Blackhole on the Edge of Cyberspace » United States http://dmlabadie.com DMLaBadie.com Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:41:20 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc Sin City, Thin Skin http://dmlabadie.com/2010/02/03/sin-city-thin-skin/ http://dmlabadie.com/2010/02/03/sin-city-thin-skin/#comments Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:57:16 +0000 David http://www.dmlabadie.com/?p=502 Continue reading →]]> Who would have thought that a city famous for mobsters would take, if anything, something that could be taken as indirect criticism, so personally. I read and watch the news. I know Las Vegas has been hit hard during our economic crisis. Tourism is down which means money is down, which means unemployment is up, as it is damn near everywhere else. But, when President Obama says:

“When times are tough, you tighten your belts”

“You don’t go buying a boat when you can barely pay your mortgage”

“You don’t blow a bunch of cash on Vegas when you’re trying to save for college. You prioritize. You make tough choices.”

Casinò Bellagio
Image by lorenzo stupid kid AKA rockito via Flickr

That’s NOT a dig at Las Vegas, that is the voice of the nation saying spend your money wisely. If you have a vacation fund, by all means, book the flight, the room and the gambling time. Have a blast, that’s what Vegas is there for. But, if you truly can’t afford it, don’t go to Vegas and dump your load at the $1,000 ante poker tables. It may seem like a great idea at the time, but you’ll regret it later. What the hell is he supposed to say?

SPEND SPEND SPEND! Let’s keep Vegas afloat while the lot of you go bankrupt from one too many spins on the roulette wheel?

Now, if he said, screw Vegas, go to Atlantic City. Then, maybe they’d have something to bitch about.

This boils down to one, simple thing. The whole country is suffering right now, Vegas isn’t going through something the rest of us aren’t. Hold your chin up, fight through it, and hopefully, we’ll all be better for it, when this whole mess is over.

Furthermore, the supposed first dig at Vegas, from last year. Wasn’t a dig either! I sure as hell don’t want companies receiving government bailouts to still give corporate executives, massive bonuses and then shooting off to some fancy retreat, vacation, or bullshit corporate outing on my dime! Metaphors aside, most people would think the corporate execs would be jetting off to Vegas.

If I was representing Las Vegas, I wouldn’t be taking this personally. All this does, is make the city of Las Vegas and the state of Nevada get the same reputation as casinos have had for so many years. Who cares how much you spend, or what it does to you, financially, as long as you spend it here. It is the President’s responsibility to get into the hearts and minds of the American public about our spending and our saving. If that means you get mentioned as he attempts to educate us, so be it. When the economy levels out, the people will come flocking back, just as they did before we bottomed out.

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]]> http://dmlabadie.com/2010/02/03/sin-city-thin-skin/feed/ 0 Chicago, Erm … Rio 2016 http://dmlabadie.com/2009/10/02/chicago-erm-rio-2016/ http://dmlabadie.com/2009/10/02/chicago-erm-rio-2016/#comments Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:44:38 +0000 David http://www.dmlabadie.com/?p=130 Continue reading →]]> The media frenzy is finally over, until the next big story comes along anyway. We were eliminated early from the Olympic voting and Rio prevailed. In the long run, its hard to say if this is a good thing or a bad thing for the city. Yes, traffic would have been horrible, worse than it already is. The upheaval of the parks especially on the south side for at least a couple years leading up to the games would have made for some interesting community reactions. And, lets not forget that if we were awarded the games, we the taxpayers would have had to foot the bill on cost overruns. With all of that being said, Chicago on a world stage for something as amazing as the Olympic Games spectacle would have been spectacular to be a part of. I don’t see us making a run at the 2020 games. Though, if they started right now on trying to fix the things most citizens have voiced concerns over, it might almost be doable. Oprah and the Obamas made an impact, but obviously that wasn’t enough to sway the voters and possibly the worlds view on the USA (I’m not saying, I’m just saying). All that being said, Congratulations to Rio De Janeiro. I look forward to the 2012 games in London and the 2016 games, just as I do every four years.

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