Praises for Brownback

Just from the title of this, I’m going to be watching out for lightning to strike me. Usually, Sen. Brownback is the sort of psycho neo-con that I despise, but he did something pretty good last week. I received an email from Pandora Radio saying,

I’m just writing to thank you and your Senator, Sam Brownback, for your wonderful support of Pandora and Internet radio. Last week, Senator Brownback played the pivotal role in reviving the momentum of the Internet Radio Equality Act, which would set music royalties for Internet radio at the same level satellite and cable radio currently pay.

After a year of fruitless negotiation with the RIAA, we are now compelled to bring the fight for rate fairness back to the nation’s capital. In an attempt to thwart the will of music fans everywhere, the large record labels have been defying a Congressional request to reach a reasonable settlement on Internet radio royalties.

For more info on this, click here. (pdf)

This is great news!!! The recording industry has been acting like they are some sort of non-profit charity that is the sole means of bringing music to the masses, and since (if you are very tech-savvy and have gobs of free time on your hands) music can be recorded from a live stream and saved on the computer, they are trying to screw people who want to offer free internet radio right out of business. Who knows if it was a sense of fair play or new medication that caused this change of heart by Sen. Brownback, but kudos to him, I say.

Here’s a little hint, Senator, direct from me to you. Continued action in the interests of the people of Kansas instead of the corporations might save your sorry ass from the unemployment line when it comes re-election time in a few years. I plan on calling Sen. Brownback this afternoon to thank him for this. Remember, if you want your Sens. and Reps. to work for you, do as much calling to thank them for the good things as you do to bitch about the bad things.

Bread, peace and freedom.