RIAA claims rights to all artists' royalties

Here is the opening of the blog post on digg.com:"The RIAA is looking more and more like the Mafia. Not only is it trying to kill Internet radio, but its royalty-collecting subsidiary, SoundExchange, is now claiming the right to collect royalties for ALL artists, even those who want nothing to do with the RIAA and its jackbooted henchmen."How do they have rights to charge royalties for "non-members".I wonder if avery indie and local/independent music artist knows this. What does this say about creating music in America? This does not seem right to me.



read more digg story

I don't have a sports blog yet.

I am glad the Cleveland Browns chose Joe Thomas in the draft. I was also glad to see he was fishing and enjoying the moment in his own style. I am also glad that there is another fisherman coming to the Cleveland area.

The shock of all of the ESPN analysts, when Phil Savage and company didn't take Brady Quinn was fun to witness, good old Berman looked like the browns took his adams apple! They were so stunned as their tries to woo the Browns into taking Brady or Adrian fell through. I was glad to see that they finally addressed the need of offensive line.

Phil Savage and his crew do a great job of bringing in players that fit the football system and the community. Seeing that Joe Thomas would rather be with family (I am guessing) fishing, should sit well with Browns Fans.

Condoleezza Rice refuses/or does not want to testify

I saw this link on the Raw Story who got it from the AP(title link). It seems Condoleezza Rice does not feel she needs to testify to the from the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on:

"Rice and the State Department have failed to respond to questions about the claim that Saddam Hussein had tried to by uranium from Niger."

Here is what she had to say to the AP reporter:

The Secretary of State also invoked executive privilege as a reason for not testifying.
"This all took place in my role as national security adviser," Rice noted

However:

"Her spokesman, Sean McCormack, said later that no final decision had been made about Rice appearing before the committee."


Bring her in. I think we need to see what she has to say. Plus, I want to see what she has to say to a committee. Those who paid attention got to see the Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, not recall, any of the information.

( I think this is a Daily show transcript)

“After weeks of mock testimony, there you have it. Alberto Gonzales doesn’t know what happened, but he assures you what he doesn’t remember was handled properly.”

San Francisco Chronicle:

When told by reporters that Gonzales had replied "I don't recall" 55 times in his first round of questioning, ranking committee Republican Sen. Arlen Specter quipped, "That's an improvement, I'd say."

How he is still at his post I do not know.

Anyway, bring her in, let's see what she remembers.

Here is the vote and the response from the state department (from the AP article):

"Waxman's committee voted 21-10 on Wednesday to subpoena Rice despite the State Department's insistence that the questions have already been answered..."

Social Security and Congress--Your thoughts?

I received the below message via email and though I’m sure it isn’t the first time it has been said, I thought it might be interesting to see what would come from it on the blog. Please offer your comments: Though we, as the people, are not able to start a bill, we are able to start petitions, use the internet to get our dissatisfaction out, and use our voices to put pressure on Congress to deal with this situation. How should we move forward in presenting this information and drawing people together around its message?

SOCIAL SECURITY:

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and members of Congress do not pay into Social Security and, of course, they do not collect from it. You see, Social Security benefits were not suitable for persons of their elevation in society. They felt they should have a special plan for themselves. So, many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan. In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it.After all, it is a great plan.

For all practical purposes their plan works like this: When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die. Except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments...

For example, Senator Byrd and Congressman White, and their wives, may expect to draw $7,800,000.00 (that's Seven Million, Eight-Hundred Thousand Dollars), with their wives drawing $275, 000.00 during the last years of their lives.This is calculated on an average life span for each of those two Dignitaries.Younger Dignitaries, who retire at an early age, will receive much more during the rest of their lives.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $0.00. NADA..! ZILCH...

This little perk they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan. The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General Funds; "OUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK". From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into, every payday until we retire (which amount is matched by our employer). We can expect to get an average of $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one (1) month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made.

That change would be to:

Jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the Senators and Congressmen.
Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us
Then sit back.....
And see how fast they would fix it.

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G1NBC Update

Here is an update for our venture with G1NBC in Detroit. All is going well, but business can always get better! All local independent production and media partners please seek us out for networking opportunities. We call as many people as come across our desk.

We now have direct links to our webpages up for the tv sites.

Toledo--http://www.g1ntoltv.com

Columbus-- www.g1ncmhtv.com

We are preparing for a full launch in July. We are currently interviewing potential staff and doing initial advertising pricing for local businesses and investors. If you would like to advertise or have questions, please feel free to call me at 888-863-5391.

Also,

If you have show ideas or want to be a part of SGE Media Group, we are always interested in talking business! Feel free to e-mail us at sgemediagroup@gmail.com.

Campaign 101-- Blogging and Emerging Technologies

First off I want to thank Lisa Renee of Glass City Jungle for the invitation to the Campaign 101 Training, hosted by the Young Democrats of Toledo.

It was also a pleasure to meet Mark Adams of Dispassionate Liberal and hear his thoughts on blogging and its uses on a political campaign.

I was reminded on what an "internet dork" I have become as I spoke about the possibilities of IPTV and the internet to would be activists, candidates and campaign managers. Overall, I thought the discussion of the Internet and blogosphere was basic but beneficial for those in attendance.

One thing that was an eye opener for me was the limited access to broadband or high speed Internet for a lot of people in Toledo and the surrounding area. I hope that the Wi Fi Toledo initiative can alleviate some of that burden.

We also have to continue to teach people how to effectively use the Internet. We need to do a better job at getting people to be less fearful when it comes to computers and the Internet. I am not Captain Technology nor am I Mr. Website, mostly I am curious, self-taught, and trained by my business partner who is blind. If he can do it, anyone who can read has the ability to learn how to navigate the web. So whenever I hear someone say they are computer illiterate, I have to laugh. If you can read, you can surf the web, design your own blog, or conduct intelligent research.

Overall, I believe the way we get our information is changing. That change will affect other areas of our lives, hopefully for the better.