The concert at the Lincoln Memorial today. Isn't it great!

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Originally Posted by riooso

Your condescending attitude is duly noted and, as it has been brought to my attention, should be appreciated!

Thank you and God Bless,
Richard

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This sentence doesn't make sense to me. But if I offended you, why would you thank me and bless me? Is that sarcasm?

Regarding the HBO thing, I have no idea how the media works. I am happy to have been able to save the concert on some digital Tivo type thing we got from the cable TV company. However, I wish it were on regular broadcast so everyone could enjoy it.

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Originally Posted by Ditch Doc

http://straightrazorpalace.com/membe...alter-reed.jpg

This guy was so hard core, he couldn't let me go home from visiting DC without taking me around town. It was February, and we went every where with his Farking jaw piece freezing. He never complained a bit. Then he shared his visit with the President with us because we were the only people from the unit to come see him. We sent an email to the FRG after that, telling them they suck for not taking care of soldiers. They told us we owed them an apology. What a bunch of attention whores. They only wanted people to see "how much they care" at funerals. Fark them. When I got hit. NO ONE came to see me. Sorry for venting. The Lincoln memorial does that to me. Oh, yeah,m FARK HBO.

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Ditch,

I for one thank you for your service and your sacrifice and that of your friends and unit as well.

Whether one agrees with the war or not, it is the task that you and those like you do, that allows us to remain snug in our beds, safe and sound.


Thank you.

Tony

I can't tell you how great it was to see Pete Seeger, still out there and still causing discomfort to the powerful and complacent.

When they started singing "This Land is Your Land," I immediately wondered if they'd really, truly sing the words that Woody wrote. But then, I figured, hell, Pete's there. He'll sing it right if he has to sing it alone. And sure enough, they sang the real, live, give-em-hell version.

I grew up in the town where Pete lives, so I've seen him countless times. He even came into my high school English class one time. We were reading The Grapes of Wrath, and he came in to sing songs of the dustbowl days. I don't know how to explain adequately what a great guy he is, and what a national treasure.

I was a bit put out that only HBO could broadcast the thing. I only saw Pete's performance on a You-tube page that was later taken down. I suppose it costs money to put these things on. The Park Service owns the land and manages it, but they don't own sound systems and broadcast equipment.

Oh, well.

j

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Originally Posted by riooso

I was hoping I could at least see part if it. I do not have HBO, I do not have internet that can support streaming video. I get the 3 main stations and an independent, that is it! How come it is that the everyone talks about helping the small guy yet don't want to hear from the peanut gallery. The reason I brought this up is that if people would not have allowed the big guys come in buy the thing up and then restrict access I would have been able to see it. The big guys should not be allowed to come in and buy things up that belong to, and are paid for, by all the people even a small guy like me, someone who does not HBO and does not have streaming video! Get it!

The insensitivity of the big city elitists continues. This is a historic event in American history and it is a good thing that a least the swearing in and the inaugural address is not bought and paid for and will be covered by all the media. Your condescending attitude is duly noted and, as it has been brought to my attention, should be appreciated!

Thank you and God Bless,
Richard

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I thought for a while whether to post again and decided in favor of it.
Basically I would have preferred that it were broadcast. The reality however is that the television in US is private, that's part of capitalism at work. Short of the government starting to provide broadcast television, which isn't a topic of vigorous debate, one or several of the big guys would have to bring it to you. And as you know these big guys don't do it for free.
You don't like to pay for a cable, or broadband internet access, that is fine it is your choice. But in the absence of any evidence to the contrary I don't find it very plausible that even if they had the option to do so, one of the broadcasters would actually broadcast the concert. They have to get something in exchange for providing you entertainment, you know. They pay the government licensing fees for broadcasting, they have for all the equipment and personal necessary, they pay all the bills involved in the transmission of it...
Even if the entertainment is free, the way that it gets to you isn't. And you just haven't paid for that last part that is not free.
From what I gather HBO did not charge for broadcasting it so any cable provider could choose to pass these savings and let all of their customers, even those who haven't subscribed to HBO view it.

Basically HBO bought themselves advertisement. They paid the government to be the exclusive distributor of a product, which they then gave for free. If anybody restricted you from enjoying the free entertainment that was you. Or do you know if there was a nationally broadcasting radiostation willing to broadcast the concert live for free and they were denied the opportunity?

In any case my issue is not with the broadcast of the show, but with this sense of entitlement to something so inessential as entertainment. I don't think the government owed anybody anything. It's a free concert, everybody was free to arrive by their favorite means of transportation to the site of the event and enjoy it.
And the other issue that irked me is this out of nowhere generalization that the failure of the government to provide even more accessible entertainment than they did is evidence of some deep conspiracy to further enrich the powerful at the expense of the small guys.

As I said there are much much bigger problems and I will derive my opinion on the new administration based on how these are addressed if at all. That's because the world is not perfect and it is not going to be, so given this I like things that are high priority to be improved before things that are low priority.

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Originally Posted by gugi

The reality however is that the television in US is private

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Or privately owned anyway. PBS is a nonprofit public broadcaster, but I think I understand what you mean.

The inauguration was broadcast freely over the air waves on radio though. I don't recall an amendment guaranteeing the public's right to television at all, although I think I ought to be able to take a camera to the event and broadcast it to whomever I choose, as it is a public event.

Yes this seems low priority, but there is a strange feel to it off the heels of the symbolism used in the Presidential campaign regarding the priority of fiscal responsibility and wise economic decisions regarding the state of the hurting economy