House and Senate negotiators reached agreement last night on legislation to tighten maritime and port security regulations and, in a last-minute move, added an unrelated measure that seeks to ban Internet gambling.
At the same time, House negotiators prevailed in their fight to strip out $4.5 billion in rail and mass-transit security funds included in the Senate provision.
The port security and Internet gambling legislation was approved 409 to 2 in the House and on a voice vote in the Senate early today, as lawmakers rushed to leave Washington for their fall reelection campaigns. Senate Republican and Democratic leaders announced it would be passed by voice vote after the House's late-night vote.
Lawmakers from both parties had been crafting the port security measure for more than a year, but its passage became politically critical after a Middle Eastern government-owned company's purchase of U.S. port operations triggered a political melee in Washington early this year.
The final agreement requires radiation scanning of all containers at the top 22 U.S. seaports, orders the Department of Homeland Security to develop response and recovery plans for a terrorist attack, and sets firm deadlines for the implementation of a transportation worker identification and screening system. It authorizes $2 billion in port security grants between 2001 and 2011.
The changes angered some Democrats, who helped craft the original port security legislation but were largely blocked from the final negotiations. The Senate had overwhelmingly approved the authorization of $3.5 billion for mass-transit security grants and $1 billion for freight and passenger rail programs, but House Republicans balked at the cost.
Senate Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.), agreed to go along with the the bill's passage, even though his home-state casinos are split over the Internet gambling measure, aides said.
House and Senate Republican leaders pushed hard to secure the Internet gambling measure, which some Republicans viewed as a chance to clear their names after they allowed disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to scuttle a similar measure six years ago.
Proponents of the crackdown said the industry, which is mostly based overseas, provides a front for money laundering, some of it by drug sellers and terrorist groups, while preying on children and gambling addicts. Americans bet an estimated $6 billion per year online, accounting for half the worldwide market, according to analysis by the Congressional Research Service.
A coalition of on-line poker players and gambling Web sites tried to thwart the Internet gambling provision. Michael Bolcerek, president of the Poker Players Alliance, argued that it could put familiar Web sites such as Party Poker and Pacific Poker out of business while pushing gamblers to "rogue Web sites with no protection for children and no protection for problem gamblers."
The port security and Internet gambling legislation was approved 409 to 2 in the House and on a voice vote in the Senate early today, as lawmakers rushed to leave Washington for their fall reelection campaigns.
LOL ! Gotta love it. They didn't even think that the Internet Gambling bill was serious enough to stand on its own. They just saw it as a way of covering their butts. The one paragraph pretty much says it all:
House and Senate Republican leaders pushed hard to secure the Internet gambling measure, which some Republicans viewed as a chance to clear their names after they allowed disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to scuttle a similar measure six years ago.
The only thing these idiots did was give illegal gambling another chance. There are many people who can't afford to play at their local lottery stores but many can fork over a nickle or a dime or quarter still to play their favorite combinations elsewhere. Remember Policy and those type of neighborhood gambling games? They will make a comeback..bet cha.. Seems like every move they make, they spread poop everywhere going from bad to worse..
This will open the door to more internet regulations.
There may be other regulations now but I do not know about them.
This may open the door for tax on e-mails. There was a stink about e-mails not to long ago. Post office losing revenue.
They have actually figured out the way to impose a "tax" on Internet usage. You're right, it was only a matter of time.
The issue is Net Neutrality. (Net Neutrality is the "good" term. What I'll be describing below are companies that want to kill Net Neutrality.)
ISPs (cable companies, phone companies, etc.) are big suppprters of a "premium content" concept for net traffic, the opposite of Net Neutrality, in which the ISP can decide what is "important" traffic and what is not. They couch the issue by saying that it is important to reserve bandwidth to stuff like emergency traffic, etc., but that's a load of bull.
What it does is give them control to limit what sites you can access, and put pricing levels on net traffic, so if you want to access one type of site it's $x and another levelis $y.
Of course, Uncle Sam gets his share too. Who doesn't think the government will find a way to tax the various price levels?
Here is a very good description of Net Neutrality:
I am sorry to say that I get so many of such letters and I just delete them.
Can anyone suggest to me is there any government agency to whom I could forward the letters so that they can use it as evidence to trap such culprits?
has anyone got letters being offered jobs to collect moeny from the clients and keep 10% of he money as fees. Who are these people.
The other is the usual Nigerian letters some jerk dies and left money to be split. He wnats to know your detais including bank name and acount number to deposit money.
I wish someone would explain the motives behind these fake minds and what actions we should take
Quote: Originally posted by emilyg on Sep 30, 2006
they knew about Foley for months. it's all about $$$$
And Foley was one of the head guys on their committe for Lost & Exploited Children. What a bunch of hypocrites! Personally, it doesn't seem any longer to matter what political party they belong to...they are all after covering their own butts, spending every dollar they can wrest from the working stiff, and giving big exemptions to those with lots of money (because those people fuel their coffers).
Meanwhile, they ignore every one of their members that either hides cash in his freezer or chases after underage children.
We've got a bunch of losers in Congress. And I really do think all thier campaigning this fall isn't going to do them alot of good. Pundits are saying the GOP will be in big trouble this fall and lose power in Congress. But I don't think its because the voters are pro-Democrat. I think its going to be simply because the voters are fed-up with the incumbents !
The port security and Internet gambling legislation was approved 409 to 2 in the House and on a voice vote in the Senate early today, as lawmakers rushed to leave Washington for their fall reelection campaigns.
LOL ! Gotta love it. They didn't even think that the Internet Gambling bill was serious enough to stand on its own. They just saw it as a way of covering their butts. The one paragraph pretty much says it all:
House and Senate Republican leaders pushed hard to secure the Internet gambling measure, which some Republicans viewed as a chance to clear their names after they allowed disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff to scuttle a similar measure six years ago.
When I go I want them to say: "He died doing what he loved.....sleeping."
Hard to control online gambling. I've played online and it seems to be rigged. I won $10,000 and never saw a penny too.
Wow ... $10,000 won and you didn't get it? Maybe you should post whatever site stiffed you so others can avoid it.
Kinda seems like you need to be less careless on where you spend your money. Kinda like wiping your arse good after you take a poo.
Looks like they better start adding laws about internet porn and soliciting on the net.
Ask that politican about it that just resigned from Fla.
And they are worried about gamblers.
I don't gamble online but I'm sad to see this get passed thru.
The only thing these idiots did was give illegal gambling another chance. There are many people who can't afford to play at their local lottery stores but many can fork over a nickle or a dime or quarter still to play their favorite combinations elsewhere. Remember Policy and those type of neighborhood gambling games? They will make a comeback..bet cha.. Seems like every move they make, they spread poop everywhere going from bad to worse..
I am too.
This will open the door to more internet regulations.
There may be other regulations now but I do not know about them.
This may open the door for tax on e-mails. There was a stink about e-mails not to long ago. Post office losing revenue.
they knew about Foley for months. it's all about $$$$
They have actually figured out the way to impose a "tax" on Internet usage. You're right, it was only a matter of time.
The issue is Net Neutrality. (Net Neutrality is the "good" term. What I'll be describing below are companies that want to kill Net Neutrality.)
ISPs (cable companies, phone companies, etc.) are big suppprters of a "premium content" concept for net traffic, the opposite of Net Neutrality, in which the ISP can decide what is "important" traffic and what is not. They couch the issue by saying that it is important to reserve bandwidth to stuff like emergency traffic, etc., but that's a load of bull.
What it does is give them control to limit what sites you can access, and put pricing levels on net traffic, so if you want to access one type of site it's $x and another levelis $y.
Of course, Uncle Sam gets his share too. Who doesn't think the government will find a way to tax the various price levels?
Here is a very good description of Net Neutrality:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_neutrality
I am sorry to say that I get so many of such letters and I just delete them.
Can anyone suggest to me is there any government agency to whom I could forward the letters so that they can use it as evidence to trap such culprits?
has anyone got letters being offered jobs to collect moeny from the clients and keep 10% of he money as fees. Who are these people.
The other is the usual Nigerian letters some jerk dies and left money to be split. He wnats to know your detais including bank name and acount number to deposit money.
I wish someone would explain the motives behind these fake minds and what actions we should take
And Foley was one of the head guys on their committe for Lost & Exploited Children. What a bunch of hypocrites! Personally, it doesn't seem any longer to matter what political party they belong to...they are all after covering their own butts, spending every dollar they can wrest from the working stiff, and giving big exemptions to those with lots of money (because those people fuel their coffers).
Meanwhile, they ignore every one of their members that either hides cash in his freezer or chases after underage children.
We've got a bunch of losers in Congress. And I really do think all thier campaigning this fall isn't going to do them alot of good. Pundits are saying the GOP will be in big trouble this fall and lose power in Congress. But I don't think its because the voters are pro-Democrat. I think its going to be simply because the voters are fed-up with the incumbents !
When is the president supposed to sign this thing??
I guess back to the old way of playing.
It would be nice if the U.S. had a sanctioned Lottery Games that was legal. Think this might be a way to eliminate government debt.
You can play in England legally. (I think)