CHARLIE DANIELS still seems to be in the mid-point of a mood swing. His latest is about gambling. Chuckie thinks it's bad. Well, sort of. Being a Regnery Press political hack, it's not surprising that he parses his words rather oddly. So, on the issue of whether gambling is good or bad, Chuckie hedges his bets. (Sorry, I couldn't resist!)
What really bothers Chuckie, though, is people who bring lawsuits against respectable businesses instead of taking responsibility for their own actions. In other words, he's promoting the notion of "tort reform," which in its Enron Republican incarnation means protecting negligent businesses against lawsuits from consumers. And in the familiar anecdote-driven manner of presenting the idea, he mentions a seemingly ridiculous lawsuit against a casino:
This is just another example of people simply not accepting responsibility for their own actions.
Should we make the liquor stores responsible for problem drinking, the fast food shops responsible for obesity, society liable for nervous breakdowns? Can we sue the sun for causing skin cancer? ...
When are we going to wake up to the fact that each person has been given free choice to choose what they want to do? Why is it so hard to realize that the blame belongs to the individual?
Now, I guess it's not entirely fair to criticize Chuckie for what he doesn't say in his rant. But it seems pretty obvious that Bill Bennett, the Republicans' professional scold for the last decade or more, would be a good example here of people with compulsive-gambling issues.Or, in the days preceding Chuckie's column, the papers were full of Rush Limbaugh's alleged drug problemsand hisESPN indiscretion. Another current case illustrating the need to take responsibility for bad habits and their consequences.
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