MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING WARNING FROM SEQUENCEINC.COM

HAUSFRAU SPEAKS: MARY KAY

Hi, everyone!  

My brain has been working overtime lately!  At one time, I "drank the koolaid" and became an "independent beauty consultant" for Mary Kay Cosemetics.  The sales pitch I was given was that I could "own my own business" by investing a meager $100 and purchasing my "Starter Kit".  Well, ok, sign me up!  After I had my starter kit, my "director" informed me that only by "purchasing inventory" within a very short time would I be successful. Noh, such beautiful pictures of fame and fortune were painted for me!  I was convinced that if I cashed in my 401(k) and "invested" the money into purchasing product, I would be driving a pink Caddy by the end of the year!  What an opportunity!!!  I was SO LUCKY!

So, not knowing what the heck I was doing, I asked my director "what inventory should I buy?"...I should have known that the problems were going to be awful when her answer was "Well, it's YOUR business, you will just have to choose those items yourself!"  So, I bought a little bit of everything!  Now, mind you, I had never actually BEEN to a Mary Kay party...I'd only bought the product ONE time! Actually...I really don't even WEAR makeup! (That's ok, she said, you have SKIN, don't you?  Everyone takes care of their SKIN!). I admit, I WAS naive...no...I was STUPID!  

So, I placed my order! I spent close to $5000 buying things I THOUGHT I needed!  While I waited for the boxes to be delivered, I started bothering everyone I knew...following the Mary Kay directions for getting bookings.  Nothing.  My friends were busy, or had allergies (especially to Mary Kay, it seemed) or had one of any number of issues!  I really TRIED...I HAD to...because I had lost my job, the economy was bad, and I needed to work NOW!!!' 

My director called me before my inventory arrived...and she had GREAT news!  Something had happened to one of the other Consultants, and there was room for me to attend the big convention in Dallas!  I could even share a room with 3 other women and just pay 25% of the room bill!!  Wasn't THAT great?  She assured me that I would learn SO VERY MUCH at seminar!  It would really get my "business off to a GREAT START!!

So, I dug deeper into my retirement funds and bought a flight to Dallas, paid fees to Mary Kay to attend the convention, gave myself some spending money, etcetera, etcetera...do I need to tell you that Convention was just day after day listening to 20-30 year directors telling all of us potential losers that their success could be OURS too? Oh, and of course, the shopping for Mary Kay products that a business just HAS to have to be successful! It was just one big "I Love Mary Kay Ashe" Party!  Oh!  And all the new PACKAGING on the products!  That ugly Mary Kay Pink was OUT and now the packages looked more like the nice expensive brands that ladies buy from Nordstrom!  Oh! I was so EXCITED!!

I returned home pumped up, and ready to fly!!  When I finally got a little rest....I started unpacking all my new inventory...and the more I unpacked, the more I realized I had a BIG PROBLEM!  Every single thing I received was "old packaging"....except all the sales materials and catalogs, which displayed NEW PACKAGING!  I called my director, who told me "oh, no problem! "It's ONLY a package!" Yes, I suppose it is....

Days turned into weeks...and I wasn't selling anything...then, just to recover some of my investment, I started discounting...then, I'd discount some more.  I started dreading talking to a client for fear they would ask for something that I DIDNT have, and I'd have to special order.  THIS WAS NOT MAKING ME MONEY!!  I'd follow the instructions, "offering the Mary Kay Opportunity" to others...and they would have a hard time keeping a straight face...I started selling stuff BELOW COST just to get rid of it!  I was giving it away as "gifts"...my "friends" were avoiding me! 

The only time my director would call was to see how much I was going to order...and then she would tell me what "MY" goal should be!  (What makes me think she was worrying about her OWN commissions?)  Not once was I able to book a real "party"...this all happened back in 1998..maybe 1999...would you believe I STILL have old PINK tubes of lipstick...and old eyeshadow?  The facial cleansers and moisturizers all became stinkey, and I had to throw those away...and there is a shoebox full of stuff still in my closet...its moved with me from Newport Beach to Costa Mesa to San Antonio to Ocala to JAX...

My next door neighbor is some fancy Director...she has the Mary Kay car....and she's been a director now for 27 years.  Sure, some DO have success, like she did (hell, she was probably there with old Mary Kay herself when she mixed up that first vat of leather tanning juice and helped her pour it into those ugly pink jars!) She owns TWO homes, has the Mary Kay car...do you think she is giving up being the Diamond Director?  (I know that if I were next in her down-line, I'd be wishing the old bat would either retire (or wither away) so I could get a chance to be at the top of the pyramid!  

I'm convinced of one thing, tho...only ONE person can be at the top of the pyramid...in either a Corporation or a small business.  There's only ONE boss, one director of West Coast, one director of East Coast...and it never will be you or me!  WE will always be at the bottom of the pyramid!

The following was written by TRACY COENEN at SEQUENCEINC.COM. You can see other articles on FRAUD there!

MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING IS NOT A BUSINESS (IT’S A PYRAMID SCHEME)

Over the weekend, cracked.com posted an insightful article about the realities of multi-level marketing. Simply put, MLM is the same thing as pyramid scheme. It’s not a business. Almost everyone loses money. The behaviors are cult-like. And you will NOT be successful with MLM, so don’t bother trying to recruit your friends and family.

Author Kathy Benjamin calls pyramid schemes the world’s fastest growing industry, and she is right. You see the evidence all over Facebook. Several of you friends are inviting you to their party, or they’re posting staged before and after pictures and leaving cryptic messages that say “ask me how!” They often will not mention the name of the product they’re pushing, because they know they’ll lose you as a potential victim if you Google the product before they can fill your head with lies about how good the product is.

Which companies are we talking about? Some of the most common names heard are Amway, Mary Kay, Herbalife, Usana, Avon, Isasgenix, Legal Shield, Forever Living, Advocare, and Shaklee. But there are literally hundreds of these companies around. Basically any company that shows you a product and then offers you an “opportunity” to buy the product and wholesale and/or make some money selling to family and friends is a MLM. Look for keywords like opportunity, compensation plan, sharing (“we don’t sell, we share!”), independent, and recruiting.

How prevalent is MLM? In the United States, between $15 billion and $30 billion is sucked out of the economy by multi-level marketing predators each year. You’ll hear MLM pushers say that this is an inaccurate characterization, as the money was used to buy products. Yes, some of the money went toward the products – – over priced products that aren’t any better quality than you could get at Wal-Mart. So consumers are wasting money on these products, likely buying more than they can ever sell or consume because they must meet certain minimums to qualify for paltry commissions in the schemes.

Pyramid schemes have been around forever, and our government allows them to operate. Promoters will tell you that MLM is perfectly legal, so there is nothing wrong with getting involved. Just because the law doesn’t stop these companies from operating doesn’t mean they’re any good. Even though 99% of participants lose money in multi-level marketing, consumers still get sucked in by the millions. Kathy writes:

One of the reasons people have been taken in, over and over, decade after decade, is the recruitment practices these companies use. When you get right down to the way that most of these MLMs recruit people, you can’t help but start thinking that they sound like cults. The companies draw people in with a sense of community and the bonds of personal relationships, but when you decide you want to get out, they use those same things against you. People will choose to keep losing money over losing friends and their support structure. Some families of MLM members get so desperate they actually hire people to get their loved ones out of the programs, just like with cults.

Multi-level marketing companies are based on endless chain recruitment. They live or die based on the ability of distributors constantly recruiting more people. They make you think the MLM is really about selling products, but that’s a complete lie. The products are used to make the schemes look like legitimate businesses, when the bottom line is that it is all about recruiting. Kathy explains that saturation from this recruiting can happen faster than you think:

This progression works wonderfully when only a handful of people are making all the money from it. If everyone in your town uses one shampoo, no one loses out and you all have fabulous hair. But MLM programs mean that instead of just recommending your friends try a new nail polish or jewelry or essential oil, you actually need to encourage them to sell these things as well in order to make money from them. And they need to encourage more people. And so on and so on and so on.

Soon, way too many people in one area, or with the same group of friends, are selling the same thing. How soon? Well, if one person starts out and recruits two people, and they each recruit two people, etc., it would only take 28 recruitment cycles for virtually EVERYONE IN THE USA to be selling the same product.

But maybe the biggest problem is that no matter how hard you work, you are almost guaranteed to lose money. MLM supporters will claim that those who lose money just didn’t work hard enough. That’s not true. It’s simple mathematics that guarantee almost everyone will lose money. You can only make money if large numbers of people are recruited below you. That necessarily precludes almost everyone from making money, because they can’t recruit into infinity. As the pyramid below you gets wider, the new participants added have an even smaller chance of making money because there aren’t enough people in the world for everyone to make money.

Kathy writes:

Herbalife, the company getting lawsuited all over the place that we discussed above? Of all their sellers, 99.92 percent lose money. And that is just when you are a part of the scheme. When I asked friends about their experiences working for these types of businesses, most of them said they had hundreds, even thousands of dollars’ worth of stock left after they finally got out. The companies were not about to buy that back — they just had to add the loss to their other ones.

No matter what your recruiter tells you, you aren’t going to make money. 99% of people lose money in multi-level marketing. Those people bragging that they make money? Almost all of them are lying. They inflate their gross income, leave out business expenses, and otherwise flat out lie to you about making money. Of course they’re going to say that they are making money. They are trying to suck you into doing what they’re doing. If they told you they were losing money, you wouldn’t join.

Here’s the bottom line: Recruiting others to recruit others in not a business. You are almost guaranteed to lose money. It’s not fun, and your friends and family don’t want to participate. Since our government won’t stop MLMs from operating, the only answer is to educate consumers so they avoid these scams.

HausFrau Speaks-Twitter, Twits & Hausfrau

A very long time ago, when I was a pre-teen (yes, it WAS the Dark Ages), I felt sorry for my little sister.  She was what they called THEN "slow" or that dreaded "R" word.  But God help the person that used that word when referencing my little sister!  She was all heart, she was able to find beauty in the ugliest of things, and most of all, the things people said to her, she never seemed to understand. She would just put that silly smile on her face, then continue with whatever project she was working on.  Someone might say to her "Hey Retard, you are an idiot, aren't you?" And she would just look at the speaker and smile and say "Well God makes all kinds."  It rarely seemed to bother her, but when something DID hurt her feelings, huge tears would form in her big blue eyes (all magnified by those thick glasses she wore).  Seeing those tears ripped my heart out.  I don't remember even one time she used profanity, I don't remember her ever getting angry...she seemed to always be loving and kind...and she never seemed to see the ugliness in the world.

After she was killed, and I realized how empty my life was without her, after I realized how I had just always assumed that she would always be a part of my life...I replayed moments we had shared, I remembered the horrors we had managed to survive together...I may have saved her life physically...but she saved my life emotionally.  I NEEDED her!  I needed her to help me NOT SEE the ugliness outside our door, she needed me to PROTECT her from what I saw.

I think now that she was lucky.  She didn't seem to understand the hateful sarcasm people said to her.  And unless the comment was especially rude and she was forced by the perpetrator to acknowledge the hate speech, or unless I was feeling especially "froggy" I would ignore it like she did.  But, God knows, most of the kids at school knew that I was a volatile young person, and I didn't hesitate in protecting my sister if I felt she needed it.

Over the years, my anger has abated...i think the last time I lost my temper was back in 1983 or 84.  I've tried my best to be more like my sister, to let hateful comments pass without comment.  I now wonder if my sister truly didn't understand what people were saying...or if she just had more self control than I did. Maybe ignorance IS bliss!

When Twitter was first introduced, my geeky son said "mom, you GOTTA try this!"  Then, acting just like my dad would have, I said "well, I refuse to be a Twit!"  That refusal stayed intact until this stupid trial.  It seemed that to NOT know the gossip, was just too unbearable!   I guess I expected something different from Twitter than it is.  Twitter is defined by its users.  And from my limited experience, it's like walking the streets of South Central with the word NERD tattooed on your forehead, and hundred dollar bills falling out of your pocket!  You are going to get mugged!

Those same kids who picked on my sister now live on Twitter. Although they proclaim to be married, have children and have jobs...it's beyond me how if all (or even some) of those things occupy their time, how do they manage to spend all that time on Twitter? My "child" is over 40 now, but when he was young, the attention HE NEEDED far surpassed any other activities I wanted to do!  I'm retired now, I have very few social obligations, so I'm able to spend an hour or two online...but, even at that, the house needs to be cleaned, groceries purchased, attending doctor appointments are required.  Maybe I have poor time management skills!

At first, I just lurked, reading what other people wrote...then, I would re-tweet something I agreed with. It was not long after that the personal attacks began. At first I thought “ignore them”, they will either grow up, move or graduate from middle school. Then, I thought “stand up for yourself”…but I've discovered that making any comment is just  like picking at that grotesque pimple in the middle of your forehead, it only makes it bigger, redder and more disgusting…so, I’ve just decided that I don’t need to visit that barrio called Twitville!  I've also discovered that even staying off Twitter doesn't stop the harassment.  After withdrawing from Twitter, ugly comments  began showing up here, and even uglier statements were written in "Parody" blogs.

I don't understand WHY!  What have I ever done to deserve this vitroil? What have I done to earn threats to my husband's livelihood? I'm a size 8...can someone tell me exactly WHY an elderly woman who is still a size 8 deserves to be called a COW, and earn #MooMoo?

While I am at it…I will clear up one more misconception! Racism in our country is not new. When the Irish arrived, they were discriminated against, as were the Italians, Swedes, Swiss, etc. My roots are, at least in part, from the Pennsylvania Dutch, who weren’t from the Netherlands, but Germany. Deutche mispronounced by Americans came out "Dutch”. When the Pennsylvania Dutch worked their way west! into the territories, they too, were discriminated against. And the phrase “drunk as a Dutchman” came into usage. My grandfather used that phrase a lot with toddlers just learning to walk that came into the house. He’d say “Look at him go! Drunk as a Dutchman!” Perhaps an odd phrase for a family that NEVER consumed spirits! 

There were a few years, when I was in my 30’s, newly released from all family ties through the deaths of my dad, sister, and her son and then both of my grandparents, where I tested the strength of “spirits”, but most of my life, I’ve been a non-drinker. I'm STILL a non-drinker due to the many medications for ne inevitably takes after reaching age 60, and your stuffing begins to leak out of your seams!

In the past 10 years, as my physical health has diminished, and I’ve lost my eyesight due to a hereditary disease and cataracts, I find that I stumble along, and I'm reminded of my grandfather's phrase "drunk as a Dutchman"

Eight years ago, when I moved in with my DH, he teased that I wasnt a very good “hausfrau”…and truly, I’m not.  But, my husband still uses "my little hausfrau" when he teases me! Now, perhaps, with the cataract/corneal replacement surgery I had almost 3 weeks ago, my hausfrau skills will improve!  I’m beginning to see more and more of what I hadn’t seen before! There are fingerprints on everything…and the grout between the tiles ISNT tan, it’s DIRT…and I have to wonder how we are able to breathe at all with all that dust and dirt on the fan that seems to run 24 hours of every day…I’ll have to contract a housekeeper after I get the house clean enough for the housekeeper to get into the door and not run away in fright!

So, as I began playing with words and phrases to determine what I was going to call this blog, and attempting to define what I was going to write about…the phrase “drunk as a Dutchman” came to mind...then I wondered how I would change that to the female gender, but  Drunk housewife didn't sound right, so I ended up with DrunkenHausfrau. 

While I understand that we ALL seem to think the world revolves ONLY around US…should anyone suspect that I chose that name ONLY to make fun of them or embarrass them in any way, they should realize that is incorrect assumption. I KNOW it is easy to personalize things like this, but, imaginations are in overdrive due to all the backbiting that has recently occurred in Twitland.  

So, “gentle reader”, I have sworn ever visiting Twitville again…as far as I am concerned, it belongs to ALL of you….and after you all cannabilize one another, please stay off of my blog.  I do not want or need the hateful comments you bring!

My family and friends and I are busily living our lives.  In the past few months, we've been saying goodbye to loved ones that are sick, or who have passed, I've had to attend funerals, some of us have gone on vacation or have home; we are welcoming Spring; enjoying retirement; having surgeries; and loving our children and spouses. 

Your derisive comments are not welcome here…either go back to Twitville, or start your own blog. We have no room for whatever you offer, we have no comments to add to your blogs and twits. We are all old enough to know that talking to a wall or trying to teach a pig to sing doesn’t work. The wall won’t move, and both the pig and teacher end up frustrated.

So…off you go! Buh-bye…have a good life!

Gramma used to say: “Be smart, listen to your elders; they didn’t get old by being stupid.”

Hausfrau Speaks-Examining the Examiner (TORONTO RELATIONSHIPS)

JUST WHO IS THE TORONTO "RELATIONSHIPS EXAMINER" ?

The person supplying the "User Content" for both the Toronto area "Relationships"  and "Political Buzz" blog is Christine Beswick.  Under the "Relationships" banner, examiner.com states "Christine has been writing "for the public since she was a junior in high school when she landed her first byline for a weekly column in the town's local paper. Since then her work has appeared in newspapers, magazines, and has most recently been featured in SZ Mag." "The Sting of Stigma" was published in the Winter, 2014 issue, but don't bother googling Sting of Stigma, at least a half-dozen other writers have used the same title for their own articles regarding the social stigma of patients who have autism, bi-polar and other mental health issues.  I was not able to locate Beswick's article.  (SZ is a digital magazine dedicated to schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder.) examiner.com continues: "Christine is a graduate level educated single mom and writes on everything from relationships to investigating news that matters. When not writing, she spends time baking or serving the families in her son's school."

Christine's second bio at the examiner.com, where she is listed as a "Political Buzz Examiner" reads "Christine has been writing about politics for the public since she was a junior in high school when she landed her first byline for a weekly column in the town's local paper. During that time, in addition to covering local and school politics, Christine worked behind the scenes of a newsroom on election night where she handled phone calls from the community and kept track of election standings. Now, she's serving her seventh consecutive term as School Council Chair in her son's elementary school and investigating political buzz that matters to Canadians. Christine loves hearing story ideas from her readers about what political issues Canadians want to talk about and can be contacted at (Redacted)." 

It's intriguing that the first "bio" states:  "Christine is a "graduate level educated" writer."  This might lead some to believe that she has a Master's Degree or better.  But, I think that is what they WANTED you to believe!  In this case, it could mean anything! No where in any online resources has Christine indicated that she graduated from any college OR that she has attended upper-level Graduate Courses, let alone that the degree or courses were in Journalism, English, Communications or Liberal Arts.  I was able to confirm that Miss Beswick is a 1992 graduate of Niagara District High School, Niagra on the Lake, Ontario.  (yasni.co.ca) 

In the second bio, she doesn't mention her "graduate level" education, but DOES include that she has been "writing about politics" since she was a junior in high school!  Additionally, it appears that Christine is much more interested in American politics than in the interesting issues in her own country.  I seem to not be the only one confused.  "Pirate" commented on a recent blog ".......the 'journalist's' latest is a column on Hillary Clintons' run for the White House. (Like there isn't anything in Canada for her to write on?). I am totally confused! A CANADIAN 'relationship" writer is writing on a trial in the USA/a CANADIAN ''political' writer (?hmmm) (does she change berets for that?) is writing on an US politician. Perhaps someone could point out some of the things that are going on in her OWN backyard in both trials and politics? She could have covered Magnotta but she didn't/she should be covering the Harper government and C-51 which is dividing a lot of people......but she isn't. Perhaps she thinks she is a Pseudo-American since the US BURNED her town in the War of 1812?  I am so confused."

Yes, you are not the only one confused, Pirate.  I've heard that "politics makes strange bedfellows" but, Miss Beswick is mixing the two in an unconventional manner. 

In yet another bio written by Christine, she claims to have "at the age of 15...landed her first byline for a weekly column in her town's local paper".  The bio continues "Christine is a single mom to her ten year old son with Autism, and when she's not writing, she spends her free time serving as President of the PTA at her son's school for her fifth consecutive term."  

It's interesting that Christine's LinkedIn profile offers no previous experience, no former employers and no professional references.something unusual for a "Frelance Writer" who would always be seeking another writing gig, especially a single mother trying to support a disabled child.  She lists her skills as copy editing, news writing, newspapers and editorial. Nowhere does she state that she is a member of any Professional Organiation, such as the Prrofessional Joirnalists Society which adheres to strict standards of journalistic excellence.  I could find no professional groups to which she belonged, either locally, nationally or internationally.  For as much as she claims to be a "journalist", in fact, she is not.  At best, she is a blogger.

I wasn't able to confirm that she had worked as a free-lance writer with a by-line other than four articles found which had been published at one time on a website called "GreatNewsNow.com". Again, she wrote nothing about her own country, the place she lives, rather, it was all about United States news!  This seems to hold great interest for her. (I wasn't able to locate any of these articles either.  It appears that "GreatNewsNow.com" did not renew their domain name, and is no longer available online.)

• "Big Aristotle Launches Luv Shaq Vodka"  12/19/12
• "Mayor Bloomburg wants to Make Composting Mandatory" 6/16/13
• "Supreme Court Rules on ARIZONA Voter Registration" 6/17/13
• "Understanding Neuropathy Symptoms""  6/27/13

MORE EXAMINING THE EXAMINER

RationalWiki confirms that Examiner.com is a "multiuser blogging site that presents itself as a news site" and says "Don't be fooled."

Examiner.com has been criticized for its meager pay scale and it is common knowledge that examiner.com pays its writers based on pageviews, unique viewers, subscriptions, time spent on the site and other variables called the "gawker model" made famous by gawker.com. Examiner.com claims it tells contributors that they "should not consider this full-time employment" and "tries to be very clear and transparent that this isn't a 'quit your day job' opportunity.”  As a result, a lot of Examiner material tends stoop to National Enquirer sensationalism, to attract attention — positive or negative doesn't matter, it's all clicks, and at times, I have suspected that Beswick encourages "negative" comments!  In the online world, you never know WHO you are commenting back to, and at times I've speculated that Beswick has alias accounts she uses to "stir the soup" in her "comments" section!  According to RationalWiki, there have been such ridiculous posts as "U.S. to bomb the moon on UFO witness John Lennon's birthday" and "Official disclosure of etraterrestrial life is imminent" are standard offerings! . Rational Wiki also states that "You will see enthusiastic Examiner bloggers linkspamming furiously on other sites (to the point of being in Wikipedia's spam blacklist since 2009) often touting their work as "media coverage" (and themselves as "journalists" or "the press") rather than just a blog post they themselves wrote."  Writers Weekly is quoted saying examiner.com is "just another pay-per-click meat market, exploiting writers to attract people to their site by paying them pennies."

Cranks and those with extremely poor critical and logical thinking skills will re-post, link, repeat and copy Examiner articles as if they're edited journalism rather than some guy with a keyboard and Internet access blogging!  CAUTION: If you use an Examiner page as a reference for anything whatsoever, treat it with great caution. Not all Examiners are poor sub-standard writers...BUT.....

Wiki continues "The domain name used to be owned by the San Francisco Examiner, a proper newspaper, which now uses sfexaminer.com." The examiner.com DOES offer a print tabloid edition in a few cities, usually free at mass-transit stops, BART, etc, and run "local" news. (But, then again, we've seen a certain Relationships Examinter who lives in Ontario writing about a trial in Arizona, so much for "local experts!)

So, you might be asking, what is the "win" for the owners of the examiner.com?  ADVERTISING. Did you notice how you have to click 3-5 times to get to the article you want to read?  I know sometimes just clicking the X to close the advertisement takes me there, whether I want to go or NOT!

A REVIEW OF EXAMINER BLOG POST BY CHRISTINE BESWICK  March 17, 2015

JODI ARIAS: ASSETS SEIZED IN JODI LAND MARIA de la ROSA NAMED ON BANK ACCOUNTS!

Several months ago, If one could ignore the spelling and grammatical errors, poor syntax and the enivitable paragraphs re-stating the basic elements of the Arias Trial, Beswick produced an interesting blog. She followed the "standard formula" newspaper reporters are so fond of using: a basic recap of the trial.. "Jodi Arias is on trial for the brutal slaying of her 30-year-old lover TRAVIS Alexander in 2008. This case has garnered an international audience due to the savageness of this crime, and the seemingly endless lack of remorse from this particular defendant. There is no sentence to date delivered in this case because the defendant has manipulated and wriggled her way out of every chance of giving the victim’s family closure in this case."  Sometimes it's at the top of the blog, sometimes at the end, sometimes in the middle, but always, the "news reporter's recap", as if we hadn't a clue.

But, even more interesting than the blog itself, were the comments!  Most were well thought out, intelligent, full of other views, perspectives and theories. But, back in early January, whether orchestrated by Beswick to increase traffic or not, the comments are now disgusting!  Comments contain profanity, hatred, bias, and racial hatred.  But, Beswicks ploy certainly worked!  Prior to this new hate-filled commentary, her blogs rarely had more than 200-500 comments.  The blog of March 17th has a current total of over 2600!  More comments than she has ever received before!  Even Beswick herself gets into the hatred act! She doesn't care if she is universally loved, she is constantly on the attack (except with her SideKick "Tie")!  No, she seems to take pleasure in proving that she is so much better than her readers!  she regularly accuses commenters who don't agree with her as being drunk or high, and she answered one commenter who wrote to another commenter "Just call me Corki, Sandra! Take care, be safe!" With the following:

Christine Beswick. I think it may be time for you to put down the corki things, and the bottles they are in, and sober up a l'il bit sweetie.. don't worry honey, if you are having a problem making that choice all by your drunken self, I understand some information will be coming to light very soon that will help you in terms of....sobering up. Happy Friday :)

Her act is no different on Twitter, abusing anyone who asks her a question or questions her sources.  She is obviously a very unhappy woman, and there have been times when I've felt great pity for her.  She tries so hard to be someone she isn't, just to get some positive reinforcement, and she takes the smallest bit of constructive critism as a full blown attack, and then retaliates.

As far as the veracity of what is contained in this blog, I cannot corroborate and no proof has been submitted for public scrutiny.  In general, there exists a small contingent of Beswick fans who require no proof.  I'm sure that this is the same group who spotted ELVIS at Bob's Burgers last week. The content of the blog itself, has not been corroborated by any other news organization.  Beth Karas, when asked on Twitter her opinion stated "@BethKaras:  I don't have it confirmed. Until I do, it's not a story for me."  Jeff Gold (the Gold Patrol) tweeted "@jeffgoldesq: we will just have to see"  and "@jeffgold: we cannot confirm, so we are not reporting, in fact we are moving on to other trials"  Troy Hayden tweeted. "@troyhaydenfox10: not sure about sources. Need proof."  B. Atlinburg tweeted: @BAtlinburg: Every one of that main steam media has washed hands of this BLOG!" and "@BAtlinburg: Just admit the whole thing was to make money on hits to the blog". So, I too, will refrain from further comment on what Beswick posted, instead, I'd like to comment on the form of Beswick's writing in general.  I was once a single mother trying to support my child too.  Unlike Christine, I did not live in "a compound in a high tax-base" because I lost both parents before I turned 21. But, I do know how difficult it is to be the sole support for a young child.  I encourage Christine to attend her local community college or learning center and take a basic "English Rhetoric" writing class. Many people in their mid to late forties attend these classes, so she won't feel out of place.  I myself, didn't graduate college until after I turned 48, and I have great respect for "older" students, and I'm sure she would see the results in her readership.

Since January 1, 2015, Christine has written 38 articles on examiner.com. Of those 38 articles, only four (4) were written under the "Political Buzz Examiner" banner.  Of those four articles, only one was about Canadian politics, and the one and only comment on that post was by "captain psychedelic" asking "What a stupid article. Wasn't this same thing published 8 years ago?"  So much for being of the cutting edge of politics in your own country.  Of the other three posts, two on Hillary Clinton and the other on Mitt Romney, the most interesting seemed to be the one on Mitt Romney, garnering twelve (12) comments, five of which were by Christine, herself.  If the pay scale is based on visits an comments, not even the "silly season" of American politics can save her.

The remaining 34 blog entries which were posted online from November 20, 2014 to March 17, 2015, ALL but ONE was about the Jodi Arias trial.

• 11 in November
• 11 in January
•   8 in February 
•   4 in March

Compare that production to her July, 2014 entries which totaled 33 for the MONTH.  While the examiner has a lasses faire attitude about what their Content Providers post, to decrease work product volume from what one PREVIOUSLY produced in one month to that same volume over THREE months, indicates a serious issue!

There is another issue with her content,  Because she isn't producing content every day, she delivers content several days AFTER events have happened, therefore, readers have read that same information everywhere else FIRST!  While this would work if you were writing humor, which will be as funny next week as it is today, "news" is more time sensitive!  There were several weeks during the Arias trial when she didn't post her content until the weekend!  THE Trial was on EVERYONES "gotta know" list!  "What happened yesterday?" (Or this morning/afternoon!) Waiting 4-5 days is just unacceptable when your major competition is posting every day AND tweeting (and all of YOUR posts are regurgitated information from THEM!) She LIVES in CANADA, she's not in Arizona, she's not even in the United States! And as much as examiner.com says that their "Examiners" are experts in the area they LIVE, as long as the blogs are receiving "clicks" no one says anything!

My last comments are on "style", sources and language.  Berwick's last entry began: "The glamorous high profile murder trial that is known as the Jodi Arias trial has wrapped up in Phoenix,  Arizona,". Admittedly, high profile!  But "GLAMOROUS"?  I think not! Being a "some-times writer, I know how difficult it can be to produce a post.  But, Beswick's training appears to be more "on the job" than in the classroom.  There's nothing wrong with that!  I've believed for a very long time that on the job training can discover natural talent better than just learning "technique".  

Beswick tends to use more "flowery" language, such as is found in young adult or romance novels. "It is a fresh path of grief..." Or "Every step that they have taken to this point has burned like coals on their soles..." Or "Napoleon (dog) now lives with a beautiful woman..."  She also finds a phrase and repeats it several times within one piece.  "This killer will fade to black soon enough", "Jodi Arias is going to fade to black", "this killer will fade" and she got creative with "She will disappear into the underbelly of prison society" and she will "even develop a few new minions"

She limits her sources to Twitter; Trial Diaries, (Jen Wood) (five times in this post), FaceBook and AZCentral.  Rarely she will quote Fox or ABC (tweets). In this article she wrote Jen Wood, Trial Diaries or Tweet seven times!  She rarely, if ever quotes anyone that she has actually interviewed.  

Lastly, will someone who lives near poor Christine PLEASE give her a thesaurus?  In this post alone, Beswick repeats the word "killer" 19 times!  Websters defines a "murderer who kills with malice and aforethought", which, indeed, Arias Is. she is a convicted Murderer.  And while all murderers are killers, not all killers are murderers!  It's that whole "premeditated" thing!  

People I know online have expressed concern for Christine Beswick.  Like me, they have observed a change in her demeanor, her writing, her production, and yes, even in the way that she treats commenters on her blog.  Although there are over 2600 comments on this particular blog, they all seem to originate from the same 10-14 individuals. I suspect that these same people have multiple sign-in names, so these would count as "unique visitors" each day on her blog, and she would get paid for those "extra visits".  But, if a neophyte like me can figure out that ABC is the same person as XYZ (because they both spell the same VERY unique word wrong), I'm guessing that examiner.com can figure it out too. (If they care enough to try, and if they don't? Who cares?)

Concerning retailers and restaurants, I've often said that "I don't complain, I vote with my feet!" And, I'm going to vote with my feet with Beswick, as well.  I was willing to wait a few hours to get my daily fix of trial news, but waiting so long to read news I've already seen isn't my style.  I have noticed that approximately 80% of the other bloggers and Tweeters are not only college educated, but are also attorneys.  I can COUNT on what they report.  At one time, I THOUGHT I could count on CHRISTINE, too.  But this last post is right up there with  "U.S. to bomb the moon on UFO witness John Lennon's birthday"!  IF this post had ANY validity, ALL the other reporters, bloggers and writers would have been putting their spin on events too!  Yet, all we are hearing are ::crickets::

There is one thing in this world that no matter how much money you have, you can't buy...no matter how little money you have, no one can steal...it's your INTEGRITY.  An old fashioned idea, perhaps...but what was the major issue with JODI Arias? That she was unable to tell the truth.  And if you will lie to make money, you have no integrity.  You lack a moral compass, you lack ethics.  Lord knows I've made many mistakes in my life.  I've learned a lot by trial and error.  But the one thing I value most is that when I look in the mirror, I see a good, honest person looking back at me.  Someone my parents and ancestors would have been proud of. Yes, I've been known to "pop off" when I lose my temper or when I get frustrated.  I didn't claim to be a saint, only a human trying to do the best I can every day.  Someone my children will be proud of.  Until proof regarding Christine's post is brought forth, not just innuendo, excuses or threats, I won't read Beswick/examiner.com. I hope that you look into your heart too, and read those bloggers, reporters, and news personalities who don't rush to report rubbish just to increase blog hits.  Read and listen to reporters who have values and integrity.