Snowflakes in Hell calls attention to the new Federal Trade Commission’s Guides Concerning the Use of
Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.  This is creepy to an insane degree. Read it with calm and you will see that the vagueness in its language sometimes brings out specific and scary targeting such as:

Thus, a consumer who purchases a product with his or her own money and praises it on a
personal blog or on an electronic message board will not be deemed to be providing an
endorsement.21 In contrast, postings by a blogger who is paid to speak about an advertiser’s
product will be covered by the Guides, regardless of whether the blogger is paid directly by the
marketer itself or by a third party on behalf of the marketer…..For example, a blogger could receive merchandise from a marketer with a request to review it, but with no compensation paid other than the value of the product itself. In this situation, whether or not any positive statement the blogger posts would be deemed an “endorsement” within the meaning of the Guides would depend on, among other things, the value of that product, and on whether the blogger routinely receives such requests

Example. My buddy Dale is a dealer for EOTAC and I do buy from him regularly as I can. My next purchase will be a pair of Vickers Duty Gloves because I attend sometimes SFDCC Rifle Drills and my hands end up a mess after two hours or so of rifle manipulations. Now, if Dale ( a third party) decides to give me the gloves cfor free and I just write a review of them in this blog, whether I give the gloves a praising review or a truly destructive one, I would be in violation of this FTC directives.

An advertiser’s lack of control over the specific statement made via these new forms of consumer-generated media would not automatically disqualify that statement from being deemed an “endorsement” within the meaning of the Guides.

Do note that there are no guidelines set so the FTC hound dogs can pretty much decide how much is too much the way that ATF does with its lab stuff. So it will be basically decided on a Case by Case issue and probably in every case the result will be a screwed Blogger.

It gies much more than just that. The Guide explains how Government shouldn’t care if this new reulations curtail Freedom of Speech for Blogs (cleverly disguised in the statement “interfere with the vibrancy of these new forms of communication”), or that if somebody gets hurt by the product because he or she is too stupid to breathe without the use of a diagram, the injured party might be able to sue not only the manufacturer but the advertiser, blogger and everybody who ever mentioned the product.

It gets MUCH worse: we gonna be siccing coppers on you dirty Blogger!

And although industry selfregulation certainly can play an important role in protecting consumers as these new forms of marketing continue to evolve and new ones are developed, self-regulation works best when it is backed up by a strong law enforcement presence.

But what really takes the cake and provided for the tittle of this blog is the following statement:

The Commission acknowledges that bloggers may be subject to different disclosure requirements than reviewers in traditional media. In general, under usual circumstances, the Commission does not consider reviews published in traditional media (i.e., where a newspaper, magazine, or television or radio station with independent editorial responsibility assigns an employee to review various products or services as part of his or her official duties, and then publishes those reviews) to be sponsored advertising messages. Accordingly, such reviews are not “endorsements” within the meaning of the Guides.

That means they are the Chosen Ones, The Professionals. The great minds that gave us the Exploding Pick Up Truck (with the help of carefully hidden rockets), the Great apple/dioxin scare (we are all gonna die because we eat them Granny Smith apples!) and let us not forget the Bush National Guard scandal brought to you by CBS, Dan Rather and the 1960’s fake National Guard documents made in Word for Windows. They are the reliable ones and should not be punished for sponsoring items, ideas or anything else, even though they get more freebies than a quarterback after winning a championship game.

There is no doubt this document and intentions behind it. It is censorship b y economic hardship and threat of police busting down your door because you may have gotten a Sham-Wow for review. It is also the first payment on the Newspaper and Other Traditional Media Rescue Act (soon to be followed by your taxes) because that way they weed out the competition and rescue advertising dollars.

Is this the Hope and Change you voted for? I hope that you are happy now. Please leave any comments before I get shut down. I just got some Papa John’s Pizza coupon in the mail and, since I mentioned the company and product, the feds may bust my door in the near future for violating FTC BS.

Poor dear Madame Speaker. Hot off the video presses here we see her…well, I am not sure she is emotional due to her constant and voluntary overdose of botox, but she seems to be feeling somewhat emotional.

She is a good politician. She is no coming out and saying: You all rednecks that hate my President have to shut the hell up and bow to the superior intellect.” but you know that is where she is heading. Specially when she mentions the “balance between Safety and Freedom” which whenever a politician mentions it, Freedom takes a serious hit.

Maybe she is finally getting the message that people are tired of their BS. Maybe somebody shook her from her daily reverie to the altar of Noam Chomsky and pointed to her that there is something going on because the serfs are revolting.  Maybe she was only getting her information from the ABC/CBS/CNN/NBC/MSNBC clique who are designed around the ignoring of the facts and the truth and thus missed stuff like ACORN personnel voluntarily agreeing to help pimp underage girls, that Czars are politically positioned to the left of Stalin and believe in population control or to fellow congresspeople who publicly admit their undying admiration for Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

Pelosi reminds us of her sad memories of the violence in the 70s but fail to mention that it was her fellow political leaning terrorist the ones playing with explosives or dealing drugs to further the cause or executing police officers to later be nominated for the Nobel Peace prize.

Maybe too much botox is really harmful to the brain or maybe she is just LYING! Yes, I am gonna use that word before the Liberal Democrats bring back the The Sedition Act.

According to the great “trustworthy” Mass Media types and with the official confirmation of none other than Super Former President Jimmy Carter, I am now a Racist because I am against the ultra-left wing policies of this administration. That kinda gives you a load of warm-fuzzy, doesn’t it?

How desperate can the Ultra Left must be to be throwing the Race Card around with such agility? Note to the first I-Hate-America-and-I-sucked-as President Jimmy Carter: A majority of voters elected President Obama. So when you state that ““There is an inherent feeling among many in this country that an African-American should not be president.” there tends to be a contradiction with reality, you know, the one that real people live and work? That one you do not seem to understand? Yep, that one.  If a majority of voted for him it would be a good guess that also a majority of Americans is not racist and they are just fed up with the LIAR in a very short time.

I really don’t give a flying crap how the melanine in your skin diffracts light and gives you that particular shade or if you light candles to a particular deity or not or if you engage in private  games involving Crisco, a bottle of milk, a saddle and a tuning fork with a consenting adult (apologies to Return of the Killer Tomatoes) or even your political views as long as they do not interfere with the Rights recognized in the Constitution. However, I am prejudiced to hell against those assholes that swore to protect and defend the Constitution without any reservation or purpose of evasion but they did just that. Yes, I am prefuduiced against Communist Red because my kin lived under the “wonderful” Communist shitholes. I get pissed when members of congress extol the virtues of Fidel Castro and or Administration Czars that consider the Chavez Revolution as a good thing. Against idiots like that, yes I am prejudiced and no amount of sensitivity training is gonna change that.

And before I am outed and before some enterprising young couple disguised as pimp and prostitute go through my account at WalMart Photographic section, I am displaying a picture of a local KKK gathering I just attended locally.

And in case somebody have not figured out yet, I am a Spic A.K.A a member of the “Oppressed” races with a Hispanic background and I don’t give a damn if you want to call me names, but do not condescend me or tell me what’s good for me because you know better. That is the truest form of racism ever designed.

I choose not to forget what the enemies of my country did on September 11, 2001.

I choose not to forget the innocent victims who died at the hands of those enemies.

I choose not to forget those who went against the human tide and faced danger with conviction and fear.

And rescued those in need.

Till exhaustion took its toll and even then continued.

And I refuse to forget the price they paid.

I also choose not to forget the Domestic Enemies that cashed in on the attacks.

Or tried to make a name for themselves on the blood of those who died.

Or wanted a political gain.

To all of the above: I choose NOT to forget

PMY commented in the last thread the following:

Absolutely NO ONE swore obedience to the president or to any one appointed by him unto death, as God is our witness. ONE person pleadged SERVICE to him. Two others pledged to be a “servent” to him. (ie to help him)

And missed the whole point. We, the Citizens of the United States of America, do not pledge to anybody. Our only pledge is to the One Nation, Under God. We pledge to the basic principle that created this country and is represented in the Constitution. We respect but never bow whether by body or by mind. Not even the President, who was elected to serve the Country and us, does not (should not) pledge to anything but to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America.  But I guess if he bowed to the King of Saudi Arabia, it would be natural that us, lesser mortals should bow to him.

Pledge:: a bailment of a chattel as security for a debt or other obligation without involving transfer of title b : the chattel so delivered c : the contract incidental to such a bailment
2 a : the state of being held as a security or guaranty b : something given as security for the performance of an act

If you don’t know it yet, the Obama Universal Health Care proposal is so bad that neither the President nor any member of Congress will be covered by it. Instead they will maintain their privately run insurance with all the great benefits that carries with it. Since this seems to be a tad hypocritical, Congressman John Flemming from Louisiana proposed and amendment that would demand that everybody our members in Congress to have the same health care they are trying to impose on the common folk.

If you think that our elected members in congress should not have special privileges and deal with the health issue as we do, I urge you to go to Congressman Fleming’s website (http://fleming.house.gov/) and sign the petition that states:

Sign up here if you believe any member of Congress who votes for a government run health care plan should be forced to participate in the plan themselves?

I mean, if the Socialized Health Care is the solution, why aren’t they taking it?

Liberals consider that the life of a criminal convicted of a heinous crime is too precious and that he should spend the rest of his life being fed, clothed, housed and his health paid by our taxes instead of being executed. Yet the life of a law abiding, tax-paying senior citizen who was an example to the community, raised a family and built the American Dream can be disposed of if the computations of a bureaucrat indicate that it is not worth the money to extend his or her life under the provisions of the new Health Care Bill now being proposed in Congress.

Have politicians in Washington taken leave of their senses?