Next Session - Bingo

I'm sorry, OP (4.00 / 2)

I couldn't get past the insanity of the phrase "Amendment 674..." When it is possible to even encounter such a phrase in a legal opinion, no sane person can make the argument that Constitutional reform isn't needed.

A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Margaret Mead  

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by: piggieheart @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 22:15:34 PM CST

Amendments and revisions (4.00 / 1)

I just asked my dear spouse (who works with engineering drawings for a living) what is the highest revision of a drawing he has ever encountered.  After considering a moment, he said "N-K."  That means they went through the alphabet -- A, B, C ... -- once, then started in at A-A, A-B ..., then B-A, B-B ..., all the way up to N-K.  Now you can only use about 21 letters, not all 26, but I think N-K is equivalent to the 273rd revision.  It's a lot, but still a far, far cry from the 800 amendments to the 1901 Constitution. 

It's time to step back, clean up the patches and produce a new, fresh document for this new century.  

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 22:25:50 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I am in full agreement (4.00 / 1)

that the Alabama Constitution needs to be re-written. However my point is that this ruling appears to knock out all electronic bingo state wide and you can bet much of the next legislative session will be consumed by the issue.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

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by: Old Prosecutor @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 12:24:56 PM CST

Old Prosecutor, the pro- and anti-gambling (and pro- and anti-Troy King) forces (4.00 / 1)

are battling it out at Doc's Political Parlor (as usual), and I found this comment from Baudrillard interesting:

What the decision ACTUALLY says is that the local constitutional amendment dictates whether electronic bingo is legal. The Court set forth the standards for what the "game commonly known as bingo" is, because many local amendments use that language. The Court did NOT state that electronic bingo is illegal where the local amendment provides for it. To the contrary, the Court recognized that Greene County has a local amendment that specifically contemplates a bingo game that is played electronically.

I am not usually a TK defender, but he made the right call here. Local DAs need to examine their local amendments to determine if the bingo games played in the county comply. Not surpisingly, the media missed all of this.

What do you make of it?  Baudrillard, BTW, isn't usually in the thick of this argument,and s/he tends toward the progressive in comments.

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by: Kathy @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 13:34:42 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Kathy (4.00 / 1)

Obviously you could manufacture a machine (touch screen I would guess) that would meet the Court's definition. It is clear IMHO that none of the electronic games now in operation are going to meet the criteria.

However even in counties where amendments  provide for electronic bingo, the machine will have to meet the six criteria the court set forth

I find it interesting that Troy King did not leave it up to local District Attorneys in the past but rather came out fairly aggressively with an opinion that the current games are legal. Now that the Court disagrees with him, he wants to put it back on the local District Attorneys to decide.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

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by: Old Prosecutor @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 14:20:23 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Kathy (4.00 / 1)

Also I disagree with Baudrillard re Greene County. Here is what the opinion says:

          " Amendment No. 743 legalizes in Greene County a form of bingo that would include an "electronic marking machine" in lieu of a parer card. Even that amendment, which is the only amendment in Alabama we have located that makes any reference to the use of electronic equipment of any form, contemplates a game in all material respects similar to the game of bingo"  

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke

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by: Old Prosecutor @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 14:40:34 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Thanks! (4.00 / 2)

I've been watching the pie fight over bingo from a distance, so I had no idea of the accuracy of the comment.

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by: Kathy @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 14:47:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Strict Constructionists (4.00 / 1)

How lucky we are to have a court so intelligent they can actually define the game of Bingo! 

To think they and geniuses like Bill Pryor used to be able to do the same thing for sex until the U.S. Supreme Court took that issue away from them. 

Now they only get to lavish their brilliance on vibrators and dildos.

"When you talk about the law discriminating, the law granting a privilege here, and a right here and denying it there, that's a civil rights issue. And I can't take that away from anybody." - Rev. Joseph Lowery

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by: rudyinbama @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 13:39:19 PM CST

The DA of Macon County just appeared on the local news. (4.00 / 2)

He says he will ask for a judicial opinion about Victoryland when he wants one. I doubt that any judge in Macon County is going to shut down the only source of income in the county. I believe that most DA's will wait until the people of Alabama vote on a constitutional amendment about electronic bingo. 

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by: Sundog @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 22:55:23 PM CST

Does it strike you as ironic? (4.00 / 1)

That Troy King has regularly dissed DA's around the state, but now wants them to do the heavy lifting on electronic bingo?  The smell of desparation, I think.

Work harder and work smarter!

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by: mooncat @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 23:08:15 PM CST

[ Parent ]

This crap again? (0.00 / 0)

Why doesn't anybody just let this crap go and stop political grandstanding by trying to legislate morality?  Geez, we'll be spending the majority of the next legislative session grappling over this nothingness.

"Hypocrites are those whom pick and choose prejudices while giving accolades for their own..."

"It is what it is."  

http://blkindependent.blogspot...

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by: kayman @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 20:03:39 PM CST