I needed a laugh at the expense of the Right…

…and who better to turn to than Jackie and Dunlap (in reality, Travis and Jonathan) at Red State Update? If you haven’t seen them before, enjoy:

What happens when North Dakota Democrats support Single-Payer Health… or at least a Public Option… and let their Senator on the Finance Committee know?

Not much, apparently. Here’s a chunk from an article in The Political Carnival that you should read:

clipped from thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com Dear stubborn Congresspeople who don’t have America’s best interest at heart and who are owned by Big Insurance/Pharma: In a move that seems designed to push Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND) on health care reform, the North Dakota Democratic Party voted two weeks ago to make the public option for insurance coverage a stated objective of its platform. At a little-noticed policy committee meeting on September 19, state Democratic officials passed a resolution affirming their commitment to “universal single payer health care legislation.” You know why it was a little-noticed policy meeting? Because the corporate media didn’t report on it. That’s how important things like this stay little and unnoticed. As a fallback option, the resolution read, the officials supported the creation of a government-run plan for insurance. And that’s how President Obama should have presented his health care reform push. Start with single payer and fall back on the public option.

Senator Conrad could end up in big trouble at home… and it is not that big a state in population terms. I wonder when he’s due for reelection?

FTC about to impose Endorsement Guides on Bloggers…

Here is a warning for bloggers like me who often recommend products to buy or places to go (and I note that I don’t get reimbursed for any of this, mores the pity.) The FTC will start a regulation on December 1st (why is it that regulations on Health Insurers or similar institutions take a couple of years before they can be implemented?) which updates their 1980 regulation. Here’s their Press Release:

For Release: 10/05/2009

FTC Publishes Final Guides Governing Endorsements, Testimonials

Changes Affect Testimonial Advertisements, Bloggers, Celebrity Endorsements

The Federal Trade Commission today announced that it has approved final revisions to the guidance it gives to advertisers on how to keep their endorsement and testimonial ads in line with the FTC Act.

The notice incorporates several changes to the FTC’s Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, which address endorsements by consumers, experts, organizations, and celebrities, as well as the disclosure of important connections between advertisers and endorsers. The Guides were last updated in 1980.

Under the revised Guides, advertisements that feature a consumer and convey his or her experience with a product or service as typical when that is not the case will be required to clearly disclose the results that consumers can generally expect. In contrast to the 1980 version of the Guides – which allowed advertisers to describe unusual results in a testimonial as long as they included a disclaimer such as “results not typical” – the revised Guides no longer contain this safe harbor.

The revised Guides also add new examples to illustrate the long standing principle that “material connections” (sometimes payments or free products) between advertisers and endorsers – connections that consumers would not expect – must be disclosed. These examples address what constitutes an endorsement when the message is conveyed by bloggers or other “word-of-mouth” marketers. The revised Guides specify that while decisions will be reached on a case-by-case basis, the post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service. Likewise, if a company refers in an advertisement to the findings of a research organization that conducted research sponsored by the company, the advertisement must disclose the connection between the advertiser and the research organization. And a paid endorsement – like any other advertisement – is deceptive if it makes false or misleading claims.

Celebrity endorsers also are addressed in the revised Guides. While the 1980 Guides did not explicitly state that endorsers as well as advertisers could be liable under the FTC Act for statements they make in an endorsement, the revised Guides reflect Commission case law and clearly state that both advertisers and endorsers may be liable for false or unsubstantiated claims made in an endorsement – or for failure to disclose material connections between the advertiser and endorsers. The revised Guides also make it clear that celebrities have a duty to disclose their relationships with advertisers when making endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media.

The Guides are administrative interpretations of the law intended to help advertisers comply with the Federal Trade Commission Act; they are not binding law themselves. In any law enforcement action challenging the allegedly deceptive use of testimonials or endorsements, the Commission would have the burden of proving that the challenged conduct violates the FTC Act.

The Commission vote approving issuance of the Federal Register notice detailing the changes was 4-0. The notice will be published in the Federal Register shortly, and is available now on the FTC’s Web site as a link to this press release. Copies also are available from the FTC’s Consumer Response Center, Room 130, 600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20580.

The Federal Trade Commission works for consumers to prevent fraudulent, deceptive, and unfair business practices and to provide information to help spot, stop, and avoid them. To file a complaint in English or Spanish, visit the FTC’s online Complaint Assistant or call 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357). The FTC enters complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure, online database available to more than 1,700 civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and abroad. The FTC’s Web site provides free information on a variety of consumer topics.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Betsy Lordan
Office of Public Affairs

202-326-3707

STAFF CONTACT:

Richard Cleland

Bureau of Consumer Protection

202-326-3088

(FTC File No. P034520)
(endorsement testimonial guide.wpd)

I’m not sure what changes this will make at Under The LobsterScope or other blogs, but we’ll find out soon enough.

David Brin ponders if stupidity is leading us to another Civil War…

This long essay was found in the new Open Salon blog section. David Brin, a prolific scientist, lecturer, science fiction author and television commentator (The Universe, Life After People) has taken a view that the radical right has debased conservatism and is leading us into a very poor repeat of 1861.

Here’s a quick section:

But all right, Rush and Rupert and Sean and Glenn and Tafik. Go ahead. Push hard enough to finally wake up the real United States — the “Blue America” that seems all mushy because it always tries reason first. The citified sophisticates who have, for generations, sent vast net-flows of their taxes toward the red counties that then bit that generous hand with rants about the “decadent cities…” even though those cities have proved to be more moral, by far. (Compare rates of divorce, domestic violence, teen sex, STDs and yes, even abortion!)

Even though those cities are the front lines in the modern war on terror. Even though it was city folk who proved their courage and resilience, standing up for their country on 9/11.

Remember what finally happened almost a century and a half ago, Rush. Pushed too far, and as a last resort, those “decadent” Americans rose up. They donned that color blue and wore it proudly to defend the Union — and the dream — with their very lives.

If that has your curiosity going, you can read the whole article (and a lot of thoughtful comments) HERE.