Las Vegas, "What Happens Here, Stays Here" -- Well Not Really

I'm sure that you have all seen those Las Vegas television ads which feature someone in Sin City doing something they normally wouldn't do. At the end of the commercial the following slogan is read, "What Happens Here, Stays Here". These commercials are sponsored by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority (LVCVA 'cause I'm not typing it again). If you don't remember, or haven't seen the ads, here is an excerpt from the LVCVA press release for them:

Inspired by real stories from Las Vegas visitors, each "Vegas Stories" ad brings to life a scintillating adult story -- some reveal more than others -- but what makes the ads so provocative and mysterious is what the characters don't say or what isn't shown during the 30-second and 60-second spots. The viewer is left to imagine what transpired but the participants know that "what happens here, stays here," which also serves as the tagline for the television spots. ... In one spot a sexy, glamorous woman enters a limousine and proceeds to flirt with the limo driver. She tells him how much she loves the smell of new cars and leather. She then raises the privacy wall only to re-emerge later as a sophisticated businesswoman with an English accent. In another spot set outside a Las Vegas wedding chapel, a middle-age woman has spontaneously married a much younger man who speaks no English. Obviously in town for business, the woman literally leaves her new husband at the chapel to rush off to a convention. Only Vegas!

At this point I know you are saying, Allen you don't even like TV and especially hate the ads. Well, you're right, but I do think these are some of the better ads on TV. I especially liked the one about the Shriners, but it got yanked from the air:

There might have been too much truth in one ad showing a group of men at breakfast the morning after a wild night of partying. They agree they can't go home with just the set of false teeth from a missing friend. The Shriners, however, took offense at the ads and asked LVCVA to stop them.

Well, according to this story in Wired News:

The FBI demanded Las Vegas hotels turn over their guest lists leading up to New Year's Eve to check against a U.S. master list of suspected terrorists, a law enforcement official said on Sunday. The demand for "patron information" went to all major hotels in the Nevada casino and entertainment city, said the official who declined to be named ... A representative of the American Civil Liberties Union said the demand for guest records, without any individual suspicion, infringed on the privacy of as many as 300,000 people "whose leisure activities are no one's business but their own." The action also showed the FBI's expanded, post-Sept. 11 power to obtain personal records without judicial review or suspicion about an individual "may well be used to monitor ordinary Americans," said Timothy Edgar, the ACLU's legislative counsel.

So apparently what happens there, only stays there until someone asks about it in a broad and general way. It's times like these when I'm reminded of that old blessing / curse, "May you live in interesting times", or "Amazing Times", according to Dave. Of course, there might be a reason that the FBI needs this information, but without judicial review how do we know? Are we supposed to just trust the Government? I know that last statement makes me sound like a conspiracy nut, but hey these are the same people who went nuts and put Japanese Americans in internment camps in World War II, the same people who prosecuted Americans for attending meetings of the Communist party. These are the same people, who in the last few years, have been systematically breaking down our civil liberties. So, the next time you go to Las Vegas, remember that what happens there, doesn't really stay there at all.