I walked through a county courthouse square
On a park bench, an old man was sittin' there.
I said, "Your old court house is kinda run down,
He said, "Naw, it'll do for our little town".
I said, "Your old flag pole is leaned a little bit,
And that’s a ragged old flag you got hangin' on it".
He said, "Have a seat", and I sat down,
"Is this the first time you've been to our little town"
I said, "I think it is"
He said "I don’t like to brag, but we’re kinda proud of
That Ragged Old Flag

( ... ) She waved from our ships upon the briny foam
and now they've about quit wavin' back here at home
in her own good land here She’s been abused,
She's been burned, dishonored, denied an' refused,
And the government for which she stands
Has been scandalized throughout out the land.
And she’s getting thread bare, and she’s wearin' thin,
But she’s in good shape, for the shape she’s in.
Cause she’s been through the fire before
and i believe she can take a whole lot more.

"So we raise her up every morning
And we bring her down slow every night,
We don’t let her touch the ground,
And we fold her up right.
On second thought
I *do* like to brag
Cause I’m mighty proud of
That Ragged Old Flag"

Johnny Cash - Life - Ragged Old Flag

"How-To: BroadCatching using RSS + BitTorrent to automatically download TV shows"

Most broadcast television comes with the disclaimer that personal recording is OK, but it cannot be redistributed, so anyone uploading this content is probably breaking the law. Cable channels like HBO and Showtime also have clauses about redistributing their content. The exception might be public television - like PBS.?

While I can respect the media company's right to make money, I think its time to embrace this new technology rather than try to litigate it to death. Seriously, its time for new business models. I don't think its a battle they can win in the long run. Already I think there is rift between the consumer and the producer - adversarial almost.

Letter of the law aside, I followed the HOWTO and can see an episode of The Daily Show with John Stewart streaming in. Will I go to hell or just be sued to the point of wishing I were in hell?

by Jim Walker

"Many Religious Right activists have attempted to rewrite history by asserting that the United States government derived from Christian foundations, that our Founding Fathers originally aimed for a Christian nation. This idea simply does not hold to the historical evidence.

Of course many Americans did practice Christianity, but so also did many believe in deistic philosophy. Indeed, most of our influential Founding Fathers, although they respected the rights of other religionists, held to deism and Freemasonry beliefs rather than to Christianity."

-courtesy of

contentlove's article by way of

sheilagh.

See also: