Indian Casinos in California, a threat to the lives and routines of the good decent folk -- In the words of the late Livia Soprano...
"Boo-fucking hoo."
We live in a time of 'blame the tempter' rather than the transgressor, that 'devil made me do it' thing. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy: "Look what YOU made me do."
In other words, blame someone else for what you did.
For example:
I'm sorry his life has turned to shit, but when we get down to cases, I have no more sympathy for this fellow than I did for all the insecure semi-stars of the 70's and 80's who wept publicly about how they pissed away $4-1/2 million doing coke and lost their homes and families and... etc. I could only respond:
"You HAD 4-1/2 million dollars and you ran it up your nose?
Fuck you. You deserved to lose it all."
I smoked for many years.
If and/or when I get sick, it's not the fault of the tobacco producers. I don't care how much they lied about it. When I started smoking in the 50's, there wasn't anyone in my grade or middle or high school who didn't know it was bad for your health and would cause cancer. It doesn't matter that the large lights of the tobacco industry are slime-bags and vicious lying scum.
Is there anyone who has ever placed a bet without knowing the house always wins in the long run? The slots may pay off 92% or even 95% or 98%, but they still come out ahead, even if the occasional player can walk away with a few bucks more than before. It's just that players like to think they're special, that they can beat the odds. But it's not the fault of the casino owners -- they'll TELL you the odds if you ask.
Now, when John Edwards did the so-called "Jacuzzi case," that was something else. The product was supposed to be one thing but this one sucked out the innards of a little girl in a swimming pool and that WAS their fault.
But how does it get to be YOUR FAULT because I can't control myself?
Or how does it get to be THEIR FAULT because YOU can't control yourself?
Sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling, enemas, laxatives, shoe-buying, child-molesting, oh my.
Not my fault. they MADE me do it.
Peter Lorre justifying his child-killing in M, protesting the underworld judgment against him, saying that they steal and kill because they choose to but that he should be excused because he had no control over it: "Ich MUSS! Ich MUSS!" An early "addiction" defense.
If someone beats the crap out of you and takes your money, or imprisons you and forces you to take addictive drugs like heroin or tobacco, or rapes you -- that's one thing.
If YOU drive to a casino and walk in and start betting, guess who's responsiblity that is?
So that leaves the other issue, location of casinos near cities. Oh, the good folk of California do not like that as it would fuck up traffic patterns and make it easier for assholes like the above-mentioned Frank to impoverish his wife and kids so he can watch the wheels spin. (Actually, since it might collapse the Cal-Trans system and take traffic all the way to permanent gridlock on I-80, I-4, and elsewhere, it might help Frank to control himself.)
Well, hell, does anyone have any idea what the influx of gold-crazed Americans did to the traffic patterns of the Pomo and the Winto and all the rest of the California tribes? Actually, since most of them were killed or driven off their land, they didn't have to worry about it.
Which doesn't stop the most chutzpah-laden rationale we've seen in recent years (and given that we're at the end of four years of the Dubya Bush administration, that's going some):
This isn't about "Oh those poor people, how much they've suffered," even though that statement is quite accurate. It's about "How many times do we lie and cheat and swindle our way out of a contract because we didn't like the way the deal turned out?" Get over it.
And it's not even payback, even though every one of us have reaped the benefits of those crimes. These few descendants of the even fewer who survived the concerted effort to exterminate their forebears are actually willing to pay to ease the disruptions their operations will cause -- roads, sewage, police, fire, etc.
As if it were possible for these people, finally getting a piece of the pie, to fuck up the beauty of California more than "The Americans" have.
We all know, don't we, if they were white, they'd have condemned the land under the right of Eminent Domain, paid off the legislature for zoning and subsidies, and would have it up and running, calling it something like "Game-World: The Family Gaming Center."
Link
We live in a time of 'blame the tempter' rather than the transgressor, that 'devil made me do it' thing. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy: "Look what YOU made me do."
In other words, blame someone else for what you did.
For example:
"They built casinos on the backs of guys like me." So begins the remorseful tale of Frank, a 53-year-old college-educated health care professional in the South Bay who has tossed away $500,000 in a lifetime of betting. And he's right: The gambling industry earns from 60 to 80 percent of its profits from the 10 percent of players who are heavy bettors.And I say it again -- "boo-fucking-hoo."
I'm sorry his life has turned to shit, but when we get down to cases, I have no more sympathy for this fellow than I did for all the insecure semi-stars of the 70's and 80's who wept publicly about how they pissed away $4-1/2 million doing coke and lost their homes and families and... etc. I could only respond:
"You HAD 4-1/2 million dollars and you ran it up your nose?
Fuck you. You deserved to lose it all."
I smoked for many years.
If and/or when I get sick, it's not the fault of the tobacco producers. I don't care how much they lied about it. When I started smoking in the 50's, there wasn't anyone in my grade or middle or high school who didn't know it was bad for your health and would cause cancer. It doesn't matter that the large lights of the tobacco industry are slime-bags and vicious lying scum.
Is there anyone who has ever placed a bet without knowing the house always wins in the long run? The slots may pay off 92% or even 95% or 98%, but they still come out ahead, even if the occasional player can walk away with a few bucks more than before. It's just that players like to think they're special, that they can beat the odds. But it's not the fault of the casino owners -- they'll TELL you the odds if you ask.
Now, when John Edwards did the so-called "Jacuzzi case," that was something else. The product was supposed to be one thing but this one sucked out the innards of a little girl in a swimming pool and that WAS their fault.
But how does it get to be YOUR FAULT because I can't control myself?
Or how does it get to be THEIR FAULT because YOU can't control yourself?
Sex, drugs, alcohol, gambling, enemas, laxatives, shoe-buying, child-molesting, oh my.
Not my fault. they MADE me do it.
Peter Lorre justifying his child-killing in M, protesting the underworld judgment against him, saying that they steal and kill because they choose to but that he should be excused because he had no control over it: "Ich MUSS! Ich MUSS!" An early "addiction" defense.
If someone beats the crap out of you and takes your money, or imprisons you and forces you to take addictive drugs like heroin or tobacco, or rapes you -- that's one thing.
If YOU drive to a casino and walk in and start betting, guess who's responsiblity that is?
So that leaves the other issue, location of casinos near cities. Oh, the good folk of California do not like that as it would fuck up traffic patterns and make it easier for assholes like the above-mentioned Frank to impoverish his wife and kids so he can watch the wheels spin. (Actually, since it might collapse the Cal-Trans system and take traffic all the way to permanent gridlock on I-80, I-4, and elsewhere, it might help Frank to control himself.)
Well, hell, does anyone have any idea what the influx of gold-crazed Americans did to the traffic patterns of the Pomo and the Winto and all the rest of the California tribes? Actually, since most of them were killed or driven off their land, they didn't have to worry about it.
Which doesn't stop the most chutzpah-laden rationale we've seen in recent years (and given that we're at the end of four years of the Dubya Bush administration, that's going some):
"... Cheryl Schmit, director of Stand Up for California, which has opposed expansions of Indian gaming, disputes the Scotts Valley Band's landless status, saying it has a rancheria in Lake County.No, of course they can't. Read the history of the Modoc Wars, the last and best-documented Indian war in California if you have the stomach for it.
"This (North Richmond) casino project, they could only go forward if they can prove they lived there forever,'' she said. "They can't.''
This isn't about "Oh those poor people, how much they've suffered," even though that statement is quite accurate. It's about "How many times do we lie and cheat and swindle our way out of a contract because we didn't like the way the deal turned out?" Get over it.
And it's not even payback, even though every one of us have reaped the benefits of those crimes. These few descendants of the even fewer who survived the concerted effort to exterminate their forebears are actually willing to pay to ease the disruptions their operations will cause -- roads, sewage, police, fire, etc.
As if it were possible for these people, finally getting a piece of the pie, to fuck up the beauty of California more than "The Americans" have.
We all know, don't we, if they were white, they'd have condemned the land under the right of Eminent Domain, paid off the legislature for zoning and subsidies, and would have it up and running, calling it something like "Game-World: The Family Gaming Center."
Link
posted by Saintperle at
1:41 PM
