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  • Madoff Bail Restrictions Tightened, But He’ll Stay Home

    It must have been a worrisome weekend for Bernard Madoff. Madoff, accused of masterminding a $50 billion Ponzi scheme that has affected investors worldwide, found out Friday that a federal judge planned to rule today whether to revoke his bail and jail him in response to prosecutors’ court pleadings. The judge now has ruled —…

  • Monday News And Notes

    Monday news and notes: We’ve installed a WordPress plug-in called “Quote Comments” by Joen Asmussen. If you highlight a section of a comment to which you’d like to respond and click the “Quote” link next to the date, it will copy the highlighted text to the comment box. We initially couldn’t get the plug-in to…

  • Seattle Post-Intelligencer Imperiled: Could It Use The Autosurf Model To Save Itself?

    Yesterday we wrote about the U.S. unemployment rate surging to 7.2 percent, the highest since 1993. Today we’ll start with the news that the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, one of America’s great newspapers, has been put up for sale by Hearst. Our purpose for this post is twofold: To send our respect to staff members who may…

  • CEP Receiver Settles With 14 Ponzi Scheme Participants

    The receiver in the CEP Ponzi scheme case has filed court papers to settle adversary proceedings against 14 participants who profited in the scam. In court since July 2007,  the case is not fully settled. Litigation against other participants is ongoing. Dozens of lawsuits were filed against CEP members. Settlement terms for the group of…

  • U.S. Unemployment Hits 7.2 Percent, Highest Since ’93

    Employers slashed nearly 525,000 jobs last month, sending the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, the highest level since 1993, the Labor Department said today. The numbers are just plain bad. In 2008 as a whole, the economy lost 2.6 million jobs. In December, “job losses were large and widespread across most major industry sectors,” the…

  • Prosecutors Turn Up The Heat On Madoff

    Ponzi schemes almost always have insiders, and sometimes the insiders may not even know they’re insiders. In an extraordinary revelation, federal prosecutors said this afternoon that Bernard Madoff took overt steps to distribute bonuses to preferred family,  friends and employees after he realized the Ponzi he created was crashing down around him “[When] the defendant’s…

  • Blagojevich Subject Of Debut RateMyVanity.com Poll

    He’s the governor who won’t go away, despite allegations he tried to sell the Senate seat vacated by President-Elect Obama. Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is the subject of the debut poll on RateMyVanity.com. So, if you’ve been following the Blagojevich saga and have a few minutes, visit the site and cast your vote. You’ll…

  • AdViewGlobal, AdGateWorld Brands Leveraged To Sell Cash-Gifting, Other Programs; Pitches Also Use Tony Robbins’ Name

    It’s hard to imagine that motivational speaker Anthony Robbins would be pleased to learn his carefully cultivated brand name is being leveraged to sell highly questionable online-income opportunities such as cash-gifting programs. Robbins, however, has company — and it’s the sort of company that adds an extra layer of dubiousness to the drip-drop dilution of…

  • Enjoy WordPress Blogging? Try Elegant Themes

    If you enjoy WordPress blogging and are looking for ways to expand your online presence in 2009 while implementing a clean, fresh look, ElegantThemes may be a choice suited for you. First, though, let’s get you qualified: Elegant Themes is a membership site that provides attractive WordPress themes. You’ll need a core understanding of WordPress.…

  • RateMyVanity.com, Inspired By Madoff Attire, Coming Soon; Readers Will Rate Newsmakers’ Vanity

    RateMyVanity.com covers news from the worlds of entertainment, media, politics, business and sports, asking readers to rate how they perceive the vanity of newsmakers. Select stories will include a vanity poll. Read the News Release. The site was inspired by the Bernard Madoff case, particulary the garb he selected on the date of one of…

  • 2008 Concluded With ‘Ponzi-Equals-Pain’ Message

    Dear Readers, Our best to you with the dawning of the new year — and our thanks for making this Blog one of your stopping points. If you have a moment in the coming days, think about leaving a comment that answers this question: What will you remember most about 2008? One of the things…