I carped about this once before, but that was a year ago or more.  I know that TPM is, among other things, a commercial enterprise.  I know that means it has to raise money.  I wish it would do this at least partly by soliciting contributions from the family as Truthout and Alternet, and other liberal sites do. But this isn't the business model chosen here, and I have to lump it if I don't like it.  (Note I wrote at least partly above--I'm not going to suggest that advertising revenue be eliminated entirely.)

Having said that, is it necessary for TPM to accept advertising from everyone, regardless of what the source is?  Two ads are currently raising my eyebrows.  One is for K12.com, a for profit home schooling outfit.  It is the latest assault on public education--public education has been under assault since Brown v. Board of Education.  Take the most affluent out of the public school system and one takes those most able to advocate real reform--reform which costs real money--away.  The Senior Managers give a clue to the philosophical base of this company.  The CEO is Ron Packard:

Ron Packard, chief executive officer and founder of K¹², was previously a vice president of Knowledge Universe, and CEO of Knowledge Schools, which provides high-quality childhood education in community and employer-sponsored centers, and invests in, incubates, and operates several charter school companies. Previously, Mr. Packard worked for McKinsey & Company as well as for Goldman Sachs in mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Packard holds a B.A. in economics and mechanical engineering (with honors) from the University of California at Berkeley. As a Hughes scholar, he spent his undergraduate summers writing an image-processing language. He holds an M.B.A. (with honors) from the University of Chicago and he is a chartered financial analyst. Mr. Packard currently serves on the Department of Defense Educational Advisory Committee.

Among the other senior managers are persons currently associated with the Hearst Newspapers, Lockheed Martin, and other mega-corporations, and with deep associations with the radical right.  Take for example this:

Robert Moon, chief information officer, joined K¹² in March 2010 and brings over thirty years' experience as a technology manager, including more than 16 years in CIO positions in medium to large government, private, and public corporations. Prior to joining  K¹², Mr. Moon was CIO of LeapFrog Enterprises, the global leader in early childhood education through learning toys and software. Previously, he was the CIO for ViewSonic Corporation, and CIO for Micros Systems Inc. Mr. Moon also spent two years as a program manager with KPMG Peat Marwick, including one year at the White House with the Reagan administration as an analyst with the President's Private Sector Survey on Cost Control. Prior to his private sector experience, he served for 21 years as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy, including three years as Director of Information Technology and Deputy Director of Operations for the Office of Naval Research. Mr. Moon retired from the US Navy with the rank of Commander. [My emphais] He holds a BS degree from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland.

Shades of the Military Industrial Complex.  Ike must be gritting his teeth.

There are others, including

Charles Zogby, senior vice president of education and policy, served as secretary of education for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania prior to joining K¹² in 2003. In this position, Mr. Zogby managed the agency that oversaw kindergarten through college education with a $10 billion budget and more than 800 personnel. During his tenure, Mr. Zogby won passage of a first-in-the-nation virtual charter school law, implemented the state's plan for the federal No Child Left Behind Act, and led the state's takeover of the Philadelphia School District.

So while the content of TPM excoriates Goldman Sachs and others from the greed sector, the advertising comes from  that greed sector.

The other ad which  provoked this came from the energy sector, arguing that it was time to end the moratorium and "support energy" 

Save U.S. Energy Jobs is a project of the American Energy Alliance (AEA) dedicated to promoting jobs, energy affordability, and safety in the development of our offshore resources.

The BP oil spill is a disaster of significant societal and economic proportions. While the accident itself is tragic, it is important to separate the actions of one bad actor from the rest of the industry. The far reaching impacts of this disaster should not include cutting off access to our domestic energy resources, the economic prosperity and national security benefits those resources provide, and the much needed jobs energy production provides to hard working Gulf residents.

So as the cleanup continues (and is likely to continue for the rest of many of our lives) TPM is running ads arguing against even the minimum clean energy efforts of this  congress?  Things that make you go hmmm.

One could argue that running these ads here is o.k. because our readership wouldn't follow the advice of the ads in the first place:  The money going from K12 and Save U.S. Energy jobs is wasted money on the advertiser's part.  Maybe so, maybe not, but I want a very very long spoon when I sup with the devil.

There are ad placements available directed at the kind of readership most of us are.  For example, Advertising Liberally.  Scroll down and you'll see what the various blogs charge for advertisements, and the number of ads they are currently running.  I didn't have to scroll too far down to find TPM. It was second from  the Top--right after Daily Kos.  But Kos is running 5 ads and at the time I write this, TPM is running none-- Both charge the same amount--but looking at the cpm indicates why advertisers might prefer paying Kos' fees. 

Some of you may have seen neither of these ads...I just saw one inviting myself to age myself.  I don't have to do that.  I'm old already.  I  also don't think I'll fall for the promise to earn $3,000 a month from my computer. 

Have you seen any interesting ads lately?