God damn Republican's!!!

On Friday night, Congress passed a port security bill. I don’t know the specifics about the bill, but it was basically a no-brainer to pass. In an underhanded legislative move, Republican representative Bill Frist was able to attach an Internet Gambling Prohibition bill to the bill, and it was able to pass without debate (mostly because the bill was a no-brainer before it, and members of congress are eager to end this session to campaign for the coming elections). Frist tried this same move with a defense bill, but our Senator Levin and a republican Senator blocked that, since the bill had nothing to do with defense. Unfortunately the committee or sponsor of this bill were much more spineless. I even did my part in sending e-mails to both of our senators, receiving basically a form type response from Carl Levin, and nothing from Stabenow.

Incidentally, Frist has recently been in the news as saying that the Taliban needs to be a part of the Afghanistan government. So obviously he is a real intellectual giant.

This bill was also attempted to be passed earlier this summer, on it’s own merit. It passed the Republican controlled congress, but stalled in the senate.

Essentially the bill tries to make it more difficult to fund a gambling account, putting all of the onus on the banks to determine if a transaction is for the purpose of gambling. This is going to be basically impossible to enforce, as the banks don’t have the time or resources to do this adequately. The banks have 270 days to comply, and there are also 270 days to try to figure out a means to enforce this. Importantly, the bill does nothing to the bettor!!!

All of the analysis I have read says this is toothless, and was just a political thing to once again appease the frigging right wing evangelical Christians. Interestingly…but not surprisingly, the bill carves out exceptions for horse racing and lotteries. Also, the bill does not address any existing legalized gambling.

Essentially they are saying that gambling is very, very, very wrong…unless it’s on horse racing, state lotteries, land based casinos, or any of the numerous Indian reservations.

The fallout has been surprisingly bad, already Partypoker has announced that as soon as the bill is signed by Bush (a certainty), they will no longer allow US players to play. A few other sites have followed suit. There have been several sites that will still allow US players however.

I thought that Republican’s were supposed to be about less government and more personal freedoms, but every time I read the news, it’s about them trying to restrict another personal freedom (provided it isn’t gun control).

Sorry for the long rant, as this obviously greatly affects me as it has been a second income for me for a couple of years, as well as a source of enjoyment.

Libertarian (or anything not Republican) in the upcoming election.