INTERNATIONAL TRAVELERS should note how effective US Immigration can be when targeting those who profit from sinful enterprises such as online gambling. Several people have been snagged at ports of entry to the US and then detained for days as they await charges to be brought against them for their illicit online activities. This is a happy side effect of the war on terror which makes it relatively straightforward to target suspicious people transiting the US--people with the Muslim surname of Maher, for example.
The US has its knickers in a twist about online gambling. It's now a federal campaign, like the war on drugs. Yet internet gambling does not hurt anyone except those adults who gamble online. In fact, online gambling actually builds team spirit and elevates office morale, just like enjoying the craic after hours.
Amendments to ban online gambling originate with the same mindsets that ban homosexual marriage. They're spawned by the same people who brought you federally funded "abstinence only" lesson plans for secondary schools in the States. The Christians will win this War on Sin, thanks to the unsuspecting international purveyors who have no idea that what they do in their own nations might be illegal in Jesusland.
And just so the neocons don't appreciate my perspective, I am registered for an absentee ballot in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The madness stops when you vote your principles.
I respect those principles and vote accordingly. Henry Barth, blocked from commenting here because I have manually restricted the term "online gambling" politely points out, "I don't think Fundamentalist Christians are the only group opposed to online gambling.
"Cui bono? The federal and states governments who lose or think they'll lose tax revenue. Why play state lottery games if when you win you have to pay 45% income taxes on winnings?
"The Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Native American casinos oppose online gambling. The gambling pie is only so big."
Stuart Coleman -- "Internet gambling and the war on sin"
