Posted on 09/30/2006 9:43:50 AM PDT by Alterboy1964
Color me skeptical.
Your buddies should take responsibility for their own actions. The "Victim" mentality which wants to blame everyone else for their own problems and shortcoming is weak and pathetic at best.
Happy Trails!
"Was it most vulnerable members of our society that clued you in? It seems most people here have missed the tone of our latest member."
It was that and that he joined today to post this and this is his only post.
Yeah. I've had a couple of buddies lose a few grand buying and selling real estate. They saw the property over the net and even financed the mortgage over the net. These are really awful too. It's about time Congress took a stand against these websites also preying on the most valuable members of our society...
PSYCHE! No one forced your buddies to play over the net. It was a choice. Whether for entertainment, or as an investment in their skill (lack of). Regardless. The government already encroaches and regulates way more than it should.
Of the Limits to the Authority of Society over the Individual.
John Stuart Mill
I am the last person to undervalue the self-regarding virtues; they are only second in importance, if even second, to the social. It is equally the business of education to cultivate both.
But even education works by conviction and persuasion as well as by compulsion, and it is by the former only that, when the period of education is past, the self-regarding virtues should be inculcated. Human beings owe to each other help to distinguish the better from the worse, and encouragement to choose the former and avoid the latter. They should be for ever stimulating each other to increased exercise of their higher faculties, and increased direction of their feelings and aims towards wise instead of foolish, elevating instead of degrading, objects and contemplations.
But neither one person, nor any number of persons, is warranted in saying to another human creature of ripe years, that he shall not do with his life for his own benefit what he chooses to do with it. He is the person most interested in his own well-being: the interest which any other person, except in cases of strong personal attachment, can have in it, is trifling, compared with that which he himself has; the interest which society has in him individually (except as to his conduct to others) is fractional, and altogether indirect: while, with respect to his own feelings and circumstances, the most ordinary man or woman has means of knowledge immeasurably surpassing those that can be possessed by any one else.
The interference of society to overrule his judgment and purposes in what only regards himself, must be grounded on general presumptions; which may be altogether wrong, and even if right, are as likely as not to be misapplied to individual cases, by persons no better acquainted with the circumstances of such cases than those are who look at them merely from without. In this department, therefore, of human affairs, Individuality has its proper field of action.
In the conduct of human beings towards one another, it is necessary that general rules should for the most part be observed, in order that people may know what they have to expect; but in each person's own concerns, his individual spontaneity is entitled to free exercise. Considerations to aid his judgment, exhortations to strengthen his will, may be offered to him, even obtruded on him, by others; but he himself is the final judge. All errors which he is likely to commit against advice and warning, are far outweighed by the evil of allowing others to constrain him to what they deem his good.
There is nothing wrong with legislating morality when the act being made illegal undermines the entire fabric of society. In this case gambling is destructive because it creates divisions within families and causes people to resort to crime, of which the impact on society is obvious.
There are also less tangible dangers associated with gambling, such as it undermines the work ethic of a community and plants the idea in people's minds that they can get something for nothing.
It is not unlike the issue of gay marraige. While the act of homosexuals marrying may not necesarily be a direct threat to the community, it undermines the philosophical principals on which our society was founded and is therefore even more destructive than anything one or two individuals could do on their own.
Futhermore gambling has always been held by the church to be a sin. It is not only the responsibility but the obligation of a righteous government to do all it can to prevent that sin from occurring.
We can thank four great leaders in the House and the Senate, Bill Frist, John Kyl, Jim Leach and Bob Godlatte for fighting so hard against this "scourge on our society," as Goddlatte put it after the House passed anti-gambling legislation in July.
Thanks for the ping! I heard this on Fox today. I just shook my head. And instigated by Frist, a Republican or RINO in this case!
Glad the War on Terror is over so that we can finally go after the things that really matter, like gambling sites.
People like you give credence to writers like Atwood.
You should be ashamed.
Expecting piety from politicians...and looking for salvation from Washington. If the Church is unable to convert people to virtue through persuasion then you would have Govt. standing behind it enforcing its edicts with threat. I promise you the backlash against moralizing politicians will be a factor in Republican losses this election.
Let's ban PORN also.
Exactly. Alterboy joins today just to post this....what a tool.
47
The US Constitution lays out the blueprint of the republic and delineates the lines of responsibility and authority of the various branches and hierarchial levels of government that make up the republic. Can you show me that Article and Section that makes "preventing the sin of gambling" the responsibility of the federal government?
BTW, while I can understand that you're upset about your friends losing their hard earned money, I'm going to point out that they did it in pursuit of someone else's hard earned money.
Vulnerable..You mean numbskulls with no self control and no sense of personal responsibility?
How is this any different from the lib do-gooders trying to get a "fat tax" on fast food and sweets?
It's McDonald's and KFC's fault for making me 400 lbs!
It's that websites fault for forcing me to gamble away $400!
Here's the meat, plain and simple.
To a politician, the phrase is tantamount to waving garlic at a werewolf.
The perfect one-size-fits-all Nanny State tool.
And they thought Edison was a genius.
I agree with you. The Constitution grants the federal government the right to regulate interstate commerce, which online gambling is. I think this legislation is good.
Alterboy1964?
Perhaps you meant altar, but you got altered instead.
Mo money for Injun casinos. They love this bill. I have a friend that gambles backgammon and poker on line. Money transfers are done by net teller. No credit card involved.
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