Business Politics – 2006 December

According to a Philadelphia Inquirer article, the Atlantic City Council voted unanimously to ban smoking on the floor of every casino in Atlantic City. The ban will go in effect as early as April 15.

Last week, Nevada Judge Douglas Herndon upheld the new anti-smoking law. Although he threw out any criminal penalties associated with smoking in the wrong places, those who violate the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act can be slapped with a $100 fine for each infraction.

Casinos, strip clubs, and standalone bars in Las Vegas still allow smoking. However, there are some exceptions. Poker rooms are almost all smoke-free. Sam’s Town allows smoking in the poker room from Midnight to 8am and Fiesta Station has 24 hour smoking in their poker room.

Maybe Las Vegas should launch a campaign to target heavily addicted smoking gamblers from the East Coast?

“Come to Las Vegas, where you can smoke three packs a day while you play and then get a hooker afterwards!”

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 2:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With a few new “concessions” to appease Democrats (damn the consumer), AT&T;’s acquisition of BellSouth draws ever closer and is nigh unstoppable at this point given that the deal may be approved as early as today.

(Reuters)” The No. 1 U.S. telephone carrier said it would sell off certain wireless airwaves in the 2.5 gigahertz band, offer a $19.95 per month stand-alone basic high-speed Internet service and for up to 24 months would not charge content providers like Google Inc.[…] to speed their services to consumers.”

Heading briefly down memory lane, let’s revisit an interview of Chairman and CEO Ed Whiteacre by BusinessWeek on 11/07/2005.

“How concerned are you about Internet upstarts like Google […], MSN, Vonage, and others?How do you think they’re going to get to customers? Through a broadband pipe. Cable companies have them. We have them. Now what they would like to do is use my pipes free, but I ain’t going to let them do that because we have spent this capital and we have to have a return on it. So there’s going to have to be some mechanism for these people who use these pipes to pay for the portion they’re using. Why should they be allowed to use my pipes?”

Besides the shocking hubris evident in the declaration that the “pipes” are HIS, it demonstrates nothing less than an unhinged mental state—one that knows nothing save logic (however twisted) that supports, and is motivated exclusively by, the increase of profit and control. As well, judging from recent actions on the part of the latest administration croney, FCC Chairman Martin, any hopes for future FCC actions or practices in the public interest are dim indeed.

Net Neutrality recently won a notable battle in its efforts to not be disemboweled. However, it should be remembered and noted here that there still exists no meaningful or forceful legislation protecting the concept—any wording that would have done so was forcefully kept out of the newest telecom legislation, still leaving Net Neutrality on very shaky ground.

All of the above and more add up to nothing more than AT&T;, Inc. (as opposed to the old AT&T;, Corp. that was broken up in 1984—wow, it’s amazing just how completely different both are) and the FCC holding the following discussion:

AT&T;: Hi, FCC, nice to see you again! Been what, bit over 20 years? **hand-shaking, passing of lobby money and gifts** We’d like to go ahead and acquire BellSouth now. See, we’ve decided we want to achieve monstrosity status beyond that of our former selves, but to do that we need to take this next step. What this will do is give us the warhammer we need to begin hammering out pesky problems like new technologies and business models that are preventing the growth of our money mountain.
FCC: Most of the public won’t care, but some of them are gonna scream pretty loud about this.
AT&T;: Just don’t mention it to them.
CITIZEN: Hey, waitaminute. Not cool. Don’t businesses and consumers already pay for a “pipe”? If they need more capacity don’t they have to pay for it already?
AT&T;: **looks at FCC**
FCC: Bailiff, this is a closed session.
BAILIFF: **tasers CITIZEN**
FCC: **faces AT&T;** That would be nice, but probably won’t work. Some of those bastards are f****n nosy.
AT&T;: But we’ve given you and Congress over $230 million since ’98! What the hell?
FCC: **shrugs** Weeeell, inflation and all….we might need for you to give some “concessions” so the dough-brained Dems will get on board.
AT&T;: How about this—You give us the warhammer we need, we’ll promise not to use it on the public or other companies for, saaaaaay, up to 24 months?
FCC: **looks around** Dems?
DEMS: Huh? Where are we?
FCC: Up To 24 months is a long time, right? I mean, it’s practically forever.
DEMS: Yeah. Good, great, grand, wonderful—just do whatever. We have to figure out whose wagon we want to jump on for 2008—can’t screw that one up. **proceed to talking amongst themselves again** Obama was really cute in his speech yesterday. I know, but did you see Hillary? I think she just got her hair did; I’m thinking of getting mine like that.
FCC: **turns back to AT&T;** I think we’re good.
AT&T;: Thanks, we’ll let George know you can keep the job.

**********
These concessions serve to let us know one important thing above all else. AT&T; is of the mind that within 24 months of merger approval, further legal maneuvers and lobbying will enable them to put their new giant hammer to use. And if it takes longer, so what? Nothing will be lost, and it might work out better if they do just wait beyond that period. If the period of 24 months is exceeded, they can trump up how magnanimous they’ve been for so long, but due to economic “conditions” and stagnant growth in profits, they must start charging for the “free pipes” they’ve been “giving away” for so long. After all, if they can’t charge for using the “free pipes” they just might collapse.

What a tragedy that would be.

Posted by Human Head at 8:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Gerald R. Ford will be remembered as the man that pardoned President Richard Nixon, thus ending a turbulent period in US history that had divided the country and disgraced the government. President Ford had the courage to do the very unpopular deed knowing it would be political suicide; but, he knew the pardon was all that could restore the ailing country’s faith and trust in the Presidency after the Watergate scandal.

I will always remember President Ford as the Commander in Chief when Saigon fell and the Vietnam War finally came to an end. He was the only person to serve as President of the United States without having been elected, succeeding to the office as the 38th US President after Richard Nixon resigned. President Ford received the country’s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1999 for his unselfish act of courage.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has decided to continue on with his trip to South America instead of attending the funneral of former President Gerald Ford who passed away on Tuesday.

According to a Yahoo news blurb:

“Incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will miss the state funeral for former President Gerald Ford at the Capitol Rotunda on Saturday night, opting instead to lead a delegation to South America with an expected stop at the Machu Picchu Inca ruins.”

Posted by Dr. Pauly at 2:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Edwards announced his Presidential Candidacy, not on a television show, but rather on his website. Edward’s is considered by many to be one of the top three candidates the Democratic party.
[Washington Post]

The Gibbons scandal continues to linger on and while the charges against our new Governor have been dropped for a lack of sufficient evidence a second investigation continues into Gibbons associates impeding and obstructing the legal process. I predict nothing will come of this. [CBS]

Finally I leave you with a Barney Frank Bill O’Reilly Interview on the topic of income redistribution.

Posted by pokerprof at 2:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

‘The Mid-West is not immune to market volatility’ according to Forbes which is predicting a further slowing in new home development and a flat 2007 for home sales. Coupled with the recent report from Newsweek that puts Las Vegas at the top of the list of cities with an excess of condo and homes on the market so the next few months will offer rare oppertunities to buyers looking for a great deal in the next. [Forbes | Newsweek]

[See also: Businessweek | MSN]

Posted by pokerprof at 4:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Gleaner has been running his unofficial unscientific democratic caucus presidential candidate survey for a couple of days and so far the top three contenders are Bill Richardson with 19% of the vote, Barack Obama with 22% and leading the way is Al Gore with an astounding 25%, either Gleaner’s readers have a Gore bias or the new penguin flick did more from global warming awareness then I thought. Others worth mentioning include John Edwards with 16% and Hillary Clinton whose tied with Gen. Wesley Clark at 9%.

Personally I’m leaning towards Bill Richardson both as a person and a policy maker. The fact that he’s one of the worlds great diplomats is a major plus too.

Posted by pokerprof at 4:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Federal District Court Judge Hendon ruled that no one should be arrested and jailed for violating the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act by smoking and people caught smoking in banned areas should be cited by law enforcement (health district officers instead of Metro police) with a civil offense, similar to a traffic ticket with a cap of $100 on penalties. According to Judge Herndon the smokers will be the ones fined, not the owners, at least for now. Teams of lawyers are awaiting the appeal opportunities created by this issue.

Could the Nevada smoking ban be unconstitutional because of vagueness or perhaps because of the discriminatory nature of the statute which treats major properties (casinos with unlimited gaming licenses) apart from small business? These are the major arguments employed by the small business tavern owners in an attempt to strike down the new voter passed law. Unfortunately for the tavern owners the major properties are throwing their influence to enforcing the law. They filed their own 27 page brief outlining their support for the law.

So, it looks like the small business owners, the entrepreneurs, are caught in a public interest vice with those citizens demanding the ban squeezing from one side while the major corporations use their weight to ‘back the public good’ and squeeze from the other side.

Of course, I never supported either Question 4 or 5 since both seemed destined to lead to the same conclusion, expanding government powers without careful scrutiny .

See Also:
Original Question 4 & 5 Article.
LVRJ
Nevada Appeal
Vegas Pundit (all the court filings in .pdf)

Posted by pokerprof at 5:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Let’s see. I learned that Laura Bush has a bit of the skin cancer on her leg. It’s good that I know that because it reminds me of the inherent and ever present danger posed by the (some might say, Islamofacist) sun. I learned that the search for the three hikers on the mountain is scaling down, but the “human drama” (and consequent news coverage) still has plenty of get up and go. I also was informed, however briefly, that the reports are out saying inflation has increased by 2%, rather than the expected 0.5%. Directly following this was an oblique report about how scary it was that holiday sales are lower than expected. It was the “expected” that got me thinking. Therefore, I, being a good American promptly went out and maxed out all of my credit cards.

I’m not worried. Soon, everyone will do the same after realizing their obvious folly. See it works like this. If we buy more stuff (as analysts expect), the economy does good, and that makes us all feel good. It’s what being American is about. If one says that they don’t feel good about something, well, that just seems un-American, and that makes me feel not good. If I feel not good then it must mean that I am becoming un-American and I certainly don’t want that. I should probably go buy something now, just in case. I’m sure there’s a new upgrade to something out there that I need.

Here’s what I missed.
“Bush, who gave an interview to the newspaper on Tuesday, said he had instructed new Defense Secretary Robert Gates to report back to him with a plan to increase ground forces, the Post said.”

The article went on to state:
“It is an accurate reflection that this ideological war we’re in is going to last for a while and that we’re going to need a military that’s capable of being able to sustain our efforts and to help us achieve peace,” he said.
**sigh**

Why didn’t I see it before? It was probably all of that unbidden freedom of speech drowning out my ability to properly relax. Thanks to Newt telling me why, I’m firmly committed to shutting that stuff down ASAP. Remember, can’t relax, can’t feel good, can’t be American. If you don’t feel good about the Glorious War, I don’t blame you, and neither does George. He realizes, like you probably do, that the reason you’re worried is that we’re losing. But he also realizes, like you probably don’t, that the reason we’re losing is that we haven’t thrown enough bodies onto the pyre. I mean, what do we expect? Any idiot knows that the only way to make peace is to deal more death, and to do that one has to have more troops. Jaysus, you people have no idea what it is to lead. You just go on your merry way not buying stuff and free speeching it up when the country has serious war business to attend to.
“Gen. James Conway, the commander of the U.S. Marine Corps, also has expressed concerns about the strains being placed on his force and suggested last month it may need to grow.”

Just like the economy. Is it coming into focus now? This is the call for all good Americans to get out there and “shock and awe” some analyst expectations with our mighty debt.

With the largest ever naval deployment to Persian Gulf, a healthy injection of troops, and a grateful public wielding a mighty debt hammer, we’ll have those dangerous terrorists crushed in no time and then we can finally deal with that nasty sun.

Feels just like a Mission Accomplished.

Posted by Human Head at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the October of 2001 Senators Daschle and Leahy received some anthrax in the mail. Congress was completely shut down. In the beginnings of the oppressive hysteria that followed 9/11, this incident was the sneeze that sent America headlong over the edge of the abyss. Recall, if you will (and if you can’t recall, look it up), that these attacks conveniently targeted the two biggest detractors of the Patriot Act which at the time had a great deal of ramming force behind it-a Patriot Act that was sitting on John Ashcroft’s desk on Sept. 10 (for the numerically challenged, that’s before 9/11).

Five Years Later.

Five years and no updates-I wonder quite often these days why they haven’t been screaming much louder at this outrage much sooner. If this was you, or one of your family/friends, would you sit patiently and wait? And hey, perhaps they have been screaming long and loud, but the media just now decided it was time to let the braindeads know. It doesn’t seem too unreasonable seeing that the only thing that got any real news coverage beyond the sound bite (or what whizzed by on the hard-hitting ticker) in the US today was a serial killer suspect in Britain, a blurb about Robert Gates private swearing in ceremony, and three guys who are lost (and likely dead) on a mountain. Thank goodness there’s not too much else going on in the world-I might be inclined not to pay any attention to what they tell me (oh, wait).

Perhaps these Senators have been patient and hopeful because they have an idea of what they are really up against.

The thing that separates what happened to these senators (and their staff, some of whom were killed) from the rest of the folks involved was that it was anthrax in its most potent form–as in super weapons grade-a potency that, properly analyzed and investigated, would have led back to very few places, all of them within our government.

So says me? So says Robert Boyle. From the article:

Boyle is a leading American professor, practitioner and advocate of international law. He was responsible for drafting the Biological Weapons Anti-Terrorism Act of 1989, the American implementing legislation for the 1972 Biological Weapons Convention. He served on the Board of Directors of Amnesty International (1988-1992), and represented Bosnia- Herzegovina at the World Court. Professor Boyle teaches international law at the University of Illinois, Champaign. He holds a Doctor of Law Magna Cum Laude as well as a Ph.D. in Political Science, both from Harvard University.

I’m sure if anyone is going to know about this subject, he likely will.

In case your curiosity still isn’t piqued-perhaps you would like to hear from the horses mouth(click to listen to the stream-Dr. Boyles interview will be in hour three and will keep refeeding until the next live stream tomorrow. If your reading this after 12/18 just dig around, you’ll find it.)

It was shortly after Dr. Boyles went to the FBI with his info that the spore database in Ames, IA was ordered destroyed. The FBI has been completely mum on the subject since the first Patriot Act was successfully rammed through. When this tyrannical piece of legislation came up for renewal and was facing a heavier resistance, the same pattern of activity repeated, only this time with alarms relating to nerve agents that cleared out the Senate.

All in a long line of government sponsored terror that has been with us for decades. I can’t help but wonder what our governmental nannies might have in store for us and/or the world over the holidays. Hopefully nothing. Perhaps they’ll be taking a break with a tastefully thrown and terrorist-free holiday extravaganza hosted by Pastor Taggert. All you can eat gay hookers and meth–don’t forget the navel mistletoe at the door!

This is government holding the reigns of our future. This is the administration, rife with war hungry neocons and Zionists, that is killing us. This is the government that seeks to intrude on your life in an ever-increasing manner. This is the government that, if it’s corruption was combined and placed in a photograph, would look like a leprosotic and overused hooker vagina pulsing with a virulent strain of ghonnorratic syphillitosis of the most advanced stage. This is our government that routinely tries, and often succeeds, with efforts to pass legislation that “helps” us by stripping one and all of every last liberty. Pathetically ignorant legislators do what they are told as the bordering-on-retarded-but-oh-so-festivally-plump citizen mass heeds the droning clarion call for new and larger wars, new and larger heaps of human misery. The list is so long it threatens the very cycle of the 24 hour day just trying to mention it all.

Patrick Leahy will take his seat at the head of the table on the Senate Judiciary Committee when the new congress convenes in January, and it is there that he will have his greatest real opportunity to begin using his subpoena power to start the arrest of this frenetic unreality. It may also be the last, as he represents a final few that might have the integrity along with the courage to do so. It’s not just one of the last chances for him get closer to the truth personally, but a last chance for Americans to get closer to the truth as a country. Pray that he uses it. Demand that he use it. Contact the Senator and let him know that there are still thinking Americans that are behind him that will help him push for the truth that is so desperately lacking.

Bipartisanship be goddamned.Read more from the Human Head at his blog.

Posted by Human Head at 8:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Harrah’s Entertainment will be sold to Apollo Management Group, the New York-based buyout firm run by Leon Black, and Texas Pacific Group for an estimated deal of $90 per share according to rumors heard on the Las Vegas Strip. The Special Committee made up of Harrah’s board members has been in closed door meetings and apparently decided to accept the buyout valued at close to $17 billion. The two private investor groups’ will take the casino giant private thus allowing a greater degree of flexibility without the close scrutiny of a publicly traded company. Expect an official announcement from the company within the next few days.

A buyout by Apollo and Texas Pacific has the potential to deeply impact the Las Vegas casino industry and will almost certainly involve changes for the Harrah’s Entertainment owned World Series of Poker brand.

Posted by flipchipro at 9:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nevada’s own white knight, Harry Reid (pictured right), together with Bill Clinton are making sure the Las Vegas Presidential Democratic Caucus meet everyone’s expectations. Set for January 19, 2008 the eyes of the Nation will turn to Sin City for this political experiment. According to the source article the focus for Nevada will be “water rights, nuclear waste disposal, health care, education and maintaining military installations”. [From WRAL Via LVG]

The Gibbons transition team is now over 200 strong and Gibbons own communication director, Brent Boynton notes that “because the meetings are in the hands of the various committee chairs, the Gibbons team doesn’t know who has met or how often.” Indeed. [Sun]

In other news Monty Partners a law firm specializing in immigration, employment law and labor relations has opened a Henderson Office, making this piece on Immigration from LVIB a bit more interesting, however, I believe the importance of Immigration is slightly exaggerated as I believe the topic on most American minds if the all-mighty SNAFU that is Iraq and more broadly the Middle-East.

For more on the web check out Raghand, another Vegas local.

Posted by pokerprof at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Tracinda Corporation which already has majority ownership at 56% wants to scoop up these 15 million shares at $55.00 ea. An offer which MGM Mirage has taken a neutral position on, but one I would reject.MGM Mirage has an incredible future and it’s recent partnership with the UAE combined with having the first Vegas Acropolis will continue to fuel the stock’s swift rise, something that would make even Hermes envious.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Citing the Israeli model of education, because, after all how different could a major U.S. city be from a theocracy in the most second most war torn region of the Middle East possibly be… Give teachers guns, a better idea might be to take all that money for guns and give the teachers a raise.

Bob, to say “…insane people don’t go on shooting sprees around people who have weapons,” overlooks the argument that insane people don’t go on shooting sprees because they don’t have a gun handy, instead, they resort to fists or a handy object like a pen.

If you clicked that last link a concept of “insane people” should be fresh in your mind, and I just can’t see knowingly putting a gun near someone like that. Be it the student or the teacher.

Of course, Bob’s not alone, other States have similar ideas.[LVN via LVG]

Posted by pokerprof at 8:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Interesting to see a State with so few citizens gain control over so much of the national political real estate. The most recent sign of Nevada’s political ascension comes from Rep. Shelly Berkley being named to the House Ways and Means Committee; that is, the committee that holds the Congressional purse strings.

Rep. Berkley is beginning her fifth congressional term and will be vacating her seats on the Veterans’ Affairs, International Relations and Transportation and Infrastructure Committees

Posted by pokerprof at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While researching some of the agreements and statutes that govern the Silver State I read the Nevada State Online Privacy Policy. I found it rather disturbing to read this clause…

6.1.2. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 2001 Nevada websites directed to children under 13, that knowingly collect information from children, must comply with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act of 2001. However, visitors are cautioned that the state has no way of determining the age of a person volunteering personally identifiable information online or by email. As such, this information will be treated the same as information given by an adult, and may be subject to public access. [emphasis mine]

So, you have to follow the act with reguard to children; however, we treat all information as coming from an adult… so, it becomes a moot point.

Full text of the Nevada State Privacy Policy.

Posted by pokerprof at 1:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The latest clear cut case of purchased legislation puts an entrepreneur out of business and raises the price of milk .20 cents or so. For Reid’s part, he was a major force throughout this legislation and thanks to some crafty political posturing Reid was able to get the milk industry protection through the Senate with barely a whisper.

The bill was written by Charles M. English Jr. of Thelen Reid & Priest on Behalf of his clients which include Dean Foods, Shamrock Foods, United Dairymen of Arizona and the Dairy Institute of California. Reid was tapped by tapped by David Coon, VP at Anderson Dairy, which is building a new $40 million dollar facility here in Vegas. [Washington Post]

In other news, smokers can rejoice as a court ordered injunction keeps Question 5 at bay, at least, for a couple of weeks. The complaint raises an Article 5, unconstitutional for vagueness issue for every term and phrase used. More realistically it raises an Article 14 discrimination argument which basically says the passage of Quiestion #5 unfairly discriminates against small business owners. This has some meat to it since the big gaming entities have a comfortable exception carved out and only the stand alone bars, taverns and saloons are really forced to bear the incredible economic weight of this misguided effort to restrict freedom of both person and property.

The full text of the complaint. [Vegas Pundit]

Posted by pokerprof at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was reported in the Boston Globe that Harrah’s Entertainment spent $17.8 million to change the state constitution according to filings with the state Board of Elections, in a measure defeated by 63 percent of voters.

Save Our State apparently spent approximately $4 million to defeat the proposal, helped by nearly $1.1 million given by gaming entity UTGR Inc. DBA Lincoln Park LLC which filed its report with the board on December 5, 2006.

It was reported that Harrah’s spent some of their money for pollsters; either the pollsters were incredibly inept or Harrah’s incredibly spendthrifty in a vote that wasn’t close enough to buy.

Posted by Zounds Off at 3:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

[Small update on the patch: Comes from the F117 program and a as close as you’ll get to the real thing is for sale at the Bell Weather Gallery]

Trevor Paglen who has taken numerous photos of classified, need to know etc… objects and people is putting on his latest exhibit which features a lot of Las Vegas shots.

It also includes “Salt Pit”, Shomali Plains Northeast of Kabul, Afghanistan (2006) the most infamous of the CIA’s secret prisons, ten minutes outside of Kabul… lovely. The exhibit, sadly, is being displayed in New York at Bellwether Gallery, 134 Tenth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10001.

Of course, all I really want is the patch pictured to the right.

Story and source image from Artnet

Posted by pokerprof at 4:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons, Nevada Assembly Speaker Barbara Buckley and Clark County Commission Chairman Rory Reid all took part in a 4.5 hour negotiation that ensures Nurses with the Service Employees International Union will return to work at Valley Health facilities which is part of Universal Health Services of Pennsylvania. [From the RJ]

MGM will be developing luxury non-gaming hotels and resorts in Abu Dhabi, Las Vegas and the United Kingdom. This is a partnership agreement with United Arab Emirates company Mubadala Development. [From the MGM]

Posted by pokerprof at 8:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From the LVCC:

Reporting to the President & CEO, the Vice President of Government Affairs develops and oversees the implementation of the Chamber’s government affairs programs. The Vice President promotes the Chamber’s policy positions and issues relevant to the business community at the local, state and federal levels. Coordinates the Government Affairs Committee-the volunteer committee charged with overseeing the Chamber’s political program. Establishes the government affairs budget including political action committee fundraising development. Engages in extensive internal (Chamber board, staff and membership) and external (elected officials/public/media) written and verbal communications. Supervises the Chamber’s on-site survey research facility used for both internal and external (revenue-generating) purposes. As a member of the President’s Executive Team, actively supports other Chamber executives and initiatives and participates in Chamber events and functions.

According to InBusiness this is a job that will require…

Someone practiced in the art of rhetorical gymnastics, whether it be explaining to thousands of small-business members why a gross receipts tax that exempted them was bad or explaining to them why a payroll tax that directly affects them is good…

Of course the Las Vegas Chamber is another of these “Visor’s Up*” organizations that seems to take credit for things they have nothing to do with (eg the marijuana initiative Question 7 Failing) and completely overlook the major issues where they proved completely toothless and ineffective (eg Question 5, the Smoking Ban Passing).

Sounds like LVCC needs more then just a new VP of Govt. Affairs to me.

*By “Visor’s Up” I refer to any entity that is completely biased towards itself to the extent it no longer is in touch with the reality. Think of a lawn with only a tiny patch of green, now put on a hat and bend it until you only see the speck of green, this might fool some, other will say take off the damn hat and face reality!

Posted by pokerprof at 1:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Plaque notes that it might not actually look anything like this.

Posted by pokerprof at 8:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I caught part of the 9th Annual American Democracy Conference
on C-Span, well worth watching.

Panelists were:

Fred Barnes: Weekly Standard Executive Editor
Interesting Comments/Notes:

• Expect Bush to make Recess Appointments for 8 Applet Court Judges.
• YouTube had ‘seemly small incidents blown out of proportion’
• ‘Every moment is live, and could make or break an election’

Michael Toner: Chairman of the FEC
Interesting Comments/Notes:

• • No Internet Regulation for campaign/political and wants it to stay that way

• • PAC’s spent over 1 Billion US for the first time

• • Corporate PACs are taking hard money… and the sky is the limit

• • The State of election administration in the US remains embarrassing

• • Has a two pronged solution
    • 1. More resources for procession of ballots
    • 2. Require Professional Staffing as opposed to ‘6.00 an hour 14 hour a day volunteers

• • Didn’t Comment on the need for a paper trail

• served as Chief Counsel of the Republican National Committee

John Lapp — Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Executive Director
Interesting Comments/Notes:

• • Macho Democrats are credible messengers

• • Macho Democrats Sub-Types
    • Veteran
    • Quarter-Back
    • Ex-Spook

• • Embrace Technology

• Link between corruption and democratic victory not as strong as it’s been made out to be.

John Dickerson: Slate Magazine
Interesting Comments:

• • Interactivity is an investment in people

Donna Brazile: Democrat Political Consultant
Interesting Comments / Notes:

• Focused on the 18,000 missing Congressional votes in the Florida 13th District
• Machines in the 13th district are paperless

Hosted by:

Larry Sabato: Virginia Professor of Politics
Interesting Comments / Notes:
Exactly Predicted the numbers of the seats the Democrats picked up in the House and Senate.

Posted by pokerprof at 5:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A group led by Penn National and hedge fund D.E. Shaw is considering making a cash and stock offer for Harrah’s Entertainment, first reported by CNBC on Tuesday.

Lehman Brothers and Wachovia Corp. are set to provide financing for the Penn-Shaw deal.

Penn National’s bid comes after a failed bid by private equity firms Apollo Management and Texas Pacific Group.

Read more in PokerPages.com

Posted by Zounds Off at 10:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Should a casino in Hungary be able to call itself the ‘Las Vegas Casino’ without sanction from the great City of Las Vegas, Nevada, which I, as a resident have a vested right to the use of? More abstractly, should (Nevada,Federal,International) Trademark law prevent non-citizens of a (district,state,country) from unlicensed use?

To answer yes, is an interesting theoretical extension of trademark law, which historically doesn’t protect geographical names; and as such fails to protect the public from indiscriminate use, such as a recent video game with terrorists set in Las Vegas.

I suggest we first prohibit those not in a given area (e.g. Vegas) from unlicensed use and second, allow citizens of that area to use the name as a vested right of being a resident, including corporations, of course.

This would allow me as a resident of Las Vegas to have a business/brand that incorporates the name Las Vegas, e.g. The Las Vegas Blog while those who are not of the city must seek license with an authority representing the area.

It boils down to allowing major destinations and landmarks a method of protecting the established brand and goodwill that’s the vested interest of its citizens, would should enjoy use themselves. Las Vegas Gleaner? Free Use, Las Vegas Blog? Free Use, Hungary Casino? Pay Up!