I’ve had Sirius for probably 4 or 5 years now.  Within that period I also had XM for a month and hated it.  I’ve stuck with Sirius and loved every minute of it.  Between Neil and I, I would say we’ve sold a dozen people or more on the service.  It truly has something for everyone.  Initially I was very disappointed to hear that the two wanted to merge.  I though prices would go up from reduced competition.  I thought the play lists would become a Clear Channel knock-off like XM more commercial.  Actually, these things will still probably happen, but there’s not all bad news coming out of this:

Among the conditions that both companies had already accepted were à la carte programming that would give consumers flexibility in which channels they pay for, the permission for any electronics company to develop devices that would receive the service and a price freeze for three years.

Shares in both companies rose on Wednesday in anticipation of approval. XM rose 94 cents, or 10.3 percent, to close at $10.04. Sirius closed at $2.68, up 30 cents, or 12.6 percent.

Customized programming and better numbers from both companies is definitely something I can get behind.  We can only hope that the à la carte programming is a huge success and cable and satellite television providers follow suit.  Source.

According to a Rockefeller Foundation poll, 85% of us believe that the country is on the wrong track.  Nearly half of those between ages 18 and 29 say America was better in the 90s.  People in that age group weren’t that old in he 90s, however, and you should probably ask their parents what they think.  82% want public works projects, paid for, of course, by our taxes, to save the economy.  70% say more government programs should help those now struggling.

Why do so many people think that the government that got us into this financial mess actually has the power or the know-how to fix things?  Why is everybody giving up and holding out their hands to wait for the government to take care of them?  Where is the work ethic that once pushed people to either work more or make yourself worth more to earn more money?

The amount of government we have has gotten us to where we are now.  More government will only mean more taxes and more problems.  We need to eliminate income tax and personal property tax right off the bat.  From there we need to reduce our military involvement from 130 countries around the world to one: ours.  We need to stop foreign aid and take of ourselves for a change.

We need to drastically reconfigure our government to a simpler, more economical version, the likes of which we haven’t seen for nearly 100 years.  But as long as 70% of people think MORE government is the answer, we will only continue along this path of decline.  That being the case, it looks more and more like our experiment in democracy is failing and this country is being swallowed by socialism.