Why I Hate Lawyers...

Here's a couple stories to remind you of why the legal system in this country is so clogged.

-In the early days of the Internet, I was quite the music downloader. But over the last couple of years, I've scaled it back a lot. There's not any one reason why I did this, more like several factors converging together. It could be that I'm maturing and now realize that downloading music is wrong. It also might be that I can't find a safe program to download music and I'm paranoid that my computer is going to get infected with a nasty virus (this is also what stops me from picking women up in bars). Another factor could be that there is less and less music worth hunting for. Seriously, most of what's coming out lately is shit. But, the main factor is probably that my luck is the type which sees my car fail inspection for the emergency brake holding to only 1300 rpm, not 1500, while most times cars get through without that even getting tested. And, since I don't have an extra $2 million sitting around, I should probably not risk it.

Ok, I get the basic premise that artist are allowed to be compensated for their work. I'm all for that. But, let's not get crazy. No song, not even "Stairway to Heaven," is worth $80,000. The music industry is always complaining that illegal downloading is killing the record companies. I've seen many episodes of MTV's Cribs - these people aren't hurting that much. Also, maybe if they didn't spend thousands of dollars on legal fees as they go after single moms with no means to pay ridiculous settlements then their books would look a little better.

-Usually I'm reluctant to judge people before I've had a chance to meet them. I like to make my own judgement on people. Just cause you think that someone is hilarious, it doesn't mean I'm going to find that person funny. However, there are exceptions. For example, unless I find out that this guy will be giving all this settlement money away to charity (breast cancer research jumps to mind) then I'm willing to concede that he and I wouldn't want to hang out.