Students of history know that there really is very little in this world that is truly ‘new’. Some people might find this ‘nothing new under the sun’ scenario a tad depressing, but it also allows people to put challenges in their proper perspective. No matter what hurdles the world throws at you, you can take some solace in knowing that someone else in some other place at some other time has likely faced down a similar foe and lived to tell the tale.
Which brings us to this century-old newspaper report about anti-gambling crusaders in New Zealand who were actively working to see that “the profession of the bookmaker should be rendered illegal.” Sorta puts a little perspective on the modern day “gambling = crack cocaine” campaigns by Focus On The Family and the ‘click your mouse and lose your house’ memes endlessly regurgitated by the attack dogs in Washington, don’t it? For the record, New Zealand never got rid of those bookmakers, and a century later, New Zealand ranks in the Top 20 of the United Nation’s Human Development Index. Coincidence? Read more.
