Charming Betsy

Our former colleague and Pokerworks’ friend, Michael Craig has an interesting blog out that you should read. My blog is a jail house lawyer’s view of the UIGEA scene; while Michael is the real deal. [Insert your favorite lawyer joke here.]

It is a point of law that we jail house types didn’t get covered in watching the erudite Professor Kingsfield in The Paper Chase provide us with our mail order legal degrees. It covers a topic going back to a decision written by the noted Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshal – a court heavyweight.

Michael is a great one to provide the rest of us with the bigger picture that we’ll only run into when we’re in the docket. That’s when we start to like lawyers. Most of the time, lawyers aren’t considered with it guys although a bunch of them sit at the tables and Michael has a great track record in that regard. As to how with it he really is, that won’t be my blog topic today. (Keep his lovely lady — the one with horrid taste in men — in your prayers as she strives toward two of the loveliest words in the language: Cancer Survivor.)

The facts are that the UIGEA and The Wire Act aren’t all that well crafted. The WTO and EU courts and arbitration groups keep pointing that out. Instead of doing a Mea Culpa, our government is scrambling in the direction a jail house lawyer might. King’s X works only in the play yard. George’s Attorney General seems to keep missing that.

I don’t have a great legal doctrine to propose in all this. Instead I have a very human questions. How long do we keep dropping the anvil on our foot? Isn’t it time to cut our losses and move to protect our citizens with some good legislation?

Although the times are such that we willingly will cripple our Bill of Rights to provide for security, it is a time that those with agendas will try to use that dilution in other areas. Similar effort has happened on both sides of the ocean. It is happening in other countries. It is a time we need to be both thoughtful and resolute in what we are willing to accept. I’ve said before that the UIGEA is a great wakeup for those of us who play poker. But there are equally egregious actions happening or proposed that are far worse in making us all into second class citizens.

If you missed my link in the first paragraph, here’s the second one: LINK

ADDENDUM:

This is an interesting week of blogging for me. Over the weekend I’d used up all my ideas again. This was written on early Monday and is third in line to put up of four. Each of the preceeding blogs is timely. I’d have liked to put all three up on Monday. But, our blogs aren’t really news blogs where I can have three articles showing for you to select from. We aren’t as much a news site on the blogs; though our front page is — like PokerNews and sometimes that isn’t a blogger benefit.

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As our government anguishes over their anal regulation, the Swedes are demonstrating they can overcome their Lutheran bias and be part of the modern world of responsible gaming

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German courts are telling their government that they can’t do the stupid things our government does. They say you can’t prevent gambling on the net; who da thunk it?

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You’ve possibly played online MMOG’s. No doubt you’ve enjoyed virtual poker. If you belonged to Uncle Sam you might be running a virtual missel up a virtual enemy’s backside without leaving a carbon footprint. (Check out Linda’s take on a dealerless world on today’s main page for virtual turned into reality at the B&M tables.)

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Bit of good news on my Stud bankroll. With a bit of bonus clearing and some fairly decent play, my bankroll sits at $250. It is a roller coaster ride for that poor beasty. It came into being with $190; ran up to $300; slipped to $140; and has had a fairly rapid raise to today’s level. Stud and profitable haven’t been interchangeable terms on a consistent basis so no bragging here.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 11:31 am and is filed under Journal, poker legislation. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.