Associated Press/MSNBC on House votes to ban Net bet transfers:
THE VOTE BANNING Americans from using credit cards, checks and electronic fund transfers to pay for online betting transactions passed 319-104, a victory as easy as it was predictable.
“Offshore illegal Internet gambling has been linked to organized crime and terrorism and we’re not going to shut it down?” said Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.
The vote was much tighter on the exception in the legislation for “any lawful transaction with a business licensed or authorized by a state” — it passed 237-186.
You know, if I want to go bankrupt gambling on the internet it is no one's damned business if I do. Idiots like Hooley either don't seem to realize or willfully ignore the reality that nearly everything involving commerce can be used to fund terrorism. I could sell rotten apples to pig farmers and find a way to funnel the cash overseas if I really wished to do so. The only true way to stop terrorists from getting funds would be to cease all forms of trade, commerce and money exchanges. But of course, Hooley and co. aren't really concerned about stopping terrorists from profiting from gambling proceeds. This is about controlling a lifestyle she and her nanny cohorts in Congress find immoral and decadent. As such, they are stepping all over the Constitution in another attempt to legislate morality that will eventually end in failure. As usual.
How does Bill Bennett feel about this. Then again, who cares.
6/15/2003 8:58:00