Another Tea Party?

  A little over a year ago, poker players everywhere were hoping for big changes when control of the American Congress was wrenched from politicians who preferred Jerry Falwell to Jerry Yang. Internet poker was an issue of moral turpitude as far as they were concerned. Of course nobody seemed to care that Mr. Yang has more evangelical street cred than anybody who spent their afternoons discussing earmarks over a lobbyist sponsored three martini lunch, but that is a point for another day. The fact is that big changes were expected and all we got was double talk from the same party that tried to explain a seaman stained dress off as the aftermath of a perfectly proper platonic act between a boss and a subordinate.  Americans have not always dealt well with betrayal by their leaders. The trend started when the English raised taxes in ways that would have gotten a standing ovation from Hillary Clinton. In a show of disrespect for the drink of choice of Monte Python's ancestors, the colonial Americans dumped tons of English tea into Boston Harbor and gave a number of unhelpful suggestions to their British oppressors regarding what they could do with the bags. It would seem that another "tea party" might be brewing.  The Poker Player Alliance had gained another powerful voice in their efforts to end the government's persecution of online poker. Annie Duke, a women who has a history of being about as shy with her opinions as Pamela Anderson has been with her private bits, has joined her brother, Howard Lederer, in the fight for the rights of poker players.  Annie is no stranger to controversy. She has taken on everything to gender roles in the game of poker to the restrictions some television shows put on sponsorship logos that players are allowed to wear. To date she has not attacked Mr. Peanut or any other corporate sponsor, but chucking a few kegs of tea into the harbor in support of a cause she believes in is not beyond her limits. Of course if she is taking on this particular Congress, she may have to forego the tea and do away with the local supply of bourbon in order to hit these folks where they live.