Jesus any poker comments are drowned out by idiots wishing CNN a happy birthday. I found 1 or 2 other then my own and liked them.

Fight for Poker Rights: Thursday, June 2nd:

I just updated the PPA pre-written letters to Congress. They will be there only until Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, not very long), so let's all get this new letter out. As always, they are at www.theppa.org/takeaction.

Recurring actions we can take:

• 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.

Thanks!

Yeah, we hit some bad timing on this one with CNN's anniversary and the Ivey dramabomb.

TE, I vote that we give this Ivey mess a day or two to settle and then hit CNN again.

So the Barton bill's not happening this week? I know nothing on the Hill ever happens on time, but I had my hopes up that it would be introduced. I guess it still could today, but why do it the day before recess starts?

I know that Huffington Post does not have live broadcast like the major news networks but I think we should be contacting them and encouraging them to continue to support us with articles like this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-m..._b_854134.html

TheCapital.net says recess isn't until Monday.

True but most members head back to their districts on Fridays, and legislation is hardly ever introduced, keep your fingers crossed for this afternoon if you expect it to happen this week.

I just clicked on Ivey's Facebook page. It would be nice to convert the 8 million billion people who post there into PPA supporters and letter writers.

Can the PPA find a way to get in touch Ivey or even guys like Negreanu and Hellmuth to get them emphasize legislation more to their social media followers? I feel like the bigger name players are being underutilized. Also having guys like Hellmuth talking about legislation on TV would go a long ways for getting more casual fans involved.

Yeah, bigger name players would be great. I was amazed with Ivey's page after his announcement. His statement had 600+ "likes" in the first 2 hours. Our facebook comments are getting about 30 "likes" after 2 weeks.

I've been thinking the same thing.

I just tried to send the letters and it tells me my address isn't a valid US address. It obviously is and I've never had this issue before.

I've had that same problem with it from time to time.

EDIT: and I'm having that problem with it again. I am also getting the message

"Address error. Your address was not matched in the United States Postal Service Database. Please enter a valid full 9-digit ZIP code (ZIP+4) below, or use the address search."

I don't know the +4 part of my ZIP+4 code.

I'm getting:
I don't see the option to use an address search either. The +4 part doesn't show as a requirement anyway.

Fight for Poker Rights: Friday, June 3rd:

The newly updated PPA pre-written letters to Congress and other lawmakers are up. They will be there only until Rep. Barton's poker bill is introduced to the House (in other words, not very long), so let's all get these new letters out. As always, they are at www.theppa.org/takeaction.

If you sent yours in yesterday, please use today to encourage friends, relatives, coworkers, your significant other, fellow posters, coworkers, and anyone else you can find to join us in sending these letters to their lawmakers.

Recurring actions we can take:

• 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.

Thanks!

Great thread. Thank you for helping organize this effort, Rich!

Support from Mason and Two Plus Two Poker Strategy Magazine:

Two Plus Two Poker Strategy Magazine - June 2011 Publisher Note
by Mason Malmuth

Two Plus Two Magazine, Vol. 7, No. 6
http://www.twoplustwo.com/magazine/issue78/

As most everyone knows, the current news concerning online poker is not good. In addition to the original indictments issued on April 15, 2011, another set of indictments have been issued this last week of May. However, we at Two Plus Two don’t think that everything is lost for US players, and The Engineer has started a Daily Action Plan for those of you who are interested in bringing this cause to Congress. See the top of each forum for the “Fight for Poker Rights” announcement and we hope that many of you choose to participate in whatever The Engineer suggests....

At some point, should we be trying to email/call/write/FB people like Upton, Bono Mack, or any others from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce so the Barton bill can get heard in this committee? If so, it'd be sweet if the PPA would craft a letter we all could blast out to them.

Rich, congrats on your promotion and your tireless efforts. I dream of bringing America back to the top of the democracy index of which we are now 19th in the world and presumably falling.

I believe we'll likely do something with this one day next week.

Thanks!

Response I got

Dear Mr. Steinhausen:
Thank you for your message regarding Internet gambling. I appreciate hearing from you on this issue.

The debate over Internet gambling has generated strong public interest. While most types of Internet gambling operations are prohibited under federal law, many Internet gambling operations are based in foreign countries and have fallen outside the jurisdiction of American enforcement agencies. Americans spend roughly $4 to $6 billion a year on Internet gambling. Because of the largely unregulated nature of this business, Internet gambling sites fail to block access to gambling by children and often lack effective safeguards against fraud. Internet gambling also can be addictive and this addiction has had a harmful effect on some individuals and communities.

The Internet gambling law prohibits those who are in the business of gambling from knowingly accepting credit cards, checks, electronic fund transfers or similar financial instruments in connection with most forms of Internet gambling. The Act imposes fines and/or prison sentences on violators. The legislation further requires the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve Board to issue regulations directing banks and other financial transaction providers to adopt practices that will enable them to identify and prevent restricted transactions that support Internet gambling.

Some gambling proponents have argued that poker should be exempt from this law, citing it as a game of skill. Senator Menendez of New Jersey has introduced the Internet Poker and Game of Skill Regulation, Consumer Protection, and Enforcement Act (S. 1597). This legislation would create a system of federal licensing for Internet poker facilities. This legislation has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee. While I do not sit on this committee, I will keep your views in mind in case the Senate considers the issue in the future.

Thank you again for contacting me. Please feel free to keep in touch.

Sincerely,
Richard J. Durbin
United States Senator

New letter worked this time.

http://odenton.patch.com/articles/co...#photo-6373325

I just clicked the 'email the author' link and requested he write another article on the negative impact the crackdown is having, as well as the potential benefits of regulation of the industry in the U.S.


http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/mar...,2431683.story

Also emailed the author of this article (dmarkus@baltsun.com) with the same.

Holy F*CK, that Odenton Patch article makes me want to run down the street screaming like my hair was on fire! Completely disgusting.

indeed.