Hookers and Casinos...these are a few of my favorite things...

I see that the female newspaper columnists have turned their sites on Casino Gambling and prostitution....the one wants legislation against casinos, the other has decided that legislation against prostitution doesn't work.

Now it seems to me that if laws against prostitution merely drive it into the shadows....causing crime and marginalization of both the men and women who participate in it, then what do you suppose laws against gambling would do?

Ah well, read it yourself....thank goodness the problems in this great nation are no greater than this!

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Edmonton/Mindelle_Jacobs/2005/04/03/980826.html..........Mindell Jacobs take on laws based on morality. She feels that any law which cannot be clearly defined cannot be clearly and reasonably enforced...for instance...the "community standards" test. Makes sense...commit a robbery in a back alley or commit a robbery in a restaurant...still a robbery. Turn a trick in my village...heaven help you, but turn a trick in your home... fine. A snippet here, just to whet your appetite....
"Given the difficulties in defining obscenity - the so-called community standards test - I think the provision is more troubling than it's worth. We could scrap the obscenity law tomorrow and still bring the full weight of the law down on those who inflict harm on others.

Another law we could do without is the one that bans "immoral, indecent or obscene" performances. If people want to watch sexual theatrics in adults-only venues, who cares? Where's the harm?

It's also illegal to mail anything "obscene, indecent, immoral or scurrilous." You can get two years in jail for that kind of mischief. But how is it determined what's illegal? The tricky community standard of tolerance test.

As long as no children are involved in any of these aforementioned activities and no coercion or concrete harm result, why should they be illegal?

And on the prostitution issue, there's overwhelming evidence that prohibition has caused - not prevented - tremendous harm."
(There is much more....worth the read!)




http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Columnists/Toronto/Christina_Blizzard/2005/04/03/980964.html Christina Blizzard's article on gambling. Here is a snippet.... "Anne Murray is entertainment," says New Democrat Peter Kormos. "Gambling is gambling."

Kormos is right. There's is nothing wrong with a bit of a flutter for those who can afford it. But for those who cannot, it is a tax on the stupid. Gambling punishes people who can't do math or figure out that the odds are stacked against them.

Fifteen years ago, there was no legalized gambling in this province. Ironically, it was the NDP government, of which Kormos was a part, that built the Windsor casino, a move he now regrets. And the Tories just expanded the program. "