NOW THAT MITT ROMNEY HAS GIVEN UP ON HIS GOP PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS FOR THE TIME BEING, many political commentators and pundits are suggesting that John McCain could be all the more likely to take the GOP Presidential nod this summer up in the Twin Cities.

Unless, however, Mike Huckabee (who sees the Presidential role as being, in effect, a superdivine "Prophet, Seer and Revelator" acting as intermediary for Divine Revelation from G-d A-mighty, regarded as the One True Leader of the American Nation and People) manages to pull a few fast ones in the upcoming round of primaries and caucuses, especially among the Elmer Gantry crowd.

Who, for the most part, tend to be from the ranks of the poor, undereducated or homeschooled and easily-influenced (especially where emotional disorders come into play, not to mention the overzealous influence of the Low Church stylee upon the Religiopolitical Right's base of support).

As for the so-called "Ron Paul Revolution," his racist and neo-Nazi message packaged as one of "freedom, peace and prosperity" doesn't exactly sit well with voters, so explaining Paul's near-bottom standings in primaries and caucuses to date notwithstanding his desire to keep up the campaign (yet all the while wanting to avoid a third-party or otherwise independent bid).

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WHICH COULD ONLY MEAN THAT INDECISION 2008'S "WINNING OF HEARTS AND MINDS" PHASE can only get all the nastier, and then some.

Witness remarks made by Democratic Presidential wannabe Barack Obama in the wake of Super Tuesday about the GOP preparing to dish out all manner of dirt on whoever manages to win the Democratic Presidential nomination. As in "swift-boating," more than likely.

Fortunately, though, the good people @ Brave New Films have fired the opening salvos with two sites (both mit Video) revealing the "real" John McCain for what he is. Just go to The Real McCain and/or Less Jobs, More Wars and see for yourself--especially if you're still the kind of Zealot and/or True Believer in John McCain's campaign.

Whether you'll wind up reconsidering in the end, only the Fates know for sure.

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ANTI-GOVERNMENT ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS IN THE XTREME (AND THEN SOME) are no doubt going to be dancing in the streets over the news of a massacree @ last night's City Council meeting in the St. Louis suburb of Kirkwood as saw five city officials martyred and two (including the mayor) wounded seriously and now in a serious condition in hospital.

The assain, a small-time contractor of colour by name of Charles "Cookie" Thornton, was himself shot by police before the massacree got all the more out of control.

That last fact right there should be of especial interest to such specimens of anti-government Zealotry and True Belief whose articles of faith include "patriotic" racism and bigotry.

*************

SPOT THE INHERENT IRONY IN THE FOLLOWING:

Certain specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief (especially so those in a "winning of hearts and minds" vein) have been known to invoke the name and depravity of Venezuelan quasi-dictator Hugo Chavez in attacking real or suspected Liberals or Progressives and their articles of faith--especially if the aim is one of questioning, Joe McCarthy-stylee, the loyalty and True Patriot Love (or supposed lack thereof) among Liberals and Progressives.

(As if said True Patriot Love was conditional on maintaining a hard-wired, "stay-the-course" complacency vis-a-vis the Greater Conservative Agenda and its articles of faith requiring, in effect, an unyielding and @ once deliberate brand of stupidity which can be excused as "goodthought"--orthodoxy per Orwellian Newspeak--and can be appealed to as required.)

Ironically, though, many of these same hyperconservative Zealots and True Believers in question are more than likely anti-Semites of the highest order, howbeit preferring to keep their anti-Semitism below radar (and deliberately), especially if and when "outed." As if that weren't enough, the Anti-Defamation League has come out with a blistering new report (read it and weep, boys and girls) suggesting that the Chavez regime is playing up anti-Semitic canards and patsies as part of its greater political agenda of "popular socialism," not to mention associating with radical Islamists, especially so such known to associate with International Terrorism, and others weird and/or unwholesome.

Witness these specimens of anti-Semitism from the very lips of Chavez himself, via the ADL's press release announcing the report's release:

• "Israel was committing genocide in Lebanon and its leaders should be held responsible and should be judged by an international tribunal … The Israelis criticize Hitler but have done something worse." – August 25, 2006.
• "This fascism is something similar to what Hitler did: bombard cities, kill innocent children, women and men, and destroy the infrastructure of people." – July 26, 2006
• "… The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendants of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia.  A minority has taken possession of all the wealth in the world …" -- December, 24, 2005.

Other specimens of anti-Semitic propaganda from the Chavez regime's propaganda documented by the ADL as are worthy of note:

• "Those who are upset with Ahmadinejad's visit to Venezuela are the gangsters of the local Jewish mafia; the terrorists who control the Confederations of Israelite Associations (CAIV) and other criminal organizations of similar reputation."  -- Los Papeles de Mandinga, September 19, 2006
• "It was to be expected.  The profound humanistic conviction and moral solidarity of Commander Chavez for denouncing the atrocities that are systematically committed by the state of Israel against Arab people have bothered the cancers of the inferno – international imperialism and Zionism." – Diario Vea, September 14, 2006
• "Zionists, the destructive sect of radical Jews, are again impregnating the Jewish community with its animosity towards humanity.  The genocide they executed in Palestine and Lebanon is similar to the Holocaust which the Nazis executed against them, and they will undergo another Holocaust because of the global hatred they are accumulating."  -- Diario Vea, July 4, 2006.

Besides, liberalism and Progressivism hold dear among their articles of faith a firm belief in diversity, tolerance and multiculturalism, in effect seeing anti-Semitism as one with racism, bigotry, intolerance, xenophobia and jingoism--i.e., intolerable, anathema and un-American.

Given this evidence, what have you to say now, ye who invoke Hugo Chavez as a bête noire to question the loyalty and patriotism of Liberals and Progressives, let alone perhaps being closet anti-Semites yourselves?

And have you any evidence to suggest that these remarks may probably be what you would call "forgeries"?

Until you can provide a logical answer, remember: You only have yourselves to blame for where you are now, so don't come crying to me. 

IN THE PREVIOUS BLOG OF YOUR CORRESPONDENT, by name and stylee of the daily phosdex, he responded to a number of "spam" e-mails promoting adult websites using in their Subject lines various adjectives to describe the women supposedly featured, among them:

• "æsthetic"
• "elegant"
• "lovely"
• "comely"
• "scenic"
• "rustic"
• "natural"

by making note of an adjudication from the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) of Great Britain involving an infomercial for what turned out being an unencrypted adult channel trading as Babestar, featuring sexually-explicit material by way of premium-rate sex-call lines between Land's End and John O'Groats.

(Of particular concern was the rather frank and smarty language and tone of presentation, its frequent use of sexually-provocative scenes, its airing unencrypted and, by extension, such likely to appeal to children and Others Easily Influenced.)

In any case, ASA referred Babestar to Ofcom, the British equivalent of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), for approriate action.

Soon afterwards, Babestar's owners tried to pull a fast one on Ofcom by returning to air as Babestar+--again, presenting sexually-provocative content unencrypted, late @ night, between Land's End and John O'Groats. (And, as was the case with the original Babestar, being listed in the Electronic Programme Guide's Adult section).

Again, ASA took exception, and referred Babestar+ to Ofcom.

In any case, Ofcom imposed a substantial penalty on Babestar for breaches of the relevant codes relating to adult programming of a sexually-provocative nature and the need to protect children and the vulnerable from moral harm caused by such programmes.

WELLLLLLL--!!!!!!!

Ofcom subsequently conducted an investigation of so-called "babe" channels airing unencrypted across England's Green and Pleasant Land, where it turns out that Babestar was just the tip of a much larger iceberg, so to speak.

As summarised in Ofcom Broadcasting Bulletin #95:

Due to Ofcom’s serious concerns about levels of compliance in the ‘adult’ sector, by both ‘babe-style’ channels and free-to-air content on encrypted channels, Ofcom is considering amendments to the Code so as to require that all material transmitted in the adult section of the EPG is protected by a mandatory PIN. Any such proposals would be subject to a full public consultation.

Due to the serious nature of the Code and Licence breaches recorded in this Bulletin concerning ‘babe-style’ channels, Ofcom considered whether some of these matters should be referred to the Content Sanctions Committee for consideration of a statutory sanction. However, Ofcom has monitored the output of ‘babe’ channels in recent months and noted some significant improvements in compliance after the watershed (e.g. there was less or no very crude or explicit language or visual content). In view of the remedial action taken by relevant broadcasters to improve compliance, we decided against referring these matters to the Committee. Nevertheless, any breach of a similar nature by a broadcaster of a ‘babe’ channel in future is likely to result in further regulatory action.

Of particular concern to Ofcom was the use of such "babe" channels as no better than programme-length commercials for related premium-rate chat lines. Again, from Broadcasting Bulletin 95 (emphasis supplied):

In some of the Findings related to ‘babe-style’ channels in this Bulletin, the broadcasters failed on a number of occasions to justify the promotion of PRS within programmes. Where there is sufficient justification to promote a PRS within a programme (i.e. it contributes to editorial or meets the definition of programme-related material), broadcasters should remember that the rules on undue prominence will apply to the promotion. Programmes should not primarily be vehicles for broadcasters to promote PRS.

The channels in question were each described by Ofcom as being

a free-to-air unencrypted channel shown in the adult section of the Sky EPG. It broadcasts programmes based on interactive ‘adult’ chat services: viewers are invited to contact on-screen presenters (“babes”) via premium rate telephony services (“PRS”). Female presenters dress provocatively in underwear and encourage viewers to contact them.

As for trying to explain editorial justification for promoting premium-rate chat lines within the context of otherwise sexually-suggestive programming, Ofcom's summary of the charges against one of the channels in question, Get Lucky TV, best explains why such a patsy won't wash between Land's End and John O'Groats:

[T]he broadcaster (Get Lucky) did not demonstrate that the off-screen text service was directly derived from the programme and allowed the viewer to “benefit fully from, or interact with”, the programme.

In relation to the service offering viewers the opportunity to talk to an off-screen ‘babe’, while this service may have been thematically similar to the service that offered viewers the opportunity to contact on-screen presenters, this in itself is not sufficient to categorise the service as programme-related. The broadcaster did not provide sufficient information to establish to Ofcom’s satisfaction that the off-screen service was in fact “directly derived” from the programme as required by the definition of PRM.

The promotions for the off-screen text and chat services within the programme were therefore unacceptable.

[***]

The promotion of PRM within programmes should be driven by the needs of the audience e.g. it should be sufficient to tell viewers about the availability of material but should not be primarily a ‘sell’ for the service. In this case, the service was promoted frequently by means of on-screen text throughout the programme. In Ofcom’s opinion, the level of promotion went beyond what was reasonably justified to inform viewers about the availability of the service and appeared to be commercially motivated.

[***]

In conclusion, the broadcaster failed to adequately demonstrate that the following services contributed to the editorial of the programme or met the definition of PRM:

• the off-screen chat service;
• the private text service; and
• the service that allowed viewers to submit photos to the channel.

Additionally, the promotion of the services that provided viewers with photos of presenters was unduly prominent.

So: Is this the end ... or is this the end of the beginning? Stay tuned. 

FOR ALL THE PLATITUDES AND BROMIDES FOX NOISE WANTS THE POOR, UNDEREDUCATED AND EASILY-INFLUENCED that they consider "right-thinking Americans" to believe about the American socioeconomic situation being much better than things appear to be (think "reject all evidence of eyes and ears"), Your Correspondent hath it that panhaldlers working outside a Wally World in Coos Bay, Oregon are earning as much as $300/diem.

Which, it turns out, is the weekly pay of an average clerk inside the same Wally World.

Police, fortunately, understand that said beggers aren't causing much trouble on the part of shoppers--even if their proceeds wind up going to a bottle or two of Night Train.

Such, no doubt, must be the state of the "morally superior" American socioeconomic paradigm which His Fraudulency's Great Within may have only begun undermining all the more by justifying a "stay-the-course" policy on keeping "temporary" tax cuts "complete, final and binding" to create jobs as are likely to exist but on paper or, @ best, as "make-work/fake-work" such.

And Fox Noise still expects the Lower Classes to see capitalism as their Great White Father "ennobling" and "empowering" ...

(But then again, kids, don't try this game in your hometown--even if your parents force you into doing so, even to the point of giving "advice" about faking some class of misfortune likely to be discredited within measurable distance.)

=============

STAYING WITH HIS FRAUDULENCY'S GREAT WITHIN FOR THE NONCE, Your Correspondent has to wonder whether they're working with super-secret "dirty tricks" operatives in the GOP to study the forthcoming Russian Parliamentary Elections (and how the Putin regime is dominating the whole for sole and corrupt benefit) for ways to cook up "terrorist acts" as could be seen to justify suspension of Indecision 2008 and impose Emergency Powers crossing into Fascism (and which His Fraudulency will claim came by way of Divine Order, in effect making him "Prophet, Seer and Revelator"--or so he thinks, aided and abetted by Al Cohol).

Especially so "terrorist acts" which turn out to have really been carried out by mentally-unstable agents provocateur recruited by highly-questionable means (and given safe harbour in Canada, say, in the end, along with a fat, conditional-upon-silence retainer, while official blame lies upon International Terrorism).

Back to the Russian elections in question: The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) has cancelled all plans to send in observers to monitor same, citing what OSCE considered "unrealistic and unacceptable" demands by Russian electoral authorities. In effect, only opening the door for said elections being all the more corrupt, dishonest and @ risk of manipulation, perverting democracy and liberty in the end.

In the immortal words of Josiah Quincy, "liberty is not safe where the people are not watchful."

Hence, remember this freecall number: 1-866-OUR-VOTE.

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RYANAIR, EUROPE'S ANSWER TO SOUTHWEST AIRLINES (AS IT WERE), CAN'T KEEP ITS FILTHY PROBOSCIS out of where it doesn't quite belong, as if seeking all manner of free advertising for their cut-price airline.

Previously, Your Correspondent noted where Ryanair had been ordered to pay €60,000 in damages to the bride of French President Sarkozy for unauthorised use of her image in a newspaper advert.

Not to mention frequent complaints against Ryanair by the Advertising Standards Authority in Great Britain.

Now, an English court has put Ryanair all the deeper into Dutch: They've been ordered to pay the members of a calypso band the equivalent of US$7,800 for damages and humiliation suffered when a Ryanair flight attendant pointed a gun @ their heads to force them off the flight prior to takeoff after a nearby passenger complained of suspected "disorderly behaviour."

*************

SO MUCH FOR NATO'S "SUCCESSES" IN DEALING WITH TALIBAN INSURGENTS in the Afghani theatre of the ur-RAHOWA Against International Terrorism:

Afghani agricultural and police officials have issued a preliminary forecast suggesting that this year's Afghan opium poppy crop is set to equal last year's record harvest--and its potential value in opium gum produced.

Likewise with marijuana production, which can then be converted into hashish or hashish oil as added-value products for their cultivators.

Of course, you'll never guess who ultimately winds up profiting from the aforementioned. Never mind the obvious claim of Afghani farmers that the soil isn't all that ideal for cultivating anything else but opium poppies and/or marijuana.

(BTW, is NATO able to get access to agronomy specialists who can do soil analyses of Afghani agricultural areas as can actually confirm such an argument as above?)

CONSERVATIVE ARTICLES OF FAITH ON CULTURE BEING WHAT THEY ARE, Your Correspondent is wondering what exactly they would have in mind to answer what they're forever perceiving as "liberal propaganda messages" subtly being incorporated into most films and TV programmes these days.

Said messages only "leading viewers towards error," especially so the likes of children and vulnerable individuals.

One likely arena for such a "message" being pushed, howbeit subtly, of course: None other than "reality" TV, pure and simple, cheap and cheerful.

In particular, a "reality" series based on the producerist "back-to-the-land" ideal as sees small-town/rural America (and its "traditional values systems") being the last and only hope that "right-thinking" working-class white families have to save them from "loss of pride and honour" caused by the "unhealthy" presence of National Minorities and welfare cases in what few traditionally white working-class neighbourhoods remain in the major cities.

Save what sense of "Traditional Values" they expect to have out of their own hubris-laden arrogance and not much else.

Which, for the most part, involves scare tactics (and deliberate such, @ that) seeking to "resettle" working-class whites into rural communities otherwise @ "clear and present risk" of depopulation and inability to attract "real" industry and jobs (as in unskilled, labour-intensive Luddite models) based on free-market capitalism being the Great White Father.

Only it turns out that there's little in the way of shopping opportunities to be had where they're being resettled: Blame it on Wally World, the nearest such being a considerable drive away, and its predatory tactics packaged all the more as "defending" free-market capitalism as Great White Father.

Hence, when all is said and done, expect such "resettled" in the name of a warped "back-to-the-land" ideal being one with saving working-class "honour" turning into nothing more than Family Guy and South Park meet Survivor--in short, an outright farce reducing such thus "resettled" into quasi-pornographic objects of fun, thereby deflating any propaganda merit whatsoever.

*************

UNFORTUNATELY, WE "MORALLY SUPERIOR" AMERICANS HAVE NO MONOPOLY on complaints about TV programmes suspected of being obscene, indecent, tasteless, or otherwise unsuitable for children and other vulnerable persons--and the advertisers who sponsor them just to create the aura of American TV being purely FreeVee.

Even the Japanese, with a reputation for some rather raunchy shows on TV themselves, have been known to take issue with a number of TV shows themselves, if the following "WaiWai" item from the Mainichi Daily News of Tokyo can be accepted as credible (and besides, "WaiWai" is pretty much in the same league as the late Weekly World News, with the added angle of drawing upon the likes of Japan's trashier weekly magazines for source material):

Despite constant complaints about the filth and degradation on display in some of Japan's cruddiest TV shows, major corporations are still willing to funnel hundreds of millions of yen into the programs, according to Shukan Bunshun (12/13).

"Ratings are everything for us. The better a show rates, the more it can charge for advertising. Advertising revenue determines how well a network performs and how much employees get paid. At the moment, the going rate for a monthly advertising contract for a prime time TV show earning ratings of 15 percent or more is about ¥100 million," a major network insider tells Shukan Bunshun, adding that TV advertising is a ¥2 trillion business.

"Most sponsors could care what programs they're advertising with. All they're worried about is how many viewers from the key consumer market of women aged 20 to 34 that a show can pull in."

Parents of schoolchildren across Japan are regularly infuriated by a series of shows on TV.

Taking the cake is "London Hearts," a variety show hosted by comic duo London Boots that has for the past four years been voted by a national PTA association as the program they least want kids to watch.

"Before going on air, the show gathers 10 women performers in a studio, gives them themes like 'The Woman Most Likely to be Hated by Men' or 'The Woman Most Likely to Get Cheated On' and asks them to decide among themselves who they think will be the loser. When the show goes live, an audience of 100 is also asked to pick the loser from among the 10 women. The panelists are then left to battle it out over all the answers that are given," a TV script writer says.

Cartoon "Crayon Shin-chan," the story of a crude pre-school boy, is also a perennial target of parents.

"Shin-chan is just filthy. He shows no respect for his parents, makes fun of adults and whips his willy out at the drop of a hat. I remember reading the comic it is based on before I was married and thinking, 'Gee, if I have a kid like this, I'll throttle him,'" a 48-year-old woman says.

Another mom despises "Crayon Shin-chan" because of its influence.

"Kids only need to see him once and they start copying his behavior," the 35-year-old housewife says.

"Mecha Mecha Iketeiru," a show by another comedy twosome called Ninety Nine, is also loathed by respectable parents. The show features a wordplay game, with the losers punished, often with physical violence in the form of a group beating meted out for giving a wrong answer, an action many say inspires school bullying.

Sex is also a prime target of those upset by the idiot box. "Baka Dono Sama," a vehicle for comedian Ken Shimura, has been blasted for scenes implying he is sleeping with several women at the same time and for showing a woman naked from the waist up and referring to her as a "flesh cushion" even though it screens at the family time of 7 p.m.

"Ainori" is another program drawing criticism, with the reality show taking several young men and women in a drive around the world in a pink car with "Love Wagon" written on it and the performers instructed that the aim of the show is for them to eventually find someone working with them to pair off.

Networks aren't too fazed by the criticism.

"Our programs are made according to the network's ethical standards, loved by viewers and we trust the producers," a spokesman for TV Asahi, which runs both "London Hearts" and "Crayon Shin-Chan," tells Shukan Bunshun.

Advertisers aren't too concerned about what they're pumping their money into, either.

"We're aware that some of these programs are being criticized, but we'd rather not comment on the social responsibility aspect. We do not have concrete standards on the types of programs we will not advertise with," a spokesman for Unilever Japan tells Shukan Bunshun.

Softbank Mobile Corp. has a similar line.

"We have no particular guidelines about advertising, but place priority on the effect of the advertisement, which we judge by the ratings and the type of people watching the show. We're aware of the criticism, and we're certainly not ignoring it," a spokesman says.

Not all companies are like that, though. Health product manufacturer Unicharm Corp. and confectionary giant Lotte Co. both advertise during controversial shows criticized for their crude content, but have declined to be credited as sponsors. A Unicharm spokesman explains why.

"We decided in June last year to stop advertising on 'London Hearts.' We still run a spot advertisement, but don't want to be credited as a program sponsor," the spokesman says.

Lotte is even more specific.

"Because of all the criticism from places like PTAs and the like, we felt that we could invite misunderstanding, so declined the chance to be a credited sponsor," a PR representative says.

Hair product manufacturer Aderans Co., however, clearly doesn't care.

"We have absolutely nothing to do with the contents of the program," a spokesman for Aderans tells Shukan Bunshun. "Nor are we in any position to issue orders or make comments about the shows."

(Meanwhile, let's just hope some target of an American Family Association-directed boycott campaign pro Deo, patria et familia actually turns the tables on the AFA for once with legal action for Unlawful Interference in Interstate or Foreign Commerce, Criminal Syndicalism, Racketeering and Related Conspiracies.)

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AND ONE THING MORE: Are conservatives looking to have the now-discredited term "morons and idiots" applied to "chronic and habitual" welfare cases solely for the sake of further keeping the poor down, all the while excusing such as "patriotic"?

HIS FRAUDULENCY'S GREAT WITHIN FAILING TO RECOGNISE THE CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER OF THEIR SOCIOECONOMIC ARTICLES OF FAITH based on arbitrarily low taxes, a hard-wired belief in discredited socioeconomic models and free-market capitalism being the Great White Father of the Lower Classes likely translating to clear and present socioeconomic dislocation among especially the socioeconomically vulnerable within measurable distance can only mean one thing to certain elements weird and unwholesome:

Videlicet, nothing short of outright exploitation for short-term profit @ the expense of the socioeconomically vulnerable in clear and compelling need of income in the wake of job losses and a general reluctance to accept any type of charity out of fear that such will lead to Moral Danger within measurable distance.

This notwithstanding repeated studies showing no clear interconnexion between welfare dependency (or its causes) and Moral Danger. (Just do a Google on the subject.)

With that in mind, perhaps the following warning by way of our British friends @ the Advertising Standards Authority involving a company called Markiteer (selling what would best be described as "informational reports" of dubious or questionable merit) may serve as a caution to such seeking to look to entities of this type as a quick way to "real income" in the face of immiment socioeconomic meltdown:

Ad
A direct mailing, for a business opportunity, stated "David, would you be interested if I gave you the opportunity of earning yourself £25,000-£500,000 a year working alongside me with what's in these boxes which I took delivery of this morning?"  The mailing included several earnings claims; "you might be interested to know that one of the students I worked with last year has already banked over £150,000.00 whilst another student who I also helped to get started has now banked around £200,000.00", "I've earned over £197,000 from just one project ... That works out at £16,416.66 Per Week!" and "part of his 2007 target of creating 5 new FAST TRACK Millionaires".

Issue
The complainant challenged whether the mailing was misleading because it did not make clear:

1. the nature of the business opportunity being offered; and  

2. that the recipient would have to pay to take up the opportunity.

Response
1. Markiteer said they taught people how to use direct marketing techniques to market information products, such as DVDs, CDs, manuals, courses, workshops and seminars. They said, since 2001, they had been involved in marketing or helping to market several different items that they believed were not business opportunities. Markiteer said their approach was often to use a small classified newspaper ad, which led to further details available on a website, or a single page letter, which invited customers to view details on a website. They said that was also the approach they taught.

Markiteer maintained that the mailing was sent only to their existing 'students'. They said the students in question had all paid for and enrolled in a course delivered via monthly written modules, backed up with DVDs.  Markiteer stressed that recipients of the letter were not ordinary members of the public but business minded people who would be running, or would have been about to run, their own information marketing business. They maintained that, even if they had yet to start trading, recipients would have been aware of exactly what was involved as they were already students of the course.

Markiteer pointed out that the letter referred to additional products and previous correspondence. They believed it was unrealistic to suggest someone could pay for and receive monthly course modules, then receive several letters in a row about taking on licences for new information products that were directly linked to what they had been studying, but not know the nature of the communication written. Markiteer pointed out that the letter invited recipients to access a website where everything was spelt out in detail. They said the website was free to access, using the allocated password for that private student and required no commitment from them. Markiteer maintained that, because a business proposal involving licensing was very detailed it was not viable to print out and post the whole thing to everyone who might be interested. They believed the letter and the website should be considered as a single communication because neither made sense without the other.

2. Markiteer said the mailing was sent only to existing 'students', who paid for the tuition they received on the course. They considered that the mailing asked for nothing more than interested parties to read information made available to those customers on the website. They said the website made clear that recipients would have to pay to take up the offer but they also pointed out that anyone who took up the offer would have to read the website, which contained full details of what it involved. Markiteer maintained that they went through the contractual details with each applicant personally and applicants had the right to their money back at any time. Markiteer pointed out that CAP Code clause 52.5 stated "the initial marketing communication should normally state if an investment is required" and because the mailing referred to previous correspondence it could not be considered to be the "initial marketing communication".  Markiteer maintained that the Code did not require them to make clear that recipients would have to pay to take up the offer.

Assessment
1. Upheld
The ASA noted the mailing did not state the nature of the advertised opportunity.  We noted Markiteer maintained that they included full details of their business proposal on a separate secure website but they did not provide us with a copy of the details contained on it. We noted the Code allowed marketers to state a clear description of the work involved in a business opportunity in follow-up material made available to all consumers before commitment.  We considered that recipients were likely to be familiar with the general concepts used by Markiteer but because we had not seen the website, which Markiteer maintained made clear the nature of the advertised opportunity, we concluded the ad breached the Code.

On this point, the mailing breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 52.5 (Employment and Business Opportunities).

2. Upheld
We noted the mailing featured no reference to any cost associated with the business opportunity offered.  We noted Markiteer maintained that the secure website featured full details of the business opportunity and made clear that payment was required.  We noted the Code allowed marketers to include information, such as the nature of the opportunity, in 'follow-up' literature, but it stated that the initial marketing communication should normally state if an investment was required.  We considered that the mailing was the initial correspondence about the business opportunity and that it should have stated that a financial investment was required.  We therefore concluded that the ad breached the Code.

On this point, the mailing breached CAP Code clauses  7.1 (Truthfulness) and 52.5 (Employment and Business Opportunities).

Action
We told Markiteer to ensure that future ads made clear the nature of any business opportunity being offered and the extent of any financial investment.  We advised Markiteer to obtain CAP copy advice.

(It's on the third page of the PDF.)

PERHAPS ONE OF THE MORE LURID YOUTH ORGANISATIONS KNOWN TO YOUR CORRESPONDENT would probably have to be the Kremlin-sponsored youth organisation Nazhi.

Whose articles of faith can best be said to be xenophobically nationalist in ways not seen since the Former Soviet Union's collapse, with overtures to racism, anti-Semitism and homophobia of a most overt type--in some instances, leading to outright ultraviolence with the police looking the other way.

Whose agenda appeals to the disaffected youth of post-Soviet Russia with appeals to a "Mother Russia" mentality reinforced by deliberate and crude isolationism of the highest order.

Whose meetings have reputedly included outright orgies in a stylee not unlike that of the Hitler Jugend and Bund Deutscher Madel back in Nazi Germany, reinforced with appeals to "repopulate Mother Russia" and yet disapproving of contraception.

In other words, the kind of youth organisation which certain religiopolitical conservatives would love to see pushed upon Right-Thinking American Youth, all the while seeking to "promote a healthy patriot love for the Nobility of America" along hatemongering and xenophobically isolationist models of Nazhi. That, and the occasional orgy for the Greater Glory of Maintaining White Racial Honour and Glory.

The which needs to be watched because of its clear and present danger for brainwashing especially vulnerable youth, in particular such as are forced into membership by dysfunctional and uncaring parents wanting a cheap and cheerful way to get the kids out of their hair while the parental units perouse the Information Stuporbahn for kinderporn.

Especially so by way of fear, violence, intimidation--and unprotected procreation in the name of G-d, Country and Race.

And yet these same elements in the Nazhi vein speak of "defending Traditional Christian Family Values" all the while!

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WITH @ LEAST ONE NEWS PORTAL CLAIMING THAT "LEAKED EXIT POLLS" SUGGEST A "SURGE" FOR MIKE HUCKABEE'S PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS IN THE SEVERAL SUPER TUESDAY PRIMARIES, particularly so in the Bible Belt (but then again, polls could be wrong before the final numbers come out), the Right Wing Watch blog of People For the American Way makes note of what could be a rather pathetic tactic on the Huckabee campaign's part--whining and harping on and on about "Christian persecution," itself a non-issue in Indecision 2008 if ever there was one:

Aside from presenting himself as the one true "Christian leader" best prepared to be the nation's first "Pastor in Chief," Mike Huckabee's primary campaign strategy seems to be whining about how unfairly he is being treated.

So far, while his supporters have been demanding recounts of straw polls and proclaiming that he is the victim of anti-evangelical bias, he has been busy complaining about other Christian leaders refusing to back him, saying that his faith is receiving undue scrutiny, and suggesting that there is some sort of anti-Huckabee conspiracy at work. Lately, he has begun whining that Mitt Romney is engaging in "voter suppression" and saying that Romney ought to drop out of the race because he is stealing his votes.

And now he has taken to blasting "establishment Republicans" who want him to drop out, saying that social conservatives are sick of being told to sit at the "back of the bus," complaining that they've paid their dues and deserve to sit at the head of the table for once:

One day before Super Tuesday, when he hopes to regain some much-needed momentum in the South, Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee told Baptist Press that the GOP must not relegate social conservatives to the "back of the bus," as he says some "establishment Republicans" have done.

…

"What we're beginning to find out now," he told BP, "is that some of the establishment Republicans were more than happy to have social conservatives, as long as we would make sure we helped provide the vote margin to get Republicans elected and we were willing to hammer in yard signs and attend rallies and scream. But when we actually wanted to not just have a seat at the table but sit at the head of the table, make decisions on issues that are very, very important to us and always have been, suddenly we're not welcome anymore. We've been asked to go to the back of the bus.

"It's been very revealing. Either this is a party that social conservatives have a home in or we don't.... We've paid our dues."

Who knows, maybe whining is a winning electoral strategy.  But since Huckabee plans on staying in the race even if he gets trounced on Super Tuesday, maybe he'll have time to try out a campaign strategy that doesn't involve playing the victim and that expands beyond his right-wing Christian base. 

WITH GOP PRESIDENTIAL WANNABE MIKE HUCKABEE MAKING NO SECRET OF HIS SUPPORT BASE being, by and large, what could best be called "Wally World Republicans" as opposed to "Wall Street Republicans," perhaps it would be best to define what constitutes a "Wally World Republican."

For the obvious, expect such to be low-class "white trailer park trash," to use the vernacular.

Drawing it out some, your typical "Wally World Republican" can expect to be:

• Lower-working-class socioeconomically, usually blue collar unskilled or semi-skilled with little or no realistic potential for advancement.
• More than likely resident in lower-income or otherwise economically-disadvantaged communities with latent socioeconomic complacency in unskilled blue-collar manufacturing as the socioeconomic foundation, or otherwise unlikely to attract real jobs for fear of "destabilising the established industrial base." Said complacency making these same communities all the more vulnerable to exploitation by carpetbagger types in the "home business," "work-from-home" and "gifting club" arenas.
• Unlikely to come to terms with the changing socioeconomic paradigm, having been brought up more than likely in a time when unskilled manufacturing jobs predominated and the socioeconomic paradigm favoured export-based models "to protect American jobs."
• Educationally-speaking, more than likely to read and comprehend @ a 4th- to 6th-grade level, and all the more likely to have their children homeschooled based on apartheid South Africa's syllabus of Nasionale Christen Opverdoing, placing idealised "values" above core skills with clear and present risk of developing warped ideals.
• Unlikely to have due regard for "getting their money's worth" (as in emphasising the useful and practical) in their shopping, as opposed to getting what they want cheap above all else.
• Especially likely to have been brought up in an abusive, broken or otherwise dysfunctional home, with episodes of physical and/or sexual abuse (including incest) inflicted by parents and/or siblings and all the more likely to wind up abusing wife and/or children themselves, excusing such as "Christian Love" if and when pressed to explain. Said upbringing also developing a latent contempt for State welfare based on such only "contributing to moral weakness and lapse" notwithstanding repeated studies disproving such an interconnexion.
• Notwithstanding latent objections to homosexuality, "Wally World Republicans" are all the more likely to bond with fellow males for the sake of their own hubris-laden machismo, drinking beer, swapping dirty stories and discussing all manner of lurid "conspiracies" brought up on conservative talkback radio over recent days, among other adventures in political incorrectness.
• Holding Amerikanischer Realkultur to be Morally Superior to All Other Kultur, notwithstanding their objections to violence, "obscenity," "indecency," "miscegenation" and "unscreupulous Jewish control and influence upon the New York-Hollywood Axis of Evil;" more than likely to regard Branson, MO to be The True Centre of Amerikanischer Realkultur in a "pure" and idealised form.
• About their only interests the "Wally World Republican" is likely to have on their horizon are DIY home and automotive projects, trashy films and TV shows, sport (especially so NASCAR and so-called "professional wrestling"), sexually-suggestive jokes and stories, beer, junk food and xenophobically jingoistic patriotism.
• Patriotic feelings in the element are all the more likely to be such which regard Old Glory to be some class of a Holy and Sacred Icon With Supposedly Sacred and Mystical Powers (cf. Nazi Germany's treatment of the swastika flag as an icon of Hope and Salvation for the Aryan Master Race) and America being the Portal and Gateway to Heaven, not to mention Center of the World, the Universe and the 28 Known Galaxies--in other words, a xenophobically isolated brand rivalled in depravity only by North Korea and the so-called "Union of Myanmar" (a/k/a Burma).
• Regarding deliberate ignorance and stupidity as virtuous.

Thus defines the "Wally World Republican."

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AND TALK ABOUT DIVINE JUDGEMENT OF THE HIGHEST ORDER, come to think of it: Hours after GOP Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee won "Super Tuesday" primaries or caucuses in Alabama, Arkansas and Tennessee, those same states (not to mention parts of Louisana and Mississippi as are all the likely to support the Huckabee campaign) were hit by a series of tornadoes as have caused (to the moment I write this) some 50 deaths, hundreds of injuries and considerable property damage.

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SOMETHING FOR THE ELMER GANTRY CROWD TO THINK ABOUT IN EXPLOITING LATENT HOMOPHOBIA among these same "Wally World Republicans" in particular, by way of Britain's Advertising Standards Authority taking issue with a mobile billboard campaign by the "Christian Congress for Traditional Values:"

Ad
A mobile poster for the Christian Congress for Traditional Values (CCTV) showed a family consisting of a man, a woman and a young son and daughter.  Body copy beside it stated "GAY AIM: ABOLISH THE FAMILY."  CCTVs website address was printed beneath the body copy and a banner across the picture of the family identified CCTV and showed a logo.

Issue
The complainant believed the ad suggested all gay people were against families and family values.  He challenged whether:

1. this was an accurate representation of the views of gay people and

2. the ad was likely to cause serious or widespread offence or condone anti-social behaviour.

Response
1.  CCTV said they believed the common understanding in the UK of what constituted a family was a married man and woman, both of whom had been born in that gender, and their children.  They believed this understanding stemmed from the UK being a traditionally Christian country with the concept of a family being rooted in Judeo-Christian principles.

They believed the homosexual community was represented in the media and in the consciousness of the population at large by a public campaign for legislative and moral change, and that the ad represented their views in a factually accurate way.  CCTV believed it was legitimate for them to state their opinion that these were the views of the public campaign.  They did not believe the ad suggested that all gay people shared those views.  They believed the campaigners who sought same-sex marriage did not do so simply to achieve the same domestic situation that was available to heterosexuals but also because they aimed to redefine and abolish the traditional family.  They said it was that aim to which the poster referred.  CCTV cited the 1971 Gay Liberation Front Manifesto documents which described the traditional family unit (husband, wife and children) as working against homosexuality, and which stated "We must aim at the abolition of the family."  CCTV said that other aims listed in the 1971 Gay Liberation Front Manifesto and which had resulted in legislative or social changes included the teaching of homosexuality in schools; equalising the age of consent for homosexuals and heterosexuals; using the media to detract from the traditional family as the norm and introducing legislation to prevent discrimination against homosexuals in the workplace.  CCTV cited a similar manifesto published by the National Coalition of Gay Organisations in the USA in 1972, and several authors, individual campaigners and organisations who had publicly stated similar aims in the UK and abroad to illustrate how widely held they believed the views were.

2.  CCTV said their claim was their genuinely-held belief for which they believed they had provided adequate substantiation.  They believed it was legitimate for them to highlight their concern that traditional Christian family values and religious liberty were threatened by the legislative changes homosexual groups campaigned for, and that there was a place in a democratic society for views both for and against to be expressed.  They believed the potential for the ad to cause offence was minimal because the aim to redefine the concept of the family was so widely and openly acknowledged by the homosexual community.  They acknowledged the ad might have caused offence or irritation or was unwelcome to people who disagreed with the statement but they did not believe the reaction was so widespread as to make it unacceptable.  They said they did not intend the ad to result in violent reaction or antisocial behaviour.

Assessment
1.  Upheld
The ASA noted CCTV's argument that they believed it was legitimate that their ad represented their point of view and considered CCTV was flagged clearly as the author of the ad.  We considered, however, that in the absence of information to the contrary, the statement was likely to be understood to represent the prevailing view of the gay community.  We noted the evidence CCTV provided indicated that some sections of the gay community had spoken out strongly against the traditional concept of the family.  We also noted, however, that the evidence was based mainly on a document published by the Gay Liberation Front, a radical gay group which disbanded nearly 30 years ago.  We noted that the language used and claim made in the ad did not appear to reflect the stance taken by today's mainstream campaigns by the gay community which expressed a desire for the responsibilities of gay people caring for children to be equal with those of heterosexual people.  We also noted that a family unit today was increasingly less likely to necessarily comprise a married man and woman and their children.  We considered CCTV had not supported the claim.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 3.1 (Substantiation), 7.1 (Truthfulness) and 8.1 (Matters of opinion).

2.  Upheld
We noted CCTV's argument that they believed it was legitimate that they were permitted to express their genuinely held beliefs.

As noted in point 1 above, we considered the statement was likely to be understood to represent the prevailing view of the gay community when that was not the case.  We considered the statement and the way it appeared was likely to cause offence both to the mainstream gay community and supporters of equality, and was likely to be seen as controversial and possibly inflammatory by a significant number of people who saw the poster in an untargeted medium.  We concluded that the poster was likely to cause serious or widespread offence and might lead to antisocial behaviour.

On this point the ad breached CAP Code clauses 2.2 (Social responsibility), 5.1 and 5.2 (Decency) and 8.1 (Matters of opinion).

Action
We told CCTV to ensure future campaigns were not presented in a way that could cause serious or widespread offence or which might lead to antisocial behaviour.

Next thing you know, expect the Pseudoreligiopolitical Right to scream (in the key of "Ring around the collar! Ring around the collar!") "Christian Persecution! Christian Persecution!!" in their obviously idiotic stylee, and lacking credible substantiation, as ever.