Serving Bread

A few years ago, the record industry made headlines by suing 26,000 people for illegally downloading music. Most defendants settled for a few thousand dollars. But not Jammie Thomas, who decided to go to court. Unfortunately, that was a big mistake—a $222,000 mistake. The jury found her guilty of file sharing and ordered her to pay a huge fine. The article was not clear whether the industry went after downloaders or sharers. Regardless, don’t share your music illegally.

Another thing that caught my eye is that we may face a toy shortage come this holiday season. There is yet another recall for Chinese-made toys.  It seems that there will be many disappointed children. I do find it telling that millions of people (if not billions) around the world face shortages in more important and urgent matters—food and water. The pain you will hear from American middle class parents and children will hardly matter when we recognize what is important and what is not.

And finally, I disagree with but appreciate Senator John McCain’s recent remarks in reflection of President Bush’s words to Americans after 9/11. If you recall, Bush told Americans to do business as usual (and especially to go shopping) as a way of returning to normalcy (and most likely to bless the American economy). McCain thought Bush should have called Americans to enlist. I agree with McCain that responding to 9/11 by shopping is poor leadership and a poor solution. I disagree that calling Americans to enlist would have been the most proper response. Though in all honesty, I’m not sure what the proper way of leadership would have satisfied me.