[oldbookguy]

This is both sad and funny.

Received a third reply yesterday from Capito.

She serves on the House Financial Services Committee and I quote from the letter; "Currently the house of Representatives is not considering any lefislation that addresses the position taken by U.S. trade Representative, susan Schwab, vis a vis gambling".

I wrote back today asking where has she been, perhaps if she attended the committee meetings she would know that her chairman HAS introduced legislation addressing this.

Also, Congressman Wexler from florida has introduce exemptions for games of skill 9though they already are exempt) but specifically naming poker as exempt as a Skill Game.

I sure hope no matter what happens for poker, we in WV get rid of her.

Following that, I sent the following letter to a local statewide newspaper where i have had a few letters published in the past.

The Billion Dollar Card game

A trade settlement in the works by the bush administration and supported by Rep. Capito is about to cost Americans & American companies BILLIONS of dollars.
In 1994 the Clinton administration signed a WTO Trade Agreement allowing among other things Internet poker in the U.S.
Now, the Right wing of the Bush administration, on moral grounds, passed a law prohibiting it.
To withdraw from this ‘Deal’ we must agree to trade sanctions in the billions against American Companies.
We were sued in court by the small island nation Antigua-Barbuda and lost and they want 3.4 BILLION in compensation PER YEAR, forever.
No big deal except we also signed this deal with 50 other countries some of which have joined the suit since we refuse to honor our agreements.
To quote U.S. trade lawyer Juan Millan; “Millan said Washington accepted that U.S. gambling laws were not in compliance with its WTO obligations. But he said Antigua's request for retaliation was unnecessary because the U.S. was negotiating compensation with all interested WTO members — despite having originally argued that it was exempt from sanctions or having to pay compensation.”
So, instead of staying out of American’s homes, the Bush administration is entering even more, costing Americans and American Companies unnecessary added expenses and potentially costing us more American jobs by placing additional trade burdens on citizens and companies.
Thanks congresswoman Capito for supporting this and thanks president Bush for placing the right wing moral values above the privacy rights of American Citizens.


obg