For some time now the RIAA and MIAA have been doing their best to stop people from downloading licensed content, but with limited success. The RIAA has even went as far as filing lawsuits against the very audience it seeks to sell its product to.

Even more, the RIAA was the first to demonstrate that not too many organizations know how to take a proactive approach to diminish the activity that is costing them dearly. The MIAA, on the other hand, has taken steps in the right direction. They have set up a system called Movielink, where people can download movies legally. Sure, they pay a fee, but it’s easy to find and legal – less hassles. In time, with this idea, they will prosper, where others have failed.

Sometimes it’s hard to embrace something that can destroy you. Sun-tzu said it best – ‘Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.’

So the hype has hit the political world, now? We have to candidates that are taking the Democratic platform by storm, but why?

Remember, just because someone can speak well, it does not mean they can lead well. To find someone who can do both is just good fortune.

Apparently a peace sign, in Christmas wreath form, is offending some home owners in a Colorado subdivision. Bob Kearns, president of the Loma Linda Homeowners Association in Pagosa Springs, has sent letters to the home owner, telling her that if the wreath is not removed she will be required to pay $25 a day.

Bah, hum-bug to Bob, too. We know what will be in his stocking.

Is is Christmas season again? And with the season comes the silly dreams that children have of new toys, while parents have their hopes crushed of making their kids popular with the most sought-after toys.

So, on Christmas Eve, while kids are dreaming of when mom and dad will recover from that fist fight that landed them a black eye and a night in jail, and just hoping that what comes down the chimney isn’t Santa’s form of saying ‘This is for your parents,’ all while smelling up the house while he warms his butt cheeks and reads the paper, I will wonder what happened to the spirit of Christmas. It seems to have lost its magic.

Why is it that health care expenses continue to climb to points where so many can no longer afford to insure themselves, or their families? What are these individuals to do to provide for themselves, spouse or children?

When the cost of healthcare rises to the amount of one’s mortgage, and in many cases it’s more that someone makes, then people will end up going without.

Which would strike you more – a sexual predator lurking in your neighborhood or a killer that was convicted for the slaughter of an innocent child, one that was sentenced to three life sentences – and is out on parole?

Danny Rouse “stabbed or cut” a Kansas woman “with a knife 12 times”, then cut the throat of her 5 year old son while he slept, in 1979. And Kansas was smart enought to let this guy go free? Nice… now our residents must bury a child…

It’s the story of my life. ‘Please Try Again’. Every time I open a bottle of Mountain Dew, or get a candy bar or go to McDonalds. I don’t bother playing the lottery…

I want to see the world the way it makes sense to me, so I will continue to vote for those who best suit my ideas. Someday, maybe, it will move mountains. In the meantime I will keep looking under the caps of my Dew bottles…

Why is President Bush disregarding our history? It’s not okay to leave people without any hope of a trial, no matter who they are. It’s not okay to torture. It’s not okay to do your own will, and turn your nose at those who elected you into office and pay your salary!

The American political system is a tragedy. Is it all the fault of the president? Not really. Who gave him the authority. We voted him in, and frequently sit in silence. And then there’s the representatives that do not question him, or themselves, often enough…

Define a ‘dead-beat dad’. Is it a person who refuses to help support his children, or someone who cannot afford to? Either way, with todays laws, it is punishable. It is also ridiculous.

I am for making sure fathers help support their children, but there has to be limitations in place. An atricle I read in a local paper shows how the system is being abused. There is nothing said in this article as to why he has been reprimanded. Is this person truly a dead-beat, or has our child support system made life too hard on him?

So, at what point does the person that is paying support stop making payments, just so they can survive too? $450/wk – $200 /four chilren – $150 / maintenance = $400 to live on a month. That’s rent. That’s paying more in maintenance than what the person brings home. That isn’t right, but it’s a very real figure. Could you do it?