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The United States House of Representatives has elections for state representatives every two years. The elections for members of the House of Representatives will be this year on November 7th. That means that the House has a shorter session than on a non-election year. It is this short session which could save the internet gambling industry. Several state representatives are bound and determined to stop internet gambling in the US. Two bills have been introduced to the House of Representatives which would make both the internet gambling casino and the act of depositing illegal as well. In addition, Internet Service Provider's (ISP's) could be forced by the Department of Justice (DoJ) to block every online casino, poker room, or sports book and all portals which advertise or link to sports books, internet casinos, or poker rooms. The conservative representatives in the House are combining every bill that means something to them into a package they call "The American Values Agenda." The anti-internet gambling bill will be packaged with other bills such as Pledge Protection Act, HR 2389; Freedom to Display the American Flag Act, HR 42; The Public Expression of Religion Act, HR 2679; Marriage Amendment, HJ Res 88; Unborn Child Pain Awareness Act, HR 356; Human Cloning Prohibition Act, HR 1357; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives (BATFE) Reform, 5092; Permanent Tax Relief for Families; and of course the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act, HR 5013. "The American Values Agenda" is a catchy name that gives me the creeps. There's something just a tad third reich in it. The American Values part is fine, that gives me the feeling of warm apple pie with cold ice cream on a spring afternoon. Perhaps it's the agenda ending. Agenda always seems to have a negative connotation to me, possibly because of the term hidden agenda which one hears a lot in bad B movies and means that someone is up to no good. As my friend Kim says, "governments have too many damned agendas." Dennis Hastert, Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, is thrilled to bits with the American Values Agenda. He published the list of measures this week and made the following statement, "The American Values Agenda will defend America's founding principles. Through this agenda, we will work to protect the faith of our people, the sanctity of life and freedoms outlined by our founding fathers." The American Values Agenda will defend America's founding principles. That is a huge statement. Last time I checked our founding principles were the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These are supposed to be part of our unalienable rights according to the declaration of independence. Can someone explain to me how allowing people to gamble in state lotteries, at a race track, or in a land based casino while not allowing them to gamble online in the comfort of their own home allowing the citizens of the United States the right to pursue our own happiness? Last time I checked freedom of choice was allowed in the US. This isn't freedom, nor is it the right to pursue our happiness. This is, "you can be happy as long as you do it our way." Gee, thanks. Long live freedom. The media is guessing July 12th to be the day the House of Representatives debates the cleverly named "American Values Agenda". Even if the House is able to get this piece of legislation through it still has to get passed the Senate before the current session ends. Remember, this year's session is ending early as this is an election year. The whole process would have to start over in 2007 if it gets stopped in the senate. Republican Senator Jon Kyl from Arizona has tried numerous times to get a similar sort of bill passed in the senate and has failed miserably each time. In fact, I think he's tried to get some sort of anti-internet gambling legislation passed eight times now and failed. However, with that said none of his legislation was as well written or as all encompassing as HR 4777 and HR 4411. Almost all of Kyl's legislation made something that was currently legal, illegal. The rest he tried to get passed by piggy-backing it on some totally unrelated legislation where it didn't belong. This is the first bit of anti-internet legislation which actually has a good chance of passing. Goodlatte had his typical nonsense to say about the legislation. "Gambling on the Internet has become an extremely lucrative business," Goodlatte said. "These offshore, fly-by-night Internet gambling operators are unlicensed, untaxed and unregulated and are sucking billions of dollars out of the United States." I said nonsense because he's wrong. All of the big online gambling operations and most of the small ones are licensed, taxed, and regulated. They simply aren't taxed or regulated in the United States. The fault of that is the United States. Congress can not blame and punish an industry for not paying taxes when it's congress which refuses to regulate the industry. The internet gambling industry has been begging the US on bended knee to make it legal, be taxed, be regulated, and be licensed. This is a $12 billion dollar industry which could be so much more if made legal. The big players in the industry are traded on the London stock exchange, which is not a sign of fly-by-night. The only reason they are located off-shore is because they aren't allowed to be located on. They are taking bets and money from US citizens because playing on the sites is still legal. However, the money doesn't have to leave the US if the US made it legal. Then the online casino, poker room, or sports book could be located on shore. Congress has the ability to make that happen. What is all of this going to cost US citizens? According to the bill page on GovTrack "< $1 per American over the 2007-2011 period" which doesn't sound like a lot. However this doesn't tell the whole story. In the April hearing of HR 4777 Samuel Vallandingham of the Independent Banks of America informed the representatives, "The added burden of monitoring all payment transactions for the taint of Internet gambling will drain finite resources currently engaged in complying with anti-terrorism, anti-money laundering regulations and the daily operation of our bank". Is this what you think of when you hear the words "American Values Agenda"? Related Links: Posted on: July 9, 2006
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