are considered a "luxury purchase" by Unnamed Members of the Household.

Actually I can't go to the Broncos game unfortunately - gotta conflict. I have someone who stepped forward already for the seats but I will drop you a line if he backs out.

[Auric Demonocles]

Well, if you're paying for all 40 it's a lot, but I assume then the 30 people that are with you are paying for some of them.

[BakedPenguin]

Damn it, I forgot to switch Brown in my FF team, and he had a massive game.

[Brett L]

I told you Eli was gonna fuck me. Fuckit. The Saints are doomed, the Bucs will be okay but lose a couple close ones, and I can't pick right on the Giants no matter what.

[Auric Demonocles]

I can't pick right on the Giants no matter what.

Here I was thinking I was being smart to adjust my perceptions based on new information (leading receivers being out of the game).

[Auric Demonocles]

Also, you should just pick the opposite of how you want to pick on Eli. Which, btw, totally doesn't work for me when I try to remember how to spell Michael. I get it wrong 100% of the time without spellcheck, including when I saw "okay, I always get it wrong so I'm going to switch the a and e this time".

[Brett L]

Right. I tried that this time, after picking rightly in week 2 (and wrong in Week 1, but the 'boys were a fluke). I can't decide if I'm picking against what I think or picking against picking against what I think at this point. I just know that Eli is my bane.

[Restoras]

Somebody please assure me the Steelers will win this weekend.

[Kaptious Kristen]

Did Eli at least give you the courtesy of a reacharound?

[Francisco d Anconia]

I don't follow football...

...but I'm not gay.

[hamilton]

We're talking American gridiron football Frank. Not soccer.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Is there a difference? Don't grown men run around on a big green field, patting each other on the ass in both?

[The Hammer]

Did you not see Simmons' pick yesterday?

[Fist of Etiquette]

The latest poll gives him a five point lead over Romney.

WHY AM I GETTING SO MANY CONFLICTING POLL RESULTS? I'm beginning to suspect different pollsters might be getting the responses they want to get.

[Auric Demonocles]

I'd assume it depends largely on who the pollster thinks "likely voters" are.

[Restoras]

I recall the Bush was trailing Kerry going into November.

[Bee Tagger]

How dare you imply that pollsters are doing this for any reason other than money.

[Fist of Etiquette]

53% see this as a market failure.

[sarcasmic]

Video of Lindsay Lohan hitting pedestrian with her car. Who does she think she is? The police?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....eased.html

[db]

She's learning that the video only disappears if you're a real cop.

[Pip]

Get a fucking car and driver, bitch. In the long-run, you'll come out way ahead.

[VG Zaytsev]

Obama calls the failure of immigration reform his biggest regret.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/20/.....index.html

26 million unemployed? Part of the plan.

[Auric Demonocles]

If those 26 million people had decided to emigrate instead everything would be perfect.

[R C Dean]

How can you fail at something you've never tried?

[RBS]

He would have tried if it wasn't for those evil republicans.

[gaijin]

Wait I thought the biggest failure was the narrative?

[MJGreen]

Said to the Univision audience.

But remember just how cravenly Mitt Romney played to the millionaires' beliefs in that 47% comment? No integrity!!

[sarcasmic]

A horse is a horse of course of course
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....attan.html
And no one can talk to a horse of course
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-City.html
That is of course unless the horse is the famouse S J P

[Your Old TV]

Damn! The woman really does look like she needs to be saddled and bridled.

[sarcasmic]

Bar Refaeli is still hot!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....-snap.html

[invisible furry hand]

Senior Pirate Party politician in Germany publishes book, publisher takes action over pirated copies. Bonus point: Germans think "shitstorm" is perfectly acceptable word

http://www.spiegel.de/internat.....56977.html

[db]

Dude, what the fuck is wrong with German people?

[LTC(ret) John]

How long do you have today, to read?

[Kaptious Kristen]

No shit - fuckin' Krauts, man. I'm so self-loathing (although I'm only genetically Kraut, not culturally, thank dog).

[Restoras]

what the fuck is wrong with German people?

I think this is better.

[Ska]

Mom, if you were in a German scheisse video, you'd tell me right?

[Eduard van Haalen]

"GENEVA - The UN's human rights agency on Friday condemned French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo's publication of cartoons mocking Prophet Mohammed amid tensions in the Muslim world over an anti-Islam film....

"'In the case of Charlie Hebdo, given they knew full well what happened last week with the film, it seems doubly irresponsible on their part to have published these cartoons,' he told reporters in Geneva."

http://news.asiaone.com/News/L.....73032.html

[Eduard van Haalen]

Aren't you glad the UN has a human rights agency to focus our attention on threats to civil liberties?

[Zeb]

What? Apparently the right not to see things that you might find offensive is more important than the right to free speech. What the fuck is wrong with people?

[Auric Demonocles]

It's a similar mentality to the "ban guns" idea. We can't just ban the people being violent, we need to ban the things that might possibly lead up to it, even if those things are perfectly nonviolent by themselves.

[Francisco d Anconia]

It's not speech we are banning per se...it's wrong speech.

/UN

[mad libertarian guy]

What's even more frustrating is that they're sticking to their guns with their "The film caused the riots and murders" line.

There is just no way that policy, especially policy which included bombs being dropped in Libya from planes flying under the UN banner, has anything to do with it! It's all because of a shitty 14 minute YouTube clip!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Sen. Jim DeMint may throw his financial support behind Todd Akin's controversial Senate bid in Missouri. Because the GOP hasn't doubled-down on enough stupid this year.

If they want the Senate don't they need Akin? He's a vote.

[Fluffy]

Yeah, if after his screw-up Akin is still close, WTH man, support him.

Not my favorite guy, obviously, but a vote's a vote.

[generic Brand]

This is where I disagree, but maybe it is just my aversion to the TEAM politics. Jim DeMint is pretty socon, but he has made some wise team-ups in the past, what with the budget he, Mike Lee, and Rand Paul put together (and was then ignored by the media). So it is depressing to see him potentially support someone who would be such a liability in the long run, just because they need a vote now.

But, admittedly, I don't know how Akin is on any issues, just that he's an idiot who can't keep his mouth shut (he'll go far in politics).

[SugarFree]

All that matters is that Akin's constituents will still vote for him. Once he's in the Senate, he'll be a punchline but the GOP is used to run a punchline party. Santorum alone proves they have no aversion to morons.

[R C Dean]

The Senate will stay Dem. Wisconsin was supposed to be a sure pickup, but Tommy Thompson has gotten lazy as well as fat and is losing, by a lot. Besides Akin, I thought I saw there's another formerly solid pickup that they've punted, can't remember where.

[sarcasmic]

Pron 4 John!
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvs.....shoot.html
(yes, sage)

[sage]

Thanks!

[Pip]

This bitch cuffing fairies or what?

[Fluffy]

How regulation destroys private enterprise.

[BakedPenguin]

They should have FEMEN protest for them.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Mayor Daniel Termont told AFP he was not "anti-prostitutes." "I'm not a puritan," he said. "Far from it! A city like Ghent needs prostitutes, but they have to respect certain rules."

I think Bloomberg said this very thing.

[Bee Tagger]

New Jersey banned smiling for drivers license photos. It screws with the state's facial recognition software.

Until they ban track suits, this isn't news.

[invisible furry hand]

Ukrainian topless protesters open Paris office.

BTW, has Groovus moved to Ukraine and deserted us entirely?

http://www.spiegel.de/fotostre.....87582.html

[sarcasmic]

Boobies!

[Calidissident]

Those brunettes on the left in 1 and 2 (and the one on the right is also in 5) = mmmm, damn!

[Bee Tagger]

Pakistan responded to similar protests by blocking cell phone service in 15 cities.

Those must be the safest places in the world to drive a car.

[LTC(ret) John]

Yeah, the suicide car bombers have to go manual switching. Such a bother!

[Fist of Etiquette]

Jerry Brown's scheme to convince Californians to raise their own taxes via a ballot initiative is losing steam. Support has slipped to just 51 percent, and may slide further.

If it slides to 47% does that mean another slew of reason articles about takers and producers?

[Mike M.]

Bill Clinton channels his inner Alfred E. Neuman with one of the most utterly preposterous, disconnected from reality pieces I have ever seen in my life.

[invisible furry hand]

You could have knocked me down with a feather:

It was an attempt to gauge the nation's 'emotional' wellbeing, to move away from measuring wealth and find out what truly makes us happy.
But now David Cameron's much-ridiculed happiness survey has found that the key to our happiness is, in fact, money.

more

[SugarFree]

90s Flashback!

Fiona Apple busted for hash at border stop.

I wonder what she'll write on her hand for Obama.

[Randian]

FEELIN' LIKE

A CRIMINAL

[SugarFree]

I've got to cleanse myself of all these lies.

[Brett L]

I'll be watching that video in my bunk.

[RBS]

From what I remember that was a pretty hot video.

[RBS]

Here you go

[Brett L]

After watching again, I just can't believe she smokes hash! Looks more like hanging with the pills/heroin crew.

[invisible furry hand]

Who does Fiona Apple think she is, Willie Nelson?

[generic Brand]

too slow 🙁

[SugarFree]

PWN'D!

[generic Brand]

Secret Service Code Names

President Barack Obama opted for this moniker [Renegade] after being presented with a list of names beginning with the letter "R." As custom dictates, the rest of his family's code names will be alliterative: wife Michelle is known as "Renaissance;" daughters Malia and Sasha are "Radiance" and "Rosebud," respectively.

Because when I think of Barack H. Obama, I think of someone who is completely against the grain.

[Fluffy]

I would demand the moniker "Apostate".

That way there would be at least one occasion where the Secret Service Radio chatter would be:

Apostate is on the move...Apostate is throwing half the palace staff out on to Pennsylvania Avenue...Apostate is locking the doors behind them.

[Randian]

Half? What kind of libertarian are you?

[SugarFree]

The other half will serve him forever in the afterlife.

[Fluffy]

I'm not going to vacuum the place, dude.

[Randian]

I liked SugarFree's answer better.

[John]

I would demand "Infidel".

[Night Elf Mohawk]

Hangman is coming down from the gallows and I don't have very long.

[SugarFree]

Oh, momma.

[Restoras]

...I'm in fear of my life from the long arm of the law...

[LTC(ret) John]

So are you saying that the jig is up, the news is out?

[Fluffy]

RACIST

[Auric Demonocles]

What's the point of code names if they let people know what they are?

[SugarFree]

The point is letting everyone know he's a renegade. If his code name was Fluffernutter or the more honest Goddamn Fucking Liar, we would have never heard about it.

[BakedPenguin]

It's okay; they've changed it to "douchebag".

[BakedPenguin]

Actually, that would tip off too many people.

[Lord Humungus]

I never knew the word Renaissance rhymed with Wookie.

[SugarFree]

Wookie Renaissance

[sarcasmic]

That's funny.

[Restoras]

It was funny enough to make me fart a little.

[Randian]

Snooki Renaissance

[SugarFree]

I can barely wait to see if OD or liver failure kills her first.

[invisible furry hand]

she'll fall off her heels, snap a bone, and flesh-eating bacteria will do the rest

[SugarFree]

Great. Now my fingers won't come uncrossed. Thanks.

[LTC(ret) John]

I vote OD.

[BakedPenguin]

Untreated syphilis.

[sarcasmic]

Drunken car crash.

[JW]

Eaten by her spawn, after passing out on a winter's day.

[Numeromancer]

She is immortal, and cannot die; we'll have to bury her under mount Etna with all the other shapeless horrors.

[Rich]

*Really* Great Secret Service Names:

Who, What, I Don't Know

Nagger, Yomama

...

[R C Dean]

I'd've gone with Rastaman. Not on the list? Screw it, I'm the Prez, and I need the chuckles of hearing my buttoned-down security agents saying Rastaman this and Rastaman that all day.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

What a dork--even his Secret Service name shows him coming across like a Mountain Dew-guzzling nerd.

[Pip]

Minnesota farmer cleared in milk case

A jury clears a farmer who distributed the product.

A soft-spoken Minnesota farmer was cleared of violating state laws for distributing raw milk Thursday, a verdict advocates for such foods called their first major legal victory.

After a three-day trial and more than four hours of deliberation, a Hennepin County jury found Alvin Schlangen not guilty of three misdemeanor counts of selling unpasteurized milk, operating without a food license and handling adulterated or misbranded food.

The trial highlighted a deep national divide between raw milk advocates who contend unpasteurized dairy products can relieve allergies and prevent illness and public health officials who warn that raw milk can cause serious and sometimes fatal diseases, such as E. coli, salmonella and listeria.

"It's a big step in the right direction," Schlangen, 54, said Thursday, flanked by celebrating supporters. "I have a hard time understanding how this basic freedom has been so hard to maintain."

http://www.startribune.com/loc.....21646.html

[Fluffy]

Study Moved Poor People to Affluent Neighborhoods and Measured Results.

Result #1: The people stayed poor. Being around affluent people didn't magically make people any better off economically.

Result #2: The people reported sharp increases in happiness and well-being.

This pretty much seems to prove that being poor in the US isn't so bad, except for the fact that you have to be around other poor people.

If study respondents are just as poor as they ever were, but report much higher happiness as soon as they aren't around other poor people, the inescapable conclusion one must draw is that if poor people would just collectively stop being assholes, the poor would be happy everywhere in the US.

[Lord Humungus]

I'm moving from a middle-class to a more affluent neighborhood. I'll see if my income magically goes up.

[mad libertarian guy]

If study respondents are just as poor as they ever were, but report much higher happiness as soon as they aren't around other poor people, the inescapable conclusion one must draw is that if poor people would just collectively stop being assholes living in planned, inner city communities designed by the literari, the poor would be happy everywhere in the US.

[Auric Demonocles]

Was the (likely) better house they moved into controlled for? Moving from some crappy rundown apartment to a nice house with a yard will make people happier on its own.

[Fluffy]

They were spending federal housing vouchers, so I have to guess that they were renting from Section 8 landlords, and even in nice towns those aren't going to be the nicest properties.

So a nicer house may have been a factor, but it had to be outweighed by that whole "Hey, nobody's trying to kill me or rob from me, my neighbors aren't arrested for domestic violence every Saturday night at 2 in the morning, when I walk on the sidewalk I don't have to worry that someone might find accidental eye contact to be me 'dissing' them, etc."

[Pip]

This is very accurate.

[John]

I bet the people whose neighborhoods they moved to didn't report sharp increases in happiness and well-being.

[SugarFree]

Because of the housing market and the economy (which is totally recovering you guys! Honest!) when the elderly die-off their kids can't make what they think is enough money by selling it, so they are either sitting on the houses or renting them out. Some of the rentals are just fine (we rented for years ourselves) but some of them are just fucking trash or a group of 6 or 7 college kids that seem to throw a party every night. Yay! It's reverse gentrification!

The clock is ticking on the old guy next to us. We hope he lives forever and ever.

[Randian]

Because of the housing market and the economy I live in Kentucky...

FIFY.

[SugarFree]

It's really quite pleasant if you stick to Louisville or Lexington. Cost of living is fairly low, there are cute college girls all over the place, and we finally got a Trader Joe's.

[LTC(ret) John]

"cute college girls all over the place, and we finally got a Trader Joe's."

That is about enough for me!

[Auric Demonocles]

we finally got a Trader Joe's

Why the fuck does anyone like that place? I cannot see a reason.

[Rich]

Because cute college girls work there?

[Auric Demonocles]

That's true of any grocery store.

[RBS]

Uh, no.

[Spoonman.]

Really? The employees at mine all look like AIDS uptime champs from the early 90s.

[tarran]

In my experience w/ the Trader Joes in Cambridge off Memorial Drive and Alewife (N=2), the staff is more helpfull, and the food isn't bad. A lot of people like the service, and assume that they are getting unprocessed wholesome food that will make them healthy.

[Auric Demonocles]

In my experience w/ the Trader Joes in Cambridge off Memorial Drive and Alewife

I went there are found that it was small, poorly lit, expensive, and didn't have much normal food. I couldn't say anything about the staff being helpful, because why the hell would I get help from a grocery store employee?

assume that they are getting unprocessed wholesome food that will make them healthy.

So they don't know anything about food production?

[Restoras]

How's the local beer? What are the winter's like? Gun ownership laws? Plenty of golf courses?

[SugarFree]

Great and getting better.
Inconsistent. Blizzards some years, barely snows the next.
Great. CCP is easy to get and a we have open carry.
We have quite a few, but I'm unsure of their quality.

[db]

Gun ownership laws: come to Knob Creek October 12-14 for a sample.

[John]

I like Louisville. It is like a small Atlanta. Very new south.

[Ska]

I was in Louisville last month, and I do like it, but man things go from museum district to total ghetto in about a three block span. And the river front seemed to have hipsters. Kentucky hipsters. *shakes head*

[John]

Kentucky hipsters are just hipsters who haven't gotten their parents to pony up with the money to move to Austin or Williamsberg.

[SugarFree]

It used to be all ghetto. White flight hit Louisville pretty hard.

And there are hispters everywhere. Like the spread of the Norwegian Rat.

[LTC(ret) John]

"Like the spread of the Norwegian Rat."

Oh God, no! What sort of plague will they bring?!

[SugarFree]

Fedoras.

[Cdr Lytton]

Apparently not The Plague, according to this map.

[Bobarian]

Unlike ATL, the high crime area is actually an area instead of everywhere.

[EDG reppin' LBC]

I don't want to one up anybody here, but a lot of the cute college girls in my neighborhood walk around in bikini's. I know, it's tragic. There is nothing worse than enjoying a beer on a sunny patio while bikini clad 19 year old girls stroll by.

[Lord Humungus]

this happened to the area I'm about to move out of.

When I moved in, it was all old people. The block was quiet after 8PM. And then, one by one, the old people moved to retirement communities or died. Now we have a twenty-something living across the street (his dad bought him a house), a white trash family who managed to get a deal, and a bunch of little kids running around.

So we're moving.

Next stop - somewhere in the country with enough acreage to make plenty of space between me and the derpish elements of the world.

[John]

You just described my landlord. Family house in a beautiful neighborhood. But even in Washington can't sell it for what he thinks it is worse. Meanwhile every time he rents it to someone new he takes the chance of getting a renter who will destroy the place. There is a reason why my rent hasn't gone up in five years and he practically begs us to stay there.

My in laws neighborhood in Boston is totally filled with people in their 60s. Nice houses. Who the hell is going to buy those in the next ten years when all of those people die or have to move into a home?

[Auric Demonocles]

I might if they ever stop propping up prices.

[SugarFree]

And the illusion of worth to heirs. Just because a similar house sold for X amount at the top of the bubble doesn't mean your mom's house is worth that now. And you didn't put any money into it anyway.

[LTC(ret) John]

My parents home is probably just a few dollars in price higher, now, as compared to what they paid for it new in 1971.

Welcome to Illinois.

[Auric Demonocles]

I remember going to look at a car with my dad when I was 16. We offered the guy 3k and he said "This car is worth 3500. That's how much I put into between buying it and the repairs." We left without buying it and my dad told me that how much you spend on something isn't what determines how much it is worth. The guy didn't manage to sell the car for at least a year.

[JW]

I bet the people whose neighborhoods they moved to didn't report sharp increases in happiness and well-being.

Hey, there's broken toys all over the place, squalling brats running free, loutish friends always dropping by on quiet, peaceful days, the yard hasn't been cut in weeks and the same shitty car is still up on blocks, but they're fucking happy!

[R C Dean]

The people reported sharp increases in happiness and well-being.

I wonder what their neighbors would say.

[Lord Humungus]

call the realtor, we're moving?

[Appalachian Australian]

Surprisingly, the level of racial integration in a neighborhood did not matter nearly as much as the rate of poverty when it came to residents' happiness?"If you stay in a poor neighborhood, but it's more racially integrated, it doesn't seem to have big effects?Being in a really poor neighborhood has adverse effects, regardless of the racial composition."

"Surprisingly." Central planners think we'd all be happy if we only lived in racially-diverse neighbourhoods, even if none of us had enough food to eat, no shelter, and were mauled by rabid dogs on a daily basis.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

It's all about "encouraging tolerance" with these types, who are typically ensconsed safely in gated whiteopias.

Drop some of the "Diversity is Our Strength!!!" SWPLs in a truly diverse neighborhood for about five years and they'll be begging to move back to the suburbs.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

If study respondents are just as poor as they ever were, but report much higher happiness as soon as they aren't around other poor people, the inescapable conclusion one must draw is that if poor people would just collectively stop being assholes, the poor would be happy everywhere in the US.

I did a paper in college on Harry Truman during the Square Deal era, and there was a quote from one of his minions that was illuminating. Basically, the guy said, "We thought if we moved all these poor people into their own house, they'd start acting like middle-class whites. Instead, they remained the same miserable people they always were."

[Bee Tagger]

New Jersey banned smiling for drivers license photos.

Wait a second, are we sure that they didn't just do this to trick people into thinking that there are people who are capable of smiling after being in line at the DMV.

[Fluffy]

Maybe all the people who now can't smile will switch to duckface instead.

[sarcasmic]

Does anyone else watch Auction Hunters?

I think that Carolyn's tits are fake. Anyone agree? Disagree?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

10 Public Colleges with Insanely Luxurious Dorms

Dumbass College Student: "Hey, how come I owe $40,000 in student loans?"

[db]

Yeah, I was talking to a friend the other day about how his daughter's dorm is huge and has only 2 girls to a bathroom, big separate rooms within a suite, etc. You wonder why tuitions/room and baord costs are are skyrocketing.

Do subsidized student loans cover room and board or just tuition?

[Red Rocks Rockin]

They'll cover any expenses you have, if the loan is large enough. Typically, the financial aid office takes out direct school expenses, which may include room and board, and gives you a check for whatever is left over.

I lived at home while I was an undergrad, so I didn't have to take out much during those years. But I paid for tuition, books, and most of my living expenses with my grad school loans, and had a part-time TA job that covered my rent in the little studio apartment I lived in.

[R C Dean]

When I was in school, we maxed my loans, my parents took the proceeds and arbitraged them against CDs maturing when I graduated. I think they cleared a few thou.

System. Gamed.

[db]

That is a thing of beauty.

[db]

That is a thing of beauty.

[Red Rocks Rockin]

You can't even get away with that now because the interest rates are so low. Another way Bernanke's fucked middle class families.

[DEG]

Penn State's Eastview Terrace made the list. Hah! I remember when Eastview Terrace was a bunch of crappy former Army barracks used for housing grad students with families.

[Azathoth!!]

So, the French are banning protests over Mohammed cartoons. Maybe that'll work.

After all, when you consider that the protests themselves are Muslims using free speech rights to protest using free speech rights the idea of showing them the error of their ways by not allowing them to protest might make sense.

Or the French can just say, 'okay, you don't want people to have free speech? Fine, we'll take away yours first.'