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EDITORIAL: FTC floats Drudge tax - Washington Times

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Bofu2U

Sigh.

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iliketurtles

wow that sucks.


also, inb4ftc-hater

Garrett

FTC-Hater be hating on the FTC right now.

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Bombastic

I'm glad I live in Asia where nobody gives a fuck what the FTC says.

Rexibit

This is just sickening. What happened to the freedom of information that the FTC was pushing for the Internet earlier this year?

People need to adapt, not cling to pre-electronic business models. There are plenty of ways that Newspapers and Magazines could make money if they just got off their asses and thought about it instead of living in the past.

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ly2 from WF

This will never happen. The government is fucking dumb and in way over their heads with this. Some major sites may get hit like huffpo, digg, reddit, ETC. But this wouldn't effect the vast majority of sites. It's simply too hard to track.

.Hack

Fucking Terrible Cunts.

Fuck the FTC. Next thing we know they want to tax emails and facebook.

adapt or die motherfuckers, adapt or die

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hellblazer

It's not the FTC spearheading this, it's Obama. He wants to get even more control over the media and this is one of his first chilling steps. It reminds me of the state-owned BBC which is one of the most Communist outlets I've ever watched.

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"What can I do for you, Pa? Let me do something for you!"

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Demon

hahahaha

kingfish

Obamanation

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hellblazer

I feel sorry for you that you grew up brainwashed with state propaganda.

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"Be a champ. Like I never was."

Demon

Calling the BBC a communist outlet is one of the most absurd things I have ever heard. There is no brainwashing here, I get my news from all over the place, and I can say the BBC is as good as it gets when it comes to impartial reporting.

hellblazer

And none of what you say is particularly surprising considering you grew up with it. You take the most far-left, financially fragile, loony cable network here and it doesn't even come close to what the BBC offers. There's a reason these types of "news" outlets need state financial support. But I don't expect one truthful comment to undo years of brainwashing since birth. Carry on.

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"What can I do for you, Pa? Let me do something for you!"

"Be a champ. Like I never was."

Demon

The BBC gets its money from the license fee which the taxpayer pays every year. Since there are no ads, it's the only way it gets its money. What's your point? And a BBC with ads would be shit anyway, it wouldn't happen and for good reason too. Carry on watching Fox news

hellblazer

The point's obvious, the BBC wouldn't survive if it didn't have the government forcing taxpayers to subsidize it. And since it doesn't have to worry about satisfying its customers or audience(its revenue/profit is guaranteed), it's free to go as left as possible, which it incidentally does. Liberals love to force the public to listen to their drivel.

But like I said, you and most Brits grew up thinking this is perfectly normal, so I highly doubt me explaining it to you would change anything. It's pretty bad here too, except the free market exposes their ideas for the intellectually bankrupt and morally vacuous things they are by totally shunning them, which is why MSNBC plays to about 43 people and CNN isn't far behind.

But now Obama's planning on changing that and will start with the newspaper industry. The New York Times has always been a Marxist propaganda rag; how nice that it might now be subsidized by the taxpayer. And once newspapers are under government control, what's to stop him from "rescuing" the radio or television industry? After all, we all know MSNBC is on the verge of bankruptcy daily.

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"What can I do for you, Pa? Let me do something for you!"

"Be a champ. Like I never was."

DKPMO

It is laughable that you would think a taxpayer-funded media outlet would be "balanced" instead of doing anything to support Big Government whose tit it is sucking on.

UK (that used to be known as Great Britain) is truly a sad case of what happens when socialists and entitlement ninnies take over. Even with David Cameron as PM there is little hope of reversing decades of ruinous socialist degradation. C'mon guys, British Steel is now owned by Indians! Your former colony controls your industrial backbone!

Britain is a cautionary tale of what we must avoid turning America into at all costs.

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Refrozen

OK, let's not turn this thread in to a BBC thread, hellblazer. Let's stick with the actual angering issue.

The BBC is hardly a terrible news source. It should have a pro-establishment pro-government bias, but its actually pretty well mitigated. HuffingtonPost is communist nutbaggery.

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DKPMO

Sorry, but BBC is extremely relevant. That is what Obamunists want to create in America to serve their political interests forever.

I would prefer free-market based nutbaggery representing all viewpoints (including HuffPost) to a sanitized government sanctioned Ministry of Truth.

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popeye

This is the first step to prop up the sources that are willing to suck off the socialist/Obama/Democratic agenda. The next move will be to put something in place to shut down the conservative talk shows.

It is very simple. If your business relies on the government to stay afloat...you will be less likely to piss off said government.

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Refrozen

So would I? I'm on your side right down to the bottom, but I think you missed the point...

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SandnSurf

tangentially...spin that around.. if your government representative's election/re-election relies heavily on funding by vested interests, they will be less likely to piss off said vested interests. Right?

Moxie

The people and who they elect do have the ability to create changes or get rid of it, so it's not like they can switch to 24 hours a day of Rick Astley videos.

About 20 million people watch the 6:30 network newscasts. Add to that numbers from NPR, PBS, MSNBC, CNN, HLN, etc. - then compare that total to Fox News or whatever you are saying is the choice of the intellectual shunners.

And not only does the nytimes.com have a better alexa ranking than foxnews.com, but so does the huffpost and guardian sites.

FTC-Hater

Should've kept my tagline the way it has always been for a few days longer...

Also this thread, like Refrozen said, has turned from on point to the usual political train-wreck we see everyday here.

If a mod is high right now (cough, cough Barman) all posts from Hellblazer down should be moved to a new thread about the BBC or whatever the fuck is going on in here and those who want to talk about this can do so.

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hellblazer

Not necessarily, it's all about how government subsidies and funding affects media impartiality. Totally relevant to the thread, some people are just terrified of potentially offending liberals when it's inevitable seeing as they're behind many of society's ills. (OK, now the thread's derailed.)

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"What can I do for you, Pa? Let me do something for you!"

"Be a champ. Like I never was."

Spendlessly

It mentioned something about a 2% advertising tax too... that scares me more.

bobsoap

I completely agree on the fact that the government should stay out of the media, but I believe your logic here is flawed. Let's take Fox News as an example.

Without any reasoning as to WHY, and without trying to justify or explain or counter, would you mind answering the following with a simple yes or no?

Would you agree that Fox News is a little biased? (yes or no)
Do you agree that Fox News is a little right-leaning? (yes or no)
Would you agree that generally, Fox News has is more in favor of the right than the left? (yes or no)

If you answered yes to only one of the above, you'll already know what I'm getting at.

How can it be that a supposedly impartial "news network" is politically biased, leaning into one direction, favoring one political option over the other? Where I come from, the role of the media is to educate about political choices equally, not nudge you into either one. You as a citizen are supposed to make up your own mind based on the facts you receive from impartial sources such as the media.

Someone who is a Fox-watching-and-seriously-believing citizen is not making up their mind freely and on their own because Fox is already pushing them into one particular direction. That's the exact opposite of impartiality. I know you might say "but they are the only ones who see it clearly" - case in point. Talk about sheeple again?

@popeye - Please don't try to deflect the issue by muttering your usual stuff about far-left taoist terrorists or something like that. The above is a simple question and unless you're the very sheep you claim your political dissenters are, you'll be able to separate your political views from a factual argument for a second, in the light of a constructive discussion.

Sonny Forelli

Hellblazer is such a cock gobbler.

jesus

every fucking thread huh? yeah we get it

amanda11

I'm not scared of the FTC. Do you know why? Cuz I'm not a pussy! Fuck the FTC.

onlinemoniez

I think he needs to take his passion on the road and get into politics. With his fiery I'll-fuck-you-in-the-ass attitude, he might actually be able to get something done.

His rage is probably wasted in the internetz.

invisible777

You guys voted for this.

Remember 2 years ago how coooool it was to loooove Obama? Remember all the bumper stickers? The YouTube videos? The SNL skits? Obama's super slick speeches? The Democratic National Convention that looked more like a U2 concert than a government function? It was all bullshit.

Remember all this shit in November 2012, and send Obama the way of Jimmy Carter.

invisible777

I love you FoxNews bashers. Probably never even watch the channel and just go off of what you "hear".

Is FoxNews a little biased? Whenever they have a discussion they have on a conservative AND a liberal -- something CNN and MSNBC do not do, hence their freefall in the ratings department. This is why I LIKE FoxNews -- I consider myself a conservative, but I actually like hearing both sides of the argument.

Do you agree that Fox News is a little right-leaning? Their editorial programs are, not their journalists. O'Reilly, Beck and Hannity make up their right-of-center editorial shows. With the exception of Beck, these shows always have on one liberal for each conservative voice. Have you ever watched Keith Olbermann? Seriously. The guy sits at his desk, invites on 1-2 people who agree with his viewpoint, and then they all yell at the camera making sure to talk really thuper fast as if talking fast equates to intelligence level. Please.

Would you agree that generally, Fox News has is more in favor of the right than the left? Their editorial programs are right-leaning, their news programs are in the middle. Watch 6-8PM, or anytime in the morning. Quit just watching fucking Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity and making a judgement call, if you even watch them at all.

johnjassa

Dr Jassa gets his news from Common Dreams | News & Views

DKPMO

It is truly sad to watch how some people here do not understand the parallels between FTC and BBC... Those who do not learn from history are going to get raped by it (I mean repeat it).

The only way socialist fucktards can get their way is if people do not pay attention to the political cause/effect and how it played out in other countries.

Instead you guys are ridiculing Hellblazer for actually being on your side.

/facepalm

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bcc423

So, popeyeblazer, what makes you so sure it's Obama with his leftist cronies pushing their socialist agenda and not the publishers stuck in the past century using lobbying groups to protect their failing business models?

To me it looks like the latter. But I would love to hear how you've reached the opposite conclusion. I haven't had a good laugh yet today. So please humor me.

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DKPMO

Because these agendas are perfectly aligned.

Failing left-wing media publishers will owe their new lease on life to Big Government forever and serve the interests of leftist ideology with even more fervor.

What is that you do not understand here?

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bcc423

And? How do you get from "their interests are aligned" to knowing which one is responsible for making it happen?

Dude, big business is not left-wing or right-wing. Big business pays for the entire circus troupe, and then the entire troupe works to earn money for the big business by performing professional wrestling shows to live audience.

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FTC-Hater

Sure, anything can be traced back to politics. But it's totally irrelevant here because that's not what this thread was intended for.

Whether I agree with you or not that's irrelevant and look at what, that one statement and a few of your Obama remarks, turned this thread into.

This thread was intended to talk about the article and what it means for everyone here. Not what Obama is doing to control the media by using the FTC, media outlets, etc.

I hope you go into politics. Because you'll never make much money sitting around here arguing with people, like yourself just playing for the other team, with such clear cut ideology and pride their opinions are unmoving.

It's the same fucking people, every fucking time.

And instead of this thread going anywhere the right and the left just say the same old shit in this thread littered with a few keywords like "FTC" mixed in.

The "Industry News" sub-forum should be made into a "no-political zone". Anyone who brings up politics, left or right, with clear partiality (read: not trying to stir up shit... But trying to help the thread move to a profitable ending) gets their post deleted or banned for a week. Whatever works.

Let it be an area for people to go to talk and stay on topic. Bring up politicians only if it's in regards to formulating a plan to combat the FTC's guidelines (or whatever the problem may be at the time).

That way threads don't turn into this:

Really on-topic. Right, bro?

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DKPMO

It does not matter who comes first, the chicken or the egg. What matters is the damage they are doing to America and our liberties.

Big Business is not the same as Big Media. Media is often driven by some sort of agenda. The problem we got here is failing Big Media selling out their POV for a bailout. Sold out POV will over long term shape the public opinion for more taxation and regulation. Do you want that?

This is completely different from general Big Business not directly engaged in influencing public opinion.

How can you combat FTC if you do not want to learn how they operate, who is pulling the strings and how to push their buttons ??? You can hate FTC all day long, but if you want to influence their decisions you need to first understand how the system works and how to work the system.

FTC is a government agency run by political appointees put there to advance the political agenda of those who appointed them. Did you see this kind of blatant Anti-Business garbage coming out of there under Bush? Thought so. FTC has nothing to do with "consumer protection" or "regulating the marketplace". Like any government agency it is merely a vehicle for patronage, rewarding political friends and punishing political enemies.

You cannot win any argument with FTC by just appealing to reason. There is only one way to get any government agency to do anything. Show how their actions you DO NOT want will make them look bad with the public and with their patrons. Show how the actions you DO want will make them look like heros. That's it.

This is Lobbying 101. Exposing corrupt political motivation of FTC is the best way to roll back the bad things harmful to our business. You can rail about people who talk about politics all day long and then one day wake up to find your business banned or crippled.

Do you realize that the whole Visa/MC decision to shut down rebills was driven by them being dragged into one Senate hearing? Have you thought who called the hearing and for what political benefit? Really people, you are making it so easy to get our industry painted as villains and lose the battle over regulation and public opinion.

Jesus F. Christ!

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FTC-Hater

lol, hellblazer must know right. stick around here. he'll help you out.

lol

lol

lol

lol

lol

Words cannot express what a fucking retard you are.

Honestly. You have to be 12 years old.

You and your little friends have fun here - I'm sure your political views being posted in random threads will enlighten the world. How couldn't they? Clearly you know everything about the FTC, right?

Your insights are much appreciated.

/posting on wickedfire

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Danc1122

Fuck them... don't waste your energy worrying about the FTC. They're a bunch of low life employees driving around in fucking pinto's. I don't care how gay their rules get. Some of us make more in 1 year then these cunts make in 10 so stop being scared of them... we out-smart these cunts every day.

All they're trying to do is slow us down and I understand that. I mean obviously when you got a bunch of people in there 20's working from home driving around in mercedes and BMW...most without any college experience (let alone highschool lol) they are going to think it's "not fair" and try and slow us down because we "make too much money" therefore we must be criminals. They are simply haters trying to get in our way. I laugh at these peasants and you should too.

As long as your not a real criminal (take Dee for example lol) then your all set. And even if you do get sued for a little something... you'll most likely still be leaving the court room in a BMW so who the fuck cares.

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DKPMO

I look forward to hearing about your own genius plan for combating the FTC! Being FTC-Hater surely qualifies you better than anyone else!

LOL

I laugh at them too, but it is no laughing matter when things they do actually harm our businesses.

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Danc1122

I agree... it does suck. But I just think a lot people spend way to much time worrying about it. It's completely out of our control so the only thing you can do is say fuck it, and make more money. There is absolutely no point in complaining or bitching about it. (Not a personal attack at all, I just feel like a lot of people do that... not saying you do though)

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hellblazer

I apologize for derailing your thread, and I assume it was because I stated the obvious fact that Obama is behind this push to partially subsidize the newspaper industry. But I'm curious as to what you specifically object to - the fact that stating this truth will elicit a psychotic reaction from his drones or the mere fact that a political figure was mentioned?

Because if it is the former, that strikes me as the same logic Comedy Central used to censor the Mohammed cartoons - for fear of the reaction it would provoke. And you might see it as playing politics, but I simply see it as saying the truth. It's kind of obnoxious to have to repeatedly say that I hate the Republicans too, I just find the Democrats more despicable.

So go ahead, discuss the 2% tax or the fee or whatever you want to rail against the FTC about. None of that really seems important to me - the larger picture is clearly that Obama is consolidating power rather quickly and that's something ANY American should be concerned about. If it was a Republican doing the same thing, I'd be saying the same shit. It's not the labels/titles/parties, it's the actions being taken. It's not Republican/Democrat, it's good/evil, and if you get out of the two-party paradigm, perhaps you'll realize that. But I apologize for derailing your thread anyways.

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"What can I do for you, Pa? Let me do something for you!"

"Be a champ. Like I never was."