Why Does Ed Really Want To Bring Casinos to Pennsylvania? Will It Help the State or Cause More Problems?

The great Ed Rendell believes that we are all blind to his true intentions and ambitions to bring revenue to the state by allowing companies to build casinos in the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. I think we should look closely so we can see through the smoke screen and see what’s really happening.

Rendell is building himself a network of people that will owe him favors down the road in his political career. The favors will be political and financial.

Political favors are worth their weight in gold. The folks that back Rendell in Harrisburg in the House and the Senate will get key cabinet positions (if he wins the election) when Rendell decides to run for president down the road. Yes you heard me right, president! The gossip going around the Democratic Party is that he is networking to get the nomination within the next eight years.

If the casinos fail and don’t generate the money that they were supposed to then he will have people to blame it on in the normal and consistent fashion that Liberals do. He will say that it was these peoples fault because he just came up with the idea and they were to improve upon it.

If the casinos do well, then of course he will take the credit for that, and will introduce a new “Las Vegas” in the Commonwealth. The current Pa casinos are only allowed to have slots, no table games yet like Blackjack or Craps. He will argue the fact that we need to become more like Las Vegas because this will be the savior of Pa. He will spout off about jobs and tourism (which is true), but what about the negatives that will come with this venture?

The downsides of casinos are they bring the darker side of the gambling world. The darker side being more organized crime, prostitution, deterioration of families, and more self generated poverty. These all cause a serious decay to the family and serious attention should be paid to them. Rendell and his cronies are not looking at the consequences of bringing the casinos to the state.

The first time that I headed to Las Vegas, I was so excited about being able to maybe make a few dollars from a few dollars. I was greeted by a sight that I will never forget when I got there. I saw a family that was huddled in the corner of the Bus Station that I arrived at crying and upset. I overheard the wife telling the husband that she was debating divorcing him because he had spent all of their money at the Craps Table and they had no money to pay bills that they had coming up. I understood as the conversation went on that this was their family vacation. It was sad to see a family that was torn up because of the loss of money.

The rest of the time that I was there, I was a student rather than a gambler. I watched the people to see if there were more of the same types of things happening that I saw in the bus station. I noticed that people gambling are loaded up on the feel good items like Cigarettes, Hard Liquor, and Beer. Some drank themselves to where they had to be removed by security, and some were gambling like crazy with no reality of what they were losing. I will say that others were there in the same condition, but were doing just fine. It was scary to think that I could have been one of those people drinking my day away and blowing every last dime that I had to make a few bucks (I most likely would lose.)

What I described are some of the horrors that I saw while I was there. I don’t want this for Pennsylvania. I understand there is a potential for the state to make a lot of money, but why not invite industry here that will help people with the potentiality to create more jobs, than have a business here that will have a limited number of jobs and will hurt people. This is another attempt by Eddy to throw money at a problem rather than fixing it.

Allowing free alcohol was a nice touch for the casinos. They will let people drink to the point where they are really loose and about drunk so they will spend their money more freely than they would if they were sober. There is the argument that they have the choice of whether to drink or not, but the reality is that the drinks are free. People don’t understand that the free drinks are designed to make people freer with their money; they think the alcohol is free because they are a guest gambling there. Thinking this they will generally drink to where they are tipsy because hey it’s free.

Another nice touch that will help the casino is they will be able to use the free booze as a tax write-off so they will benefit, and the state will benefit because they will have to buy all of their hard liquor from them. Rendell is looking at this as a win-win situation. He will say that this combined with the revenues from the tax that we will impose on them this will help the state.

The fine casino owners are trying to build a casino in Gettysburg National Park. Again they come under the flag that it will help the state with tourism thus creating revenues. I am a firm believer that we should preserve our heritage for future generations; this is not following those principles. I think that building a casino here is disrespectful to our ancestors that fought there and to our future generations that need to go there and see that.

Another issue that the gambling poses is the issue with expanded government programs that will combat gambling addiction. Why should the burden of rehabilitating people fall on the shoulders of the taxpayers? This should fall under peoples health insurance benefits. These people created their addiction, so why should we pay? The answer is that we shouldn’t have to pay, they should.

Eddy and his cronies look at theses casinos and say they will generate additional money for Pennsylvania, lets say for the sake of example that we do generate money from these casinos, but what will it cost us for the programs they say are needed for gamblers. They must foresee problems coming with people if they already need to set up hotlines and clinics for these addicted gamblers. How many millions of dollars will that cost us in the long run, along with whatever else they need for support of such programs.

In conclusion to the thoughts presented here: We do have a problem in the state with creating more revenue, but I think that goes along with a greater need for Fiscal Responsibility. I think that we should reform our tax system so that business will want to come here and bring industry. I don’t think that casinos will save the state or bring things that we really want. It is sad that Eddy would so this to our state just so he can get backers for when he runs for president. The people of Pennsylvania should remember this when and if he does decides to run. Casinos are a bad idea for the state.


"No Civilization has ever taxed itself into prosperity."

~Rush Limbaugh

The United States Humanitarian Efforts Dictates World Stability!

The United States gives away the most money and food than any other country in the world, but the nations that we give these things to still hate us. Why do they hate us so much?

If you listen to the different groups in the country, I guarantee that you will have a different answer from each faction.

If you listen to the Liberal Democrats or Democrats in general you will get two reasons:

The first reason is because George W Bush is president and the world hates him. I can’t really swallow that answer because these groups have hated us before he was even president. This theory may make a great lie for a campaign, but doesn’t fit into reality. They are so stuck on trying to destroy this man; they will say anything to accomplish this goal.

Another theory they have is the fact that we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world. The liberals feel as though we should give up all that we have so they will look at us as equals. Does this make sense to you? This is totally irrational in the fact that who would want to reverse the direction their country is going. This would be like telling our scientists to invent a square wheel so we will be behind other developing countries so they will feel they are getting ahead of us.

The Republicans will give you some theories as well:

The Republican theory is closer to being correct because they understand these people are in some of the poorest conditions that humans should have to endure, so they are persuaded by their leaders in government that we have caused their hunger and we are an evil nation that has it all and will not give it up. The reality is that these “leaders” generally are selling the food that is dropped in so they can buy weapons to kill their people or their neighbors.

I will add to this theory because of their physical condition. Hunger causes people to be very suggestive. These people look to their leaders hoping they will have news that they are getting food soon, but they usually here the propaganda about why they are in this condition and there is a lot of blaming of the wealthier nations not sharing what they have.

As a whole whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, they don’t want to see people starving and fighting over food. Our country drops thousands of tons of food every year. We drop this food and a lot of these people still hate us. I won’t waste time going into the fact that the Muslim countries hate us for the simple fact that we are infidels; this sows this whole argument up.

When natural disaster happen who is the first country on the scene with help? The United States government brings in food by airlift and fresh water so these people will be able to survive the ordeal. We send money so these countries can afford to bring in contractors to help rebuild their infrastructure. When we have our natural disasters, who has come to help us? They don’t come because they think “that’s their problem” or they don’t have the money to do that. I could agree that we do the money to take care of our problems, but an offer would be nice.

Here is the question of the century: What if we suspend our entire Humanitarian Aide Program? Let’s take this a step further with the question at hand: What would happen to world stability if we suspend our entire Humanitarian Aid Programs?

If these programs were suspended the impacts would be quite disastrous. There are countries in the world that rely heavily if not entirely on our food drops or shipments. We don’t look and see what religion the country follows, but if they have people in need. If the people are in need we will drop the food or deliver it if possible. Many people would die as a result of no drops or deliveries.

If we stopped distributing food, there would still be religious groups that would still do this, but don’t have the capacity that we have for massive drops. We also have an abundance of food that we can distribute. After the food distributed was used up, the instability would start.

The people in these countries would go insane from the hunger. This is a scientific fact, that people that are starving resort back to their primal roots of survival, and that means they will be willing to do anything to get food and fresh water. They would start to attack each other and the government that has lied to them about the food situations. After they have exhausted what little food they have found, they will start attacking their neighbors taking their food, or eating them.

The point is that these countries would become more unstable than they already are and their countries would return to barbarism. The situation could give other countries with military advantages to take them over, but would find the same situation that the other leaders had. They have roaming groups of starving people, hoards of barbarians.

This is a buffer used with smaller and poorer countries that decide to start threatening their neighbors with force or decide they should start using the money they have for nuclear weapons. We threaten and have used economic sanctions against them and threaten to cut off food aid so they will listen. I think compromise would be a better option than facing hungry mobs of your own people.

We give economic aid to countries that experience natural disasters. What would happen if we didn’t show up and the UN didn’t have our money to spend? Their infrastructure would never be rebuilt as many of these nations built their countries with the American dollar. They would still have the roaming hoards of people and they would have disease and displaced people. Refugees would pour from one country to the next looking for new homes.

The immigration would then start into wealthier nations of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. It would be interesting to see some of these countries that are hard on our immigration problems to have the same of their own. I think that there attitudes would change drastically!

The world that we know would change drastically and quickly. I think the hate would calm down because they realized who was taking care of them and they may slightly appreciate us rather than hating us. I am a realist and understand that many of them would still hate us, but you can keep them at bay a littler easier.

The United States as I stated before spends billions of dollars on aid to different foreign countries. This money is a burden to us and our future generations financially. This money comes from the tax treasury in the forms of cash or IOU forms. It’s quite feasible to say that at some point in time we may have to cut back our aid because of the large expenditures.

We have domestic hunger problems that seriously need addressed. We are the most powerful, industrialized, and wealthy country in the world but have severe problems with poverty. I do feel for the other countries less fortunate than we are, but we need to look at caring for our own people first.

Our aid is what helps keep the world stable and keeping wars from breaking out in underdeveloped and third world nations. I’m sure that I will hear that this doesn’t affect developed nations and that is true, but there are more poor countries than rich. Those discussions will come in another blog.

I believe that we should help those in need as this is what God would want us to do, but I think that other countries should work with us and help out by donating food or helping us out financially with the burden. I think the UN should work within these means instead of pledging out our money and food like a blank check.

What would be wrong with helping these countries build infrastructure so their people can build business and get their economies jumpstarted. This would depend on if the leaders of these countries would be willing to do that. A lot, but not all of them want to keep their countries in the Dark Ages.

The American spirit is one of giving when any people are in times of need, but we need to look at helping our people as well as others. When we show mercy we will be granted mercy according to the Bible. I think that we should help those that are in need, but not foot the entire bill for the effort.

My Response to the Letter Sent by Mahmoud Ahmadinijad to the American People!

Dear Mac,

Thank you for sending the letter to the humble people of the United States. I would like to comment about your ideas and philosophy that you were so great to share with us.

I would like to say firsthand that our countries share a few similarities that you did not mention.

The first similarity is that the Iranian people as we once were are held captive by a relentless and unforgiving dictator. The only way that your people will have peace is by removing their oppression as we once had to do. I pray they find a way to have that stability without having to use force. Your people want Liberty and all that comes with it.

Your letter preaches peaceful existence between our nations, and I think that I could agree with you that we both desire peace, but at what costs? I remind you that your religion preaches that those that are not Muslims (infidels) have to die before you have reached your religion’s goal. You preach in the letter that we are all God fearing people, but our Gods are two different entities. The peace that you and your government seeks is an arrangement where we are eradicated or slaves.

Your God preaches that all infidels shall die and you will inherit your promised land. Our God preaches peace and love for our enemies, but we are given the right to defend ourselves.

I agree that our people are peace loving and truth seeking. Our people want to live normal lives and want to live to see their families grow and have fruitful lives. We seek the true meanings of peace and truth. Peace being where nations work towards common goals in humanitarian efforts and mutual growth in prosperity and infrastructure. We all desire these things, but one truth is that the world will never be short of aggressors.

You preach about groups in your country reaching out and being humanitarians to other countries including the United States, but I have seen the opposite. If reaching out is killing innocent men, woman, and children then I will decline your hand. There have been severe human rights violations in Iran and they continue. You say that you favor human rights, but lack them in your country. You have committed Hitlarian crimes of ethnic cleansing against your people and others abroad. You also support countries like North Korea and Palestine who commit many terrible human rights violations.

Mac, if you love peace and Democracy so much, why is your country ran like former Nazi Germany? The people fear you and fear to speak up because they know that you will have their tongue removed. Your elections have one guy on the ballot, and that is you. You will be there until the people you answer to have you sent early to see Allah.

If you love peace and Democracy, give up your dictatorship and have real elections. Invite your fellow countrymen to run without fear of being killed or tortured. Show the world that you are not a monster. Turn your country over to a real representative government so the people’s voices can be heard. A great leader listens to his people and does all they can to further and better their country.

I want to make clear that we will continue to support Israel as they have been one of our strongest allies and they fight a war on terrorism as we do. The Palestinian people are a good people, but Hamas and their government have attacked Israel relentlessly with their bombs and suicide bombers. We have been attacked as well and understand what a nation must do to defend itself. Israel is surrounded by enemies and defends itself daily.

Israel has had many aggressors to her security besides the Palestinians. Terrorists as mentioned before have attacked their country. These terrorists were trained and harbored in many countries, especially Iran. Iran has a long history of being a terrorist training ground.

Your country continues its nuclear program despite the world and the UN asking you to stop. You defy the world and still continue with the programs. Your country has also sold weapons to the North Koreans that definitely do not observe peace or human rights. I think that you should worry whom your country supports and clear your own slate before attacking the United States and her allies. Take the money that you are putting into weapons and build infrastructure in your country, better your land for your people.

You speak of the prisoners that we hold illegally in our prisons. These people you say are help without rights and you say that they should be released. These men and woman have been arrested for the simple fact that they are terrorists, and have personally killed or had other people killed. I think that they are rightfully being held and will be held until they can be tried for the crimes that they have committed. They claim no allegiance to any country and are being granted the rights that are permitted to them. As a humanitarian you should understand they need punished for their crimes.

They are held so that they may have a trial and be sentenced accordingly under the laws of the country that they were committed in. In your country there are no trials. The accused are turned over to a terrorist group that will cut their head off on CNN and Alljahzier, or they go before a court of people that already say they are guilty and give them an unfair trial. I assure you that your people will not be treated as our people would be treated in your world.

You talk about the Bush Administration resorting to force rather than peace. I don’t understand how you can have peace talks with enemies that are not interested in peace. We ignore the UN because all of their resolutions in Iraq and other countries have failed. We set the people of Iraq free from a ruthless dictator that your people fought in the past.

You posed questions that I will give you answers to:

Is there a better approach to governance? You pose a question that you were not specific in which country. I know that you insult our governing style, but if you ask us to adopt yours, I consider your so called insult a compliment. I know that our model may have flaws, but we have the ability with our constitution to change the flawed. We freely elect leaders that we think will do their best and make America a better place to live. Mac, why not try our model and make your country a better place! If you’re talking about Iraq, they will adopt whatever works best for them. God will decide the direction of their people. They want democracy and representative government, I know that other countries and Iran want to help steer the course of the fragile new government. I say leave them alone and allow them to make that decision.

Is it not possible to put wealth and power in the service of peace, stability, prosperity and the happiness of all peoples through a commitment to justice and the respect for the rights of all nations, instead of aggression and war? Mac, if you’re referring to the United States, then you’re not following world news. The United States gives a lot of her wealth away to other nations in need. We have used our resources to feed different countries in need. We drop a lot of food into different countries in Africa and in the Middle East. We rebuilt Europe and Japan after WWII and a lot more. We have given low interest loans to our neighbors so they can create and improve infrastructure and communications. Every natural disaster that occurs, we give relief aid so they can get back on their feet. Mac, America does all of these things because of the American spirit of helping others.

When will Iran share her wealth? The programs that you support are the terrorist organizations that you harbor, and building your military and nuclear weapons. When the last time was that Iran made a food drop into any country in need? When was the last time that Iran did anything for people in need? You abuse and mismanage your people now.

Our country will respect the rights of any nation that has been recognized as a country. If a country is annihilating its people because of their beliefs then intervention is warranted after diplomatic attempts have been exhausted. Iraq would be the best example of this. All diplomacy failed and President Bush was forced to use military action against Saddam Hussein and his government, not the Iraqi people. We came as a liberation force and looked to help them form a government that would serve the people and be a proactive part of the Arab Nations.

We all condemn terrorism because its victims are the innocent. I find it appalling that a leader who supports terrorists and other nations such as Palestine that does the same would make such a comment. You order the killing of innocent people with terrorist acts, and too many have been killed. You and other leaders rank up there with Hitler and Stalin.

I will address the rest of your questions in this paragraph. You ask that the United States abandon our ally Israel and that we leave Iraq because now they have a constitution and a government. Why do you ask us to leave so quickly and remove our military so quickly? You and your government want to have more control of Iraq because a pro-western government is not what you want there. You know that Iraq is rich in oil and you want your companies to exploit those resources. If the Iraqi government was pro Iran, you would have reserve troops against your enemy Israel. We are not blind to these issues and will continue to support these countries in their time of need. I warn you that war against Israel will not end in your favor, as they will be a formidable enemy.

The Midterm Elections that you speak about were not only because of the Iraqi war, but other issues as well. There is no real time for discussion of this subject as it pertains to a different conversation.

To sum up what I have said:

The American people are proud of their relatives in uniform on the Iraqi front. There fighting there was to liberate a nation that required our assistance. We will not ask them to leave a job before it has been finished. We pledged our assistance to the people of Iraq and will continue to do so until they are able to go the course alone.

We will not support countries that harbor terrorists such as Palestine. We will deal with any such country that harbors those that attack us and our allies. We take a course of peace, but will use military force when necessary. Negotiations cannot happen with terrorists that have no country and concessions will not be considered.

Mac, I pray that you will see that we will help those in need no matter how angry other nations become. You say that there are those that hate and renounce America, ask them to no longer take our aid. How will they feed their people? Will their economies collapse? We help them because they need help, as this in the kind of people that we have in our nation. Our god preaches that we help those who need help. Our God tells us that if we show mercy then we shall receive mercy when we reach Heaven. I shall pray for you and your country.

God Bless,

Jeremy Stouffer