That's impressive. Really. I didn't know such arrogance was even possible. *snicker* The music industry really is teetering on the brink of explosion (if you'll pardon a mixed metaphor).

Money in that fund would be distributed to the record companies, and thereby to artists, according to statistics on how often songs are trading online

Oh, like the money that comes in from album sales, right? Meaning that the record companies would get 98% and artists would get 2%, if they're lucky? Recording artists only make money from concert appearances, dude, not from sales of their music (unless they sell HUGE numbers of CD's) - ask any musician signed to a contract. That nice arrangement you're touting would be great for us out here in internet land, but it wouldn't be any better for the people actually making the music. The only way they'll benefit is to switch to direct sales, as some are now doing. Combine THAT with the pay-monthly licensing idea, and you've got something revolutionary; something that would stand a very good chance of destroying the bloated music industry for good.

Which sounds wonderful to me. To hell with the maggots in suits already; it's time they found an honest living.

In 1995, I was working at a country Welfare agency in Northern California, administering childcare to mothers looking to get off Welfare and back in the job market. The slow trickle-down from the Reagan/Bush years had strangled our budget to where a department that should have been staffed by at least 10 people was now staffed by 4. The workload, fraught with emotion and stress on its own, had become intolerable for me. I had a breakdown at work, and was told by my supervisor (very kind lady) that I was to go home, take advantage of the department's healthcare coverage for mental stress and their disability coverage, and not come back until I felt I could handle the job.

The coverage paid for visits to a counselor. I picked one with a good reputation and went to see her. After the first session (which was COMPLETELY taken up with filling out paperwork - thank you, insurance company), she prescribed Zoloft at the end of the second session. I was utterly shocked, and started crying. I expected her to help me, not shuttle me off onto some pills. But since she insisted, and I really needed the counseling, I went ahead and got the pills. Three months worth.

Standing in my bathroom, I looked at that bottle and found I just couldn't do it. It felt like I was about to squash my own spirit. I'd seen what those "antidepressants" had done to people I knew, and I wanted no part of being a happy zombie. Being raised by Spanish parents, I've always had little patience with complejos americanos, as my dad calls them. I put the bottle in the back of my medicine cabinet, went to the counseling sessions and the disability interview with a psychiatrist in San Francisco, and two months later was back on the job. Where the stress triggered another meltdown, and finally caused me to take the step that changed everything - I moved away and found other work.

SURPRISE. My stress level plummeted, the crying jags disappeared, and I felt infinitely better. All without the pills. It's amazing how often examining your LIFE and taking real steps to change things will yield mental health results. The backlash against these drugs, many of which have been discovered to have vicious side effects, makes me nothing but happy. It's time we started dealing with people's real issues, with the structure of our society that CAUSES so many of these problems, and with the idea that it's better to fix things than toss a blanket over them.

Oh, and about three years later, I called that supervisor because I was in the area, and asked her to lunch. Guess what she told me? The trickle-down from the Clinton's budget policy had reached her department, and she now had a staff of FIFTEEN people. Just a little capper to the story. ;)

John's in the ballpark where incoherence can start rearing it's ugly head.

Starting with your comment, apparently. I have no idea what that's supposed to mean.

What the hell IS it with this guy? Can't he take no for an answer? He's a political nightmare. He says he's running but never campaigns, he's the world's least viable candidate, and he sucks votes away that could actually mean something. Completely lack-luster, depressive and counterproductive, yet his overweening ego makes him drive a wedge into Democratic hopes again and again and again. He won't be happy until the Republicans have destroyed this country; then he'll say, with absolutely no consciousness of the irony involved, "I told you so!"

Somebody PLEASE throw a bag over this guy and shove him in a closet for the next year. PLEASE.

In Jurassic Park, Jeff Goldblum did not "grandly declare" his line about the inevitability of life bursting through imposed boundaries. He whispered it, in a fascinated yet scared tone of voice.

See? If you'd stuck to the facts, it would have fit your story much better.

"I, like all Americans, will never forget the defining moment of recent American history, the tragedy of 9/11,"

It's contagious!!

Only now that Edwards has left the race does Salon bring up the integrity and concern for those who have no voice that was shown throughout his campaign. What a pity that you didn't notice all that when it would have counted. But no. I guess it was just too tempting to jump in the sandbox with the rest of the MSM goons, and concentrate on trite tabloid fripperies.

Typical.

Sure is cold under that wet blanket that just got thrown over us.

*eyeroll*