I AM A LIAR! IS PRESIDENT BUSH?

I was born on June 24th. At least I thought I was born on June 24th. My Birth Certificate said I was born on June 24th. So did my Drivers License. All my life I told people I was born on June 24th, filled out applications, legal documents, and had even sworn under oath. Wrong! Under today’s standers I was a Liar. Even worse a perjurer who should face the legal consequences, and I didn’t even know it.

Liar, Liar, pants on fire

I had known I was adopted and sometime in my mid 40s I found a second Birth Certificate that said I was born under a different name on June 17th. It was not June 24th but June 17th. I had lied about my birthday, or had I? This is the situation facing President Bush and weapons of mass destruction. Did he lie, or was he just wrong?

"The great uncertainty of all data in war is a peculiar difficulty, because all action must, to a certain extent, be planned in a mere twilight, which in addition not infrequently — like the effect of a fog or moonshine — gives to things exaggerated dimensions and unnatural appearance. Carl von Clausewitz

American Intelligence said Saddam had WMD. British, Russian, U.N., and every spook of note believed it existed. This was the consensus; Iraq had chemical and perhaps biological weapons. The Egyptian President warned The United States if the invaded Iraq, Hussein would surly use chemical weapons. They were wrong. The Dictator is running a bluff.

Saddam Hussein stood like a Colossus before his people. Bigger than life, able to reward or kill at his whim, the Baathist President looked solid as the Rock of Gibraltar. In reality was Jell-O quivering in fear. Fear of his Shiite majority, fear of the Iranians, and mostly fear of the Americans. Out of this fear came a desperate plan. A Bluff worthy of Poker ledgend Amarillo Slim.

"Oh, what a tangled web we weave
When first we practice to deceive!"
Sir Walter Scott

You can’t say Husain’s solution wasn’t audacious. Although he had lost his chemical weapons during the Gulf War, he pretended he still had them. He bragged about them, jerked the Inspectors chain by denying them access to empty buildings, and faked convoys. He did just about everything he could do to convince the World he was armed to the teeth with Chemical Weapons. It worked. The world’s intelligence community was convinced until the Bush Administration called the bluff by invading Iraq.

Given the same amount of intelligence, timidity will do a thousand times more damage than audacity
Carl von Clausewitz

Although there were many arguments, some good, some bad, to invade Iraq, President Bush placed WMD at the forefront of his argument for the war. We invaded and exposed the ruse. Now the question is, was the President lying or was he just wrong?

THE GOVERNOR, THE HOOKER & THE FEDS. Big Brother would be proud.

“What a Business. You got it. You Sell it. You still got it.” Unknown Madam

Ok! The State of New York had a Governor who could afford to pay too much for a Hooker. Big deal! He is a Politician and Politicians always spend too much for everything. if you don’t believe that look at the Federal budget. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger once noted ‘Power is the greatest aphrodisiac’. The Spitzer debacle places him in the company of bounders ranging from actor Hugh Grant to Senator Larry Craig.

Q: Why do men name their penis?
A: They don’t like having their decisions made by a stranger.

Spitzer is one of a long line of luminaries who have become victim to “Viagra Syndrome” first noticed when patients taking heart medicine experienced cardiac problems. The syndrome occurs when a males has an erection. Blood and all capability of thought rush from the Head and Brain to the third leg rendering the victim incapable of making a rational decision. Fortunately this malady is short-lived and disappears rapidly after a time. The former Governor need not be prosecuted. Surly he will be persecuted for the rest of his life, not by the Feds but by his wife.

“They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin.

What is more worrisome than a Horney Governor is the way he was caught. It was the I.R.S. monitoring financial transactions. The law says you have to report cash transactions of more than ten thousand dollars. Spitzer’s short term lease cost less than Five Grand. If the Revenuers track chump change that closely we all have to worry. If I send my sister Five Grand how do I know some Fed isn’t keeping track. Until the so called “War on Drugs” you could walk into a bank and deposit a suitcase full of cash. It was none of Washington’s business then and it should be none of the Governments business now.

Companies are developing microscopic radio frequency identification chips that can be embedded in paper currency. When this technology matures every piece of paper currency in the nation can be tracked by the Government. That makes George Orwell’s “Big Brother” look like an uninformed ignoramus.

If your Mommy is a Commie you got to turn her in” The John Birch Society Chad Mitchell Trio

Since the start of the “Cold War” Washington has used the fear of the unknown to con Americans into giving up their freedom. Give your bank your social security number so Uncle Sam can track your finances. Burn the ten thousand dollar bank note and print nothing larger than one hundred dollars, require the reporting of all cash transaction of over ten thousand dollars. Government has to know. It’s in the “National Interest” to know where you are spending your money. At least that’s their story and they are sticking to it. The problem is the public is buying this chimera.

You never know when to expect the Spanish Inquisition!

You never know when to expect the Spanish Inquisition! The first immigrants came to America fleeing religious persecution. Our founding fathers knew the dangers of entanglement of church and state. They insured it would never happen here in the adoption of the first amendment of the Constitution.

A state religion requires all citizens to become members or lose their citizenship. With over three-thousand religious dominations in America that isn't feasible, and if it was, how would you pick which will become the official one.

"Render onto Ceaser's that which is Ceaser's and unto God that which is Gods." A Christian is thus admonished, the Bible requires separation of Church and State. There can be no other interpretation of this warning. It also shows the fallacy of the idea America is a Christian nation. Heaven, sitting at the hand of God, is the real Christian nation, not some land on earth.

The Protestant reformation and the chaos of the break up of the Catholic monopoly show the danger of combining church and state. Millions died in the ensuing wars until the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 ended the conflict and established the doctrine "cuius regio, eius religio" the religion of the ruler will be the religion of his citizens. The treaty only applied to Catholics and Lutherans. Other Protestant sects such as the Anabaptists and Calvinists were expressly excluded.

The combination of church and a state still caused problems especially among the Calvinists. That resulted in the Second Defenestration of Prague and the thirty years war, ending with the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648. All this death and destruction shows the danger when opponents each believe, they have God on their side.

This is the problem with the combination of church and state. Religion forces the state into actions that do not always benefit the state but are necessary because they are demanded by God, or at least God's representatives. No temporal leader can refuse to obey God's orders passed through his representatives in the Church, after all you never ask questions when God's on your side.

Considering the problems caused with the joining of church and state involving only Christians nearly five hundred years ago, imagine the problems it would cause in the modern world with thousands of religions and their offshoots. It would be chaos, with each Church/State Theocracy seeking dominance over all the others. Instead of the millions killed during the Reformation, with today's weaponry the toll would run into the Billions.

You miss Imus, I don't miss Imus, Long live Imus

To some Don Imus is the fount of all wisdom, to the rest of us, he is rude, crude and socially unacceptable. That's why he has been on the air, and paid big bucks for decades. He was hired because he was controversial and now he has been fired for the same thing. That's wrong.

"Nappy headed ho's" is nowhere near the most egregious thing Imus has said in forty decades on the air. It just provided a reason for race hucksters like Al Sharpton to show their power. Faced with what was especially blackmail, Imus's sponsors folded like cheep umbrellas and threatened to pull their advertising. Imus was a dead duck.

This is not a free speech issue as guaranteed by the first amendment to the constitution. The constitution only applies to government, not private companies. They are free to censor their employees any way they wish. The Federal Communications Commission was not involved in the controversy. They didn't have jurisdiction because Imus's remarks did not violate decency provisions that apply to broadcasters. Imus was busted by the Political Correctness Police, not the F.C.C.

In the past half century, the concept of "Political Correctness" has attempted to stifle speech that may offend the "Protected Classes," now defined as anybody except white males. This is a greater danger than any governmental intrusion.

Free speech is not just for that which you agree with. If you truly believe in "Free Speech" than you have an obligation to defend the rights of others to write, say or broadcast speech you find abhorrent. Fail and someday you may find the shoe on the other foot and your speech is the one banned as unacceptable to the community.

Politics. You get what you deserve.

Americans have been getting the political leadership they deserve since the beginning of this nation. During times when the electorate has paid attention, we have received the greatness we needed. Our first president could have been King.

George Washington was advised to run for a third term and establish a dynasty. His refusal to run for a third term assured the nation would remain a democratic republic. We were in the growth and expansion of the American Empire. The public cared, paid attention to the fledgling democracy, and got what it deserved, a leader who put the national interest above his own.

As our new nation grew, most of our leadership was dedicated to America. When the question was "Is it good for the country or is it good for me and my party" and it really counted, America came first. As in every political system there were petty squabbles, attempts a power grabs, and gaming the Constitution. Men are men. We were led by humans with human weaknesses. You have to expect that, however when it really counted, greatness emerged.

The prospect of being hanged sharpens men's minds. The widening split between the North and South, which led to the Civil War, was foremost in the minds of the populace. They were engaged in politics. They deserved greatness, and received it with the election of Abraham Lincoln. He was one of the few with the intestinal fortitude to deal with the country's greatest crisis.

After the war, the public attention diverted to fulfilling it's ‘Manifest Destiny.' Again we got what we deserved, a string of mediocre presidents. It was not until the nation stretched from the Atlantic to the pacific that Americans began once again to pay attention to politics. We got what we deserved, Theodore Roosevelt, another one of the ‘greats.'

America was ambivalent if not hostile to the country's involvement in the "Great War." Again we got what we deserved Woodrow Wilson, an idealist who was unfit to lead the nation through the crisis. The ‘Jimmy Carter' of his time, he talked a good game, but when the chips were down, he was a failure.

The "Roaring twenties" diverted Americans from the nation to the pursuit of pleasure. No one cared about Washington until Black Monday when the stock market crashed, the great depression, unemployment and food lines brought attention back to politics. FDR emerged as the man of the hour, began the restoration of confidence, prepared and led us through the Second World War.

The ‘cold war' kept American eyes focused on Washington, resulting in string of good presidents until Vietnam and Watergate soured the public on politics. We never recovered. The American Empire had reached its zenith. It was the start of our slide down the razor blade of decline.

For a short time, the disaster of the Carter presidency, attracted the public attention. That brought another and perhaps the last of the ‘greats' Ronald Reagan. During the ‘Reagan revolution' the public attention turned inward, the Zeitgeist changed to "What's in it for me" where it remains to this day.

The American Civil War. A Clash of cultures.

The Civil War was at its roots a clash of cultures. The North was an industrialized sophisticated society while the South was an agrarian nearly feudal society. Psychologically they were completely at odds with each other.

Politically the war was fought over the issue of "States Rights." Since the signing of the Constitution the question of state versus federal power was at issue. States considered themselves sovereign, united into a federal government. They believed states had the power to nullify federal laws and supported a weak federal government. Reluctant to cede power to the states, the Federal Government rejected this argument, a power keg sat waiting for a spark to set off an explosion.

The election of Abraham Lincoln to the presidency in 1860 was the spark that ignited the explosion that was to be the Civil War. The newly formed Republican party opposed the expansion of slavery into the western territories. That would have driven a stake through the power of the South. It received a disproportionate power in Congress because the Constitution counted slaves as 3/5th of a free man. Although slaves couldn't vote, they counted in the apportionment of the House of Representatives. Without the ability to expand slavery westward, Southern politicians realized they would lose power as the country expanded. They couldn't abide that. Rather than lose power they chose secession and formed their own nation. Lincoln waited until the South made the first move. Their attack on Fort Sumter started a war the South couldn't win.

Emancipation of slaves was secondary to the preservation of the union; however, the continuation of Southern slavery was the issue behind the South's refusal to compromise. Lincoln and the Republican Party would have allowed the South to keep the institution where it existed, but refused to allow more slave states. The war and The Emancipation Proclamation were the death knells of slavery.

Confederate General Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox Court House effectively ended the conflict and settled the issue of states right of secession.

During the war, the Republican Party was split over what to do after the South was forced back into the Union. Lincoln was the leader of the moderates. His Assassination April 14, 1865 gave the Radical Republicans the power to impose some harsh conditions on the crushed South. Federal troops occupied the defeated states and a harsh period of reconstruction brought more than a century of Southern hatred for "those damn Yankees." A political deal gave the election of 1876 to Republican Rutherford B. Hayes and ended reconstruction. It assured control of the South by the Democratic Party until Brown vs. Board of Education desegregated Southern schools, Leading to the Civil Rights legislation of the 1960's.

The Civil War ended two issues that had bedeviled the country since the adoption of the Constitution. It affirmed the primacy of the Federal Government and ended the debate over slavery.

Ending Affernitive Action in higher education

Race should not be a factor in deciding admission policy for higher education. The days of racial discrimination are long over. It's time to stop what is essentially reverse discrimination.

"Minority students are systematically mismatched with institutions" due to racial preferences, where they underperform relative to the student body." Thomas Sowell. He goes on to note, "After group preferences and quotas were banned in California's state universities, the number of black students in the University of California system has risen."

Minorities who are admitted to a University because of racial preferences always have a question in the back of their mind. "Did I really earn my degree, or did I get it because of my race?" That though extends to others. They wonder, "Did he get where he is because of his ability or his race?" If racial preferences actually harm minority students, what good are they?

Affernitive Action was developed in a time when race was an essential factor affecting minorities in virtually every facet of life, from where you could eat to where you could receive your education. In the 1960's, the Johnson administration and congress passed laws forbidding the use of race as a factor. It has been nearly a half-century and most of the country has adopted racial neutrality. Why should Higher Education still act as if it was still the days of discrimination? They are almost gone and the last vestiges of discrimination are fast fading.

The problem with the establishment of "Protected groups," is everyone wants to be a member. Racial minorities, women and the disabled are covered, now everyone else are clamoring to be included in what has become a category of the preferred. At the rate new groups are being added to the list of the protected, soon the only ones without protection will be Anglo males. They can be discriminated against, because they were the ones who were doing the discriminating in years past. It's just a case of tit for tat.

Suffered a ‘Bad Beat’ playing Poker? Don’t Tilt.

Many a bankroll has been destroyed by a bad beat. It’s not that you loose the ranch on that hand, it’s what happens after its over. Bad beats are about as much fun as hitting your thumb with a hammer, so you had better learn to deal with them if your playing poker.

Poker maven Lee Jones has developed Poker’s Prime Directive, “Play happy, or don’t play at all.” It’s hard to be happy when your full house loses to a miracle draw. Steam comes out of your ears. The Poker God hates you, and you feel as if the “Law of averages” has been repealed. Get over it or go home.

First realize bad beats only happen to good players. It is rare for a good player to put a bad beat on another player. Good players calculate how to play the hand correctly, so they don’t go for long shots without the proper odds. It’s the ‘fish’ that suck out. When that happens, the good player acts like a pinball machine when shoved too far. They go on ‘Tilt”, play like a maniac and usually lose their bankroll.

If your tilting, but the game is good and you think you can make a profit, you have to cool down. Take a break. Walk around the casino. Ogle the cocktail waitresses or hunks, depending on your preference. Do anything to relax, forget the pain you are feeling, and get back into the proper frame of mind to be a winning player.

To combat the bad beat syndrome there is a universal fact you have to realize if you are a poker player. Short-term results are irrelevant. What counts is how you do during your poker life. Think of it as a book and each session a page in that book. If you are writing a best seller, you have to make the proper decisions when faced with a choice of words to use. It’s the same in poker. In the long run, good decisions make money, bad decisions lose money. If you have the best of the situation, over time you will show a profit.

Here is an example. We make a bet flipping a coin. Every time it lands heads, I will give you one dollar. Every time it lands tails, you will give me two dollars. Over the long run, say a million hands, heads will come up about half the time, and tails will hit half the time. After a million hands heads comes up 500-thousand times and I give you a dollar, for a total of 500-thousand dollars. Tails also will come up 500-thousand times and each time you will give me a dollar for a total of a million dollars. This bet gives me an expected profit of fifty-cents every time we toss the coin. There will be times when tails comes up eight out of ten times. That makes you feel good, you are on a streak. That doesn’t matter. At the end of the million hands each, heads and tails will come up half the time, and since you are laying me two to one odds, I win a half a million dollars. When an outcome's up more than its mathematical expectation it’s called bunching. That is what causes loosing sessions. Over the long run the ‘Law of averages’ is still enforced. In limit poker you will be a winner as long as the odds are in your favor. Playing the ‘law of averages.’ is your profit machine.

Remember two things. In the long run good decisions win money and bad decisions lose money, so make good decisions. The second is the Prime Directive, “Play happy or don’t play at all.” You will win in the long run as long as you follow these too rules. Relax, have fun, make good decisions, and you will be a winning player. Just remember to turn the ‘Tilt’ control to ‘off’.

The problems with Democracy

In a pure Democracy, all citizens vote on every decision made by the society. This was the system adopted by ancient Athens. Even then it was necessary to have someone to make the day-to-day decisions. Democracy is realistic only in small homogenous societies.

What we have in The United States and most of the Western world are Republics. While mimicking democracy, in republics, the populace elects people to represent their interests in governing the political unit. This is a practical evolution of pure democracy.

Aside from its impracticability in all but the smallest social units, democracy has many flaws. The prime problem is ‘rule by the mob’. The majority has absolute control of the society. Minorities have no power; it’s concentrated in the majority. “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely” Lord Acton. This is the major problem with democracies. When the majority has all the power they ‘lord’ over the minorities. Without power, the minorities are subject to the will of the mob. They have no rights, they can be enslaved, and their property seized, and even killed if that is the will of the majority. The first French republic is the perfect example of ‘rule by the mob’; first the Royalty was carted to the guillotine, then the petit bourgeois and eventually those who first seized power, Robespiere and his cronies. It took Napoleon and an eventual dictatorship to stop the “terrors.”

Republican democracies are by design slow to act. They have checks and balances to prevent hasty action in the heat of the moment. It takes debate to build a consensus among the representatives before action may be taken. While this is a slow process it has an advantage over totalitarian states. A Dictator may make a decision on the spur of the moment, and that decision may be disastrous for the state.

While technically we live in a Republic, most people think of America as a Democracy. As Winston Churchill so eloquently said it “Democracy is the worst form of government, save all others.”

Government paid, Free Healthcare, You get what you pay for.

Money doesn’t come to Washington like manna from heaven. It comes from taxpayers. If government is to pay for all medical care, the money has to come from somewhere, and that’s you.

Government is like a baby’s alimentary canal. Money goes in one end and poop comes out the other. That will happen if government takes over paying for health care. An efficient government program is an oxymoron. During the height of the welfare system for every dollar that went to welfare 27-cents got to the welfare recipients. The rest was absorbed by overhead, a hoard of employees, enough paperwork to fell a forest, and rules that were not understandable by the Supreme Court.

Governmental health care would be no different. Health care costs would soar. That would leave Washington with two choices. Raise taxes or ration healthcare for citizens. The most likely outcome would be both, so get ready, bend over and grab your ankles. Prepare for a congressional Colonoscopy.

If government controlled healthcare would result in efficiency, the uninsured could be covered. Even if we assume governmental efficiency, human nature would through a monkey wrench into the system. When people get things free, they will take all they can get. It’s human nature. We have a gold plated health care system now with the public paying for it. Imagine the results, if everything was free, or at least illusionary free. Platinum wouldn’t begin to describe it. The country couldn’t afford it.

If government does become the single payer, as many wish, expect to see a system that looks like the one in Canada or Europe. Patients would get basic emergency care, but that’s just about it. Elective procedures would involve waiting lines. In England, today, coronary bypass surgery requires a six month long wait. The bottom line is, if government paid health case was a panacea, why are Canadians, Europeans, and every foreigner who can pay for it, traveling to the United States? It’s a simple answer. They get the best and don’t have to wait for it.

Immigration and the American Dream

The Pilgrims are coming! The Pilgrims are coming! Americans faced their first immigration crisis. The year was 1601. You can blame it all on Pocahontas. She placed her pretty little head between John Smith and the war hammer that was about to crush his head like an egg hit with a Plymouth Rock. With tears in her eyes, she cried out, "Daddy don't kill this man." Like all fathers, with a teen-aged daughter, Chief Wahusunacock, couldn't turn down her plea. He granted amnesty and allowed the small group of illegal immigrants to stay.

The small group of immigrants soon began bringing their relatives, friends and neighbors to America. The small stream turned into a torrent. The newcomers demanded they're right to live as they did in their native land. Multi-culturalism became their motto. They refused to assimilate with the Americans. Most refused to learn the native language, preferring their own. They took the American's jobs, stole their property, and brought disease to the land. The Americans dropped like flies, communities were devastated, many Americans sickened and died.

The white-eyed,forked-tongued, devils were not content to stay in their ghettos. They spread westward displacing the Americans by force, fire and brimstone.

Split into competing political factions, Americans could not agree on how to deal with these interlopers. It was gridlock, and the immigrants took advantage of the political turmoil, demanding citizenship. Finally a compromise was made and those already in this beautiful land were allowed to stay. "No more" said the Americans, but the white tide continued. Eventually the real Americans were outnumbered and the aliens controlled America.

As soon as they gained control, the immigrants proclaimed they were the real Americans, and killed, or drove the original Americans into concentration camps. Thus, ended Americans first immigration crisis. For them, the American dream came to a sad and bitter end. They became strangers in a strange land.

Online Poker. Choosing the best Site. Choosing the best Game

There are no hard and fast rules for where to play on line, but with a little exploration you can find a room or two that fit your style of play. The first question is what games do you want to play and what forms do you won't to play it.

Hold-em is the most popular game on the net and in casinos so lets concentrate on that. Are you a ring game player, or do you prefer tournaments? Different sites are best for the different forms.

Look at a number of sites and judge which are best for your preferred game. In general you want a site with a lot of people playing the same game you play. If you like tournaments, look for a site that features a lot or them. Today Poker Stars is the premiere site for tourneys, but the competition there can be tough, so you might look for a site with fewer tourneys but softer competition. Use the same criteria if you are a ring game player. The more people playing your game, the more bad players you will run into, and if your goal is to make money, you want to play against bad players.

For ring game players, once you have found your site, the next decision is what game to play in. Usually there will be a number of tables featuring the limits you are interested in. Online rooms have a valuable feature you won't find in casinos. They show how many players are in each hand, how aggressive the table is and the average pot. Usually the most profitable limit games are loose passive so look for tables where a number of players pay to look at the flop, but few players raise. Once in a game keep track of the statistics for that game and also the other games at your limit. Players come and go, so what once was a profitable table may change into one that is not as good and a bad table may morph. into one more profitable than the one you are playing at. Online Poker requires constant vigilance. The successful player adjusts, moving to the best spots he can find. That's much easier online when you can just get up from a bad table and move to one that is more profitable. You can't do that easily in Casino card rooms.

Playing Poker in a Casino. Playing on the Internet. Different Games, different styles

While the mechanics of the game are the same, there are vast differences between casino and Online Poker. Those differences change how you play. If you don't understand then you should not play in both.

The first difference is obvious. When you play in a casino you are able to see your opponents. That gives you the opportunity to study their play and watch for indications of the strength of their hands. This is known as picking up on ‘tells', a valuable way to increase profits. Online you can't see your opponents and have to rely on betting patterns. In both, betting patterns are more valuable than physical tells, especially when playing with good players. In face to face play a tricky opponent can set you up by exhibiting a tell when holding a weak hand. You catch him at it and assume that tell means he has a weak hand. Later he will exhibit the same tell, but when you call, expecting he is weak, he shows you a monster hand. This is called a reverse tell.

Online poker runs at a far faster pace. In a casino, a fast game may have 40 hands an hour. Online you will be playing far more hands an hour, perhaps double the rate as in a casino. In a casino, you can play at only one table. Online sites allow you to play as many as four to six tables at the same time. A good player can maximize his hourly win rate by playing more than one game at a time.

The rake, how much the house takes from the pot to pay for hosting the game, is lower online than in casinos. Casinos have to pay dealers, floor men, cocktail waitresses, as well as for tables, chips and cards. Online a server can host many games at the same time, making online overhead much lower. Most online sites charge a 5 percent rake, with a two or three-dollar maximum. Casinos usually charge 10 percent with a maximum of up to five dollars. In addition in live games the winner is expected to toke (Tip) the dealer. Say you win a one hundred-dollar pot. Online the site takes three dollars. In a casino the rake could be five dollars and the toke a dollar. Your online profit is 97-dollars, while in the casino it is 94-dollars. That three-dollar difference adds up over the many hands you play. In a hundred wins the difference is 300-dollars. That's not chump change.

Online you can use a "chat box" to communicate with your opponents, but this is cumbersome and limited to short messages such as "Good hand"in the casino you can chat up a storm, socializing with the other players. This gives you an opportunity to use conversation to affect how you opponents play

To play in a casino, you have to dress up and drive to the casino. If you smoke, most casinos have no smoking card rooms. If you are having a nicotine fit, you have to leave the game for a while to go to a place where smoking is allowed. You can play or you can smoke, but you can't do both at the same time. On line you can sit in your easy chair naked, chain smoking and no one will know or care. You also don't have to dress and drive to the casino. Online play is much more convenient.

Both card rooms and the Internet have their advantages and disadvantages. If you live near a casino you can go out to play when you feel like playing with humans, you can socialize with. You can play online if you have only a limited time to play, or just want to avoid the inconvenience associated with a casino. If you don't live within driving distance and want to play, you have only one option, the net.

Daniel Negreanu,One of Poker's best of the best

Poker players like golfers can be divided into three catagorize, duffers, good players, and the very best like Tiger Woods and the top players on the PGA circuit. In poker, Daniel Negreanu is one of the best of the best.

Negreanu was born in Toronto Canada July 26, 1974, and began playing poker in High School. He dropped out to play in the numerous illegal games in Toronto until he turned 21, when he moved to Las Vegas. After losing his bank roll he returned to Canada, rebuilt his stake and moved back to Las Vegas.

How good a player is Negreanu? As of the start of 2007, Negreanu has racked up nearly ten-million dollars in live tournament wins. In 1998 he won his first bracelet at the World Series of Poker, playing in the $2000 pot limit tournament. That win made him the youngest player to win a bracelet in WSOP history, an honor he held until 2004. That year he won the "Best Player" award at the World Series. Since then he has won two more WSOP bracelets. Three may not seem impressive until you realize, the best poker player in the world, Doyle Brunson has won only ten, and he was playing in the Series since before Negreanu was born. On The World Poker Tour he ranks third in the list of poker player of the year awards.

Daniel, known as "The Kid" plays in the highest limit games in Las Vegas and is a regular winner. His greatest strength is his ability to read his opponents hands. He regularity correctly predicts his opponent's cards before they are shown.

He has played in a number of televised poker events including "High States Poker" which featured a 100-thousand dollar minimum buy in. Negreanu bought in for a million dollars, lost nearly half of it during a run of bad luck, then won it back.

Unlike some of poker's other high limit players Negreanu is really a nice guy. In 2006 Card Player magazine named him "Favorite Poker player." He writes poker advice articles, He tutors other players and writes an advice column for Full Tilt Poker, an online poker site.

So how go of a player is Negreanu? You would have to play against him to find out, but most consider him one of the top ten players in the world.

New to Casino Poker? The rules of Poker etiquette

Playing poker in a casino you have to act courteously, remember you are not alone at the table. The best rule is "Do onto others as you would have them do onto you."

Before playing in a new cardroom, read the house rules. Most casinos have the same general rules, but some vary them. Make sure you know the rules of the game before you sit down.

Poker is a game of information. It is important that you don't give information that would help others. The first rule is, wait until it is your turn to act. If you act out of turn, say through away your cards before it's your turn, you are giving valuable information to players who have yet to act. To prevent prematurely giving away what you are going to do, wait until it's your turn to act before looking at your cards. This also helps you by preventing you from giving away the strength of your hand while others who will act before you have decided what to do.

All casinos have a rule, "One person to a hand." Never discuss a hand while it is in progress or give advice to an active player. The later will earn a rebuke from the dealer or a formal warning from the floor man. If you persist in advising active players, you will be banned from the card room.

If you are going to raise, say "raise" when it's your turn before doing anything. The rule is you have to say either raise or place all the chips in the pot in one motion. Saying "I call your bet" placing the bet into the pot, the "and raise you" then placing more chips in the pot is called a string bet. This is not allowed. A cheat could say "I call" look at his opponent's reaction then decide if he wants to raise. Cheats are known as "Cross roaders" and the action is called a "Move." Casino's don't want cheating because it drives honest players to the competition.

Try and keep the game fun and lively, especially at low limits. Most players are there to have fun. Helping keeps the game fun keep's recreational players, who usually are bad players, in the game increases your chance to show a profit. Never, never, never, berate a bad player. There will be occasions when you are a huge favorite to win the hand, but a bad player calls your bet, catches a miracle card and beats you. You have suffered a 'bad beat' and you will be tempted to tell you opponent how bad a player he is, insult his mother, and launch into a tirade of invective. You see this happen often. Don't do it. Not only is it rude, it is bad for your chances of making a profit. Poker is a zero sum game. If you win, someone has to loose. Losers are usually the bad players who are playing for fun. You want these ‘fish' to stay and play as long as possible. Remember P.T Barnum's motto, "Never give a sucker an even break, and never wise up a chump." If you anger a bad player, he is likely to pick up his chips and go home. Veterans have a saying "Never tap on the aquarium." You may feel friendly and try and give advice to a bad player. Curb your ego. Bad players don't want advice and resent someone pointing out how badly they play. Remember never wise up a chump, that bad player is where you will find your profit. If you do succeed in improving his game, you are diminishing your winnings. If you have to say something, complement the player. Tell him what a good play he just made, or say you never would have the courage to do what he did. Pump up his ego, he will stay and pump up your winnings.

To sum it up. Follow the rules. Be a friendly courteous player. And "Don't tap the aquarium."

America, many religions, but no National Religion

America does not have an ‘official' national religion, which is prohibited by the Constitution, but some 85 percent of our citizens profess to be Christians. That makes Christianity America's unofficial religion. That's important. Look at the problems being suffered by Mitt Romney as he runs for President. He is a Mormon and many mainstream Christians consider The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints a heretical offshoot of Christianity.

"The rhetoric between evangelicals and Mormons has been almost abusive," said Richard Mouw, president of the Fuller Theological Seminary in California.

Christians are not a monolithic group. There are more than nine-hundred Christian denominations in America, ranging in the political spectrum from liberal to evangelical conservatives. This diversity places some limits on the power Christians have to influence political policy. Collations have been built around single issues such as abortion, especially in the evangelical community, however there is not a general consensus among American Christians.

In America of the 21st century religions influence has diminished from the days of fire and brimstone preachers of the 19th century, or even the Scopes "Monkey trial" of 1925.

Now the problem is the nation-state, "in circumstance of accelerating global integration, the nation-state has become too small for the big problems and too big for the small problems of life" Anthony Giddens, University of Cambridge.

Religion is probably a best mechanism to fill this dichotomy, however with more than three-thousand religious groups in America, there is too much diversity to ever form a national religion.

The difficulties of being an Illegal Alien

When someone decides to cross illegally into the United States, they have to make what is essentially a cost benefit analysis. The benefit is obvious,they can make more money here than in their home country. The costs are much greater.

The first problem is getting across the border. That means paying a smuggler. It can cost a thousand dollars or more. Then if they are coming from Mexico, they have to evade Border Patrol agents while crossing the hot Sonoran Desert. Many die in the attempt. In addition they face robbery, rape and death at the hands of the Coyote who is leading them.

If they make it safely to their destination, they face hard work at low pay, often getting cheated by their unscrupulous employers. As a stranger in a strange land they have few social contacts, usually in their own ethnic community. Living arrangements are usually poor. Farm laborers often live in hovels not fit for a dog. Those in cities fair no better, cramming four or five people in a one or two bedroom apartment.

Being here illegally they have to be on guard, looking for immigration agents who will send them back home if they are caught. Restricted to an ethnic ghetto, being illegal, they have few opportunities for enjoyment. Aliens live in constant fear of getting deported, robbed or worse. It's a miserable existence.

For most humans, family and loved ones are important, but those here are far from home. Loneliness takes its toll. Depression, alcoholism or substance abuse is common. Sometime suicide seems the only way out.

Some adapt, bring their family here, and live a relative normal life, underground. Many are caught, sent home and face the dangers of returning. All and all, it's a life not fit for man nor beast.

Hold-em Poker, the best starting hands.

Like everything in Poker, the best starting hand depends. What type game are you playing? Limit, No Limit or a Tournament. What are the stakes? What is the texture of the game? How well do you play? Most important, what is your position?

Obviously American Airlines (AA) is the best possible starting hand, but how good it is depends upon how many opponents you are facing. Against one opponent a pair of Aces will win about 85 percent of the time. Against five opponents it will win only about 18 percent of the time.

If you are playing limit Poker and the stakes are less than $10-20, play, ABC, book poker. David Sklansky and Mason Malmuth have written excellent books that rank hands into five categories. They also have good basic playing strategies.

If you are playing limit, $10-20 and higher, no limit or Tournaments things are more complicated.

What is the texture of the game? Is it loose passive, where players rarely raise before the flop and four or five players are in to see the flop? Is it tight aggressive, where the first player to enter the pot raises and gets only one, two or no callers? Or is the table full of maniacs who raise often and several players will put in four bets to see the flop? Each of these games requires different starting hands, but in general Hold-em favors big cards over small ones.

How well do you play? If you are an excellent player, who can control the game, read your opponents, and use a number of strategies you can play more hands than an inferior player.

In Hold-em position is probably the most important consideration. There are three categories of position. If you are under the gun, one of the first three players to act, you need really good hands. If you are in middle position and no one has voluntarily entered the pot you can loosen up your requirements. In late position, if no one has entered the pot, you can play just about any two cards, raise and hope to steal the blinds. If you get called, especially by one of the blinds, you can still steal the pot. Most of the time when there are two players, the flop misses both of them. When that happens and your opponent checks, bet, he will probably fold. In a higher limit, no limit, or tournaments, stealing the blinds is important.

The best way to determine the value of your hand is through experience. Read some books to learn the basics, then play a lot of low limits to hone your skills. As you improve your play, advance to higher limits, and no limit. In learning no limit, tournaments are a good way to get experience. You only risk the buy in, a dollar to ten grand, and if you are good and/or lucky the payoff can be large.

To play good poker is like that old joke, "How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, Practice, Practice."

Yes! Money can buy you happiness.

‘Money can't buy you happiness, but it can buy you the misery you enjoy most.' It's an old joke, but studies show money can buy happiness, and it's obvious money can rent you love.

As the madam says "What a business. You got it. You sell it. You still got it."

In his 1943 paper "A Theory of Human Motivation" Abraham Maslow presented a Hierarchy of Needs that affect humans. The first two, psychological and safety, require a modicum of financial resources. Without money you can't afford a place to live, or food to eat. The second step, safety, includes, Physical security, safety from violence, delinquency, aggressions' Security of employment Security of revenues and resources, Moral and physiological security, Family Security, Security of health, Security of personal property against crime. Most of that requires money. Maslow's last three steps, love/belonging, esteem and the ultimate goal, Self-actualization, are not affected by money, only mental growth.

Researchers in England have shown that money can buy you happiness. "We found a strong link between financial windfalls and being happy and having much better psychological health" Professor Andrew Oswald, University of Warwick.

In a study of nine thousand families during the 90's researchers found more money is better than less.Oswald continues, "Overall the more you get, we find, the cheerier you'll become. Large sums are better than small sums." That doesn't mean a small increase is not valuable. "A small amount of money is not going to solve a major health problem or solve a major psychological problem. But it's true, we can detect even quite small windfalls . . . begin to show up in our statistics on our psychological well being."

Money may be ‘the root of all evil' but it is also helps you to achieve happiness. Happy people are more likely to find love, it's hard to love a grump.

It takes Parents to raise a child

It doesn't take a ‘village' to raise a child, but it takes parents. If they do a good job, society benefits from their efforts. Babies don't come into the world with a sense of morality, they are a blank slate and it's their parents that will fill in the void.

The first thing a child needs to learn is obedience. They have to be taught the authority adults have over them. Without obedience children will run wild, ignoring their parents and society's rules. They won't last long violating their parent's rules. Ignoring the rule "Don't cross the street" can result in the kid becoming road kill.

Once the child grasps the concept of obedience, it time to teach moral responsibility. That's the hard part. If the parents are immoral, they have no basis to pass on the concept to their offspring. Fortunately most parents have a sense of morality. The best way to pass it on is by example. If a child sees their parents acting morally, they will emulate them and develop a sense of moral responsibility. Parents are not alone in this job. They have help from their Church, relatives and friends.

Religion may be "The opiate of the masses," but it is a great teacher of morals. It doesn't matter which religion, all subscribe to the same basic moral principals. The Christian concepts of "Do onto others as you would have them do onto you" is ubiquitous to virtually all religions. In Judaism, the Torah can be summed up as "Don't do to your neighbor what you would not do to yourself."

It is when the parents fail that society steps in. It has the responsibility to keep order, and obedience and morality are essential to that goal. If caught early, the child will have some chance to become a productive citizen, but society as represented by the state is an inefficient teacher. It usually fails, then both the child and society are the losers.