laws of NY State and realize he is not God and cannot tell Nassau OTB when the "Easter Sunday" and "Palm Sunday" are. See NY PML Sec 109 and NY Const. Art. 1, Sec. 3. Anyone knows you can buy a NY Lottery ticket 365 days of the year (except at Nassau OTB) and that you can play the slot machines 365 days of the year (except at Nassau OTB). You must be able to bet the horses at Nassau OTB every day of the year tracks are running all across the US (NY Racing is not the only racing in the US).
O'Reilly: Does Andrew Cuomo need a priest or a psychiatrist?
Photo credit: AP | Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news
conference in the Red Room at the Capitol in Albany, N.Y. (June 11,
2013)
William F. B. O'Reilly
William F. B. O'Reilly O'Reilly works as a corporate and political communications consultant. He bio
You're either pro-choice or pro-life in the eyes of our ostensibly Catholic governor; there's no in between. He said it over and over again in the final weeks of the session.
The black or white rigidity of Cuomo's thinking actually sent me to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual this week -- that's a reference book for psychologists -- to check what he might have. My amateur diagnosis is that he's either totally nuts (a nonscientific term) or just plain strident. There's a third possibility, too, of course. He may be -- just may be -- manipulating the electorate for political gain.
God forbid.
The problem with the governor's assessment is that it's factually incorrect -- that, or a vast plurality of New Yorkers just became pro-lifers. Because while a significant majority of New Yorkers consider themselves pro-choice, very few of them want unrestricted abortions allowed up until the ninth month of pregnancy, according to polls, which is pretty much what the governor's failed abortion bill would have permitted. Object to that -- and what rational person wouldn't? -- and you are stamped a pro-lifer, like it or not, by our resolute governor.
It must be tempting for a New York chief executive with national ambitions to dive head first into the neo abortion wars popping up around the country. The political currency is lucrative. Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis just became a national hero in the Democratic Party for sensationally filibustering a bill that would have restricted abortions after 20 weeks and imposed stricter regulatory standards on clinics, many of which would not have been up to snuff.
But according to polls, restrictions are exactly what most Americans prefer as they begin to learn more from science about the stages of early human development. Eighty percent of Americans think that unrestricted abortion should be outlawed in the third trimester, according to Gallup, and 64 percent think it should be outlawed in the second trimester, always with exceptions for life-threatening medical emergencies.
But what Cuomo and Davis realize is that the abortion debate is never rational; it is intensely emotional and political. They understand that voters who care deeply about abortion rights may want further restrictions in an ideal world, but they don't trust legislators who would make changes in the law. The process is seen as a slippery slope.
New York is one of the most strongly pro-choice states in the country. It legalized abortion in 1970 -- three years before Roe -- with a sitting Republican governor and a Republican-led State Senate and Assembly. No way the right to an abortion is being rolled backed here, even if Roe were to be struck down. But 43 years later, what do we end up arguing about most at the end of the legislative session? Who is really pro-choice and who isn't.
Albany watchers expect the next session to kick off exactly where this one left off, with Democrats accusing Republicans of being extremist for not wanting to pass legislation that eight in 10 Americans would oppose. It is expected to be used as a battering ram against the State Senate majority that refused to act on Cuomo's bill in 2013.
That may be a good political strategy in the short term, but Cuomo's position, upon close inspection, will almost certainly make him the extremist in the broader historical view. It will unquestionably render him manipulative and doctrinaire.
William F. B. O'Reilly is a Newsday columnist and a Republican political consultant.
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LI Confidential
> Stop scratching on holidays
Stop scratching on holidays
Published: June 1, 2012
Off Track Betting in New York State has been racing into a crisis called shrinking revenue. Some people have spitballed a solution: Don’t close on holidays.
New York State Racing Law bars racing on Christmas, Easter and Palm Sunday, and the state has ruled OTBs can’t handle action on those days, even though they could easily broadcast races from out of state.
“You should be able to bet whenever you want,” said Jackson Leeds, a Nassau OTB employee who makes an occasional bet. He added some irrefutable logic: “How is the business going to make money if you’re not open to take people’s bets?”
Elias Tsekerides, president of the Federation of Hellenic Societies of Greater New York, said OTB is open on Greek Orthodox Easter and Palm Sunday.
“I don’t want discrimination,” Tsekerides said. “They close for the Catholics, but open for the Greek Orthodox? It’s either open for all or not open.”
OTB officials have said they lose millions by closing on Palm Sunday alone, with tracks such as Gulfstream, Santa Anita, Turf Paradise and Hawthorne running.
One option: OTBs could just stay open and face the consequences. New York City OTB did just that back in 2003. The handle was about $1.5 million – and OTB was fined $5,000.
Easy money.
Letter: Why close racetrack on Palm Sunday?
Photo credit: AP | In this photo provided by New
York Racing Association, Stay Thirsty, left, with Ramon Dominguez
aboard, captures The G1 Cigar Mile horse race at Aqueduct in New York.
(Nov. 24, 2012)
To see what's wrong up in Albany, one only
needs to look at the fact that the Aqueduct Racetrack was closed on
Palm Sunday. On an average Sunday, The Big A has a total handle of
between $6 million and $7 million, of which New York
State takes a percentage.Racing also injects money into the industry, paying jockeys, trainers, grooms, etc. Hundreds of employees -- pari-mutuel clerks and racing officials -- help put on the show, which the state gets a piece of in income taxes.
All of this, worth thousands upon thousands of dollars, was lost because on an antiquated law. Not being allowed to race on Christmas or Easter is OK, but Palm Sunday? The New York Racing Authority races on Thanksgiving, and that's a holiday that the vast majority of us celebrate.
Changing this law would be a slam-dunk revenue creator.
Gerard Bringmann, Patchogue
Editor's note: The writer is both a racing fan and a practicing Catholic.
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES IN $2M - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../open-1st-palm-sunday-otb-rakes-2m-articl...
OPEN ON 1ST PALM SUNDAY, OTB RAKES
IN $2M. By Jerry Bossert / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Monday, April
14, 2003, 12:00 AM. Print · Print; Comment ...OTB FACES HAND SLAP OVER PALM - NY Daily News
www.nydailynews.com/.../otb-faces-hand-slap-palm-article-1.667233
Apr 16, 2003 – By Jerry Bossert
/ NEW YORK DAILY NEWS ... Aqueduct was also closed on Palm
Sunday, but OTB thrived on action from around the
country.
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