Wednesday, February 3, 2010

SILLY SEASON IN WASHINGTON

In the past week two different issues have come up about President Obama and his administration:

He made a remark about saving money for college instead of going to Vegas.

His Head of Staff responded to what he thought was a stupid comment by some congressional Democrats saying "That is F_____g retarded."

The press, politicians in and from Nevada, Sarah Palin and Tim Shriver (CEO of the Speical Olympics have jumped all over these comments.

My response to the president's comment about saving money for college instead of going to Vegas is, "Well, Duh!"  Of course samving money so your children can go to college is more important than any vacation, including and especially going to Vegas.  Vegas is not my idea of a great place to go for a family vacation.  A trip to a national park where the kids can breathe fresh air and see the wonders of creation is a much better choice.  My further remark is that anyone who does a little math can see that gambling is a good way to lose money.  And the little stickers in the bathrooms in casinos that you need a magnifying glass to read that tells you what to do if you have a gambling addiction are ridiculous.  That's like putting a tiny sticker in a liquor store that tells an alcoholic how to get a hold of AA.

As to Rahm Emanuel's remark I would have preferred that he had said that it was stupid instead of retarded (and that he had left out the F____g but those of us who think swearing is wrong are a shrinking group).  But the fact that someone leaked a remark from a private meeting and Sarah Palin in particular is getting all politically correct (Sarah Palin politically correct?) is more than a bit over the top. 

I know this is terribly idealistic of me but could we please get back to real business and real news?

7 comments:

Beloved Spear said...

As a native Washingtonian, I'm afraid that's the only season we have around here.

I just don't get why so many folks are concerned that Obama has "offended a whole city." Gambling exists to liberate folks from their money, in exchange for the thrill of having your money taken away from you. It never made a lick of sense to me. Anyone who knows a thing about good financial stewardship would agree with that statement.

Unknown said...

The truly curious thing is that you don't have to go to Vegas anymore to gamble. Besides lotteries (regressive taxation on the poor) a lot of states are expanding the gambling. PA got into the act recently. The big debate here in Philly is where will the casinos be? The waterfront was rejected because the rich folks there didn't want it. Now they want to put it in (inflict upon) Chinatown. The neighbors don't want it. But there are probably too few votes among descendants of Chinese immigrants to matter.

Kattie said...

How about they tear down the MacDade Mall and put a casino there. They could hire the Pagans to be bouncers and dealers. That would get them off the streets. :-)

Pastor Bob said...

Kattie where do you live? My wife shops at the MacDade mall! I don't want to lose another grocery store. Food is more important than gambling. (and frankly we need better grocery stores. Trying to get decent fish in this area, a staple of my heart diet, is difficult!)

I suspect that the folks that work at gambling casinos for the most part are not pagans. Most of the pagans I've met are in New Hope. Do pagans believe in chance? I suspect those who work there just need the money no matter what their belief system.

And I don't care if there are pagans on the street. They can come to church if they want. Just not tomorrow. To much snow. We canceled worship for tomorrow. :)

Kattie said...

Bob,

I'm a product of the old Swarthmore/Rutledge School District. I live in North Alabama now (for more years than I want to admit).

I didn't say pagans, I said Pagans: http://whiteprisongangs.blogspot.com/2009/06/pagans-motorcycle-club.html

Back when MacDade Mall was new, the Pagans were a big deal around there (actually all over the area). They were responsible for kidnappings, rapes, murders, drugs, arson, and general mayhem. I avoided the Mall after sundown; in fact we had curfews to obey.

Since you don’t seem to be aware of them, I’m guessing things aren’t the way they were when I lived there. I saw a TV show several months ago, I think it was on the History Channel, about the Pagans. That really brought back memories.

Pastor Bob said...

I've lived here for 5 years and never heard of the Pagans. We do have a couple of teenage gangs near here, one in Collingdale and one in Darby Township but as the high school principal says, they are wannna bees. Now if one of them hooks up with a gang from SW Philly we will have big problems: serious influx of drugs and guns.

The folks around here suggest all the problems come from Darby and SW Philly! Of course maybe the Pagans were white?

Kattie said...

I never saw one that wasn't white. I remember hearing of a police report of the Pagans going to a bar in Morton and bustin' heads. The bar had a predominantly black clientele. I got the impression from that they were racist, but I could be wrong about their motivation. Everybody gave them a wide berth. If I ever saw some scruffy guy wearing a cutoff denim jacket walking toward me on the sidewalk, I usually moved to the other side of the street before he was close enough for me to be able to see what was on his jacket.