'When Every Problem Looks Like a Nail & Your Only Tool Is a Hammer'

Well, nobody is ever going to accuse Virginia Congressman Bob Goodlatte of being a libertarian.  They might genuinely accuse him of being boneheaded, but they'll never pin the libertarian rap on him.

I just read his letter to the editor of the Roanoke Times that was published this morning (see "Gambling must stay within a state's border") and I marvel at how obtuse his reasoning is when it comes to the issue of internet gambling. If he had just left it at "the government holds a strict monopoly on it and don't screw with the government," I might understand him.

But this?

"Under current law, states have the ability to allow gambling, including Internet gambling, as long as ... [blah blah blah]."

Too funny. Too weird. "States have the ability to allow gambling"? States are in the active - and lucrative - business of gambling, dude.

But that's only funny, in a pathetic sort of way. This is shameful:

"It is common for illegal gambling businesses to boldly operate until law enforcement finds and stops them. This has turned state laws against gambling on their heads."

Really? Doesn't it simply mean that law enforcement failed in its duty to "find and stop them"?  What new piece of legislation is going to get them to do their freaking jobs?

And the justification for all this? Well, I could rest my case by telling you that Goodlatte quotes disgraceful Attorney General Eric Holder as being the foundation for his argument. No, I'm not kidding.

The quote from Obama's Legalist-in-Chief:

"We do not support the legalization of offshore gambling. When one looks at the negative impact that that has had on the lives of individuals -- the potential it has for problems that it might create even on a community-wide basis, it just seems to us that that is not something that we would necessarily want to support."

Which means, I'm sure, that this Holder fella is opposed to needle exchange programs and bungie jumping for the same reason.

Sure he is.

But getting beyond that nitwit, there is this from Goodlatte:

"Internet gambling has been used by organized crime to raise and launder money."

So have Moneygram and Western Union. And the Cayman Islands.  Are you going to ban them?

"The spread of gambling brings with it the onslaught of a host of social ills including bankruptcy, addiction, family breakdown and even suicide."

Oh, please.  Do we really want to start banning everything that people might become addicted to? Here, Bob, is but a partial list:

● Alcohol
● Aspirin
● Aerosol sniffing
● Action - any activity that is risky and produces adrenalin
● Adrenalin
● Amphetamines
● Anti Depressants
● Anime [look it up]
● Applause
● Art
● Arson
● Asthma
● Attention
● Authority
● Auto Racing

And that's just the A's, big guy.

Are you going to ban them all?

And if gambling is so bad, what do you plan on doing about the largest gambling establishment in the Commonwealth of Virginia?  As it's affectionately known here, the Scratchosky Gameosky Virginia Lotterosky?

Just how awful is gambling again, Mr. Gambling Brings With It The Onslaught Of a Host Of Social Ills?

Are you going to ban Virginia?

Look, here's the cold, hard truth: Stupid people are going to do things that are detrimental to their life spans.  Live with it.  Or not.  As the ... war ... on drugs has proven, you're not going to stop those stupid people from wrecking their lives no matter how many laws you pass anyway.

I don't expect much from a lot of Republicans.  But please.  If I want someone climbing in my shorts trying to save me from myself I'll get a hold of a Democrat, thank you.