Why is it I always feel insulted when the biased AmeriKan MSM puts his name in print, readers (see above post; I haven't seen a book review yet, Globe)?
Also see above post.
"Unlikely ace for online gambling; Frank pushes cause, reaps the donations" by Matt Viser, Globe Staff | July 13, 2008
Over the past year, Barney Frank, the Democratic congressman from Newton, has quietly become a cult hero for poker players and the online gambling industry - the pit boss of poker politics - by championing their cause on Capitol Hill. Showing their appreciation, professional card sharks poured thousands of dollars into his campaign during a fund-raiser at the home of a gambling lobbyist. Since January 2007, he has received $48,300 from poker interests, making up about 7 percent of his individual contributions, according to public records.
Internet gambling in the United States was estimated to be a $5.9 billion industry, with about 8 million Americans wagering, according to a study done in 2005 by Christiansen Capital Advisors, a Maine-based research firm. But online gambling, which allows users to provide credit card numbers to play cyberbingo and real-time poker from their homes, has been controversial since the first Internet casino went live in 1995.
A 47-year-old federal law prohibits betting using telephone lines, which the US Department of Justice has interpreted as prohibiting all online gambling, although most of the sites are operated offshore and do not fall under US laws.
But we can kidnap, render and torture people, no problem?
In 2006, President Bush signed a law that bars banks and credit card companies from making payments to online gambling websites, making it more difficult to place bets.
Several businesses were exempted from the law, including online lotteries, fantasy sports, and horse racing. But poker was not, and online gamblers, joined by banks and lenders who did not want to police the industry, began mounting a lobbying blitz to counteract the law.
Frank, who also favors casino development in Massachusetts, said in an interview that his stance on gambling is rooted in his views about the proper limits on government intervention in people's personal decisions:
"If it affects me, mind your own business. If affects others, let the government get involved."
If people want to gamble in the privacy of their homes, he said, they should be allowed. He said he reread John Stuart Mill's "On Liberty" before filing his legislation that would block the 2006 law.
One of Frank's efforts fell short last month with the defeat of an amendment that would have prohibited the federal government from implementing regulations related to the ban. The measure was also backed by US Representative Ron Paul, the former Republican presidential candidate from Texas.
When I first read this story, I lapsed back into my familiar moral position against gambling -- especially with Barney on the take!
However, ONCE AGAIN, Ron Paul FORCES ME to REEVALUATE by positions!
After the amendment failed, Frank posted an entry on the liberal website The Huffington Post that criticized Republicans, saying they let the religious conservatives guide their party on moral grounds instead of listening to free market ideas pushed by banks and financial institutions.
Meanwhile, the alliance between Frank and the poker players is continuing to create strange bedfellows. To help their cause, the alliance has hired Alfonse D'Amato - a conservative Republican from New York who was a US senator from 1981 to 1999 and was nicknamed "Senator Pothole" - who has effusive praise for Frank.
And it's a bit striking for many in the poker and online gambling industries to embrace a liberal, Jewish, gay congressman.
--MORE--"
Why? See: Jewish Godfathers
