Shizzmoney, I actually agree with most of your post.

I do think you are characterizing me in a way as a corporate/government/law-and-order apologist, and I am anything but that.

I was the first person to call out the "we got a complaint from Belgium" story as BS. Not tha the Belgian complaint was necessarily a lie, but LOL @ them starting an investigation (and taking 18 months to serve a search warrant) because some anonymous Belgian e-mailed them about Seals.

I said that clearly some powerful interest -- most likely Caesars or Stations (Ultimate Poker) -- complained about Seals, and demanded action, especially given Micon being the lowest of low hanging fruits to bust right there in Vegas.

So of course they cover up who was really behind the complaint which made them took action, probably to protect future campaign donations, and instead blame the whole thing on a Belgian guy.

L O FUCKING L.

So, yes, the NGC will take action in cases like this MUCH more swiftly if a powerful corporate interest is behind the complaint. No question about that.

And yes, there is clearly too much campaign money going into politics (on both sides of the fence), which often leaves the average citizen like you and me out in the cold, especially when it comes to potentially lucrative opportunities.

And yes, it's disgusting how people like Hamilton, Lederer, Ferguson, Greg Pierson, and the others skated away with no criminal punishment.

I get it, and I won't argue with any of that.

But it has absolutely nothing to do with Micon, and in fact clouds the basic issue.

If I were pulled over driving 85 in a 65 zone, I could not go into court with the excuse of, "There was a guy who passed me going 100, and somehow the cop didn't catch him!" The fact that others got away with breaking the law does not give me the right to get away with anything. That's not a valid legal or moral defense for one's actions. You are responsible for what you do, and the consequences faced or not faced by others doing worse -- while unfair -- are honestly never an excuse for what you did.

I am not one to blindly say, "It's the law and it has to be upheld."

For example, a few years ago, a victim of child molestation in the '70s found his abuser, who was now in his 60s, and beat the crap out of him 35 years later. This was vigilante justice and against the law. At the same time, it was clear that these horrible acts of molestation did occur, and while the law said that the "vigilante" should have gone to prison for assault, he actually got a not-guilty verdict in court. And I completely supported that. Because the law failed to protect this guy (due to retarded statute of limitations issues), he had to take the matter into his own hands to punish his abuser many years later. That's the type of civil disobedience I can support.

I can't support someone's "right" to run an unlicensed gambling site with zero competition simply because he doesn't like or agree with the existing online poker laws.

Micon was not a trailblazer, pioneer, martyr, or David fighting the corporate Goliath.

He was just a guy who did something stupid and ran an obviously illegal business from the most foolhardy location possible, made some money for awhile because of the complete lack of competition, and then got in trouble for it.

Totally standard stuff. Just like Anthony "tongni" Rivera said on 2+2, "This is pretty much the same as running an illegal craps game in your house."

Exactly. That's all it was. Micon ran an illegal gambling operation, got caught, fled, and kept running it where he felt he couldn't be reached by American law enforcement anymore.

You can't do that sort of thing and get away with it, nor should we be donating to the legal defense fund for someone who thinks they can.