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 President George W. Bush strolled into the halls of Congress last night looking dapper in his black jacket and royal blue tie in what was his final State of the Union Address to the American people. Various Bush supports waited for hours to get the chance to greet the President on his way up to speak in front of a joint session of Congress. George W. Bush certainly has more gray hair after residing over a country at war for much of his tenure. Bush appeared to be walking on cloud nine knowing it was his last State of the Union address completely oblivious that he has walked away from those liberties that define us as a nation.
"To build a prosperous future, we must trust people with their own money and empower them to grow our economy. As we meet tonight, our economy is undergoing a period of uncertainty. And at kitchen tables across our country, there is concern about our economic future. In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth." stated GWB as he addressed economy in his State of the Union Address.
Future United States Presidential historians will go on to say that Slick Willy’s political timing was impeccable. Bill Clinton inherited a great economy and to give him credit, he had the sense not to screw up the economy during his two terms in the White House overseeing the first Internet Boom. Bush heads into his last year in office with a country on the verge of recession and mounting debt in the trillions. Those same historians still get to write the 43rd President of the United States economic legacy and Iraqi legacy as well for that matter. The only problem is it is very difficult for presidents to wield influence over Congress in their last year in the White House. Especially for a lame duck former monarch like Bush with his popularity in the gutter amongst all Americans.
GWB stated: "On trade, we must trust American workers to compete with anyone in the world and empower them by opening up new markets overseas. Today, our economic growth increasingly depends on our ability to sell American goods, crops and services all over the world. These agreements will level the playing field. They will give us better access to nearly 100 million customers.”
If President Bush wants other countries to open up their markets, he needs to open up the United States markets to foreign companies equally. The United States should work with Antigua & Barbuda to open up the United States market to foreign remote gambling operators in order to get into compliance with international law and WTO commitments. The United States should push to lift the illegal federal ban on internet gambling financial transactions. By doing this, the government would be able to track the flows of money much better instead of driving the dollars into the cash economy. The Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA) does not provide a safe, responsible and regulated internet gambling industry like can be found in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Years ago, the Treasury Department’s Secret Service agents use to help President Harry Truman put poker games together in the White House. Now Treasury is being asked to enforce UIGEA. Boy have times changed. Besides the fact that the consumer is demanding it, state and local governments need the tax revenue that can be generated by internet gambling being regulated on the state level. Atlantic City already wants sports betting to attract new gamblers to the Jersey Shore making it the east coast Las Vegas. Atlantic City casinos have been losing a ton of business to Foxwoods Indian Casino in Connecticut.
Groups like the Interactive Media Entertainment & Gaming Association (iMEGA) are on the front lines of the “War on Internet Gambling” taking place in the United States. iMEGA believes UIGEA and its proposed regulations establish a dangerous precedent for denying Americans’ First Amendment rights; that it will stifle online innovation and commerce; that it will inadequately protect children by eliminating the established safeguards offered by banks and credit card companies; and that it will have a chilling effect on the privacy rights of Internet users. iMEGA has made asserting and safeguarding Americans’ civil liberties in the online world part of their core mission.
“These proposed regulations will limit Americans’ freedom to use the Internet as they see fit in the privacy of their own homes,” said Edward Leyden, President of iMEGA. “While UIGEA is intended to protect minors and problem gamblers, the law ironically makes these groups more vulnerable by targeting US banks and credit card companies, whose identity verification, fraud prevention and credit profiling systems protect online consumers every day.”
“How does this make children and problem gamblers safer?” Leyden asked. “The fact is, it does not, and is certainly not worth the trade-off in our First Amendment rights the law demands. This is a dangerous precedent that must be corrected to preserve our digital civil rights.”
iMEGA has sued the Attorney General's office in federal court in order prevent enforcement of UIGEA. Get more information about what iMEGA is doing to protect your internet rights. GWB stated in his final State of the Union that: "The people's trust in their government is undermined by congressional earmarks."
The President failed to veto any spending bill during his tenure, which for the most part was during a Republican controlled Congress. Bush’s influence is neutralized without a supports on Capital Hill. GWB’s biggest threat to detractors is to veto their earmarks. Ironically, George W. Bush signed bills with over 13k earmarks totaling $19 billion dollars.
When GWB started saying “we must trust in the wisdom of our Founders” I could not stop laughing. While I could not agree more with this statement, its unfortunately a case of “do as I say and not as I do” since GWB has trampled all over the Constitution which will be his lasting legacy to the nation more so then the trillions. Rome is burning!
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