Coral Gables, Florida 33146

April 23, 2008

The Honorable Carlos Alvarez
Mayor of Miami-Dade County
111 NW 1st Street, 29th Floor
Miami, Florida 33128 mayor@miamidade.gov and fax to 305-375-3618

Re: Advertisements for Pornographic Cop-Killing Video Game on County Bus Stops

Dear Mayor Alvarez:

I was shocked today to see a six-foot-high advertisement for Grand Theft Auto IV, a hyperviolent video game to be released on April 29, on the side of a Metro Miami-Dade bus stop located in the right-of-way on Red Road (SW 57 Avenue) just south of Coral Way near Children's Hospital. In fact, the advertisement was adjacent to a kids' park. I have now sent you photos of the giant poster ad and the surrounding environs by e-mail.

In case you do not know, the Grand Theft Auto games have been obsessively played by a number of teens who have then copycatted the outrageous, sociopathic violence in the games and killed innocent people. I was on 60 Minutes three years ago about just such an incident in which a teen killed three policemen in Alabama after playing the game. Ed Bradley showed conclusively that the game caused the killings.

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the killing field was Miami, and shouts in the game to "Kill all the Cubans" and "Kill the dirty Haitians" was a source of great amusement to Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., of New York that makes the GTA games. The Chairman of Take-Two, Strauss Zelnick, got his start in show business making pornographic gagsta rap albums, so this latest venture of selling porn and violence to kids is in keeping with the arc of his sordid career.

In this game that will be released next Tuesday, one of the primary thrills is killing police officers. Reviews of the video game, such as the one on-line at mtv.com, explain that in GTA IV the graphics are so advanced that you can actually now "see the pain in the face of the cops as you kill them." How nice, how creative. Also, the aiming of weapons has advanced so that in this version of GTA you can blow away specific body parts. There is news that this involves shooting your opponent's genitalia and placing guns in rectums.

You will note in the photos that I have sent you that the ESRB descriptor on GTA IV indicates this game contains "Strong Sexual Content." The sale of this game to any minor will constitute a criminal act violative of FS 847.012, Florida's "Sexual Material Harmful to Minors Law," and yet here is an ad for this pornographic, cop-killing game on County property right next to a kids park.

The video game industry has promised in writing not to put ads for Mature-rated games like this in venues where kids are likely to see them, so we see that this promise by the industry means absolutely nothing.

Because of similar scofflaw activity by Take-Two exposed by Fox News in Chicago, the City of Chicago just this week has pulled all GTA IV ads off all Chicago buses because of the gang violence that is afflicting Chicago and the clear link between murder simulators like this and teen violence. Indeed, a recent issue of Time magazine pointed out that "cop killings" are on the rise because teens and others are training to kill police on these games. They are nothing more than cop-killing murder simlators.

Mayor Alvarez, I encourage you to get all of these GTA IV ads off all county bus stops and any other county property immediately. Please feel free to contact me at your earliest convenience, as I am fully familiar with the illegal activities of Take-Two. The federal government caught them placing hidden sex scenes in another GTA game sold to kids. I worked with Senator Hillary Clinton to expose that scandal.

I am copying various local, state, and national police organizations with this letter because this game is targeting all of their rank-and-file members for death. Ads for this game are all over the country in venues which the industry promised they would not appear. This scofflaw activity must stop. Let's make it stop here now.

Regards, Jack Thompson

April 17, 2008

The Honorable Charlie Crist
Governor, State of Florida
Tallahassee, Florida Via Fax

Re: Statewide Criminal Sale of Sexual Material Harmful to Minors

Dear Governor Crist:

On April 29, video game retailers will begin selling around the country, and in Florida, the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. Previous versions of this game are basically "cop-killing simulators." I have appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes because of my representation of the families of three Alabama police officers killed by a teen who literally trained to kill them on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

It appears that this latest version, GTA IV, contains "sexual material harmful to minors," as defined by Florida Statute 847.012, and it appears sale of it to anyone under 18 will thus be a felony criminal act. As you may know, major retailers often violate their own age-ID policies by selling "Mature-rated" games to kids under 17, roughly half the time. But even if the retailers were to adhere to this policy, a game sold to someone 17, if it contains "sexual material harmful to minors," would constitute a criminal act, given the hiatus between the "17 and over" industry rating and the more stringent "18 and over" standard pertaining to sexual material. Game makers and retailers foolishly ignore the various states' and the federal government's laws that define a minor as someone 18, and that someone under that age cannot be sold this sexual material.

Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and other major retailers in Florida routinely ignore the video game industry's "17 and over" policy and sell "Mature" games to anyone of any age, even kids in their early teens. Repeated studies by the Federal Trade Commission have found this. Thus, you can be sure that many, many copies of GTA IV, marked "Strong Sexual Content" like earlier versions of this "cop-killing game" will be sold to kids of all ages throughout Florida starting April 29.

This particular game, GTA IV, has been edited for sale in Australia, and here is a news story suggesting some of the level of sexual content that is in the unedited American version that was taken out of the Australian version:
"In regards to what Rockstar has removed for the Australian release, as far as we're aware there was only one sexually violent cut-scene which Rockstar felt would cause the game to be Refused Classification [in Australia].
Unfortunately we're not able to go into specifics until after the game has been released but I can tell you that the scene involves a weapon being inserted into an enemies private area during a mission where Niko is taking revenge after one of his close friends was forced into sexual intercourse during his stay in prison."
In other words, it appears that the above-described scene may be in the unedited American version, along with other sexual content, of course, likely inappropriate for minors. Indeeed, here is the Entertainment Software Rating Board "descriptor" that is on the GTA IV game to be sold on April 29:

"Intense Violence, Blood, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content,
Partial Nudity, Use of Drugs and Alcohol."

Previously, Rockstar Games, the maker of the GTA games, has put incredible amounts of sexual material in their earlier versions of the game, and in fact they placed a very graphic, sexually explicit mini-game in the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game which forced the worldwide recall of the game when the hidden content was discovered. I am a Republican, but I worked with Senator Clinton in effectuating that recall in July 2005. Rockstar lied to the public in that scandalous episode known as "Hot Coffee."

I would strongly urge you, today, to ask the Statewide Prosecutor, because of the distribution of this sexually-laced game to minors throughout the state, in every county of this state, to commence an investigation of this practice, which I believe will clearly be criminal in nature.

Secondly, I urge you now to issue a warning to all parents that this game is on the way on April 19, and I strongly urge you as well to warn all video game retailers in Florida that the State is not going to sit idly by if this "sexual material harmful to minors" is sold throughout the state in violation of FS 847.012.

I am more than happy to assist you in this regard, as the sale of this game to minors poses a significant public health and safety problem, as it truly is a murder simulator that has resulted in the deaths of law enforcement officers and other acts of criminal violence.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Copies: Media

April 21, 2008

Mrs. Zelnick
Strauss Zelnick, Take-Two Chairman's Mother
New York, New York Via e-mails to intermediaries

Re: Your Son, Strauss Zelnick

Dear Mrs. Zelnick:

Your son, as you may know (or maybe you don't know), is Chairman of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc., whose most popular video games are the Grand Theft Auto murder simulator games banned in some countries but sold to children here.

Your son last week was reported to have said the following about Grand Theft Auto IV, due to be released Tuesday, April 29:
"We've already received numerous [GTA IV] reviews, and to a one, they are perfect scores. My mom couldn't write better reviews…"
Taking your son's thought, I would encourage you either to play this game or have an adroit video gamer play it for you. Some of the latter gamers are on death row, so try to find one out in the civilian population who hasn't killed someone yet.
What you will see in your son's game, if this iteration of GTA is anything like its predecessors, is incredible interactive violence aimed at police officers (whom you can shoot in the head and see the blood spray), innocent bystanders (whom you can run over with your car just for the heck of it), and of course the plentiful female prostitutes you can have sex with and then filet with a knife or stomp with your feet in order to get your money back. Experts note that the recent plethora of cop killings is caused in part by your darling son's entrepreneurial energy. There are three policemen dead in Alabama because of Grand Theft Auto. I was on 60 Minutes about it. I hope Strauss has provided you with a flat screen tv to see the grief of the bereaved families that fills the screen.
The pornography and violence that your son trafficks in is the kind of stuff that most mothers would be ashamed to see their son putting into the hands of other mothers' children, but, hey, your son Strauss has recently assured the world that he is "a Boy Scout, everybody knows that." I'd love to see the merit badges that Scout Troop handed out. Is there a Ted Bundy merit badge? If so, your loving son deserves one now. It should be red and green, for obvious reasons.
With Passover having just come and gone, it is appropriate to note the following from the Old Testament, Proverbs 22:6:
"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Mrs. Zelnick, did you train up your son, Strauss, to make millions of dollars by pushing Mature-rated video games to children? Any kid can go right to little Strauss' corporate web site and buy GTA IV with no age verification. Strauss is even marketing the new Grand Theft Auto IV on World Wrestling Entertainment tv shows seen by millions of kids. If you trained up Strauss to do this, then shame on you.
But maybe the explanation for your son's corporate sociopathy is to be found in Old Testament Proverb 29:15:
"The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame."
Maybe you, Mrs. Zelnick, were so taken by your handsome son that you spared the rod and spoiled the child. That would explain why he has brought you, by the way he presently acts, "to shame."
There's another mother you would do well to talk to. Mrs. Crump in Alabama had a son who was a police officer. He's now dead because a teenaged boy unwittingly trained himself to kill him on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. She has a grief she carries every day that only a mother can know.There are other such mothers in the heartland of America whose inhabitants your son simply sees as commercial targets.
Your son, this very moment, is doing everything he possibly can to sell as many copies of GTA IV to teen boys in the United States, a country in which your son claims you raised him to be "a Boy Scout." More like the Hitler Youth, I would say.
Happy Mother's day, Mrs. Zelnick, which this year is May 11, two weeks after your son unleashes porn and violence upon other mothers' boys. I'm sure you're very proud.
Sincerely, Jack Thompson
Copies: Media

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
5721 Riviera Drive
Coral Gables, Florida 33146

April 16, 2008

Sheriff Kevin Beary
Orange County Sheriff's Department
2500 W. Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32804

Re: Sale of Sexual Material Harmful to Minors in Orange County, Florida

Dear Sheriff Beary:

On April 29, video game retailers will begin selling around the country, and in Orange County, Florida, the video game Grand Theft Auto IV. Previous versions of this game are basically "cop-killing simulators." I have appeared on CBS' 60 Minutes because of my representation of the families of three Alabama police officers killed by a teen who literally trained to kill them on Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

It appears that this latest version, GTA IV, contains "sexual material harmful to minors," as defined by Florida Statute 847.012, and it appears sale of it to anyone under 18 will thus be a felony criminal act. As you may know, major retailers often violate their own age-ID policies by selling "Mature-rated" games to kids under 17, roughly half the time. But even if the retailers were to adhere to this policy, a game sold to someone 17, if it contains "sexual material harmful to minors," would constitute a criminal act, given the hiatus between the "17 and over" industry rating and the more stringent "18 and over" standard pertaining to sexual material. Game makers and retailers foolishly ignore the various states' and the federal government's laws that define a minor as someone 18, and that someone under that age cannot be sold this sexual material.

Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and other major retailers in your area routinely ignore the video game industry's "17 and over" policy and sell "Mature" games to anyone of any age, even kids in their early teens. Repeated studies by the Federal Trade Commission have found this. Thus, you can be sure that many, many copies of GTA IV, marked "strong sexual content" like earlier versions of this "cop-killing game" will be sold to kids of all ages in Orange County starting April 29.

This particular game, GTA IV, has been edited for sale in Australia, and here is a news story suggesting some of the level of sexual content that is in the unedited American version that was taken out of the Australian version:
"In regards to what Rockstar has removed for the Australian release, as far as we're aware there was only one sexually violent cut-scene which Rockstar felt would cause the game to be Refused Classification [in Australia].
Unfortunately we're not able to go into specifics until after the game has been released but I can tell you that the scene involves a weapon being inserted into an enemies private area during a mission where Niko is taking revenge after one of his close friends was forced into sexual intercourse during his stay in prison."
In other words, it appears that the above-described scene may be in the unedited American version, along with other sexual content, of course, likely inappropriate for minors.

What we do know is that Rockstar Games, the maker of the GTA games, has put incredible amounts of sexual material in their earlier versions of the game, and in fact they placed a very graphic, sexually explicit mini-game in the Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas game which forced the worldwide recall of the game when the hidden content was discovered. I am a Republican, but I worked with Senator Clinton in effectuating that recall in July 2005. Rockstar lied to the public in that scandalous episode known as "Hot Coffee."

Regardless of the above information as to what may have been removed for Australian consumers, it is clear that GTA IV should not be sold to minors anywhere. Here is the Entertainment Software Rating Board "descriptor" that is on the GTA IV game:

"Intense Violence, Blood, Strong Language, Strong Sexual Content,
Partial Nudity, Use of Drugs and Alcohol."

I would strongly urge your Sheriff's Department to issue a warning now to all video game retailers in your County that your Department may proceed against them if it is found that a) GTA IV contains sexual material harmful to minors as defined by Florida Statute 847.012, and b) if these retailers are caught selling this game to minors. They will do so unless warned not to. That is certain. The Federal Trade Commission, as I indicated, has proven that fact over and over and over again.

I am more than happy to assist your Sheriff's Department in this regard, as the sale of this game to minors poses a significant public health and safety problem, as it truly is a murder simulator that has resulted in the deaths of law enforcement officers.

Regards, Jack Thompson

April 6, 2008

Chief Justice and Justices
Florida Supreme Court
500 South Duval Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399

Dear Chief Justice and Justices:

Because I respect more than you do the offices you hold, the task that is now before me is either to force The Florida Bar to comply with the Constitution of the United States or destroy it. What makes this both interesting and fun is that this is the Lord's battle, not mine. For twenty years I have taken the side of children targeted by the very people who have filed Bar complaints against me. Jesus said, "If any of you should cause any of these little ones to stumble, it would be better for you that a millstone be tied around your neck and that you be cast into the uttermost depths of the sea." Get your swimsuits on.

I am not alone in this glorious job you have unwittingly given me. Respectable, talented, and fearless people have come my way as result of your stumbles, and their intentions are my intentions. You, by thumbing your nose at due process, at equal protection, at freedom of speech and religion, at U.S. Supreme Court rulings, and even at your own rulings (see Bar v. Brake), have made a joke of the very notion that yours is a court of law. One among you, "Justice" Raoul Cantero, announces to our profession that people who do not conform to his notion of "manners" must be denied the right to practice law. By his ahistorical divinings, all of the signers of the Declaration of Independence who were lawyers should have been disbarred. Tell us, Justice Cantero, did Jesus of Nazareth comply with your rules of etiquette when He called the Pharisees "liars and hypocrites?"

I gave both The Bar and this Court every opportunity to resolve this matter; so don't blame me, then, for what is about to happen. What you should truly fear is that I use the law and I obey the law, unlike all of you. When the law wielded by those who respect it, it is a tool that frightens scofflaws like you-and it should.

This coming victory of right over wrong, of liberty over tyranny, of decency over depravity, of grace over greed, will not be confined to courtrooms. There are legitimate weapons in a free society that complement what lawyers typically do, and believe me, there is nothing typical about me. There is more than one way to skin a cat.

Cheers, Jack Thompson

The Washington Times
My day with Charlton Heston
His defense of our defenders was worthy of prophecy
August 16, 2002
Section: OPED

Page: A19

Byline: By Jack Thompson, SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES

The news that Charlton Heston may have Alzheimer's disease saddens, but his announcement, when I saw it, brought a smile which caught my tears. I had seen this man at his brilliant best once before.

It was July of 1992. Reed Irvine, chairman of Accuracy in Media, enabled Mr. Heston, myself and others to address the annual Time Warner shareholders meeting in Beverly Hills. This was in the midst of a law-enforcement boycott of the communications giant for its sale of rapper Ice-T's "Cop Killer" album, which advocated the murder of police.

Minutes before the shareholders showdown, I was ushered into a breakfast hosted by Mr. Irvine, who said, "Jack, this is Charlton Heston." "It is an honor to meet you, Mr. Heston," I said, shaking a hand stronger than my own. "Please," followed by a dramatic pause, "call me Chuck." I would rather have called Moses "Moe."

For the next half hour "Chuck" discussed the entertainment industry's assault upon America. His insights were not canned. They were fresh. Mr. Heston was a thinking man.

His demeanor was just as remarkable. He was not a star putting up with lesser lights. His mindset was that of a humble foot soldier eager to put his shoulder next to ours to nudge the giant stone that had drawn us there. He was a nice guy, a common man with an uncommon touch. More surprises were yet to come that day.

We marched down the street to the Beverly Hilton, site of the shareholders meeting. A block away we saw the police officers, holding boycott signs. When the officers spotted Charlton Heston, a cheer went up. I looked up at him, next to me. His face hardened in an instant, his pace quickened. He waved regally, as we entered the hotel, his set jaw crowned by a tight grin. Chuck was no longer Chuck. Moses was in the building.

Out of our pockets we pulled our shareholder papers to show the guards posted at the doors, but they proved unnecessary. One man's fame parted security like water.

When Mr. Heston entered the meeting hall, filled with what must have been 3,000 shareholders, a din spread. His stature extended to more than his height. On the stage was the new Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin, who, after a few preliminaries, announced the first agenda item - Ice-T's "Cop Killer."

Mr. Heston stood. Derisive cries of "Sit down, Moses" rang out, followed by much laughter. This was a tough crowd, in a tough town. Mr. Levin said into the microphone: "The chair acknowledges Mr. Heston."

He began: "I'm here as a shareholder, but I speak as a private citizen and the public artist I've been most of my life. I think I understand the rights and responsibilities of both identities. I'm here to condemn this company's response to the growing clamor across the country. I condemn the responsible officials of this company . . . In the end, of course, the buck stops at the top. At Gerald Levin . . ."

Mr. Heston was making this personal, man against man, reprising his role of Moses, but this time confronting a first-time pharaoh. The catcalls stopped. Drama had sucked the air out of everyone's lungs but Mr. Heston's.
He quoted, verbatim, Ice-T's graphic descriptions of killing police officers, regardless of their race. Mr. Heston in his brilliance knew that the lyrics were the most effective indictment of the album, and that few in this room had ever heard them. He then read at length the words of a song on the same album called "KKK Bitch" which described the anal rape of Al and Tipper Gore's niece.

Mr. Heston understood that targeting cops may be one thing in Hollywood; targeting a liberal Democrat's female family member for rape, a politically incorrect crime, is quite another. Rhetorical genius.

An audible gasp filled the room. The shareholders realized, in the twinkling of an eye, that they had been ready to defend an album they had never heard. Now they were on Mr. Heston's side.

Knowing the crowd had turned, Mr. Heston then concluded by skewering Mr. Levin with an echo from Senator Joe McCarthy's Army hearings. "Have you no decency, sir?" Mr. Heston had an ear for history as well.

Finished, he started to walk backwards, exiting the hall, facing Gerald Levin, staring him down. This bit of athletic adroitness was the capstone on the most stunning oratorical performance I had ever witnessed.

The crowd agreed, as they went crazy, breaking into wild applause, many of them standing. Charlton Heston had convinced them he had come not to take their money but to safeguard both it and their honor.

Charlton Heston, in that summer of 1992, lit the fuse on the "culture war" with an overdue response to the entertainment establishment's assault upon, among other things, law-enforcement. With the heroics of New York's "finest" and "bravest" then years later, Mr. Heston's defense that day of our defenders seems a prophecy worthy of Moses.

Jack Thompson, a Miami lawyer, has secured decency fines levied by the FCC and was a "friend of the court" in the 2 Live Crew federal obscenity trial.

________________________________________
All content Copyright 2006 The Washington Times LLC and may not be republished without permission.

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146

March 6, 2008

John Riccitiello, CEO, and
Entire Board of Directors C/o Mariam Sughayer
Electronic Arts
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065 and via e-mail to StockholderCommunications@EA.com

Re: EA's Proposed Purchase of Take-Two Interactive Software

Dear Mr. Riccitiello and Other Directors on the EA Board:

I have not yet received but have seen news reports of your Senior Manager Mariam Sughayer's communication to me regarding the above. Assuming these reports are accurate, since they don't emanate from the New York Times, please note:

I have in the last few days been contacted by a company with whom Take-Two does business. This company is now my client.

My client informs me that Take-Two has breached a substantial contract with it. It appears based upon what my client tells me that this is how Take-Two does business within the industry. This does not surprise me, as I have seen this same company up-close for a number of years. But it is surely gratifying to get corroboration of my observations, out of the blue, from a corporate entity which has been stiffed by Take-Two and which must take legal action, it seems, to get recompense. How sweet.

If you all at EA want to pursue a purchase of Take-Two without fully knowing what is "out there" in the form of liabilities, posed by my client and others, of your take-over target, you got right ahead. I'm sure EA's shareholders will be impressed with your lack of "due diligence" exhibited first by your "don't help us, Mr. Thompson" and now your anticipated "we don't want to know about contractual liabilities of Take-Two" posture. Maybe the new corporate logo of EA should incorporate an ostrich. Here's some help:

Your corporate approach to due diligence exhibits the type of circle-the-wagons acumen that is leading the video game industry to the federal regulation that ESA's own leaked poll indicates 65% of Americans want.

Congratulations. Your response, which was anticipated, does not disappoint.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Let's see if you kiddies are able to figure out how to publish the whole thing, in the meantime, here it is:

March 1, 2008

John Riccitiello, CEO, and
Entire Board of Directors
Electronic Arts
209 Redwood Shores Parkway
Redwood City, CA 94065 and via e-mail to StockholderCommunications@EA.com

Re: EA's Proposed Purchase of Take-Two Interactive Software

Dear Mr. Riccitiello and Other Directors on the EA Board:

I write you about the above-captioned matter not only as a long-time shareholder of Take-Two but as its most visible, most abiding, and most successful critic. You can, for example, view my 60 Minutes expose' about Take-Two's reckless corporate activities at [www.cbsnews.com]

I also worked with Senator Hillary Clinton, at her request, in July 2005 and helped her prove that Take-Two had knowingly and illegally embedded the "Hot Coffee mod" in GTA: SA.

Unfortunately, there is something else embedded at Take-Two: Strauss Zelnick.

I met with Zelnick last May in a Central Park West condominium, and what Zelnick did in that meeting was explain to me how he would use Take-Two to continue to market and sell its adult video game products to children. He also threatened and promised that he would continue to "wage war" against me or anyone who opposed this sale of adult products to children. After the meeting, he then went ahead and made good on that promise. It was quite a remarkable moment in my life and one which Zelnick undoubtedly regrets. He should. Take-Two shareholders don't know about it, however.

I proposed to Zelnick a simple, elegant means by which Take-Two can avoid all legal consequences for what has been its illegal marketing and sale of adult games like Manhunt 2 and GTA: IV to minors. Such a simple, painless measure by Take-Two would actually increase corporate profits as well as get state and federal legislators off the backs not only of Take-Two but also of the entire video game industry. Zelnick does not want Take-Two out of harm's way. He relishes his role as the marketer of filth to children. He said he was the guy who did just that when he was in the rap music biz. I know a bit about that, as is was amicus curiae in the 2 Live Crew federal obscenity case that resulted in the first verdict in history that a sound recording was obscene.

At our May meeting I warned Zelnick that the not yet released Manhunt 2 would prove to be a problem for the company. Strauss just laughed. He's not laughing now.

Strauss Zelnick is not a "Boy Scout" as he actually hilariously described himself in The Wall Street Journal this week at [online.wsj.com]

Strauss Zelnick is a "Boy Scout" like Jeffrey Dahmer was a gourmet cook. Zelnick proved that with his Take-Two golden parachute scam.

Zelnick in fact is an ideologue whose weird views, wedded to a rapacious corporate raider greed, ill-serve us Take-Two shareholders. When Zelnick told the BBC that Manhunt 2 is "fine art" we all knew that we were dealing with an oddball.

I am delighted to work with Electronic Arts to evict the Zelnick Trojan Horse from within Take-Two's corporate walls. In doing so, I can get the new Take-Two into the clear as to the trouble I and others can send its way.

Zelnick is the source of trouble headed Take-Two's way, not I, and EA can make the case, with my help, that such trouble can be avoided.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Copy: Strauss Zelnick, via Blank Rome
Media

Best Buy Hit with Video Game Sting

Miami attorney and anti-violent video game activist Jack Thompson today at 3:14 pm Eastern conducted a successful sting on major video game retailer Best Buy at its Dadeland Store #557 in Miami, Florida.

Best Buy claims that it has a stringent policy NOT to sell Mature-rated video games to anyone under 17 years of age. Two years ago when Thompson filed a lawsuit against Best Buy to stop its sale of Mature games to minors, Best Buy settled the suit by agreeing to henceforth check the age ID of anyone appearing to be 21 or younger, and the major retailer has made a big p.r. push since of its age ID policy.

It is all a lie.

Best Buy's clerk named "Iris" sold the ESRB "Mature"-rated Counter-Strike to a 15-year-old boy without even asking him for his ID. This is the third time Thompson has done a sting on this very same Best Buy store. Thompson's son bought Grand Theft Auto: Vice City in this same store when he was 10 years old.

The Mature game sold to the 15-year-old is significant. It is the same game on which the Northern Illinois killer trained himself to kill two weeks ago. Counter-Strike was also the murder simulator that trained the author of the Virginia Tech and Erfurt, Germany school massacres-the two bloodiest school killings in world history.

Best Buy knows this. No responsible retailer in America should be selling any Mature games to kids and certainly not Counter-Strike.

Brain scan studies at Harvard, Indiana, and Michigan State Universities show that violent video games are processed in a different part of the brain than in adults, and it is the sector that leads to copycat violent behavior. Best Buy and the rest of the video game industry know this. They don't care. They are making too much money selling adult entertainment to kids.

Thompson warned Best Buy's general counsel and Director Elliot Kaplan of Minneapolis last week that Best Buy was still selling Mature video games, including Counter-Strike, to underage kids on-line at www.bestbuy.com. Mr. Kaplan did not respond.

Go to Best Buy's web site and click on "Responsibility" and see the streaming video of Best Buy's COO and President Brian Dunn pledge that what happened today in Miami won't happen at Best Buy stores.

It is all a lie.

Thompson three months ago filed a new lawsuit against Best Buy in Miami-Dade Circuit Court alleging that Best Buy was, despite its agreement with Thompson and despite Best Buy's promises to American parents, was still selling Mature games to underage kids in violation of federal and state "Fraudulent and Deceptive Trade Practices" Acts. This sting today is proof positive that Thompson is correct.

Contact Jack Thompson for more information

February 19, 2008

Lee Scott
CEO, Wal-Mart
Bentonville, Arkansas Via Fax to 479-273-4329

Re: Wal-Mart's Current Sale of School Massacre Simulator

Dear Mr. Scott:

Last week a young man killed and maimed students at Northern Illinois University. The next day the Fox News Channel asked me to tell the national audience why these school massacres were occurring with increasing frequency. I noted that the two worst school massacres in world history-at Virginia Tech and in Erfurt, Germany-were authored by students who rehearsed their killing on the popular on-line killing game, Counter-Strike.

The next day, the New York Post reported that the NIU killer did in fact rehearse for his school massacre on Counter-Strike. In spite of national news coverage of the link between this murder simulation game and school massacres, Wal-Mart continues to sell Counter-Strike in its retail stores and also to anyone of any age on-line at www.walmart.com, with no age verification whatsoever. I would think that the lessons of the Jonesboro, Arkansas, school massacre would have been learned by an Arkansas-headquartered retailer.

I have confirmed that Wal-Mart is still selling Counter-Strike at its Supercenter, Store #786 in Dekalb, Illinois-the very town in which Northern Illinois University is located!

Please inform me by five o'clock p.m. this day that Wal-Mart has issued a directive to stop selling Counter-Strike. I shall proceed appropriately if Wal-Mart does not do the responsible thing by that time today and stop selling this school massacre simulator.

Regards, Jack Thompson

February 19, 2008

Lee Scott
CEO, Wal-Mart
Bentonville, Arkansas Via Fax to 479-273-4329

Re: Wal-Mart's Current Sale of School Massacre Simulator

Dear Mr. Scott:

Last week a young man killed and maimed students at Northern Illinois University. The next day the Fox News Channel asked me to tell the national audience why these school massacres were occurring with increasing frequency. I noted that the two worst school massacres in world history-at Virginia Tech and in Erfurt, Germany-were authored by students who rehearsed their killing on the popular on-line killing game, Counter-Strike.

The next day, the New York Post reported that the NIU killer did in fact rehearse for his school massacre on Counter-Strike. In spite of national news coverage of the link between this murder simulation game and school massacres, Wal-Mart continues to sell Counter-Strike in its retail stores and also to anyone of any age on-line at www.walmart.com, with no age verification whatsoever. I would think that the lessons of the Jonesboro, Arkansas, school massacre would have been learned by an Arkansas-headquartered retailer.

I have confirmed that Wal-Mart is still selling Counter-Strike at its Supercenter, Store #786 in Dekalb, Illinois-the very town in which Northern Illinois University is located!

Please inform me by five o'clock p.m. this day that Wal-Mart has issued a directive to stop selling Counter-Strike. I shall proceed appropriately if Wal-Mart does not do the responsible thing by that time today and stop selling this school massacre simulator.

Regards, Jack Thompson

URGENT!
John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net

February 19, 2008

Lee Scott
CEO, Wal-Mart
Bentonville, Arkansas Via Fax to 479-273-4329

Re: Wal-Mart's Current Sale of School Massacre Simulator

Dear Mr. Scott:

Last week a young man killed and maimed students at Northern Illinois University. The next day the Fox News Channel asked me to tell the national audience why these school massacres were occurring with increasing frequency. I noted that the two worst school massacres in world history-at Virginia Tech and in Erfurt, Germany-were authored by students who rehearsed their killing on the popular on-line killing game, Counter-Strike.

The next day, the New York Post reported that the NIU killer did in fact rehearse for his school massacre on Counter-Strike. In spite of national news coverage of the link between this murder simulation game and school massacres, Wal-Mart continues to sell Counter-Strike in its retail stores and also to anyone of any age on-line at www.walmart.com, with no age verification whatsoever. I would think that the lessons of the Jonesboro, Arkansas, school massacre would have been learned by an Arkansas-headquartered retailer.

I have confirmed that Wal-Mart is still selling Counter-Strike at its Supercenter, Store #786 in Dekalb, Illinois-the very town in which Northern Illinois University is located!

Please inform me by five o'clock p.m. this day that Wal-Mart has issued a directive to stop selling Counter-Strike. I shall proceed appropriately if Wal-Mart does not do the responsible thing by that time today and stop selling this school massacre simulator.

Regards, Jack Thompson

February 19, 2008

Legal Department
MSNBC on the Internet
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052

Re: False and Defamatory Assault by MSNBC on Jack Thompson

Dear Legal Department:

Your "contributor" Winda Benedetti has now twice falsely defamed me on behalf of MSNBC.com, and I intend to bring a civil action in state court in Florida for libel.

See [www.msnbc.msn.com] and [www.msnbc.msn.com]

In the latter hit piece, which runs today, Benedetti and MSNBC have excluded from this crazed and libelous screed the comments from me that she said she wanted, which deletion, of course, helps make the "actual malice" point.

Finally, but not exhaustively, NBC News apparently did not consider me a shameless "self-promoter" when it had me on the Today Show and NBC Nightly News I believe a total of ten times. But once my criticism began to inconvenience Bill Gates' NBC partner, Microsoft, (MSNBC.com is a 50/50 partnership) then all of a sudden I'm the Anti-Christ. Even Chris Matthews recently got in on the fun.

A jury is going to love this libel action, and I'm going to love wading through Microsoft's files about Jack Thompson. I'm interviewing lawyers for the purpose of bringing the action. Please contact me as soon as possible.

Regards, Jack Thompson

1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111

Coral Gables, Florida 33146

305-666-4366

amendmentone@comcast.net

February 18, 2008

Bill Gates

Microsoft

1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 Via Fax and e-mail

Re: School Massacres and Microsoft's Counter-Strike

Dear Mr. Gates:

On April 18 of last year I wrote you and warned you [see below] that Microsoft's Counter-Strike helped train the authors of the two worst school massacres in world history. You ignored the warning.

Now the killer at Northern Illinois University is known to have trained on this same Windows game.

Pull the plug on this game, as I asked almost a year ago, or I'll do it for you.

Regards, Jack Thompson

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law

1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111

Coral Gables, Florida 33146

305-666-4366

amendmentone@comcast.net

April 18, 2007

Bill Gates

Microsoft

1 Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052 Via Fax and e-mail

Dear Mr. Gates:

On Monday, April 16, at 3:10 pm, I was a guest, as I often have been in the past, on the Fox News Channel. News anchor Bill Hemmer asked me to profile the Virginia Tech rampage killer. I did so, noting that until that day the worst school massacre in world history was at the hands of Robert Steinhaeuser, who literally trained on the Microsoft on-line, hyper-violent shooter game, Counterstrike. I mentioned your company's game by name. I explained that the rehearsal for such a massacre is key to being able to pull it off, as efficiently as Cho, whose name we didn't even know at the time. Cho and Steinhaeuser were able to do what they did the first time because it was not the first time. This is why the military uses this same virtual reality simulation to train soldiers to want to kill and how to kill calmly, as the witnesses of Cho said he did.

Sure enough, last night I was doing a west coast radio interview when the host said to me, "Mr. Thompson, you are right. The Washington Post is reporting right now the following:

'Several Korean youths who knew Cho Seung Hui from his high school days said he was a fan of violent video games, particularly Counterstrike, a hugely popular online game published by Microsoft, in which players join terrorism or counterterrorism groups and try to shoot each other using all types of guns.'"

I thus went back on the Fox News Channel, and Bill Hemmer and I explained not only that I was right about your game figuring in the Virginia Tech massacre but also that the Washington Post excised the above excerpt from the story this morning. That is yet another story. The bad news for the Post however is that you can still get the excised excerpt at [www.washingtonpost.com] Thus, the cat is out of the bag, and his paw prints are still on the bag. Is this a great Internet, or what?

As you know, I similalry went on NBC's Today Show with the DC Beltway Sniper still unidentified and at-large a few years ago and told Matt Lauer and the nation that the triggerman would most likely be a teen video gamer trained on a sniper video game. The tarot card was a clue, but there were other clues. I was right, as Malvo trained on your Microsoft game, Halo. NBC reported that three months later, and it was part of the criminal trial of Malvo.

Mr. Gates, your company is potentially legally liable the harm done at Virginia Tech. Your game, a killing simulator, according to the news that used to be in the Post, trained him to enjoy killing and how to kill. You knew five years ago that your on-line game, Counterstrike, so clearly figured in the massacre by a student in Erfurt that the event and the game impacted the race for Chancellor in Germany at the time!

Yet, here you are, five years after "Erfurt," still marketing Counterstrike. having done nothing to disable the server(s) for this mass murder simulator, and it looks like "Virginia Tech" is a consequence. There's more going on in the world than Vista. Just ask the bereaved Virginia Tech families.

Mr. Gates, pull the plug on Counterstrike today, or do we need more dead to convince you? "Virginia Tech" was the 9-11 of school shootings, and it appears Microsoft is in the middle of it, in more ways than one.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Copies: Just about everybody

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net

February 14, 2008

Lawrence DeMarzo
Director, New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs
124 Halsey Street
Newark, New Jersey Via Fax to 973-273-8035

Re: Fraudulent and Deceptive Trade Practices by Toys R Us

Dear Mr. DeMarzo:

As you know, on February 14 I alerted you to the fact, not the surmise, that New Jersey-headquartered Toys R Us is selling Mature-rated video games to kids under 17 via the Internet. This company, despite assurance to the public to the contrary, is not even asking the age of the buyers of these adult products.

On that very day, February 14, the Northern Illinois University school massacre occurred.

I went on the Fox News Channel the next day and suggested that the killer might have trained on the Mature-rated Counter-Strike video game, as did the authors of the two worst school massacres in history.

Guess what? The NIU killer did just that.

Guess what is further known? These reckless people who run Toys R Us are even today selling Counter-Strike to anyone of any age through their corporate web site without asking the age of the buyers - still!

Please proceed against this company for its fraudulent and deceptive trade practice.

Regards, Jack Thompson

Moving on, how about your Great Big Stinky Lie:

Violent entertainment doesn't modify behavior.

That lie comes from an industry that spends tens of millions of dollars on ads to modify buying behavior.

I think what we need to do is start indicting people who own and operate mental masturbation blogs and who pretend to be journalists. That is long, long overdue.

Jack Thompson

I would like to extend my condolences to the friends, family members, and work associates of Hal Halpin, whom I have met. He is a sniveling, hypocritical lobbyist who makes money facilitating the sale of adult products to children, which fraud leads to tragedies such as this.

I should also like to extend my condolences to the video game industry, which contains many good folks, yet manages to saddle itself with goofs like Hal Halpin and Doug Lowenstein, thereby discrediting the entire industry.

I pray that the industry will be able to get out from under the Hal Halpin Tragedy soon. As soon as it does, it can avoid federal legislation. Hal Halpin doesn't want the industry to be responsible. If it were, it would have no need for Joseph Goebbels-like spinners.

Jack Thompson, Attorney

I think the only lie in this mix is that Brian Crecente is a journalist:

New York Post:
COLLEGE KILLER CRAZY FOR VIOLENT VID GAME
[www.nypost.com]
By MICHAEL SWIONTEK in DeKalb, Ill., and BILL SANDERSON in New York, Post Wire Services
SICK SHOOTER: Steven Kazmierczak (above), an avid player of the violent video game Counter-Strike, killed five Illinois students.

February 16, 2008 -- The man who gunned down five people and wounded 16 in an Illinois classroom rampage was a loner who preferred studying to partying and was obsessed with an ultra-violent video game, dormitory mates said yesterday.
Stephen Kazmierczak, 27, played the wildly popular game Counter-Strike while studying sociology at Northern Illinois University in 2003 and 2004.
"He played a lot of video games, especially Counter-Strike, really loud," said dorm mate Ben Woloszyn, 24.
In the game, players use imaginary money to buy shotguns, pistols and other equipment they need to move around an imaginary world in which they're constantly under threat of being killed by roving terrorists.
In real life, Kazmierczak - who had become "erratic" recently after shunning medication for an undisclosed illness - purchased weapons like those used in Counter-Strike, including a Glock handgun and a pump-action Remington shotgun, which he bought legally on Feb. 9.
He had two other pistols that cops said were also bought legally, though they weren't sure when.
Police wouldn't say why Kazmierczak stopped taking his medication, or what is was for.
Though a loner, Kazmierczak wasn't antisocial, said acquaintances. He had been an officer in the campus chapter of the American Correctional Association.
He worked briefly as a full-time correction officer at the Rockville Correctional Facility, a medium-security prison in Indiana, but his tenure there lasted only from Sept. 24 to Oct. 9, after which Indiana prisons spokesman Doug Garrison said "he just didn't show up one day."
Kazmierczak also had a short-lived stint in the Army. He enlisted in the Army in September 2001, but was discharged in February 2002 for an "unspecified" reason, said an Army spokesman.
He got his undergraduate degree in 2006, and was enrolled in Northern Illinois' graduate school last spring. More recently, he'd enrolled in grad school at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.
"He was a really quiet guy. Something about him wasn't quite right - he was kind of off," said Jarrod Rice, 23, another dorm mate.
At around 3 p.m. Thursday, Kazmierczak shot up a class containing between 70 and 100 students before killing himself.
"He had a blank look on his face. He was there to kill," said witness Sam Brunell, 18. "Anyone that could walk into a room and just start shooting has no emotions."

John B. Thompson, Attorney at Law
1172 S. Dixie Hwy., Suite 111
Coral Gables, Florida 33146
305-666-4366
amendmentone@comcast.net

February 16, 2008

John G. Peters, President
Northern Illinois University
1425 W. Lincoln Hwy.
DeKalb, IL 60115-2825 Via Fax to 815-753-8686

Re: Part of the Explanation for this Awful Disaster

Dear President Peters:

First of all, my condolences for this terrible loss. I have had the disturbing privilege of representing a number of families devastated by these types of incidents. I represented all six parents of the three girls killed by a 14-year-old video gamer in the Paducah, Kentucky, school massacre. I currently represent the families of three policemen in Alabama who were slain by a teen who trained to kill them on the cop-killing simulation video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. This case was featured on 60 Minutes. See
[www.cbsnews.com]

The day after the NIU tragedy this week, I was on the Fox News Channel predicting that the killer on your campus would be someone who was immersed in violent video games, as this is a common thread in almost all of these incidents. I mentioned in the interview the mass murder simulation game, Counter-Strike. It was the game of choice by the killers in the two worst school shootings in history-Virginia Tech and Erfurt, Germany.

Sure enough, the New York Post reports today the accuracy of that prediction. I attach herewith the Post article.

Governor Blagojevich was on Fox hours later echoing my specific concern about the linkage between violent video games and school killings.

I have addressed roughly 200 college campuses about this problem. I am more than willing to come to your campus, free of charge of course, to explain to the students and faculty and surrounding community why these games, played by students, pose a public safety hazard. Brain scan science recently coming out of Harvard explains it well. There are multiple reasons why these evil events happen. Immersion of young males in murder simulation as a form of entertainment is one of the more powerful reasons.

Blessings, Jack Thompson