“Valentine’s Day” and “Invictus” are available nowon DirecTV! If you want to rent them from Netflix or Redbox you’ll have to wait – 28 days! Man, is DirecTV great or what!?
Or what. We could question whether we need earlier video releases for these and other films. After all, if you weren’t willing to pay $10 to see a film in the theatre what difference will another 28 days make? And if you did catch them at the theatre, are you really chomping at the bit to drop $5 to see them before they come out on Netflix? But set that point aside, because DirecTV is not going to show you any of these movies any earlier than you have become accustomed to.
Netflix made a deal to increase their film streaming library. The concession they made was the 28 day delay. So now you can pay DirecTV $4.99 to watch a movie on pay-per-view when you would have been able to just add it to your Netflix queue before. Blockbuster agreed to pay the studios their extortion money to be allowed to keep offering movies as soon as they come out on DVD. Redbox didn’t. It’s all part of the slow-motion dance toward the holy grail of streaming and/or downloadable entertainment – anything we want, anytime and anywhere we want it. One day we’ll get there; in the meantime, I can wait 28 days.
Let’s cut to the chase. So-called pro-life groups are not limiting their goals to the banning of late term abortions, or even all abortions. They are employing strategies that would ultimately eliminate most reliable forms of birth control and dictate everyone’s reproductive life.
Anti-choice groups abide by the mantra that “life begins at conception” and have unilaterally decided that women are obligated to bring a zygote to full term, regardless of circumstances. In February, Florida Representatives Charles Van Zant (R-Palatka) and Chris Dorworth (R-Lake Mary) filed a bill that would have banned abortion in Florida and which further declared, “The Legislature of the people of the State of Florida finds that all life comes from the Creator and begins at conception.” Read more…»
I’ve got a problem with red light cameras. They’re yet another instance of giving us a false sense of security while not solving the problem. The pending red light camera bill is purely a money grab by municipalities that have been unable to balance their budgets and are afraid to raise taxes openly. It’s not about safety and doesn’t do anything to decrease red light running. In fact, if it follows the pattern of other states that have instituted the heavy use of red light cameras, it may end up making intersections more dangerous.
If we’re trying to reduce red light running, let’s do it in a comprehensive manner, based on actual research. Which, first, means making the yellow lights a second longer. Georgia did it and found that red light running was reduced by 80%. Even months after the increased yellow time took effect (and in contradiction of the cameras’ proponents who predicted that the reduction would be short lived, as drivers became accustomed to the longer yellow lights) there were 50-60% fewer citations. Read more…»
So if I’m planning on speaking Spanish in Arizona, do I need to carry my passport? Maybe my birth certificate? What if I don’t have one? Guess I’m going to jail. Doesn’t sound quite fair to me. Read more…»
Nebraska just enacted two laws that are designed not just to erode access to safe abortions but, primarily, to pave the way to the Supreme Court to set up a challenge to existing abortion rights. Read more…»
