LibBits

MOMMYCRATS CALL ONE CORRECTLY

"Democrats call guns a threshold or gatekeeper issue that determines whether voters listen to their candidates talk about jobs, education and other subjects."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20020218/ts_usatoday/3867078>

GOVERNMENT HATES FREE TRADE

The US Copyright Office finally released http://www.loc.gov/copyright/carp/webcasting_rates.html their suggested webcast royalty fees, and it looks like corporations (major labels and corporate AM/FM radio) have purchased another arm of the American Government to do their bidding. If this fee gets approved, 3WK and other independent webcasters will cease to exist, and major labels will control your access to music on the internet.

Not only are the fees disastrous for the fledgling webcasting industry ($9000 per month for 3WK - 3 times our revenue), but they are twice the rate that AM/FM webcasters have to pay. And to make matters worse, this is a retroactive fee back to 1998. With this suggested fee 3WK would owe almost $200,000 - more than 10 times our revenue for this period. One more kick in the ass, is that for every song we play we would have to report 25 pieces of information including where each of you listens from and when - a serious breach of your privacy.

3WK plays 100's of new and unsigned artists, and introduces well over a million people each year to music they will never hear on their local FM radio. Any artist played on 3WK gets unlimited free advertising each and every time their song is played. At a MINIMUM our internet airplay generates $100,000 each year in CD sales for artists, many of whom would not have had a market for their music other than touring. If 3WK and other indies go out of business, where will these artists get airplay? And where will you go to discover new artists and new music?

By law, the Copyright Office must give time for people to react to this proposal but you MUST RESPOND by March 11. Make your voice heard by contacting the US Copyright Office and your Senate and House Representatives. Tell all your friends to do the same and we'll flood their email servers and post-offices to get this proposal stopped! (We all needed a good fight this year, right?)

Library of Congress
Copyright Office
101 Independence Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20559-6000

E-mail comments to [email protected]

Please copy [email protected]

Also snail mail letter here:

Source: http://www.3wk.com/copyright.htm

"SHADOW GOVERNMENT" IS ALIVE, WELL, AND IN HIDING

And the authority to transfer of power to unelected bureaucrats is granted in which article of the US Constitution?

See:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A20584-2002Feb28.html