Ohio Issue 6 - Allowing A Casino In Ohio: I Vote Yes

I've seen commercials go back and forth, for and against, but didn't really know which to believe. So I did what any other voter SHOULD be doing and research the issues. Let me state that I'm FOR legalized gambling in Ohio. Let me also state that there is a 99% chance I would never step foot in a casino (it's just not my thing). Ohio has been trying to stifle any attempts at legalized gambling because they fear it would cut into their government monopoly known as the state lottery.

The profits from the state lottery are supposed to go to the schools. When you figure in pay-outs, promotion, supplies, terminals, etc, there's not a lot of profit left over. Opponents of the Issue say that legalized gambling will decrease the amount of money going to the schools.

I would guess that the state lottery would not be hurt by legalized gambling. It's far easier to go into a store and buy a Mega Millions ticket for a $1 or a few instant scratch-off tickets than spend an evening in a casino. People like myself, who have no desire to go to a casino, are still going to buy those tickets. I don't know anything about casino games and I am certainly not going to lose a lot of money trying to learn.

Opponents also state that the casino isn't required to pay taxes. That's untrue, as I will post the language of the issue below. It states that Ohio requires a tax of up to 30% of gross receipts minus payouts. If you don't know Ohio, let me tell you, they will get that 30%. They will probably also pass some other specialty tax to get more money from the casino. Yet, they wonder why business are leaving.

More jobs + more taxes = better infrastructure, social services, & economic improvement

So that's my thoughts on the issue, in a nutshell, not an ACORN nutshell mind you.

***UPDATE...read the comments for this post. I debated a person in the comments about Issue 6 and added more thoughts there***

Here's the language on the ballot.

ISSUE #6
PROPOSED CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT
TO AMEND THE CONSTITUTION BY INITIATIVE PETITION FOR A
CASINO NEAR WILMINGTON IN SOUTHWEST OHIO AND DISTRIBUTE TO
ALL OHIO COUNTIES A TAX ON THE CASINO
(Proposed by Initiative Petition)

To adopt Section 6a to Article XV of the Ohio Constitution

This proposed amendment to the Ohio Constitution would:

1. Authorize one privately owned casino with a required minimum initial investment of
$600 million dollars on a 94-acre site located near the northwest corner of State Route 73
and Interstate 71 in southwest Ohio in Chester Township near Wilmington, Clinton
County, Ohio.

2. Require the casino to pay a tax of up to 30% on its gross receipts for gaming less payouts.
The taxes are to be used first to pay expenses of regulating and collecting taxes from the
casino, then for funding of gambling prevention and treatment programs, and the
remainder to be distributed in the amount of 10% to Clinton County and 90% to the
remaining counties based on population and to be used at each county’s discretion.

3. Reduce the tax paid by the casino authorized by this amendment to the lesser of the rate
taxed on another casino or 25%, in the event another casino is permitted in Ohio in the
future.

4. Require that the casino be subject to all other applicable types of taxes that are currently
in effect in Ohio.

5. Authorize the casino to conduct any game permitted in the State of Nevada, or any state
adjacent to Ohio, including any type of card or table games, slot machines, and electronic
gaming devices, except bets on races or sporting events. Only persons age 21 and over
would be permitted to place bets. Amounts of bets would not be subject to any limits
now or in the future. Days and hours of operation would not be subject to limits.

6. Set aside the application to the casino of all local and state laws and any constitutional
provisions that would prohibit the operation of this privately owned casino, including any
local zoning law that would prohibit or place restrictions on a casino from operating on
the property in question.

If approved, this proposed amendment shall take effect 30 days after the election.

Obama Interfered With Iraq Agreement

I was waiting for Drudge to post the link for about 30min. Obama interfering with foreign policy, if that's not a violation of some law, it should be. He's a useless senator who is trying to undermine the current administration's policies. Is there no end to the arrogance of this man?

At the same time the Bush administration was negotiating a still elusive agreement to keep the U.S. military in Iraq, Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama tried to convince Iraqi leaders in private conversations that the president shouldn't be allowed to enact the deal without congressional approval.

Mr. Obama's conversations with the Iraqi leaders, confirmed to The Washington Times by his campaign aides, began just two weeks after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination in June and stirred controversy over the appropriateness of a White House candidate's contacts with foreign governments while the sitting president is conducting a war.

Some of the specifics of the conversations remain the subject of dispute. Iraqi leaders purported to The Times that Mr. Obama urged Baghdad to delay an agreement with Mr. Bush until next year when a new president will be in office - a charge the Democratic campaign denies.

Ohio Secretary Of State Brunner's Ballot Policy Ruled Illegal By Court

She is doing nothing else but aiding and abetting the fraudulent activities of ACORN which is trying to win Obama the presidency at any cost. A federal judge ruled that her actions were unconstitutional.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is breaking federal law by not giving county elections boards the chance to determine whether new voter registrations are fraudulent, a federal judge ruled this evening.

"It is hard to imagine a public interest more compelling than safeguarding the legitimacy of the election of the president of the United States," said Judge George C. Smith of U.S. District Court in Columbus in upholding the Ohio Republican Party's request for a court order.

Brunner's office said she is filing an immediate appeal with the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

[...]

Brunner's office had been doing the computerized verification, but the GOP argued that Brunner had not made the names available to county elections boards. The judge gave her a week to comply.

[...]

In his 16-page ruling, Smith cited the "millions of qualified electors across the state of Ohio whose confidence in the electoral process will be undermined if new voter registrations are not verified in accordance with (federal law), and if unqualified individuals are permitted to cast votes. This would demean the voting process and unlawfully dilute the votes of qualified voters."

Brunner said in a statement that her office "will do everything within its power to ensure that the state's 88 county boards of elections can continue to allow early voting to proceed uninterrupted and to assist them with their preparation to ensure a smooth election for the voters of Ohio."

5 Million Fraudulent Mortgages Held By Illegals

I'm just so sick of seeing article after article of how illegals are sucking the life out of this country. Between tax dollars spent, fraud & other criminal activity, and their imposition in the job market they are sucking the life out of this country. I pray for the day each and every one of them are sent back, dead or alive.

One illegal alien was arrested this year in Tucson after allegedly using a stolen social security number to buy two homes and rack up over $780,000 in bad debt.

Some five million fraudulent home mortgages are in the hands of illegal aliens, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. 

It's not known how many of those have contributed to the subprime housing mortgage meltdown, but it has affected every state, including Arizona.

The problem began years ago when banks were forced to give mortgages without confirming social security numbers or borrower identification.  As a result, illegal immigrants were able to obtain home mortgages which they could not afford.

I would like to know who the geniuses were that forced banks to give mortgages without a social security number or any identification? I know the answer, it begins with a D and ends with emocrats.

This Day In History 1967 Dou-Che Guevara Is Killed

On this day, Oct 9, 1967, Obama poster boy and Marxist Dou-Che Guevara was killed by the Bolivian Gov't.

Later that morning on October 9, Bolivian President René Barrientos ordered that Guevara be killed. The executioner was Mario Terán, a sergeant in the Bolivian army who had drawn a short straw after arguments over who would get to shoot Guevara broke out among the soldiers. To make the bullet wounds appear consistent with the story the government planned to release to the public, Félix Rodríguez ordered Terán to aim carefully to make it appear that Guevara had been killed in action during a clash with the Bolivian army.

Moments before Guevara was executed he was asked if he was thinking about his own immortality. "No," he replied, "I'm thinking about the immortality of the revolution." Che Guevara also allegedly said to his executioner, "I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."Terán hesitated, then pulled the trigger of his semiautomatic rifle, hitting Guevara in the arms and legs. Guevara writhed on the ground, apparently biting one of his wrists to avoid crying out. Terán shot him again, this time hitting him fatally in the chest – at 1:10 pm, according to Rodríguez. In all Guevara would be shot nine times. This included five times in the legs, once in the right shoulder and arm, once in the chest, and lastly in the throat.

Obama A Member Of The Socialist "New Party"

Before we get to the article, here's the link to the New Party page on Wikipedia. Even though the official New Party was disbanded in the late 1990's, it still maintains a website. However; the New Party website has been scrubbed of any and all information.

From Politically Drunk on Power VIA NewsBusters:

From the October 1996 Update of the DSA 'New Party':
"New Party members are busy knocking on doors, hammering down lawn signs, and phoning voters to support NP candidates this fall. Here are some of our key races...
Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary)."

Link To The New Party Update

 

Beyond the archived web page from the Socialist New Party is the recognition by the "Progressive Populist" magazine in November 1996 that Obama was indeed an acknowledged member of the Socialist Party.
"New Party members and supported candidates won 16 of 23 races, including an at-large race for the Little Rock, Ark., City Council, a seat on the county board for Little Rock and the school board for Prince George's County, Md. Chicago is sending the first New Party member to Congress, as Danny Davis, who ran as a Democrat, won an overwhelming 85% victory. New Party member Barack Obama was uncontested for a State Senate seat from Chicago. "

Link To The November 1996 Progressive Populist Article

 

The Democratic Socialist Party of America published in their July/August Edition of New Ground 47 Newsletter.
"The Chicago New Party is increasely becoming a viable political organization that can make a different in Chicago politics. It is crucial for a political organization to have a solid infrastructure and visible results in its political program. The New Party has continued to solidify this base...
the NP's '96 Political Program has been enormously successful with 3 of 4 endorsed candidates winning electoral primaries. All four candidates attended the NP membership meeting on April 11th to express their gratitude. Danny Davis, winner in the 7th Congressional District, invited NPers to join his Campaign Steering Committee. Patricia Martin, who won the race for Judge in 7th Subcircuit Court, explained that due to the NP she was able to network and get experienced advice from progressives like Davis. Barack Obama, victor in the 13th State Senate District, encouraged NPers to join in his task forces on Voter Education and Voter Registration."

Link To DSA Article

 

There's a whole lot more. Currently, there is two lengthy posts about it. Part I & Part II

Barney Frank Pulls Out The Race Card, Tries To Divert Attention

Barney Frank, once again, is denying any responsibility for our current financial mess and is instead, playing the race card. According to Rep. Frank, any criticism of the financial crisis is a racially motivated attack on poor people. Wow.

Rep. Barney Frank said Monday that Republican criticism of Democrats over the nation's housing crisis is a veiled attack on the poor that's racially motivated.

The Massachusetts Democrat, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the GOP is appealing to its base by blaming the country's mortgage foreclosure problem on efforts to expand affordable housing through the Community Reinvestment Act.

[...] 

"They get to take things out on poor people," Frank said at a mortgage foreclosure symposium in Boston. "Let's be honest: The fact that some of the poor people are black doesn't hurt them either, from their standpoint. This is an effort, I believe, to appeal to a kind of anger in people."

[...]

House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio called Frank's remarks "a lame, desperate attempt to divert Americans' attention away from the Democratic party's obstruction of reforms that would have reined in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and helped our nation avoid this economic crisis."

"Congressman Frank should retract his ridiculous statements and start taking responsibility for the role he and other top Democrats played in putting Main Street Americans in this mess," Boehner said.