Weekly Open Thread

Beautiful picture.

And a good picture for me to fish for some comments from other Flopping Aces members. Super Liberal Dem Barney Frank has introduced HR 2267 which, despite my loathing for its auther, seems to me like a great bill. HR 2267, also known as the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act of 2009, would repeal the UIGEA regulation that are scheduled to be enacted later this year and would pave the way for the legalization of online poker in the United States.

Here is a short post with a focus on what this means particularly to the GOP written by someone more skilled with words than I:
http://poker.blogtownhall.com/2009/07/25/limited_government_and_internet_freedom.thtml

One amazing thing to me about internet poker legislation is that unlike basically all other topics being discussed there are not clear party lines being followed. I also love the fact that the typical poker player does not fall into a political stereotype. Some of the very most heated debates I’ve seen on healthcare, with multiple participants for both sides, has been on a internet poker forum I follow. It is a topic that really seems to transcend party lines and I would love some feedback from people here.

I’ll leave you with the response I received from my Dem congressman about Frank’s bill:
[quote]
Thank you for contacting me to voice your opinions on online gambling. I appreciate your comments, and I welcome this opportunity to share my thoughts.

As you may know, the Internet Gambling Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act, H.R. 2267, was introduced on May 6, 2009. This legislation attempts to create a system to license and regulate internet gambling. It would give states and Indian tribes the right to decide whether to allow internet gambling within their borders and how to regulate it. It would also require internet gambling operators to create security measures to help combat identity theft and money laundering. Finally, this bill would require federal regulators to establish safeguards to ensure that children cannot gamble online. H.R. 2267 is currently being considered by the House Financial Services Committee and may change substantially before I have the opportunity to cast a vote.

While I do not believe the government should create undue burdens on American citizens, I do have concerns about online gambling. I am particularly worried about the dangers this activity creates for children. Please know I will continue to examine this bill as it continues through the legislative process and is considered by the House. I hope we can continue our dialogue as the legislation progresses through Congress.

Thanks again for taking the time to share your views with me. If you would like to learn more about my positions on issues important to you or receive regular updates on developments in Congress, please visit my Online Office at http://www.ellsworth.house.gov and sign up for my e-Newsletter.

Sincerely,

Brad Ellsworth
[/quote]

If you are looking for some more information or responses from other congressmen you can check out:
http://theppa.org/
http://www.pocketfives.com/poker-forums/poker-legislation

To the Congress-persons who love Fidel Castro SO MUCH…answer me this…how many Americans swam from USA to Cuba for asylum in the last 60 TEARS vs Cubans trying to come here? Why is the feet on land provision so specific?

Did Ted Kennedy go to Cuba for health care — or Chris Dodd? Really…US solutions?

Will the Congressional fans of Castro speak out in Miami? or are you too busy trying to let Chavez run over Honduras…? Shame on you!

I’d think that this new captcha thingy is for unregistered comments.

Pocket bullets are diamonds if you’re playing poker. They’re lumps of coal if you’re playing with novices – somebody will “luck out” with a straight or a flush.

Cuba health care are the left sure they want to go there??

Cuba quarantines their people with AIDs

http://www.aegis.com/news/Lt/1988/LT881104.html
LOS ANGELES TIMES (LT) – FRIDAY November 4, 1988
NEW YORK – A member of the first U.S. delegation to visit Cuba’s quarantine center for people infected with the AIDS-causing human immunodeficiency virus Thursday described the detention facility as “pleasant” but “frightening in its implications.”
The first detailed picture of what the Cuban government calls its “sanitarium” for all identified HIV carriers was painted by Ronald Bayer, associate professor at Columbia University’s School of Public Health, in an interview with The Times.
Cuba is the only nation in the world that has mandated universal HIV testing and enforced isolation of all virus carriers. Bayer said he was told by Cuban health officials that one-third of the nation’s 10.2 million people have been tested so far and that 240 Cubans–171 men and 69 women–have been placed in the camp, where they are required to spend the rest of their lives. They are removed from their jobs but continue to be paid.
“We were shown groups of nondescript apartments that looked like typical Cuban suburban housing,” Bayer said. “It was neither barracks-like nor dungeon-like

[But you say they don't do that anymore well gusse again]

http://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/211/44946.html
December 2003

When the first cases emerged, the government treated HIV/AIDS as a public health emergency: HIV patients were quarantined indefinitely and their sexual partners traced and tested; Cubans who had visited Africa were tested, as were pregnant women; HIV positive women were given drugs to prevent transmission to their unborn children, their babies were delivered by caesarian section

[SO is this what the left really want for the American people?]

Catherine