Illinois General Assembly, video gaming, and Stop Predatory Gambling
I’m changing direction this week. Although I plan more posts on healthcare nationalized, this week I’m going to cover the State of Illinois and its new push to increase revenue by allowing gambling/video gaming throughout the State.
I had intended to end my series on video gaming on Saturday the 19th. However, I have more to say and it seems apparent that healthcare nationalized will not occur this week and may not occur this year—nor should it.
My new plans are as follows: I’m going to end the series on video gaming on the 30th of September. I’ve found more information about gambling at http://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/ and http://www.freedomplayers.org/. Tonight I’m posting five of the many posts from http://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/ and then plan on concluding (for now) on Wednesday morning. I plan to do my regular feature on “global warming” for, at least, the normal two days. I also have a new monthly feature I’m going to start and then, hopefully, back to healthcare nationalized for a few more posts. As you know though, I have been known to change things as I proceed.
From http://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/
1) “What we own is broken and it's up to us to fix it
By SPG July 24, 2009 at 11:06 AM EDT (SPG stands for Stop Predatory Gambling—my addition)
News about another massive public corruption scandal spread across America yesterday. This time in New Jersey. It comes on the heels of other recent corruption scandals, extreme examples of mismanagement and inept leadership from around the country including Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Michigan and Nevada. (Wow! Look! There’s Illinois at the head of the class!!!—my addition)
It’s no coincidence that all of these states have developed active partnerships with the predatory gambling trade. State-sponsored predatory gambling corrupts America’s core democratic principles in at least a couple of very profound ways.
The first is the notion of self-government. The state-sponsored predatory gambling business model cannot exist without addicted or heavily-indebted citizens. They attempt to elude charges of exploitation by pleading it is a ‘voluntary’ act, hiding under the cloak of ‘freedom.’ But any addiction is a potential threat to good government because by definition, someone who is an addict is not self-governing. Someone who is in deep financial debt is not free.”
The result? A something for nothing mentality, increased crime, increased corruption, increased debt, increased bankruptcies, increased family misery, and suicides. Hey! But it’s their choice! A choice helped and encouraged by State governments in the name of raising MORE State revenue.
If gambling is a gangster activity, then most of our States have now become GANGSTER GOVERNMENTS. It seems that it is not only the individual citizen who is irresponsible. It is also State governments who are IRRESPONSIBLE as they ENCOURAGE and TEMPT their own citizens into poor economic and social choices. Seen any State sponsored commercials lately promoting a State lottery game or two? Ah, but the commercials do ask that we each “play” (I think the correct term is bet) responsibly! As if an addict is going to bet responsibly!
“The core democratic principle that binds us the strongest is equal citizenship. In America, we do not have kings or queens because here; all blood is considered royal. State-sponsored predatory gambling, the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit, blatantly violates the principle of equal citizenship. We are creating addicted and heavily indebted citizens in order to provide a small number of schemers an obscene level of unearned power and wealth, all in the name of getting someone else to pay our taxes. We also are saying clearly that some people in America are expendable. Doesn’t our Constitution prohibit anyone from denying another American equal protection under the law?
A healthy democracy cannot exist anywhere without the principles of self-government and equal citizenship firmly in place. To improve American government, we must stop state-sponsored predatory gambling first.”
2) “The Tarheel Scheme
By SPG July 21, 2009 at 12:30 PM EDT
Bernie Madoff must be sitting in his North Carolina jail cell saying to himself that he went into the wrong business.
Yesterday, the Legislature in his new home state voted in support of allowing state lottery tickets to be sold at check cashing locations.”
“It shows how predatory gambling, the ultimate ‘something for nothing’ scheme, has become one of the key drivers in our debt culture and has split Americans into two classes of people: The Investor Class and The Lottery Class.
The Investor Class has mutual funds and other investment vehicles to save for retirement and their kids’ college education. You can be certain that virtually no member of the Investor Class uses a check cashing store. They own the store.
The Lottery Class represents the more than one out of five Americans who, according to the Consumer Federation of America, believe the best way to achieve long-term financial security is to play the Lottery. We have turned people who are small earners with the potential to be small savers into a new class of habitual bettors. (Most of whom will be habitual losers! Can’t increase State revenue without more losers than winners! It’s just not possible!!!—my addition)
We have a shrinking middle class in America in large part because of predatory institutions and one of the very worst is the State Lottery. It is not possible to have a large Lottery Class and a strong, expanding middle class at the same time. We must act to stop it.”
Do you mean our own State governments’ support and promotion of gambling is, in part, helping to destroy our middle class? Hard to believe! Ah, but the governments are getting more money to spend on more programs which theoretically are to help people reach the middle class, aren’t they? It’s like the governments are chasing their own tails!
3) “Deception lies at the core of the predatory gambling trade
By SPG July 20, 2009 at 09:12 AM EDT
Ohio election officials have found that predatory gambling advocates used the signatures of deceased voters in their signature collection effort to put a referendum legalizing casinos on the November ballot.” “The Dayton Daily News reports:
The Montgomery County board ruled 48,326 of 82,624 signatures—58 percent—invalid and sent petitions with potentially fraudulent signatures to the county prosecutor’s office for investigation. In Darke County, Becky Martin, deputy elections board director, saw the signature of her late father-in-law, James Martin, who died more than 25 years ago, on a petition.” “‘It was his address and everything. They’ll just stoop low to do anything.’ she said.
As officials review the fraudulent signatures, they should also investigate the significant allegations that electronic gambling machines are deceptive and fraudulent. According to MIT Professor Dr. Natasha Schull, when you look at what these algorithms inside slot machines are doing, it’s a high tech version of ‘weighting the deck’ or ‘loading the dice.’ For you non-gamblers out there, that means the machines are cheating.”
4) “The predatory gambling mission of New York: Outperform pornography
By SPG September 04, 2009 at 08:43 AM EDT
New York Governor David Paterson ordered the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. to prepare for a reorganization under Chapter 9 of federal bankruptcy law, after four years of losses totaling $38 million. (A gambling plot operated by government and losing money? Is that possible?—my addition)
The filing, the first involving a New York State-run gambling operation, won’t halt operations. It will include the planned sale of $250 million of bonds to repay some accumulated debts and allow spending on new technology, said Meyer Frucher, whom Paterson appointed to develop a rescue plan.
Here’s an unforgettable quote from Frucher about the promise of state-sponsored gambling as reported by Bloomberg News:
With updated technology, ‘We could go head to head with pornography and win,’ Frucher said, referring to possibilities such as an around-the-clock horse-racing channel or virtual racing. (Comparing one addiction with another and gambling would win!—my addition)
The mission of our democracy, established clearly in our Constitution, is ‘to promote the general welfare.’ State-sponsored predatory gambling violates this mission. Can you imagine any of America’s formative leaders over the last 225 years declaring that ‘we could go head to head with pornography and win’?
State-sponsored predatory gambling symbolizes everything we need to change about the current state of our democracy and our economic future. It’s up to us to fix it.”
5) “One of the undeniable truths about predatory gambling
By SPG September 16, 2009 at 10:32 AM EDT
Our growing movement to stop predatory gambling is the most diverse social movement in America. The reason for our opposition is not based on partisanship: we are non-partisan and our movement is made up of people whose views span the political spectrum as well as nearly every faith community. It consists of concerned citizens from every region in America and from nearly every walk of life.
Here the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice, a national group whose mission is to make the tax system fairer for middle-and low-income American families, takes dead aim at the something for nothing scheme which is state-sponsored predatory gambling. The article, titled ‘The Exaggerated Promise of Legalized Gambling’, is a must-read.
The article concludes with one of the undeniable truths about predatory gambling:
‘Ultimately, the fact is that gambling is far from a fiscal panacea for the states, and given the tendency for implementation delays, is exceedingly unlikely to result in much revenue to fix the current round of state budget shortfalls.’”
Did your Representative vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why? Did your Senator vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why?
I’m changing direction this week. Although I plan more posts on healthcare nationalized, this week I’m going to cover the State of Illinois and its new push to increase revenue by allowing gambling/video gaming throughout the State.
I had intended to end my series on video gaming on Saturday the 19th. However, I have more to say and it seems apparent that healthcare nationalized will not occur this week and may not occur this year—nor should it.
My new plans are as follows: I’m going to end the series on video gaming on the 30th of September. I’ve found more information about gambling at http://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/ and http://www.freedomplayers.org/. Tonight I’m posting five of the many posts from http://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/ and then plan on concluding (for now) on Wednesday morning. I plan to do my regular feature on “global warming” for, at least, the normal two days. I also have a new monthly feature I’m going to start and then, hopefully, back to healthcare nationalized for a few more posts. As you know though, I have been known to change things as I proceed.
From http://www.stoppredatorygambling.org/
1) “What we own is broken and it's up to us to fix it
By SPG July 24, 2009 at 11:06 AM EDT (SPG stands for Stop Predatory Gambling—my addition)
News about another massive public corruption scandal spread across America yesterday. This time in New Jersey. It comes on the heels of other recent corruption scandals, extreme examples of mismanagement and inept leadership from around the country including Illinois, California, Pennsylvania, New York, South Carolina, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Michigan and Nevada. (Wow! Look! There’s Illinois at the head of the class!!!—my addition)
It’s no coincidence that all of these states have developed active partnerships with the predatory gambling trade. State-sponsored predatory gambling corrupts America’s core democratic principles in at least a couple of very profound ways.
The first is the notion of self-government. The state-sponsored predatory gambling business model cannot exist without addicted or heavily-indebted citizens. They attempt to elude charges of exploitation by pleading it is a ‘voluntary’ act, hiding under the cloak of ‘freedom.’ But any addiction is a potential threat to good government because by definition, someone who is an addict is not self-governing. Someone who is in deep financial debt is not free.”
The result? A something for nothing mentality, increased crime, increased corruption, increased debt, increased bankruptcies, increased family misery, and suicides. Hey! But it’s their choice! A choice helped and encouraged by State governments in the name of raising MORE State revenue.
If gambling is a gangster activity, then most of our States have now become GANGSTER GOVERNMENTS. It seems that it is not only the individual citizen who is irresponsible. It is also State governments who are IRRESPONSIBLE as they ENCOURAGE and TEMPT their own citizens into poor economic and social choices. Seen any State sponsored commercials lately promoting a State lottery game or two? Ah, but the commercials do ask that we each “play” (I think the correct term is bet) responsibly! As if an addict is going to bet responsibly!
“The core democratic principle that binds us the strongest is equal citizenship. In America, we do not have kings or queens because here; all blood is considered royal. State-sponsored predatory gambling, the practice of using gambling to prey on human weakness for profit, blatantly violates the principle of equal citizenship. We are creating addicted and heavily indebted citizens in order to provide a small number of schemers an obscene level of unearned power and wealth, all in the name of getting someone else to pay our taxes. We also are saying clearly that some people in America are expendable. Doesn’t our Constitution prohibit anyone from denying another American equal protection under the law?
A healthy democracy cannot exist anywhere without the principles of self-government and equal citizenship firmly in place. To improve American government, we must stop state-sponsored predatory gambling first.”
2) “The Tarheel Scheme
By SPG July 21, 2009 at 12:30 PM EDT
Bernie Madoff must be sitting in his North Carolina jail cell saying to himself that he went into the wrong business.
Yesterday, the Legislature in his new home state voted in support of allowing state lottery tickets to be sold at check cashing locations.”
“It shows how predatory gambling, the ultimate ‘something for nothing’ scheme, has become one of the key drivers in our debt culture and has split Americans into two classes of people: The Investor Class and The Lottery Class.
The Investor Class has mutual funds and other investment vehicles to save for retirement and their kids’ college education. You can be certain that virtually no member of the Investor Class uses a check cashing store. They own the store.
The Lottery Class represents the more than one out of five Americans who, according to the Consumer Federation of America, believe the best way to achieve long-term financial security is to play the Lottery. We have turned people who are small earners with the potential to be small savers into a new class of habitual bettors. (Most of whom will be habitual losers! Can’t increase State revenue without more losers than winners! It’s just not possible!!!—my addition)
We have a shrinking middle class in America in large part because of predatory institutions and one of the very worst is the State Lottery. It is not possible to have a large Lottery Class and a strong, expanding middle class at the same time. We must act to stop it.”
Do you mean our own State governments’ support and promotion of gambling is, in part, helping to destroy our middle class? Hard to believe! Ah, but the governments are getting more money to spend on more programs which theoretically are to help people reach the middle class, aren’t they? It’s like the governments are chasing their own tails!
3) “Deception lies at the core of the predatory gambling trade
By SPG July 20, 2009 at 09:12 AM EDT
Ohio election officials have found that predatory gambling advocates used the signatures of deceased voters in their signature collection effort to put a referendum legalizing casinos on the November ballot.” “The Dayton Daily News reports:
The Montgomery County board ruled 48,326 of 82,624 signatures—58 percent—invalid and sent petitions with potentially fraudulent signatures to the county prosecutor’s office for investigation. In Darke County, Becky Martin, deputy elections board director, saw the signature of her late father-in-law, James Martin, who died more than 25 years ago, on a petition.” “‘It was his address and everything. They’ll just stoop low to do anything.’ she said.
As officials review the fraudulent signatures, they should also investigate the significant allegations that electronic gambling machines are deceptive and fraudulent. According to MIT Professor Dr. Natasha Schull, when you look at what these algorithms inside slot machines are doing, it’s a high tech version of ‘weighting the deck’ or ‘loading the dice.’ For you non-gamblers out there, that means the machines are cheating.”
4) “The predatory gambling mission of New York: Outperform pornography
By SPG September 04, 2009 at 08:43 AM EDT
New York Governor David Paterson ordered the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. to prepare for a reorganization under Chapter 9 of federal bankruptcy law, after four years of losses totaling $38 million. (A gambling plot operated by government and losing money? Is that possible?—my addition)
The filing, the first involving a New York State-run gambling operation, won’t halt operations. It will include the planned sale of $250 million of bonds to repay some accumulated debts and allow spending on new technology, said Meyer Frucher, whom Paterson appointed to develop a rescue plan.
Here’s an unforgettable quote from Frucher about the promise of state-sponsored gambling as reported by Bloomberg News:
With updated technology, ‘We could go head to head with pornography and win,’ Frucher said, referring to possibilities such as an around-the-clock horse-racing channel or virtual racing. (Comparing one addiction with another and gambling would win!—my addition)
The mission of our democracy, established clearly in our Constitution, is ‘to promote the general welfare.’ State-sponsored predatory gambling violates this mission. Can you imagine any of America’s formative leaders over the last 225 years declaring that ‘we could go head to head with pornography and win’?
State-sponsored predatory gambling symbolizes everything we need to change about the current state of our democracy and our economic future. It’s up to us to fix it.”
5) “One of the undeniable truths about predatory gambling
By SPG September 16, 2009 at 10:32 AM EDT
Our growing movement to stop predatory gambling is the most diverse social movement in America. The reason for our opposition is not based on partisanship: we are non-partisan and our movement is made up of people whose views span the political spectrum as well as nearly every faith community. It consists of concerned citizens from every region in America and from nearly every walk of life.
Here the left-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice, a national group whose mission is to make the tax system fairer for middle-and low-income American families, takes dead aim at the something for nothing scheme which is state-sponsored predatory gambling. The article, titled ‘The Exaggerated Promise of Legalized Gambling’, is a must-read.
The article concludes with one of the undeniable truths about predatory gambling:
‘Ultimately, the fact is that gambling is far from a fiscal panacea for the states, and given the tendency for implementation delays, is exceedingly unlikely to result in much revenue to fix the current round of state budget shortfalls.’”
Did your Representative vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why? Did your Senator vote to increase gambling in Illinois? Why?
posted by Christian Gunslinger at 9:29 PM
6 Comments:
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!
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