OK sometimes something happens that is unrelated to porn but it gets me so worked up I have to write about it. Such is the case with this.
In Georgia, you do not have the right to remain anonymous if you win the lottery. Georgia Senator Josh McKoon (Republican representing Columbus, GA) wishes to change that, he has introduced legislation that would do so. if that were it I would applaud his efforts, everyone should enjoy the right to privacy and by extension the right to be left alone, but in typical fashion of politicians world wide his law comes with a price tag, 25% to be exact.
So this unapologetic ass hat thinks that it is OK to charge people 25% of their winnings in order to exercise their RIGHT to privacy. The thing is, not one Television News Channel has mentioned how wrong this is…not to mention probably unconstitutional. Screw you and your greedy, grubby little hands Senator McKoon, you should hang your head in shame and your constituents should run your ass right out of office.
In a somewhat related story, last year Ohio had a ballot referendum to legalize Marijuana, but tied to it was a provision that would have created a monopoly on the growing of this Marijuana, making ten people very wealthy while shutting anyone else out. Wisely Ohioans, who are overwhelmingly in favor of legalizing Marijuana, voted this down.
It seems to be a ploy of politicians these days, we will give you back a freedom we have taken from you but you have to pay us to do so.
What this country needs is a pot of tar in every congressional district and a large supply of feathers.
5 Responses
What is interesting to me is how little people (in general) care about their privacy. Many say, “Well I ain’t doing nothing wrong, what do I have to worry about”. And the thing is, once we sign these rights away it’s not like they are going to come back.
What is also interesting to me how France has decided to handle terrorism since the Paris attacks. How long did the French snub their noses at us for the decisions made after 9/11 and how quickly did they decide to adopt the same stance?
I do not know if there is political will to fight for privacy. Our government stubbornly wants “a backdoor” inside our technology, even though technology experts warning that doing so would only make these things MORE vulnerable, if the US gov has a key then all other countries can exploit this vulnerability.
And back to the lottery – this politician does not seem to care one bit about the consequences of the loss of privacy when winning the Lottery. I remember an article way back that detailed the misfortunes of people who actually win the lottery, and it seems to rarely be good and the money is gone before you know it.
Rand Paul seems to care a bit about privacy, but he doesn’t want the presidency and not many people like him anyways.
The ongoing discussion of the value of privacy, I think should be made clear to Americans, and we ought to have some options on how badly we are gonna get screwed on privacy. Just my two cents.
The state lotteries want to promote the shit out of you winning but more and more you hear horror stories of winners being murdered (Urooj Kahn in Chicago, Jeffery Dampier, Abraham Shakespeare in Florida just to name a couple), home invasions, and a never ending stream of people trying to coax you into giving them some of the money you won. Its dangerous for people to find out you won some money.
@karmafan Yes exactly! I couldn’t think of examples, but you listed them very well. Great post Karma.
As an Ohio voter we got all kinds of direct mail on the marijuana issue. Interestingly we live in a township that still has rural/agricultural areas and that is how we knew about the monopoly tied to the initiative….they wanted people to push for the vote among non-smokers with if ‘it passes promises’. lol the post election mailers begging for $ to fund ongoing legislative efforts said big business corporate capitalist republicans voted it down because they’re against the little guy. Political marketing makes me ROFLMAO at stuff like this.
The lottery privacy thing is going to create havoc with lots of marketing sweepstakes. Anything that requires the use of name/likeness for ‘promotional consideration’ would be affected. Publishers Clearing House etc will fight it to avoid ‘pic unavailable ….paid portion of prize’ GA lottery is in for some mudslinging on how much has been diverted from the k-12 education the lottery was intended to ‘enhance’ by funding the extra-curriculars I.g. Sports and vocational programs they were going to be forced to cut if the lottery didn’t pass.
As for murdered lottery winners, I’d be curious to know what percentage is linked to news or marketing disclosures vs jealous former associates or loose lip bragging to strangers or crying on the wrong ‘upscale’ shoulders about all the gold digging jealous former associates etc.
The name of winners are publicize so that we know the lotteries are not crooked. For the readers in the crowd, think back to the novel 1984.