Update Friday, September 29th

[Stirfry]

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more first posts should be like this first post.

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Thank you. I finally de-lurked mainly to yell at the guy who couldn't be bothered to find the links on C-Span that said "live streams", and wanted us to find them for him.

But then I decided that would be unfriendly of me, and decided to post some useful information. I used to intern on Capitol Hill, studied a lot of parliamentary procedure, and did Political Science in college, so feel free to quiz me on stupid procedural matters.

[sleech]

No, he is talking about the fence bill. I think he is talking for the sake of talking.

[Mr. Orange]

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BBC news is reporting Port Autrhority bill has passed - now mention of IG regulations... news?

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there discussing it now. turn on CSPAN

[PurpleLight]

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BBC news is reporting Port Autrhority bill has passed - now mention of IG regulations... news?

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Im almost positive that is inaccurate. The house has not yet formally voted on it and the Senate has not yet recieved it.

www.cspan.org go down to the bottom and click on cspan 1 for the house, cspan 2 for the senate.

[Russ M.]

Someone explain why the AL Senator gets 30 minutes to filibuster.

[AvivaSimplex]

Okay, I've read over the text of the bill linked here:
http://www.rules.house.gov/109_2nd/t...43_portscr.pdf
Gambling stuff starts at page 213.

It does four things. First, it makes it explicitly illegal to accept bets over the internet. Okay, that won't change much. Executives of online gambling companies will have to avoid changing planes in the US. That's really about it.

Second, it makes it illegal for anyone in the business of accepting bets to receive money through credit cards, electronic funds transfers, etc. It forces banks to join some kind of program, specified by as-yet unwritten regulations, to identify and deny such transactions. There is a huge loophole here. Neteller, Firepay, etc. are not in the business of accepting bets, and therefore are exempt. Personally, this won't affect how I move funds at all.

Third, there is some very vague language about interactive computer systems. Basically, websites/ISPs might be required to remove links to gambling sites, but they are not required to actively seek out and remove their links, and they can't be punished until they've been warned at least once.

Fourth, there's some squishy language about cooperating with foreign governments to prevent money laundering and such.

That's about it. The devil is in the details, and the regulations they come up with might have sharper teeth than the bill, but I don't think this will affect anything.

Here's what it DOESN'T do:
-Make it illegal for individuals to place bets over the internet
-Make it illegal for individuals to receive money from gambling sites
-Specify that advertising gambling is illegal (all you US-based affiliates can breath easy)

I think this is a win for poker players. There's toothless legislation in place, which will prevent real legislation from coming through.

[Losing all]

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Someone explain why the AL Senator gets 30 minutes to filibuster.

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I don't know how it works, but if they give Byrd 40 minutes to thank nice guys for being nice guys I guess this dude gets a shot at mumbling.

[Stirfry]

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Someone explain why the AL Senator gets 30 minutes to filibuster.

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He's not filibustering. He's just talking, and if the others were actually done with whatever they are plotting on the sidelines, he'd finish up.

Right now, they're just "passing the baton" around so they can get on TV, get in soundbites, etc, while the others finish up conference legislation, etc.

Realize that no one in the Senate actually *listens* to the speeches from other Senators. It's why C-SPAN is usually barred from panning the Senate or House chamber when a Senator/Congressman is speaking, because the chamber is almost always empty or nearly so.

Speeches on the floor are just grandstanding, while the real work is done in the cloakrooms right off the floor or elsewhere nearby.

[PurpleLight]

Aviva, I interpreted the legislation quite a bit differently. Specificly I remember there being something that alluded to other entitites that accept money going towards gaming sites. I'd recomend against making definitive statements like this unless of course you're quite qualified to interpret the legislation.

[chrisptp]

Thank you for a solid, reasonable interp. There's also the MASSIVE loophole of 5364 b 3.

I will says this probably 50 times tonight. The bulk of the bill is an instruction to the AG and the Fed to write the details of the bill.