Government Will Send You to Jail for Buying Used CDs

The government should regulate items for sale in this country. People should wait to buy a gun, you should have a license to buy viruses, you shouldn't let just anyone buy radioactive material. I, however, do not think that used CDs are in the same category.

As Ken Fisher reports for ars technica

New "pawn shop" laws are springing up across the United States that will make selling your used CDs at the local record shop something akin to getting arrested. No, you won't spend any time in jail, but you'll certainly feel like a criminal once the local record shop makes copies of all of your identifying information and even collects your fingerprints. Such is the state of affairs in Florida, which now has the dubious distinction of being so anal about the sale of used music CDs that record shops there are starting to get out of the business of dealing with used content because they don't want to pay a $10,000 bond for the "right" to treat their customers like criminals.

The states of Florida, Utah, and soon Rhode Island and Wisconsin will care more about your used CD collection then whether you should really get a driver's license.

I feel that this is just an attempt by the music industry to end file sharing. The music industry is trying to stop people from buying CDs, downloading all the songs onto their computer and then returning them to the store. I think the actual consequence of the law will be a further drop in CD sales.

Sing a Hymn in Public School

The following post is of my own opinion and not reflective of anyone else's.

There is currently a controversy going on in Glen Rock, New Jersey over whether or not a public school chorus should be able to sing a Christian hymn. The argument is that they are not singing it for religious purposes but for entertainment purposes. I, however, believe that it has nothing to with entertainment. If the song was a prayer about the greatness of Allah, I doubt any of the people currently supporting the idea would stand by it. I'm sure if you asked them if they'd support an Islamic song now that they're involved in the controversy they might say yes, but it wasn't long ago that people were protesting the addition of the crescent onto holiday displays in the area.

Allowing one religion into public school is one religion too many.

More Than Music, and By That I Mean Sex

Escape to a land without authority figures dragging you down. A world where you can be with who you want, they way you want, and when you want. Music can take you there, whether via Neo-soul and R&B artist Maxwell

and his seductively smooth sounds,

or country music siren Faith Hill

and her sweet and innocent melodies.

M usic let's your imagination roam free. When you are listening to music there is no need for you to be ashamed or scared of sexuality as it is out there. Some of us have trouble talking about sex, but singing about sex, that makes it so much easier.

"Let's talk about sex, baby, let's talk about you and me" - Salt-n-Peppa

We tend to be reserved about sex and nudity. I would argue that this topic, along with death
and those feelings associated with
loss, are the two most taboo subjects in our society today. We need not be ashamed
of our bodies. Every time we let the "ethical" end of corporations sideline a song,
we let them win. We should not censor bands nor should we prevent or discourage our friends and relatives from joining them. People can join bands to express themselves better or they could just join a band to get laid. We all have needs, after all.

In fact, in the Pussycat Dolls' recent reality show, one of the challenges was to show that you have confidence in yourself by dancing in a box for seedy old men. Not exactly what most people think rock stars should do.

Men	Women
[Eric Balfour of "24"]	[Lindsay Lohan]
[Jamie "Apollo" Bamber of "Battlestar Galactica"]	[A Tiffany Mulheron]
Men's Underwear Fashion Show]

Doughnutman's

top 5 songs to have sex to:

5. Marvin Gaye- "Let's Get It On"
4. Alexander Scriabin - "Poem of Ecstasy"
3. Addictive Beats - "Saeed & Palash"
2. Erykah Badu - "Worldwide Underground"
1. SportsCenter theme song

College File Sharing

The RIAA has started going after college kids who are file sharing on campus. Steve Knopper over at Rolling Stone talks about how, for the first time, some IT departments at colleges have started not cooperating with the RIAA. The two colleges who have declined to participate in the RIAA's crackdown are the University of Wisconsin, Madison and the University of Maine.

The RIAA wants IT departments to deliver cease and desist letters to individual students. They have delivered 805 letters, including the 27 that were sent to Wisconsin and Maine. They plan on delivering about 400 a month. The letters tell students they should settle for $3,000 rather than go to trial for copyright infringement.

Commentary

The letters are nothing more then extortion letters sent by the RIAA to coerce college kids into stopping their actions. I agree that the RIAA is asking IT departments to become their racketeering agents. Good for Wisconsin and Maine's IT department for not falling for the RIAA's game.