Gambling feeds crime, poverty

A comprehensive editorial from this paper described the serious and irreversible mistake of legalizing gambling in Hawaii (”;Just say no to gambling,”; Star-Bulletin, Feb. 7). I simply want to underscore the damage, based on my experience in several countries.

First of all, the poor and economically deprived are those who tend to gamble, and where there is gambling there is poverty. Nobody beats the dealer, so money goes into the hands of the syndicate. So, the state gets a share from taxes? This is a feeble excuse for the state to suck the blood of citizen gamblers. Gambling is a disease and addiction just like alcoholism and drug consumption. It destroys families and leads to crime.

Neither Hawaii's residents nor the police department want gambling here. So is there no code of honor? Why are politicians trying to push their undesirable agenda onto the people when they know full well that gambling leads to a sick society? We hope our governor will once more show her fortitude and integrity with a veto, if it gets to that point.

Gambling would ruin Hawaii

Gambling is a cancer to our society, to our state. The promised jobs will not work. The bad things will be more of an outcome than the good things. More crimes will be committed, more stealing and families will be ruined. The people who can least afford to gamble will be those to be affected the most.

Improve Waikiki with casinos

I used to work in the world of Caesar's Palace and Harrah's and Harvey's casinos. The objections to gambling here are based on a knowledge of a different geographical location.

First of all you cannot drive here, so all the bad people who are attracted to only some casinos (the big-city casinos) will not happen. Secondly, the casino can enforce a “;dress code”;; and the casino could have table and slot minimum bets to eliminate individuals who cannot afford to play.

Lastly, the casino would have professional security. The problems that go on outside the casino are frankly already here in Waikiki and the crime is already here. If you go to Lake Tahoe there really is no crime around the casinos; the casinos own the sidewalks.

Imagine Waikiki being the first stop in the United States for the Asian gambling high rollers. I hope we do not, or are not, scaring the gambling interest.

Obama's promise being fulfilled

So Sarah Palin wants to know “;How's that hope-y, change-y stuff workin' out for you?”;

Pretty well, thanks. Our retirement funds are rebounding along with the stock market. Unemployment numbers, while still bad, are improving every month. Science and critical thinking have replaced blind dogma in the White House. We stopped torturing people and haven't illegally invaded a country in years.

That the former, half-term Alaska governor mocks our president for using a TelePrompTer would be funny, if it weren't so hypocritical. Just days before her comment, President Obama stood before 140 Republican members of Congress and, while they read lengthy statement/questions from their notes, he answered any and all questions—no TelePrompTer or notes on his hand necessary.

It's going to take quite a while to undo the damage inflicted by the previous administration, especially with the obstructionist Republicans putting party before country. But hope and change are not only good things—they're alive and well.