The Bishop and the Butterfly: Murder, Politics, and the End of the Jazz Age

    GOP Backs Casino Mogul's Nanny State

    By NCD on Thu, 03/27/2014 - 8:22pm |
    Republicans team up with casino mogul Sheldon Adelson to meet a major threat to America and Americans in the 21st century. A problem that can no longer be ignored, delayed or kicked down the road. Not outdated infrastructure, or collapsing bridges. Not climate change. Not immigration reform or health care reform. Not skyrocketing student debt loads. Not a myriad of other issues you might think deserve attention.
     
    Internet gambling. And internet poker too, which the GOP believes is wreaking havoc from coast to coast!! Believe it!!
     
    Courageous casino billionaire Adelson, Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and Baptists are on the march to solve one of the most critical issues facing the moral fiber of the nation and the future of America: Online Gambling.
     
    The Baptist Press:
     

    The Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission has expressed support for a ban on online gambling......

    "Online gambling can result in bankruptcy, despair and moral decline just as with traditional forms of gambling, the costs of which must ultimately be borne by society," he said.

    In true Libtard Nanny Government fashion, Republicans clamor on about the need to control people from injuring themselves with the choices they freely make, government must stop bad behavior!

    The law must take the place of the parent, and restore family discipline!:

    The bill "will keep children from borrowing the family credit card, logging on to the family computer and losing thousands of dollars all before their parents get home from work," Goodlatte (R-VA) said.

    The Bill: Restoration of America's Wire Act, HR 3125, which would ban "any bet or wager or information on bets and wager" from the sacred confines of the internet, returning us to the good ole days where, for instance, you had to go to Sheldon Adelson's casino properties to lose thousands of dollars, or max out your credit card! The untaintedness and selflessness of that fact brought tears to my eyes. God Bless Sheldon and Senator Lindsey Graham.

    A noble goal selflessly funded with money from maxed out credit cards.

    Fingers that click a mouse on poker decks will not be typing in credit card numbers.

    NYT:

    ..Mr. Adelson’s effort officially kicked off on Wednesday, when lawmakers, including a senator, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has accepted tens of thousands of dollars in donations from the businessman and his family, introduced legislation originally drafted with Mr. Adelson’s lobbyist....

    At a news conference on Wednesday, Mr. Graham was asked if he and other co-sponsors were operating merely as Mr. Adelson’s emissaries.

    “I would say that Sheldon has aligned himself with most Baptists in South Carolina,” Mr. Graham replied. “I am on solid footing in South Carolina with people I represent. The fact that Sheldon is on board is a good thing.”

    Yes, a good thing has a lot of zeroes behind the dollar signs of campaign contributions.

    A good thing for politicians who are up for sale for any cause which will line their pockets with millions of dollars.

    The sad story, casino, gaming machines and lottery gambling account for only 80-90+% of gambling losses in the US. It's that little red bar, less than 5%.....lost online where imminent peril resides, a sinister menace to the lifeblood of the nation.

     

    Comments

    I got into internet gambling a couple three years ago.

    I only lost about $300. They (the middle men, as they say) just plain stole money from me.

    And then, my bank hit me with charges that approached $100? I went and complained to the bank, shut off the 'card' and I found the over charges erased. Then I read about how you can complain for over charges and that was that.

    DO NOT GAMBLE ON LINE.

    EVER!

    I assume that paypal might save your ass, but the problem involves hackers who get into the game and read your cards!

    This is all a fraud.

    At least in Vegas, you can at least pay on an 'even' field.

    Oh and the site I gambled at was indicted in NY and other places and shut down.

    Just remember this

    OTHERS WILL READ YOUR CARDS.

     


    by Richard Day on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 7:33pm

    Sorry you lost that money. Of course I would rather max out my credit card or get cheated in Vegas. They got the free outdoor shows and other....stuff...Jolly can tell us about.

    It used to be a rock solid Republican principle that you are on your own out there, and they ran for govment to make sure you are on your own with all the freedom.

    Lost your job - your fault.

    Homeless - too bad.

    Kids hungry - sorry, just cut your food stamps.

    Pregnant and poor - didn't keep a 2 cent aspirin between your legs. 

    Crazy guy shoots up a crowd, not touching it, in fact loosen gun laws.

    No health care - go the the Emergency room sucker.

    NOW....Lost some cash playing online poker, kids stole your credit card and gambled? Adelson and Senator Graham to the rescue. Nanny govment. It sticks in my craw.


    by NCD on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 9:15pm

    Oh just one clarification.

    I mean I 'lost' the 300 over a six month period.

    That is a hobby, not an obsession.

    The indictment was real and that whole damn site went down, like that.

    And there were hackers and I am sure it was an inside job and the 'middlemen' really did steal from idiots like me.

    My question, and maybe Paypal answers this:

    How do you regulate it?

    I mean they regulate in Vegas and Atlantic City. How much? I do not know.

    Super PC's and super software control Wall Street and will control internet gambling.

    Of course, internet gambling is personified by Wall Street anyway, so who cares?


    by Richard Day on Sat, 03/29/2014 - 6:45pm

    If the house loses on Wall Street...well...$$$$..that's why you're getting 0.0005% on your savings. The big money game is rigged.

    As for cleaning up online gambling, if you had another $300 to spare, would you consider sending it to Senator Lindsey Graham? His quest is to protect America!


    by NCD on Sat, 03/29/2014 - 7:38pm

    I have no problem with bricks and mortar casinos but when internet casinos came on board HUGE red flags went up.  No regulations, no overseers, not even a sense of who is running them or where in the world they are.  And yet people give over their credit card numbers and hope the shadow people they're dealing with are honest and will do the right thing. 

    On the internet.  Right.

    I don't want to see the internet reined in or confined in most instances, but with internet casinos I might make an exception.  It's a crazy business, rife with inevitable dangers.

    Sheldon Adelson sees the problem and is exploiting it for his own gain, and the religious busybodies, always on the lookout for signs of immorality that don't jibe with their own, also see ways they can capitalize off of it.

    Be advised that I'm in no way getting in bed with that bunch, but I wouldn't hate it if internet casinos went away.

     

     


    by Ramona on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 9:13pm

    Would you agree that online gambling is one of the biggest issues facing America in 2014 and beyond? That it is more critical than any other legislation presented or promoted by Obama or anyone else in recent memory?

    Would you also agree that Senator Graham is showing the courage of his convictions when he goes on a very personal crusade to save America from this scourge?

    Don't you believe that Sheldon Adelson's millions in support of the GOP in this fight is derived from no less a laudatory goal than ensuring that American families can evade the temptations of intemperate gambling and resulting destitution?


    by NCD on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 9:25pm

    No to all of the above.  I despise Adelson and most Republicans who hold office and many who don't, but you talked about internet gambling and I gave you my reasons for being wary of it.  It has nothing to do with anyone's perceptions of a nanny state.  It could be I'm off-topic but when I read Richard's story I jumped at the chance to give my two cents about it.

    It's like those ads we used to see about sticking all your gold jewelry in a prepaid bag and sending it to some company whose address is on the label in hopes that they'll give you a fair price for your treasures.  There are just some things going on out there that scream danger, danger, Will Robinson.  For me, online gambling is one of them.  As I said.


    by Ramona on Fri, 03/28/2014 - 9:35pm

    Senator Graham's legislation has nothing to do with sad stories.

    The GOP generates untold numbers of tragic outcomes for Americans by their actions and inaction in government.

    Refusing to expand Medicaid for poor families, cutting food stamps, closing health clinics used by women, cutting unemployment etc, things you have blogged about.

    This legislation is, of course, all about money.

    Campaign money for the Senator and gambling money for Adelson. Republicans are lining up in Vegas to get Adelson cash to do anything Adelson wants them to do. It is a shining example of what the GOP is all about.

    They believe in a Nanny state, for themselves, and their wealthy supporters.


    by NCD on Sat, 03/29/2014 - 10:56am

    Yes, I get it.  That's why I said this:

    Sheldon Adelson sees the problem and is exploiting it for his own gain, and the religious busybodies, always on the lookout for signs of immorality that don't jibe with their own, also see ways they can capitalize off of it.

    BTW, you lost me at "libtard".


    by Ramona on Sat, 03/29/2014 - 12:36pm

    Sarcasm. Libtard is used by the right when we advocate government doing things for the hungry, sick or poor.

    If any right wingers come by here I feel it good to shock and awe them with the hypocrisy of their Party in using similar Nanny reasoning to ban online gambling at the behest and profit of, what else, a gambling billionaire.

    The right is now blaming the bad GM starter switch (from 2005-06) on Obama. (A redesigned part was used from 2007 on).

    I am writing Darrell Issa to demand an investigation into why Obama let that happen, when George W. Bush kept us safe for 8 years.


    by NCD on Sat, 03/29/2014 - 4:48pm