Posted on 03/13/2011 6:32:06 AM PDT by BillKneer
Remember back when the conservative voters of this state won a massive victory on 11.2.10, and we felt Texas deserved a conservative Speaker who would appoint committee chairs and members who would further the conservative agenda? For over three months the conservatives in Texas waged a battle against the choice of Rep. Joe Straus as Speaker of the Texas House because we knew that Joe Straus was no conservative.
Unfortunately, on Jan. 11, 2011, Joe Straus was chosen once again to be the Speaker of the House, but not before he was forced to spend millions of dollars to hire 16 consultants and “buy” votes from his fellow House members, as reported by TexasGOPVote.com
(Excerpt) Read more at patriotstatesman.com ...
I don’t care if elderly women sit on a stool and drink and smoke and drop pennies in a slot machine until they fall off their stool. I would never say a word, but you can’t tell me that I can’t call it sleazy.
How horrible! Anyone that chooses to put their own money in a slot machine (while drinking and smoking! Horrors!) is “sleazy”. I just might think the same of something you choose to do too, but I’m sure as hell not going to be all outraged and demand the state legislate away your rights to do it! But then I’m a conservative who believes in freedom.
I feel the same...why drive to Shreveport when you can put a few up off 35-E or 45-S and just keep the dollars in state.I mean what is it? An hour outside of Dallas til you get to a casino?
Silly...just build some here. Maybe limit them to 25 for the entire state?
Yeah they get all of these major concerts that come through there as well...and it is in the middle of nowhere.
Plenty of land to put this in TX and keep it out of major cities. I say build em.
Great, that’s what freedom is all about. If the citizens of OK and LA want to permit gambling then that is their right.
“How will keeping more money in your state have Texas running more deficits pray tell?”
Gambling isn’t productive. All it does is take money that the citizens already have and could spend on more productive things. The state would not gain anymore revenue then it already earns by opening casinos.
They would run more deficits, because when the state runs and manages a business, this costs more money. This money is money that can’t be recouped from productivity because gambling isn’t a productive enterprise.
“Playing a game for money is absolutely NONE of your business.”
You are right. If the state is going to run casinos with my taxpayer dollars, then I do have a say. If people want to run a cash poker game, guess what, that already happens. I can walk down the street to play with a group that meets regularly.
“Your own sense of “morality” is your concern and it is CERTAINLY not appropriate for a state to be legislating a game.”
It is appropriate if it takes the gambling interests and organized crime out of the state, and dumps them in LA and OK. Why would I want those parasites in TX?
“How is anyone playing a game harming you in the slightest?”
How does it benefit the state of TX?
What do you propose be done about those who gamble excessively and end up on public assistance?
I am not demanding anything, not of elderly women, not of the state NOTHING! If it turns up on the ballot for a vote, I am voting NO! I am free to think trying to get something for nothing is sleazy as you are to do it.
Okay, I'll be opened minded about this. Tell me how those 92 texas vehicles (customers) (prob. every day) spending their money and taxes in Texas rather than Louisiana won't help our economy. Then add the employment.
Not saying you are wrong, and maybe I am not seeing something, but common sense would say that tax and revenues are leaving our state and are being added to theirs.
So many opinions and nothing to back it up.
As a Texan and a conservative I’ll spend my money any way I choose but I’m interested in how you think I should spend it.
Who said the state would be owning and managing casino’s?
If you want organized crime out of the state then shut down all these damn prison’s that are popping up all over the state. They do more damage than any casino ever will.
Your absolutely correct. The comment that gambling produces no revenue is foolish, I wonder how Vegas and the state of Nevada has survived as long as it has in such a money losing venture?
“Who said the state would be owning and managing casinos?”
The bill?
“As a Texan and a conservative I’ll spend my money any way I choose but I’m interested in how you think I should spend it.”
I personally don’t believe I have any right to regulate how you choose to spend your money. At present it’s not particularly difficult to gamble privately.
I do have a problem with Casinos. The state has a right to regulate the operation of businesses within their jurisdiction. At present that means no casinos. I support that stand, and I’ll vote against any public option to permit the building of casinos within Texas.
You have no right to take my money and use it for publicly funded Casino construction, just because it would benefit your recreational habits.
Okay, that is a moral opinion, but please still answer my question in post no. 28.....
My town had a similar debate. They were in a severely economically depressed area, and it was suggested that casino revenues would increase city revenue.
They built 3 casinos with public assistance, in a town of 80k. The result?
Businesses located downtown saw their business decrease. This forced them to go out of business and shutter their doors. Which resulted in a drop in taxation.
The Casino closed their downtown location, and managed to finagle a substantial property along the highway from the state. Exemptations to city taxes and state taxes. They built a much larger casino and hotel. The result was that the downtown core suffered from people actually going from the town center out to the casino.
Then the city, once again, funded and rebuilt a new casino downtown. Which the large casino operator sued and attempted to shut down. It still hasn’t opened as the city is fighting the casino operator.
The result? Three publicly built casinos, tax revenue for the city has gone down drastically, and tourism has actually declined. I used to work for a local developer, and we had a strategy put together to entrench on the assumption that revenue would drop. He had been considering expansion, but I told him that he would do well to hang onto what he had and try to ride it through.
The only person who’s actually benefitted from the casino is the owner, and his board. That’s it. Businesses have seen their revenue decline substantially, which has resulted in a lack of work for young people like me, meaning that even more people flee the economically depressed area which is in a death spiral.
Thanks...good compelling argument.
Would your opinion be different if there was no public money involved?
Have you seen Las Vegas lately? Worst area in the nation economically.
No, I don’t think Texas needs casinos. From what I can see private gambling seems to meet most Texans desires to gamble, without state regulation. Call it a triumph of small business.
I’m not a gambler myself although I have on opportunity participated in these hold’em games with a friend. He’d spot me in exchange for rides. We’ve won a fair amount, and I don’t consider it gambling because it’s not my money at stake.
What do YOU propose to do about anyone that is on public assistance for bad decisions? Let’s legislate away the “right” to drink beer or the “right” to do anything you don’t approve of! No one I know gambles excessively, yet they should be punished because someone else makes bad decisions? Maybe your answer lies in throwing money at “entitlements” rather than denying freedom to those who are responsible. Support of legislation to deny people the freedom to play a game because someone might abuse it is positively liberal at its core. Personal responsibility SHOULD be the conservative answer.
Then we can have casinos when welfare and social assistance are eliminated. At present I am forced to fund welfare and social assistance.
Again, like I said, all privately funded.
I also would make sure these are located in a manner which would minimize impact to existing local businesses. Sending our tax dollars across the state line, still just doesn't make sense.
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