I did something totally irrational the other day, something that goes against my principles. I bought two Powerball tickets.
I knew the chances of winning were one in 175,223,510. The odds of becoming a movie star are better. But someone is going to have to win this thing eventually, I reasoned, and it might as well be me.
Paul Waldman is right that the media would do us all a service by focusing more on who wins elections than on the expectations game, which is itself largely a media creation.
An accused swindler who allegedly traded on his Southern Baptist faith in business dealings owes more than a quarter-million dollars in gambling debt, according to a lawsuit filed by the Bellagio casino in Las Vegas.
A Michigan-based Christian relief group, International Aid, has closed its doors amid financial struggles, and World Vision, one of the largest evangelical relief agencies, has eliminated about 75 positions.
Economically grounded arguments may be more effective
Apr 22, 2008
The moral opposition to gambling may be gasping for its last breaths.
As more and more states turn to casinos and gambling to fill shrinking coffers, the voices of the religious opposition are struggling to convince people that gambling is morally wrong.
You had to admire the way Pete Rose played baseball. Judging by what he did on the field, he earned the right to be in baseball’s Hall of Fame. He is still the all-time hits leader with 4,256. Over a 24-year playing career he was named to the All-Star team 17 times; and he had an incredible fielding percentage of .991 despite playing four different positions.
Should we judge Bill Bennett for being an obsessive gambler, for losing over $1 million in a two-month period and $8 million over ten years? He wouldn’t have it any other way. In his 1998 bestseller, The Death of Outrage, Bennett bemoaned the wretched moral state of our nation, and said part of the problem is that we’re afraid to judge people on moral issues.
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