Was going to call this day eight's letter, but this is day nine.

Opponents of online gaming say it shouldn’t be regulated because it won’t bring in as much new tax revenue as proponents claim.

Should we really forgo regulating something because of the tax revenue it doesn't bring in?

What do you think?

Have taken some time off from writing due to buying a house and getting frustrated at not getting any responses. In the intervening days between when I last wrote them and now, I haven't received a response from any of my people in Congress.

The good news for me is that I am moving out of the district of Representative Cleaver and back into the district of my old Rep. I may not agree with the beliefs of my old Rep, but at least he would write back.

Frustrated at Cleaver's lack of response, I was going to take out a quarter page ad in my local paper, but there was just one problem.

It would cost $13,000.

psh you could get some sicilians to kneecap the guy for half that

They'd just subcontract it to the Armenians for a bag of x. It's how business is done.

It just dawned on me that maybe I could do crowdfunding to pay for it.

Just sent an email to my new/old Rep.

Dear Representative Graves:

I got moved out of your district due to redistricting, but a recent home purchase has put me back in your district.

I am writing to you to ask you to not support the Restoration of America's Wire Act (RAWA) bill and here is the number one reason.

The bill was written by special interests working for casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Support for this bill is a support for crony politics and giving one (unelected) man so much power over the lives of every American is not right.

I look forward to having a dialogue with you on this.

I would like an email response.

Sincerely,
[my name]

I have already gotten a response from Representative Graves. Granted it was an auto response, but it is more than I ever got from Representative Cleaver.

I was a big comic guy until my mid-twenties, a comic convention is coming to town, and I am feeling the urge to go. Mainly because a local creator (Rick Stasi) I was well acquainted with back then is supposed to be there as well as another local guy named Ande Parks. I bought one of Ande's first drawings, I believe.

But also Don Rosa, Howard Chaykin, and Stan Sakai are going to be there. If I had it, I could drop some serious money getting sketches.

These next two weeks are going to be really busy. Friday and Monday are going to be test drive of cars that might replace my fifteen year old car. A week from Friday I meet with our insurance guy to get homeowner's insurance while a week from Monday we close on the house. A week from Saturday is the comic convention where I hope to get my fanboy drool all over Karen Gillan who played Amy Pond on Doctor Who.

The best laid plans as they say. Due to the impending close on the house, I won't be playing an HPT event this month after all, but they are supposed to return in August and I hope to play then.

We're buying some furniture from the current owner and went over last night to drop off a check so we got to look at the house again. It made me think about how much of a struggle it was to find it and how right it is for us.

Yesterday, I picked up tickets for Tuesday's Smackdown, today is Planet Comicon, and Monday is the close on the house.

Busy, busy.

Good news is I finally got responses on something from Blunt and McCaskill. Bad news is the something wasn't online poker.

Back from Planet Comicon and I didn't stay for the panel with Karen Gillan as I was just too tired. Doors opened at 10am, but I was there around 9am so that meant an hour of standing. I barely scratched the surface of the con and I still did a lot of walking by the time I left at noon.

I got a print by Don Rosa, Usagi Yojimbo sketchbooks by Stan Sakai along with a piece of original art, a book of poems by Rick Stasi, and a print by Kevin Maguire.

Had fun though.

i didn't recognize even ONE of those names

Well, if you aren't a comic fan, not surprising. Don Rosa draws Scrooge McDuck, the maternal uncle to Donald Duck, and related characters; Stan Sakai is most famous for Usagi Yojimbo, a rabbit ronin; Kevin Maguire I most associate with Justice League; and Rick Stasi writes and draws.

Having gotten out of serious comic reading decades ago, I didn't know the current state of the industry and I was glad to see independent comics are alive and well.

Got a response from Sam Graves. As a reminder, here is what I wrote him.

Dear Representative Graves:

I got moved out of your district due to redistricting, but a recent home purchase has put me back in your district.

I am writing to you to ask you to not support the Restoration of America's Wire Act (RAWA) bill and here is the number one reason.

The bill was written by special interests working for casino magnate Sheldon Adelson. Support for this bill is a support for crony politics and giving one (unelected) man so much power over the lives of every American is not right.

I look forward to having a dialogue with you on this.

I would like an email response.

Sincerely,
[my name]

Here is his response.

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Restoration of America's Wire Act. I appreciate hearing from you and welcome the opportunity to respond.

As you may know, the Restoration of America's Wire Act prohibits a person from operating an Internet poker facility without a license from the appropriate regulatory authority. This legislation allows a licensee to accept an Internet poker bet from U.S.-located individuals and offer related services as long as the license remains in good standing, but it establishes civil and criminal penalties for those found in violation of such standards. The legislation is designed to protect Americans from fraud by enhancing accountability in the online gaming industry.

The legislation is currently under review by the House Judiciary Committee. While I do not serve on this committee, please know I am reviewing this legislation and will keep your views in mind should it reach the House floor for a vote.

Again, thank you for contacting me regarding this important issue. Please feel free to call my office at (202) 225-7041 should you have any further questions or concerns about this or any other issue, or visit my website at www.graves.house.gov for more information.




Sincerely,

Sam Graves
Member of Congress

Here is going to be my response.

Dear Congressman Graves:

You missed my concern. My concern is that this bill is a case of cronyism.

I was wondering how you feel about cronyism and not so much how you feel about the bill.

I look forward to reading your view on that.

Sincerely,

[my name]

The HPT is in town and the wife and I played one of the nightly tournaments. There were eighty-three entrants, but as it was a reentry event, I don't know how many unique entrants there actually were.

People could reenter at the end of break after the sixth level and we both made it past that point, but I just barely made it past that point. My end came when I was short stacked and my JKo shove ran into a lady's AQo with her getting an Ace on the river. My funnest hand was when I had pocket 7s and flop was 7 4 4. Tournament was early, people were playing tight, and I didn't get much money.

I went off to playing slots and such while the wife played on. I played penny slots. I played video blackjack. I played video poker. I ended by playing quarter slots. After playing each type of game, I'd go back to see how the wife was doing. She'd be up, she'd be down, but she would still be in.

Top nine were going to be paid, but there was talk of a chop happening when it got down to ten. The wife finished eleventh. There were three women who started the tournament, one woman went out before the wife, and the wife was taken out by the other remaining woman.

She didn't like finishing out of the money, she did have fun, and I was very proud of her.

While the wife worked, I got to enjoy our new home. So nice and peaceful here.

Despite not subscribing to anything by Cleaver, I got a spam email from him yesterday. He talked about wanting to hear my priorities for my representatives.

As there was a space for other, I used that and said my top three concerns were "Unresponsive elected officials who claim it is an honor to serve."

I made up a letter, printed out his email with my response, and faxed both to his Jackson County office.

Haven't heard anything yet. Par for the course for this poor excuse of a Congressman.

For the love of Mike.

I haven't got a response from McCaskill on the issue of poker, but I did get an invite to a meeting for people of a certain age. I feel insulted because while I may be an older man, I'm not an OLD man.

And I didn't sign up to get such crap. I want responses to my emails!

Found out something that, from a lot perspective, makes me glad we chose this house.

I'm going to be a grandfather again. This time by one of my daughters. The other grandchildren are by marriage and even though I have only met the oldest, I love them all. The wife is out visiting them right now and when she calls me, the grandchildren get in on the conversation. They call me PaPa. They'd call me Poppa [my name], but their grandfather by blood shares my first name.

I wish we had a few more bedrooms, but I have a sleeper sofa in the room I am sitting in now so that will help.

The lot is large and fairly flat in back.

I am anxious, excited, and can't wait to chase the grandchildren around the backyard.

Sitting in the airport waiting for the wife to come home. Some in this town want to build a new single terminal. What for? A new terminal won't magically increase business.

Congrats! That are things that matter.

The wife and I suggested my daughter have a reveal party, but my daughter has a seasonal job with no time off until June and she's not sure she can wait the month between when the doctor will know and when she can have a party.