Democratic Participation for the day

Right, so it's time for some posts.

Up first: I spent some time this morning to contact my House Representative to thank him for sponsoring the Webcaster Settlement Act of 2008, and my senators to urge them to support the Senate vote on it. The bill is HR 7084 (in this instance the Senate is voting on the House number). My democratic good deed for the day.

Technological progress on the internet requires a reasonable approach to copyright and royalties. Under the current system it is cost-prohibitive to run an internet radio station, and unless the current practices are settled in an equitable manner between the copyright-holders and the stations, this branch of the internet will wither. Personally, I have Pandora running most of the time I'm by a computer (such as right now!), and my wife prefers to listen to Seattle's local NPR music station on the web, as Miami's is kindof terrible.