Posted on 05/02/2003 1:27:57 PM PDT by Callahan
May 2 — In his best-selling anthology, “The Book of Virtues,” William J. Bennett writes: “We should know that too much of anything, even a good thing, may prove to be our undoing…[We] need to set definite boundaries on our appetites.”
DOES BENNETT? The popular author, lecturer and Republican Party activist speaks out, often indignantly, about almost every moral issue except one-gambling. It’s not hard to see why. According to casino documents, Bennett is a “preferred customer” in at least four venues in Atlantic City and Las Vegas, betting millions of dollars over the last decade. His games of choice: video poker and slot machines, some at $500 a pull. With a revolving line of credit of at least $200,000 at each casino, Bennett, former drug czar and Secretary of Education under Presidents Reagan and Bush, doesn’t have to bring money when he shows up at a casino.
(link for full article)
Political aspirations - which have just been shot to hell - Lol...
I heard on the Larry Elder show this afternoon that Bennett has lost $8,000,000 over the last ten years. If that doesn't hurt...I wonder where he got his money - just an aside.
I go to Vegas a couple of times a year, I have a close friend who lives there, I lose almost every time. My view is: Maybe if they built the Hotel\Casinos out of solid gold, just maybe the visitors would understand...the gamblers lose.
Point being; almost every player loses. Almost certainly almost every regular gambler loses.
I've said the same thing about prostitution in certain counties in Nevada.
If that was the only vice I had I would be a Saint.
LOL! I can hear it now...
"But, President Bennett.. Sir.. Sending Marines to attack Iraq one at a time is a losing strategy. The Joint Chiefs assure me that the odds of succeeding this way are so slim as to be incalculable. You can't even display that many decimal places without scientific notation, they said."
"Screw the odds. Look, the way I got it figured, we have over a million men under arms. One of them has got to hit and when he does, jackpot baby!"
I used to work with a lady who had a gambling addiction. She told me with a straight face that she would sit down, gamble all her money, gamble all her husbands money and then write checks she couldn't cover.
I tried to explain the concept of "odds" to her, I even tried the "hit by lightning" analogy. Un-uh. No dice.
She is convinced that she is like "building up luck" or something by virtue of playing for longer and longer periods... and that she "has to hit" at some point.
I know many people like this and have come to the conclusion that compulsive gamblers cannot be trusted. They are purely emotional creatures who survive on strange rituals, omens and other imagined associations & linkages..
No it isn't hard to see. Gambling obviously doesn't bother him. It doesn't bother a lot of people. If he hasn't spoken out against it what is this article suppose to prove?
There are many people who when they hear someone say "X is bad" protest loudly. This sin't because they think X is neutral or good, it's because condeming X is just too strident. Obviously they haven't been able to divest themselves of whatever moral teachings they were raised with.
I'm an atheist. I was raised in a non-religous home. It's my observation that the people who complain the most about "moralists" come from very religous homes. For all their talk of having risen loftly above "primitive" religion, still feel hell at their heels and just don't like being remined of it.
Panel 3: Hagar responds, while lifting his stein again, "If you don't overdo it."
I like that. Actually I hate the expression "everything in moderation."
Moderation,what a dull life to lead. - Tom
Do you invest in the stock market? That's gambling. Is it morally wrong?
Do you invest in the stock market? That's gambling. Is it morally wrong?
Okay, okay...but seriously is this a big deal?
Uh, why?
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