Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

Well, things still look good. IGREA is gaining some steam. It remains to be seen if it can clear the House Financial Services Committee, but its mere existence is keeping our opponents at bay, as Frank stated in this interview. Also, Rep. Shelley Berkley [D-NV] introduced HR 2140, an Internet gambling study bill that already has 60 cosponsors. Unfortunately, as we all know, in anticipation of losing the WTO final appeal the USTR announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the gambling portion of the GATS agreement.

So, it seems there's a lot we can be doing right now. And, we really need to do it RIGHT NOW, before these politicians make up their minds. So, let's do the following:
<font color="brown">
1. If you haven't yet, please contact your congressman and senators by phone and by mail. Ask them to support and cosponsor IGREA and HR 2140. Additionally, let's ask our representatives and senators to honor our commitments to the WTO in this matter. The PPA has an automailer at http://activate.pokerplayersalliance...t.php?rindex=1 . As you've probably already done this, please tell your friends. Barney Frank asked us each to get six others to write to their congressmen in support of IGREA. Perhaps post the PPA automailer web address in blogs (where it pertains to the topic, of course), or spam your friends and family. This isn't about IGREA as much as it is demonstrating political support for freedom to choose to gamble online.

2. Now that we have bills out there, we should try to work on our public image. Let's write to newspapers, magazines, post to blogs, etc. with positives of online gaming.

3. We've been focusing on the federal government to date, but there's a state component to this as well. Please write to your state representatives this week and ask him/her to sponsor a bill legalizing Internet gambling within your state. </font>

Thanks everyone!

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

Here are my letters to Attorney General Gonzales and Secretary Paulson. This was an item from two weeks ago. I think you should consider doing this if you haven't yet, as our opponents have been. Thanks.

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May 15, 2007

The Honorable Alberto Gonzalez
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

Dear General Gonzales:

On behalf of millions of law-abiding Americans, I am writing to ask you use care when drafting the regulations to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, so as not to exceed the specific requirements of the Act.

Many Americans oppose the UIGEA in its current form. It “passed” the Senate not by a majority vote on its merits, but by being sneaked into the Safe Ports Act, where it was safe from debate and discussion. As a result, reform measures like HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, have already been introduced, and others are sure to follow.

However, the UIGEA is law, and your department is tasked with enforcing it as written. As such, I humbly ask that you to just that – write regulations that address the legislation as written. I understand that some who advocate restricting the rights of Americans to choose to play poker online have been lobbying your department for regulations that are well beyond the scope and authority of UIGEA. For example, although recent court decisions have defined the scope of the Wire Act of 1961 as covering wagering on only sporting events and races, in your last Senate appearance Sen. Jon Kyl specifically asked you for regulations affecting all Internet gambling, even Internet poker. It seems that if Congress wanted to outlaw Internet poker, they would have passed an act that did so. They did not. I urge you to resist the efforts of individual politicians who would use your department as a “back-door” means of creating laws that they were unable to create legislatively.

Internet poker is not illegal under any federal law. I ask you to keep this in mind as you draft the UIGEA regulations. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

TheEngineer

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May 15, 2007

The Honorable Henry Paulson
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear Secretary Paulson:

On behalf of millions of law-abiding Americans, I am writing to ask you use care when drafting the regulations to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006, so as not to exceed the specific requirements of the Act.

Many Americans oppose the UIGEA in its current form. It “passed” the Senate not by a majority vote on its merits, but by being sneaked into the Safe Ports Act, where it was safe from debate and discussion. As a result, reform measures like HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, have already been introduced, and others are sure to follow.

However, the UIGEA is law, and your department is tasked with enforcing it as written. As such, I humbly ask that you to just that – write regulations that address the legislation as written. I understand that some who advocate restricting the rights of Americans to choose to play poker online have been lobbying your department for regulations that are well beyond the scope and authority of UIGEA. For example, although recent court decisions have defined the scope of the Wire Act of 1961 as covering wagering on only sporting events and races, in Attorney General Gonzales’ last Senate appearance Sen. Jon Kyl specifically asked him for regulations affecting all Internet gambling, even Internet poker. It seems that if Congress wanted to outlaw Internet poker, they would have passed an act that did so. They did not. I urge you to resist the efforts of individual politicians who would use your department as a “back-door” means of creating laws that they were unable to create legislatively.

Internet poker is not illegal under any federal law. I ask you to keep this in mind as you draft the UIGEA regulations. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

TheEngineer

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

Here the "sports coalition's" letter:
http://www.citizenlink.org/pdfs/fosi...ion_Letter.pdf

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March 22, 2007

The Honorable Alberto Gonzalez
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001

The Honorable Henry Paulson
1500 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20220

Dear General Gonzales and Secretary Paulson:

On behalf of our respective professional and amateur sports organizations, we are writing to urge you to issue strong regulations to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006.

Our sports organizations each have strict policies against sports betting, because wagering on sports can corrupt athletic contests or create the appearance of corruption. Internet gambling also runs directly contrary to federal and state statutes against sports gambling, particularly the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act of 1992. Though Internet gambling on sports has never been legal, easy access to offshore Internet gambling websites has created the opposite impression among the general public, particularly before this law was passed. Congress has also found, as have others who have examined this issue, that Internet gambling serves as a vehicle for money laundering, and that it has contributed to both underage and compulsive gambling.

We are gratified by recent reports from sports gambling insiders indicating that the new law has already caused wagering on the Super Bowl and “March Madness” to decline by over a third, even though there are no implementing regulations in effect yet. However, some of the same industry insiders believe that sports gambling will return to its previous levels by next year. Effective regulations are essential to ensuring that sports gambling does not rebound, but continues to decline as Congress intended.

Internet gambling businesses seek to – and until the passage of the UIGEA were easily able to – evade U.S. prosecutors by operating offshore. Thus, the most effective way to curtail Internet sports gambling is to interrupt the flow of funds between U.S.-based gamblers and offshore website operators. In the new law, Congress gave the Treasury Department, together with the Federal Reserve and the Department of Justice, responsibility for writing regulations to guide different types of payment systems in identifying and blocking these financial transactions.

Some payment systems, such as credit cards, can use “coding” to block online gambling funds. But other types of payment systems, such as checking and Automated Clearing House (ACH) transfers, need a list of prohibited recipients or bank accounts in order to effectively block fund transfers. To prevent undue burden on financial institutions, such a list needs to be compiled and maintained by the government. The House Financial Services Committee Report clearly states that Congress intended law enforcement to provide financial institutions with the identities of illegal online gambling businesses or their financial accounts. The Committee Report also gave the agencies regulatory flexibility to develop alternative policies and procedures for “non-coded” transactions, consistent with the law’s goals.


We are asking you to commit the regulatory and law enforcement resources necessary to effectively implement the law. If proposed and final regulations are not strong, the illegal Internet gambling industry will once again see the U.S. market as a prime target for sports gambling operations.

Sincerely,

Rick Buchanan
Executive VP and General Counsel
National Basketball Association

Elsa Kircher Cole
General Counsel
National Collegiate Athletic Association

William Daly
Deputy Commissioner
National Hockey League

Tom Ostertag
Senior VP and General Counsel
Major League Baseball

Jeffrey Pash
Executive VP and General Counsel
National Football League

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

Since the media don't give us much coverage, I like to post here and there to various blogs, such as USAToday's, just to very gradually get the word out into the mainstream consciousness. It's won't do much, but it doesn't take much, either. Here's a quick one from the story about Falwell kicking the bucket:

TheEngineer wrote: &lt;1m ago
It's fine that Falwell and his followers chose to live by a self-defined moral code, but I fail to understand his need to force this code on others via legislation, especially at the federal level. This extended to areas not even mentioned in the Bible, such as the ridiculous attempted ban on Internet poker. I enjoy playing poker, and I like the convenience of playing online. I don't know why these busybodies feel the need to tell me what to do in my own home.

Apparently Fallwell finished the work laid out in the Bible and started making up new stuff that sorf of sounded religious. Too bad the Republican Party will have to pay for this error until they rediscover their limited government roots.

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

More message board stuff:

One more thing. We don't have to just sit here and take it. If we don't want the government to legislate one man's idea of morality, contact your congressman and senators at www.house.gov and www.senate.gov. To speak up for the right to play Internet poker, go to the Poker Players Alliance auto-mailer at http://activate.pokerplayersalliance....php?rindex=1. For other causes, Google is your friend. Sitting around doing nothing is your enemy.

It's time we tell the politicians to worry about managing the nation, rather than what we choose to do in our personal lives.

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Weekly action thread
 

I wrote to my Congressman in Missouri and his response has to do with the fact that there are many people with "gambling Problems". I would like to respond back but need some ideas on how to respond to his statement about people addicted to gambling. any ideas?

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Weekly action thread
 

There are also people with cigerrette, alchohol, shopping/credit card and eating problems. Are we going to ban cigerrettes, alchohol, shopping/credit cards, refined sugar, trans fats, etc. because some people can't control themselves?

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

My letter to Bush:


May 18, 2007

President George W. Bush
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

On behalf of millions of law-abiding Americans, I am writing to ask for your leadership in ensuring that the Executive branch departments responsible for drafting the regulations to implement the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 use due care, so as not to exceed the specific requirements of the Act.

Many Americans oppose the UIGEA in its current form. It “passed” the Senate not by a majority vote on its merits, but by being sneaked into the Safe Ports Act, where it was safe from debate and discussion. As a result, reform measures like HR 2046, the Internet Gambling Regulation and Enforcement Act, have already been introduced, and others are sure to follow. Also, the Poker Players Alliance was formed to advocate for the right to play poker online. The PPA, chaired by Sen. Alfonse D'Amato, now has 500,000 members!

However, the UIGEA is law, and the Executive branch is tasked with enforcing it as written. As such, I humbly ask that you to just that – ensure that the regulations address the legislation as written. I understand that some who advocate restricting the rights of Americans to choose to play poker online have been lobbying for regulations that are well beyond the scope and authority of UIGEA. For example, although recent court decisions have defined the scope of the Wire Act of 1961 as covering wagering on only sporting events and races, in Attorney General Gonzales’ last Senate appearance Sen. Jon Kyl specifically asked him for regulations affecting all Internet gambling, even Internet poker. It seems that if Congress wanted to outlaw Internet poker, they would have passed an act that did so. They did not. I urge you to resist the efforts of individual politicians who would use your departments as a “back-door” means of creating laws that they were unable to create legislatively.

Internet poker is not illegal under any federal law. I ask you to keep this in mind as the UIGEA regulations are drafted. Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

TheEngineer

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Weekly action thread
 

[ QUOTE ]
There are also people with cigerrette, alchohol, shopping/credit card and eating problems. Are we going to ban cigerrettes, alchohol, shopping/credit cards, refined sugar, trans fats, etc. because some people can't control themselves?

[/ QUOTE ]

Just because people have problem with something doesn't mean that the State gets to ban it. The Nanny State doesn't preserve our freedom or our liberty, something millions have died to protect. If you are going to ban something because it is not good for people then the next step will be to force people to do things that are good for them. And who gets to decide? This is a very dangerous line of thinking that seems to be pervading politics these days: people in power think they know what is best for others and then run their lives accordingly. The problem with that is, no one really knows what is best for someone. And don't we have the liberty to find out for ourselves?

Moreover, if you really truly believe that gambling can be bad and therefore needs to be banned then you MUST ban the stock market, lotteries, dog racing, horse racing and business and real estate investments. Let's not pretend that living does not involve taking a lot of risks with our time and money. We all take risks every day. But if you are going to be against one kind of gambling then you must be against them all. Many more fortunes have been lost in the stock market than all the poker games ever played combined. So let's stop the hypocrisy please.

Re: Fight for Online Gaming!! -- Plan for weeks of 5/14 & 5/21
 

A post I made on a story about Fred Thompson from USAToday.com, at http://blogs.usatoday.com/onpolitics..._fred_tho.html . I know it doesn't seem like much, but it's free media, and it takes only a minute, so why not?

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TheEngineer wrote: 5m ago
What happened to the small-goverment conservatives? Seems the religious right has taken over the Republican Party, and no government is too big. These guys want federal laws to tell us what to do and when to do it. For example, only Ron Paul has come out and said we should be allowed to play Internet poker in our own homes. WTH does this even have to do with the feds?!?!?!? Nothing but a nanny state. Fred seems like more of the same.

Want change? Vote for Ron Paul.