Random Thoughts of Mine...

FTC Guns for Blogger Shills—and Misses

Blogger payola is risible, but the new FTC guidelines are misguided, unenforceable, and utterly useless.

by Dan Costa

The FTC released guidelines designed to crackdown on the blogger payola—the risible practice of paying people to write favorable things about your products or company. As the editor who runs the Reviews team here at PCMag.com, I thought it would be worth my time to wade through the 81-page guide of regulations. After all, the penalty could be $11,000 per violation. Near as I can tell, the regulation will require every blogger to disclose payments, gifts, and professional interests for every tweet, post, or email that supports a given company. In other words, this mess of regulations misunderstands media, creates unenforceable rules, and, quite possibly, violates our First Amendment right to free speech.

For starters, let me review how PCMag.com does business. Vendors loan us products to review. We test them. We send them back. That's pretty much it. Staff can't take cash or gifts of value from vendors—although you will be hard-pressed to find a staffer without at least a dozen 512MB USB keys filled with press releases and images. There is also a drawer full of T-shirts. Our advertising department has no say in what we write and neither do vendors. Sometimes companies are upset about what we write, but they know the deal going in.

PCMag has been in business for longer than I have, and I take lot of pride in working here. Truth be told, many of our competitors also have rigorous editorial standards. A lot of established blogs have standards that are just as high. For that matter, I know individual bloggers who are informed, scrupulous, and utterly enjoyable to read. So why is the FTC setting up different types of rules for PCMag, or indeed, why is it setting up rules at all?

The new rules extend far beyond bloggers. Facebook updates, Twitter posts, Tumblr photos, even word-of-mouth marketing can be now be regulated by the FTC. Like most people, I despise this type of covert marketing more than anything. But, at some point, I think we have to let people post, blog, tweet, and say what they want to one another. We can decide whether or not to believe them.

Read the rest of the article here.



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About By Michael Adams - The Health Ranger
Thank you for your interest in my first hip hop song, "I Want My Bailout Money." I wrote, arranged, performed and produced this song from my desk, using an HP laptop, some audio editing software, and the same microphone I use for podcasting. The background beats were all commercially licensed from various companies, which I then mixed and arranged to create the music. You can learn more about this by listening to the audio commentary on this song (click the play button, above).

I wrote this song to help spread the message about the unprecedented theft of money from the American people that has been masterminded by the white-collar criminals running our country today. U.S. Treasury officials and Federal Reserve officials have conspired to steal trillions of dollars from everyday Americans by creating insane quantities of new money and handing it over to their rich, incompetent banker friends. It is one of the greatest financial cons ever perpetrated in human history, and yet few people seem to understand what's actually going on.

This song intends to send a warning message to a new generation of Americans who typically might not read news websites but enjoy entertaining music. The message it delivers is very clear: If we hope to have a financial future in America (or even a future for America as a nation), the People must find a way to take back their money supply from the crooks in Washington and get back to an honest money system that cannot be manipulated by white-collar criminals running the Fed and the Treasury. Flatly stated, if we don't stop the mad debt spending, end the financial rewarding of incompetent bankers, solve our health care crisis, balance the federal budget deficit and kick the crooks out of Washington, we may soon see an era of runaway hyperinflation and possibly even the financial demise of America as we know it.

If you want to help get this message out to others, feel free to burn this song to CDs and hand them out, or copy it to your iPod, post it on your website, etc. You can download MP3 files on the right. Please give proper credit to the song author (Michael Adams) and link back to this page. I have no financial gain whatsoever from this song and only ask to be given credit as the author. Watch for more songs coming out soon about natural health and health freedom. And read NaturalNews.com daily if you want to hear more of what I've got say on issues ranging from pharmaceuticals to monetary policy.

Feel free to post your comments about this song, the Federal Reserve and other topics by using the comment section below.

Thank you,

- Michael Adams, the "Health Ranger," creator of I Want My Bailout Money and editor of NaturalNews.com

You can download the song, read the lyrics and more of Mike's commentary on his song page. To learn more about the Federal Reserve System, check out this earlier post of mine.



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A flurry of Web activism is channelling misgivings about the proposed $700 billion Wall Street bailout into political action.

There is NoWallStreetBailout.com, which asks visitors to sign a petition to Congress. It features a quote from Allan Meltzer, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's business school, saying: "This is scare tactics to try to do something that's in the private but not the public interest. It's terrible."

The cross-town competition comes from VoteNoBailout.org, which says: "We are witnessing a bankers' coup d'etat. In the name of saving the economy from a crisis created by their own greed and immense profits, the biggest bankers have taken a country and a people hostage."

There's also FinancialPetition.org, plus a humorous, off-color Web site that encourages people to "list" items they want the government to buy.

Public pressure in opposition to the bailout, from these sites and from unexpected sources like the AFL-CIO and Republican Newt Gingrich, may have helped to slam the brakes on what had been an unusually fast-moving process in Washington.

By midday Thursday, news articles began appearing saying a "tentative bailout agreement" had been struck between congressional leaders and the White House. But the day ended with the talks in tatters, an intra-party rebellion by House Republicans, and a promise to continue the meetings on Friday.

Read the rest of the article here.

As many of you know, there is an attempt by the Bush Administration to coerce Congress into passing a $700,000,000,000 bailout of Wall Street firms. There has been lots of opposition to the plan which they are no longer calling a "bailout." Instead, they are now calling it a "rescue" plan. No matter what you call it, it is still a plan to protect the profits of big banks while screwing the average American over. The chart at the beginning of the article shows that this proposed bailout will cost every American houshold at least $17,064! The adminisitration claims that it will only cost $700 Billion, but we all know that the actual price tag will be a lot more than that. Congress is working over the weekend to pass this bill despite the massive opposition by average Americans, economists over it. One of the major reasons to oppose this bill is the following quote:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

If that is not outrageous, then I don't know what is! This would give the Secretary of the Tresury authority to do what he wants with no way to stop him! If the Bush Administration is so quick to bailout the big banks, why they don't just bailout the average American instead? There are many Americans that are struggling to make ends meet, but you don't see the governement trying to help them out now, do you? The government has done enough damage already by bailing out certain companies so far. We don't need them to bailout the big banks that were doing things that they should not have been doing in the first place. Now that their profits are in jeopardy, they come to the government asking for the taxpayers to foot the bill so that those profits remain intact. This is wrong. The Bush Administration claims that if this bailout is not passed, then the economy will experience another Great Depression. We are already in a recession and heading towards a depression regardless. Congressman Ron Paul gives the real resons for the financial crisis. There is also a link to a video interview of Congressman Ron Paul on the main article too. Constitution Party Presidential Candidate, Chuck Baldwin also wrote an article opposing the bailout entitled, No Amnesty for Wall Street. Paul Proctor has a good article to read here. Devvy Kidd has an excellent 2-part article you can read here.

Last night, I went over to a friend's house to watch the Presidential Debate between Republican Senator John McCain & Democratic Senator Barack Obama. As you know both of these main from the 2 major parties are running against each other for President of the United States. My friend had invited some people over for the debate between these 2 candidates. Both candidates were for the bailout instead of being against it. America is heading for more financial trouble, as was predicted back in 2004.

As I stated earlier, Congress is working over the weekend to pass this bailout. I have sent emails to my representatives in the House and the Senate opposing the bailout. I even called the local office of my Congressman to let them know of my opposition. I urge all Americans to keep up the pressure on your representatives in Congress. You can look up your Congressman here, and your Senators here. We need to send the message to Congress that we don't want to be hoodwinked by the Bush Administration and their banker cronies.


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I had seen this movie sometime ago when it was playing at a local theatre for a limited engagement. It was made by the late Hollywood producer, Aaron Russo. You can see a trailer for the movie here.

In this film, Mr. Russo set out to find out about the laws concerning the Federal Income Tax in America. He ended up covering much more subjects such as, the Federal Reserve System (which is linked to the income tax), national ID cards, chips that can be implanted into humans, electronic voting machines (rigged elections), and the erosion of civil liberties in America. Big Brother is becoming real in our times. It has been accelerated since the events of 9/11, which was allowed to happen, with the full knowledge of the U.S. government, by the way. All of the earlier mentioned things began in 1913 with (1)the ratification of the 16th Amendment, (2) the passage of the Federal Income Tax, and (3)the ratification of the 17th Amendment. All 3 of these events are connected. Here is a link to the official movie site. Below is a quote from the site, along with the movie:

America: Freedom to Fascism is a compelling and troubling account of how the wealth of our nation was silently passed from its citizens to a handful of powerful bankers in 1913. That's the year the Federal Reserve Act and the 16th Amendment were introduced, giving a privately held corporation the means to control our finances while ensuring its interest payments through the strong arms of the newly-formed Internal Revenue Service. Ever since then, Russo suggests, Americans have been gradually conditioned to accept fewer freedoms and a lower standard of living... all the while considering debt and servitude as distinctly American values.

Russo's first and most cogent point is simple: Americans are not required to pay a federal income tax. That's a bold statement to make, as few people believe that such a fraud could be perpetrated for so long. My father, himself an accountant, insists that the income tax is a very real thing. Russo takes that same belief to IRS employees and simply asks them to cite where it says an unapportioned income tax is required of us all. Guess what? They can't. In a telling segment Sheldon Cohen, former commissioner of the IRS, goes so far as to reject Supreme Court rulings and the Constitution as benchmarks over what is legal with regards to taxation. Russo also interviews members of the tax honesty movement as well as disenfranchised IRS agents who agree that no law on the books conjures up a requirement to send the government part of one's hard-earned paycheck. Russo then showcases court cases where those accused of tax evasion have won precisely because the prosecution cannot provide evidence of a legal federal income tax law.

It's shocking to have it hammered into your head over and over that you've thrown your money away for nothing, but repetition is good; it helps knock loose the deeply entrenched belief that we owe a portion of our livelihood to our government.

America: Freedom to Fascism - Director's Authorized Version





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I got this in an email:

This is the story of how the modern banking system, through credit cards and installment debt, impose a form of modern slavery on the people. First they create the money from thin air. Then they loan it to you. Then you are not only responsible for paying back what you "borrowed," but the interest charged on it as well. (And if you miss a payment, it is going to cost you double) Unfortunately, the bank didn't create the interest...they never do. So where are you supposed to get it? Ah, there is the rub my friend. There is the rub. You have to take it from some one else's principal.

Have you ever wondered why it is such a competitive, dog-eat dog world out there, and it seems as though everyone -- from the bum on the corner to the multinational bank that he begs in front of; from the late night infomercials to the pushy brokers calling you during dinner -- is trying to scratch and claw a nickel out of you? It is not because people are naturally mean, competitive money grubbers. It is because of the system, man. The system. The evil, immoral system that, through the machinations of the Federal Reserve silently and secretly transfers your hard earned money into the pockets of the already fabulously wealthy and powerful.

The banks are keeping you busy, going after someone else's principal to pay back imaginary interest. Tsk, tsk. It is there for all to see.

Maxed Out

If you want want to know more about the banking and credit card scam, if you want to learn about the possibilities of beating them, then do ... all » your self and family and friends a favour and read this "MUST READ" book: www.natural-person.ca/pdf/mary_croft.pdf

about this documentary: How credit cards impose modern slavery on the people. To give people digits on their bank account and charge interest on something that is not real, backed up by nothing except debt, never had value, does not have value and will never have value.

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