Fighting H.R. 4777, the Internet Gambling Prohibition Act

[casino employee]

right then, bring on the WTO lawsuits.....
....any bookmaker laying down the lines as far as how long until the case gets settled?

 

[Tailgun]

right then, bring on the WTO lawsuits.....
....any bookmaker laying down the lines as far as how long until the case gets settled?

I'd love to see this happen, really take the fight to them and stand up for some justice and fairness in international relations.

(Sigh) But I know better. The WTO is the USA's bitch...

 

[jetset]

Here is the link with video of Bush's signing:

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Correct, nothing was mentioned specifically about the provisions attached concerning Internet gambling. I am anxious to see the complete text of this as Public Law (if anything had been sent back to be amended and "stricken" during that 10-day period). If I come across anything this evening, will update ASAP

That would a helpful check, Cynthia. I've read the full text of the president's signing speech and he doesn't mention the attachment anywhere.

 

[spearmaster]

That would a helpful check, Cynthia. I've read the full text of the president's signing speech and he doesn't mention the attachment anywhere.

I suspect Bush didn't mention it for a number of reasons:

1. He (or more likely, his advisors) knew that this was going to be controversial and wanted to avoid questioning along those lines from the media.

2. By not publicly taking any stance, he allows Congress to absorb all the fallout from any problems with the legislation. If someone asks him about it later, he can say that he felt any such legislation was unimportant by comparison to the Safe Ports Act and that he would be willing to look at any fuiture bills to prohibit or legislate online gambling.

3. He provides a little protection for himself against any backlash from within, particularly as Frank Fahrenkopf of the AGA is a former Republican Party chairman.

What struck me as most funny is that Fox News, notoriously pro-Bush, in writing up their article moved the online gambling stuff to the top of their article!

On the flipside, Lou Dobbs of CNN is preparing a series on "Broken Government" which should be quite interesting. I wonder if he could be convinced to include a mention of this backdoor legislation...

 

[lovetogamble]

Fox News

What struck me as most funny is that Fox News, notoriously pro-Bush, in writing up their article moved the online gambling stuff to the top of their article!

I'm glad someone else notices this besides me! I can't stand to watch Fox News anymore! Their nothing but a bunch of hypercritical rebublicans! Bush and his cronies can do no wrong on that news station! They are a lot of things, but "Fair and Balanced" is not one of them them!

 

[SlotsWizard]

I'm glad someone else notices this besides me! I can't stand to watch Fox News anymore! Their nothing but a bunch of hypercritical rebublicans! Bush and his cronies can do no wrong on that news station! They are a lot of things, but "Fair and Balanced" is not one of them them!

You got that right. I like to watch The Countdown with Keith Olbermann on MSNBC. He provides a very liberal, and usually comical, spin on the news. And in his "Worst person in the world" of the day section, where three people are named as "Worse", "Worser" and "Worst" - Bill O'Reilly usually shows up in one of those positions every day.

Did you catch Keith's rundown of the Ten Amendments, since they did away with habeus corpus? If you don't know what that is, or haven't seen the clip,

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[lovetogamble]

LOL

Did you catch Keith's rundown of the Ten Amendments, since they did away with habeus corpus? If you don't know what that is, or haven't seen the clip, I found it on YouTube

Thanks for the link! You'd never see a segment like that on Fox!!

 

[jetset]

If you're from Arizona here's a solution to the Kyl problem

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sdaddy will find this one especially interesting.

 

[Peaceful1]

From that article (link) Jetset provided:

Gambling911.com has also learned from top government sources that President Bush almost didn't sign the internet gambling legislation. Bush reportedly told key members in his administration that he did not want to sign off on an "unrelated" internet gambling provision that arrived to his desk as an attachment to a much more important port security bill. While hopes were high, the President ultimately signed off on the entire package though making no mention of the measure pertaining to online gambling.

However, although it seemed promising (and would have delayed the passage of the Internet Gambling provision), IMO Bush was reluctant to sign solely because of the fact it was unrelated to the PORT SAFE Act. Not to say that he does not support Internet Gambling Prohibition. Recall in July his support of the House's passage of H.R. 4411:

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It will be a long and bumpy road (at least until 2008) to get this amended/repealed.

But glad to hear residents of Arizona are taking such a solid stand on this!!

 

[Tailgun]

List of Anti-Gambling Politicians to Vote Against?

I wonder if it isn't possible to get a list of all the various Congressmen and Senators who have voted against online gambling, including supporting this bill. If we know which dirtbags are behind these laws and in which states they serve, we might best advise family and friends (and know ourselves) which way to put our vote in November.

 

[Mister]

Re: List of Anti-Gambling Politicians to Vote Against?

Besides Jon Kyl, R-Ariz (who is running against Jim Pederson), here is the most obvious list;


Bill Frist, R-Tenn, Senate Majority Leader, retiring soon to make a presidential run for 2008


James Leach, R-Ia, up for re-election in November 2006 running against Democrat David Loesback (Source: Old / Expired Link)
James Leach was sponsor of Bill H.R.4411: Internet Gambling Prohibition and Enforcement Act
co-sponsors (35 of them) listed at:
Source:

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Robert Goodlatte, R-Va. No major candidates announced their intentions to contest Goodlattes seat in the November 2006 election (Source: Old / Expired Link)
Bob Goodlatte was sponsor of H.R. 4777: Internet Gambling Prohibition Act
co-sponsors (145 of them) listed at:

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[sdaddy]

Old / Expired Link

sdaddy will find this one especially interesting.

Thanks Jetset. That made my day.

I found this development quite intriguing:

Many of these sites, including prominent online gambling establishments that operate outside the United States, will be sending the powerful message to all of its Arizona customers. One large sports betting firm has disclosed that based on last year's numbers they had just over 5000 registered users in the city of Phoenix alone.

I think this could be very effective what these online gambling establishments are planning to do. Through their customer base they have the power to target most of the voters in Arizona concerned about this issue. Any political strategist would dream of having such a list to work with.

 

[sdaddy]

Re: List of Anti-Gambling Politicians to Vote Against?

Great list, Mister.

Two others I would include are the House and Senate managers of the Port Security Bill. I would call them "willing accomplices" for allowing Frist to slip the non-germane Internet Gambling legislation into a must-pass bill. They are

Rep. Peter King (NY), Chairman of the Committee on Homeland Security

Sen. Susan Collins (ME), Chairwoman of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

 

[amatrine]

Re

Im in Arizona. When is the protest? I would like to join

Ama

 

[Mister]

Re:Re

Excuse me for the hurriedness of this post as I have to leave for work pretty soon (so I am not sure of all the details, but I wanted to pass this on)

Actually, there is a protest rally in Wash. D.C., on Nov.3rd and 4th.
There are more details about it in the thread started in
Debbie Richardson Anti-Gambling Bill Rally Website under the Casino Discussion Forum.

There was another thread posted under the Casino Discussion Forum about "Take Jon
Kyl Down". In it, was a website that you could post a donation to. It might be
a good way to fight back since many of us may be time or availabillity challenged.

I would like to say that even though I do not reside in Arizona (and cannot vote there),
I nevertheless, am sending a check with a note wrapped around it stating why I contributed
to the Jim Pederson campaign. I will post my letter here under this thread later when I
get back home. It would not be so much the dollar amount (but if all of us outside of
Arizona sent something - it would add up), but the explanation of sending
a letter voicing our displeasure of our individual rights being invaded that would be a
great way to make a difference...

But anyway, in closing here, would'nt that be an angle that Jim Pederson
could take if he worked on getting the disgruntled online players to donate...And not
to mention a story that would send a chill to the Bill Frist, Bob Goodlatte, Jim Leach gang ?

Well, I've got to rush now...More on this later...

 

[jetset]

I would like to see Kyl go down, especially if it was a close-run election and the gambling vote swung the final result against him in Arizona.

The latest news reports indicate that Pederson is closing the gap on Kyl. He has put a lot of his personal cash into his campaign, as opposed to Kyl who news reports suggest has yet to make a personal contribution to his own fund (indicating that he's relying on *other* contributions from interested parties.)

If the reports that one major gambling site alone has 5 000 members in Phoenix are true, then a campaign on these lines could have impact. But the people out there who do not use message boards need to know about this.

 

[Mister]

The race for Senator of Arizona as it stands on 10/24/06..as per Azcentral.com:
Jon Kyl . . . . .. 47 percent
Jim Pederson . . . 41 percent
Richard Mack . . . 3 percent
Dont Know . . . . 9 percent

This is a rough draft of what I am planning to send to the Pedersen Campaign with a check. Not that I'm any great speaker or letter writer for that matter, but anybody is welcome to use all or part of my roughdraft wording if they want to copy my letter example.


Dear Jim,

I do not reside in the state of Arizona but would like to contribute to your election run. Why would a resident like me take such an interest in another state's campaign race for Senator of Arizona ?

Its because of the adversary that you are running against. In the last 10 years, Jon Kyl has preoccupied himself with the prohibition of online gambling. He has met with some partial success by passing H.R. bill 4954 and will most likely follow up with pushing even stronger ban on online gambling measures. At present, H.R. 4954's intent is to ban online gambling by putting the burden on the banking institution's shoulders requiring them to outlaw all monetary transactions related to online wagering. To me and other hardworking Americans who like to indulge themselves with this private past time, we consider this an unwelcomed restriction of our right as to
how we spend our disposable income. It is bad enough that much of our taxes may go to services that we may not be the recipient of. Is it fair that we must be told now how we spend our after taxed dollars ?

Jon Kyl pushed for the ban on Internet Gambling on his so called high moral ground that people need to be protected from themselves from knowing their own excesses of gambling on the internet Yet according to a recent Wayne Madsen Report , Jon Kyl is the recipient of contributions from Abramoff-connected Indian casino interests. How can he be against one form of gambling and yet willingly accept donations from another form of gambling and still say that he is for protecting the vulnerable ? It seems highly probable that Jon Kyl molded his Anti-Gambling Legislation to exclude other competing gambling industries that made contributions to him.

It should not be up to Congress to decide which forms of gambling are okay and which ones are not. It only whets the appetite of a greedy politician's temptation to pit one special interest group against another's in an attempt to gain political favor.

If Kyl really wanted to do what is right for the people, this measure would have been openly debated in the Senate and given fair consideration to let the public decide if that was really wanted by the public or not.But instead, this Ban on Internet Gambling Bill was underhandedly attached to an unrelated "must pass" Security Ports Bill. A congressional procedure of anonymous voting was deployed so that the public could not see how their elected representatives casted their vote. This is truly deceiving and in insult to the Public.


I am making this contribution to you in the hopes that, among other ideals that you stand for, one of them will be for supporting the individual's right to spend their own disposable income as they see fit. I also hope that others like me will follow my example and send you either some monetary donation or a vote in your favor. Its just a thought, but by appealing to those aggrieved online gamers in your state who want to stay entitled to that freedom, you may sway that undecided 9 percent of the eligible voters in your state to cast in your favor. There are over 15 million players in the U.S. who would love to see Jon Kyl fall in the race for Senator. I don't know how many reside in your state, but it may be worth running an ad exposing Kyl for the hypocritical stance that he takes on Online Gaming.



Checks can be sent to the following address (this may be the best way to send out a contribution, since a letter could be included explaining why the support for Pederson)

Pederson 2006
531 E. McDowell Rd.
Phoenix, AZ 85004

I copied this from superior's post inside the Take Jon Kyl Down Now thread in the Casino Discussion Forum. The website that this address came from is:
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[Simmo!]

It's good Mister. I would remove the line "It is bad enough that much of our taxes may go to services that we may not be the recipient of." personally as it detracts from the argument. Also "Security Ports Bill" is the "Safe Ports Act" and the "Ban on Internet Gambling Bill" is the "Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act".

But its a good letter otherwise

 

[Mister]

about the letter...

Simmo,

Thanks for the feedback. I'll go forward with your suggestions....

 

[amatrine]

Re

I hope you do not mind, but I posted this on craigs list here in Arizona, in the community forum and added a few things. Mabey a few others can post over here as well. Let the issue get heard .

Amatrine

 

[Mister]

Re:Re:Re

Amatrine,

Go for it....I do not mind at all...Please make any changes that you think you should include...I'm just happy to get the word out.

 

[Chatmaster]

Hi guys, this might be old I do not know, but this is an interesting approach to how to fight them. This is one of the main reasons the supporters of the bill gave for the bill to get passed. This is a definite search that people will do on Google and alike...
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