] The Thames Valley District school board is asking the
] province to consider a surtax on violent media, with
] revenue directed toward anti-violence programs in schools
] and communities.
]
] He said the surtax could be applied to anything from
] admission to NHL games to price tags for video games.
]
] But Jaffe stressed the surtax shouldn't be "hidden."
]
] He said an explanatory note should accompany the purchase
] of violent media, detailing the reasons for the extra
] expense.
]
] "At the cash register, parents and adolescents would
] certainly see the difference."
]
] "It's one fresh idea in terms of raising new revenue,
] which I think the vast majority of the public would
] accept."

The stamp act. Over 200 years and they still don't get it.

London Free Press: News Section - Board pushes surtax for violent media

] Perhaps people complaining about shooting JFK in a video
] game should concentrate more on "tasteless" violence in
] the real world. For example prisoner abuses in Iraq, the
] mass murder being committed in Sudan...
] anonymous, London
]
]
] Let's have a game where we go on the hunt for Saddam!
] Gail , Surrey, UK

The outrage is political of course. A game where you represent a CIA assassin killing someone politically opposed in the west would hardly garner a comment, even if the "victim" was still alive.

BBC NEWS | Have Your Say | JFK computer game: Your views

] He compares the state of affairs to the tobacco
] controversy about 20 years ago, when some experts were
] still arguing there was no direct link between cigarettes
] and cancer.
]
] Jaffe knows that despite the piles of research he has
] gathered, and despite the conclusions of such respected
] groups as the American Psychological Association and the
] American Association of Pediatricians, there are many
] people who deny the negative effects of media violence.
]
] He also knows that just as every person who smokes won't
] get lung cancer, not every kid who plays violent video
] games will turn into a killer.

!@#$!@#!~@#!@$#!@$#!$@#$@!#$

Smokers don't get to make a concious decision to get lung cancer! You get to CHOOSE not to kill somebody. If you choose wrong, its YOUR RESPONSIBILITY!!!! If children aren't getting the right messages, the answer is to communicate the right messages in a constructive way, rather then to censor the media and patronize kids with hypocritical rightousness they can see right through.

London Free Press: News Section - A pitch for presents of peace

] Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites), D-Conn., credited the
] industry for creating many good games but said the small
] percentage of games with extremely violent or
] pornographic content is "worse than ever."
]
] "The fact that the assassination of President Kennedy,
] which broke our hearts and altered our history, could
] become the subject of a video game from which people are
] making money is just outrageous, it is despicable, it's
] unbelievable," Lieberman said.

Fuck you Lieberman! This is the democratic party at its lowest. The assassination of JFK is the subject of many books, several movies, and several documentaries, but the minute someone makes a video game out of it protest breaks out. Stupid. The only reason you think its outrageous is because you don't understand computers!!!!!

Yahoo! News - Group Cites Video Games for Violence, Sex

] We are becoming a society that accepts the unacceptable,
] that looks the other way when our neighbors are in need
] or if a wrong is being committed. We continue to watch
] the videotape of professional basketball players jumping
] into the seats to attack unruly fans. We allow our
] children to play games that depict graphic violence. And
] all we do is say, "Tsk, tsk." We should do more.

The "you can't think that because I don't understand it" brigade arrives, right on que after the release of the JFK game. They want to "do something." I wish they'd jump off a cliff.

The Reporter - Keith Michaud

J is for JAPANESE The Japanese government, with the help of bad people in America, want to take away your right to own and enjoy guns. They tell people that America should be more like Japan, where the people can’t own guns. They don’t tell people that in Japan, people can be held in prison without food or water until they confess to crimes they didn’t commit.

(BoingBoing points out that Brasco doesn't seem to wear pants.)

Brasco the Jewish Militant Coloring Book

] The Next Four Years - borrowed time

And now to throw some gasoline on the economic bonfire, Princeton economist Paul Krugman...

The Next Four Years - borrowed time

] The most common charge levied against critics of the
] Patriot Act -- one that Alberto Gonzales, the new face of
] Justice, is likely to repeat in his days ahead -- is that
] they're "misinformed." Well, as a former U.S. attorney
] appointed by President Reagan, a former CIA lawyer and
] analyst, and a former Congressman who sat on the
] Judiciary Committee, I can go mano a mano with any
] law-enforcement or intelligence official on the facts.
] And the facts say that the Patriot Act needs to be
] reviewed and refined by Congress.

The most reasonable position on the Patriot act that I have ever read.

www.bobbarr.org: Patriot Act fixes

] Stephen Roach, the chief economist at investment banking
] giant Morgan Stanley, has a public reputation for being
] bearish.
]
] But you should hear what he's saying in private.
]
] Roach met select groups of fund managers downtown
] last week, including a group at Fidelity.
]
] His prediction: America has no better than a 10
] percent chance of avoiding economic ``armageddon.''
]
] Press were not allowed into the meetings. But the
] Herald has obtained a copy of Roach's presentation. A
] stunned source who was at one meeting said, ``it struck
] me how extreme he was - much more, it seemed to me, than
] in public.''

BostonHerald.com - Business: Economic `Armageddon' predicted

You're probably getting a ton of email right now. You may not even see this in the fray. I'm posting it to my weblog (below) because it is as much an open commentary as it is a comment for you.

You did the right thing.

There are a lot of people in this country right now who are scared and angry, because of 9/11. Their fear and their anger makes them weak. They don't want to see things like this because they can't take criticism. They aren't strong enough. They want to be right, and they want the enemy to be wrong, and they want to destroy the enemy and gloss over the details. It feels good to be right.

But wars are won in the mind long before they are won in on the battlefield, and if we become the kind of society that won't acknowledge its humanity, who won't think critically... who either shovels overzealousness under the rug or worse, encourages it, then we will become what the radicals who oppose us believe that we are. Thats when they win.

We have to show the Arab word that we are an honest, fair society that mostly wants their region to be peaceful, free, and successful. We can't convince them of this by saying it. In fact, many of us aren't convinced of this even though we say it all the time. We have to convince them of this by showing it... by actually being what we claim to be. That means showing that we are strong enough to take criticism. That means we acknowledge that open, honest dialog helps us make smarter decisions rather then "weakening our resolve."

We have to be willing to acknowledge things like this and investigate them fairly and deliberatively, and handle them appropriately depending on the facts. We have to be willing to seek out our flaws and deal with them, rather then denying them while they fester. We have to be confident enough in the honesty of our intentions that we know it will shine through enemy propaganda. And ultimately we have to make sure that the people watching us do this understand it, and understand the difference between this and the alternative. Otherwise, we've already lost.

Thank you for risking your life to bring us information from these places.