"The people of Bell – mostly minorities and immigrants...."

IMHO, this is the only reason the LA Times got involved.

".....who were preyed upon because they were considered easily duped due to their lack of access to education.... "

Don't you mean "..LACK of education.." instead of...."lack of ACCESS to education..." ?? Since when do these folks NOT have access to education? Where there is a WILL there is a WAY.... right?

Although I agree with the basic premises of the article.... BUT....it starts sounding like a puff piece for the LA Times by the third paragraph. Seems like your kinda-trying to get BIG site readers to give the LA Times another look. Sorry... not taking the bait.

Ohhhh thank you, thank you great benevolent ones... for allowing me the privilege of doing even more cartwheels in order to stay in business.

"If they can increase their small business lending by ten percent over the previous year, they will have access to the funds at interest rates near one percent." a booger came out of my nose when I read that part.

Here's an idea... why don't you write up a bill... you know... one of those fancy ones... that allows me to borrow the funds I need directly from the banks for a rate of "near one percent".

Heck... while were at it... why don't you write one up that demands CHINA lend the money directly to me... again ... "at interest rates near one percent" .... if they wish to continue to steal busi... er...um... I mean..."do business" in the U.S. and we can just cut out the middle man.

Unless... of course... hastening the downfall of capitalism is actually your plan. Naaaah couldn't be.

Hmmmm.....looks like any black American growing tomato's in the backyard qualifies as a farmer.

I keep hearing, and reading...."you wait till November... then we're going to clean house and..." blah, blah, blah. Does anyone on here really think that all of a sudden, after November... anything is going to change as it pertains to this situation? If Repubs take the House and maybe even the Senate.... what exactly are they going to do about this? Do people think that all of a sudden we are going to have the military on the border teaching those cartel members a lesson? Does anybody really expect that will happen? That we will deploy military snipers? It ain't gonna happen folks. One thing people need to keep in mind is that we have, right now, the equivalent of tens of thousands of sleeper cells already here in the form of MS-13 and various other mexican and central american gang members..... spread throughout the whole country. Our politicians know this. Our politicians have sisters and brothers and grand kids and cousins who are NOT protected like their political relative may be. The cartels know this. It's not hard to find out who is the grand kid, or elderly parent or cousin of any of our elected officials. This, I think, plays on the minds of our politicians. They let this happen and now there is no way out. Hell, by the sound of this article, there are a good portion of them on the cartel payroll. The cartels do not have to openly threaten them because they know the politicians are well aware of their capabilities to do harm inside our country at will. Personally, I don't think ANY politician is going to really try and tackle this madness with the military or the national guard. Not now and not after November. I hope and pray that I'm wrong.
On a side note... I'm a surveyor.... hence the screen name. It is a very dangerous job sometimes. Whoever sent that surveyor down to a cartel infested area of the border without some sort of a sheriff's escort... needs to be fired!

The Emperor Wears no clothes.
This book is available online for free at this link: http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html
You don't have to download a book.... the chapters are there one by one.

Anyone interested in the true history of the war on marijuana.....which, as the book shows....is actually a war on hemp, should at least read the first 2 chapters.

"do not worry about the debt..." ?? I have to respectfully disagree. One could confiscate ALL the money earned... 100% of "the top 5% of earners" wages and this would not make a dent in the 14 trillion dollar debt. That doesn't even address the $100 TRILLION dollars of unfunded liability we as a nation are going to have to come up with. The "young"... as you put it... will suffer enormously when (not if) the money is inflated to bring down the debt. I'm sure most of us will have serious problems when we are paying $10 for a loaf of bread or $15 for a gallon of milk. And that's not even considering what will happen when all of the "young" people get out of school with degrees yet no jobs will be available. Because... you know... when you tax the job makers out of existence... you are taxing JOBS out of existence as well.

I'm a tad late to this discussion... but......for those interested....there is a great book on the subject of MJ. It's called "The Emperor Wears No Clothes". I read it in the late 80's. Here is a link to the book, published online for free:
http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html

Breitbart ... I gotta say it ... You are a freaking genius! 5 steps ahead of these idiots I tell ya !

Got Context?

good stuff.

Exactly....!!! I have been saying the same thing for a while now. This guy is a THREAT to the National Security of the United States of America!!

Wow!! $400 million of U.S. taxpayer money....... That'll keep HAMAS in guns and rockets for a long time.... ain't that right Obama?

This guy has got to be the stupidest SOB..... !!!!

Man !!!...... is he DUMB!!!