the old thepete.com blog

Thursday, January 24, 2008

The 5 Minute Show Episode 2

Shot way back in January 12, 2003, this episode brings more comedy and another stool sampler and a bizarre twist ending!! You've got to see it to believe it!!

Wow, slow start today. Objecti...

Wow, slow start today. Objective 1: Publicize my book! Objective 2: find a job! Objective 3: get XP on my Mac! Objective 4: Fix Flash on XO.

Wednesday, January 23, 2008

I think I might just go to bed...

I think I might just go to bed. Luckily, the comic reader on the XO works, so that's nice. Oh and I can also play vids. Manga, then anime!

So, I upgraded my XO to the la...

So, I upgraded my XO to the latest developer build and now the cam works and so does Abiword and Firefox, but now no Flash! ARG!

Ugh, XO is being really temper...

Ugh, XO is being really temperamental. Had Abiword and Firefox (w/Flash) installed and running but webcam didn't work. So, I upgraded...

Free Lunch by David Cay Johnston

http://www.amazon.com/…1591841917

I just listened to a great interview Bill Moyers did with the author of "Free Lunch", David Cay Johnston (read about it here: http://www.pbs.org/…ofile.html ).

One of my running theories about why things are as screwed up as they are in the world right now is because of our government has been bought up by private interests (forget "special" interests!) and made to do the bidding of corporate America. Johnston has written a book that has stacks of evidence backing this theory up.

Check out the blurb:

How does a strong and growing economy lend itself to job uncertainty, debt, bankruptcy, and economic fear for a vast number of Americans? Free Lunch provides answers to this great economic mystery of our time, revealing how todayï¿½s government policies and spending reach deep into the wallets of the many for the benefit of the wealthy few.

Johnston cuts through the official version of events and shows how, under the guise of deregulation, a whole new set of regulations quietly went into effectï¿½regulations that thwart competition, depress wages, and reward misconduct. From how George W. Bush got rich off a tax increase to a $100 million taxpayer gift to Warren Buffett, Johnston puts a face on all of the dirty little tricks that business and government pull. A lot of people appear to be getting free lunchesï¿½but of course thereï¿½s no such thing as a free lunch, and someone (you, the taxpayer) is picking up the bill.

Johnstonï¿½s many revelations include:
ï¿½ How we ended up with the most expensive yet inefficient health-care system in the world
ï¿½ How homeownersï¿½ title insurance became a costly, deceitful, yet almost invisible oligopoly
ï¿½ How our government gives hidden subsidies for posh golf courses
ï¿½ How Paris Hiltonï¿½s grandfather schemed to retake the family fortune from a charity for poor children
ï¿½ How the Yankees and Mets owners will collect more than $1.3 billion in public funds

In these instances and many more, Free Lunch shows how the lobbyists and lawyers representing the most powerful 0.1 percent of Americans manipulated our government at the expense of the other 99.9 percent.

With his extraordinary reporting, vivid stories, and sharp analysis, Johnston reveals the forces that shape our everyday economic livesï¿½and shows us how we can finally make things better.

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I need to read this book!

And since I'm talking about books, I might as well link to mine again ^_^:

http://snurl.com/thekeybook
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