Apache wrote:
"Bringing gaming directly into people's homes, as we are beginning to see through the Internet, is so full of potential problems and so far beyond the ability of any state to regulate that despite whatever business potential it may have it needs to be prohibited on a national level," Bryan said.
Translation: We can't figure out how to tax these pricks so we'll just ban it because it represents a perceived threat to our own rigged and heavily taxed government sponsored tax collection casino cells.
Youngsters on the list might not remember how private individuals involved in gambling used to be denigrated by the government as "the scum of the earth"--as "criminals" and "mobsters" and "evil." Now that the government has hijacked the gambling industry, only those not paying the government their share of the "vigorish" are scum-sucking criminals. I checked out the Men/Boy Love sites from one of the list threads and realized that what these "filthy, scum-sucking perverts" need in order to become acceptable members of society is to find a way to let the government in on the potential revenue of child pornography. Then we will be faced with legislation promoted by these same politicians which is aimed at making certain that Joe Public is not ripped off by private individuals who are selling pictures of "clothed" children. The government will pass regulations ensuring that child-porn sites have government approved "voluntary (at gunpoint)" ratings which ensure that Joe Public can count the hairs on little Johnny's pre-pubescent balls when he downloads the graphics files that have off(ici)al government approval. If we let the Mob run the country, they could probably balance the national budget with the money saved from no longer needing elections in order to keep up the pretext of democracy.
The article quoted starts off with how concerned the gubmint is about the possibility of consumer fraud wrt on-line casinos and shows how they propose to protect the consumer: 12 months in prison AND a $5000 fine. Consumer fraudsters should take note, they have a competitor in the ring!
This is outrageous! If the government was _really_ concerned with protecting us, then they would put us in jail for life! Or give us the death penalty! 12 months in prison AND a $5000 fine? Sounds to me like these fuckers are "soft on crime." Write your legislative representatives and complain. Demand that they institute the death penalty for all crimes, including jaywalking, tearing the tags off of mattresses, and "thinking about possibly contemplating an action which may constitute a crime at some point in the future." Truth C. Monger {Tim C. May's evil-Congressional-twin} -------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x "There's something wrong when citizens don't receive the death penalty under an increasing number of laws." -------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x-------x