Economic Impact of Casinos

The great state of Connecticut has some of the largest casinos in the world, they enviously contribute to our state 400 million dollars in tax revenue each year. We are also told by our leaders that that amount is higher than what most other states get.

Casinos have told local communities that they are a positive contributor to the economy, and as far as I can tell from the early days they were. They created thousands of jobs, employed countless contractors and built magnificent spectacular displays of modern architecture in our state.

Casino's are advertised with star attractions, with big national names and celebrities from all four corners of the world. The stars are the attraction but the objective is for you to gamble along the way.

Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun each gross billions of dollars annually, and have each enjoyed a monopoly in our state for over a decade. This success has not come without its price, however. Bridgeport, and its associated Golden Pequosset Indians have fought hard and have continued to lose its battles in the wake of a competitive challenge from the state of CT and its vested interests from Foxwoods, and Mohegan Sun; Each vying to protect their interest. The Golden Pequossets have also threatened to reverse titles on countless properties in Fairfield county as a threat.

Yet this pales in comparison to negative effects of the dreaded and painful Gamblers Anonymous. The millions of people seduced by the serotonin high of winning money at the expense of others.

Casino's often try to ignore this type of bad press and dupe the public that they are somehow an industry, and that they will contribute to society in a health commercial way. While there is no way we can fully assess the economic impact on CT and its citizens I can say that casinos have not demonstrated much benefit to the local towns or CT, now already mired with over 18 billion in debt.

Casinos also do not not manufacture anything, contribute positively as they grow, or provide many respectable living wage jobs. Casinos are an industry that sells the illusion of chance, when in reality every brick, every window, every decoration in their palaces are built on the blood, sweat, and tears, of losers. This is hardly an industry worth nurturing as the "backbone" of a sound economy.

The historical model of casinos on local communities is more like what happened to Atlantic City where a once middle class community slid into greater poverty and a reduced standard of living for the local inhabitants. As the economy slips, the corruption of casinos may seek to expand in an effort to fix the problem they created. People are quick to propose and build casinos, because there is the illusion of riches and as state funds dry up and our state debt continues to rise, I get concerned that feeble minded legislators will see such a ploy as an opportunity to bring NY revenue into CT. The goal being to procure perhaps another 300 to 400 million in tax revenue.

Please read all the documented links in this diary today and know that this is only a short term fix with a devastating long term consequence that will ultimately deliver more misery to an already troubled state. It is the wrong direction.

"War Hawks" Win in New Hampshire, Electronic Voting Suspect.

Joe Lieberman should be proud today, as John McCain and Hillary both came up on top in New Hampshire. The two "pro-war", "pro-empire building", "pro-war spending" candidates have risen like a couple "phoenix from the ashes" in defiance of the polls.

Some attribute Hillary's rise as a result of her "teary eyed" speech after her Iowa loss, others have come forth and cried "fowl" blaming Diabold, the makers of the very controversial voting machines.

Disturbing reports came about from all sources, to include poll watchers being dismissed, to ballots being counted in secrecy. A flurry of videos on the Internet demonstrated the ease and speed in which the voting machines can be hacked to throw elections, and a recent poll I did online gave Diabold a very low margin of trust. This concern spread to Connecticut and again to many local elections prompting our Secretary of State Susan Byscewitz to address public trust concerns.

The biggest shocker was when voter fraud expert Harris sounded the alarm on New Hampshire calling concern to the ease of hacking and cheating the count.

To quote Paul Hoffman from the Ron Paul CT New Haven County Meetup group "81% of New Hampshire ballots are counted in secret by a private corporation named Diebold Election Systems (now known as “Premier”). The elections run on these machines are programmed by one company, LHS Associates, based in Methuen, MA. The public knows nothing about the people programming these machines, and even less is known about LHS Associates. No one knows about the secret vote counting software used to tabulate 81% of the ballots either. People like to say “but we use paper ballots” as if that were somehow proof that we aren’t a banana republic. But that term’s meaningless. The election last night was stolen, outright. There’s no question."

Frills on U.S. Flags Art Imitating Life?

Noticed a rather odd thing last time I was in the state Court House. What I saw was a U.S. flag being displayed with three sides marked with Gold frills. Certainly we do not fly U.S. flags with "Gold Frills" so why do we have them in our public buildings, and most often in places where authoritative persons hold office?

My curiosity got the better of me and I asked a few people who worked for government and the most common answer I got was that they were prettier than ordinary flags and looked nicer with the frill. Some said they had no idea why, but the general consensus was that they are just more artistically pretty and nicer to look at and there is really nothing more to it than that.

The answer did not satisfy me, so I asked some friends of mine in the military. They, of course, know all about flags as they are taught their uses in every ceremony. There are "Storm" flags, "Parade" flags, "Garrison" Flags. Flags that are used for covering a the tomb of a fallen soldier etc..

This made me feel like I was on the right track and the answer came back to me that the flag with a "Frill" around it is known to the military as an "Admiral" flag or one used by military service persons at sea on a U.S. Ship or during war.

Here is the actual description from a military manual:

"Pursuant to U.S.C. Chapter 1, 2, and 3; Executive Order No. 10834, August 21, 1959, 24 F.R. 6865, a military flag is a flag that resembles the regular flag of the United States, except that it has a YELLOW FRINGE, bordered on three sides. The President of the United states designates this deviation from the regular flag, by executive order, and in his capacity as COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF of the Armed forces."

With this mentioned I must ask everyone in public office buildings. Are we part of a militarized society? Or is your "frilled" flag just pretty art?

UI Dupes Milford on "Clean Energy"

The most clever profiteer in Milford is by far The United Illuminating Company who has achieved a stellar profit record for their share holders and future interests. In 2007 UI was able to circumvent the "Windfall Profits Tax", duped the CT House of Representatives with (HB 7432) by charging you "for lost profits", charging you again for a "Rebate Program", UI "Defrauded" customers with meters that overcharge, was "gifted" a brand new power grid, and most insulting of all won permission to raise our electrical rates 90% in just a few years.

With such a solid business climate you would think that UI would be satisfied, as a matter of fact they decided to do business with Energy Inc. to reopen what they call a "clean power plant" here in Milford. This partnership is with a company that owns TEN, a company that is now in court with Attorney General Blumenthal for allegations that it breached its contract and overcharged taxpayers over 14 Million Dollars. TEN even has gone so far as to attempt a disruption of power to important buildings at the State Capitol.

With such a marred controversial record, are we now to believe and trust that UI and NRG burning natural gas is "clean?" The facts indicate otherwise, as these natural gas plants will likely need to obtain their fuel from a foreign source. The North East peaked on oil and gas some time ago, and a opportunity has been created for a controversial LNG or Liquefied Natural Gas facility off the coast of CT in NY waters. Unfortunately the game is "afoot" because NY Gov. Spitzer is holding the fate of CT's waterfront. If the Gov. approves the LNG than UI scores another big victory while we the inhabitants of this state lose yet again.

Make no mistake, mining for Gas is not "Eco friendly" an LNG is not "Eco-friendly" and the billowing smoke coming out of UI's smoke stack will still create massive CO2 "greenhouse gas" emissions with reduced air quality in our town. The only thing "clean" about gas is that it puts less mercury into the environment. This comes at a huge price, the price being a "reshuffling" of environmentally destructive sources. Do not believe the news in the Milford Mirror as fact because they originate from UI press releases and connected sources. They are intended to make you feel content with their 700 Million dollar plant opening right near your home as somehow safe.

The real kicker, aside from, obvious health risks, the transport of more toxic and explosive gas and chemicals, and increased traffic congestion, is UI's demand that we pay them yet again as a reward for building a "clean" plant. UI has yet done too little to remediate the massive mercury and methylmercury problem they created just a few short years ago. To any naysayers out there, if it has a billowing smokestack it is not clean, it is as simple as that.

Link on Gas Plants LNG Opposition

As it stands my opponent has supported UI and its associated interests.

Obama & Huckabee Win, Fox News "Cheats" Ron Paul.

The Iowa Caucus is over and the two big emerging first place winners are Mike Huckabee and Barrack Obama. This victory marks a clear message that Celebrity endorsements do matter in politics. Barrack who was endorsed by Oprah Winfrey saw his numbers rise over Hillary Clinton's, and Mike Huckabee, endorsed by Chuck Norris, saw his numbers rise to a stellar Iowa victory.

This may lead the rest of the flock to seek big celebrities to back them up in their quest for the Presidency of the United States. Ron Paul who has no celebrity endorsers that are omnipresent, saw an impressive gain and fifth place finish with a whopping 10% of the vote. Ron Paul was very excited about his 5Th place finish because he topped the Republican hopeful Rudy Giuliani by a wide margin.

The Fox news network promised the top five winners of the Iowa caucus a seat on their televised debate, Ron Paul who finished 5Th and ahead of Rudy Giuliani, was given the boot. Even though he fared much better than Rudi, Rudi will be taking his place in the Fox news debate.

This poor decision has led to a flurry of protest calling the word of "Fox News" worthless, their stock has seen a decline that may be related to their bias agenda, and unfair treatment of public opinion. Bloggers have gone insofar as renaming their network the "faux" news network in response to their selective reporting.

Expected protests are now underway, even from within Fox's own ranks, to stick to their word and honor their "top five" promise and include Ron Paul. Even if you do not support Ron Paul, I urge everyone to take part in complaining over the injustice of the fox network. The Fox network is part of the reason that America has sunken to a level equal to that of Slovakia on the list of press freedom. This is an injustice against all Americans and the First Amendment.

Massive LNG Update

About a year ago there was an uproar over the implementation of a LNG or Liquefied Natural Gas platform being stationed off the coast of the Long Island Sound here in CT. NY got involved and last I heard Ct's opposition was complicated when the LNG representatives decided to park it a little further away into New York waters.

This LNG was all but a done deal, except it be that some permits were being awaited from the state of NY. today's post is to update you as to the current status of those developments, and the opposition to the projects as a whole.

Currently the opposition remains the same, that boaters object to it, as do residents of the local waterfront. The objections still remain that this barge will be an "eye soar" to look at, as well as pose a hardship to boaters as the safety perimeter is expected to cut off nearly one square mile of the sound.

Political and municipal concerns remain as to the terrorist hazard, and the cost of increased security in and around the harbor, a cost the LNG company does not wish to bear. LNG gas is highly flammable and any terrorist attack on the barge could result in an inferno and billowing smoke cloud over the sound, not to mention the pollution and hazard of a sunken tanker.

Residents are still objecting to the project and a dedicated website is in place at the following link. LNG UPDATE LINK.

Codex Alimentarius and Your Food

Codex Alimentarius is the Latin word for "food code" and was established in 1963 by the Food and Agriculture Association contained within the World Health Organization and the United Nations.

The scope and purpose of the food Codex is to resolve issues pertaining to food safety, these include residual and types of pesticide, meats from animals that may be diseased, unsafe food additives, labeling procedures and many other aspects. In short the "Food Codex" controls everything we eat except it be home grown.

This is especially important to know because the scope of responsibility and level of efficacy is Germain to every American who buys their food from a grocery store. Most of us blindly trust that our interests are being accurately represented and that our food is safe, while others are not entirely content with some of the rules.

One case in point is the new law requiring minerals, herbs, vitamin supplements to be labeled and dosed according to the new codex rules. Many countries who see these items as medicinal in nature fear that their control and regulation, under the authority of the 2008 Codex commission held in Jan. of 2005, has crossed the line from food into medicine. The video excerpt below is from one such person who has added a legal explaination and is worth watching and taking notice of, especially since so many people use the items under review for regulation as medicine.

This change will have a far reaching effect on everyone from Homeopathic services, to body builders, to the allowed nutritional contents labeled on our foods such as cereals. Enjoy the video, and as always feel free to add your opinions.