Sunday, March 29, 2009

March is the ANTITHESIS OF CALM. Lincolns & Peter Pan


Putt-Putt is stone cold serious business.
 
SXSW has been over. Fun, but I'll gladly hold the door for the tornado of swag, drinks in plastic cups, and exclusive lines. The festival offered up a wealth of great films, check out select reviews and original videos at The Accent SXSW Blogs.

Evolution is still taking a beating down here in Texas' textbooks. I wonder why? Post soon to come.

The Huskies look good, but a little slow. Definite height advantage, but the freshman Kemba Walker stole the show with 23 points and clutch foul shots. I have a feeling that they will be meeting Louisville in April.

How about them Wildcats! Knocked of #1 Pitt who I thought would be facing off against Louisville in the National Championship game, who knew, seems to be a football state. Hard to tell who is more psycho, T. or Blake Griffin, Lawson and Hansbrough are good but not good enough, OU will be facing off with the Wildcats in Detroit.

The NBA is closing in on the playoffs and the race is anxiety attack close in both conferences. 1st round match ups in the West will be as follows (according to my crystal ball); Dallas @ Los Angeles, Portland @ San Antonio, New Orleans @ Utah, and Denver @ Houston. The East; Charlotte @ Cleveland, Chicago @ Boston, Philadelphia @ Orlando, and Miami @ Atlanta  

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Tuesday, March 3, 2009

State economy looking bad, go GAMBLE?

Texas Legislators are considering "12 new las-Vegas style casinos, one in every major city across the state." According to this morning's Wall Street Journal.

More gambling in Texas? Legislators have argued that instead of Texan's going to neighboring Louisiana and New Mexico to gamble, we should keep that revenue here, with more race tracks, casinos, and slot machines.

Pros: Texan's would be able to go and get drunk and gamble, and the money we would save in gas we can just gamble away!? Maybe this would create some jobs inside and around the casinos, but the amount of increased social problems that are married to a gambling community might not be worth it? Casino's could create an influx of tourism to the cities that do build casinos, but do Texan's want that type of tourist frequenting their city?

Cons: Social problems; such as gambling addiction, increased alcohol and drug abuse, and a seedy element possibly would increase within and around major metropolitan areas that really don't need any assistance in that department (Dallas Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, El Paso, Austin). Are these casino giants (MGM and Harrahs) really going to funnel revenues back into Texas, last time I checked neither one of these corporations are based out of Texas? Possibly, a loss of future federal assistance if we do instill a beefed up gambling market. In reality does Texas really have the money to expand something like gambling given the global financial crisis.

The far right is not going to let this happen, and Governor Perry isn't going to let this happen. Suzi Paynter the director for public-policy of the Baptist General Convention of Texas is quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying, "We built our state on family-friendly tourism, and we have a saying in Texas: Dance with who brung ya." These people and Mrs. Paynter have a lot of pull and they aren't going allow anyone to take that away, especially not gambling speculators.

What do Texan's think?