Grand Theft Lawmakers' Time
Here's an update for you gamers on the Legislature's latest attempt to regulate the sales of video games that turn kids into mass murderers and cop killers.Rep. Mike Morley tells me his bill — that is ready, pending the Attorney General's Office eye balling it for constitutional issues — takes a radically different approach than ill-fated past proposals. His proposal would use the Truth in Advertising Law to regulate video game sales.
It would work like this: A store, Target for instance, could advertise that it takes precautions not to sell mature-content games to kids, presumably to attract business from concerned parents. But if one of its clerks did sell an inappropriate game to a kid—the parents could sue the store. As disbarred Florida lawyer, anti-video game crusader and Utah legislation-drafter* Jack Thompson puts it:
If you promise the public you don't sell adult-rated entertainment to kids, then you had better be telling the truth, because if a parent catches you selling this stuff to his or her kids, then you're guilty of fraud under the Truth in Advertising Law.Of course, the stores can simply not make any such advertising promises.
If this doesn't sound to you like a rigorous way to control video game sales, you're right. Morley acknowledged as much to me:
This approach is constitutional. Will it be effective? Maybe not.
Morley assures me the Legislature has plenty of time to deal with pointless bills like this and still take care of the people's real business.
Meanwhile, GamePolitics reports that Attorney General Mark Shurtleff has taken campaign contributions from the bad guys.
The Entertainment Software Association, which represents the interests of U.S. video game publishers, made a $3,000 donation to Shurtleff in May of 2008. The popular, moderate Republican would go on to win an unprecedented third term in November's election.Shurtleff has demonstrated in the past that he can be very good to campaign contributors.
At the same time, the ESA also made lesser contributions to a pair of Republican state senators, Ross Romero and John Valentine.
*And guy who emails me a lot.
9 Comments:
Jack Thompson filed so many nuisance lawsuits in Florida trying to bust video game publishers that they disbarred him. He's a roundly debunked person with a single-minded obsession to get rid of "violent" video games. Too bad there isn't a shred of evidence (other than anecdotal) linking violent video games with actual crime.
Mr. Thompson, and the suckers he's conned in the Utah legislature, need to find something else productive to do.
When did Sen. Romero switch parties? I'll bet that's news to his SLC constituents.
I am one of Sen. Romero's SLC constituents and I had to double check the assertion he was a Republican senator. It would have been a shock to me if he had switched parties, but no, he's still listed with a (D) next to his name on the Utah Senate web page.
More to the point -- lawmakers' time is OUR money. Especially if this gets air time and (God forbid) passes.
How can we stop this from continuing to plague our state? I want bugs like Thompson out of the ears of our legislators. They probably don't need much help anyway.
This is exactly what I wrote in the "Let the games begin!" comments.
To quote myself:
(Thompson)"I look forward to the passage of this bill, the whole notion of which is that retailers should not lie to consumers".
(Me) "Which is why this bill is basically pointless. Let's put ourselves in the shoes of a retailer here: "If we say we have a policy to check the ID of buyers for 17+ rated games and videos and a clerk omits it that one time by mistake, even though by suing they would need to prove intent of fraud when its cleary a human mistake, why not keep the policy but save us the hassle and not advertise it? Then we would not be liable".
Wouldnt that work?"
Morley just admitted it would.
Our children are our greatest treasure.
Unfortunately, people resist change because it requires a new way of thinking and accepting new facts. I call this tunnel vision (paradigm thinking). Mr. Thompson is a man to listen to…he is a hero. He does what he does for the betterment of our children, and what could be a better cause than that. Mr. Thompson is correct.
Here's something to really cook you. On November 14, 2007, Microsoft’s executives visited Senator Joe Lieberman’s office in Washington, DC, and talked about the children developing bent and twisted finger deformities from video gaming during their soft bone ages http://miketomich.com/Whitney_marked_gif.html , http://miketomich.com/Childrens-Injury-List-Pics.html , http://miketomich.com/Child-Adult-Injuries-Explained.html
After they left DC, on November 15, 2007, Senate bill S.948-CAMRA Act was dead. CAMRA Act would have studied the impact of gaming (physical-mental) on children. Now Lieberman, a man who used to pushed passage of S.948, sings about how good of an American Bill Gates is and how he has "so much beautiful money."
Do not let your children perform coloring until they are at least 5 years-old. NO video gaming or computers until they are at least 8 years-old.
Yours truly..........Mike Tomich Bay City, Michigan
Children's twisted fingers from video gaming, computers, and coloring: www.miketomich.com
Video Gaming injuries: Computer injuries: http://miketomich.com/Alyssa-marked_gif.html
Coloring Injuries: http://miketomich.com/Coloring-Damage.html
Our children are our greatest treasure.
Unfortunately, people resist change because it requires a new way of thinking and accepting new facts. I call this tunnel vision (paradigm thinking). Mr. Thompson is a man to listen to…he is a hero. He does what he does for the betterment of our children, and what could be a better cause than that. Mr. Thompson is correct.
Here's something to really cook you. On November 14, 2007, Microsoft’s executives visited Senator Joe Lieberman’s office in Washington, DC, and talked about the children developing bent and twisted finger deformities from video gaming during their soft bone ages http://miketomich.com/Whitney_marked_gif.html , http://miketomich.com/Childrens-Injury-List-Pics.html , http://miketomich.com/Child-Adult-Injuries-Explained.html
After they left DC, on November 15, 2007, Senate bill S.948-CAMRA Act was dead. CAMRA Act would have studied the impact of gaming (physical-mental) on children. Now Lieberman, a man who used to pushed passage of S.948, sings about how good of an American Bill Gates is and how he has "so much beautiful money."
Do not let your children perform coloring until they are at least 5 years-old. NO video gaming or computers until they are at least 8 years-old.
Yours truly..........Mike Tomich
Children's twisted fingers from video gaming, computers, and coloring: www.miketomich.com
Video Gaming injuries: Computer injuries: http://miketomich.com/Alyssa-marked_gif.html
Coloring Injuries: http://miketomich.com/Coloring-Damage.html
Wait, Thomson is a hero?
Does a hero send scathing e-mails to a lawyer's coworkers, mothers, spouses and clients simply because they appear against him in court in a full press harassment campaign? Does a hero routinely lie and make false representations of facts to courts of law?
This is precisely why Thompson was disbarred on 27 of 31 counts brought against him. He is a serial liar. Of course, he'll tell you it was just the video game industry or the homosexual community looking for revenge, but I'll point out again, he is a serial liar. ANd hiding behind "for the sake of the children" is cowardly.
Good luck, Utah. He's all yours. You're the only state who will listen to him.
Anon 3:23... we don't want him here either.
Makes me want to go buy Grand Theft whatever and go home andd play it.
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