It's gotten to the point where I almost can't tell reality from satire 
anymore.

garymaher@juno.com wrote:

>'Tis the season:
>
>DECEMBER 2, 2005 - WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the wake of Tuesday's
>announcement by the Recording Industry Association of America that it was
>investigating whether those who tell friends about new music might be
>breaking copyright laws (http://www.theonion.com/content/node/43029), it
>was revealed today that the as the holiday season approaches, the RIAA
>has been lobbying Congress intensely to enact legislation prohibiting
>Americans from giving prerecorded compact discs as gifts.  When
>questioned about it, Mitch Bainwol, the RIAA's Chairman and CEO, admitted
>to the lobbying campaign and explained the rationale for the
>organization's efforts:  "It is an indisputable fact that if someone
>manages to come into possession of a CD, that person can easily make a
>limitless supply of illegal copies.  If this person has received the CD
>as a gift, then this person never even paid for the CD which is the
>source of all these illegal copies.  The best way to curtail this
>patently illegal conduct is to prohibit people from misusing CDs by
>giving them to otherse."  Bainwol says his organization strongly
>disagrees with those who claim that the ability to give CDs as gifts
>actually increases sales.  "We have studies that prove exactly the
>opposite.  You can arrive at the same result using basic common sense.  I
>mean, if someone receives a CD as a gift, they haven't paid a penny for
>it, have they?  How can that not destroy our business?  In any event,
>these are our products, so we should be able to control how people use
>them."
>
>  
>


-- 
Sam Smith, PhD
1805 Brantley St.
Winston-Salem NC 27103
336.480.6179 /m
sam@lullabypit.com
http://www.lullabypit.com

...it's a lonesome thing to be passing small towns with the 
lights shining sideways when the night is down, or going in 
strange places with a dog nosing before you and a dog nosing 
behind, or drawn to the cities where you'd hear a voice 
kissing and talking deep love in every shadow of the ditch, 
and you passing on with an empty, hungry stomach failing 
from your heart. 

                    - John Millington Synge