Worx in Progress

I try to keep the old blog here timely--as I do the Hil-Gle page itself. I just posted a new Ajax Telegraph on a recent fraud that I have seen hit the cable airwaves. The DVD rental machine scam is the first in a series of three new updates I will be doing on current frauds. Beyond these three, I have two other well advertised frauds that I am looking into, but don't have enough research back to explain as yet. My emphasis is on retail level frauds--those that are mass marketed to the average person--as opposed to the grand frauds. The grand frauds, like Enron and Worldcom and Health South, get instant books and deep-voiced-over TV specials made about them. The little stuff--biz op scams, debt conversion schemes and voodoo fake medical products, seldom score much ink or time. Moreover, if you even do try to look before you leap, the majority of what you can find on the interweb thingy has been placed there by the scam artists themselves. Given that the Ajax pages are already amongst the most attractive on the site, it seems like a good idea to build them up in hopes of blowing back some truth to fight the nonsense. Right now I have the beat pretty much to myself.

There's been a sudden increase in the profile of a number of frauds. The easy explanation is to blame the economy. It is certainly partially to blame. Most of the frauds I have seen dancing about are the kind that are always around. What is new is that the scams have leaped from the back pages of trade magazines and the scrawl of roadside signs to our television. The advertising slump has gotten so bad that television and radio stations are taking a lot of sponsors they would usually decline. Desperation has fueled our televised over-exposure to the Shamwow and ideas even more dubious. Although it isn't my intention to cover every scam, I will make an effort to cover the timely ones. I think my next cover feature will be an explanation of the Bubble Game, since it's often cited but seldom described.

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Newsweek Update

Newsweek has now spent three issues away from their pulp format. Sort of. Now they are celebrity glomming. First we have an issue written by Joe Biden followed by an issue written by Al Gore. I predict a return to pulp soon. I mean, how many more wind-baggy, basically wrong B-Grade policos are there? Crud. Issue three, written by Secretary Clinton. Sigh. Although Hil-Gle is pro Mrs. Clinton to the point of demanding a primary recount even to this moment, we just don't think she should be keeping such slummy company.

Speaking of predictions, we predict Newsweek will soon formally change its name to New Week. Don't ask us why. They have been running this change for the past few months on their splash page.