Soon you'll need a license to sing a major scale

The Congress just can't stop itself from giving more and more power to copyright vultures.

President Bush on Monday signed into law legislation creating a copyright czar, a cabinet-level position on par with the nation's drug czar.

Not satisfied with indefinitely extending the copyright of Mickey Mouse and "Happy Birthday to You", and perhaps thinking it's not sufficient to have the recording industry pursuing lawsuits against 12-year-olds and threatening $250,000 fines and prison terms against someone for posting a handful of songs on a website for a few hours, now we have to have a special Cabinet minister whose job it is to search through your wastebaskets and hard drives for possible violations.

Good to know the government has priorities for the nation's problems.