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Frankly, we're stunned.
Despite last Wednesday's embarrassing committee hearing marked by misinformation, gross distortions and frothy, purple prose about crushing skulls, 26-year-old murderers and how force feedback controllers teach one to be a cold-blooded killer, the Louisiana House passed HB 1381, Rep. Roy Burrell's video game bill, 102-0 yesterday.
102-0.
According to the Associated Press, several House members questioned whether Burrell's bill, HB1381, would survive an inevitable First Amendment challenge by the video game industry, but voted for the bill anyway.
"That's for the courts to decide," said Rep. Danny Martiny, (R), who presided over the House Criminal Justice committee which approved Burrell's bill on May 10th, thus setting it up for yesterday's floor vote in the House. "Anything's subject to challenge."
According to the AP, HB1381 would permit a judge to rule whether a video game should be pulled from store shelves. The measure now heads to the Louisiana Senate, where it may face a rougher ride.
That's because the Louisiana Senate has its own video game bill working its way through the legislative process. As reported by The Advocate, Republican State Sen. James Cain's SB340 is a watered-down bill which primarily addresses sexual content in games.
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May 17 2006, 10:04:05 UTC 6 years ago
So that hurricane blew off more than just their topsoil, eh?
May 17 2006, 10:43:27 UTC 6 years ago
Time to fire up the Lawyers
Apparently Burrells not paying attention much lately, but thats nothing new. I wonder, will a judge look kindly on this law with 6 previous rulings on the subject?Doubt it!.
Apparently the politicans down in Louisiana can't read, or do research, or they'd know how boned they are in court. Oh well.
I will say this, I do kinda wish I could see jacks response when a judge kills the Cali bill. Probably call the Judge A "wacko liberal judge in the pocket of the porn industry".
Hey dennis, do you still get Press releases from good old Wacko Jacko? and if so, could you send them to me. I wanna catalog his insanity.
May 17 2006, 16:29:25 UTC 6 years ago
Re: Time to fire up the Lawyers
With re-elections coming up soon, I'm pretty sure that these nutcase politicians don't care how this bill does in courts. They just want all the re-election ads to be able to have their fat cheesy smiling faces with the phrase "I supported a bill that protected YOUR children from violent murder simulators so that you wouldn't need to get involved and could spend more time on the cell phone with your stock broker".Its all a big sham. They want votes, and they need a boogyman to scare up enough. This time its video games.
Ok I can't type anymore, my blood pressure is getting high enough as it is...
May 17 2006, 11:30:18 UTC 6 years ago
I wish I were suprised
But in politics, it seems that wasting tax dollars on these kinds of bills is worth it to these guys. No one wants to look like they anti-family or pro-videogame. It makes me sick to my stomach on a number of levels. First the shocking first amendment implications. Second, attempting to pass a bill they KNOW is unconstitutional, just for the political boost.We need to hold politicians accountable for wasting our tax dollars and not doing their jobs. Wasting time on these kinds of bills serve no one but themselves. How much will it cost Louisiana to go through this entire process?
Here's an area the Videogame Voters Network needs to get involved in. This guy needs to go.
May 17 2006, 11:37:37 UTC 6 years ago
So, when do the folks of Louisiana get to vote these morons to the curb?
May 17 2006, 15:24:15 UTC 6 years ago
Or,
How about they just, y'know... stop being retarded. Seriously, politicians, go read a book. Get your information from something other than a raving lunatic with a baseless vendetta.May 17 2006, 11:48:39 UTC 6 years ago
Lets hope the courts do there job.
May 17 2006, 12:17:05 UTC 6 years ago
And for your constituents to foot the bill for your political folly.
May 17 2006, 12:18:25 UTC 6 years ago
May 17 2006, 12:20:20 UTC 6 years ago
Ridiculous.
May 17 2006, 13:22:22 UTC 6 years ago
GIR, fetch me the bucket!
This cesspool of idiocy has made me sick! Unanimous passing in the House. Jack Thompson being there. Heinous misinformation being presented at every turn, mostly by Jack Thompson. People BELIEVING said heinous misinformation. It's true what they say: "Those in power are often the least fit to rule." 50-60 years from now, the history books are going to refer to these people not as concerned for the children, but as the cause of wasting untold amounts of taxpayers' dollars over legislation that has been ruled unconstitutional time and again by the courts. Yet they push on anyway, hoping this will improve their election chances. Yes, Germany's Socialist government will eventually collapse in about 20 years due to putting itself into a position to not be able to support itself, but the politicians aren't anywhere near this blöd, dumm, idiotisch, schwachsinnig, töricht or strohdumm. Okay, that's about every single non-profane German word for stupid I can think of at the moment to adequately describe the people who believed the bile Jack flooded the courtroom with, drowning the common sense of every single person in the room.May 17 2006, 16:42:45 UTC 6 years ago
Re: GIR, fetch me the bucket!
Dumb like a moose dib, dumb like a moose!!!6 years ago
May 17 2006, 13:36:12 UTC 6 years ago
...
People need to use their votes and let people like this know it's unwelcome here in the states. That's really the only way to get these people to listen.It's a slow process, but if more and more of us gamers actually vote they'll have to listen to us. I know I sound like a damn PSA, but I'm serious. Politicians only care about keeping their jobs and if game players got together to vote as one I bet these bills would disappear. Right now, we're an easy target.
Course in this case it's really up to the people of Louisiana, the rest of us just have to hope the court follows the constitution.
May 17 2006, 13:47:31 UTC 6 years ago
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May 17 2006, 14:50:43 UTC 6 years ago
That's the whole vibe I got from them.
May 17 2006, 15:04:06 UTC 6 years ago
WELL AT LEAST WE KNOW THE TRUTH....
These politicans know the law is unconstitutional but are voting for it anyways just to make a make an statement. We should go right to the LA taxpayers and tell them that their politicans are purposely wasteing taxpayers money on something they (the politicans) know won't win in just order to gain votes and take people's minds off the REAL problems facing LA right now. Makes me sick to my stomach!May 17 2006, 22:14:05 UTC 6 years ago
Re: WELL AT LEAST WE KNOW THE TRUTH....
You are right.They voted for this bill because they can now say "See! We do care about family and children. It isn't our fault that we know the bill won't pass a first amendment challenge, but we did vote for it!"
So their asses are covered both ways. It won't become a law but they gave the showing that they care.
The problem as with most people (not just politicians) is that they do not look beyond their own needs. Now, there is on the books that a state's house unanimously voted for such a bill. This gives people such as ol' JT the ammo of saying "If I am so wrong, why did the state of Lousiana vote unanimously on my side?!!" It slowly builds and can all be used as evidence for the anti-gaming laws if and whenever more legal action arises.
May 17 2006, 15:45:21 UTC 6 years ago
May 17 2006, 16:07:08 UTC 6 years ago
Save us from the damned politicians...
That's for the courts to decide,"It'ssssssssssss ELECTION TIME! Screw the facts! The hell with the constitutionality! Damn the logical naysayers! WE GOTTA SAVE TEH CHILDREN AND GET MORE VOTES!!!1ONEleventyBBQ!
With hope, this will certainly get the same bitch-slapping down it so desperately needs, however, the politicians themselves will still pat themselves on the back, and collect the cash from the taxpayers. Utter crap.
May 17 2006, 19:20:43 UTC 6 years ago
Re: Save us from the damned politicians...
As much as that post of yours cracks me up, I just can't get a smile on my face because of that fact that it's all true. :/May 17 2006, 16:24:32 UTC 6 years ago
Deep curiosity.
As a lifetime resident of Louisiana, I can assure you that the Louisiana House doesn't vote unanimously on anything... unless there's something in it for them. I was suspicious of this whole deal when identical bills were proposed by a republican and a democrat. Now we have a unanimous vote and JT springing out of the woodwork. Something's rotten in Denmark.No, wait...Denmark has better levee systems...
May 17 2006, 19:21:37 UTC 6 years ago
Re: Deep curiosity.
Oy. Denmark doesn't HAVE levee systems. I agree we've got something more rotten, though. His name is Fogh. ;)5 years ago
May 17 2006, 16:39:10 UTC 6 years ago
::Thunk::
::Thunk::
::Thunk::
...Sorry, that would be the sound of me repeatedly hitting my head against my desk. I swear, a unanimous vote? It's frightening that every single person in any room could be swayed by that kind of misinformation and fearmongering, but the fact that it was the room containing a house of representatives is downright pathetic.
May 17 2006, 19:16:49 UTC 6 years ago
Well, of course. When you know it's going to get shot down, do you really want to sit around and argue about it? Pass the buck!
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May 17 2006, 18:14:52 UTC 6 years ago
Meh....
They could have said the sky was bright green and computer games are the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and they still would have voted for it, far too spineless to be in the positions of power that they hold.May 17 2006, 19:17:10 UTC 6 years ago
I've said it befor and I'll say it again
REBUILD THE LEVEES AND NEW ORLEANS!!!!!!May 17 2006, 20:21:45 UTC 6 years ago
This is my state. Jack Thompson's hit my home turf.
The courts BETTER block this.
May 17 2006, 21:59:06 UTC 6 years ago
In all bluntness, all the lies and deceit going on in the government these days, and this being one of the most recent, I have to, personally, have serious doubt about all the propaganda of the US being the best country in the world. And if this country truly is the best in the world, then I have some serious disgust for the human species' idea of what honor and ethics really is.
nightwng2000
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May 17 2006, 20:50:31 UTC 6 years ago
LA Resident perspective
We're not all insane here. Well, most of the people are, but they tend to live in the northern, less urban areas. It doesn't shock me that the guy who sponsored the bill is from some place I've never heard of (Dry Creek, LA) and really doesn't shock me that they'd actually believe someone like Jacky-boy. Louisiana isn't exactly one of the most progressive states in the union and tends to jump to the front of the line for failing constitutional challenges in numerous areas, including but not limited to seizing obscene music, abortion law, creationism/religion in public classrooms, speech limitations, privacy laws, and (my personal favorite) a ban on wearing your pants too low that was so absurd that we made the Daily Show.The 102-0 vote isn't really shocking because keeping bad games off the shelves is way more important that solving the rampant educational, economical, tax, and funding issues the state is facing as well as the rebuilding of Southeastern (Katrina) and Southwestern (Rita) Louisiana.
Even then, going by their wording, it seems almost impossible to prove a game should go onto the ban list. Sure, they grabbed the three pronged provision from various First Amendment cases, but they are going to have a increasingly hard time arguing that games are "patently offensive to standards in the adult community" and more importantly the games "lack serious literary, artistic, political, or scientific value."
Its essentially going to go to a test case, where some hicktown sheriff will seize a bunch of games and say they're banned (similar to the one in New Iberia that shut down a skating rink due to the "obscene music).
May 17 2006, 23:35:03 UTC 6 years ago
You'd think they'd have bigger things to worry about.
But whatever, another bullshit political grab for attention that'll die like the rest. How many more before they realize it doesn't work?May 18 2006, 00:47:21 UTC 6 years ago
*shock
By the article, the sorta went like this"Ah man, i totally don't agree with this, but the button that says 'No to Bill' is so FAR AWAY."
Yeah that seemerd to have summed that up well.
May 18 2006, 00:50:36 UTC 6 years ago
""That's for the courts to decide,"""
I am sorry its you fckign job to know whatyour doing,to pass these mindless failed laws one after another only shows the couprtion and fing lazyness of you fcked up fat cats livieng off public money ><Rant end
So its not your job to take thigns into accoutn and then pass a law...then WTHFH is it?!?!!?!?!@?!?
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