Did you ever wonder what kind of person would think up a travesty like the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006? (UIGEA) The underhanded tactics used to ram this bill through congress have been thoroughly covered by this author and many others. But what about the people behind this law? What kind of people are they and how and why do they think the way they do?
The bill had 3 or 4 main sponsors the main three being Bill Frist, John Kyl, and Bob Goodlatte all Republicans. Of the lot Bill Frist takes the cake for sheer hypocrisy and criminal activity. While Mr. Frist was making decisions about how law abiding Americans could spend their money he was involved in one of the largest Medicare and Medicaid scams ever to be perpetrated on the American taxpayer. Mr. Frist was already an extremely wealthy man when he came to congress. His family owned the Hospital Corporation of America the largest for profit hospital group in the United States. Over billing, kickbacks to doctors, and outright abuse of the system resulted in a fine of 630 million dollars in a settlement reached with the Department of Justice. In a sweetheart deal arranged by members of the Bush administration not one person served jail time. While ripping off the taxpayer Mr. Frist constantly engaged in ‘family values’ rhetoric designed to pander to a tiny minority or religious extremists. Before this scandal occurred Mr. Frist was caught insider trading and dumping stock before it hit the fan for his family’s corporation. Of course he was never prosecuted. And who can forget his long distance diagnosis of Terry Schiavo. His long distance diagnosis of Schiavo drew the ire of medical ethicists from around the globe. This is a guy who thinks gambling is immoral? Fortunately for the United States he is no longer in office but it will take years to undo the damage done by UIGEA.
Next we come to John Kyl of Arizona. To this day Mr. Kyl is pushing for stricter enforcement of UIGEA. He recently sent a letter to Bush urging him to increase enforcement of UIGEA. A closer look at Mr. Kyl reveals a lot. Mr. Kyl has a long standing relationship with the racist and anti Semitic John Birch Society as evidenced by his opposition to a Martin Luther King holiday in Arizona. He opposed funding for more armor on HMV’s to make them safer for those troops serving in Iraq. What is mind boggling is the fact that in 2002 Mr. Kyl sponsored a bill that would prevent internet jamming or censorship by other countries and then introduces a draconian bill that censors the internet in the United States. Of course organized crime was ecstatic over the passage of UIGEA because it allows them to assume their old role as the main providers of gambling in the US.
And then there’s Bob Goodlatte. While Mr. Goodlatte doesn’t like gambling much he accepted campaign contributions from the horse racing industry. When several journalists pointed out that Goodlatte had received $40,000 from the horse racing industry Mr. Goodlatte made a public show of giving the contributions back. He then proceeded to establish what he called a ‘good fund’ which accepted contributions of $15,000 from the horse racing industry which Mr. Goodlatte did not give back. In keeping with his peculiar ‘family values’ he voted to deny care to those too poor to afford the co pay for treatment under Medicare. Oh yeah, he wants to privatize one of the few government programs that actually works, social security. Another shining example of those who want to dictate morality to US citizens.
Fortunately for the American public Mr. Frist is no longer in congress and his presidential aspirations have been quashed forever. It boggles the mind to imagine what a Frist administration would be like. On the other hand both Kyl and Goodlatte are still in congress pursuing their nightmarish agenda. Just recently Kyl sent a letter to Bush urging him to rigorously enforce the regulations in UIGEA. Goodlatte continues to be active promoting right wing causes and legislation. So far none of the presidential candidates have stated a clear position on online gaming. Inquiries to several candidates of both parties drew generic responses that totally dodged the questions asked. The most effective way to affect change is through members of congress. Believe it or not most representatives and senators pay attention to what their constituents say and past legislation has been influenced by well orchestrated campaigns organized by relatively small groups of issue oriented citizens. Let your representatives know how you feel about the restrictions placed on your right to engage in an activity that harms no one.