Universe On The Couch

Two recent developments have brought this issue to my mind: A new center to study it and the experience of a co-worker.

Last week a university announced a grant from guess who, one of the giant gambling tribes, to study the impact of gaming. Another bullshit major? And I thought Big Pharm was shameless. You can count on objectivity there.

In fact, there is very little at all in the media on the negatives of Indian Gaming. Of course when I check the daily news on-line daily I see guess the giant ads. And the biggest ad sign at the old ballgame last weekend. So let's not upset our big cash cow advertisers.

The other is an anecdote. The co-worker is renting out a house he bought and fixed up. He rented to a local tribe member. She takes in $13K a month for not doing jack shit. That's 156K Bucky. More than most doctors, lawyers and hell, almost everyone. And what does this bitch do. Drugs with gang members. When she failed to pay the rent, she was evicted. They vandalized the place. A hole in the bathtub. Resins on the walls. It appears they were cooking methamphetamine there. The place was so noisy, neighbors were thinking about moving. They even threatened the neighbors. Yea one story I know.

Now I was all for Indian Gaming some years back. For two reasons. One is that gambling in the pocket of the governments means less out of my pocket. I am in that upper middle class that gets raked over the coals. We pay way more than even the middle middle class. The poor pay little to nothing. The rich have all sorts of dodges. I think gambling is asinine. A way for fools and their money to separate. But people love it and it's voluntary.

The other reason is the Indians have been poorly treated. No real need to expand on that. So I figure its the least we can do. And if it lets them have good health care and education without me paying taxes-cool.

But a few things have made me re-think it.