thepetecom.blogspot.com

Sunday, October 08, 2006

ANOTHER REASON TO HATE GEORGE W.

Orignal From: ANOTHER REASON TO HATE GEORGE W.

Friday, October 06, 2006

The 5 Minute Show Episode 37!

More on the Lettuce Conspiracy this week--we came across some very shocking footage that lends some credibility to what the folks from F.A.I.L. claimed back in episode 35. There just might be a conspiracy to protect iceberg lettuce!! [http://video.lisarein.com/thepete/stuff/ThePeteTV/t5msep37.mp4|Download or view the 18 MB mp4] or hit the play button on the YouTube interface below to watch episode 37 of The 5 Minute Show!!

Orignal From: The 5 Minute Show Episode 37!

Thursday, October 05, 2006

POLICE STATE? You're Soaking In It!

Wow, so that Military Commissions Act of 2006 that the House and Senate passed last week? Yeah, that thing is pretty bad. For one, it says that non-US-citizens determined by the Bush Admin to have "engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States" don't have the right to challenge their detention. Why is this bad? It's bad because this is a basic human right. A government that doesn't acknowledge every individual's right to challenge charges leveled against them is essentially claiming that they are perfect and never arrest anyone unless they are 100% guilty. Such a government claims that they never make mistakes and essentially don't even need a court of law or even a military tribunal to determine your guilt. Don't believe me that the Military Commissions Act of 2006 bans alien unlawful enemy combatants from getting a judge to review their case to determine if they have been lawfully detained? Check out [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.6166:|the law for yourself] at LOC.gov. That's the Library Of Congress website, BTW. Here's the exact quote to save you some time:

Section 7e1:No court, justice, or judge shall have jurisdiction to hear or consider an application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of an alien detained by the United States who has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.

So, if you're an alien and you speak out against the USG, you could get seriously screwed. Two other things make this damn law even more fun. First, it applies to anyone who may have "engaged in hostilities or who has purposefully and materially supported hostilities against the United States" BEFORE THIS LAW WAS ENACTED. If this law doesn't get struck down by the Supreme Court, it could set a seriously messed up example for future laws to follow--you could be committing a crime right now--only the law hasn't been passed yet. Yes, some lawmakers have said that this new law preserves Habeas Corpus (the right to challenge your detention/arrest/etc) but here's the second thing that makes this law totally fucked--remember how I said that it assumes that the government is perfect? Well, we know they aren't. What happens if they think YOU are an alien? You can't challenge them because they've decided you're not an American citizen. Now YOU are fucked. [http://www.counterpunch.org/cohn09302006.html|Read an October 1, 2006 piece by professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law, president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild, and the U.S. representative to the executive committee of the American Association of Jurists, Marjorie Cohn] at CounterPunch.Org. God luck trying to find a PDF of the law...

Orignal From: POLICE STATE? You're Soaking In It!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

TheUsCast Episode 5!

In this episode The 5 Minute Show's Alexander Fazel (Gary TheIntern) joins us for some behind-the-scenes chat on t5MS, acting, movies, and more. ThePete regails us with one of his famous showbiz stories and SiSi lets us in on how she is trained as a bartender. For all of the above and other exciting audio, LISTEN NOW!! ;) [http://media.odeo.com/files/1/7/4/904174.mp3|Grab the 31 minute, 12 MB mp3 directly] from Odeo.Com or use the flash player below. You can also [http://odeo.com/channel/99324/rss|subscribe to TheUsCast] to get it regularly delivered to your media aggregator of choice.

Orignal From: TheUsCast Episode 5!

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The 5 Minute Show Episode 36!

Episode 36 brings us more behind-the-scenes footage of ThePete's guest appearance on the Hucklebug audio podcast! Inside this ep are clips not actually used in episode 24 of the Hucklebug! Also: shout-outs to folks who left comments for eps 34 and 35 of t5MS! COOL! Watch the episode on YouTube below or [http://video.lisarein.com/thepete/stuff/ThePeteTV/t5msep36.mp4|click here for the 12 MB mp4]--SWEET!

Man, I gotta go to bed!!

Orignal From: The 5 Minute Show Episode 36!

Sunday, October 01, 2006

I'm Hypnotized By This Stupid Lady Punch Video...

Why am I so fascinated by [http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6640225987281635407|this video]?? It's sort of violent, but nothing horrible... http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6640225987281635407

Orignal From: I'm Hypnotized By This Stupid Lady Punch Video...

TANNED BRITISH ARCHITECT KICKED OFF PLANE

You want to know why preemptive war is bad? You want to know why marching into a country without being damn sure your evidence is air tight? You want to know why setting a good example as a leader is so important? Because people will copy you. Check out these excerpts from [http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1777847.ece|an October 1, 2006 article] at http://Independent.co.uk :

Seth Stein is used to jetting around the world to create stylish holiday homes for wealthy clients. This means the hip architect is familiar with the irritations of heightened airline security post-9/11. But not even he could have imagined being mistaken for an Islamist terrorist and physically pinned to his seat while aboard an American Airlines flight - especially as he has Jewish origins. ... He has since been told by airline staff he was targeted because he was using an iPod, had used the toilet when he got on the plane and that his tan made him appear "Arab". ... In Mr Stein's case, he was pounced on as the crew and other travellers looked on. The drama unfolded less than an hour into the flight. As he settled down with a book and a ginger ale, the father-of-three was grabbed from behind and held in a head-lock. "This guy just told me his name was Michael Wilk, that he was with the New York Police Department, that I'd been acting suspiciously and should stay calm. I could barely find my voice and couldn't believe it was happening," said Mr Stein. "He went into my pocket and took out my passport and my iPod. All the other passengers were looking concerned." Eventually, cabin crew explained that the captain had run a security check on Mr Stein after being alerted by the policeman and that this had cleared him. The passenger had been asked to go back to his seat before he had restrained Mr Stein.

This is worse than a police state when random people playing the police. Hell, it's the Ultimate Police State, I guess. This story makes me glad to be a poor web jockey. I can't afford to fly anywhere and even if I could and did, I'm so pale the light reflecting off of my skin and blind any would-be police officers. I shouldn't joke. Events like this are incredibly serious. Events like this are depicted in George Orwell's 1984 when ordinary citizens turn in their neighbors, friends and family. Luckily, the United States isn't so far gone as to imprison a rich, successful architecht who really has no ties to terrorism--but what about someone who is less affluent? What about someone who is less obviously a law-abiding citizen who isn't wealthy enough to afford a lawyer? I just can't wait for someone like that to end up in a secret prison. OH WAIT... those are closed now... Sure, they are...

Orignal From: TANNED BRITISH ARCHITECT KICKED OFF PLANE

iTunes 7.0.1 Fewer Bugs, Still Annoying

So, if you've recently updated iTunes to v7.0, you may have noticed it's a little buggy. I never upgrade immediately after Apple releases a new version of anything. Over the past 2 years their upgrades have gotten progressively buggier as time goes on. Whenever I see a new version, I wait until I see a new version of that new version. Thankfully, iTunes 7.0.1 has now been released which is said to have corrected many of the bugs in 7.0. The funny thing is that one of the most annoying things, to me, about previous version of iTunes is still included. This is the feature where if you don't listen to a podcast in iTunes after a while, it stops updating it until you tell it to start updating it again. The only indication that it has stopped is a little exclamation mark next to the podcast title. You click it and it says something like "You haven't listened to this podcast in a while, would you like iTunes to resume updating it?" Stupid iTunes can't tell that I listen to almost all of my podcasts every day--ON MY iPOD! So, rather than having it keep track of what I dump onto my iPod (Big iBrother, much?) I'd rather there just be a way to SHUT THIS STUPID FEATURE OFF!! Seriously, this is one of the things I hate about Macs and computers in general--they're beginning to think too much. Stop anticipating what I want and if you absolutely MUST anticipate at least give me the option to STOP YOU PERMANENTLY. I haven't ever and will never need iTunes to stop updating ANY of my podcasts. If I need it to stop updating, I will simply delete the podcast from iTunes.

Orignal From: iTunes 7.0.1 Fewer Bugs, Still Annoying

TANNED BRITISH ARCHITECT KICKED OFF PLANE

Seth Stein is used to jetting around the world to create stylish holiday homes for wealthy clients. This means the hip architect is familiar with the irritations of heightened airline security post-9/11. But not even he could have imagined being mistaken for an Islamist terrorist and physically pinned to his seat while aboard an American Airlines flight - especially as he has Jewish origins. ... He has since been told by airline staff he was targeted because he was using an iPod, had used the toilet when he got on the plane and that his tan made him appear "Arab". ... In Mr Stein's case, he was pounced on as the crew and other travellers looked on. The drama unfolded less than an hour into the flight. As he settled down with a book and a ginger ale, the father-of-three was grabbed from behind and held in a head-lock. "This guy just told me his name was Michael Wilk, that he was with the New York Police Department, that I'd been acting suspiciously and should stay calm. I could barely find my voice and couldn't believe it was happening," said Mr Stein. "He went into my pocket and took out my passport and my iPod. All the other passengers were looking concerned." Eventually, cabin crew explained that the captain had run a security check on Mr Stein after being alerted by the policeman and that this had cleared him. The passenger had been asked to go back to his seat before he had restrained Mr Stein.

Orignal From: TANNED BRITISH ARCHITECT KICKED OFF PLANE

JACK CAFFERTY KICKS BUSH'S ASS (aka Does His Job)

Wow--I don't know how I managed to miss this clip. Guess I need to hang at YouTube.Com more often. Anyway, here's a clip of CNN's Jack Cafferty from August pointing out that Bush has broken several laws--don't worry he gets more specific than that. Check out the clip below:

Orignal From: JACK CAFFERTY KICKS BUSH'S ASS (aka Does His Job)