Now that unemployment and poverty rates are sky high, why not open a few casinos? The Post reports that both parties agree: legalized gambling should happen. It'll give people a chance to discover a new rock-bottom get back on their feet, inject some cash into the state's austere budget, and finally allow us to knock Native Americans out of the one position of power that they currently hold. Everybody wins! more ›

Perhaps in hopes of increasing the state's revenue a bit more, Bloomberg says Paterson needs to "cowboy up" when it comes to cigarette taxes, and fight Indian reservations who continue to sell smokes tax-free. Though one Indian chief previously said enforcement would be considered an act of war, Bloomberg ignored the threat (and political correctness) on his radio show, saying, “I said to David Paterson, I said, ‘You know, get yourself a cowboy hat and a shotgun. If there’s ever a great video it’s you standing in the middle of the New York State Thruway saying you know read my lips, the law of the land is this and we're going to enforce the law.'" The statement didn't sit too well with some tribes. more ›

Last month the city filed a federal lawsuit against eight of the biggest cigarette dealers on the 50-acre Poospatuck reservation in Mastic, Long Island, where 11.3 million cartons of untaxed cigarettes where sold last year alone. Mayor Bloomberg argues that the sales deprive the city of $195 million in annual tax revenue, and city lawyers are seeking an injunction to stop the defendants immediately, the Times reports. Harry Wallace, chief of the Poospatuck tribe, says, "It’s just interfering and trying to interfere with the lawful retail trade on our land." But the lawsuit alleges that many of the cigarette proprietors are not even members of the tribe, and that each of the 279 residents of the reservation (including children) would have to smoke 19,200 cigarettes a day to account for the millions of cigarettes sold there in 2007. more ›

After consistently complaining about the state's failure to enforce tax laws on Indian reservation retailers who sell cigarettes to non-Indians, Mayor Bloomberg took action yesterday, filing a lawsuit in federal court in Brooklyn against eight smoke shops on the 50-acre Poospatuck reservation in Mastic, Long Island. The suit accuses the stores of selling cigarettes to bootleggers who smuggle the cartons off the reservation to sell them in the city, saving smokers a $4.25 per-pack tax. more ›

A member of the House Committee on Homeland Security will be releasing a report that alleges cigarettes sold on Indian reservations ultimately help fund Hamas and Hezbollah. more ›