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Lege will confront casino gambling in Texas again in 2013

Will Texas see casinos anytime soon?

Ten years ago I would have said that kind of talk is crazy. But during a time when more and more money is needed for the state to piss away, well, let’s just say desperate times call for desperate measures.

Houston Democrat Rodney Ellis has authored Senate Joint Resolution 6, which would propose a constitutional amendment to allow casino gambling and slot machines by a limited number of licensed operators and Indian tribes. Video lottery would also be authorized at licensed horse and dog tracks as well as on Indian reservations.

The law would establish a Texas Gaming Commission to oversee the gambling. Eight horse and dog tracks would be allowed a certain number of slot machines. Six licensed “casino-anchored destination attraction development projects” would be authorized in different Texas urban areas. Hmm, sounds like Disney World meets the one-arm bandit! Two Gulf of Mexico island-based casinos could likewise operate on Galveston and Padre Island.

I have as of yet not found a specific revenue estimate all of this might bring although funds generated from such a proposal would specifically help provide property tax relief and money for higher education.

This is not, trying to be trite, the first rodeo for Texas when it comes to attempts at establishing casino gambling. I have covered efforts in both Texas at allowing parimutuel horse racing and in establishing slots at race tracks in Louisiana. I can tell you that trying to establish gaming of any kind in both states is an uphill battle. Yes, some of the opposition is based on moral and religious concerns. But the “do-gooders” aren’t those who sponsor gambling measures should worry about. It’s those in gambling who are the biggest foes.

I remember writing about the first attempt in the mid-1990s to add slot machines to the Delta Downs race track in Vinton, La. Louisiana had and still has limited casino gambling and one of the hotspots was and is Lake Charles, about 30 miles west of the Texas border off Interstate 10. Vinton is closer to Texas than that. Delta Downs is slightly more than two miles from the border, not far off of I-10. Lake Charles has long attracted customers from the Houston area and beyond, so one may only imagine how adding slots just across the Sabine River from Texas might cut into the gambling pie of the multiple Lake Charles-area spots.

The first attempt failed. But try try again and now you have Delta Downs Racetrack Casino. There are slots, off-track betting and horse racing in season. Supply and demand won.

Established casinos in Lake Charles fought like hell to keep casinos from Delta Downs. We’re talking the biggest of the bigs at the time. I think LC now has even more gambling spots after rebuilding from two hurricanes. Texas is surrounded by gambling either in commercial or Indian casinos. One can imagine that the casinos in Bossier City, Lake Charles, and those on the Oklahoma and New Mexico reservations will all have their lobbyists in Austin this spring.

It is a little too early to worry about casino gambling in Texas at this point though. Sen. Ellis only calls for a constitutional amendment. If the gambling interests from out-of-state do not take down SJR 6, then it will be up to Texas voters how such an amendment will go. If I were a betting man, I would not take a bet on whether a law allowing casinos in Texas would pass.

Only time will tell whether the special interests from the gambling industry push lawmakers away from the measure and, if passed, if Texans vote the amendment in come November a year from now. Then, it will likely end up a local-option issue. There is a lot of voting ahead before we see a Harrah’s in the Lone Star State.

 

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Same chapter, same verse

Same old same old.

Hearings today on the Benghazi attack on 9-11-12 are just more opportunities for mad GOP lawmakers to attempt roughing up the Obama administration. While some of the information was being presented, a number of congressmen were having press conferences trying to beat up the White House. People such as Sen. John McCain –a GOP presidential loser — got indignant when a CNN producer asked McCain why he wasn’t inside the hearing room learning about information that might have answered some of his questions.

I suppose the mad crop of Republicans are looking for something with which they think they can eventually impeach the president, just as they did with Bill Clinton. Maybe I’m wrong, but that could come back and bite them big-time. After all, George W. Bush could have easily been charged with impeachable offenses with his lies and cover-ups concerning Iraq. Bush and Cheney might still face war crimes. This would not be a great state of affairs for the Republicans and the U.S. in general.

Maybe these tired old Republicans perhaps should just get out the bugs which are firmly planted up their asses and try to do something constructive. The nation is tired too, of the Republicans boo-hooing their losses.

“We need to stop being the dumb party,” I just heard Louisiana’s GOP Gov. Bobby Jindal say. I wholeheartedly agree, Guv.

 

 

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An open letter to the rest of America on the Texas secession issue

Dear Fellow Americans,

By now you may have heard of a petition addressed to the White House “We the People” Web site that seeks a peaceful withdrawal of Texas from the United States of America. The site allows petitions that upon reaching the threshold of 25,000 names may be reviewed and given an official response. As of this afternoon almost 82,000 names have been posted.

As a Texan and one who supported President Obama and his re-election I wanted to say publicly and in the best manner a lifelong Texas boy can convey that this whole petition business is a total, 100 percent crock of bullshit.

Those who push the petition, as if it would ever receive any official presidential consideration, have missed the exit for Make-Believe World and are headed for a rapid trip to Delusional City. Why would people who are ticked off due to the election sign a petition to the President? It is his election to begin with that has wound up tightly these people who fancy themselves Texas nationalists. If many thousands of those who put their names on the petition were honest with the rest of us and themselves, their main reason for such a notion is the fact that the President is an African-American. To be exact, he is half black African and half white American, that equals ta-da! an African-American.

The petition “cites blatant abuses” of rights such as the “NDAA, the TSA, etc.” No specific abuses are cited for the condemnation of what I suppose is the National Defense Authorization Act or the Transportation Security Agency. Many of the worries are based on what is heard from the right-wing propaganda machine such as Fox News. Nevertheless, plenty of fanciful rhetoric is spouted on the Texas Nationalist Movement Web site which sees the United States government handing over the keys to the kingdom of Texas and saying “here you go!”

All of this is beyond ludicrous. We will not secede. Even our hare-brained Gov. Good Hair Perry doesn’t advocate such malarkey. He likely only brought it up as a means of snaring some of our nuttier voters for his god-awful presidential campaign. You see where such talk got him.

Face reality, those of you who think breaking off from the United States is a good idea. Any treasonous move to split our country would be met with sharp resistance. As it gradually sinks in that the election is over and Barack Obama won, I imagine such fanciful talking will be much more subdued. I hope so at least.

We Texans are a proud bunch. Yes, I know we can be obnoxious braggarts. But I suspect probably the majority of us also feel equally proud and protective of our country. Yesterday I saw that pride and that love of country reflected in those of us veterans who were graciously served a free meal for Veterans Day by Golden Corral. Vets from Vietnam and World War II as well as peacetime veterans sat by me at my table and not a one, not even the elderly gent from the second World War, failed to stand and salute during the National Anthem.

I also would be willing to bet that most Texans love their state and all of its beauty: From the mountains to the Pineywoods, to the Gulf; to the prairies and to the brush country. But we likewise love the surf of San Diego County, the majestic Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the Gateway Arch of St. Louis, the brass of New Orleans, the multicolored splendor of New England falls and on and on.

I won’t apologize for being a Texan. I will not even apologize for the idiots who believe this great state should break away from this wonderful nation. But I stress that most of us are not like those who are so deluded they probably need some drugs. Come see us in Texas. We’ll have a good time. We’re all Americans here.

Yours truly,

Dick of EFD

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Let’s see, the Battle of Britain or sleep

Maybe I used up too much euphoria over the re-election of the President and Democratic control of the Senate. I’ve felt like crap since then. Even clips of Karl Rove pouting election night on Fox News when the call didn’t go his way hasn’t improved my condition since then. I don’t know why.

Hopefully, I’ll feel better tomorrow in time to speak to a local high school class about my part-time job. Ughh! Maybe anticipating that has made me sick. No probably not though I am uncertain of the pathology.

Until I feel better I think I will just sit back and watch the Military Channel. Nothing more uplifting than that, right? Maybe some of my grieving GOP friends should watch.

 

 

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Well, it looks like another four years for our President (hopefully)

I’ve been on Facebook with my high school friends while awaiting the news. Yes, President Obama. The man whose campaign I gave $5 to has been re-elected to a second term, according to CNN.

Rehashing our crazy high school days was a lot more fun. A friend with views similar to mine and another whose is way opposite to mine helped put me in touch at least for a few minutes on how things, such as long-time friends, are much more important than red and blue. Another very close friend, who fought like cats and dogs with me about politics since I first met her more than 30 years ago, wished ” … congrats and condolences. The system worked.”

My friend Suzie said it all. “The System worked.”

Friends, relatives, country men and women, lend me your ear. Okay, don’t lend me your ear. That would be extra nasty. But we need a more perfect union. This nation has problems bigger than our parties or religions or colors of bandannas for our dogs — I don’t have a dog and haven’t had one in many years but I’d like to have one again some day.

Yes, the late Rodney King had problems and had others caused by having his head bashed in by rogue cops. But he said it all in the wake of riots which followed acquittals of the cops who beat him: “Can we all along?”

Well, the Romney campaign isn’t ready to concede. I hope Mittens doesn’t screw with the people who have spoken. Awwwww.