9/21    Emacs sucks.
emacs user was here
\- you may wish to use:
(defun next-line (arg)
  "Move cursor vertically down ARG lines.
   ... If at the end of the buffer, it will add up to
  next-line-max-inserted-newlines newline characters to
  allow moving to the next line."
  (interactive "p")
  (if (= arg 1)
      (let ((opoint (point)))
        (forward-line 1)
        (if (or (= opoint (point))
                (not (eq (preceding-char) ?\n)))
            (if (< (- (point)
                      (save-excursion
                        (skip-chars-backward "\n")
                        (point)))
                   next-line-max-inserted-newlines)
                (insert ?\n))
          (goto-char opoint)
          (next-line-internal arg)))
    (next-line-internal arg))
  nil)
\_ Just add (setq next-line-add-newlines nil) to your ~/.emacs.
   \- the above lets you pick how many blank-lines are ok. i set to 2.
      i find this more useful than the binary option.