Who wants to have a drama filled conversation about this? Whos going to throw the first punch? Is there room in this world for a bit more pudding?

There's a lot of truth in that post. I don't see much agreement amongst SEOs about where the demarcation line between WH and BH falls. Personally, I see BH as doing harm, either to the client or to a competitor's site, by hacking. If an SEO advocates buying links, that's fine, provided they make the client aware of the risks, beforehand. I don't do it, but then, I'm not working in any of the niches that might necessitate it in order to outrank the competition.

Sorry, no punches here, though. ;)

True white hat SEO, from my understanding of Google's point of view is:

-ON SITE- Optimizing page URLs, titles and descriptions to represent the topic of the page. Naming the images after what they are.  A few other things like 301's from removed content to the new page, canonicals to original page (when using PPC landers, for example), and things like sitemaps and setting up your GWT to help Google crawl and understand your site.

-OFF SITE- Encouraging incoming links that are purely natural link building by people who are getting nothing in return from those they're linking to.  By encouraging, I mean creating quality content and being active on social networks to create buzz and interest.  Or letting website owners about your site and how it may be useful to their audience.

In verticals like puppy sweaters this may work well.  In verticals that people don't care to talk about and brag they had a good experience to the masses (payday loan) it's unlikely to do much short of having insane luck, or big $ to invest in potentially viral videos and website functionality to get people talking.

Not puppy sweaters, @Reseg, but I have a client who's doing exactly what you described in skin care. Quite competitive. And she's doing quite well for herself, thanks very much. :-)