Lawmaker Blasts Video Game Allowing Fantasy Pipeline Attacks

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) _ A Minnesota lawmaker wants to impose new restrictions on
state funding of the arts after learning about a video game that lets players
zap imaginary oil pipelines with lightning bolts.

Elizabeth LaPensee received nearly $3,300 from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural
Heritage Fund to create ``Thunderbird Strike .'' She worked then at the University of Minnesota Duluth but took a job last year at Michigan State
University.

State Rep. Bob Gunther, R-Fairmont, says it promotes violence with ``zero benefit to Minnesota.'' He says the rules should require projects supported by the fund to be completed in Minnesota.

LaPensee told The Associated Press earlier that the game is a work of art meant to show how oil development has damaged the environment. She said it's not meant
to incite eco-terrorism.