Together We Can Raise Taxes

Is this guy for real? I mean, did we seriously elect a talentless fuck-up like Deval Patrick to serve as our governor for the next four years? Is he honest-to-God serious when he states that "if done the right way" casino gambling can bankroll this state into the next century?

Cadillac Deval is proposing that we build not one, not two, but THREE casinos in the Bay State in order to raise "badly needed revenues" for all of those social programs he promised in order to get elected. Citing that billions of dollars funnel from Massachusetts wallets straight into Connecticut casinos, he is trying to convince everyone that we can build the same thing right in our own backyards.

Take a good hard look at the riff-raff hanging out at the Raynham-Taunton dog track and you've got a crystal clear picture of what your New Bedford and Chicopee casinos are going to eventually look like. After all, let's consider for a moment the main reason why the Connecticut casinos are so successful: 1. first off, they're in CT, the wealthiest state in the entire union; 2. A good number of their high-rolling patrons are ridiculously well-paid executives working for metro-NY corporations; 3. Mohegan and Foxwoods are on the beautiful and historic CT shoreline, thus giving people an enticing non-gambling option; 4. Upscale dining tailored towards a clientele that doesn't consider the Olive Garden to be high-brow Italian fare.

I love my state, but it's the New Yorkers who make the CT casinos as chic as they are attempting to be. The folks who planned Mohegan and Foxwoods took one look at Atlantic City and decided to build the polar opposite. It's certainly not Las Vegas, but CT casinos are a heck of a lot more glamorous than the second rate crap we're going to get in Massachusetts.

Personally, I'm in favor of simply building dozens of affordable shopping centers (eg: Wal-Mart) across the Commonwealth. Much like a casino, a well-positioned Kohls can provide scores of jobs and provide their communities with badly needed tax revenues. It might not be as exciting as a casino, but as a resident of this state I can sleep a little bit better at night knowing that someone is trading their gambling addiction for value shopping.