Quality Entertainment: Video Games and Beyond

June 28, 2011 Posted by zachary

If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. (Articles of Faith: 13)

I find the circumstances around two separate events between the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Supreme Court of the United States to be so compelling, it requires some comments from me on this blog.

The first event I want to emphasize is the ruling from the Supreme Court on the issue of violent video games. In this ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that video games of all types, not just violent ones, are protected by the first Amendment. They ruled that a law that would restrict the sales of violent video games was an unconstitutional violation of our rights to free speech.

I liked this ruling as it exercises a very libertarian view of the First Amendment in that the protection of that part of the Constitution is absolute. You can read more of my thoughts on this ruling on my personal blog.

The other event that I find interesting is an article in the New Era, a monthly publication from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints aimed toward the youth in the world. This article poses the question “Is the Church against all video games or just the violent ones?” Now this question may have been posed because of recent events, as this edition of the New Era was written with full knowledge of the coming ruling from the Supreme Court. Aside from that, the actual answer is pretty good advice. I want to emphasize a few points. (more…)

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Categories: Personal Liberty

First Amendment Wins in Brown v. EMA

June 28, 2011 Posted by zachary

Seal of the Supreme court of the United StatesYesterday, the Supreme Court of the United States finally passed their ruling on the video game case, Brown vs. EMA. This ruling was a long time coming, clocking at 7 months. What came as no surprise was that the ruling was in favor of the video game industry on the grounds that the California restrictions on the sale of violent video games to minors was a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech.

I am glad that this ruling came out this way. I am also glad that they ruled the California law was a violation of free speech rather than ruling against it on grounds of “vagueness.” The ruling ended up being 7 against the law and 2 for it. The ruling itself comes in 4 parts. The first part is the majority opinion. This is the actual ruling and what has become the law of the land. This was written by Justice Scalia and was joined by 4 other justices. The second part is a concurring opinion written by Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts in which they agree that the law should be struck down, but on a different reason than the majority. While the majority ruled the law unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds, Alito and Roberts feel the law is justifiable but needed to be struck down on vagueness grounds.

The third and fourth parts are dissenting opinions from Justices Thomas and Breyer, respectively. I will be focusing on the concurring and dissenting opinions in another post.

I want to focus on some of the key points I liked in the majority opinion. (more…)

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Categories: Current Events, Politics and Law

The New Pyramid is Pie. Mmmm. Pie.

June 25, 2011 Posted by zachary

My Plate replacement for the Food PyramidWell, it isn’t supposed to look like pie, but that is the first thing I think of when I look at this. My wife says this reminds her of pizza.

Its actually supposed to be a plate showing just how much of each food group you should be having each meal.

I honestly don’t know what the US Department of Agriculture’s obsession is with telling us what a healthy diet is supposed to be. They have been at this for many years and I know very few people who are actually following it to the letter.

In fact I know of a large number of groups of people who choose not to eat this way or cannot eat this way. So why is the government telling all these people they need to eat the same way? (more…)

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Categories: Politics and Law

When is War Justified?

June 25, 2011 Posted by zachary

And again, this is the law that I gave unto mine ancients, that they should not go out unto battle against any nation, kindred, tongue, or people, save I, the Lord, commanded them,

And if any nation tongue, or people should proclaim war against them, they should first lift a standard of peace unto that people, nation, or tongue;

And if that people did not accept the offering of peace, neither the second not the third time, they should bring these testimonies before the Lord.

Then I, the Lord, would give unto them a commandment, and justify them in going out to battle against that nation, tongue or people.(Doctrine and Covenants 98: 34-36)

War has been on the minds of many people lately. We are reaching our 10th year of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and have entered a new war in Libya. The people of this nation, for the most part, are weary of war and want this era to come to a close.

It can be argued that we were justified in going to war in Iraq and Afghanistan because of the actions of terrorists on September 11, 2001. We entered these wars as retribution toward that terrorist organization.

This past month, we have seen what can be called a victory in that we have taken out the al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. Yet we remain in both Iraq and Afghanistan. If World War 2 is any indicator of what we are to expect, we will have troops stationed there for many decades to come. (more…)

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Categories: Defending Liberty

Sega Has Been Hacked; Shows Up Sony

June 17, 2011 Posted by zachary

Sega LogoToday, I looked at my email and found an email from Sega with the subject line, “Important information regarding your SEGA Pass account”

So I took a look. It turns out that Sega’s servers were hacked and personal information has been compromised. This has been happening a lot recently. It started with Sony and has moved quickly to other game companies. There isn’t really a pattern to the companies other than the majority of them are game related.

I don’t really feel like going into any of the details or potential motives or suspects. What I want to get at is that Sega is emailing me 1 day after they took their services offline. Sony took 3 weeks. In fact, Sony was telling the press that they contacted all their PSN customers about the breach within the first week, but it wasn’t until 3 weeks after the first reports that I got my notification email.

So what’s the deal? Why did it take Sony 3 weeks and Sega only 1 day? Was it the shear number of users effected? Maybe, but I don’t think it should take 3 weeks for all people to get a notification email, especially when Sony is saying otherwise. (more…)

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Categories: Game Chat, Technology

Immigration: The Church Speaks

June 13, 2011 Posted by zachary

This past Friday, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints released a statement on immigration law. They clarify the position they took recently in Utah and made it more general for application in other states and federally.

I want to look at a few key points and expound upon them.

As a matter of policy, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints discourages its members from entering any country without legal documentation, and from deliberately overstaying legal travel visas.

As members of the church, we are bound to obey the laws of the land as outlined in the Twelfth Article of Faith. However, we still hold the right to change laws we consider unjust or over broad. Often, this requires people to deliberately disobey them. I would think that in the case of immigration law, there is some room for civil disobedience. (more…)

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Categories: Economic Liberty, Personal Liberty

Senator Inhofe, You are an Idiot

June 2, 2011 Posted by zachary

Back at the end of May, I sent a letter to my Senators and Congressman about the PATRIOT Act. I had asked them to vote against it as it violates the citizens Constitutional rights to privacy and due process. In response to this letter, Senator Inhofe sent me a pre-written form letter meant to “address” my concerns about the bill. Shortly after sending that letter, the US House and Senate passed the PATRIOT Act renewal by large margins and the President signed the extension into law. In response to that event, I wrote again to my Senators and Congressman explaining because they voted for the renewal, I was going to vote against them and actively oppose them in coming elections.

Unfortunately, it looks like Senator Inhofe is incapable of reading. He completely blew off the meat of my letter and instead decided to focus on a key word search of the PATRIOT Act and resent the exact same form letter with the following paragraphs tacked on the end to address recent events involving Senator Rand Paul and his proposed amendments: (more…)

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Categories: Current Events, Politics and Law

Prohibition and a Word of Wisdom

June 1, 2011 Posted by zachary

A Word of Wisdom, for the benefit of the council of high priests, assembled in Kirtland, and the church, and also the saints in Zion—

To be sent greeting; not by commandment or constraint, but by revelation and the word of wisdom, showing forth the order and will of God in the temporal salvation of all saints in the last days—

Given for a principle with promise, adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints, who are or can be called saints. (Doctrine and Covenants 89:1-3)

In the early days of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Prophet Joseph Smith was led to inquire of God on the use of tobacco and alcohol by members of the church. This inquiry led to the revelation Latter-day Saints call the “Word of Wisdom.”

This revelation has 3 key parts: A proscription on the use of strong drinks, wine, tobacco and “hot drinks” (later decreed by the leaders of the church to refer to coffee and tea); A listing of food fit for the use of man and beast; And a promise to those who follow this word of wisdom.

At the time of this revelation, it was given as strong suggestion rather than a commandment. It wasn’t until much later during the time Brigham Young was prophet that the leaders of the church were inspired to make the proscription portion a requirement for temple access.

As Latter-day Saints we have a duty to live by this Word of Wisdom. However, we do not have a right to force others to do the same. (more…)

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Categories: Personal Liberty

PATRIOT Act Renewal Means We Need to Vote the Bums Out

May 31, 2011 Posted by zachary

Thursday, May 26, 2011, the US Senate and US House of Representatives passed by a large margin the renewal of the PATRIOT Act. Both of Oklahoma’s Senators and All of Oklahoma’s Congressmen, with the exception of Sullivan, voted to renew it with no debate and no amendments. Sullivan did not vote so his inaction is just as bad if not worse than those who voted for it.

The PATRIOT Act is the worst violation of the people of the United States’ rights to be secure in their persons and be given due process. The renewal of the PATRIOT Act continues the ability of the US to violate the rights of the people by searching and monitoring the communication and purchase history of guns and other objects of interest without any court oversight.

Local law enforcement is required to get a warrant before performing any kind of search or wiretap even in cases of clear evidence of wrong doing. But the US government has granted themselves the power to bypass the courts when all they have is a hunch or a gut feeling.

When will the people of this nation stand up for their rights? When will the people of this nation realize that the specter of terrorism is nothing more than that, a specter? When will we vote in people who understand the Constitution this nation was founded on? I tried last election and will again this next election. (more…)

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Categories: Politics and Law

Coburn Fails to Understand Technology

May 26, 2011 Posted by zachary

Senator Coburn today voted to move the PROTECT IP act out of committee and into a floor vote. This move shows just how little he understand technology and his unwillingness to listen to those who do. He shows that all he cares about is listening to and propping up failing industries rather than letting innovation thrive in the US.

The following is the letter I wrote to him in response to this vote:

I wrote to you just the other day about the PROTECT IP bill and the current state of copyright in general.

Today I learn that once again the Senate, and you sepcifically, have voted to move forward with PROTECT IP (formally known as COICA).

This legislation is a horrible mess. The powers it grants the government and private interests is enough to destroy the stability of the internet and move the US to China like censorship.

I am disappointed that you did not listen to those from the technology industry who voiced their concerns about this bill and instead listened to those in an industry whose only goal with legislation like this is to prop up failing business models.

It was my impression that Republicans were not in favor of propping up failing businesses as shown by many Republicans displeasure about the TARP bailouts and other government bailouts of failing industries.

I would hope that you would change your mind and look at the issues and details more closely before making your final vote on this bill. I hope that as you actually look at it and listen to both sides to the debate equally, that you will see just how damaging this will be to information technology and free speech in the US. I hope that your final vote will reflect that and you will vote NO.

With this move and your recent vote on the PATRIOT ACT, I am looking less and less likely to vote for you when you are next up for election.

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