Governor Steve Beshear’s office just released some photos from today’s “Save the Horsies by legalizing gambling that, well, whatever, just legalize gambling” rally via the Twitter machine.
Here are a couple of them:
CLICK TO ENGLARGE
Interesting that so many people were bused in. Hopefully there are no state employees there while they were being paid for by us.
In other news – there’s also a teabagger shindig in Frankfort today so we hope the two crowds don’t get confused.
11 responses so far ↓
1 Oliver Wendell Douglas // Jun 17, 2009 at 12:48 pm
The headline says “thousands” but the picture says maybe 150. Some of those were probably just tourists who happened to be at the capital.
If I owned a track that I would be able to sell for hundreds of millions if slots were allowed there, I would have figured out a way to get a lot more people there.
Ray, will you write the obituary for the slots bill when it is dead. You can go ahead and get that task out of the way. Kind of like the obituaries already written for Ted Kennedy.
2 Horse Lover // Jun 17, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Why the hate for horses? And why do you care if people choose to gamble – what business is it of yours?
3 jake // Jun 17, 2009 at 12:56 pm
Who said anything about hatred for horses? Or about being anti-gambling?
They merely mentioned that the slots bill looks dead on arrival and that rally numbers have been over-inflated by the Governor’s staff.
I’m pretty sure that’s a spot-on assessment.
4 amused // Jun 17, 2009 at 1:35 pm
hatred for horses? this proposal simply put does nothing for horses…it allows slot machines so that track owners and big horse owners rake in even more money. it puts them into the casino business under the guise of saving the horse industry. pass more incentives/tax breaks for horses…whatever, but if a peanut butter company wants to get into the chicken business and law is changed to allow it, it doesn’t save the peanut butter business…it expands the chicken business.
5 Oliver Wendell Douglas // Jun 17, 2009 at 1:43 pm
amused…you are absolutely correct.
Does anyone believe the handle on racing in Kentucky will be higher if this proposal passed? No.
And any argument that based the greed for slots on the love of horses is flawed. Race horses are kept in small stalls more than 23 hours a day. The are far over-medicated. That are forced to run through injuries. They are beaten with a leather whip if they do not run fast enough. They are forced to perform at a high level before their bodies have matured.
How will slots change this equation? They won’t.
If I was a horse I would rather be in a field all day than the backside of a track dreading the next vet visit and whatever pharmaceutical concoction he brings this time.
6 E // Jun 17, 2009 at 2:02 pm
For the love of the horsies…
Just curious, do the thoroughbred people think they are the ONLY horse industry in Kentucky???
Because they sure as shit act like it.
Kentucky is also home to a large pleasure horse industry, but for the love of horses, I don’t see or hear of anyone doing shit for them. But then again, those horse lovers aren’t as ‘for profit’ oriented, and apparently aren’t inclined to sell their souls for a buck.
7 Horse Lover // Jun 17, 2009 at 2:05 pm
The use of the word “horsies” instead of “horses” suggests contempt. The whole thrust of this piece (for instance, the likening of slots supporters to “teabaggers”) is condescending and dismissive without being at all informative.
8 jake // Jun 17, 2009 at 2:09 pm
Are you insane? Or just someone who doesn’t pay attention?
I’ve used “horsies” for nearly two years.
And it’s true that teabaggers are holding a “protest” around the same time in the same location – today – in Frankfort.
9 gail // Jun 17, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Do the slots contribute to KEEP? If so, KEEP offers benifits to all horse breeds in KY.
10 Steve Magruder (I, not D or R) // Jun 17, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Idea: Give everyone associated with the horse industry a break from paying state taxes.
Wouldn’t _that_ help the horse industry stay here?
Without expanding gaming?
By the way, real gamblers aren’t staying in Kentucky to play “Video Lottery Terminals” (with piss-poor payouts — I love alliteration) when they can go to other states and do real gambling.
When this legislation dies, I will thank Jesus. Yes, I’m a devout atheist, but I recognize that Jesus (well, his followers) actually helped defeat this rotten legislation.
11 Conservative // Jun 18, 2009 at 8:31 am
Just curious, do the thoroughbred people think they are the ONLY horse industry in Kentucky???
Because they sure as shit act like it.
Kentucky is also home to a large pleasure horse industry, but for the love of horses, I don’t see or hear of anyone doing shit for them. But then again, those horse lovers aren’t as ‘for profit’ oriented, and apparently aren’t inclined to sell their souls for a buck.
Which is why KEEP is one of the biggest frauds ever perpetuated in this state.
KEEP won over the show horse and pleasure rider constituencies early on in what can only be called, and excuse the pun, a trojan horse. Once Beshear got elected it became painfully obvious that KEEP was, at its core, a support group for casinos at racetracks.
I can guarantee you that a huge number of show horse owners and trail riders in the rural part of the state, who were targeted by KEEP early on, are not in support of casino gambling or “racinos.”
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