Posted on 11/13/2006 4:28:50 AM PST by Sybeck1
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - The author of the bill that created the Tennessee Lottery says he may consider working on a bill to create a national lottery to pay of the national debt when he heads to Congress.
Democratic state Senator Steve Cohen will succeed Congressman Harold Ford Junior in Tennessee's 9th District.
He also has plans to support a raise in the minimum wage and a Medicaid waiver to allow more home health care for senior citizens and those with disabilities.
Cohen says he wants to become the first white member of the Congressional Black Caucus and a member of the House Progressive Caucus, but he has no plans of joining the fiscally conservative Blue Dog Democrat Caucus with colleagues John Tanner, Jim Cooper and Lincoln Davis.
Cohen says he'd also like to see the rarely used Pyramid arena in Memphis become a mid-America annex of the Smithsonian Institute.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
Right on, and what about countries like Mexico (and others), that have had lotteries for many decades. Why aren't they prospering? Gee, this is so difficult...
Well, at least he won't be able to promise what he'll do with "the money left over."
Cohen brought TN the most awkwardly worded constitutional amendment. I might have voted for the amendment if it hadn't been worded like it was. Basically our state constitution sounds like double talk now.
I suppose there may be a subtle legal reason why he insisted on keeping the prohibition against lotteries in the state constitution and changing the period to a comma followed by a lot of gobbledygook. I for one thought Cohen himself should have been the first recipient of the scholarship -- he should go back to school and learn how to write.
Cohen made a ton of promises on what he'd do with "the money left over," well before we'll know if there's going to be any money left over. The amendment calls for funding college scholarships and then funding K-12 if there's money left over. Of course your lottery is going to show a profit if only freshmen are drawing scholarships, but what about when freshmen through seniors are drawing scholarships and the novelty of the buying lottery tickets wears off?
Here's the original text of the amendment, followed by a portion of Cohen's amendment to the amendment in brackets. It's Article XI, Section 5 of the TN state constitution if anyone cares to look it up.
Help save our fabric source!
Save our Fabric Dept Thread I make lap quilts for the VA Hospital spinal cord unit. in Memphis and Wal-Mart is the only source of fabric in Millington, TN...as a widow my income is very limited I can't afford to drive 20-30 minutes to the next 2 sources and pay $2.00 more per yard for fabric.
Quilting is my only hobby. I've made 10 lap quilts so far this year for the VA Hospital spinal cord unit.
For many rural women Wal-Mart is the ONLY source available for fabric.
Better yet call 800 Wal Mart and talk to a live person.
Why not a Telethon for America... we could call it Americathon!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americathon
Americathon (also known as Amercathon 1998) is a 1979 comedy starring John Ritter, Fred Willard, Peter Riegert and Harvey Korman, based on a play by Firesign Theatre alumni Phil Proctor and Peter Bergman.
The premise of the film was that, sometime in the then-near future (actually 1998), the USA has run out of oil, and many Americans are literally living in their (now stationary) cars and either jog or ride bicycles to travel. The federal government, housed in "The Western White House" (a sub-leased condo in Marina del Rey, California), is near bankruptcy and in danger of being foreclosed by a cartel of Native Americans in control of Nike Inc. (which has been renamed "National Indian Knitting Enterprises"). President Chet Roosevelt, played by Ritter, decides that the only way he can raise money to prevent this from happening is to run a telethon.
Great....its a good way to get our welfare money back...
Socialists love lotteries not because of their regressive nature, but rather because they reinforce the idea that success is due to chance rather than integrity, excellence and good ideas.
Huh? I think they must mean THIS Cohen...
My suspicion is that the real reason they like lotteries is because they need unequal distribution of wealth in order to demogogue their particular brand of politics. The last thing the Dems would want is to solve the problem of poverty. It would put them out of business.
If we do it for the homeless we will have to do it for the illegals too. You know, fair and balanced.
IA's need not apply !, however , there must be some kind of work in orbit that astronauts etc . won't do !
Cohen is a flaming lib and will be welcomed into the Black Congressional Caucus. He will attempt to earn the highest ratings from every Anti-American, baby-killing group out there. Voters of the 9th district did us all a disservice by not electing Jr.'s little brother, Jake.
What an idea. I never thought of it that way. Hell yes, give it to them with one hand and take it away with the other.
For efficiency we could probably have a checkoff box on their welfare statements where they could designate the number of tickets that they choose instead of money.
Christian news and commentary at: sacredscoop.com ...
I thought Bill Clinton held this distinction.
Republican economic policies have done so much for helping the poor in The United States that the Democrats need to import poor people from Mexico.
It's going to be interesting to see how welcome he's in the CBC.
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