Democracy at Its Finest Today, Roughly 23 Million Americans Left Scratching Their Heads Asking What the Hell Just Happened

Today, being Friday the 13^th of all days is a dark day for American politics. Americans will awake this morning hearing that George Bush has signed the SAFE Port Act, an act that will be used to advanced technology to secure our ports from the threats of terrorist smuggling nuclear, chemical or biological weapons.

What most Americans won’t hear was that deception, deceitfulness, double-dealing, treachery, trickery, fraudulence, bamboozlement… what ever you want to call it was perpetrated on the American people and all for in the name of the Pro Family Movement.

Before I can tell you about the nasty con-job pulled on us Americans today, I should give you a little bit of back ground.

Over the past few years politicians and lobbyist have been running around Washington trying to figure out how to get a handle on the growing population of American Internet Gamblers (primarily Poker Players) which there are now roughly 23 million of and the numbers are estimated to keep growing.

What has been happening is that technology has been advancing much to fast for our government leaving some makers of policy (Senator Ted Stevens) to proclaim the internet is nothing more then a series of interconnecting tubes.

Because our policy makers are stagnant and torn between making sound policy that makes sense for the Internet and abiding by the pressure of their religious voters, Americans have been losing nearly 1.2 BILLION dollars a year on potential tax revenues legalized online poker would bring. Instead policy has been created that has lead to the growth of offshore casinos and tax revenues sent overseas.

Since it is extremely difficult for the Government to prevent Americans from gambling online while in the comfort of their own homes, they have devised a plan to now hold our personal banks accountable for where our money comes from. That’s right, this morning the government has passed a law “Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006” which was hidden in the SAFE Port Act to now holds our personal banks accountable if we deposit checks from questionable places.

Senator Bill Frist, a Republican for Tennessee and the Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate is the man responsible for pushing this bill and deceiving us Americans. In his cunningness Frist realized weeks ago that the bill would not pass on its own accord so he deceptively stuck it in a bill which no public figure would be caught dead denying, a bill such as the SAFE Port Act.

Last September this Bill was passed by Congress in the name of the Pro Family Movement lead by Bill Frist and on behalf of the Southern Baptists. What is extremely hypocritical about this bill is that it leaves open state lotteries, land-based casinos, horse racing and fantasy sports. All games one would consider to be part of the gambling family but the Government has found a way to monetize.

There are several points I wish to make.

1. This bill was passed under the radar yet it was done in a democratic way. American voters voted for Senator Frist, they voted for the members of Congress and they voted for Bush. We voted into office people who are making such policies for us.
2. Nearly 23 Million Americans are partaking in harmless online game that are accessible on “Indian Reservations” and rivers and what ever else they are calling these establishments these days. Either way, you can play poker almost everywhere. This attack on Online Poker in the name of being Pro Family is completely hypocritical. Why not shut down the lottery or horse racing? According to Poker Players Alliance, this is an outrages intrusion of 70 Million Poker Players.
3. The Internet is not going anywhere and prohibition only brings out the worse. Those that will offer a solution are usually not those we would like to make rich. As noted on this site, Bill Frist’s Online Gambling Bann Bill Will Help Fund Terrorists and on countless other site if American banks will not accept checks from online gambling sites, other banks will.
4. If you follow the online poker circuit you will find that they are managed by very large companies who have publicly stated THEY HAVE NO PROBLEM PAYING TAXES. Again, that is roughly 1,200,000,000 in taxes Americans could keep.

But most importantly,

5. Internet Hyperlink Blocking. According to Analysis of the Internet Gaming Prohibition this new Act requires that ISP’s (the provider you pay each month to connect to the Internet and all those servers who host websites) remove or disable access to the internet links and hyperlinks directed toward any Internet Gambling site.

This last point I mentioned is extremely important. The reason the internet works is that people are able to freely link their websites to others. It is a way of referring your visitor to other places you recommend. The government is getting to the point where they are CENSORING AMERCIANS by starting this ISP policy.

6. This act was passed by the Republicans all in the name of family values. Correct me if I am wrong but the Republican Party was about less government, not more!

This entry was posted on Friday, October 13th, 2006 at 12:39 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.