Tri-State has the Cure for AIDS and is a beacon for World Peace August 9, 2007
My guess is by Saturday, after all of the absurd, ridiculous assertions the gamblers have made, when they need those last hundred or two hundred votes, they finally, finally will drop the bombshell.
Who would have known that in the Casino vault, other than the truckloads of money, they would hold a secret.
That’s right… (GASP!)
A vote for Table Games is a vote to cure AIDS.
A vote for Table Games is a vote for World Peace.
A vote for table games is a vote to end hunger.
Those three claims are the only ones left the gamblers haven’t used to try to convince people in Kanawha County to Vote Yes on Saturday.
Today’s idiotic claims?
Tri-State will end poverty in Kanawha County and will allow all of the children who have left the state for better opportunity to come home to be a… housekeeper.
Or, if they really aspire to great things maybe a… security guard.
Or if they are the Creme de la creme, they one day MAY (hold your breath) reach the pinnacle of success in our times… a pit boss.
And, I’m not making this up (well, I am making it up about World Peace, but not about poverty).
One of the dozen or so spokespeople for the Table Games issue made the comment in yesterday’s Daily Mail that Tri-State would change the poverty statistics in West Virginia which stand at 16%.
Was George Hohmann (Daily Mail Business Writer extrordinaire) able to keep a straight face when he heard the assertion?
A little background. Tri-State rolled out a new message last week (imagine that, what was this… Message #57 of the Throw-it-against-the-wall-and-see-if-it-sticks-campaign-strategy). The message was that with Tri-State bringing in Table Games, everyone who ever moved away would be able to return for one of these “1,000 good-paying jobs.”
I wonder how much the ‘people for the hotel’ make, I didn’t realize laundry room jobs qualified as ‘high-paying,’ but I digress.
Adkins said he could prove that people would be moving back here. How?
Because two weeks ago a person from Florida contacted him looking for a job.
Are you kidding me? Because one girl from Florida called him, all of a sudden we are going to need border security to process all the people coming in from out of state… a mini-Ellis Island of sorts.
What a riot.
But, the poverty claim was even more silly. Tri-State was going to change the poverty rate in West Virginia. Pahleez. If only the Third World would wake up and install casinos, they could end hunger. And, after all, you know all those wealthy Native American reservations out there that have opened casinos… now, they are living the high life.
What’s next?
My guess is by Saturday, Adkins or Brackbill will hold a Press Conference stating that Tri-State, if allowed to put in table games, will donate all the proceeds to fight world hunger… and they will install a mini-lab in the laundry room that will soon find the cure for AIDS. Who could be against that, right?
****
One other point. What is the Key to Victory on Saturday?
Dunbar is the key.
As the gamblers throw millions upon millions of dollars at this Table Games issue, little did they know if they simply paid $10,000 to each resident of Dunbar, they could have won the election spending probably 1/3 of the money they are dumping into this election.
There are 8,000 people in Dunbar.
Had the gamblers just spent their wad of cash buying off the town, they might be in a better position in this election.
What am I talking about?
Dunbar wins elections in Kanawha County.
After all, every Kanawha County Senator who has won an election since I started looking at local races in 1990, EVERY SINGLE Senate candidate who won, won the town of Dunbar.
Jim Humphreys won his election for the Senate in 1990. He won Dunbar. Jack Buckalew beat Humprhreys in 1994. He won Dunbar.
David Grubb won Dunbar in 1992, he won that election. He lost Dunbar in 1996 to yours truly… and he lost the election.
And on it goes, for every single Senate election.
Now, before both the Yes and No sides go set-up camp in Dunbar, it is simply a statistical anomoly.
But, it is the only town in the county where this holds true.
So, it is an anomoly, or is there something to it? Is Dunbar a little slice of people who will be voting in the Table Games election, a perfect microcosm of the county? Part of me thinks so… obviously, not enough that if someone lost Dunbar that it would be impossible for them to win Kanawha County.
Where Cabin Creek (union, Democrat) and Cross Lanes (business, Republican) are completely asymmetrical in political beliefs, maybe Dunbar fits perfectly in the middle.
Dunbar is made up of a heavy senior contingent. Heavily church going. But, there is also a young, professional element that inhabits Roxalana and the Oaks. It’s also full of starter homes, so you have many young families.
So, maybe, just maybe, Dunbar-ites know what they are doing.
Or, maybe, just maybe Dunbar picks winners. Maybe the track, if they do buy off the population with millions of dollars and promises of those high wage housekeeping, errr.. “people for the hotel” positions, they might not want to allow any people from Dunbar into the facility.
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16 Responses to “Tri-State has the Cure for AIDS and is a beacon for World Peace”
Well that is ironic. I am a manager of a motel in Dunbar and I wrote an article on why I oppose the expansion of gambling. You can read it if you want, its at dalesamples.com
How lucky we are to have the democrats usher in this “Brave New World.”
Nice article Dale. Well thought out. And Vic, funny as always! It’s a sad day when the truth is so sad, and yet so funny.
Hey, Vic. Did you notice in today’s Gazette that the Casino claims that it doesn’t know how much it has spent buying votes, but that it expects its total outlay to be less than $1 million. The Gazette actually published that estimate with no hint of skepticism whatsoever despite (or more likely, because of) having been paid for full-page color adds for weeks already.
Everybody is coming home cause of TriState! Funny! Now three people work there & are happy & they are christians, can you believe it? Also while standing with my no sign at sissonville Jesus showed up with a Yes sign, can you believe it, we have Photos Of course the yes side is telling people we are just as bad because our billboard states Jesus signed his signature saying no, of course they don’t understand that a church put that billboard up & the represent Jesus! I understand 580 invite Mia moran Cooper to represent our side & Kathy the blond who runs TriState & Kathy declined?
580 invied Mia Moran Cooper to be on tonights show! Also all no people are invied to the capitol tonight at 5:30 for a candle lite! More the better! Bring your noise makers & no signs!
Candle lite tonight 8-9-07! state capitol!
End poverty? Casinos will end poverty? What kind of stupid campaign are they waging here? Do they think that the only people who gamble away money are the ultra-rich? Has anyone bothered to watch at the local convenience store to see who buys lottery tickets? The biggest LOSERS from any gambling establishment are the poor. The gambling industry has only one goal: Take money away from anyone you can without really creating any kind of true benefit to society. Give me a break!
However, I DO think this idea of a cure for AIDS coming from the casinos’ efforts may have some merit. NOT!
Gambling will bring forth about 1000 jobs I guess, but I wonder if anyone knows that in Reno and LV and Atlantic City, about 40% of dealers end up fired for trying to cheat the house? Psychologists tell us that the temptation to pocket a chip or two is just overwhelming for many people. So, if 400 of the 1000 end up in jail, well, is that the price we pay for economic development?
Maybe it’s time to study Ireland, the poster country for the EU. Ireland is a lot like WV, and for years it lagged behind other EU countries. But in the last 20 years, it has grown and prospered like topsy, and now is a high-tech center in Europe, with plenty of good jobs.
What does Ireland know that we don’t?
Do you have a grassroots petition for us to sign?
Do you have a grassroots petition for us to sign?
Is it necessary to expand gambling to include Las Vegas-style casino games in order to help seniors? Answer is NO! Case in point:
The lottery was created in the 1980’s with the promise that lottery tickets would help seniors. Then came the slot machines that were approved in 2001 that promised to “help seniors” and now, WV seniors just can’t make it without the revenue promised from table games. Since 1985 when the Lottery was created, and with all the promises given to our senior citizens, are our WV seniors better off now than they were prior to 1985? Most will say no! It is disingenuous for the gambling industry to use senior citizens to sugarcoat their issue. If the tracks were the true corporate sponsors they claim to be and truly want to help WV senior citizens, they would immediately ask the Legislature to remove their exemption they have been “conveniently” afforded these past few years and pay the $1,000 per machine fee that they fraternal organizations and private slots clubs have to pay each year per machine. This would yield approximately $11 million each year for our senior citizens, probably more. Also, in a 2006 article, the Charleston Gazette reported that the WV Lottery set another sales record for the 2006-07 budget year, with $1.56 billion in total sales, up about $40 million from last year’s previous record. The state’s share of lottery profits was $639 million, about $29 million above estimates. Right there is $29 million that could go for our seniors on top of the $11 million each year if the tracks would remove their exemption.
On the “tourism” argument, in the monthly publication “Governing Magazine” that legislators each receive, there is an article in the August issue on page 52 that discusses municipalities and casinos. In the article, Rocky DiVeronica, Chairman of Madison County NY Board of Supervisors says that his county was promised that the casino would give the local economy a big boost when the Oneida Indian Nation signed a gaming compact with NY State. He says that has not been the case. “They (gamblers) park their cars in the Oneida parking lot, gamble their money away, and drive back out to where they came from. They do very little shopping, and they do very little tourism.” he said.
On the jobs argument: on the Indiana State Government website: http://www.in.gov there is on the gaming segment a study on the Horseshoe Casino in Hammnond Indiana. It reveals that most people employed by this partricular casino were ALREADY EMPLOYED FULL-TIME when they began working at the casino. Less than 1/4 of the employees hired by the casino were unemployed when they began working at the casino! So much for the NEW jobs argument. There are graphs in this study that shows that most of the casino employees have a low rate of college attendance or graduation rates. Also, average median income of casino workers at this casino is $18,000! Also, most casino workers at Horshoe Casino rented their homes/apartments as opposed to owning them.
For the municipalities and counties who think that table games is the silver bullet in solving their financial problems, besides the studies (national independent studies) that show that for every $1 that gambling brings in to government,m it costs nearly $3 in social costs, here is a case in point: If you go to the WV Lottery website http://www.state.wv.us/lottery, it will show you how much each county receives from video lottery month-by-month. In my county of Cabell, it averages approx. $17,000 per month in revenue. However, if you take the $48 per day that a county pays to incarcerate inmates and times that by 365 days for the year, it costs the county around $17,000 to house an inmate for the year. If you look at the Problem Gamblers Helpline statistics, many who have called in report they embezzeled from their employer, stole money to fund their gambling debts, wrote bad checks, committed forgery, and resorted to prostitution. So, to house just one inmate for this infractions would cost the county as much if not more than they bring in from video lottery. With the defeat of Jefferson County’s referendum on table games, that took away 1/2 of the promised revenue to the counties and municiplaities. So, the costs will outweigh any benefit for expanding gambling to include Las Vegas-style casino games. The election is in two days and hopefully those who vote will carefully consider the ramifications and look at all the facts. It’s easy for a well-funded out-of-state company to invest millions of dollars to produce glamourous and glitzy catch-phrases and electioneering communications, but take away the “sugar coating” and look what you are left with. Gambling, gambling, and more gambling. If only the racetracks weren’t ashamed of their product. It’s not about jobs; it’s not about tourism; it’s not about senior citizens. It’s about Las Vegas-style casino gambling. I would urge a vote NO for Kanawha County’s children and for West Virginia’s future!
Ed Taft asks, “What does Ireland know that we don’t?”
I’m sure you’ll agree, but in one word: CAPITALISM.
Our Legislature does everything they can to stifle it, as long as they or their buddies are not inconvenienced. They say they’re for working people, but have opposed every single effort to reduce taxes on working people. They say they support tourism in WV but they recently increased the hotel tax by some obscene amount. They say their for bringing jobs to the area, but tax businesses at a confiscatory level; even though they have to give tax credits and immunity to companies when they are trying to attract companies like Toyota. (Wouldn’t the fact that they have to do that clue them in to the reality of the dismal economic climate they’ve created?)
I could go on and on, but I have a feeling I’m preaching to the choir here (except maybe for Hot Tub Dave).
Oh yes, let me specify that I’m talking about the Democrats in the Legislature. It is not my intention to lump Sen. Sprouse or right-thinking Delegates like Kelli Sobonya in with that bunch.
GET A LIFE THIS IS BS VIC
Don’t you just love the compassion that kanawha county commissoner Kent Carper has for a yes vote ? Can You Spell Pay Off ??
I love it! A proponent of the cop-out table games bill provides his argument and it’s:
“Get a life this is bs vic.”
Wow! I’m overwhelmed by the substance & logic!!
Kent Carper & Hoppy Shores should stay out of this, they have been bought by tri-State!