Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (more commonly known as ATF) is an agency within the U.S. Department of Justice that prevents against terrorism, reduces violent crime, and protects the Nation as a whole. The ATF was created in 1972 after many additions to the program. The Constitution first stated that NO alcohol was allowed at all, but that amendment was soon ratified. In a few years they created restrictions on tobacco, and in 1942, the firearms portion was added.

Surprisingly, the ATF deals with Firearms, Explosives and Tobacco/Alcohol. Out of these, I think that regulating and searching for Explosives is the most important. The basic job of the people in this area is to search a community if there seems to be risky business going on. The explosives keep criminal activity and accidental detonations as under control as possible. They risk their lives in order to keep the public safe.

Cite: http://www.atf.treas.gov/

Picture From: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/94/US-AlcoholTobaccoFirearmsAndExplosives-Seal.svg/200px-US-AlcoholTobaccoFirearmsAndExplosives-Seal.svg.png

Changing Their Tunes

In this article, it is being explained that artists are losing a great deal of money due to iTunes. Albums on iTunes are available for 10-15 dollars, while single songs will not be sold for more then 99 cents. Some artists feel as if they are being short handed, and that their unitary albums are being torn apart. Managers are taking a stand against the iTunes business by not allowing their client's work to be sold virtually. Kid Rock is an example of this. His newest album is not available on iTunes, but as it points out in the article, this may cause a great deal of illegal downloading, which in turn loses more money then if the songs were sold on iTunes. On the other hand, artist's whos songs are available as individuals on iTunes have made an extreme amount of sales.
My opinion is that artists are making enough money already. By making virtual music available, it makes it much easier to get a hold of. For example, we live in Hot Springs. Hot Springs is far enough away from a "music store" that we can't purchase a c.d. whenever we feel the urge. The internet makes it easy to get our favorite music efficiently. The artists may lose a few thousand dollars on one song, but they may also make that much money with another. In conclusion, the artists should be glad that we want to purchase their songs from iTunes in the first place, when we could just download it illegally.