[saucyspade19]

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Really it's Frist and the others who used a procedural trick to get this thing passed in an unrelated bill without any real debate on its merits that we should be pissed at (and mildly irritated that the rules make this sort of thing possible in the first place). It's frankly a blatantly UNdemocratic move. What are we a bunch of godless commies that we pull the same crap the People's Republic of China did? (little John Wayne there)



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Riders = incredibly common legislative tool. Pork barrel legislation is a huge part of what congress does. Not a shocker that a bill that effects so few people winds up as a rider.

The cold hard fact is, when you say how “Undemocratic” the bill is, you have to ask what is a democracy? Sure, it is protecting the rights of the individual, but in a democracy, majority rules. We, as gamblers (which is how congress perceives us, not as poker players) are in the minority here. The zealots of the religious right love this bill, and it really doesn’t matter to many other people. The proportion of people pissed about the bill compared to the people that support “moralist” legislation is in the favor of the latter.
IMO, a big reason this went through is the economic implications of shipping billions overseas. Online poker is an unregulated, multibillion dollar industry, and it certainly hurts the trade deficit. However, if our government wasn’t retarded, they would have legalized it, found a way to tax it, and then eagerly tried to get china into poker. It could be the freakini anti-Walmart, but they are too busy trying to hold down the moral vote.