April 06, 2006
Poker is not a crime
It used to be, that I when I found myself on some crazy-ish adventure, be it at a Phish show in another state on a school night (I hate Phish, btw) or in Amsterdam for 5 days by myself, I could shrug my shoulders and say 'well, I'm not going to be 18 forever, may as well do this now.' The shrug gets harder to do when I'm, ahem, 28.
Still, be that as it may, I found my 28-year old self on a whirlwind 3-hour trip to Washington, DC, on a Wednesday, with my good friend and frequent commenter, Pheeleepok, after a late-night game the previous night and an almost-full day of work. Dawn and her Honda had bailed at the last possible second sending me scrambling for not only a companion but also a method of transportation. One rental car and one Pheel later, I was on my way to our nation's capital.
The event I was attending was being hosted by the Poker Players Alliance, a group that "fights for the rights of poker players" and works very hard to keep poker legal. The pros were in town to lobby Congress on a bill currently before the House that would make online poker illegal.
No matter what you think of poker in particular, or gambling in general, I don't see how reasonable people can support this kind of government action. Whether you're a "God says we shouldn't gamble" conservative or a "what about the children?" liberal, the idea of Congress regulating any part of the internet should be offensive to you. It is to me. For the record, I play zero online poker. It's just not for me. I love holding cards, shuffling chips, sitting at the table. But I will fight any Congressman or Senator that tries to promote these kinds of Bills, because, really, I'll be damned if they start messing with my internet. So, if you care about keeping poker legal, or if you just care about keeping Congress's mitts off the internet, join the Poker Players Alliance.
The event was a lot of fun and I got to play at a table with Chris "Jesus" Ferguson and chat with both him and Howard Lederer. Greg "Fossilman" Raymer was, unfortunately, not able to make it. Photographs are here but as I note below "All photos of me should be judged by the fact that I had 3 hours sleep the previous night and had just spent the day working followed by a 4-hour car trip. I'm much cuter than these pics, swear."
Cross-posted at my poker blog 'I Had Outs'.
Update: Julian Sanchez has more on the party, and on the proposed law. He's a lot smarter than me so do go read him for the full picture of what this is all about.
Posted by Karol at April 6, 2006 09:54 AM | TrackBackTechnorati Tags: Poker+Players+Alliance Poker Online+Poker Howard+Lederer Chris+Ferguson
the idea of Congress regulating any part of the internet should be offensive to you.
So selling pictures of naked children over the internet to sicko child pornographers should be a-ok?
Or stealing funds from banks through fradulent wire transfers?
Or identity theft?
Or spam?
The government has as much right to regulate the internet as they can any other part of our society.
Cross posted on my poker blog.
Posted by: not dawn summers at April 6, 2006 04:13 PMBut those things are illegal in and of themselves. Child pornography is illegal everywhere. Stealing funds is illegal everywhere. Poker is not illegal everywhere. It is not a crime. It sets a bad precedent that the government should be able to control what we do on the internet. I don't like giving them the power.
Posted by: Karol at April 6, 2006 04:23 PMActually, poker is not illegal. It's all the side issues around poker (paying a rake, paying time, etc) that make it illegal.
Posted by: Karol at April 6, 2006 10:35 PMAnd it's those side issues at which the law is targeted (I'd recommend going to the thomas database on the house site and search for HR 4777 by bill number) - assuming it's both enacted and enforced, the bill would certainly hinder people from playing poker (by requiring ISPs to block certain IPs and penalizing financial institutions making transfers of money to online gambling sites), but nothing in the bill criminalizes the act of playing poker (and per your definition above, "poker" would still be legal)
To the extent "poker" would be illegal under the bill, however, it's already illegal under the Wire Act, which criminalizes the running of an internet gaming site -- the new bill adds some teeth and makes the current prohibitions enforceable -- or at least somewhat more enforceable than the existing provisions -- by expanding the reach of the anti-gambling provisions to ISPs and financial institutions.
All that said, I totally agree with Fisch on this one - the existing and proposed laws are stupid and hypocritical - but the existing laws are there, and the criminalization (or lack thereof) of gamblers and gambling sites would remain largely unchanged by the bill.
Posted by: Alceste at April 7, 2006 12:23 AMZero online poker????
What happened to journalistic integrity?
Posted by: dude at April 7, 2006 12:55 AMOk, I currently and for the forseeable future play zero online poker.
Posted by: Karol at April 7, 2006 12:57 AMcsHi. This is my links. black pussy licking
http://dfgrtfck.honeywhores.com/
very hairy pussies
http://dfgrtfck.honeywhores.com/very-hairy-pussies.html
young pussy. hot gilrs, teen pussy
http://dfgrtfck.honeywhores.com/young-pussy.-hot-gilrs-teen-pussy.html
free pussy f4cking
http://dfgrtfck.honeywhores.com/free-pussy-f4cking.html
black pussy lips
http://dfgrtfck.honeywhores.com/black-pussy-lips.html
