I think my Congressman may be a douchebag, but we'll give him one more chance to reply.

This was the letter I got from my Congressman's auto-mailer, then my reply, then the bounceback. I just printed all those emails and faxed them to Congressman Hayes, since my email wasn't going to go through. So far, he seems like a douchebag. If he responds in any reasonable fashion, then I will perhaps rescind my assessment of douchebaggery.


On 6/23/06, Representative Robin Hayes


Dear John,

Thank you for contacting my office regarding H.R. 4777, the Internet
Gambling Prohibition Act. I appreciate hearing your thoughts on this
important issue.

I am proud to support and cosponsor this important legislation. As you may
know, H.R. 4777 was introduced by Representative Bob Goodlatte (VA-6) on
February 16, 2006. This legislation would expand and modernize the
prohibition against interstate gambling. When battling terrorist
organizations, one of the most effective measures is to reduce the number of
funding sources. Internet gambling has been identified as a way for
terrorist organizations to "launder" funds that will later be used to attack
innocent Americans both at home and abroad.

Currently, H.R. 4777 is pending in House Judiciary Committee, of which I am
not a member. Rest assured, I will keep your thoughts in mind should this
legislation come to the floor for a vote.

Again, thank you for contacting my office. It is an honor to serve as your
United States Representative, and I look forward to tackling the issues 8th
District constituents sent me here to address. Please know that I have
assembled what I believe is the most responsive and courteous staff in
Congress. Your suggestions are always welcome, and if ever we may be of
assistance, please do not hesitate to call.

Sincerely,

Robin Hayes
Member of Congress

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: john hartness
To: Representative Robin Hayes <robin.hayes@mail.house.gov>
Date: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:53:14 -0400
Subject: Re: Responding to your message

Thank you for sending a form letter that shows that you didn't even bother
to read my position on the issue.

At this time, I, as a member of the Poker Players Alliance, am not looking
for a vote against this legislation, although you have to realize that
online gaming is not as easy a method to launder money as you may think, and
that your legislation places onerous restrictions on the banking industry,
something that should be near and dear to the hearts of NC representatives.
What I am looking for is a carveout allowing internet poker to be exempted
from this legislation, much like online horse races and state-sponsored
lotteries are expempted. Internet poker sites have monitoring systems in
place to make moving of large sums of money from player to player without
actually playing poker very difficult, so internet poker sites are not a
good place to launder money. If I wanted to transfer $100, 000.00 from my
account to some random terrorist, it would be very difficult to do this
through internet poker, but simple enough to do it through Ebay, and I don't
think your bill has any provisions in place to attack Ebay's business model.

Please explain to me exactly how it is that internet gambling is used to
launder money for terrorist activities, I would appreciate being educated on
this issue.

I also recently saw that you have voted against Net Neutrality, going
against both the leftist nutjobs at Move On and the right-wing nutjobs at the Christian Coalition. Since people from all walksof life have opposed the revocation of Net Neutrality, please explain to me,Mr. Hayes, exactly who you are representing in that endeavor? The big
business folks at AT&T didn't get you elected, it was the small people in
North Carolina. Please pay attention to what we are telling you we want,
rather than what some party wonk is telling you that we want.

Here it is in simple terms. I, as a citizen in your district, want from you,
my elected representative, the following things:

1) The time of at least a staffer to actually read my email on an issue
before you send me a form response in direct opposition to my personal
position. If we disagree on an issue, at least acknowledge that and address
it.

2) That you listen to the people, not the heads of big business with deep
pockets. You come from a poor state, and one that does not cotton to big
Yankee business people messing with our lifestyle, especially when it comes
to directly affecting how we live our lives, download our music, and get
paid for our internet writing.

3) That you really think through an issue before spewing some talking-head
policy BS that some yahoo told you was good for the "war on terror." A war,
by the way, that we have at least as much a chance of ever winning with
current policies as the war on drugs.

That's what I, as a voter in your district, want from you. Isn't that
esentially what you swore to give me when you took office?

Now I dare you to actually read something and reply in a cogent, non-form
letter fashion. Go ahead. I dare you.

John Hartness
Charlotte, NC


Your message

To: Representative Robin Hayes
Subject: Re: Responding to your message
Sent: Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:53:14 -0400

did not reach the following recipient(s):

Representative Robin Hayes on Fri, 23 Jun 2006 13:53:17 -0400
The recipient name is not recognized
The MTS-ID of the original message is: c=us;a= ;p=u.s. house of
re;l=IMS100606231753NPMNPTQX
MSEXCH:IMS:U.S. House of Representatives:U.S. House:IMS10 0 (000C05A6)
Unknown Recipient




Fortunately, Mr. Hayes' fax number is online
FAX (202) 225-4036

So here's my cover letter as I faxed off my reply to his form response.

Dear Mr. Hayes,

Or whatever staffmonkey gets stuck reading this,

Attached please find the retarded form letter you sent showing me that you read nothing of my original email regarding my opposition to H.R.4777, as well as my reply to your retarded form email, which was bounced back to me since the auto-mailer you used to send the retarded form email is not set up to accept replies. Fortunately, your fax number is on the website.

Sincerely,

John Hartness
Charlotte, NC

Do you think staffmonkey might have been a little much?

Tags: Robin Hayes, Gambling, Poker, HR 4777