October 22, 2006
Game-bashing attorney Jack Thompson claims to throwing his hat into the political ring.In a lengthy press release issued on Thursday, the controversial attorney says that he plans to run for a judgeship on the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami. If that court sounds familiar to GamePolitics readers, it's because the Bully court case has been playing out there in recent weeks before Judge Ronald Friedman.
In fact, it's Friedman's seat which Thompson hopes to claim in the 2008 election. Thompson has been harshly critical of Judge Friedman in the wake of the jurist's decision not to block the release of Bully. Thompson had sought to have the game declared a "public nuisance."
Circuit court judges in Florida are elected for six-year terms. The outspoken attorney says he is announcing his candidacy early in order to raise sufficient campaign money.
However, a source familiar with the Miami judiciary speculated that Thompson's announced candidacy could also be a tactic designed to force Judge Friedman to recuse himself from the Bully case, for which additional motions are pending - including, apparently, one filed by opposing counsel which seeks to hold Thompson in contempt.
Will we be calling Jack Thompson "Your Honor?"
Only time will tell.
Comments
But "If you can't beat em, join em"....
Though I see this as a cry baby attempt that he can't get his way so he'll try to become the person with power to try to get his way...if he became a judge we might as well turn the first admendment into toilet paper....
The question is. I'm actually worried. I'm not knowledgable as most of you on courts and stuff...but is this even possable?
Jack Thompson as judge? Hmm, not likely. Unless it was on FOX. Oh yes, it could come right after The Peoples Court, right? Enter, Judge Thompson's courtroom! Where the cases are real, the litigants are real, and the rulings are subjective!
Can he bring cases to court himself anymore?
I don't see this working out for him because there is ALOT more too it when being a judge.....seeing as how Take-Two and Rock start seem to be his obcession and his "life"....he won't last long or win because he'll have to worry about a crap load of other cases and issues....though he might try to bring video games into a non-video game related issue...then again Judges can't do that.....can they? They can't bring stuff to court themselfs...
Other another point was made that REALLY annoyed me...
Is he doing this to get out of the hot seat?...Being in comtempt and running for judge to get out of that?....Man that just annoys me....what an excuse....he'll have to follow up on this now...if he just happens to drop out a few months later...can he...can he even still get held for comtempt or anything?
I don't think we've got much to worry about.
(or she wants, if that's the case, we're equal opportunity here)
I say vote for Thompson to watch him fall flat on his face, it would at least get him out of our hair for sometime.
So when can we expect a lawsuit after he's lost this battle? Can you imagine if he loses to a woman? He's going to be calling her a closet lesbian and handing her little surveys. How professional, eh?
Let me explain. In order to run, he would automaticly put himself at the mercy of the florida bar. It would be a cinch at that point for the Game industry to get him disbarred, as just the fact that he's attempting an end run around the legal system would put him in violation of no less then a dozen codes of conduct, both in florida and nation wide.
Whats more, if he ever did get elected, the industry would be able to bury him in controversy in no time. Lets face it, theres so much evidance against him, it'd be over in no time flat. He'd never get the chance to hear one case.
Lastly, if the contempt of court thing goes through, Jacks royally boned. Thats why he's pulling this stunt. he's terrified that the industry is now actually fighting back.
I told you once, I told you twice, if the industry was smart, he'd be in court till the end of his days with all the lawsuits they could slap on him.
Let's expand that list hmn? Videogames, Music, Politicians, school shootings, common sense, etc etc.
And then discovered that they were in fact just warming the bench in the courtroom.
Jack Thompson had his time, now we have a new wave of 'angry moms' and 'concerned citizens'. It's the way this stuff has been going on for ages, some groups are succesful and eventually survive to appear on many current affairs programs...
Others... well they grow old, tired, and become like some kind of amusing side show, like watching ants chew through a discraded biscuit.
I really hope Mr. Thompson finds a new gimmick before this garbage destroys his carreer entirely.
Your mistake here is conflating -making- law with -interpreting- law. The people who -make- the law (the legislators) are supposed to serve the will of the people. The people who -interpret- the law (the judiciary and the police) serve -the law-,first instead of the people in order to maintain impartiality and objectivity. To put it another way, they serve the public only indirectly: by impartially and objectively interpreting (judges) and enforcing (police) the law . Turn judges into politicians and you've dangerously undermined their impartiality.
Personally, I think he has less chance of becoming a judge than a Green Party candidate has of becoming President, but Jack either knows this, and is just going for publicity, or really is that deluded.
Going back to bed. Call me when the world resets itself back to some semblance of normality.
Our favorite punching bag has more-or-less no plan. He's just lashing out with little thought to whats going to happen next.
or thats how it seems
If JBT keeps this up, I solemnly swear I will bring him down in the most publicly humiliating way possible. I will destroy his career and any shred of respect he has left with the public. I will do so by presenting the facts, and nothing more, including his courtroom antics, his response to Flowers for Jack, and the idiocy he perpetrated with Janet Reno quite a while back.
Do you hear me JBT? You have no chance in hell of winning. I've alread started production of the first commercial - it's a black background, silent commercial with shreds of paper floating past, close to the camera, detailing just how immature and depraved you really are. The end, when it is finished, will say "Is this really the kind of person you want deciding law?" Every fact will be presented with proper context, every quote will have a footnote detailing where it came from. I will let the truth speak for itself, so you can't even sue me for libel. I short, your public reputation will be utterly destroyed. Continue at your own peril - you've already destroyed any chance you ever had at a political career, I'm just the tool that will use your own words like a hammer, driving the final nail in the coffin.
The catches with it, of where there are two I can think of: one, it helps if you're motivated by an actual desire to be useful and not some personal issue. If JBT thought poorly of the judge and thinks he can do better, and wants to do better to serve the community - good on him for being a good citizen. But that's a dubious claim in light of all this talk of judicial manuevering and loopholes. Second is a question of capability - would you actually be a better man for the job than the current guy? I might be giving myself too much credit thinking I'd be a good professor; JBT might likewise give himself too much credit. Hard to really say if you don't have much related experience, and JBT's previous interactions with the law are enough to raise some serious questions.
Remember that it's not -just- the Supreme Court that's appointed. So are all the Federal District Court Judges (again, with Senate approval required, continuing the checks and balances). Plus Supreme Court justices can review and (if necessary) remove judges from any lower court, meaning that the ones from previous administrations can also act as a check, although that's very rare and would require a rather egregious violation of Judicial ethics.
As for JT's chances, I think the idea that this is a legal tactic to slip out of the contempt charge is far more likely than the idea that he actually wants to be a local Judge. As a local judge JT would be under even closer scrutiny by the Florida Bar (a group we already know he has a rather mixed relationship with) and his actions would be constrained by the requirements of his office. It would effectively end his days as advisor to anti-game legislators and television talk show guest, and I find it hard to believe that he's ready to give that up yet.
This links to a cartoon myself and my friend are producing. We're currently developing an episode with the sole purpose of scouring the Earth of Jack Thompson (and Hillary Clinton and other anti-game people who don't actually play games). It'll actually probably end up being at least two episodes (they're going to run about five minutes each), but we'll get to see why JT really hates games, why he hates R* in particular so much, who he really works for, and much, much more.
It'll probably be at least a month until the first JT episode is completed, but trust me, it's going to be brutal. We'll probably be sued by JT himself. :P
http://www.dearinternet.co.uk/uploads/ssjjt.gif
Trust me... The right (in general) doesn't like Jackie any more than anyone else does...
If anything, the more Liberal of society (the ACLU et al) are more his style...
Regardless, he's a toad. He's persistant, I'll give him that, but remember the old saying: "Winners never quit, and quitters never win... But those who never quit and never win are idiots..."