I think the "soil erosion"/etc problem mentioned is indeed a problem with casinos....however, it is a problem with ALL big construction projects and big business enterprises in general. Have you ever seen Yeagley rail against Wal-Mart for soil erosion and runoff problems? Doubt it....
Another comment is about how he said that the casinos destroy communities. I've seen several Indian casinos and their environments, and the affect on the nearby community appears to be the opposite of "blighting".
As for the "evictions" claim, I did hear somewhere about homeowners fighting against a state government that wanted to steal their land to give to a casino for a parking lot, but now I doubt that I heard it correctly (or it was true): I've not been able to find it on Google.
I read lots of articles on new casinos, and I've never heard anyone complain of soil erosion. Except for critics like Yeagley, that is, who claim someone (not them) is complaining about it. With modern construction techniques, I think a company or a tribe can build an edifice without harming the land.
I haven't heard anything about a tribe trying to evict homeowners to build a casino parking lot. I couldn't find a case like that in Google either. The Oneida Nation is trying to evict some Oneida homeowners, but not to build a casino or parking lot on their land.
I wasn't actually defending their soil erosion point. I was using it to show how inconsistent they are. I'm sure that casinos and their parking lots have runoff and erosion problems like other big businesses and construction projects. However, I would bet you that not one of their columns has ever complained about other businesses (non-casinos)' environmental impacts.
Writerfella here -- Let me give you a parallel: once upon a time, there was a science fiction writer whose pseudonym was 'Theodore Cogswell', who was well-published and well-regarded. But somewhere around 1969, he suddenly disappeared from the SF scene and his alter ego, Philip Klass, became a 'debunker' government spokesperson against UFOs, NASA conspiracies, paranormal phenomena, and even cryptozoology reports like the Ogopogo or Bigfoot. And he remained in that capacity until he died at age 85 in 2005. No matter what the report or the source, Klass could be expected to appear on national news to debunk, discount, and dismiss the information. Thus it is that Yeagley and his ilk are the Native opposition viewpoints who are called in to decry the value, the validity, or the validation of Native enterprise, no matter whom or where or when. And the reasons they do it are the same as that of Philip Klass: it pays the rent and feeds the kitty... All Best Russ Bates 'writerfella'
5 comments:
I think the "soil erosion"/etc problem mentioned is indeed a problem with casinos....however, it is a problem with ALL big construction projects and big business enterprises in general. Have you ever seen Yeagley rail against Wal-Mart for soil erosion and runoff problems? Doubt it....
Another comment is about how he said that the casinos destroy communities. I've seen several Indian casinos and their environments, and the affect on the nearby community appears to be the opposite of "blighting".
As for the "evictions" claim, I did hear somewhere about homeowners fighting against a state government that wanted to steal their land to give to a casino for a parking lot, but now I doubt that I heard it correctly (or it was true): I've not been able to find it on Google.
I read lots of articles on new casinos, and I've never heard anyone complain of soil erosion. Except for critics like Yeagley, that is, who claim someone (not them) is complaining about it. With modern construction techniques, I think a company or a tribe can build an edifice without harming the land.
I haven't heard anything about a tribe trying to evict homeowners to build a casino parking lot. I couldn't find a case like that in Google either. The Oneida Nation is trying to evict some Oneida homeowners, but not to build a casino or parking lot on their land.
I wasn't actually defending their soil erosion point. I was using it to show how inconsistent they are. I'm sure that casinos and their parking lots have runoff and erosion problems like other big businesses and construction projects. However, I would bet you that not one of their columns has ever complained about other businesses (non-casinos)' environmental impacts.
Writerfella here --
Let me give you a parallel: once upon a time, there was a science fiction writer whose pseudonym was 'Theodore Cogswell', who was well-published and well-regarded. But somewhere around 1969, he suddenly disappeared from the SF scene and his alter ego, Philip Klass, became a 'debunker' government spokesperson against UFOs, NASA conspiracies, paranormal phenomena, and even cryptozoology reports like the Ogopogo or Bigfoot. And he remained in that capacity until he died at age 85 in 2005. No matter what the report or the source, Klass could be expected to appear on national news to debunk, discount, and dismiss the information.
Thus it is that Yeagley and his ilk are the Native opposition viewpoints who are called in to decry the value, the validity, or the validation of Native enterprise, no matter whom or where or when. And the reasons they do it are the same as that of Philip Klass: it pays the rent and feeds the kitty...
All Best
Russ Bates
'writerfella'
Do I take it that you hold Klass in low regard? Or did I read too much into it?
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