There’s still time to protect your freedom and tell the government you’re mad as hell and not going to take its latest intrusion into your life. But not much time.
We’re only 10 days away from the scheduled Dec. 1 enforcement of the ill-conceived and freedom-curtailing implementation of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. On that day, banks will start facing penalties if they allow electronic transactions between a personal bank account and a poker site.
Who knows what the eventual impact of the law will be for online poker? Already, other legislation is in the works that would outlaw the UIGEA and legalize regulated, taxed and secure online poker sites in this country.
I know this: The online poker sites will be crazy busy on Dec. 1, as usual, even if a current legislative effort fails to delay the start-up of a law that shouldn’t exist in the first place.
Poker is not a crime. Poker players will keep playing poker. Period. And people who say this isn’t an issue to get riled up about simply aren’t looking at the bigger picture.
Even if you don’t play the game, ask yourself if you really want government to:
* Impose control on legal activities in the privacy of your own home
* Restrict your use of the Internet
* Limit your personal freedoms
* Implement a new Prohibition Era to save society from itself
* Boldly seize money from your bank account without saying why
All of these un-American events either have already happened or could happen after Dec. 1. But it’s not too late to take a stand against the government’s attempt to squash our freedoms.
If you care about losing your fundamental rights, you must read this article by Rich Muny:
RAISING ON ACES AND EIGHTS: THE GOP’S BAD BET AGAINST ONLINE POKER
It’s posted at biggovernment.com and ought to make you angry about this latest attempt by government to diminish or eliminate our freedoms. Today the target is online poker, but if we don’t resist, what will the intruders go after next?
Muny, a board member of the Poker Players Alliance, notes that it takes just 60 seconds to tell your legislators that you don’t want the Internet censorship or curtailed freedoms tied to this moral attack on a legal activity that long has been an American pastime. You can go to “Tweet for Poker” and make your voice heard, or go to http://www.capwiz.com/pokerplayersalliance/issues/alert/?alertid=14005591&type=ML.
I did.
Russ, thanks for the info. The links worked great and easy to use. Hopefully people will let their legislature know how they feel.
Left by Peggy V on November 24th, 2009