UCLA Tazer, A Letter to Chancellor Abrams

Below is the letter I have composed and am sending to UCLA Chancellor Abrams in regards to the recent attack by thugs in uniform posing as UCLA Police. I am requesting you either write your own letter or copy the one below and sign your name to it, and send it to Chancellor Abrams as soon as possible:

UCLA, Norman Abrams
4101 Law Bldg
Los Angeles, CA 90095

To UCLA Chancellor Norman Abrams:

I just reviewed a video depicting a UCLA Police squad abusing a suspect by using tazer weaponry in an unwarranted and downright violent manner. An independent investigation is not enough. You need to put your personal influence, and the influence of UCLA into the prosecution of these villains. Even if the first tazer attack was used in accordance to policy, all subsequent tazer attacks, which were caught on video, were a clear violation of human and civil rights. There were more than 4 officers, all substantial in size, who could have very easily extricated the man with one officer each arm and one officer on each leg, without the use of weaponry.

As a citizen of California, and the United States, whose tax money pays your salary, and as a defender of the Constitution, I demand you use your substantial influence to pursue the conviction and imprisonment of each and every one of these officers for felony assault and battery with special circumstances under hate crime statutes. I also demand you assist in every way possible any civil action brought against the men in uniform who so blatantly abused their power.

Tags:
tazer
ucla
ucla+cop
ucla tazer

tazer
ucla
ucla+cop
ucla tazer

UCLA Tazer Cops, They Must Go Down

I just finished watching the video of UCLA Cops Tazering someone. I am so angry and upset I am literally on the verge of vomiting. My chest is tight, my stomach is in my throat, and my whole body is quivering. I can barely sit here writing this.

Beyond the obvious anger directed at those pricks with the tazer, I am also angry that the students witnessing the event didn’t do something after the second tazer. Those fucking cops should have been slammed to the ground and put under citizen arrest using their own hand cuffs. I almost punched my monitor when that fucking nazi had his face clear on the screen near the end of the video.

I am writing a letter to the chancelor of UCLA. In it I am demading the entire weight of UCLA be put behind the firing, arrest, and imprisonment of those dick head cops. Further I am demanding that UCLA assist in the civil litigation against the bastards for $10s of millions. I am requesting you do the same.

The abuse of power displayed by those shitty fuckers deserves nothing less than a life of rotting in a dirty cell.

Tags:
tazer
ucla
ucla+cop
ucla tazer

tazer
ucla
ucla+cop
ucla tazer

Bush, The Icky Man, Turns My Stomach

My morning coffee trip includes a path through the student lounge at
the school I work. This morning I happened by as George, the Icky Man,
Bush was giving a live press conference. He was rambling, as usual,
contradicting himself (referring to the claims that staying the course
were only 25% accurate, and then saying stay the course meant
changing when things don’t work and getting the job done, which is what
he is doing :-p) as usual. But then he said something that caused me to
blurt bullshit out load and forced me to leave the room before I vomited
on the pretty girl sitting in the couch next to me.

“If we leave before getting the job done the enemy will come after us.”

How can he dare to insult us in such a way. How can he dare to insinuate
that what we are doing in Iraq, even to this day, is protecting us in any
way from terrorist threats? It has been shown, definitively in my mind,
that Iraq does not, and has never, been a direct threat to the United States.
If you believe anything else you are an idiot. Not only has Iraq been shown
to have never been a threat, we now know the actions Bush is taking to “get
the job done” are actually increasing the risks to us, here, at home.

I am quite certain Bush is doing what needs to be done to “get the job done”.
He is not being honest about what that job is. I am convinced things in Iraq are
going perfectly, according to the Bush plan. His desire to be the leader of “the
idealogical battle of the 21st century” requires the continued unrest in Iraq. It
requires the increased hatred of our country. It requires the systematic removal
of Generals, through attrition, to be replaced by Bushite straw men willing to
execute the commands of an armagedonist. These are very scary times and we
must pay attention or face dire consequences.

One thing you can do to show Bush, and the world, we are paying attention is to
link from your sites, as I have, to:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/

using the term: Icky Man

Here is a link for you to copy:

<a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/&quot; rel="tag">Icky Man</a>

Leave a comment here so we can all see the progress of our efforts.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags: Bush Racism Iky Man stay the course getting the job done Bush Administration armagedon Iraq

Simplx, My Final Warning to You Posted

This is a copy of the post I made at learnbyexperiences.wordpress.com so if you read it there you don’t need to continue.

First, in case you are the type that gets bored with details, here are the
facts about Simplx as provided by the owner [original post by owner]:

1. To gain access to the full Simplx product costs a minimum of $3,500.
    
2. The offer for $79.95 plus $35 per month is not for membersip in Simplx, but in ClubDropship which, “includes limited access to our merchant supplier network and an introductory mentoring session for around $100 and $35 per month.” The mentoring session, by the way, is a sales pitch for Simplx.
    
3. There are no refunds. You will most likely not be able to get one through
   a dispute.
    
4. Simplx does not provide a drop ship opportunity. Simplx offers a complex
   affiliate commission scheme. They are affiliate middlemen. Here is how it works.
    
1. You access the Simplx network product catalog. Here they list the products of companies they have an affiliate relationship with, not the products of distributors or manufacturers that will ship a product to your customer on your behalf. You will be trained to locate products with high current discounts/rebates and a good affiliate commission.
2. After finding a product above you sell that product either on ebay or through your own ecommerce site.
3. When a customer purchases the product you in turn purchase the product, at retail less discount/rebate, from the retailer, through an affiliate link provided by Simplx.
4. You then wait for all of the commissions to be aggregated by Simplx until it is time for them to cut you a commission check

Those are the facts in a nutshell. If you think you can offset a minimum of $3,500 plus monthly fees on affiliate commissions go for it. I just want you to be clear that is what Simplx is offering.

Don’t get me wrong, this is not illegal. My beef with Simplx is that they took my money on the premise I was entering a drop shipping opportunity and it wasn’t. Now they won’t give my money back. My beef with Simplx is they consistently use deceitful tactics and are not adverse to outright lies. They even lied to Capital One in the letter they sent in response to my dispute. In that letter they state, “Mr. John Morrison was issued all that was promised to him, he did receive his coaching session that stated in the invoice that was sent to him.” I did not receive a coaching session. On these matters I will be filing additional complaints with the BBB Utah and with the FTC.

My research also indicates this is just a bad business model for the brokers. One reason is you can do this yourself. Within an hour I was able to secure my own affiliate relationship with many companies offering the same products in the Simplx network. I contacted the affiliate managers and, with the exception of Amazon, they have no problem with you buying through an affiliate link and having the product shipped directly to your customer.

Another reason is customer satisfaction. If you are interested in repeat customers and good ebay reputation you need to consider the consequences when something goes wrong. How will you handle it when a customer complains about the product or shipping since you can do nothing about it? How will your customer feel when the invoice and advertising in the package they receive is all about the retailer you purchased it from and has nothing about you?

Finally you have to ask yourself if there is enough profit in commissions to offset listing fees, monthly fees, the minimum $3,500 you pay up front and any other marketing and administrative expenses you will encounter. My research shows that, even if you use the unethical practice of inflating shipping prices, the margins are too thin to effectively cover all of this. Plus, I know there are more effective ways to spend the $3,500 in promoting affiliate products, one of which is the old technique with the new name, click flipping.

Now on a related note I would like to add that you will not find protection
from your credit card company from companies like this. Apparently they
are more concerned with the profits they receive from business employing
deceptive business practices than protecting their customers.

I have learned from my dispute with Capital One that Simplx has the ability,
and takes advantage of that ability, to extract money from consumer under
false pretenses; the false pretense being they are a drop ship provider when
in fact they are a broker network. This means you do not make your profit
based on the difference between what you pay for a product and what you
sell that product for, instead you are a commissioned sales person receiving
a check based on the aggregated affiliate commissions you generate for
Simplx by purchasing products throgh Simplx affiliate relationships.

I was not able to get the refund I requested in my dispute with Simplx through
Capital One. I filed my dispute on two premises. First, I was not informed of
the no refund policy. Second, I requested a refund based on the product being
misrepresented. It turns out the credit card companies, at least Capital One,
are more interested in protecting scum companies than the consumer.

Based on a single letter from Simplx, Capital One told me they must accept
the no refund policy. They confirmed my written statement that I was never
told of a no refund policy. They refused to require evidence from Simplx that
I was told there was a no refund policy. The Capital One representative
acknowledged that the only way a customer was ensured a refund was if the
company stated in the affirmative that there is a refund available. So make
a note to yourself, ask if there is a refund available, and if not do not do
business with that company.

Worse yet, after more about an hour on the phone with the Capital One
representative he conceded that the product offered by phone and on the
Simplx website was different than what I was charged for and, in his words,
“appeared to be a fraudulant company”. Even with this acknowledgement,
and my request to investigate further to protect me and other consumers,
Capital One is not willing to do anything about it. I was offered a token
$50 from Capital One. I am offended and angered and hope that some day
I will have the necessary influence to change the course of business in a
more ethical direction.

So that being said, I won’t be posting further about Simplx.

Tags:
ClubDropship
Simplicity Group
product sourcing
dropship products
click flipping
Simplx

Microsoft, their self image is, well, ridiculous

“We made an upfront decision that was, I’ll say, incredibly strategic
and brilliant and wise — and was not implementable,” Ballmer said.
This was said at a financial analysts meeting last week. It’s the first
time I’ve heard somethin unimplementabel be called brilliant and
wise. At least it was strategic.

In an Information Week article Stacy Cowley said , “But Microsoft’s
message to the world is that it’s up for the challenges it faces, with its
robust financial resources and in-house expertise.” Come on. Financial
resources I can agree with, and despise considering the methods of
gain, but in-house expertise? When was the last time they put out a
reasonably good product? My vote is Word 5 for the Macintosh. And
don’t say Excel because it’s been going downhill since Office ’97; oh
yeah, and they bought that one.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags: Microsoft Steve Ballmer Microsoft Office Word 5 Excelfailure Macintosh vista

Making Money the Simplx Way, Follow UP

I have received word from Amazon that, as I suspected, the tactic
I described in the original Making Money the Simplx Way post is
against their policies:

Here’s how our Operating Agreement explains it: “You may not purchase products during sessions initiated through the links onyour site for your own use, for resale or commercial use of any kind. This includes orders for customers or on behalf of customers or orders for products to be used by you. Such purchases may result (in our sole discretion) in the withholding of referral fees or the termination of this Agreement.”

I am researching the stance of other affiliate partners to see what the
consensus is.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags:
Simplx
Amazon Affiliate
affiliate marketing
product sourcing

Making Money the Simplx Way, Without the Middleman

I received a comment on my other blog, 1095-to-success.com, from
Adam Wilkinson, owner of Simplicity Group LLC and “inventor” of
the Simplx product. I am happy that my posts have garnered the
attention form the top of their organization, not the middle. I
am also surprised at some of the information he divulged (I will
post his comment, and a detailed analysis at 1095-to-success.com
by Saturday morning latest) considering the misleading nature of
the Simplx website and the sales people I dealt with on the phone.
It is his information that leads me to this post.

Here’s the way I understand it according to Adam. You find a product
on the Simplx network you want to sell. You place it up for auction,
or on your ecommerce enabled web site, and wait for someone to pay
for it. You then purchase that item from the retailer, at retail
price, and have it shipped to your customer’s address.

This probably leaves you wondering, how do you make money selling
at retail then buying at retail? You get a commission. The part I
left out above is you purchase through an affiliate program, I’m
not clear of the mechanics, and receive an affiliate commission.
Oh, I forgot to mention, Simplx keeps your commission in an
account for a while, I’m not sure how long, before gathering up
all your commissions from their affiliate accounts and sending
you a commission check (hint – this is not drop shipping).

So if you are considering using the Simplx “product” you have to
ask yourself, is it worth it? Is it worth the huge up front amount
(which Adam includes in his comment) and monthly fee? Especially
when Simplx refuses to give you any examples of products and what
the commission might be on that product. Instead, why not just go
to Commission Junction, LinkShare or the host of other affiliate
aggregators that allow you to join affiliate programs for FREE?
Cut out the middleman and all the fees.

If you are bound and determined to sell products based on
commission, sell the products of your own affiliate providers,
using your own affiliate links. At least you know up front how
much you can make.

Of course I am certain that the fee does include some training
on how to maximize your profit in this shaky business model.
I am guessing, and this is completely conjecture, they teach
you to jack up the shipping cost to make a few extra bucks; I
know that is what I would do using this methodology. And they
do claim to provide a web site, but so does every other Tom,
Dick and Harry selling high priced, pre-packaged product
solutions.

Of course I don’t endorse nor use this methodology. I think it
is far less a hassle to be a traditional affiliate and earn the
same money by simply directing customers to purchase at the
affiliates’ site. It lets me focus on building traffic, which in
the end is what ends up making you money no matter what income
stream you choose for your Internet marketing online endeavors.

Stay tuned for the entire content of Adam Wilkinson’s comment.
It does give a much clearer picture of what Simplx actually
does.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags:
Simplx
Adam Wilkinson
Simplicity Group
broker network
drop ship
dripship

Simplx, called again, and FTC link

I can’t believe it. I cancelled my account with Simplx, filed a
successful dipute against them to get my money back, and
have been ranting about them in my other blogs. Yet they
just called me to set up my “training” session!

Dorks.

By the way, since Simplx is a “broker network” and not a
drop ship company, as any drop ship retailer would view it
anyway, I think this link to the FTC disclosure requirements
for business opportunities applies, but is not being implemented
by Simplx, aka Clubdripship aka Simplicity Group LLC.

To read my detailed experience with Simplx visit my site
1095-to-success.com and read Simplx – One of My Big Mistakes

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags:
Simplx
FTC
Simplicity Group LLC
Clubdropship
Disclosure Requirements

Google, stale, and they hate you

They hate you because they give you stale and unreliable
information. I don’t know if it is there supposed effort to
block spam and keep information relevent, or if their technology
just isn’t as good as it used to be, but the results being returned
to you aren’t very useful, and in some cases are misleading.

This rant is brought to you by the search phrase “dsl vs cable”.
If you are following this blog you know I posted on the superior
cost effectiveness of dsl over cable. Well if you look to Google
you’d never know it. Eight out of the ten results are between
1 and 4 years old. All eight reference outdated top speed
offerings and, more important, outdated pricing which shows
DSL to be more expensive than Cable at lower speeds. For the
2 that are not stale, one is just an article on DSL popularity,
a study with no useful information on speed or pricing, and the
other is blog about using DSL on a Mac (which actually is a
glimmer of hope).

If you are considering Broadband access do yourself a favor
and read my article. The only reason not get DSL is it is not
available in your area.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags: Google DSL vs Cable DSL cable Broadband Cox scam stale Bad Information misleading

Email Phishing, if you got scammed it’s your fault

Ok, Ok, before you flame me I apologize. I understand some people just
aren’t acclimated to the nature of the web yet. It’s just I get so frustrated
that email phishing continues to be successful when it is so easy to avoid.

We can put this whole issue to rest. We, the internet users, actually have
the power in this case. If you tell 2 friends these rules, and get them to
tell 2 friends, you know the drill, email phishing will be fruitless by the
end of the year.

Rules:
1. Never click on a link in any email. If you feel you must visit the site
type it into the URL.

2. Never reply to any email requesting personal information. Either call
the company or send an email to an email address you have used in the
past and trust.

3. Never call a number in an email without verifying it through your own
documents or a third party reference.

Simple. Effective. Powerful.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags:
phishing email fraud email phishing rules to live by

Dispute Credit Card charges, You must do this

Companies that try to take your money under false pretenses rely
on the laziness of consumers to continue their operations.

If you feel you have been deceived in a transaction you must file
a dispute with your credit card company. This is the only way we
can protect each other from continuing online rip offs.

Give as much informtion as you can, especially if you find the
company is doing business under several different names.

Also, tell others about it. Tell at least 2 others and encourage
them to do the same; particulary tell people involved with the
industry the company is targeting.

This rant is brought to you courtesy Simplx, aka Clubdropship.com,
aka Simplicity Group, LLC. I am in a dispute with them because
they claim to be drop shippers but actually sign you up for a
commision sales program.

Cheers,
J Andrew Morrison

Tags:
Simplx drop ship scam credit card dispute