Poker players lobby Congress...pork planes

Rapid reaction slowing down

WASHINGTON -- Looks like the U.S. won't be freed anytime soon from the burdensome role its troops have played -- largely by default -- as Europe and others turn to us for emergency military help.

In 2002, now-ex-Pentagon chief Don Rumsfeld proposed the establishment of a NATO "rapid-reaction force" that could be quickly deployed to the Balkans or any other regional hot spot to serve as peacekeepers to quell violence before it spreads or respond fast to terrorist attacks.

The 26 countries that make up the alliance were enthusiastic at first, viewing this as a way to boost their own prestige and to diminish the footprint of the U.S. on their turf.

But NATO is now about to kill the program, saying member nations aren't anteing up the money or troops needed.


Now it's poker players who are getting into the congressional lobbying game. Next week, nearly 100 members of the Poker Players Alliance will mass on Capitol Hill to press lawmakers not to outlaw online poker playing. Last year, Congress passed an anti-Internet gambling measure, and federal regulators are now assembling the rules to put the law into effect. The House Judiciary and Financial Services committees also have e-gambling on their agendas.

Seattle PI
Lisa Hoffman

News Added: 20 October, 2007

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