Goal is collect 50,000 signatures by Monday
John Silver, FreePress.net exec. dir -- Online music is in danger. A recent ruling by an obscure regulatory board threatens to put independent and public radio on the Internet out of business.
The "Copyright Royalty Board" is dramatically increasing the royalties "webcasters" must pay every time they stream a song online. Public Internet radio like NPR is especially at risk.
The rules could shut down nonprofit and smaller commercial Internet radio outlets and force larger webcasters to play the same cookie-cutter music as Clear Channel. So much for new online alternatives.
Rescue Internet Radio: Sign the Petition
This is not just another petition. The Copyright Royalty Board isn't used to hearing from the public, so your action can really make a difference. And we need to stop them before the new charges go into effect.
Artists must be compensated for their work. But the new regulations don't even differentiate between public outlets, small upstarts, and the largest commercial companies. The proposed increase would silence many outlets that play independent artists and musical genres you can't find anymore on the radio dial.
As soon as smaller webcasters start to attract a sizable audience, the royalty costs would be astronomical -- and likely fatal. And nonprofit stations like NPR should not be forced to pay so much money that they actually fear an increase in their listeners.
Industry-wide consolidation has destroyed musical diversity and shut out independent and local artists on broadcast radio. We can't let the same thing happen on the Internet.
The Copyright Royalty Board -- or if necessary, Congress -- needs to fix the rules so that artist and musicians thrive alongside a new generation of Internet radio webcasters. Send them a message by adding your name to our petition.
sign petition to save free Internet radio
female boxer sues for unequal treatment
When 31 year-old boxer Lisa Kuronya and her coach went to participate in the hard-earned honor of competing in a national amateur boxing championship last year, they were in for a shock. Remember the shame of Josephine Baker having to enter an American club through the kitchen? It was kind of like that. This lawsuit may become significant, depending on the outcome.
The following excerpts are recut from Gregory D. Kesich's finely done article Female boxer, coach sue over unequal treatment, for the Portland Press Herald and the Maine Sunday Telegram.
"While male boxers and their coaches received free airline tickets and were put up at the U.S. Olympic Training Center, Kuronya and her coach, Bobby Russo, bought their own tickets and paid for their own rooms at a roadside motel.
And when the male boxers and their coaches ate for free at the center's cafeteria, Kuronya and Russo had to take a taxi into town and eat at an Applebee's.
Kuronya and Russo filed a civil rights lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Portland on Thursday against United States Amateur Boxing Inc., alleging their treatment was a violation of state and federal laws that prohibit sex-based discrimination. They hope to be compensated for their expenses and force the governing body of their sport to recognize the effort and commitment women boxers make to their sport.
The justification
Canino said that when she has complained about the treatment, she has been told women are treated differently because they are not yet eligible for the Olympic Games.
There will be no women's boxing at the 2008 games, but there could be women in exhibition bouts in 2012.
How the law works
USA Boxing receives funding from the U.S. Olympic Committee, which, according to Germani, was created by federal law and passes federal money to its member organizations.
Germani said both organizations have an educational mission, which makes them subject to Title IX, the federal law that requires equal treatment for men and women in school athletics.
In the course of the lawsuit, she said, the governing body will have to explain why they treat the women boxers so differently.
History
According to historians, women have been boxers since the 1700s, but the sport took off among women in 1993, when a lawsuit by 16-year-old female boxer Dallas Malloy of Bellingham, Wash., forced USA Boxing to lift its ban on bouts between women.
USA Boxing has sponsored a Women's National Championship since 1997, and the same year sponsored a World Boxing Championship. USA Boxing counts almost 2,000 women as dues-paying members.
Women's boxing is not an Olympic sport, but USA Boxing has sponsored a team of elite female boxers to fight in international competitions. Kuronya, who lives in Portland, is a member of the team. She traveled to India and Argentina last year at the association's expense.
A spokeswoman for USA Boxing Inc. confirmed that women boxers have been excluded from the dormitories and the cafeteria during previous national championships, which are supported by funds from the U.S Olympic Committee."
chocolate mini cheesecakes
For when you've been good. Or the world's been bad.
Place paper cupcake liners for mini cups into mini cupcake pan. Mix crust.
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. brown sugar, not packed
1/4 c. oil, butter, whatever
1/8 c. baking cocoa powder
Mix, press small amount into bottoms of paper cups. Bake for five minutes at 350.
Mix filling.
1 8-0z. pkg. cream cheese
1/4 c. sugar
1 TBS flour
1 large egg
vanilla
1/4 c. baking cocoa powder
Spoon into cups. Bake 15 - 20 minutes.
Optional - One crust mix is pressed into cups, add three chocolate chips, then bake. When cakes are completely baked and you take them out of the oven, add a few more chips on top of the cakes.
Buffalo for the Broken Heart
Simply unforgettable. Moving to the core. If you're a thoughtful person who connects with the land, this is a book that will stay with you forever. Warning: it may put you off eating cows forever.
From Publishers Weekly
Veteran writer, rancher and environmentalist O'Brien (The Rites of Autumn) deftly chronicles his decision to restore buffalo to his 1,000-plus-acre South Dakota ranch for the first time in more than a century. Some 20 years before this life-changing decision, O'Brien was drawn by visions of "grass swaying in the wind to infinity and a sky that takes up half the world" to purchase the Broken Heart ranch. Despite his passion for the Great Plains and "the wild things that share the place," most of the intervening years were devoted to making a going concern of his cattle operation. Then, in January 1998, a recently divorced O'Brien sold his cows and purchased 13 buffalo "runts" from a neighbor. From this initial "crew of ragamuffins" he eventually built a herd of 100, assuming considerable financial risk to acquire the animals and construct eight miles of five-foot-high, barbed wire buffalo fence around his property. O'Brien reflects on how the symbiotic relationship between the animals and the prairie helped return his land to health. In contrast, he documents the difficulties of raising cattle, "sort of ungulate tourist[s]" ill-suited to the harsh plains landscape. Relying on his natural storytelling ability and a gift for character development, O'Brien interweaves his own experiences with a history of the region and engaging portraits of his neighbors. The result is a moving story of one man's love for a place and his desire to "make the land whole again."
