So I was sitting on the toilet for my morning sequester drinking some coffee and reading the newspaper with the sports station WFAN on in the background. They have a great show on Sunday morning called "Talking Baseball with Ed Randall" where they talk about what is happening in Spring Training. But there was something very annoying going on besides the coverage of the Mets.
It seemed that every other commercial was a snappy little number promoting on-line gambling run by Caesars Palace for the residents of New Jersey. It was a tune set to "Luck be A Lady" with a Frank Sinatra clone singing about on-line gambling in New Jersey. Now I know a lot about gambling. I used to gamble a bit back in the day. Maybe more than a bit. But I are fully apprised of the damage it does to people. I know people who have literally lost everything because of gambling. Their house, their family, their job. Just about everything.
The one thing that saves many people from destruction is that it is not easy to gamble your life away unless you go to a Casino. I mean you can buy lottery tickets but it is a lot different than sitting at the blackjack table or roulette wheel for hours at a time until you lose everything. Now they are incessantly pimping gambling on your phone? Have you ever seen these idiots playing Candy Crush or Angry Birds on their Ipad or Iphone? What if they could gamble on the phone? They are going to the poorhouse on the express bus.
Christie signed on to this. I mean seriously what the fuck is he thinking. Sure the state gets some money but it is destroying so many lives. Why don't they just open up shops to sell Meth and Heroin? What the fuck?
There is one thing you will know for sure. No fucking idiot in the mainstream lap dog media will ever ask a question about this. They don't live in the real world with real problems. They will obsess about a stupid fucking traffic jam but not mention a change that will destroy innumerable families.
18 comments:
Out here, gambling make heap big wampum pile at Pala Indian Tribe Casino. I see people board buses to go to the casino -- they're mainly old ladies. I guess grammas and sintax go well together.
I would put that on the NJ Legislature too, but given their deal with the devil on AC, are you surprised by this? New Jersey is one of the most corrupt states on the Union.
Christie is all about Christie. And while all politicians have that to a bit (they have to), I don't trust him as far as I can throw him. And given what a fat fuck he is, that is not very far.
The one guy I knew with a major gambling habit lived on the edge in all aspects of his life: Chain smoking, heavy drinking, obesity, and a penchant for street ho's. There's no way to determine which of his obsessions might ruin his life. The one time he clearly did come close to being ruined by gambling was when a goon working for his bookie threatened to apply a baseball bat to his kneecaps. This was, obviously, not a legal enterprise.
I think the busloads of little old ladies are full of people without a lot of other sources of amusement in their lives. I don't see this as a problem--unless the Dems decide that we need a federal program to help people pay their gambling debts.
Which is why I'm inclined to live and let roll.
What are the odds that Chrispie is getting a cut on all that action?
We have a failed indian tribe south of here - they keep trying to get federal recognition so they can start some casinos. Problem is, they aren't indians. But I expect that is just a bump in the road that they will overcome.
I never cared much for gambling - first time I was in Reno in '72 I sat down at a nickle slot, won two dollars and strode pridefully from the casino knowing that I had triumphed over their little game.
Stopped at a gas station, bought three dollars worth of gas for my '65 Rambler Classic 550 and the attendant gave me change in the form of two Eisenhower dollar coins - I guess he thought I would play them in the slot machine he had on the premises. I still have those very coins.
Did I mention I am cheap?
Back in the day when the Mafia controlled gambling they didn't let people gamble away their lives. I mean sure they took them to the cleaners but after a while they stopped taking the guys action.
Trooper on the CEO throne.
Things were so much better when the Mafia ran things.
This is the method I've used to determine if I need to avoid dog tracks and jai alai frontons: fun money in one pocket, take home money in the other pocket. If I reach into the take home pocket, it's time to stop gambling ever again.
"It was fuckin' May Ham out there!"
I am currently watching this Net Flick series called "Lillyhammer" with Silvio Dante going into witness protection in Norway. It is hilarious.
ChipS, Good to see you. Compulsivity is a motherfucker. I have a family member w/ huge compulsivity problems. It manifests itself in eating, worrying and kleptomania. This woman is a great person, wouldn't steal a dime from a person and works hard on those compulsions. Anxiety and depression is often @ the core of the problem.
Hey, nick.
I suppose some would call me an enabler for this guy, since I've bailed him out more than once. But fuck it, that's what the second F in BFF is all about.
Jeez, Troop, I told youse about Lilyhammer two years ago.
ChipS, Believe me, it's tough when you care for someone like that. I KNOW!
I think the impulse to save others from themselves, however well-intentioned, ultimately leads to things like 32 ounce drinks being banned.
Hey I think people should do what they want and I am in favor of all vices. That should be your own business. I just think certain reasonable limits should be in place. That is why their are age limitations on drinking for example. I think the limit should be lower like 16 or something but there still should be a limit of some sort.
When I visited rural Italy in 1979, I was dumbfounded that they had no legal limits for underage alcohol consumption at the village bar -- or so they said. They explained to me that kids learned to drink at home, families looked out for that, and that you'd never see out of control under aged drinking. Italy is a treasure trove of family vs. government control, given their particularly long history.
Well, I'm an extremist.
It shouldn't be the (legal) responsibility of people selling liquor or cigarettes (e.g.) to worry about what kids might do with them.
Hell, if you never ran into a liquor store to pick up smokes and beers for your parents, your parents probably did.
As for gambling, well, where's the kid getting the money? And since minors can't enter into contracts legally, you're kind of a sucker to deal with them injudiciously.
I'm on a freedom kick.
I do find it repugnant that the same government that finds it its moral duty to police people's gambling runs a fucking lottery.
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