American Poker

Two months ago I wrote to Representative Rick Boucher to ask him why he was trying to push for a total ban on Internet Poker, and other restrictions on poker and gambling. To my complete shock he has not even bothered to send be a standard blow off letter thus far. I guess the concept of public servant is lost on him.

But for him and others of his ilk I have found some interesting statistics on the great game of poker in the USA. The following statistics were taken from a poll of nearly 1000 Americans selected at random.

90% of Americans say no to the federal government banning poker.

87% want Americans to be able to play poker events for charity.

18% want a ban on Internet poker.

3% think poker home games should be banned.

27% believe the federal government should control online gambling.

These are the facts. So leave poker players alone and see if you can figure out how to get we the people some affordable health care, or narrow the rich poor divide. There are so many real issues for politicians to be working on, it is shameful that something like this is taking up any of their time.

Check out the Poker Player's Alliance for more information on supporting American Poker.

American Idol

I don’t generally watch American Idol, because after the amusement of seeing the idiots make fools of themselves in the first couple of weeks I lose interest. However, for some reason I ended up watching the show last night and I was reminded once again why I don’t bother to watch the show. The only reason the show exists is because of Simon Cowell. It was his showmanship in England that madethe original show Pop Idol a hit. Because of his work on the show they were able to sell it to the American networks. Now again, thanks to his great work the show is number one in America.

You could easily replace Ryan Toolcrest with any tedious DJ/Presenter. You could easily replace Randy with anyone that could arrange the following words into random sentences, ‘yeah, aaaright, dawg, pitchy, you, the, man, dude.’ Paula could be replaced by any washed up former singer. They would just need to loll around and make patronizing fake affirmations and then clap like a drunk old woman at a bar.

But what really irks me is that Paula and Randy are so damn rude. Every week, every song, Simon sits patiently to render his opinion, something he is paid to do. He never interrupts the other judges. When it is his turn he says what he thinks, and Paula proceeds to flop drunkenly into him like an inebriated teenager. They then both interrupt him to make such asinine comments as ‘aw come on.’

These people need to bow down and kiss this man’s feet for making them rich. Sure they had money, but doing this show is large quantities of easy money for both of them, and they would not have this money without Simon. Sadly they are so delusional they think they contribute to the show and that they are irreplaceable. I believe you could replace all of them except Simon next season and it would still be a hit show.

Ryan, Paula and Randy need to learn some manners and to treat Simon with the respect he deserves.