White House, Republicans Offer Bloggers $100K Each in Compromise Deal
A little-known program to aid the economy by distributing money to bloggers is gathering support in the White House and Congress.
In the bruising fight to see which party can give away more borrowed money, Republicans and the Obama administration hammered out a compromise on the White House plan to pay “qualified” bloggers $100 per post, up to $100,000 each.
The Obama administration had originally included income limits in its “Web Entrepreneur Program” (WEP) legislation, but Republicans forced the White House to drop the stipulations which would have limited payments to bloggers who earned more than $250,000 annually.
“It’s precisely the millionaire bloggers who are most likely to give unemployed workers jobs,” said a Republican Caucus spokesman. When informed that only pornography stars and politicians qualified as “millionaire bloggers,” the spokesman noted that “pornography and politics are two growth industries, and we don’t think the nation can be too picky about where the jobs are coming from.”
The Web Entrepreneur Program defines “qualified bloggers” as those writers who have posted a minimum of 250 “substantive” posts, described as “any blog post with a minimum of 400 words of original content.” Excerpts from other previously published media and blogosphere sources will not be counted as “original content.” Each qualified post will earn a Federal payment of $100, with an upper limit of $100,000 per blogger. Bloggers with multiple avatars will only be able to claim $100,000, regardless of the number of their online personalities.
The Administration has budgeted $50 million to establish a new Executive Branch agency to monitor the Web Entrepreneur Program; the new agency is tentatively titled “Office for the Promotion of Web Entrepreneurism” (OPWE). The new agency is currently seeking Class A office space in Northwest Washington D.C.
Sources indicate that the giveaway to bloggers was a coup for the Democrats, who had temporarily run out of giveaway ideas. “Since the vast majority of bloggers are more or less unemployed, and probably not qualified for the 13-month unemployment extension, then we figured this was a way to build support within the online media community,” a Democratic spokeswoman said.
I do smell the scent of B.S. though with the accepted practice of influencing public opinion with bias information. It would be a certainty that only the bloggers with the correct opinions would be getting paid.
The fight would become between which bloggers either Liberal or Conservative would get the money?
So, instead of the different campaigns paying their bloggers to penetrate and saturate the blogs with their specific talking points, we are now wanting the federal government to pay bloggers?
And where is this money going to come from? I thought Republicans were watching the deficit grow deeper and deeper and wanted the spending to be stopped,
Pay per view blogging, another one of those little voices in the back of your mind moments. Yes they really do pay people to write that b@llshi%t. How many other meme’s are floating around the planet that aren’t true.
A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives
The controversial, multitrillion-dollar corner of Wall Street known as the derivatives market is run by a nine-member cabal that meets in secret and hides the identities of its members, according to The New York Times. The men come from giant banks like JP-Morgan and Goldman Sachs and fight to keep other banks out of the market and information about prices and fees secret. They also exert powerful control over derivative clearinghouses, where many of the financial products will be traded after the financial reform law Congress passed earlier this year. But Republican lawmakers who receive campaign cash from the banks plan to fight the implementation of the law, thus allowing the elite group to stifle disclosure and competition. The Justice Department’s antitrust division is investigating derivatives, and says the market looks like the NASDAQ of the 1990s. “When you limit participation in the governance of an entity to a few like-minded institutions or individuals who have an interest in keeping competitors out, you have the potential for bad things to happen. It’s antitrust 101,” said Robert Litan, who led the Justice Department’s NASDAQ investigation.
President Obama, who has no spine and maybe no convictions either, is willing to pay the ransom the Republicans have set for the middle class and unemployed. There is a phone-in filibuster planned.
Saturday Night Live did a skit on wikileaks and it’s good! Here it is if you missed it!
SNL’s Julian Assange hijacks the airways from British jail cell
“This Monday I was arrested – proving that, for those who terrorize the United States, there’s nowhere to hide,” said SNL’s Assange, played by Bill Hader. “America will find you and they will punish you – unless, of course, your name is Osama bin Laden.”
Assange then savored a rich cup of tea before delving into the events that led to his arrest.
“Now, I was not arrested for terrorism but rather to be questioned on two rape charges,” SNL’s Assange explains. “It has long been Interpol’s job to hunt down those accused of sexual misdeeds. Who could forget their month’s long pursuit of Steeler’s quarterback Ben Rothlisberger? Double standard, anyone?”
Has anyone even heard what the sex charges are really about? I read where one issue is that he allegedly did not use a condom – so therefore it was unsafe sex. And the other issue is he allegedly had sex with the woman while she was sleeping.
While I do not want to sound like I condone sexual misconduct – but seriously – Interpol is involved in this?
I’m beginning to think BIG BROTHER (in which I include most in law enforcement at all levels) can get away with pretty much whatever. Are the sex charges made up? Do they need to manufacture new charges quickly so ‘justice’ is swift? I do wonder how this will play out while the world watches. It will be more difficult to have their way under world scrutiny but I don’t doubt they can make it happen.
It was his oh-so-sincere “I won’t be passing out tobacco lobbyist money on the House floor anymore, I’m just guy who’s dedicated to the American Dream!”
Good God:
“This proves that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and look out for the American people,” Obama said. “I recognize that folks on both sides of the political spectrum are unhappy with certain parts of the package and I understand …”AP – msnbc.com · 1 hour ago
Uhm, no you don’t, Barry, not if that’s how you’re gonna spin it.
PrairiePopulistsAndProgressives.net 
that was a pretty sunset
time to get on the gravy train
http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.com/2010/12/white-house-republicans-offer-bloggers.html
White House, Republicans Offer Bloggers $100K Each in Compromise Deal
A little-known program to aid the economy by distributing money to bloggers is gathering support in the White House and Congress.
In the bruising fight to see which party can give away more borrowed money, Republicans and the Obama administration hammered out a compromise on the White House plan to pay “qualified” bloggers $100 per post, up to $100,000 each.
The Obama administration had originally included income limits in its “Web Entrepreneur Program” (WEP) legislation, but Republicans forced the White House to drop the stipulations which would have limited payments to bloggers who earned more than $250,000 annually.
“It’s precisely the millionaire bloggers who are most likely to give unemployed workers jobs,” said a Republican Caucus spokesman. When informed that only pornography stars and politicians qualified as “millionaire bloggers,” the spokesman noted that “pornography and politics are two growth industries, and we don’t think the nation can be too picky about where the jobs are coming from.”
The Web Entrepreneur Program defines “qualified bloggers” as those writers who have posted a minimum of 250 “substantive” posts, described as “any blog post with a minimum of 400 words of original content.” Excerpts from other previously published media and blogosphere sources will not be counted as “original content.” Each qualified post will earn a Federal payment of $100, with an upper limit of $100,000 per blogger. Bloggers with multiple avatars will only be able to claim $100,000, regardless of the number of their online personalities.
The Administration has budgeted $50 million to establish a new Executive Branch agency to monitor the Web Entrepreneur Program; the new agency is tentatively titled “Office for the Promotion of Web Entrepreneurism” (OPWE). The new agency is currently seeking Class A office space in Northwest Washington D.C.
Sources indicate that the giveaway to bloggers was a coup for the Democrats, who had temporarily run out of giveaway ideas. “Since the vast majority of bloggers are more or less unemployed, and probably not qualified for the 13-month unemployment extension, then we figured this was a way to build support within the online media community,” a Democratic spokeswoman said.
Hey I am all for it! my problem is that no one wants to hear what I have to say….WAKE UP DAMN IT I JUST SAID SOMETHING!!!!!
I do smell the scent of B.S. though with the accepted practice of influencing public opinion with bias information. It would be a certainty that only the bloggers with the correct opinions would be getting paid.
The fight would become between which bloggers either Liberal or Conservative would get the money?
So, instead of the different campaigns paying their bloggers to penetrate and saturate the blogs with their specific talking points, we are now wanting the federal government to pay bloggers?
And where is this money going to come from? I thought Republicans were watching the deficit grow deeper and deeper and wanted the spending to be stopped,
Pay per view blogging, another one of those little voices in the back of your mind moments. Yes they really do pay people to write that b@llshi%t. How many other meme’s are floating around the planet that aren’t true.
A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives
The controversial, multitrillion-dollar corner of Wall Street known as the derivatives market is run by a nine-member cabal that meets in secret and hides the identities of its members, according to The New York Times. The men come from giant banks like JP-Morgan and Goldman Sachs and fight to keep other banks out of the market and information about prices and fees secret. They also exert powerful control over derivative clearinghouses, where many of the financial products will be traded after the financial reform law Congress passed earlier this year. But Republican lawmakers who receive campaign cash from the banks plan to fight the implementation of the law, thus allowing the elite group to stifle disclosure and competition. The Justice Department’s antitrust division is investigating derivatives, and says the market looks like the NASDAQ of the 1990s. “When you limit participation in the governance of an entity to a few like-minded institutions or individuals who have an interest in keeping competitors out, you have the potential for bad things to happen. It’s antitrust 101,” said Robert Litan, who led the Justice Department’s NASDAQ investigation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/business/12advantage.html?_r=1
Hey, I saw that sunset! Woot! Woot!
Also, we have the same bloggy theme! Twinkies!
Ciao!
Hi Zack! I’m glad you got to see that sunset! Kansas sunsets can’t be beat but that one was extraordinary!
President Obama, who has no spine and maybe no convictions either, is willing to pay the ransom the Republicans have set for the middle class and unemployed. There is a phone-in filibuster planned.
http://pol.moveon.org/phone_in_filibuster/?id=25460-7702450-kbru5bx&t=2
I understand that phoning a Kansas Senator is an exercise in futility, but you may want to participate simply because it’s really that important!
Saturday Night Live did a skit on wikileaks and it’s good! Here it is if you missed it!
SNL’s Julian Assange hijacks the airways from British jail cell
“This Monday I was arrested – proving that, for those who terrorize the United States, there’s nowhere to hide,” said SNL’s Assange, played by Bill Hader. “America will find you and they will punish you – unless, of course, your name is Osama bin Laden.”
Assange then savored a rich cup of tea before delving into the events that led to his arrest.
“Now, I was not arrested for terrorism but rather to be questioned on two rape charges,” SNL’s Assange explains. “It has long been Interpol’s job to hunt down those accused of sexual misdeeds. Who could forget their month’s long pursuit of Steeler’s quarterback Ben Rothlisberger? Double standard, anyone?”
Watch the video here —
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/301346#ixzz17xBYdom6
Has anyone even heard what the sex charges are really about? I read where one issue is that he allegedly did not use a condom – so therefore it was unsafe sex. And the other issue is he allegedly had sex with the woman while she was sleeping.
While I do not want to sound like I condone sexual misconduct – but seriously – Interpol is involved in this?
I’m beginning to think BIG BROTHER (in which I include most in law enforcement at all levels) can get away with pretty much whatever. Are the sex charges made up? Do they need to manufacture new charges quickly so ‘justice’ is swift? I do wonder how this will play out while the world watches. It will be more difficult to have their way under world scrutiny but I don’t doubt they can make it happen.
Well, if Boehner succeeds in this new-found mission of cutting the Congressional budgets – then I’ll be impressed.
Note the paragraph where Boehner states he plans to propose a spending cut bill each week for the first 3 months after he becomes speaker.
As my grandpa used to say -you can cackle all you want – the proof is in how many good eggs you lay.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/10/john-boehner-speaker-spending-cuts_n_794884.html
Did he cry? Did he make it convincing? Do he and Glen Beck practice together?
Funny you should ask – the article did mention that Boehner did cry because he is a very emotional person.
For all the macho-crap that comes from the Right – they sure do like em some crying guys – don’t they?
I saw it: he cried 3 separate times.
It was his oh-so-sincere “I won’t be passing out tobacco lobbyist money on the House floor anymore, I’m just guy who’s dedicated to the American Dream!”
I think we should call his bluff, repeatedly.
P.S. Yeah, Boehner’s initial spending cut, when Leslie Stahl asked, was Congress’s own budget.
Sigh — Screw it. I know for a fact that the Legislative Branch outlays are a tiny portion of the federal budget–I would guess about 1/10 of 1 percent.
But try finding that online.
Once they’ve succeeded in completely destroying education, the libraries will be next.
Good God:
“This proves that both parties can in fact work together to grow our economy and look out for the American people,” Obama said. “I recognize that folks on both sides of the political spectrum are unhappy with certain parts of the package and I understand …”AP – msnbc.com · 1 hour ago
Uhm, no you don’t, Barry, not if that’s how you’re gonna spin it.
Fuck you.
Sigh — Screw it. I know for a fact that the Legislative Branch outlays are a tiny portion of the federal budget–I would guess about 1/10 of 1 percent.
But try finding that online.
**************************************
Best I can do for you
2010
Legislative branch discretionary programs 3,704 (millions)
Congressional members compensation and other 137 (million)
total 3,841 (millions)
total onbudge expenditures (2,554,842) (millions)
percentage Approx .15%
So you were pretty close.
Thanks. I appreciate it.