Make money with a blog!!!

It's easy, right? Everyone is doing it - quitting their jobs and raking in the dough off a blog. All you have to do is Google "making money with a blog" and you will get a ton of websites and blogs telling you exactly how to do it and how it is so easy. I've done a little research and come to the conclusion that they are kind of right, and they are also mostly full of shit.

Most of these blogs that are telling you how to make money with a blog are making their money by you going to their site and clicking on their ads or signing up for their programs they are "recommending." So all you need to do is start your own blog saying how to make money off a blog, and keep the pyramid going.

The thing is, there's no real product being sold 90% of the time. It's all adsense clicks (I'm guilty of it too) and affiliate referrals. Nobody is buying anything. I came across a site pimping http://cashcrate.com/ a site that pays you to do surveys. Sounds good right? You get like .80¢ for every survey or something, and people are saying how they are making thousands of dollars. Well, it isn't because they are doing thousands of surveys, they are hoping you click on the link, go to cashcrate and sign up because then they get the real money.

What about music blogs? I've got one: and it gets minimal traffic. Maybe a few hundred hits a week. The problem is that there are THOUSANDS of music blogs. It is impossible to keep track of them all. And since most people have crappy taste in music, getting people to check out a blog that talks about bands like Slim Cessna's Auto Club or Rocket from the Crypt ain't easy. I've put some Amazon links on there and signed up for the affiliate program just for shits and giggles, but I've never gotten a sale.

So I guess some people can do it, but for the most part, if you're looking to make a fortune with your blog, you probably already missed the boat and would be better off looking to the future to see what the next big "thing" is going to be and get in on the ground floor. That or sell porn, cuz people always love porn.

Man killed after being bit during shark dive.

Link to the story

So I know there's going to be a bunch of people up in arms over "chumming" the water during these shark dives, saying how dangerous it is, and it should be stopped, etc. because of this attack. Of course it is dangerous to dive with animals that can kill you after you've used the blood and guts of other animals to attract them, but how many other people have been killed during these dives? If you count the number of people who have gone on commercial shark dives, the number of photographers who have gone on shark dives, the number of divers who happened to come across sharks on their dives, the number of swimmers who have unwittingly been swimming with sharks in the vicinity, and the number of surfers who go into the water every day, it's pretty obvious that sharks aren't out there killing people every chance they get. In fact, this one death now ties 2008 with all of 2007 for fatal shark attacks. (LINK) So while it is unfortunate that someone was killed, let's hope the media doesn't turn this into a huge deal.

5 reasons to NOT vote for Hillary

All right, sweet thangs...Iron Balls is back! Been out a few getting the balls polished to a high shine. Now I'm ready to take it to Hillary. (You know you would, too.) My five reasons to NOT vote for Hillary now or come November.

1. She's a woman.
Before you get your panties in a bunch, I mean don't vote for her simply because she's a woman and you 1) want to see history or 2) you will only vote for a woman because you're a woman. Makes no sense. This is like expecting the most ardent, white Democrat to vote for McCain over Obama just because McCain's white.

2. She has no experience.
I'm all for a citizen politician. But, Hillary claims to have all the political know how but has yet to do anything. To hear her tell it, she was the president behind the president during the Bill Clinton years. Then, she moved to a state after polling to see if she'd get elected. And with name recognition, didn't really have to campaign.

3. She's a hypocrite.
Yes she's now a politician and hypocrisy is to be expected but she's given Bush a ration of shit after voting to support him invading Iraq. Then she voted for every single one of his requests for more Iraq money. Reminds me of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying that money in the hands of the people will lift the economy. Haven't the Republicans been trying to do that for the last 30 years? (Nevermind their spending habits for the last eight.)

4. Universal health care.
I've got shiny, iron balls so I'm just going to say it. HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT. I realize a president doesn't have so much power to create universal health care on her own. But, with enough TV time and the lack of backbone by anyone to say HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT, all of the other pols will fall into line and cave. Especially when Hillary introduces a blind, armless 4 year old with a stutter at her first State of the Union. Then, she'll say, "This little girl would be like any other little girl if the big, bad healthcare industry were would make service more affordable. Like it'd be under my plan." Holy fuck, I'm really scared.

5. Bill Clinton.
Imagine Billy Carter getting the press of Britney Spears. No, worse. Imagine Bill Clinton acting like Britney Spears. But, he'd be the delegate to the UN. It'd be entertaining for a week or so. Then it just wouldn't stop. Ever.

Do everyone you know a favor and encourage them to vote for Ron Paul. Seriously. If you're a Democrat and don't have open primaries, write him in. The worst case scenario would be giving the poll workers something to talk about.

Iron Balls OUT!

The Democrats are morons.

After eight years of Bush, one of the worst presidents to step foot into the White House, you would think the Democrats would have no problem winning back the oval office, right? No...they'd rather screw it all up, bicker among themselves like high school cheerleaders, and come across as being so incompetent that in the end people are going to vote for the Republicans again!

The worst part is that the two people causing all this mess, Clinton (Bill or Hillary - take your pick at which one is actually running) and Obama are probably the two least likely to get elected president. Say what you will about how far this country has progressed, but in a country where in some states a black man is 57 times more likely to be sent to jail on the same drug charges as a white man - there is sadly still little chance of a black man being elected president. And that's not even taking into account that the guy really isn't all that qualified for the job.

Only slightly less likely is a woman being elected. Now Hillary may be well known, and she has Bill on her side, but do the Democrats not realize how universally hated she is among a large portion of America? She is probably the one person who can be more divisive than Bush has been as president.

If the Democats were smart, they'd encourage, plead, beg, blackmail, or force Gore to run. He'd win in an absolute landslide over any of the guys the Republicans are thinking about nominating. But I do have to admit, a part of me really wants Romney to win the nomination and go against either Clinton or Obama. I'd love to see "mainstream" America have to choose between either a woman, a black man, or a Mormon. If that were to happen, Nader may finally have a chance.

Presidential Debates Suck

So I got to catch 20 minutes of the Republican debate last night on CNN. Besides the cheesiness of the whole youtube thing, one thing that really just bugged me was the amount of time talking about completely irrelevant and non-political topics. They had a bunch of questions about religion. "Do you believe every word in the bible" or something else about Jesus. Who gives a rat's ass? I don't care if the president is a Christian or worships the Flying Spaghetti Monster as long as he does his job well. In fact, given the quality of the presidential candidates this year, I think I'm going to write in a vote for the FSM and his noodly appendages.

Every wonder what happened to Stringfellow Hawk?

It ain't pretty:

Jan Michael Vincent Video

Blackwater incident revisited.

So it appears the "government report" on the incident we talked about earlier was written by "a Blackwater contractor working in the embassy security detail". Not only that, but the report itself "doesn't mention civilian casualties" which is rather convenient given that a number of civilians were killed in the incident. Full story here.

And to make Blackwater's already bad day worse, the NY Times is reporting that

"A Blackwater USA employee under investigation in the killing last December of an Iraqi bodyguard in an off-duty confrontation was so drunk after fleeing the shooting that another group of guards took away the loaded pistol he was fumbling with, a report to a House committee said Monday."

The State Department's response was to give the bodyguard's family $250,000 compensation. However according to The Kansas City Star

the "payment proposed by the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad was too much, because it might lead Iraqis to "try to get killed so as to set up their family financially".

I bet the people or Iraq sit around and thank their lucky stars for the "protection" we're giving them...