My library is currently trying to locate a copy of John Bruce's book. It is currently out of print so they can't just order it. I know I could buy it on Amazon for $0.01 + shipping, but that is just a little too much effort on my part for such a worthless book.

If the Chapter that GP linked to in the LJ days is anythign to judge the book by, it is a complete waste of a tree's life.

Edit: When I was requesting the book, they had an option to choose the type of book it was. My hand first went to Adult Fiction, then to Children's fiction, then finally to adult non-fiction as that is most likely how it would be categorized by the unknowing.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

I call bullshit. Buttass had to have gotten the piece of shit book from somewhere. It's pretty obvious that Gargoyle Ruzicka got a copy from The Metropolitian Moron of Miami.

That being said, it is disgusting that they had to lie and use a fraudulent case to justify the passage of a piece of shit bill that is unconstitutionally broad.

Geaux Saints, Geaux Tigers, Geaux Hornets, Jack Thompson can geaux chase a chupacabra.

The bill is going to be destroyed in the long run

Watching JT on GP is just like watching an episode of Jerry springer only as funny as the fights

I call bullshit, too. The original floor debate on HB353 in the House was pushed backed from its originally schedule date because Buttars and Ruzicka had to be elsewhere defending Buttars' assholery. This rescheduling was covered by GamePolitics. Given that Thompson religiously reads anything on GamePolitics which has anyhing to do with him, no matter how remote the connection, it is highly unlikely that, as he claims, he's never heard of Buttars before now. Bullshit. Pure bullshit.  

"But it's a fabulous book, as you know."

Really? Cause, our Amazon rating says waaaaay otherwise...Ohh, silly me, that's right. All those 1 stars, and those few 2 starts, they're part of the conspiracy, right? Oh my bad.

I guess those horrible, Satan-spawned video games have utterly destroyed my brain.

Edit: You know, let's go round up as many of his books as we can, and have a good old-fashioned book burning.

If the gov signs it, then I'll draft a law to hold pol's like buttars and Morely accountable(by cutting thier pay salary for Unconstutional and controversial Motives)

Watching JT on GP is just like watching an episode of Jerry springer only as funny as the fights

If anyone was wondering why Magaret Dayton kept on repeating "goodwill" like it was some kind of mantra during last night's debate, here's my two cents:

Someone (not likely Thompson; he ain't nowhere near sharp enough) likely pointed out to her and her cohorts the difficulty in arguing that a statement which proposes that a commercial transaction will not in fact occurr (i.e., "we will not inapropriately sell an age-recommeded or -restricted product") is, as required by Utah's TIA, made in connection with the solicitation of business. And, indeed, it is difficult to argue that a seller is soliciting business with a statement promising to turn away business. So, she and her cohorts think that, if the push comes to shove, they can circumvent this obvious lack of a connection between the statement and the solicitation of business by arguing that the "we will not inapropriately sell an age-recommeded or -restricted product" statement is intended to foster goodwill for the advertiser, and goodwill is always connected to the solicitation of business. This argument, in my opinion, is only marginally less difficult to make than the argument that a statement which proposes that a commercial transaction will not in fact occurr is made in connection with the solicitation of business. And convincing a court that it is will take something more than Senator Dayton merely repeating "goodwill, goodwill, goodwill" ad nauseum.   

Well, it´s too bad that Utah Senate decided to believe in Jack Thompson´s outrageous lies. Too bad because if they really to want something about videogames, maybe they could create something really useful for society.

But again, those lazy politicians will get another bill ruled as unconstitucional by the Supreme Court. There is gonna be many money wasted in this useless exercise.

I really hope this is the last one of this series of useless bills.

The cynical side of videogames (spanish only): http://thelostlevel.blogspot.com/ My DeviantArt Page (aka DeviantCensorship): http://www.darkknightstrikes.deviantart.com/

So...what now?  The fact that a state government actually believes the lies of a disgraced & disbarred Christian extremist literally makes me sick to my stomach.  How the hell can there be any hope of protecting speech and freedom if more shit like this happens? 

Aw! Everyone's already calling bullshit!

But yeah, I'm calling bullshit. Sounds like an Eagle puppet.

I think I know how the law could be ruled unconstitutional.  The Interstate Commerce Clause says that  the government cannot interfere with commerce between states, such as online shopping. If it's declared constitutional on First Amendment grounds, which is unlikely, then the ESA, IEMA, and others can say it violates the Interstate Commerce Clause.

I'll be shocked if this actully passes thru but i dont see it happening at all really and what pisses me off even more is the fact that these pricks will just pass along movies and books and music and give us the whole "well those things are different so its ok" line,Serioulsy what is it with these moron pathetic losers who have this idea that "hey Gamers are just little children so lets tell them what to do and how to think" Crap..Waste of time and a Waste of money But Oh Hell they dont care its all about saving and protecting little Timmy..After all we have to "save the children" 

so to quote george carlin.."F*** The Children"

It wouldn't surprise me if it passed. Keep in mind, Utah is one of the precious few states that will still enforce its criminal libel laws. They have no compunctions about interfering with speech.

What's strange is that everyone's boo-hooing that this applies to games, but film and music are subject to age/maturity ratings as well. Where's the MPAA and the RIAA in this discussion? Or is this legislation intended purely to have a discriminatory effect and unequal application? Because that really is unconstitutional, even under a rational basis analysis.

This kind of thing bothers me intensely.. The Political system is very broken in cases like these where those with the power lock themselves away from the public and proceed to brainwash one another with scare tactics and huge amounts of large information.

Utah is far from being a progressive state, but to pass such a meaningless and ass-backwards bill just because some blowhard with no credentials quoted another psychopath with no credentials is disappointing. Don't politicians have anything better to do with their time?

I think Regulating internet sales counts as an automatic violation of the commerce clause

http://www.ilrweb.com/PFDocuments/ILRAlerts/2005.05.18.HTML

Go to internet Commerce and there's the proof(look for Granholm v. Heald)

Watching JT on GP is just like watching an episode of Jerry springer only as funny as the fights

FFS

GROW SOME BALLS GAMES INDUSTRY.

why is nobody there to prevent this.

I mean what i find most ironic is that its the SAME QUOTES (devin more.. harvard brain scans blah blah) that come up OVER AND OVER. You could go to that meeting and literally predict line by line what arguments were going to come up, and literally debunk them one by one.

Its ridiculous nobody does this, and instead allows more unnecessary burdens be hung on gamers everywhere.

So F****G tired of this. Im sick of defending an industry that wont defend itself. I mean seriously... if you had to predict which urban legends (lets face it, thats what they are) would be raised youd pick these

Whats more... what the HECK do those stories have to do with ANYTHING about truth in advertising, and a law that WONT DO ANYTHING TO STOP SELLERS SELLING GAMES TO UNDERAGE KIDS IF THEY WANT TO? (they wont advertise they age-restrict if all they care about is money anyway!) 

All theyve done is burdened those retailers who ARE 'protecting' kids. GEEEZ.

Every time I see Buttars I think Butters.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butters_(South_Park)

Both are easily influenced and pushed around.

"This is a win for California's citizens," said Michael Gallagher, head of the Entertainment Software Association. "This is a clear signal that in California and across the country, the reckless pursuit of anti-video game legislation like this is an exercise in wasting taxpayer money, government time, and state resources. In the end, common sense prevailed with the court determining that, after exhaustive review, video games do not cause psychological or neurological harm to minors. And, that the ESRB rating system, educational campaigns and parental controls are the best tools for parents to help control what their children play."

3rd sentance being the most important one. The line that defeated the California game bill or at least pronounced it dead.

Hey guys

maybe we should prove to the world that us gamers are smarter than what people think we are and actually do a bit of our own research.

Start with Wikipedia and follow the references

This is about the Prefrontal Cortex

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prefrontal_cortex

---

The most typical psychological term for functions carried out by the pre-frontal cortex area is executive function. Executive function relates to abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, same and different, future consequences of current activities, working toward a defined goal, prediction of outcomes, expectation based on actions, and social "control" (the ability to suppress urges that, if not suppressed, could lead to socially-unacceptable outcomes).

---

Also check our the 'executive function' hyperlink.

Basicly I can't find anywhere where it has or has not been proven that the Frefrontal Cortex is mature at the age of a person's early 20s.

But I did find that the adult brain matures at the age of 25, but that is more of a belief than fact because of the way the brain has grown and some Psychologists come to that conclusion but there is still no defined way of telling if the Prefrontal Cortex is related in any way of that conclusion.

So it may be the case that the Prefontal Cortex has been active for a long time in a person's life, but it might also mean that it fully matures earlier like in the teenage years though either nature or nurture effect  though life experiences or it may be something that happens automaticly.

Basicly, I don't think that Jack Thompson's Prefrontal Cortex has matured enough to establish that the Prefrontal Cortex matures by nature alone, so nurture in learning life skills and also relating to life experiences might have more to do with the maturity of the Prefrontal Cortex than just determining by the age of the individual.

Anyone got any comment of my findings?

Is there ANY country left that considers games to be 100% protected speech?  When the Christians and/or Nanny Staters get more anti-games laws like this in place, where else is there to go?