LIE OF THE WEEK: 06-09-2006

Senator Hillary Clinton on the "need" to study the effects of video games on children:

Clinton dismissed those who have questioned the need for such a study. "We don't know the effects," Clinton said. "Never have children been raised in such a media-saturated environment. How do we get more research, better facts and evidence?"

THE TRUTH: We are now well into the third decade of video games playing a major role in the lives of children. From the earliest arcade games showing containing explicit and violent content till now, there have been hundreds of studies done on this subject. Clearly, there are two factors at work when politicians continue to ask for studies and research: First, many "research" organizations in Washington are a source of work for many out-of-work politicians and many of the currently employed politicians like to keep their friends employed with government studies spending our taxpayer money. Second, by continuing to ask for unneeded studies, politicians can defer having to make any judgements on legislation in this area, so they get away with leaving the status quo as is, where many parents' rights organizations want new legislation controlling the sale of video games and the publishers of these video games want to keep on selling them without restrictions to maximize profits. I guess this is just evidence that neither of these lobby groups have made it worthwhile yet for the politicians to take their side, so the checks keep on rolling in until the pressure builds one way or the other. As usual, this is not about Congress doing what's right for America, but about doing what pays for the next campaign victory...