BREVITAS

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CORPORADOS

SLASHDOT - NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Lest there be anyone left who
believes the RIAA's propaganda that its litigation campaign is intended
to benefit the 'creators' of the music, Hollywood Reporter reports that
the RIAA is asking the Copyright Royalty Board to lower songwriter
royalties on song file downloads, from the present rate of 9 cents per
song - about 13% of the wholesale price - down to 8% of wholesale.
Meanwhile, the big digital music companies, such as Apple, want the
royalty rate lowered even more, to something like 4% of wholesale. So
any representations by any of these companies that they are concerned
for the 'creators' of the music must henceforth be taken with a
boxcar-load of salt."

http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdot/~3/229307238/article.pl

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ECO CLIPS

GREEN CLIPPINGS - US District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper has
struck down a waiver issued to the Navy by President Bush giving them
exemption from a previous court order requiring them to reduce harm to
whales and other marine mammals from sonar training. . . In rejecting
the Bush administration's waiver, Judge Cooper wrote: "The Navy's
current 'emergency' is simply a creature of its own making, i.e., its
failure to prepare adequate environmental documentation in a timely
fashion." Judge Cooper later added that the Navy's position "produces
the absurd result of permitting agencies to avoid their NEPA obligations
by re-characterizing ordinary, planned activities as 'emergencies' in
the interests of national security, economic stability, or other
long-term policy goals. . . . This cannot be consistent with
Congressional intent."

http://www.greenclippings.co.za/gc_main/article.php?story=20080205150708347


FOUR HUNDRED YEARS OF AMERICA'S FOREST CANOPY
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=17913


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OUTLYING PRECINCTS

RALPH NADER won the California Green primary with 61% of the vote.
Cynthia McKinney came in second with 26%.

GOVERNING - Chicago Tribune reports that voters in one Chicago ward
were told they were casting votes this morning with "magic" invisible
ink pens: "Apparently, said city election board spokesman James Allen,
the poll workers told incredulous voters - including one spouse of an
election judge - that the stylus used for touch-screen voting was
actually an inkless pen to fill out paper ballots." Makes altering
ballots later so much easier.

ROB LONG - In California, it is possible to drive an electric car with
your third wife for a stop at the holistic tea house run by your gay son
and his husband on the way to the polling place, where you will vote for
Arnold Schwarzenegger because he's a conservative, damn it, and that's
what this country needs. And if you get that, you get California; if you
don't, you don't.

ROLLING STONE - At some recent John McCain campaign rallies, John
Mellencamp's "Our Country" and "Pink Houses" have been booming out over
the speakers. Uplifting heartland rock must have seemed like a smart
pick, but there's just one problem: Mellencamp is an ardent Democrat.
And, until recently, he supported John Edwards - who had been playing
"Our Country" and "Small Town" at his rallies. Mellencamp hasn't yet
made a public response, but his reps are quietly reaching out to McCain
and asking him to stop playing his tunes. Not to mention that the
far-right types whose votes McCain is seeking won't love the mildly
progressive lyrics to "Our Country," which call on the government to
"help the poor and common man" and suggest that "there's room enough
here for science to live. . . And there's room enough here for religion
to forgive." And does McCain really want to associate himself with those
"Pink Houses" lines about the "simple man" paying for the "the thrills,
the bills and the pills that kill?"

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/02/04/
mellencamp-asks-mccain-to-stop-using-tunes/


GOVERNING - Clinton and Obama are tied with nine endorsements each from
mayors in the 50 largest cities. Clinton gets the edge because her
boosters represent more people than Obama's (9.1 million to 7.3
million), thanks in large part to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio
Villaraigosa. . . Unsurprisingly, the Republicans don't do nearly as
well. McCain is supported by four mayors and Romney two.

http://governing.typepad.com/13thfloor/2008/02/mayoral-endorse.html

GOVERNING - f you're wondering why San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
endorsed Hillary Clinton over Barack Obama, the SF Chronicle reports
that it's because Obama snubbed the mayor, refusing to pose for a
picture with him back when Newsom was taking heat for allowing gays to
marry at City Hall. Obama's people deny it, but former Mayor Willie
Brown tells the paper, "Why would I make it up?"

http://governing.typepad.com/13thfloor/2008/02/snub-you-lose.html

CASES OF FRAUD & DISENFRANCHISEMENT IN OHIO 2004
http://ohioelection2004.com/evidence.htm?1

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FURTHERMORE. . .

BABY SURVIVES FOUR-STORY FALL
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/europe/baby-survives-
fourstorey-drop-as-nine-die-in-flat-fire-778079.html


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