Conservative religious assholes have tried to
ban internet poker here numerous times. By itself, the bill has never passed.
It took piggy-backing the bill onto the Safe Port Act, a Homeland Security bill
that was sure to pass. It's election year...noone would vote against the Safe
Port Act.
So, if you like to play poker, you can thank
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (Republican). He hid this bill in the Safe
Port Act knowing that it would not pass on its own. What the bill does is make
it illegal to transfer money between gambling websites and U.S. banks. So
essentially, it takes the financial security and legitimacy out of the picture.
Now people like myself will have to go through questionable ways of exchanging
money since we can't use banks or secure sites to do it. That's awesome.
Oh, and if you think Frist did this because
he's against gambling, someone should ask him why he made sure that state-run
internet horse gambling is still legal.
Smart move on his part. Noone's going to vote
against the Safe Port Act in an election year. God, I want to punch Frist in
the balls.
Frist said, "Although we can't monitor
every online gambler or regulate offshore gambling, we can police the financial
institutions that disregard our laws. For me as majority leader, the bottom
line is simple: Internet gambling is illegal."
I could argue that poker is more of a sport
than gambling, but let's put that aside. So, you've made it harder to play
poker online. Good for you. At least it's still easy for your friends like Mark
Foley to pick up underaged boys online, right?
A huge chunk of voters in America don't know
what habeas corpus is, and support for the Bush Administration has been twisted
and watered down to being about how patriotic you are. Conservatives have let a
lot of shit go because they'd rather support douchebags than side with
"the left". But now? There's a LOT of poker players in this country.
I'd like to see if they finally become outraged about the people in charge, or
will they continue to roll over and take it.