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READERS, I ACKNOWLEDGE THAT THE LINE "TRUE PATRIOT LOVE IN ALL THY SONS COMMAND," WHICH I OFT USE TO DESCRIBE NEOCONSERVATIVE MODELS OF FORCED PATRIOTIC EXCESS, is the second line of the English version of Canada's National Hymn, "O Canada."

And is intended to have a depantsing effect, so to speak (as if such specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief want to enforce such True Patriot Love, etc., with strokes of a bullwhip, sjambok, leather belt or suchlike so as to maximise pain and suffering, as if the one conducting same was vying for some class of a King of Pain title).

But for sheer hyperbolic excesses of True Patriot Love, usw., displayed for purely distracting ends among the ranks of Kankerdom short of sending ungrateful kids to The Kanker Pit for what turns out being the worst kind of sexual introduction known, you need look no further than Fox Prolefeed--or, better yet, NewsHounds, which has this interesting summary of recent "patriotic" misadventures into obnoxiousness per The O'Reilly Factor, a frequent purveyor thereof:

Tuesday night’s (December 2nd) Factor was yet another strange trip into the bizarre world of Bill O’Reilly. It seems America’s Daddy has his clean, white panties all in a bunch because evil atheists were granted permission to set up a sign, declaring that there is no God, in the rotunda of the Washington state capitol building as part of the state holiday display. Bill devoted a discussion segment, an interview with rightwing radio talk show host Kirby Wilbur, and his “Talking Points” to this issue that threatens, like the protests against Prop 8, to end the world as we know it. I’ll report on the discussion segment now and, later, if I have the stomach, I’ll cover the other two which, in total, took up most of the airtime. During the discussion statement, Bill made a comment that showed, at least, a lack of historical knowledge and, at most, yet another example of his severe mental health problems.

During the discussion segment O’Reilly, who is fighting mad about the inclusion of this sign, discussed the issue with liberal blogger David Golstein and attorney Ann Bremner. Goldstein hit it out of the park when he responded to O’Reilly’s question as to the wereabouts of Governor Gregoire (whom O'Reilly described as a “coward”). Goldstein said that Governor Gregoire is busy meeting with President elect Obama and trying to deal with the economic crisis "instead of worrying herself over this annual tempest in a teapot, which is what this is." Bremner acknowledged that she was friends with Gregoire so she was reluctant to criticize; but she felt that the sign was offensive and inappropriate and said that it would be like allowing the KKK to put up signs next to a commemorative exhibit for Martin Luther King, Jr. (Comment: some irony here, as the state of Washington allowed a group of separatist Neo-Nazis to use the capitol steps for a rally. Wonder if Hannity was in attendance?)

Bill was just outraged and the outraged sputtering took a strange turn when he claimed, after Goldstein referred to the constitutional right to free speech, that the holiday is about Jesus and “our Constitution is based on a lot of his teachings.”

Comment: Just when you thought Bill O’Reilly couldn’t get any crazier, we have something even crazier than usual. It would actually be funny if it weren’t for the fact that a lot of misinformed Fox watchers become even more misinformed when they hear this bull crap. I realize that this is an “opinion” show; but isn’t there some responsibility to historical accuracy? No wonder Fox News, in a recent Pew Study, is ranked last in the number of “high knowledge” viewers. The U.S. Constitution is based on a variety of historical concepts chief among them the notions of democracy as embodied in English Common Law and the philosophy of the Enlightenment. The philosophies of Montesquieu and John Locke influenced the Constitution. I suppose you could say that Jesus’ admonitions about social responsibility affected, in a macrocosmic way, the Constitutional mandate to promote the “general welfare;” but that is stretching it. Not noted by Bill O’Reilly was that the decision to allow the display was based on a lawsuit, filed last year, by a person who was outraged that the state had a Menorah and no nativity scene. The state then allowed the Creche. Yesterday, the Governor and the Attorney General of Washington put out a statement. As noted in the Seattle Times, "the federal lawsuit led the state to create a policy allowing groups to sponsor a display "regardless of that individual's or group's views." "The U.S. Supreme Court has been consistent and clear that, under the Constitution's First Amendment, once government admits one religious display or viewpoint onto public property, it may not discriminate against the content of other displays, including the viewpoints of nonbelievers.” It's ironic that the person who sued about the Nativity Scene has this to say about the atheist sign: "I appreciate freedom of speech and freedom of access. That's why they're in there, and hey - you know, that's great." O’Reilly also claimed that this only happens in “looney” Washington; yet a similar sign has been erected in Madison, Wisconsin (which O’Reilly has referred to as a hotbed of Satanism.) But thanks to Bill O’Reilly and his culture warriors, the governor’s office, which has other far more important things to deal with, is dealing the hundreds of calls and e-mails (who knows how many death threats) from O’Reilly’s cadre of Peasants With Pitchforks. But Bill does have his priorities and the bogus and hateful “culture war” is tops on the list.

If Bill O’Reilly wishes me Merry Christmas, I have a two word response and it ain’t Merry Christmas!

And speaking of Mr. "No-Spin Zone," is he getting his Kulturkrieg notions by way of studying the propaganda techniques of Nazi Germany and/or apartheid South Africa, the latter not allowing television broadcasting until 1976?

Could the same be said of Fox Prolefeed generally?

COME TO THINK OF IT, IT SEEMS AS IF THE "FREEPER" COMMUNITY (AS IN FREEREPUBLIC.COM) HAS THIS FETISH FOR TRICKING the ilk of polling organisations vis-a-vis the issues of the day, and for potentially deceptive ends besides.

Case in point: Results of a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey as showed significant and measurable public opposition to proposals before Congress to provide Federal loans to automakers on "essential industry" grounds (methinks the "Freeper" agenda seems to be based upon letting one of the "Big Three" go into Carey Street as one with Natural Selection vis-a-vis the evolution of free-market capitalism with American characteristics into its final, "pure" form).

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AN INTERRELATED FORM OF "FREEPING" INVOLVES THE OLD "WINNING OF HEARTS AND MINDS" ANGLE BEING USED TO EXPLOIT THE VULNERABLE AND IGNORANT in support of prevailing conservative articles of faith through trick and deception.

AllSpinZone's Steven Reynolds makes note of how WorldNetDaily is trying to use their minions of readers to prevail upon SCOTUS to enquire into whether President-elect Obama, for the purposes of the Constitution, is "native born" (which, if you ask me, is nothing but right-wing "dog-whistle" code for White European-American Low Church Christian) to the point of harrassment by proxy:

In their latest attempt to make money off their wing ding readers, WorldNetDaily, the journalistic equivalent of cow pies, is urging those readers to give the Supreme Court a piece of their diseased minds. They are offering a service where they will, for a fee, FedEx a form letter to the Supreme Court before the hearing concerning the challenege to whether Barack Obama is a natural born citizen. Yes, this is a way WorldNetDaily can scam their wing nut readers concerning a whack job theory. Here’s where WorldNetDaily begs for the money:

You can make sure the Supreme Court justices have a piece of your mind when they review a case Friday challenging the eligibility of Barack Obama under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution, which stipulates the position can only be filled by “a natural born citizen.”

They say the offer [ended @ noon Thursday]. Of course, it is not clear that any Justice takes any letter from citizens into account on any decision. They work with the law, with briefs presented by lawyers who have standing in front of the Supreme Court. In short, WorldNetDaily is perpetrating a fraud.

Worse, WorldNetDaily is promising to send the pieces of tens of thousands (145,000 is the number they are using for boasting purposes) of people’s minds to the Supreme Court, people who are so feeble-minded as to believe the bogus issue concerning Obama’s citizenship, and who were additionally feeble-minded enough to be scammed by WorldNetDaily. So many messages by whack jobs sent to the Supreme Court could conceivably be considered WMD sent by WND.

And you'll never guess what the typical WorldNetDaily reader is like: Poor, undereducated or homeschooled, easily-influenced, dysfunctional family upbringing (with @ least one or two run-ins with the millicents), limited and limiting job and career prospects beyond unskilled manufacturing or other menial trades and prone to exploitation with clear and present risk of mental harm.

Which is what your typical "work-from-home," "home business," "cashflow gifting" and "MLM" carpetbagger would love to see as their plum targets all the more over the coming months, especially considering where unemployment is now @ its highest level in 34 years (complicated all the more by a Presidential transition and the baggage being left by the "lame duck" such seeking to evade responsibility therefor).

"Money is the root of all evil."
Why not invest yours in United States Savings Bonds?

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WITH THE AVERAGE NATIONAL GASOLINE PRICE BEING $1.75/GALLON (46.2¢/LITRE) FOR REGULAR UNLEADED, and falling still further, Your Correspondent hath it that the President of Gulf Oil has been quoted as suggesting that, if present trends continue, gasoline could be down to as little as $1/gallon (37.85¢/litre) by the start of the summer driving season next Memorial Day long weekend.

Barring, of course, the likelihood of gas tax increases which some in the Obama Administration-in-Waiting are suggesting may be all the more necessary to help cover the cost of repairing deferred maintenance to the nation's roads and bridges as has been going on for way too long with fuel taxes @ ridiculously low (by international standards, know) rates excused as being "in the national interest."

(As in "low taxes=jobs=social stability," further expected to translate into a theoretical nil rate of unemployment based on free-market capitalistic paradigms and parameters. But is it feasable absent any type of a State-based social-welfare safety net ... as in essentially reducing the State's role in social-welfare provision to being Provider of Last Resort, requiring those in need to jump through hoops, as it were, showing where they've been unable to obtain help from friends, relatives and even faith-based social service agencies "despite reasonable efforts"?)

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SOME ADVICE FROM OUR GOOD DROOGS @ THE BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU OF WISCONSIN AS COULD BEST APPLY NATIONWIDE heading into the Festive Season:

The Wisconsin Better Business Bureau is warning consumers to keep their guard up and their wits about them in order to fend off a new string of phishing e-mails making the rounds this holiday season.

Hackers and scammers are pretending to be customer service personnel from some of the biggest names in business—including FedEx, UPS, and Wal-Mart. Hackers are impersonating well-known companies that do a lot of business this time of year—specifically retailers and shipping companies—in order to quickly earn recipients’ trust and gain access to computer drives, files and accounts to steal personal information such as Social Security, bank or credit card numbers. 

“While most of the country is spreading peace and love this holiday season, cyber criminals are spreading computer viruses and stealing identities and information,” said Randall Hoth, Wisconsin BBB president/CEO. “Hackers using e-mail phishing messages are conning consumers by posing as trusted businesses such as Wal-Mart, FedEx and UPS this time of year to take advantage of the seasonal increase in online shopping and shipping of merchandise all across the country.” 

Following are three phishing e-mails BBB has spotted, and that con artists are relying on this holiday season to take advantage of consumers:

Shipping
Hackers have created phishing e-mails which pretend to be from shipping companies claiming that there is a problem with delivery of merchandise. Commonly, the e-mail will include a hyperlink for recipients to click that will take them to another Web site that might install malware or solicit personal information. A message currently making the rounds has a subject line that looks like, “Subject: Tracking Number 13040065504.” The body of the message claims that a package couldn’t be delivered and advises the recipient, “To take your package back you should print the copy of invoice that is in the added file.” Of course, the attachment is actually a virus that will infect the computer if opened.

BBB ADVICE: Instead of clicking on the link in the e-mail, go directly to the shipper’s Web site or contact the company via phone in order to confirm whether there is a shipping problem with your package. Do not open attachments to unsolicited e-mails.

Surveys Offering Holiday Spending Cash
In an effort to take advantage of cash-strapped holiday shoppers, phishing e-mails are circulating pretending to be from retailers such as Wal-Mart. One e-mail has a subject line that reads, “Online Survey from Wal-Mart Stores!!!” And the body of the message states, “This survey has been sent only to a few people from our random generator!”, and “You’ve been selected to take part in our quick and easy 9 questions survey. In return we will credit $90.00 to your account - Just for your time!” Ultimately, the e-mail includes a link to a Web site where the recipient is supposed to take the survey, but in fact leads to a phishing site.

BBB ADVICE: Do not respond to unsolicited e-mails that promise money for answering surveys. Spam e-mails that offer big rewards with little effort will almost invariably cost you in the end.

E-Cards
E-cards are an extremely popular—and inexpensive—way to deliver season’s greetings to loved ones. Typically, with legitimate e-cards, the recipient receives an e-mail with a hyperlink that will take the user to the e-card which is housed on a Web site. Unfortunately, by design, e-cards are an extremely easy way for hackers to disguise their phishing e-mails and direct users to their Web sites which install viruses and malware.

Consumers should think twice before clicking on a link in an e-card e-mail as the hackers will often use logos from recognized brands and companies in order to appear legitimate.

BBB ADVICE: Phishing e-mails posing as e-cards can be difficult to spot. Spelling and grammatical mistakes are a huge red flag. Also, don’t follow the link in an e-card if you don’t recognize the name of the sender.

Consumers who receive suspicious e-mails should report them to the Internet Crime Complaint Center at www.ic3.gov.

(Come to think of it: How do we know those involved in these "phishing" scams exploiting the Festive Season aren't really connected with weird and unwholesome elements, regardless of their being from within or without?)

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FINALLY, AN INTERESTING BIT OF TRIVIA: These five state capitols in the United States are not situated directly on the Interstate Highway System:

• Juneau, AK (accessible either via air or via the Alaska State Ferries)
• Dover, DE
• Jefferson City, MO
• Carson City, NV
• Pierre, SD

Also not on the Interstate System (for obvious reasons) are the several territorial capitals:

• Pago Pago, AS
• Palikir, FM
• Agana (Hagatna), GU
• Majuro, MH
• Saipan, MP
• Charlotte Amalie (St. Thomas), VI

Honolulu, HI has Interstate highways, which are designed mostly to connect local military installations on their respective islands; they are, however, prefixed "H" in Hawai'i's case. To wit:

• I-H1: Honolulu-'Aiea-Pearl City-Wainahe-Makakilo City, ending just before Barbers Point.
• I-H2: Between the H1 in Pearl City and Wahiawa (Schofield Barracks).
• I-H3: Between the H1 @ Halawa Heights to Kane'ohe and Kailua, ending @ the Kane'ohe Marine Corps Base.

Now you know. 

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EVEN YOUR BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU WILL TELL YOU THAT, CONTRARY TO A NUMBER OF ADVERTS YOU MAY BE HEARING on disreputable radio stations (especially so the sort specialist in conservative prolefeed) for so-called "debt negotiation" services, there is no legal right to negotiate any outstanding and valid debts down to reasonable levels, and pay such so that the resulting balance is recorded as "paid in full."

As a matter of fact, "debt negotiation" services, technically known as "debt consolidation" or "debt factoring," are subject to licencing and bonding requirements depending on your state; hence, check with the approriate consumer-protection channels for the law in your state.

And check with the Better Business Bureau in your area for reports on the character and repute of any company/ies you may want to use for "debt consolidation."

(As a safeguard, check your local 211 infoservice for availability in your area of debt-counselling agencies such as the Consumer Credit Counselling Service, "operating Purely for Principle and Not for Profit.")

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WITH STATE LOTTERIES IN SOME PARTS OF THE COUNTRY REPUTEDLY SEEING HIGHER TICKET SALES THANKS TO THE CURRENT SOCIOECONOMIC UNCERTAINTY, especially so in culturally-deprived environments, something which the Religiopolitical Right may want to think of promoting as a counter to lottery expansion as would "empower" (or so they think) the Lower Classes, rather than almost-constant bellyaching on the problem and its ensuing evils, the likes of mutual savings banks as would promote thrift and self-reliance.

So what stands in the way? Latent anti-Semitism vis-a-vis the banking community? "More pressing issues" like abortion, the Evil of Homosexuality, "threats" to Our Traditional Culture and Heritage and other distractions?

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AND SPEAKING OF "OUR TRADITIONAL CULTURE," how are we to guess that the Zealots and True Believers in Cultural Conservatism want to see Die Bransoner Muzikschaukultur as the "litmus test" they have in mind for establishing a Definitive Amerikanischer Realkultur?

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AND FOR SUCH WHO SPEAK ABOUT "THE DEFENCE OF EUROPEAN-AMERICAN CULTURE AND HERITAGE" AS ONE WITH "RACIAL AND NATIONAL HONOUR," you have to wonder what prevents their displaying the European Union flag alongside Old Glory as a "display of solidarity" (or so they perceive).

As for what the European Union flag looks like:

So ... what exactly is the fear of displaying Old Glory and the European flag side by side? Fear of facing up to the Harsh Reality that the EU's member states are united in their objections to the same articles of faith as xenophobia, racism, bigotry, intolerance and hate that you hold dear as "healthy" and "patriotic" among your so-called "European-American peoples" who are more than likely poor, ignorant, easily-influenced and socioeconomically vulnerable all the more?

Fear that the European flag might eventually be approriated by that Evil Empire in your mind otherwise known as the "New World Order," especially absent substantiative evidence?

Which brings to mind the following worthwhile and @ once timely video:

Besides: Don't you know this is the 21st century already?

To whom it may concern:

First, I wish to apologise for what you may perceive as "undue and unnecessary intrusion" into your busy schedule and routine.

In any event, please allow me to proceed:

In the interest of Truth, Common Sense and the Greater Collective Good of the Nation and its Peoples, I would like to ask you, as a Patriotic and Right-Thinking American, to Please Explain @ your soonest opportunity:

• whether it is true that you issue prepared and scripted, even to the point of nuanced, "talking points" for conservative-leaning talk radio and TV hosts, columnists and blog writers;
• how much it costs to dissemiate said "talking points" on your part, especially where fax and e-mail services are used;
• how the daily "talking points" guidance is arrived @ from day to day (in other words, whether some sort of formula is used to determine the tone and phrasing therefor, the better for "winning of hearts and minds" among especially the ignorant and easily-influenced as are open to suggestion all too easily);
• whether you have recommended scripts used to advance the day's "talking points" to ensure maximum impact among the "movers and shakers" in Washington and elsewhere;
• whether you offer payola to especially radio and TV hosts advancing your daily "talking points" according to the daily guidance in this respect, and in what amounts;
• how much payola is paid out in an average year, and the average amounts therefor;
• whether such payola is paid out of your organisation's funds, or through so-called "pure trusts" based offshore "for tax reasons;"
• whether the rates for such payola are based on how carefully such comments "stick to the script," so to speak, based on any monitoring thereof you conduct; and
• what sort of "guidance" you have to especially radio and TV hosts (but also columnists and bloggers) in receipt of the daily "talking points" advice to avoid attracting reader, listener or viewer suspicions that "cash-for-comments" arrangements are influencing the tone and content of their favourite TV and radio programmes, columns or weblogs--and, if such suspcions are raised, what sort of steps should be taken to be on the defensive.

The public interest compels me to ask the above of you, and I sincerely hope and trust you will be forthcoming within measurable distance with honest and sincere answers--not manufactured platitudes and bromides seeking to protect yourself from suspicion. There are those amongst us that know about just such possibilities.

Otherwise, can you Please Explain what prevents your disclosing the answers @ this time, provided that clear and compelling public interest can be justified (let alone "trade secrets" or suchlike other patsy).

Your cooperation would be greatly appreciated.

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MEMO TO READERS: Your Correspondent encourages you to please share this Open Letter with your friends and e-mail contacts--not to mention such causes and movements you support and identify with.

(Hopefully including such of the conservative persuasion, as are the target therefor.)

However, if you can help it, please avoid recourse to "spam," as the device can only prove ineffective to the point of backfiring and undermining the intentions of same.

FOR SUCH AMONG YOU READERS, ESPECIALLY THOSE AS WERE ATTRACTED THROUGH ENTRECARD in recent days, to The Exaggerator, and enquiring as to the kind of blogger Your Correspondent is--here's the answer:   

You Are a Pundit Blogger!

Your blog is smart, insightful, and always a quality read. You're up on the latest news, and you have an interesting spin on things. Of all the blogging types, you put the most thought and effort into your blog. Truly appreciated by many, surpassed by only a few

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A REGULAR SEGMENT ON FOX PROLEFEED'S THE O'REILLY FACTOR is entitled "Patriots and Pinheads," which serves nothing more than advancing an idealised conservative ideal of patriotism bordering on the hard-wired to the point of parroting out the latest conservative bumper-sticker slogans on cue in the rather reechy-sounding voice thus preferred.

Which brings up the question of who exactly is considered "acceptable" patriot material to the conservative Weltanschauung--IMHO, they would likely see "poor white trash" Joe Sixpack types of the Park and Flush to be "patriots" whereas those in "the projects" for want of a decent credit record as would help them obtain a decent mortgage as opposed to a "sub-prime" such pushed through trick or deception would be seen in this line of thinking as "pinheads."

Not to mention such being borderline appeal to racism.

Especially when the patriotism is expected to be that of the kind epitomised by the Orwellian Newspeak term "goodthoughtful"--as in being orthodox without question or reservation, practicing such True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command as it were second nature. (As if implying that any deviation or reservation therefrom was only the first sign of Serious Mental Disorders.)

Remember this, my friends: "Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."

BACK IN 1917, SOON AFTER THE UNITED STATES ENTERED WORLD WAR I, THE PRECEDING AD FOR LUCKY STRIKE CIGARETTES WAS WIDELY SEEN to call attention to the fact that the war-era United States Food Administration encouraged the consumption of various alternative foods in the interest of "our boys Over There" and those in war-devastated areas of Europe.

In this case, suggesting cheese as an alternative to meat dishes.

Come to think of it, how many of you reading this blog have actually tried Welsh rarebit (essentially melted cheese over toast)?

And is it possible to fix Welsh rarebit with the likes of Velveeta?

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NO DOUBT THE PRECEDING PHOTO IS CERTAIN TO BE USED BY OPPONENTS OF RENEWABLE ENERGY BASED ON SO-CALLED "WISE USE" ARGUMENTS in their "winning of hearts and minds" propaganda seeking to justify perpetuation of the status quo, and invoking G-d and Country to justify the same.

Especially such appealing to the ignorant and less-sophisticate which electric power companies are secretly counting on to maintain "guaranteed" profit margins through the continued and continuing use of less-energy-efficent lighting and appliances solely because of cost (and, in a way, restricted access to decent channels of consumer credit).

The same who, it turns out, rely all too heavily on Fox Prolefeed for their news and information, or what passeth for it. And to accept its prolefeed as fact without question or reservation, thinking that to so challenge anything seen on TV is one with "error and weakness" which, in its turn, could translate to "serious mental disorders."

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MEANWHILE, SPEAKING OF THE IGNORANT AND LESS-SOPHISTICATE, history has shown where they are all the more vulnerable to exploitation, thanks to limited or non-existant job skills on their part, by weird and unwholesome mountebank types promising big-big money by exploiting their unfortunate financial condition (and even more so @ this time).

Recent developments in Colombia, as discussed by Pyramid Scheme Alert, should serve as a warning to especially such who are looking for extra pretty polly in the face of the emerging socioeconomic emergency:

Two people are dead, 13 towns under police curfew and the country's top banking regulator has resigned. This is part of the fallout from the collapse of a large pyramid scheme that operated openly and "legally" in Colombia. The consequences are tragic. However, the more significant story from Colombia is one that is being repeated in many other countries. The authorities let it happen, even as the signs of a massive fraud were obvious.

How obvious? The scheme was called "Easy Money Fast Cash'' and promised investors payments of 70 percent to 150 percent a month. Police reported that the scheme operated for more than a year.

In the wake of the collapse, the country's top banking regulator (the scam masqueraded as a bank) resigned but only after thousands of poor, rural people in Colombia lost $270 million.

The scam's owners, Carlos Alfredo Suarez, fled the country. Investors rioted. Police confiscated $26 million but report that most of the money is gone and Suarez' whereabouts are unknown. The president of Colombia claims the government will try to help but does not specify how.

Bailouts of pyramid scheme victims are rare.

The most common question -- overwhelmingly -- posed to Pyramid Scheme Alert is, "Why does the government allow pyramid schemes to operate? Why doesn't it enforce the law?"

Examples:

In Canada… a scheme is now recruiting all over the country that promises $5,000 commission on a $3,200 "sale." How can this be? The scheme, called Business in Motion (BIM), claims it can do this because it has a system called "perpetual motion." In fact, no one purchases the company's product (membership in a vacation discount program) other than the "sales people." To gain the "commissions" each "sales person" must also make a $3,200 "purchase." The scheme is structured in the classic "8-ball" (1,2,4,8) of a pyramid scheme, in which most of the money paid in by last eight people that join the scam is transferred to the one person at the top, three levels above. Then the structure "spits" and each side must recruit eight each for a total of 16 new people and the cycle repeats over and over again. As the scheme progresses, it must continue to double the number of recruits – 16, 32, 64, 128, etc. If it "spits" just 22 times, the last recruits will need to find 8 billion new people! Yet, Canadian authorities still have not applied either the country's anti-pyramid law or its anti-fraud law.

In England… England's government is currently trying to close down the MLM giant Amway, as a pyramid scheme. However, an English judge has slowed the process and the case is on appeal. Meanwhile, Pyramid Gifting Schemes are, again, sweeping the country. One of the latest is being promoted by a star from the UK's version of the television show, The Apprentice. The young woman was selected over 20,000 others to be in show. She was revealed in a BBC exposé as now advertising the classic "gifting" pyramid scam. (Perhaps it is not so surprising that a star of Apprentice would start up a pyramid scheme, since, after all, Donald Trump, the host and star of the USA version of the show is a pitchman for the MLM scheme, ACN.) That scheme is only one of many others. Another BBC program, X-Ray uncovered and reported that "the reputations of some of Wales' most respected charities have been used by the organisers of an illegal pyramid scheme to lend an air of legitimacy to their activities, which involve people handing over thousands of pounds in a chain-gifting syndicate." Like Canada, England has good laws to enforce against Amway and other types of pyramids, the Gambling Act 2005 and the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008. Like consumers and taxpayers in Canada and the USA, UK citizens are asking: Why doesn't the government enforce the laws?

What we have learned over and over again is that lack of law enforcement becomes a form of government endorsement of scams. Often the schemers boldly ask, "If we are illegal, how could we be advertising, holding these public meetings and recruiting so many new people?"

An issue, methinks, which the incoming Obama/Biden Administration may want to address in seeking to create jobs for the unemployed and unemployable ... and which the Zealots and True Believers in the Ayn Rand mold may want to think twice about, considering their hard-wired belief that only a pure form of free-market capitalism will actually create "real" jobs, paying "real" money (preferably gold-backed) and, in turn, creating a New Golden Age of Industry, Self-Reliance, Personal Responsibility, Thrift based on Cash Economy and a Wholesome and Simple Home Life rooted, it turns out, in Poverty, Fecundity and Stupidity of the highest order.

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MEANWHILE, THOSE OPPOSING ABORTION BASED SOLELY ON THE "LIFE BEGINS @ CONCEPTION" ARGUMENT may want to start thinking about whether they also have "economic arguments" for justifying such articles of faith--as in a need to maintain an unskilled, labour-intensive manufacturing model and paradigm which can easily be excused as "industrial heritage" for tariff reasons.

Especially when there are disincentives in the tax department for new plant and equipment being purchased, out of fear that such would only "prevent jobs creation" as threatens the ultimate Sanctii Sanctorum among the Greater Religiopolitical Right of nil-rate unemployment within the parameters of free-market capitalism, without recourse to "make-work/fake-work" positions which Communist regimes were fond of creating to create the aura of nil-rate unemployment in their propaganda.

And doesn't it seem rather ironic that many of the same elements who oppose abortion also support eugenics, itself based on discredited pseudoscience made all the more so by totalitarian regimes holding eugenics to be the key towards creating a "Master Race" as would be above human error and weakness?