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Louisiana to Pay $92,000 After Game Law Fight
After Louisiana's unsuccessful anti-games legislation bid last year, the judge ordered the state to pay the court costs for the ESA and EMA. This week, Judge Brady ordered the state to shell out some $92,000 to the organizations in compensation for wasted time. "Within the ruling, Judge Brady also said he was "dumbfounded" that the state was in the position of having to shell out taxpayer money over this, noting that the law had to pass through legal review at every step. Given that similar statutes were declared unconstitutional in a number of jurisdictions, "the Court wonders why nobody objected to the enactment of this statute. In this court's view, the taxpayers deserve more from their elected officials.""
Government officials, whether elected or appointed, always do their utmost to pass the costs and consequences of their actions on to the people they supposedly serve, refusing to be held personally liable. And then people pretend to be surprised by the results.
Fuck Slashdot
It's the same for corporations and government. Individuals come up with 'brilliant' ideas that cause harm to the general public, but there is no true responsibility. Assign a portion of the damages to people responsible for approval process. Leaders should be held to a higher standard than Joe public.
Fortunately, 'ranting' and 'decrying' does not carry financial penalties. If you want to protect freedom of speech, you have to protect for even the most slimy characters, such as Jack Thompson, or pornographers.
Mine is Good
The problem is, the people who were actually elected bear the responsibillity for what it is they actually do.
Yes, Jack Thompson is an idiot (er, sorry, in my personal opinion he behaves in the manner of an idiot
How the state legislators failed to recognize court decisions (as pointed out by the judge in this case) that had gone the opposite way of their legislation is more staggering. It's like hoping that gravity won't work this time and you'll finally be able to fly. Passing a law you know will be shot down in the court so you can be perceived to be doing something is, well, stupid.
Make the process if being lobbied *much* more transparent/regulated, but let the individual legislators realize that they are the ones on the hook for the bills they put forth.
I bet if every law had to carry a listing of all lobbyists who spoke on behalf of the bill, their position on the matter, and whatever else makes sense, the fact that this stuff was suddenly out in the open might curtail some of the more back-room aspects to lobbying in the first place. Apply penalties for omitting anything, or failing to point out that you got campaign financing in return for your position, etc.
The problem, is the lawmakers get to do this in a rather non-obvious way. Hell, apply Sarbanes-Oxeley to legislators, and you might have something. =)
Cheers
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
Because that's punishing someone for having an (admittedly stupid) opinion.
In my opinion, cheese would make an awesome structural material, if my stupid opinion gets someone killed, I should be liable. If my opinion gets someone fined $90k, then I should be liable.
This isn't about hypocrisy, it's about responsibility. Jack Thompson, as a part author of that law, should be partly responsible for that law.
If you want to talk about it in terms of free speech, I have every right to stand in a theater and shout fire. In fact, short of cutting my tongue out, there is no way the government or anyone else can prevent me from doing so should I be so inclined. But should I do so, I would be responsible and liable for whatever happens next.
Congress' job is to pass laws that are requested by the constituents. But they need the freedom to tinker, to think of alternatives that might fix or address an odd situation. But the executive's job is to defend the constitution, and that includes attacks from within -- the U-SAP-AT-RIOT act, Louisiana's game law, etc. The CEO should be putting his or her own ass on the line every time they sign a bill into law. They should be damned afraid to sign virtually every piece of legislation they see, which is how government should work -- be in fear of its populace, not the other way around.
John