thepete’s posterous

Now you can show your love for JayThePal and financially support him
AT THE SAME TIME!

Over at Zazzle, you can find two different T-shirts featuring the eye-popping Jay ThePal logo--an economically sound, white Jay ThePal T-shirt for just $13 and a stylishly stylish black Jay ThePal T-shirt for just $22!

Buying these shirts helps make Jay ThePal's videos possible. So, if you can see your way clear to pick up either of them we'd really appreciate it! In fact, if you buy one, LET US KNOW and Jay ThePal will personally thank you in one of his videos and we'll link to your blog!

Don't know who Jay ThePal is?

Jay ThePal is a puppet-American living in New York City with his cousin Kay ThePal and his two human roommates, ThePete and Siskita. Jay has his own presence on the Web at 12seconds.tv, Twitter, Facebook, Chi.mp (http://jaythepal.mp ) and even has his own website at jay.thepal.us. If you haven't watched his 12s, his Jay The Vlogs or the first episode of Tee Vee with Jay and Kay (the first episode of a show he shot with his cousin Kay), you should check them out!

Yeah, good stuff, CNN! Glad you're on top of the story!

My sister-in-law, Lisa (she runs OnLisaReinsRadar.com ), Tweeted yesterday about how every day there's something new from the Obama camp that makes her what to ask "WTF?"

I agreed and suggested a daily ObamaWTF Tweet. Here's mine for today, taken from today's DemocracyNow.org headlines:

Obama Considers “Preventive Detention” for
Indefinite Jailings

The Obama administration, meanwhile, is reportedly considering a “preventive detention” system that would indefinitely jail terror suspects in the United States without bringing them to trial. The New York Times reports President Obama discussed the proposal at a meeting with human rights advocates at the White House. Two anonymous advocates told the Times that Obama indicated he favored applying the system to future cases, not prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay. Obama is set to deliver a speech later today outlining his plans on how to deal with closing Guantanamo.

Original here: http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/21/headlines#5 This'll be no big deal assuming Obama doesn't do it--but why is he considering this at all? I think there's an amendment in the Bill of Rights promising due process and a speedy trial or something like that.

http://www.terminateyourself.com/

Last month, the International Monetary Fund (not to be confused with
the Impossible Mission Force) revised their prediction that the
planet's economy would be back on its feet by 2009, saying it wouldn't
likely happen until 2010 at the earliest. Funny how, here it is,
2009, and they decide, as mid-year rapidly approaches, that
the economy won't be out of bed before December 31.
 
Really? What gave you that idea?
 
Sheesh. Why does the incompetent news media keep listening to the
incompetent money people who failed to see this mess coming at all?
 
They lied to hide that things were falling apart, they lied when
things were falling apart, why should we believe any of them now?
 
What's almost as bad as letting the people who caused this mess stay
in charge so they can fix it? Expecting those same people to be
honest and accurate when it comes to seeing the light at the end of
the tunnel.
 
If there is ANYTHING I have learned so far this century it's that
there is NOTHING that "experts" in government, finance or business
possess that should allow them to call themselves "experts." Whether
you're Jim Kramer, the dude in the White House, or the doughy white
guy in the picture in the CNN.com article I capped for this post
(original here:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/BUSINESS/04/22/imf.forecast/index.html ), odds
are you're so entrenched in the current system you're too blind to see
that system's blatant problems.
 
After the last, near-decade of messes, I feel like anyone who doesn't
end their claim with the phrase "I could be wrong" should not be
trusted. Hell, I'd be fine with a seeing a simple "IMHO" someplace in
a press release from the WHO or the NHS or NOAA or whomever.
 
If We, The People, have any brains, we're about to enter another era
like the 1960s, where the motto becomes "Question Everything" because
that's exactly what we should be doing. We've been trusting our
leaders in government and business to keep our civilization running
and we see now that we have been lied to across the board. So we need
to ask questions at every turn--stop trusting big business to tell us
what is going on with big government. Question it all--don't read one
article and be satisfied--find other sources in and outside the
country--talk to people about what you read, compare notes. Think for
yourself and, again, relive that motto from the 1960s: question
everything!
 
This time, though, let's lay of the drugs, OK? I think that crap made
the last generation forget all the stuff they were supposed to
question and that got us back into this mess. It's believed that Thomas Jefferson once said "The cost of freedom is eternal
vigilance." Where Tom said that or not, it's true.

Think about it: our system allows for legalized bribery. Every
politician is pro-corporate because that's where the overwhelming
majority of their campaign contributions come from. To keep those
contributions flowing (which allows them to keep getting re-elected)
politicians will do anything these corporate donors ask. Does it
really matter if one of them takes money from Coke instead of Pepsi?
Or barters favors with agribusinesses instead of the oil industry?
What happened to government for the people, by the people?
 
What's worse is that some companies and industries will give to both
parties to make sure that whomever wins, they'll have influence.
 
Back on April 13, 2009 Noam Chomsky was on Democracy Now and he addressed this issue this
way:

You can learn a lot from campaign contributions. In
fact, one of the best predictors of policy around is Thomas Ferguson’s
investment theory of politics, as he calls it—very outstanding
political economist—which essentially—I mean, to say it in a sentence,
he describes elections as occasions in which groups of investors
coalesce and invest to control the state. And he takes a look at the
formation of campaign contributors, and it gives you a surprisingly
good prediction of what policies are going to be. It goes back a
century, New Deal and so on. So, yeah, it can predict pretty well what
Obama is going to do. There’s nothing surprising about this. It’s the
norm in what’s called political democracy.

 
I know I'm quoting the infamous Noam Chomsky, but he's quoting Thomas
Ferguson and who cares as long as what they're both saying is
accurate?
 
Sure, there may be some slight ripples, but ultimately, the problems
with our system will still be there no matter which side of the aisle
Specter iss sitting on. Our system is built on corruption. Is it any
less corrupt because companies you like get their way?

This is right next to a Circuit City that is closing, too. When major chains in major tourist areas like Times Square and Union Square are unable to make enough money to stay open you know things are bad. After all, this is New York City for crying out loud.
 
But with all these Virgins closing I just want to know where I'm supposed to score my hipcool, preweathered, retro-t-shirts. I'm going to have to find other ways to announce my alma mater of Nintendo University and proclaim my love of American popculture translated into Japanese.
 
Either way I'll survive, but the economy is still bleeding out.

Guess we haven't hit bottom yet!

Geh... This is just sad beyond words. WashingtonPost.com is reporting that the Democrats in Washington are torn as to whether or not to go after Bush Admin officials for approving torture.
 
So, FOR YEARS there have been loads of evidence that the Bush Administration committed crimes. The GAO actually found that they had violated federal law (go to the GAO website and do a search for "covert propaganda"). We all know that acts of torture were committed in Iraq, we know the Bush Admin misled us into war in Iraq and mismanaged our war in Afghanistan.
 
Yet, no investigation let alone impeachment hearings for any Bushites.
 
The excuse while Bush was in office was "We can't impeach him now, there just aren't enough votes."
 
Then, once the Democrats took the majority in Congress, the excuse became "Well, there's not enough time left before Bush steps down."
 
For anyone who thinks the law should be enforced the last eight years have been very hard.
 
But it's not getting any easier now. If EVERYTHING ELSE wasn't enough for you, Obama just released memos PROVING Bush officials were down with torture--those of us with morals would THINK we'd finally see some criminal charges.
 
Maybe we still will--but not before the Democrats debate about WHETHER TO ENFORCE THE LAW.
 
This is why I refuse to be in either political party. The Democrats are wondering if international and US law needs to be enforced and the Republicans feel the law can go to hell if the cause is just.
 
The most depressing thing of all is that Obama was supposed to change all of this. Now we see that Democrats and Republicans, alike, believe that the law is to be enforced on the little people and that for the rich (mostly white) folks in government, the law is simply not a concern if one's motives are pure.
 
I said mostly white, above, because now, apparently, Obama is in violation of the law too--international law demands that war crimminals be prosecuted.
 
So while I'll never call him "King Barry," Barack Obama is, and will continue to be, above the law until he goes after the Bush Administration.
 
Progress?