More Problems for us US players

The Republican National Committee has a platform on all sorts of issues. Here's their stand on on-line gambling direct from their site:
Internet Gambling
Millions of Americans suffer from problem or pathological gambling that can destroy families. We support the law prohibiting gambling over the Internet.
http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/Crime.htm#2
It's one position we need to consider when voting. Also:
A judge in the state of Kentucky has recently permitted the state to prohibit access to residents to 141 internet gambling sites, including pokerstars and FTP.
PC World - Kentucky May Kill Online Gambling Permanently
If this is upheld, other states no doubt will follow. Legislation in Congress has been introduced to regulate it and allow it, but it's not in favor at the moment, and frankly not likely to pass, especially under a Republican administration. I just hope online poker doesn't go the way of Napster.....


this is BS

If the goverment was truly intrested in controlling gambling to protect kids and problem gamblers they would outlaw it completely. The problem is they have not yet found a way to get control of online gambling in order to tax it as of yet. When they do it will be open to all.

about 2 years ago i sent an email to the sen. lindsey graham in my state of SC.
i got an email back saying how he was for the ban because he thinks internet gaming could be used for the following :
Terroist funding,
Drug trafficing, and went on and on.

this my friends is why im a democrat,

I sent an email back that read as "thanks for your reply, im now a little dumber after reading it"

Yes! Government is sociopathic about issues like this. They want to ban what they can't get a piece of (hoping that you will instead spend that same money at some other taxable diversion like drinking or horse racing or lotteries or girls in Texas). And let's not call them law-makers, because in this kind of issue it's solely about their self-interest and their pocketbook.

The same reason these 2 prolly will too! QUALITY!

Based on your post in this thread, it doesn't seem like you add anything valuable to conversations....

I am a member of an Alliance that is FIGHTING these illegal bills aimed at taking away our RIGHT to partake in our 'SPORT'! Please at least check out our web page and SEE what it is we are doing and how you can help! Poker Players Alliance » Home ---Rick

At least the Republicans were bold enough to step forward and give an opinion on internet gambling in their platform for 2008.

On the contrary, the DNC makes NO mention of it, anywhere in their platform. Do they think it is not a major issue with millions of Americans? Not worthy of stating their position?

I worry more about politicians who say nothing on an important issue than those who do. You at least have a direction to address your own views if they will step up to plate. With the DNC, it could well be something that will 'appear' as an issue after they (may/may not) win.

Even Dean Heller (R-NV), our District 2 Congressman for the House voted in favor of the recent HR bill that would have removed the restrictions from financial institutions regarding internet gaming monies. The majority of votes that rejected the HR were Democratic House Reps. HMmmmm... Is there an underlying message here that the Dems do not WANT us to see? Seems they have already stated their position with their VOTES in Congress.

also im a member of the amateurpokerleague.com i think there doing something about the problems were having in the usa,, they have events all over the USA, Kentucky included,check it out,, buck

We need to be careful being so demonizing.

They are real people who honestly believe they are doing the right thing. We disagree. It doesn't have to get more personal and vitriolic than that.

thanks for all the information.......didnt know any of this until i read the article.......

"These people" are, generally speaking, sad old farts following a party poker line, who "think" they know you better than you know yourself. Does the attendant at a gas station tell you how much gas or oil to put in your vehicle? Does the Electric company tell you when to turn your lights on and off ? Does the bagger at the store tell you how many groceries to buy ? no no and no, why? Because we are perfectly capable of making up our own mind and the less government tells us what we can and cannot do with our own money, the better off we will all be.

your all right, and we need a whole lot less government telling us what we cannot do.
but yet its ok to drink.

Here is what I don't understand:
- A 15 year old person can go to prison for the rest of their life but can't gamble, drink, smoke, or legally have sex.

i justed joined and sent my state reps an email.

I know tell me about it

icant understand why the goverments forbit online poker i have the same problem in my country cant play anymore on all rooms but i can play when u want play or gamble or something like that then you can do it no law will help against this.

Completely disagree. While the government is wrong in this case, there is nothing wrong with regulation.

TRUE THAT!

As a resident of one of the already limited (and in some cases banned) states this sort of thing worries me a lot!!!

OK so at least I am close to Canada and several reservations where I can get my live poker fill, the truth is, i would be LOST without my FTP and PS and Absolute Poker...

The truth is that online poker keeps me OUT of trouble!! It keeps me from getting out there and doing stupid crap (like losing all my money on the real felts LOL).

These people are INSANE and as mentioned above SOCIOPATHIC.

BIG DEM HERE FO SHO! All you repulican poker players (and I know there are several) really should look into the policies that your guys are putting out there! They are NOT on your side... its practically fascism!!!! Mark my words... it will only get worse!!

I think it's perfectly reasonable to demonize people who decide to act against my personal interests by banning internet poker. Playing poker is a consensual activity, that doesn't directly harm anyone else. There may be people who lose a significant amount of money but they're equally capable of losing that same amount of money with legal betting on lotteries or horse racing, or playing in private games. The worst things people do are often done by people who believe they are doing the right thing. Hitler and Stalin killed tens of millions of people between them and they thought that was a good thing to do, and I have no qualms about demonizing them either. This is a personal issue to me, and likely to a lot of people who likewise spend about as much time working at a regular job as they do playing poker, and I'm going to treat it as such. I hate every last one of these f***ers trying to ban internet poker, and that's going to be reflected in my voting. I'm also making sure everyone at every table I play at live hears about it and I hope others do the same.

Thanks for this post, OP -- I personally thought the KY thing was old news already, but I guess a lot of people still aren't signed up with the PPA nor regularly check poker news sites, etc.. Anyway, what happened in KY is disturbing in many more ways than one, as it effectively allows the government to deny citizens access to certain websites (under the pretense that these sites are doing something illegal, which they actually are't), which is (imho, illegal) censorship. If this highly suspect maneuver of the obviously-misguided governor of KY -- a Democrat, for crying out loud . . . what is wrong with this guy??? -- is allowed to go unchallenged, it could potentially open the floodgates for all kinds of crazy stuff. . . .

So, what can we all do about this? Of course, we can all call/write/email or otherwise contact Gov. Beshear's office, tell him we're Democrats (I am, anyway) and - more importantly - voters, as well as passionate poker players, and that we don't appreciate him not only trampling on our right to play poker, but on our constitutional right to access any information we want on the internet, as long as it's legal (which online poker IS in this country, including KY). And then, if you haven't already done so, got to Poker Players Alliance » Home and become a member of the PPA -- even if you just become a free member, that still increases our power in Washington and in any given state-legislature, because the larger this organization gets, the more they'll have to pay attention to us. I am personally on the PPA commitee here in Denver, and small as we (still) are, we have already been able to make an impact on several fronts.

Ok, that's my rant for today . . . oh, and vote Obama in November!

A) You just lost this thread by Godwin's law.

B) If you want to turn this into a culture war, don't cry when you lose.

They believe they are making society better. They are wrong. The marketplace of ideas guarantees that in the long run, our side will win. Be patient.

It was Barney Frank and the democrats that got the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 overturned. The Republicans used to be the party poker that told the government to get out of our private lives. But, now that the Republicans have adopted the religious right and falsly claim to be all that is good and holy. The Democrats have taken up the cause to get the gov't out of our private lives. Just look at Roe v. Wade and similar type issues and who is on the side of privacy.

I've heard that KY wanted to ban online gambling. This does worry me, because once one state does this many more will follow.

A) I wasn't making reference to them being nazi-like, so 'Godwin's law' doesn't apply. It was a valid refutation of the point that we should respect their belief because they believe they are doing good. It simply serves as a relatively pure example of millions of people doing incredibly bad things in the belief they were doing good.

B) If you haven't noticed there's already a culture war going on.