Coffee, anyone?

By now, everyone's probably heard of the GTA San Andreas "hot coffee" downloadable mod, which integrates an interactive sex scene into regular gameplay. Senator Clinton has her panties in a twist over it, and is pressing for an investigation:

We should all be deeply disturbed that a game which now permits the simulation of lewd sexual acts in an interactive format with highly realistic graphics has fallen into the hands of young people across the country," Clinton wrote in a letter to the head of the Federal Trade Commission.

Honestly, Hillary--I realize you don't want the kiddies taking lessons from pixelated felons, but if you really want something to worry about, isn't the game's graphic violence potentially more harmful?

There's video of the mod on the GTA website...yes, I was curious to see what all the commotion was about, I'm a pervert. Figured it had to be pretty good to get Washington's dander up, and besides--The Sims 2 just doesn't cut it. "Woohoo"? I mean, c'mon! The mod is really pretty silly--the main character remains fully clothed in jeans and a wifebeater, and whispers sweet nothings like "you know I'm not insecure, but tell me I'm great." I'm not encouraging this stuff in video games, especially when it's in breach of some FCC agreement and comes off as denigrating to women (who are already subjugated in the video game world...but seriously let's focus on mending those things in our world first, eh?). Don't you think there are bigger things to be concerned about? Hillary, instead of wasting energy regulating how gamers' get their jollies, why not jump on the call for an investigation into whether Bush disregarded intelligence and misled Congress before invading Iraq? There are real felons to take care of, and real lives at stake. You can spend time cracking down on digital perps after you get to the bottom of true crime in Washington.

It's this kind of prudery and focus on what ultimately, in the grand scheme of things (uh, perpetual killing and occupation?), are trivial distractions. This is the type of stuff that conservatives used to detract from bigger questions and policies and undermine decent leadership when your husband was President. And now it's even more important to pick our battles and not divert attention from hammering the most unaccountable leaders we've seen.

I sincerely hope you're not doing this just to kowtow to conservatives, hoping to come off as the "moral" candidate for a 2008 race. There are far greater moral matters at stake.