We've still got a few more hours to have some shit happen, so let's have it!

NPR and PBS are losing their federal funding most likely. It's up to the senate to save it, but they probably won't this time around. I've been listening to NPR bitch all day about this with the possible pro's and con's. Personally, I'm not quite sure what to think of this yet.

House approved flag-burning amendment. Oh joy…. let's just repeal the 22nd Amendment while we're at it. Oh wait, they're trying to. Ok then, how about the 1st Amendment? That'd solve a bunch of problems for the Bush as King campaign.

USC Title 18 Section 2257 requires porn producers to maintain records of the ages of every perfomer they use. Starting tomorrow any website that has explicit images is now a “secondary producer” and must maintain records. What is considered explicit is widely debatable, but every website owner is directly responsible for the content of it, even if they are widely public forums, or the content in question isn't porn at all. It may be interpreted by someone else as such and you'd have to prove it's yours and it's legal. But given how people have been arrested for taking photos of their babies which were assumed to be kiddie porn, this isn't going to go over very well.

The broadcast flag was sneaked back into the Senate Appropriations Bill, a place where IIRC things are passed without even giving a looking at, for federal funding of usually worthless and overpriced local projects that someone somewhere is supporting their rep well to get passed. Things like $100,000 to build a few hundred feet of gravel road at a state campsite. So why this is in there, I don't know, but here likely goes your right to record and timeshift tv. I'm still waiting to find out what happened there.

edit: apparently nothing happened with the broadcast flag. the bill was passed without amendment. what really happened and brought this whole thing up is still up for discussion, but be assured, it will return. **AA won't rest until they can fine you millions for not attending a movie on opening night.