Oh heavens, the casinos in Atlantic City shut down.  Big news everyone, big news.  Why? I don't even care, gambling isn't my thing.  What bugs me is how many times I've heard "oh my GOD, can you believe it?" "Wow, the casinos in Atlantic City shut down?"  Even more ridiculous are the headlines talking about ALL the casinos, as if we're talking Vegas here.  Yeah "all" 12 casinos shut down, CRAZY.

In the meantime, elsewhere in Jersey, nurses at one of the top-rated hospitals are on strike.  But nobody gives a shit.  The hospital wants to take away their retirement and the union wouldn't have that, so they walked out.  Good for them.  But still, that's not making major headlines.

Healthcare workers, teachers, public transit employees - all of these people are walked over all the time and are sometimes forced to stop working to get the fair employment they deserve.  These are people we all rely on, they're integral to making society work the way it does.  They go on strike and maybe there's some bitching and complaining and foul remarks directed their way instead of toward the assholes who want to hold out for a 2.5 percent raise instead of a 3 percent one, or whatever the issue at hand is.

But holy-freaking-crap, don't take away our casinos!  God forbid grandma nickelbag can't hop on the bus and feed money into the pockets of greedy casino owners.  Violence in video games is bad, sex on TV is unacceptable, but hell no, don't take away our gambling.  For any of you doubters wondering and wringing hands over whether or not a historic site in Bethlehem is going to be razed for a golden palace of dollars and cents, worry no longer.  I think it's abundantly clear that the slimy populace needs, needs, needs their ca-chink-ca-chink one-armed bandits.

Besides, who needs nurses when you can ignore the fact that the house always wins and dream your little quarter-filled dreams?

    -Tucker

And to amend my own post, here's a side-note: what the hell is it about pissing away money that's so damn attractive to some people? Look, if you want to deposit bills and coins somewhere you'll never see them again, deposit them into my pocket. I promise that, just like a casino, there's a small chance I'll turn around and give a bunch of it back. A real small chance.