Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
Posted on 03/29/2005 4:39:36 AM PST by freepatriot32
LANSING -- Gov. Jennifer Granholm and her Democratic colleagues in the state Senate want to ban stores from letting youths under 17 buy or rent violent and sexually explicit video games, some of which the governor called "sickening."
During a Friday news conference at the Capitol, the governor and Democratic Detroit Sen. Hansen Clarke showed clips from a game called "The Guy Game" published by Take-Two Interactive Software Inc.
The game rewards players who correctly answer trivia questions with video footage of topless women, said Don Hazaert, who works for the Senate Democrats. It is rated "M" for mature audiences, but there is nothing in current law to prevent young people from renting or buying adult video games, he said.
Hansen has introduced a bill that would make it a misdemeanor to sell an adult-rated video game to someone under 17. If convicted of violating the law, an offender would face up to one year in jail and a maximum $5,000 fine.
Granholm supports the bill.
"It should not be acceptable that video games can easily fall into the hands of young people," the governor said. "We just have gone too far as a society. It is time we draw the line and put our foot down. This legislation will do that."
The governor first called on lawmakers last month during her annual State of the State address to take up the legislation.
Clarke's bill has been awaiting a hearing by the Senate Judiciary since it was introduced in February. Granholm said Friday she wants lawmakers to take it up soon after they return April 12 from their two-week spring recess.
Officials at Take-Two Interactive oppose the legislation. They said the fact that the games are rated is enough check on the system.
"Just as some movies are rated 'R' for mature audiences, some games are rated 'M' because they are intended for those aged 17 and older. The lesson from the movie industry is that a strong rating system is the best way to help ensure that everybody plays only the games appropriate for them," the New York-based company said in a written statement.
A spokesman for Republican Senate Majority Leader Ken Sikkema of Wyoming said some senators are concerned that the Entertainment Software Rating Board, a self-regulatory body set up by the gaming industry, could simply change the rating system to make adult video games legal to sell to those under 17.
"We're going to need to take a closer look at the legislation," Ari Adler said.
Similar legislation in Washington state has been declared unconstitutional by a federal judge. U.S. District Judge Robert Lasnik ruled last summer that the depiction of violence has been used throughout the country's history to convey important social messages, and that the Supreme Court has never upheld bans on violent depictions under obscenity laws.
Lasnik's decision has not stopped other states from taking up similar legislation.
The Illinois House last week approved Gov. Rod Blagojevich's proposed ban on selling violent and sexually explicit video games to children over the objections of some lawmakers who called it unconstitutional, unfair and intrusive into the private lives of families.
Heck to a democrat thats a major selling point of a bill not a reason to vote against it.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here.
I think it's a great idea. It will guarantee that these kids get away from stuff like Xbox and Nintendo and back to computers, where they need to use their brains to get to porn. For instance, they'd have master typing in words like "hot girl" into google. That's learning. On the Xbox or Nintendo, they'd just be renting games.
/sarcasm
God, Granholm is a stupid, stupid liberal. "Look, I care about kids, and I'm not transparent at all in my appeal to the authoritarians on the right who wouldn't know an XBox from X-Lax! Meanwhile I'll have a whole new government enforcement bureaucracy built just for this law, to put my cronies into--now they can hang out in Blockbuster on the state payroll! Yay!"
Just one more effort by the nanny-state government to ease child-rearing responsibility away from parents and toward the almighty but benevolent state.
Are all the RAT governors going to pick this one up now?
I oppose this, and will be contacting Garcia, Ward, and Hune about this.
How safe is online romance?Lawmakers want dating sites to disclose background check information
Cropsey's behind that? That surprises me.
nothing suprises me about state or national republicans anymore there s not a dimes worth of difference between the two partys anymore.I'm waitng for the day they merge unto the republicrat party and adopt a donkey with an elephant head as thier symbol
If the republicans don't rid themselves of the nanny state segment of the party, the libertarian party will become a very viable third party. While being right on the issue, libertarians seem to be known as the "drug legalization" party - they need to work on that. They also need to work on nominating non-crazy talking people for president.
With Bush's handling of the mexican border and the rise of the nanny state segment of the republican party, I see a lot of typical GOP voters either staying home or voting for another party.
I really wish the parties would be reconfigured with the nanny state, theocons, greens and socialists in one party and the small government, self-responsibility, personal freedom, strong defense and national sovereignty voters in the other.
With the current configuration, I'm forced to vote GOP due to the dangerous national defense and socialistic policies of the democratic party. This forces me to vote for a party of nanny staters and thecons which really sickens me.
The punishment for selling tobacco to minors in Michigan is $50 per offense. They want to make selling an M-rated video game punishable by a $500 fine and jail time.
Of course, the tobacco has the additional taxes on it.
MGY
But the free market is a foreign concept to socialists such as Granholm. Just another way to expand the bureaucracy and put some Rats on the taxpayer dole.
Worse hillary clinton is picking this up and taking it nationalSenator Hillary Clinton slams Grand Theft Auto ("major threat" to morality)
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