Posted on 09/30/2006 9:43:50 AM PDT by Alterboy1964
Congress approves Internet gambling ban bill
By Peter Kaplan Reuters Saturday, September 30, 2006; 12:52 AM
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Most forms of Internet gambling would be banned under a bill that received final U.S. congressional approval early Saturday.
The House of Representatives and Senate approved the measure and sent it to President George W. Bush to sign into law.
The bill, a compromise between earlier versions passed by the two chambers, would make it illegal for banks and credit card companies to make payments to online gambling sites.
Democrats had accused Republicans of pushing the bill to placate its conservative base, particularly the religious right, before the November 7 congressional elections.
"It's been over 10 years in the making. The enforcement provisions provided by this bill will go a long way to stop these illegal online operations," said Sen. Jon Kyl, an Arizona Republican and a chief sponsor of the measure.
Negotiators from the Republican-led House and Senate reached a deal on the legislation Friday and attached it to unrelated legislation to bolster port security, which the Congress approved.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican and potential 2008 presidential candidate, recently appeared at a hearing in Iowa -- the state that holds the first presidential nominating contest for the 2008 election -- to listen to concerns about Internet gambling.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
How are the states supposed to regulate anything on the internet? Internet commerce by its very nature is interstate commerce and, therefore, is subject to federal regulation.
Did I miss somewhere where the GOP adopted utilitarianism?
"Someone has to create those fancy websites, have encryption, and make sure the websites are hacker-proof.
Unless websites and hosting are created by a magic wand, there has to be somebody doing it."
And now those jobs are going to the Bahamas.
Wonderful...
Too bad we couldn't send them all home for good before they do any more harm...
More sucky legislation. This is really stupid.
News flash - the majority of these websites are done overseas. This legislation is a direct attempt to curtail funding to organized crime and terrorism.
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/Malcolmtestimony42903.htm
So who held the gun to their heads?
Be careful of what you wish for my friend, with the right people in power, FR may eventually be considered a subversive website that needs to be banned by your friends in Congress..........
More government control to protect the idiots and even so called conservatives approve............
I agree with you. The Constitution grants the federal government the right to regulate interstate which online gambling is. I think this legislation is good.Regulate is not the same thing as banning, if the constitution meant the US congress could ban anything that crosses interstate lines they would have said so. If the constitution doesn't expressly give the government power to do something, it doesn't have it.
I haven't read anything about this bill that only bans interstate gambling, only internet gambling. If the servers and the customer are in the same state the feds have no case at all to even regulate it.
Even if the government had the power to do something, its not good to do it. More laws = less freedom. I thought freedom is what conservatism is about, I guess its really about making people follow your moral code.
Just becaues it happens over the internet doesn't automatically make it interstate. It's within the pervue of a state to say that it's illegal to run an internet gambling site within it's borders, and up to them to enforce it.
You've absolutely no clue what "personal responsibility" means, eh?
Obviously given your sentiments as expressed above justifying this malarkey you don't seem to grasp personal responsibility is the bedrock of conservatism.
You may be an Alterboy pal but you're certainly no "conservative", you're a Socialist. >doink!<
Instead of personal accountability/responsibility? You appear perfectly content leaving such matters up to the totally incompetent, corrupt politicians in our nanny government to once again restrict our precious, and rapidly dwindling freedoms.
Why you'd permit that is apparently because you've a couple real losers for "friends", too.
Suggestion.
Be (a LOT) more selective who you're picking for friends & leave your damned hands OFF my rights.
...OK, pal? ;^)
News flash - the majority of these websites are done overseas. This legislation is a direct attempt to curtail funding to organized crime and terrorism.
Its for our security! Sorry but that doesn't fly. Some are for the ban because they think gambling and some are for the ban because they are getting a lot of money from Indian casinos who want that poker to be played in their joints.
Oh and a good way to make it all happen overseas with absolutely no government oversight is to ban it. Now its all going to happen overseas, and even if Osama himself were operating it we couldn't stop it. Way to go!
Then how is banning domestic internet gambling sites going to help the situation substantially?
"think gambling"
They think gambling is wrong
http://usinfo.state.gov/journals/itgic/0801/ijge/gj07.htm
Organized Crime and Cybercrime:
Synergies, Trends, and Responses
See #44
Gimmee more time and I'll come up with something dumberer.
The Republican leadership in the House and Senate are Socialists? I don't think so.
I truly believe that all those men, and President Bush, are in power today only through the will of God. And if Frist, Hastert, Kyl, Leach etc are in powr by the will of God, how can they stand idly by and allow sinful and destructive behaviours to be committed on a widescale level. If once in power they turn their back on God's will they will lose that power.
There is also good reason to limit gambling on the moral grounds I discussed in my previous post. I think there is good reason to restrict others things too such as homosexual marraige, pornography, excessive drinking and deviant sexual practices.
As I explained earlier while some may argue that what people do in the privacy of their own homes is not directly harmful to others, it destroys the moral pricipals of a society and therefore is just as dangerous if these individuals would go out and commit violent crimes.
It is truly sad that our country has come to a point where the need exists to pass legislation against these types of behaviors and that people would not refrain from this type of stuff on their own. But sadly that is not the case.
We can thank the Republican leadership for standing up for morailty and not caving into the popular will of the masses.
We have reserved rooms for us there...free..since we contribute a few bucks to the MS State economy..:)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.