Police said the 59-year-old Katz was driving 80 mph on a toll road near Coeymans, N.Y.

State troopers said they smelled marijuana and found a small bag of the drug.

Katz serves on the Assembly’s Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Committee and its Higher Education Committee.

The Times Union reported that Katz voted against a bill that would have legalized medical marijuana last year.

Katz ran unsuccessfully for state Senate last year.

SMH!! Wait a minute, we find it hard to believe he was stoned and driving 80MPH. Now, if they popped him for under the minimum speed limit…

Source

Why gambling should be illegal for young people

Like many activities that pose a potential risk to those who undertake them–alcohol consumption, nicotine use, vehicle operation–gambling is an activity regulated by state and federal governments. Many states have banned gambling outright, but even in states or municipalities where it is legal, there are regulations governing who it is legal for. Even in Las Vegas, gambling laws are taken very seriously–limiting children under the age of 18 from even setting foot on the gambling floor itself.

So, with all of these regulations it often comes as a shock that the government doesn’t regulate online casinos well enough to prevent children (people under the age of 18) from participating in this highly risky activity.

The challenges of regulation

Regulating the internet is some seriously new territory, and it’s territory that the government has been having a lot of trouble with recently (think SOPA) so here are three simple suggestions for how the government might be able to begin assuring that the laws they use to protect children in real life are being extended to the virtual world of the internet as well.

What can be done

1. Increase penalties and fines associated with underage, online gambling, and apply these penalties to children as well as guardians. If that’s not enough, enforce penalties against the gambling sites that are caught allowing under-age individuals to gamble. Simply establishing a nationwide penalty and enforcing it would make an enormous difference.

2. Inform the public about the dangers of gambling and educate children and young people in schools so that everyone is aware that gambling online is just as serious as gambling in person, and so that everyone is educated about the penalties and legal repercussions of online gambling.

3. So far these two suggestions are nothing new. Similar campaigns have been waged against drugs, unprotected sex, and myriad other potentially dangerous behaviors that often tempt youth. To take the process one step beyond basic education, websites and apps that provide online gambling must also be required to obtain age authentication. This is may be a difficult task, but it is by no means impossible. Verification could be accomplished easily using a few confirmation questions, or by requiring a legal driver’s license number with a name that matches the credit card name and address provided.

Of course, the only way to ensure that children aren’t gambling online is to have diligent parents and guardians who are protecting and educating against such risky behaviors. Unfortunately, not all children have caring and diligent guardians, which is why its so important for the government to assure protection for those who cannot help themselves.

During an interview on Meet the Press airing Sunday (Dec. 30), the commander in chief recounted the day, two weeks ago, when 20 children were slain.

“This is something that was the worst day of my presidency,” he told host David Gregory. “And it’s not something that I want to see repeated.”

Obama noted the importance of whether the country will learn from the tragic incident which also cost the lives of six adults employed at the school, and that of shooter Adam Lanza’s mother, whom he killed before heading over to the school, where he also committed suicide.

As the media scrambled to compile all the details behind what is seen as the worst school shootings in America’s history, the POTUS addressed the nation in tears.

In the aftermath, the president has put together a committee aimed at doing something about gun violence, and headed by Vice President Joe Bidden. “It’s not enough for us to say ‘This is too hard so we’re not going to try,’” Obama added. “So what I intend to do is, I will call at the stakeholders together. I will meet with Republicans. I will meet with Democrats. I will talk to anybody.”

When specifically questioned over moving slowly when outlining a new gun control stance–a topic which has been brought up by politicians in wake of the mass shootings that have occurred this year alone– Obama referred to teachings from President Abraham Lincoln. “This ia not going to be simply a matter of me spending political capital. One of the things you learn, having now been in office four years, is the old adage of Abraham Lincoln’s, that with public opinion there’s nothing you can’t do and without public opinion there’s very little you can get done.”

The small Connecticut town held all of its funerals ahead of the Christmas holiday. Meanwhile, the body of Lanza has been claimed by his father in preparation for a burial.

“It’s premature [when] the brunt of the storm won’t happen until later this afternoon.”

Obama declared a state of emergency on Sunday all along the East Coast in the path of Sandy, well before the storm hit, allowing federal resources to start flowing where local officials thought they would be needed.

FEMA and local responders were able to pre-position a lot of the material being drawn upon now.

Brown must be upset that Obama is doing a better job than he did when New Orleans was ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Obama also held a press conference warning people to pay careful attention to the storm saying-

“This is a serious and big storm…And my first message is to all the people across the Eastern seaboard, Mid-Atlantic, going north, that you need to take this very seriously.”

Brown suggested Obama was just trying to look good saying, “He probably figured Sunday was a good day to do a press conference,”

“I saw the reports of Governor Romney’s latest ad saying that the president had allowed Jeep to move to China. And so this morning, before he left Florida and went back to Washington, he said, ‘You know, of all the things Governor Romney has said that probably hurts my feelings the most.’ He said, ‘You know, I never had any money when I was a kid. And the first new car I ever owned I was 30 years old it was a Jeep,’” former President Bill Clinton said at a campaign event in Ohio today.

President Obama: “Anytime a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans who were serving our country get killed, we have to figure out what happened and fix it,” he said, speaking with Morning Joe hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski in New Hampshire. “But I do take offense with some suggestion that in any way, we haven’t tried to make sure that the American people knew as the information was coming in what we believed.”

“We had a severe outbreak last night. It was at least Phase 3 Romnesia,” said Obama of Romney changing his policies during the campaign.

“If you can’t seem to remember the policies on your web site or promises you’ve been making over the last six years you’ve been running for president, if you can’t even remember what you said last week, don’t worry — Obamacare covers preexisting conditions. We can fix it up. We can cure this disease,” Obama said.

Obama repeated a line from last night’s debate that Romney’s “foreign policy is from the 1980?s, his social policy is from the 1950?s, his economic policies are from the 1920s. Everything he’s doing right now is to hide his real positions to try to win this election. He wants to spend all his time focusing on what he thinks is wrong with America.”

The Delray Beach Tennis Center was packed to capacity with the Delray Beach Fire Department estimating a crowd of 11,000.

Obama’s campaign came armed with a 20-page booklet that lays out Obama’s policies for a second term on manufacturing, energy, education, taxes and health care.

Obama said Romney’s policies would turn back the clock for “immigrants, gays, and women.”

“This election you can decide if we will remain an inclusive generous country no matter who you are, what you look like, where you come from or who you love,” Obama said.

Obama criticized Romney for not mentioning the troops in Monday’s debate. Obama said Romney has already written off half the country, including many in the military, and that the troops “deserve better than that from someone who is running to be commander-in-chief.”

Issues certainly do play a role.  Even many Republicans feel that Romney was wrong to criticize the Obama administration immediately when news of the embassy attack in Libya broke.  That choice has certainly made the former Governor seem weak on foreign policy.  And since the conventions media has been full of evaluations of Obama’s economy, which fail to uphold the portrait of Obama as a killer of business that the Republicans have been trying to paint.

And since the charged rhetoric, high volume, and questionable veracity of Paul Ryan’s convention speech, the Vice Presidential candidate has been unusually quiet, leaving most of the country with the impression that he is a very good looking, very well spoken liar.

Meanwhile, the Obama campaign has been able to find some traction with voters by pounding a familiar drum.  The argument that Obama inherited a bad economy and has successfully held off a Depression is resonating with the working class, especially in states like Iowa and Ohio, where union representation is high.

But even though this is the most expensive and probably the most carefully messaged and scripted campaign in American history, the real battle might be happening in the small field of open space between the candidates and their surrogates, where nonprofessional bloggers are expressing their views and their sentiments.

By non-professional bloggers, I mean those on the periphery, who write a personal blog or who publish occasionally on guest blogging services.  Most professional political bloggers are surrogates in one form or another, and as the campaign enters the final stretch they are writing from talking points, not from conscience.

Non-professional bloggers, on the other hand, just write what they feel, and they write it when they want to.  During and immediately after the conventions, media blitzed America with coverage.  But the sentimental response to those conventions within the general population, as expressed by those non-professional bloggers, has come more slowly.  This is the convention “bump” everyone was talking about; it’s just delayed by the nature of media today.

The non-professional bloggers aren’t giving Obama this bump because the points the liberal ones are making are better (or even truer) than the points the conservative ones are making.  The bump is because the tone of personal commentary, which reflects the tone of American politics, has a huge effect on how readers react.  Outside of the angry left exemplified by the Occupy movement, liberal America overwhelmingly comes across as trying to construct a better, fairer, and more stable nation.  Conservative America comes across as angry and resentful.

Most of us are exposed to the content of personal blogs and guest blogging services to some extent.  As we are, we don’t just agree or disagree with the rational arguments.  We also identify with the tone or reject it.  As conservative commentary grows increasingly vituperative, more and more people are rejecting that tone, resulting in a slide away from Romney.

Barack’s camp had this to say about the statements made in the viedo:

“It’s shocking that a candidate for President of the United States would go behind closed doors and declare to a group of wealthy donors that half the American people view themselves as ‘victims,’ entitled to handouts, and are unwilling to take ‘personal responsibility’ for their lives. It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.”

SMH. If you’ve questioned this fool at all before now, we hope this helped you make up your mind.

While promoting his FX Show Brand X With Russell Brand at the Television Critics Association on Saturday, the British funnyman made a comment about former Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

He told reporters that if she ever appeared on his show, he would forget the politics and go straight to her sex appeal.

“’I’d go straight to the subtext. People want to f*** her don’t they? That’s why they tolerate the other stuff. Brand said. “Okay, that is a mad thing to say about seeing Russia out your window — but the d**k don’t lie.”

Sandra Fluke, the Georgetown student who was branded a slut by Rush Limbaugh, came to Palin’s defense and wrote on her Twitter: “Completely unacceptable remark re Sarah Palin.”

He also spoke out about the recent Chick-fil-A controversy after its president said the chain was ‘very much supportive of the family,’ but only when it involves heterosexual couples.

He called the chain the “racist chicken dispensary” and then said:

“Didn’t Chick-fil-A say that they’re racists now? Oh no, homophobic. I get mixed up with the prejudices. I forget who I’m supposed to hate.”

Russell is being honest and humorous, not misogynistic, so any scrutiny derived from his comments are completely undeserved and will do more good than harm to his brand (no pun intended).