As I wrote about last week, the State of North Carolina recently enacted new legislation that will (and already has had) a dramatic impact on the tax regulation and classification of online merchants and re-sellers. This has raised alarms not only with online merchants such as Amazon, but it is quickly having a dramatic impact on the affiliate programs that such companies run. As well as companies like Linkshare and Commission Junction that act as a gateway between merchants, affiliate partners and consumers.

A few days ago, Amazon terminated all North Carolina members of their popular affiliate program. And now it has come to my attention that effective July 9, Cafe Press will be also be terminating their North Carolina affiliate members due to the new law.

From Cafe Press:

As you may know, the State of North Carolina recently enacted new legislation that addresses tax registration, collection and remittance, which challenges the CafePress affiliate business model.

Due to mounting uncertainly over these new laws we will no longer be able to support affiliates residing in the State of North Carolina, effective July 8, 2009.

While CafePress has no tax nexus in any states other than California, Nevada and Kentucky we feel it wise to discontinue our affiliate business in North Carolina at this time.

Regrettably, our hand was forced into making this difficult business decision, and we openly acknowledge the loss of income this means for our North Carolina affiliate partners. Should circumstances around this law change we will eagerly reconsider this decision.

Effective July 8, 2009 CafePress affiliate agreements with all North Carolina residents will be terminated.

This is no joke and judging by the forums, such as those on Amazon, is likely to spread, as more and more merchants and affiliate companies are contemplating terminating their NC members. Which, of course is just going to cause some people, especially the professional affiliate members that actually sell enough to make an independent living, to leave the state and take their businesses and therefore, their taxable revenue along with them.

How large are these programs in any given state? This map should help illustrate that...



Merchant affiliate programs have proven to be a very easy, effective and profitable way for small companies, bloggers and individuals to make money, sometimes a lot of money, as well as helping merchants of all sizes and product genres to sell their merchandise and brand themsevles. Now, with the NC Legislature following Obama's and the Democrat's Stalinist/East German economic model that seeks tyrannical control over every aspect of the (soon to be formerly) free market, it appears that many people will lose tremendous amounts of income and revenue due to the ideological coup that took place last November.

Hope and change, alright.

Spit.

Well, the early numbers are in and it would appear that most Americans were more interested reading about the mating rituals of the Monarch Butterfly than in watching the ABC/Obama Kevorkian Care Telethon. (Win a free pacemaker if you are under 100 years old!)

The 98-pound weakling rating number was a mere 1.1. You could have a C-SPAN Booknotes show with John Kerry reciting the Boston telephone book get a better rating than that. And that is with the TV's sound set at 10.

So, maybe there is a little hope out there in the hinterlands and flyover country. Just a little.


From The Live Feed: (Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin)

President Obama’s town hall meeting on health care delivered a sickly rating Wednesday evening.

The one-hour ABC News special “Primetime: Questions for the President: Prescription for America” (4.7 million viewers, 1.1 preliminary adults 18-49 rating) had the fewest viewers in the 10 p.m. hour. The special tied some 8 p.m. comedy repeats as the lowest-rated program on a major broadcast network.

Best comment on this from AlohaGuy:

Just a guess, but I’ll bet more people watched Katie Couric get her colonoscopy…more interesting and less crap.

True dat.

Drown a woman.

Kill a woman.

Rape a woman.

Impregnate a woman.

Diddle with a male page.

Though several Democrats are guilty of the above. In spades.

But why bother comparing since Dems have no morals or ethics and the above list is both a resume enhancement and a good way to help campaign fundraising if you are a Donkey party member. So every one of you Dems can stuff it up your asses if you say one word about Sanford's actions. Since you care about morals about as much as stepping in slug slime during a hot August night. After all, it is "just sex", a "personal matter" and "everyone does it". Well, I have news for you. Just because a GOPer or two gets his wanger caught in a compromising place, it does not besmirch the rest of us.

But your undying support of those guilty of the above list speaks volumes about you and your party.

Out.

So it appears that the Hare Krishnas and rude ticket agents are not the only ones you have to avoid at the airport nowadays.

If the story related below is any indication, we can look forward to seeing these ACORN droppings showing up at your local DMV, unemployment office, doctor's office and probably your local supermarket to boot.

You might want to keep a pair of WAHL clippers handy in case these people try to convert you.


Read Michelle Malkin's experience at the Denver International Airport today:

I’m at Denver International Airport waiting to pick up family.

In Terminal East, I was accosted by two young people from an outfit called “Progressive Future.” They are standing with clipboards and propaganda pimping Obamacare.

Don’t have time right now to look them up, but I asked one of the young Obama-bots who funded his group.

He didn’t know.

Wouldn’t be surprised if stimulus dollars or AmeriCorps funding was subsidizing this.

Read the rest at the above link.

As regular visitors here I am sure have noticed, I run quite a few ads here on the site. This is to help make a few extra bucks for the site as things such as hosting and domain registration are not free. So this is one reason I am a member of a few different affiliate programs. Including Amazon's program.



Well, while going through my mail this morning, I received a rather alarming email from Amazon in regards to their popular affiliate program.

In short, due to the (always liberal) North Carolina state legislature trying to ram through a very dubious (an unconstitutional tax collection scheme as Amazon calls it) sometime next month, Amazon is terminating their relationship with all NC affiliates.

From the Amazon email:

We regret to inform you that the North Carolina state legislature (the General Assembly) appears ready to enact an unconstitutional tax collection scheme that would leave Amazon.com little choice but to end its relationships with North Carolina-based Associates.

And a little later:

But because the new law is drafted to go into effect once enacted – which could happen in the next two weeks – we will have to terminate the participation of all North Carolina residents in the Amazon Associates program on or before that same day. After the termination day, we will no longer pay any referral fees for customers referred to Amazon.com or Endless.com nor will we accept new applications for the Associates program from North Carolina residents.

Like California being a bell weather for a lot of a legislation that eventually gets passed nationwide, (nearly all of it counterproductive) this looks to be an early testing of the internet taxation waters. Just as this will make purchasing products online more expensive, it will also thin out the number of companies that will offer such affiliate programs, as it will be cost-prohibitive. Especially for smaller and mom-and-pop type sites. Which in turn will lead to less advertising for such companies and sites, less revenue and more layoffs in an already distressed economy.

As Plugs Biden said, "gird your loins". The worst is yet to come.

For more information on other states and what they are up to as far as this subject goes, go to Performance Marketing Alliance.

The page for HB 558 is here.

Sign the petition to request that Google Earth update their satellite images of Tehran

The goal is 100,000 signatures. As of now, the petition has 1,515 signatories.

Best tweet I have seen all night:

Someone tweeted from Tehran today that "the American media may not care, but the American people do."

The events in Iran are unfolding at a dizzying pace. Go to http://www.twitterfall.com/#IranElection for constant updates. They are literally coming at one update per second.

From CollegeNews.com:

The unrest in Iran has taken a turn for the worst. Following the results of a highly controversial presidential election in which there is widespread evidence of fraud, and several news sources have reported that Iranians took to the streets in protest.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was announced the winner of the election with over 60 percent of the popular vote, a number that is largely inconsistent with polls leading up to the election. Several people working for the Iran’s Interior Ministry have openly stated that the election was stolen.

Since the announcement, the Iranian people, specifically supporters of moderate candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, have been protesting and clashing with police.

Over the last several days, dissidents have been placed under house arrest, and police have clashed violently with protesters.

Things took an even more bloody turn overnight in Tehran.

According to Reuters, the dormitories of the University of Tehran were attacked by Islamic militia forces and police officers; some reports state that as many as four students were killed, although the school’s chancellor has denied there have been any deaths.

The chairman of the Iranian Parliament, Ali Larijani condemned the attack when he told reporters from the ISNA, asking “What does it mean that in the middle of the night students are attacked in their dormitory?”

Iranian state television reported that seven people have been killed in clashes with the Basij, a police force for the Ayatollah.

Some pictures via TwitterFall:







Many more photos at Picasa Web.

Also, many Tweeters are urging people using Twitter to change their account settings to GMT +3:30 and location to Tehran so as to confuse Iranian censors.

Meanwhile, the State Department as well as the Obama administration continue to sit on their hands.

From Glenn Reynolds at PajamasMedia.com (Hat Tip - Gateway Pundit)

You’ll also be pleased to know that, according to no less than the New York Times, Obama didn’t bother holding any meetings or conference calls about this yesterday. Remember: Health care is a ‘crisis.’ This is but a ’situation.’”

I call it more of a reverse Pol Pot. Standing still and offering nothing while thousands cry out for freedom, justice and (the libs favorite Marxist Cloak Word) "fairness".

The MSM, the Obama administration and the Democrats have now made their marriage official.

Nevermind that there are three to this ceremony of wedded, leftist bliss. This is the 21st century and marriage can mean anything to anybody at anytime, anyplace.

Now, will Obama sit on a golden, royal throne while Charlie Gibson and the ABC production team kneel, bow and curtsey to Dear Leader?

From the Drudge Report: (Hat Tip Michelle Malkin)

ABC TURNS PROGRAMMING OVER TO OBAMA; NEWS TO BE ANCHORED FROM INSIDE WHITE HOUSE
Tue Jun 16 2009 08:45:10 ET

On the night of June 24, the media and government become one, when ABC turns its programming over to President Obama and White House officials to push government run health care -- a move that has ignited an ethical firestorm!

Highlights on the agenda:

ABCNEWS anchor Charlie Gibson will deliver WORLD NEWS from the Blue Room of the White House.

The network plans a primetime special -- 'Prescription for America' -- originating from the East Room, exclude opposing voices on the debate.

The RNC fired off a letter last night to ABC News. One of the money lines:

In the absence of opposition, I am concerned this event will become a glorified infomercial to promote the Democrat agenda. If that is the case, this primetime infomercial should be paid for out of the DNC coffers. President Obama does not hold a monopoly on health care reform ideas or on free airtime.

No, but he holds a monopoly on many things right now and the outright government ownership of outlets like ABC is not far behind, as their ratings continue to sag and the inevitable "bailout" comes their way. The only difference here is that unlike GM or Chrysler, the media CEO's will not need to be fired, since they are dutifully pumping out the White House's propaganda without having their fingers being stepped on.

Part of the ABC response:

"ABCNEWS alone will select those who will be in the audience asking questions of the president. Like any programs we broadcast, ABC News will have complete editorial control. To suggest otherwise is quite unfair to both our journalists and our audience."

To paraphrase Mark Twain, there are lies, damn lies and then there is the media.