MSNBC: Addicted gambler files $20 million casino suit

Her case? Casino management “had a duty to notice her compulsive gambling problem and cut her off.” I call bullshit, just on principle alone.

True, when she went on a multi-day bender and passed out at the tables, management should have had security take her up to her room… nothing worse than trying to play a hand with someone passed out or snoring next to you. But seriously, this lawsuit feels likeis more bunk than normal. Maybe because I follow the gambling industry. Maybe because I’m still bitter that it’s because of people like this that I can play poker online in WA state: I lose a right because a subset can’t control their own actions and we – as a free society – must save them from themselves.

With this woman, though… how on earth can she expect anyone – aside from herself – to monitor her gambling and have them decide when she’s gambled too much? Is the casino supposed to know that this once-lawyer was stealing money from clients to bet? She showed up with money – that’s all they can be aware of. Add to that the fact that she’s actively suing six casinos in two states. What the fuck does she think? That there’s a registry of “problem gamblers” actively reviewed and scanned on each table in Atlantic City and Las Vegas? If she’s so convinced that she has a problem now, why didn’t she get herself help while she was obviously aware of the side effects? Beyond that, some people equate their gambling problems with drug addiction. To that I ask: if your main dealer refused to sell to you, don’t you think you’d find someone else to conduct business with?

Ridiculous. I think I’ll file this in the “American Pastime” folder: I’m convinced that shirking responsibility has replaced baseball as our most favorite hobby. What’s depressing to me is that the file folder is getting awfully full.

Wonder if I can blame someone else for that and sue…

Heard today on the news that some officer is refusing to follow orders. Those orders are that he’s to be deployed to Iraq. His problem? It’s “immoral”.

Riiiiiight. No disrespect intended, but don’t you sacrifice a chunk of your personal reservations when you sign up for military service? Aren’t you expected to follow orders, even if you don’t agree with them? Aside from things that can be punished as a war crime – i.e. shooting civilians for playtime target practice – how do personal politics fit into it? I mean if you could never ever shoot another human in a combat situation, would you join the army and then refuse to fight? Go work in a slaughterhouse if you might consider yourself slightly Hindu?

Of course now that the media is involved, they’ll have a new poster boy to rally around, when the truth is that this dude should be swinging from a rope… imagine if half of our armed forces woke up tomorrow and said “Hey, today’s Wednesday – I don’t feel like being a solder today”?

Ridiculous.