Online Gambling and Felonies
My letter to the editor about online gambling was printed today in the Seattle Times.
I didn't see it yesterday, but one of the other letters links to a column from yesterday where the director of the state's gambling commission says that a web site that links to online gambling sites is violating the law, by "aiding and abetting." Totally not kidding.
He even says that the Seattle Times itself could be liable for criminal penalties if it provides links to online gambling sites.
The funniest part is the one web site proprietor who says, "I can't believe this is happening in a liberal place like Washington." Another letter writer echoes the sentiment: "Who would have ever thought that liberal Washington would be the home of the Thought Police??"
Um ... me? It's amazing to me that people think liberals are not in generally in favor of policing thought. Liberals are the ones who shut down ads about cigarettes and liquor, who gave us hate speech laws, who censored political speech from broadcast radio and TV and tried to get Limbaugh kicked off the air, and so on. Not that conservatives aren't as bad, but I have no idea where this "liberals are against thought policing/for free speech" nonsense came from.
Addendum: I must be playing too much poker online, because after posting this journal entry and seeing the number was 137771, I thought, "full house!"
I didn't see it yesterday, but one of the other letters links to a column from yesterday where the director of the state's gambling commission says that a web site that links to online gambling sites is violating the law, by "aiding and abetting." Totally not kidding.
He even says that the Seattle Times itself could be liable for criminal penalties if it provides links to online gambling sites.
The funniest part is the one web site proprietor who says, "I can't believe this is happening in a liberal place like Washington." Another letter writer echoes the sentiment: "Who would have ever thought that liberal Washington would be the home of the Thought Police??"
Um ... me? It's amazing to me that people think liberals are not in generally in favor of policing thought. Liberals are the ones who shut down ads about cigarettes and liquor, who gave us hate speech laws, who censored political speech from broadcast radio and TV and tried to get Limbaugh kicked off the air, and so on. Not that conservatives aren't as bad, but I have no idea where this "liberals are against thought policing/for free speech" nonsense came from.
Addendum: I must be playing too much poker online, because after posting this journal entry and seeing the number was 137771, I thought, "full house!"
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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