Ryan LN

>BTW, the Free Speech protection under the First >Amendment only protects individuals from the Federal >Government.

Well, that's patently false. The 1st Amendment protections are clearly extended to all U.S. citizens through the 14th Amendment to prevent the restriction of speech by State and local governments unless said restrictions are narrowly tailored to meet a compelling government interest. [I do admit to paraphrasing; it's been a long time since I took con law as a first year law student.] Be that as it may, it is very safe to say that courts look at speech restrictions with what they call strict scrutiny, and all that means is that if you want to restrict speech, you better have a damn good reason.

I imagine that the reason that Denver backed off is the same reason that Boston would lose in court if challenged: they do not have a damn good reason. They have a feel-good, appealing on its face reason that might get them some press in the squibs in USA Today, but as far as meeting Constitutional muster- nothin'.

The reason why they don't get all up in arms about the Sopranos et al isn't because the Democrats have been purchased on Hollywood's collective American Express Black card; the reason is that people *like* the Sopranos. And when I say "people" I mean "people who matter". People who vote. Legislators. Parents. So-called Christian Conservatives. Our chosen avocation of video games does not have an entrenched place in mainstream society and entertainment as your traditional modes of art, theater, movies, and music. How could it? Those modes have head starts ranging from decades to millenia, while video games have been pushing the envelope for less than 20 years. I suspect that as we grow older, continue to play games, become judges, congressional representatives, senators, governors, and soccer moms who actually have some kind of remote of idea of what they're talking about; we'll see these doomed-to-fate attempts by idiots like our friend Jack wither away and die.

I had the bright idea that I could get up shortly before seven in the morning on launch day and head on over to my local Target store, say hello the the seven or so people waiting in line and waltz in and pick one up. I believed I was brilliant because I knew that this particular store had about 50 in stock, and after waiting in the rain in a tent outside of another Target for the PS3, the thought of camping in the cold *again* didn't appeal to me. Imagine my suprise when I found a line of about 80 people smirking at me as I made a quick drive-by of the store. A quick hop over to another Target, and a visit to Circuit City and Best Buy revealed the same thing. Then, I went to my ace in the hole: Sam's. Sam's is awesome, because it's membership only AND people who have business memberships get to go in an hour before the unwashed masses who have standard memberships. I can't believe I was dumb enough to forget about Sam's. There was only one person waiting in line, and I got voucher number 2 of 6. Unfortunatley, I ended up caving and giving that Wii to someone's child, figuring I could get one for myself at some time in the near future. That future hasn't come to pass yet, but I haven't given up yet. Talk to me again in '08.

Abosolutely no one should worry about this development for even a second- this is election year politics writ large, and is unlikley to result in anything other than the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars and the handwringing of idiots on both sides of the isle. I can assure you that neither Senator Lieberman nor Senator Clinton have had children who played video games with any kind of regularity. I mean, have you seen Chelsea? Does she look like she even knows how to play Tetris? As for Lieberman, what, is he like 107? His kids probably played with wicker hoops and and rode five foot tall bicycles. The other non-troubling aspect to this story is that this "bipartisan" movement is being moved on by two Democrats, and what do you think the odds of anyone in a Republican controlled Washington lighting a fire under the CDC so two Democrats can look good? About the same as me winning a gold medal in women's double luge at the next Winter Olympics.

Video games, like novels, movies, paintings, and other artforms, are protected speech that fall under the large Constitutional umbrella of the 1st Amemmendment. The day that the some idiot in Congress is able to draft legislation regulating games and their sale that passes constitutional muster is the day that I buy everyone who visits Joystiq the brand spanking new video game console of their choice. It's good to see that, in the spirit of cooperation, our government can get together and solve the REAL problems of our society, instead of foolishly squandering their time on things like high gas prices, our wonderful foreign policy, our shitty public schools & failure to educate, and the fact that the rest of the world thinks we're collectively either Satan, idiots, or Satanic Idiots. Way to go, jerks.