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An increase in royalties that would lead to

the virtual shutdown of this country’s

Internet radio industry if it is implemented.

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Please show some love for the little guy, especially in music.

The following information is from the Radio and Internet Newsletter.

“Internet radio may be driven out of business within weeks by a Copyright Royalty Board decision that gives record companies a royalty rate that exceeds 100% of most webcasters’ total revenues.

Visit SaveNetRadio.org for links to a petition to Congress you can sign, and to send the message directly to your Representative and Senators thatyou don’t want to lose Internet radio!”

It’s an article that is questioning why Dick Cheney is able to continually profane the Constitution with his actions and why the media is hardly mentioning it.

From the Washington Post.com, “Cheney is not subject to the executive order, she said, “because the president gets to decide whether or not he should be treated separately, and he’s decided that he should.”

More constitutional shenanigans, but that’s not really the point of the blog post. The real point is that while this happens, very few places are talking much about it because they are so busy with other key topics. Paris, the slain pregnant woman and the Iphone are all at the top of the list. Silence is approval. If our journalists don’t challenge this kind of overreaching behavior (again) from the Vice President, well no wonder they are trying to dis bloggers all the time.

Next time you’re in one of those meetings where everyone around the table is nodding their heads, think about the fact that just because everyone agrees and goes in the same direction, it doesn’t mean it’s right.

I’m interested in this notion and my husband is the one who brought it to my attention. I’m sure I’ll be thinking about this topic some more.

Rich people don’t want you to drive on their street. Somehow, they deserve a street without cars. (from the hours of 7-9 am anyway…)

It’s a long story, but my husband and I were driving around Lake Calhoun at 7:50 am today. We were going into Uptown from our home and taking city streets. We were driving along the lake and happened to turn right to reach our destination.

There was a park police man sitting there waiting for people to turn right. He gave us a $147 ticket because we turned right on a road in a rich neighborhood. We saw no signs. There was no traffic coming from the other direction. We were turning right for freakin sake. Apparently that turn was not only illegal but also costly. It was in fact more costly than running a red light. WTF?

I know it’s such a minor thing to complain about in all the injustices of the world. I am a sheltered, work from home, upper middle class, white woman so I don’t really experience this kind of class system treatment as often as many people do. But I have to say, i made me feel just a little bit angrier toward the greedy people and more patient with people who are less fortunate than me. Just in case you were wondering, you do not ‘deserve’ less traffic on your street because you have more money. All the taxes paid for that road in front of your house.

With Bastille day approaching, it just felt very, ‘let them eat cake’.

P. S. I’d rather just pay the taxes than have dumb rules that only service people in nice neighborhoods.

I just had a shockingly good customer experience because someone cared.

I am still trying to get money back from my 2006 flexible spending account. Yes, I know, we are halfway to 2008! This is my issue with the big healthcare company that shall remain nameless. I know why they have this issue. Their data is mind numbingly hard to access. This health care company does not believe in technology.

So I already head into the umpteenth issue on my reimbursement fax (I could go on and on about how I hate the fax machine–stupid interim technology—) knowing that this is going to be a frustrating experience because of the fact that they really mess with their employees ability to help customers by not paying attention to the technology that provides the employees tools.

What happens next is about the fact that someone cared & the fact that I took a deep breath before calling and decided I was going to be pleasant with whoever I encountered. The gentleman that took the call from me was treated with respect and patience. I know what he is dealing with on his end, I have to be patient. The call took awhile, but he resolved it. All of it. He ended the call by saying, “your claim should be processed in a day or so. Is there anything else I can help you with?”.

I just responded by saying, “nothing else now, thank you, you’ve made my day.”

Be nice, be patient and encounter someone that cares. = Positive encounters with most humans.

Twice, Anderson Cooper let him say it twice.

Ralph Reed was on CNN tonight and

he said,

’same tired discredited liberal agenda of higher taxes, government run health care, abortion on demand, cut and run in Iraq, a retreat rather than a foward strategy in the war on terrorism…….’

and again said,

‘ not going to respond to a liberal , big government, abortion on demand agenda’

He was criticizing the Dems for going religious.

Wow, that’s a lot of hate for someone that claims to love God so much.

Live and let live Ralpie. I’m not thrilled that religion is dominating the conversation but apparently people need to hear about it. This has been a wedge issue and he’s probably upset that there is an attempt to redefine the space of ‘abortion on demand, big government wussies.’

How is this ‘news I can trust’? Isn’t that what they say? Sigh.