Does the american government see its citizens as its children

In Americas 230 year history the government seems to have forgotten that there job is to run the government as the people see as best and not the government telling the people what is best for them. The most recent example is the Internet gambling Ban signed into law last week by President Bush. The bill makes it illegal for banks and credit card companies to transfer money to casinos for the purpose of wagering on sports or games of chance, like roulette, blackjack and poker. These games are harmlessly enjoyed regularly by millions of Americans everyday, but some people become addicted to these games so the government is telling all of its citizens that no one is allowed to play these games in an online casino. This is not the first case of the government going against the wishes of the people, in the early 1900’s the government decided that the consumption of Alcohol should be banned, because some people were developing health and mental problems related to drinking too much. So rather then educating the people on the ill effects of prolonged Alcohol abuse the American government banned Alcohol. But instead of reducing the consumption of Alcoholic beverages it increased, and because the government was not allowing the production or importing of Alcohol, organized grime got into the moonshine business, and eventually the Government saw the error of their decision and repealed the law. Another great example of a failed policy to protect the people is the war on drugs that the government has been aging since the early 1980’s Billions of tax dollars a year goes into the war on drugs, but what are the results? The price of drugs has risen, and to support their habits many drug addicts have had to commit acts of robbery and murder to get their drugs. The American prisons are packed full of people whose only crime was possession of these illegal drugs. Instead of being an industry that is regulated and controlled you have people selling these drugs to kids in school playgrounds, and shooting each other to protect their territory. Had the government decided not to criminalize drugs but make it a heavily controlled industry, they could use the tax money for social programs like schools ad to give Americans universal health care. Please do not misunderstand me I am not in favor for legalizing hard drugs, but the current system is not working at all, but I am all in favor for legalizing online casino gambling. If I choose to play some hands of blackjack or poker from the comfort of my home what rights does the government have to tell me not to, and what sense does it make that I can not play in a casino over the internet, but I can drive down the street to the local casino and play there. To enforce this ban millions if not billions of dollars of software and computer hardware will be needed to monitor all of the banks transactions and that money will come from taxes instead of the government taxing online casinos or even having all the online casinos government controlled then they get all the profits to be used to improve the lives of the American citizens, millions of which are bellow the poverty line if not homeless. The American government needs to start re-thinking its policy of treating its citizens like small children, or the American people need to demand a new government.

Collecting sports jerseys

Collecting sports memorabilia is a source of joy for many game enthusiasts, and sports jerseys are among the most popular memorabilia collected by enthusiasts around the world. Why is sport jersey collecting so popular? One reason is that the jersey is intimately connected to the player who wore it. We can see and feel the association and get closer to the player and the game. A sport jersey uniquely identifies a player's team. It usually has the team nickname or city on the front and the player's number or name on the back. The market for old sport jerseys is huge; however it is also plagued by a lot of fakes being sold as originals. While buying a new jersey closely inspect for use and alterations. Use and wear are different. Use occurs when a player uses it. Wear occurs when a jersey is laundered or handled often. If an original jersey has been used by someone else you could negotiate a lower price. Look for signs of use on the inside such as sweat stains as well as the outside of the jersey. It is sometimes helpful to turn a jersey inside out to see if wear or restorations have been done. Sometimes fraudsters put team numbers later on to an old jersey to mimic an original worn by a superstar. In this case the jersey would be practically worthless. Check if the numbers and letters on a jersey have been applied with the same material at the same time. They should show consistent wear all over and should have faded evenly. Also touch the fabric to ascertain if all the numbers are from the same material. A very effective method to determine the authenticity of a jersey is to compare it with other known, authentic samples and photos. Photo matching is possible by finding photos of the player in uniform and making a comparison to the jersey. Go step by step, look at the numbers, estimate the length, look for any other small detail, and look at the fabric. Become a jersey Sherlock Holmes! It is not easy to find out if a jersey is original or not. The best way to procure old sports jersey is to buy from a reputable source and research as much as possible.

The world cup of football

Many people, including myself are starting to look forward to the world cup of football. The question many people are asking is who is likely to win the tournament? In this article, I give my own viewpoint on this subject and discuss some of the likely contenders (teams) who could win. The world cup finals are being held in Germany and it promises to be a very exciting and entertaining event. The tournament which only takes place every four years is in my opinion the biggest sporting event which takes place. It means everything to all of the players taking part as well as to the supporters. Potential winners of the football world cup Germany The hosts Germany are always a big threat in the world cup and have an outstanding record in the tournament. The team seems to peak at just the right time and as they are playing on home soil, they must have a great chance. I personally believe though that Germany will be knocked out in the quarter finals. I think that their best player is Micheal Ballack. France The French team have had an outstanding decade and still boast some of the best players in the world. Players like Henry can turn a game in an instant and he is just one of a few I could mention. France should do well but I do not believe have enough to win the tournament. Holland I must say that Holland are one team which I love to watch playing football. They approach the game in the right way and their supporters make it a very colourful occasion. Despite having many top players, Holland always seem to flatter to deceive and this could well be the case this year. If my home team of England does not win the world cup, I would love to see the Dutch lift the trophy. Spain Spain in a way are very much like Holland in that they always seem to fall short despite having many superb players. On their day the Spanish team can beat the best in the world and should come close this year. I personally believe that Spain will be knocked out in a penalty shoot out, this is what normally happens to them. Portugal After just failing to win the European football championship, Portugal with their Brazilian manager Scolari will be hoping to go one better in the world cup. It came as quite a shock when Greece beat them in the Final two years ago and this defeat might play on their minds when the pressure is on. England Being from England myself, I am obviously hoping that my home nation can lift the trophy for the first time since 1966. England certainly have enough talent in the team but something always seems to go wrong. Wayne Rooney has the potential of being the best player at the world cup and if he can stay fit, England will have a great chance. I personally believe that the English will be eliminated in the semi-finals. Italy The Italians have a number of superb footballers but my only concern for them is that they do not always play as a team. I believe that they should have won a lot more tournaments over the last twenty years and I do not think that they will win this year either. Brazil Brazil are by far and away the best team in the tournament. This is my tip for the team which should win the Fifa world cup. To win the tournament you require something a little bit special and Brazil certainly have that. The only way I can see them not winning is if they have a bad run of injuries or a series of red cards. Both of these are highly unlikely. I hope you all enjoy watching the world cup as much as I will, so lets sit back and enjoy this summer of football.

You ve got to bet the preakness

This Saturday, I’ll be back at the same sports bar where I watched the Kentucky Derby. If you read my Derby column, I told you to throw out a couple of favorites (Lawyer Ron and Brother Derek), and keep Barbaro, despite history being against him. Unfortunately, I also told you that I like America’s favorite bet, the exacta. The exacta always seems do-able, and offers a chance to win some real dollars. And in a field of 20, what were the chances of hitting the Trifecta? Sad to say, that darn Bluegrass Cat spoiled my day. This was a horse that, by all reports, was “the bust of 2006.” That’s why it’s called gambling. But Triple Crown races are events, and, if you are a sports fan, you’ve got to bet the Preakness. This time, it’s all about value. Sure, Barbaro looked great in the Kentucky Derby, but is he the sure thing that many analysts and bettors make him out to be? Well, maybe. Which is the reason you’ll never get value betting on him this Saturday. At best, he’ll go off at even money. Keep in mind, until Smarty Jones won in 2004, it had been 25 years since an odds-on-favorite won the Preakness Stakes. You’ll hear a lot about “The Bounce Factor,” which says that horses tend to regress after particularly strong races, especially when they are coming back on short rest. And Barbaro is a horse that has never run with fewer than five weeks of rest. Did you know that 21of the last 22 Preakness Winners ran in the Kentucky Derby? So, what about Brother Derek and Sweetnorthernsaint? Brother Derek, the morning line favorite for the Kentucky Derby, had major positioning problems in the Derby, and spent most of the race trying to break through a crowded 20-horse field. He lost a shoe and still finished fourth. He could be primed to run in the Preakness the race that many had expected him to run in the Derby. Sweetnorthernsaint, who ended up as the Derby favorite after a lot of late money was bet on him, also is one to watch. His Beyer speed figures were consistently better than those of Barbaro before the Derby. At 4-1, he may be a good bet. Only three horses that ran in the Kentucky Derby will run in the Preakness, the smallest number in the last quarter century. So, given that, the odds would be better that a horse would break that 21 out of 22 streak which I mentioned earlier. Which new horses are possible contenders? Most analysts think Bernardini is the best of the newcomers. The term “Speed Freak” has been used for Diabolical, and that always perks up my ears. Like Now likes to gun it from the start, so, maybe, he’ll take the lead and keep it. Nothing about the other new horses excites me. So, I’ll be splitting up my $50 with a variety of bets. Right now, an exacta of Sweetnorthernsaint and Bernardini seems like good value, and not too outlandish. Scrappy T, the best fresh horse last year, came in second. Diabolical as a long shot to win might be worth a try. As long as Brother Derek doesn’t slip to worse than 3-1, put him in some exacta bets. And, if you just can’t bear not betting on Barbaro, put him in a couple of trifectas that include a long shot. Have a drink and enjoy yourself; there’s only one more to go after this one.

Geocaching getting back to the great outdoors

Geocaching is a GPS (Global Positioning System) hide and seek game, where hiders hide containers (called 'caches' or 'geocaches') anywhere in the world, record the coordinates, and post a listing on a website for hunters to seek. Hunters can use a handheld GPS unit to get close, but then must use their wits to find the cache and log the find. A typical cache can be any size and may be camouflaged, in order to make the hunt more challenging, and usually contains a logbook for the hunter to sign and usually some small trading items of little monetary value. In May 2000 the government announced their decision to stop the intentional degradation of GPS signal accuracy. In effect, this made civilian use of GPS systems much more accurate and many times more useful than it had been previously. On the day following this announcement the first geocache was placed by David Ulmer in Oregon. Ulmer's idea was simple: The hider would hide a container, note the coordinates with his GPS unit. The seeker would locate the container using the given coordinates, make a note in the logbook, then trade items. It only took a few days for the cache to be found and reported online, and a new outdoor sport was formed. The sport has grown considerably since its humble beginnings. At this writing there are well over ј million caches hidden around the world. Odds are that there is a cach close to you. I found my first cache after discovering that one was hidden less than a mile from my home. I guess you could say that I got hooked immediately, since I have found many since then and even hidden a few. Our family likes to go geocaching as a family activity. The weekends will usually find us in one of our local parks wandering the woods looking for caches. Here's how we normally do it: 1. We go to GeoCaching or TerraCaching to find a good cache close to the area we want to hunt. 2. We print out the cache pages (or alternatively load it into our PDA). 3. We load the coordinates into our GPS unit and set our GPS unit to navigate. 4. We load up our cold drinks (we go caching in Texas, so we have to stay hydrated) and our trade items. 5. We drive to the coordinates and start looking. The cache listing and log entries usually have some hints and can tell us what kind of container we're looking for. 6. Once we find the cache, we log our find in the cache logbook. 7. We trade a few trade items (usually inexpensive trinkets and toys). 8. Once we get back home, we log our find on the listing website. 9. I also like to write a blog entry about our outing on my geocaching blog at CachingAdventures so that I can tell interesting stories about our outing that just don't fit into the regular log entries. It's not unusual for my family to find 3 to 5 caches in one outing. Other more aggressive cachers will do 10 or 20 or more. An enjoyable cache might be in an unknown park, an urban wilderness area, or a mind-bending puzzle. We have enjoyed getting our sedentary, internet-connected, couch potato bodies out into the great outdoors breathing some fresh air. Finally! A good reason to go outdoors again!

Great tips on how to kneeboard

Kneeboarding is an excellent place to start if you are new to boat-towed water sports. This is because of the low center for gravity, which means you can get up on your board easier than with sports such as waterskiing and wakeboarding. What do you need to get started with kneeboarding? First you need to select between two types of boards. There is a trick board and a slalom board. A trick board will have a lot of curvature on the bottom with thick rails while a slalom board is flat on the bottom with sharp rails. Slalom boards can also have fins although this is typically not good for trick boards. A few boards can even be found with retractable fins so that you can use them in both roles. Once you have the necessary equipment you next need to focus on how to get yourself out of the water and on your way to doing neat tricks. The most common method of starting when it comes to kneeboarding is the belly start. You start out lying on your board on your stomach with the strap pointing towards the front of the board. Make sure the nose of the board is sticking up out of the water. Grasp the rope with one hand while using both hands to grasp either side of the board. Then once the boat starts moving you should pull your knees forward so that they fit into the padded knee-wells of the board. When doing this it is important to keep your weight back and don't lean too far forward. As you gain your balanced feeling you get let go of the rope with one hand while pulling the strap over your knees. Make sure you tighten the strap until it feels secure. While doing this try to keep your arms extended and slightly bent. Now that you are up and moving you need to know how to properly steer your kneeboard so that you can be prepared to learn some neat tricks later. First make sure you grab the handle with your palms down or for some it is more comfortable to steer with one palm down and one up. Either way, find a grip that is comfortable for you and then place your hands a couple inches apart on the handle for the best control. Then when you want to turn left you can pull the handle towards your right hip while leaning your head and torso to the left. For right turns it is the same thing, you pull the handle towards the left hip while leaning your head and torso to the right. For sharper turns you simple pull and lean harder. When turning be sure to keep your weight on the trailing rail of the board. It is best to start with slalom like motions when turning on a kneeboard until you get used to it. Before venturing outside the wake keep your turns within the wake. This way you can get all the necessary practice before venturing into the more difficult maneuvers.