those who beg and plead for freedom that should inherently be theirs do not deserve freedom

these actions are pathetic

No one is begging and pleading. Rather, we are demanding our rights. That's what this is about.

I am sympathetic to your libertarian viewpoint on this issue, which is why I always respond to you as substantively and respectfully as I can. However, the bigger picture here is unmistakable. The DoJ is going after sites and payment processors, while Congress has made it clear that they will either license this or ban it (see Federal online poker & gaming legislation history).

Also, while I also like to believe this liberty ought to be inherently ours, that's probably not really the case. While I do subscribe to principles of natural law where government only has the power the people delegate to it, I also think it's clear that we the people authorized the federal government to regulate interstate and foreign commerce via the Commerce Clause -- an enumerated power of Congress. George Washington himself enforced the whiskey tax, even putting down the Whiskey Rebellion.

So, IMO we need to fight back hard if we wish to win this. I wish to win it. I hope we'll all focus on our true opponents in this fight -- those who'd take our rights from us.

The bill isn't out yet. I started a thread on general expectations: Expectations from 2011 federal legislation

MT2R,

The problem is not that we're not fighting for enough. The problem is that we have real opponents who want to stop us from playing.

You should read the comments at http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/0...oker-shutdown/ for a perspective on how our opponents think.

I am sending letters right now. Thanks for your work in this area. Thanks for making it easy for us to take action.

I still have one overwhelming concern here. Much of the dialog regarding legalization of online poker is based on the fact that poker is a game of skill. This is brought up by poker advocates constantly, the most noteworthy instance being when DOJ Chairman Holder was asked "Is Phil Ivey just lucky?" In this regard, the clear implication is that poker is being separated from other casino games of chance, in essence demonizing those other games.

How then, can we expect to pass an all encompassing Internet Gambling Regulation? This bill can still be so easily shot down by poker, but not gambling, advocates. We've made the distinction between the two quite clear at every turn - are we now just asking people, important people, to ignore it?

I'd much prefer Poker Only Legislation. One where empirical evidence can support the "skill" argument. It'd be much more difficult for lawmakers to dismiss such a bill in the face of cold, hard statistics. No one wants to go on record opposing factual truth.

I have made posts on PPA facebook and the DOJ facebook pages, both pretty much making the same point. Why isn't the PPA acting as our advocate and representative with the DOJ. The point in discussion is that the DOJ released the domains for the sole purpose of repaying players and they said they expected the companies to do just that. The problem is that Full Tilt didn't have a large enough reserve to cover all of the possible withdrawls and the DOJ has most of their other accounts frozen. Why aren't you (PPA) trying to put pressue on the DOJ. Since this was a legally binding agreement between the DOJ and Full Tilt doesn't that obligate the DOJ to assist Full Tilt in the return of player funds by releasing enough funds to make it possible? Taking of player funds by the DOJ comes very close to thieft by authourity and cause for a criminal and civil suit.

The bill to be introduced by Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) is poker only.

We got a good article out of Fox News: http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2011/0...tdown/#content though I think that a follow-up article on how casual players have been affected would be even better.

I just emailed them this. It would be awesome for everybody else to do the same!

Fight for Poker Rights: Monday, June 6th:

Let's turn this into a broader grassroots effort! Today's action is to ask five people to participate in the daily action plan. You can PM fellow poker players here, email friends, ask friends at the local B&M or home game, etc, but let's all put our personal recommendation into this effort. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested.

Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan. Thanks!!

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):

• The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
• Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
• The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
• Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
• We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.

The updated PPA pre-written letters are up. Let's all send these letters and encourage others as well These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get these new letters out.



Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others.

Thanks!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WINDt...eature=related

+1

Fight for Poker Rights: Tuesday, June 7th:

Let's continue expanding this effort. Today's action is to ask five more people to participate in the daily action plan. If you joined today as a result of being asked by a respected poster yesterday, please PM fellow poker players here, email friends, ask friends at the local B&M or home game, etc, but let's all put our personal recommendation into this effort. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested.

Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan. Thanks!!

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):

• The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
• Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
• The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
• Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
• We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.

The updated PPA pre-written letters are up. Let's all send these letters and encourage others as well These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get these new letters out.



Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others.

Thanks!

Done.

sent letters from those buttons, and received a few replies.

thanks to all those who are pitching in.

Fight for Poker Rights: Wednesday, June 8th:

Let's write short (no more than 250 words) letters to the editors of our local papers explaining that we demand our right to play. Even if they don't publish them, it will help show these media sources that some of their readers care about this issue.

Let's also continue working on expanding this effort via recruitment of others. Our personal recommendations of this effort will go far. The daily action plan takes very little time and there's no denying it's way +EV for the time invested.

Once done, please post here that you made the request, along with posting your personal commitment to participate in the action plan. Thanks!!

Recurring actions:

Let's continue to own a lot of Facebook pages (senators, Congressmen, Congressional committees, etc.):

• The House Financial Services Committee's Facebook page is here.
• Let's get some posts on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce page (here)
• The Dept. of Justice's page is here.
• Senators' FB pages: Senator Facebook Listing
• We need lots of posts on the issue of poker and lots of "liking" of pro-poker comments.

The updated PPA pre-written letters are up. Let's all send these letters and encourage others as well These will be updated when Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, soon), so let's all get these new letters out.



Once done, please reply ITT with "done", "sent", etc. to encourage others.

Thanks!