One of the fundamental tenants of freedom and democracy is Government by the People, for the People.

The operative word being ‘by’. ‘By’ being synonymous with participation.

The very real and emerging alternative is Government by the Corporation, for the Corporation.

That’s called (and is the definition of) Fascism.

The first truth is that the liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism — ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power.
Franklin D. Roosevelt April 29, 1938. Message to congress.

Fascism is bad – every year we remember the millions of men and women who gave their lives fighting fascism is the 1940′s and earlier. We lay reefs of flowers, salute, and proclaim ‘lest we forget’.

Seems we’ve become a bit complacent in the ‘lest we forget’ department. Fascism is alive and well in the USA/West and it’s making aggressive inroads into our freedom.

SOPA and PIPA are prime examples of Fascism (starts with what seems like a good idea at the time). They must be defeated and the proponents of this legislation removed from office.

No one’s saying that online copyright violations are not an issue, we’re just saying find a way to deal with it without destroying the Internet and/or making us all criminals.

One of the concerns we have with the ‘by’ part of ‘by the people’ is the sense that we can’t make a difference anyway, so why bother?

That’s a cop out. The way I see it is you can’t take freedom for granted, your participation is required. It doesn’t mean you have to run for office, it simply means being aware, participating in a political dialogue, and voting judiciously, either with your formal vote, your wallet, and/or your feet.

The Internet communities’ reaction and response to the SOPA and PIPA issue is nothing short of inspiring.

“This is altogether a new effect,” Mr. Dodd said, comparing the online movement to the Arab Spring. He could not remember seeing “an effort that was moving with this degree of support change this dramatically” in the last four decades, he added.
New York Times

If you’re convinced that your voice can’t make a difference take a look at these stats. Seems that 13 million people think differently and, as a result, these bills, once considered a slam dunk are now on the ropes.

People (you) can make a difference. Freedom is worth fighting for. At this point SOPA and PIPA have been postponed indefinately but the fight needs to go on.

Success isn’t the first word that springs to mind when you find yourself, as I did, unemployed. Even more so when the job you’ve held down for the past three years happens to be managing your own business!

It’s a long and convoluted story, probably best left untold, but the fact is these things happen. I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had life throw them an unforeseen curve ball in the past few years. Then again, don’t know anyone who has succumbed, or gone under, as a result. More often than not the eventual outcome is positive. It seems that on the road to success, failure, unfortunately, is a common occurrence, and when it does occur you have no choice but to deal with it.

How you deal with it determines how quickly you get back on the road to success.

Sure, when confronted with a failure, especially a major one, the shock, the unintended consequences, the anger, fear and negativity can be overwhelming. In my circumstance I found it particularly hard playing “happy dad” with my kids while dealing with all this, then again I also found it a strong motivator to get over it.

…and you have to get over it!

So what exactly is success anyway, and how do you achieve it?

I believe we’ve been conditioned, through Hollywood, the Media and Advertising to think of success as a noun, a label, signifying who, or what, you are, indicated more by what you have than what you do. You could be forgiven for thinking that success is some magical nirvana you stumble upon, out of sheer luck, after which life is all Champagne, Ferraris, Super Models and Mansions. Something we spend half our lives chasing, like the carrot in front of our noses, the irony being that carrot is always just out of reach.

Success is not who, or what you are, it’s something you do, an event. It’s a verb, therefore attainable on a daily basis…unless of course you think it’s something synonymous with the trappings of wealth (more likely the trap of debt) in which case it’s going to be a lot harder. Stack up a higher balance of success events vs. failure events and you are, by definition, a successful person.

I was inspired to get back in the success mindset, after confronting failure, by Chet Holm?s book “The Ultimate Sales Machine” where he discusses setting a maximum of six goals a day and approaching them with “pigheaded discipline”. It’s very much what I’ve been doing since to get refocused, and what I’ll be writing about more on this site.

In the meantime here’s my thoughts on getting refocused on success.

Work out how much time you have to play with.

It’s natural to go through a full range of emotions during, and immediately after a crisis like losing your job. It’s been said that the extent to which you are financially independent can be calculated by how long you can survive without an income. Work out exactly how long that is and give yourself some of that time to simply get back in touch with yourself. In my case it’s three months to get it together, first thing I did was go Surfing.

Put the failure into perspective.

Putting things into perspective means you can identify what exactly you need to do to get back on track. What was lost, what are the real implications? When I did this, after the dust settled a little, I realised I had lost two things, my income, and a dream. There was no other significant impact. That means two problems to solve, otherwise business, or life, as usual.

Re-establish the Dream

In my experience the alternative to living a life of purpose, intent, and vision, is to be depressed. That’s not an option. My dream is a business I can run from anywhere with a laptop and an internet connection. It’s already re-established.

Take action

I’ve found that dealing with moving on from my previous business, rather than being the scary thing I once imagined, is in fact a very creative place, with new possibilities, an opportunity to re-educate myself, brush up on my technology skills, and be in more control of my destiny.

Don?t look back

I haven’t

Peter Ryan’s (acting Premier, VIC) published remarks in the Herald Sun, after the government’s announcement of the Carbon Tax plan on Sunday, strike me as a shining example of the banality of the whole Carbon Tax/Climate change argument, and to a large degree the calibre of the people ‘leading’ it.

I’ve said it a few times now but my position on climate change is that, at the very least, and notwithstanding any arguments for or against Human induced changes, taking action will result in a cleaner world. If Climate change doesn’t kill us all, pollution, and poisoning of our atmosphere will. It’s best we do something, it’s a win win situation.

Victorian Acting Premier Peter Ryan said the federal carbon tax announcement showed Hazelwood was clearly “in the gun”.
“This is an absolute stake in the heart of those at Hazelwood,”
Herald Sun – July 11, 2011

Now, where’s the connection between the Carbon Tax and Hazelwood being “in the gun”? I would have thought that having an old, brown coal burning, station, producing 17,247,970 tonnes of carbon emissions annually would have meant it was “in the gun” whether there was a Carbon Tax or not? It’s time to turn these things off.

What gets me is the notion being implied here that we can keep operating these plants – doing the same thing over and over, spewing tons of carbon into the atmosphere, relying on, and burning, coal instead of adopting and embracing new technologies, for the sake of a few hundred jobs, and thinking that we just keep on doing the same thing over and over and somehow manage to solve the climate change issue.

Isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?

I expect more of my politicians. I expect the Peter Ryan’s of this world to shut up, stop playing “Henny Penny” politics, get on with dealing with the demise of dirty, and antiquated, last century infrastructure, and solve the ensuing employment issues in the Latrobe Valley as well. Isn’t that what we pay you for?

The NSW Government’s solar energy rebate, and it’s 60 cents per kilowatt hour feed in tariff – at the time – was a major influence in my decision to install Solar Panels. Seems the same can be said for every second house on our street.

As I’ve alluded to in other posts I am skeptical about Climate Change, not so much that it’s occurring, it’s quite obviously changing, but the question; what extent is it changing anyway, and to what extent has mankind had an influence? I believe being skeptical is ok if it promotes healthy, and respectable, debate but I don’t think it implies sitting around and doing nothing, besides, irrespective of whether we determine climate change is man made, just happening, or both, the minimum result of doing something about it is a cleaner world.

Rebates for domestic solar energy generation are, in my opinion, a sound way to do something about the consumption of fossil fuel in the production of domestic electricity. Of course the solar energy rebate scheme was bound to be popular. When you consider the total amount of available roof space exposed to the sun in Australia would it not be a viable option, and suitable direct action, to install solar panels on every rooftop?

I was certainly motivated by the solar energy rebate’s 60 cents per kilowatt hour rebate, especially when it means reduced, or in some months, eliminated, power bills but frankly I’d be just as happy if my house could power itself ( like this house) or even partially, and I only pay for electricity consumed from the grid when necessary, the solar energy rebate wont exactly cover the cost of the installation for quite some time.

But, a deal’s a deal, a commitment is a commitment. When the NSW Government announced the 60 cent per kilowatt hour rebate people acted, I like to think, on not only the opportunity to get some money back, but also to do something collectively to reduce the dependence on fossil fueled electricity consumption. To welch on the deal, just because it proved popular and, consequently, expensive is not only dishonest, it’s stupid.

Fortunately it seems sanity prevailed and the solar energy rebate stays at 60c for those who got in early enough.

I’ve had cause recently to make some changes to my email addresses, both personal and business, and as a result I have, without hesitation, unsubscribed from everything coming in that’s not immediately pertinent to my current priorities.

I don’t need to tell you how much of a distraction your email inbox can be – full of things that, at one time held your attention, and now still do, at least to the extent that there’s still some residual interest resulting in distraction and it’s inevitable companion, procrastination.

My experience is that the result of unsubscribing mercilessly is a refreshing sense of relief, a lightening of the load so to speak. Nothing lost.

Go ahead, try it…tell me what you think.

I woke up this morning to hear that Mark Hurd – HP’s Toxic CEO resigns after a sexual harassment investigation.

Guess what Mark – you never did!

I suppose there’s a sense of vindication here, I always believed that Mark Hurd was not only the living contradiction of everything HP’s corporate values stood for, he was also the shining example of everything wrong with corporate America.

I would be jumping for joy if it wasn’t for the very real pain he caused for thousands of people, employees, former employees, families of employees, and local economies.

I’ve written everything I wanted to say about him in the following articles;

• HP Pay Cuts – an unfair act of economic opportunism and greed.
• Mark Hurd contributes another 6000 unemployed to the global recession!
• Mark Hurd, could he be America’s most toxic CEO?
• Mark Hurd and HP, economic opportunism and greed, one year on.

So, I’m pleased, really pleased, that he is gone, but, given that his predecessor, Carly Fiorina, was, and still is, an idiot, and, given the seemingly nefarious nature of big Corporate America, things don’t bode well for a successor.

Recommended Reading on this subject

Thanks to our friend at FuckYouMarkHurd.com, I noticed this book which looks interesting. Sound’s like this could be the closest thing to being a “fly on the wall” witnessing all the shenanigans and sleazy going’s on behind the closed doors of HP’s boardroom over the past decade.

The Big Lie

Anthony Bianco, in his book The Big Lie: Spying, Scandal, and Ethical Collapse at Hewlett Packard gets to heart of the ethical morass at HP that ended up damning the entire board that created it. Almost every American has an interest in how the country’s greatest corporations are run, and the character of the people entrusted with them. The story of Hewlett-Packard reflects power struggles that shape corporate America and is an alarming morality tale for our times.

I’m going to enjoy reading this one.

The 2010 Australian Election has me thinking that there’s no way I’m simply voting above the line this time around. Leaving it up to the major parties is not what I consider a democratic, or responsible option. The problem though is how to determine who to vote for, below the line, before you’re confronted by the ballot slip in the cardboard booth on voting day. Until now that is.

Did you know that ALP and Democrat voters helped elect Steven Fielding of the Family First Party to the Senate in 2004?

This is one of the more interesting sites I’ve discovered in the course of the Australian 2010 election, and perhaps a shining example of how the internet is changing democracy.

Have a look at the Sydney Morning Herald article here then visit www.belowtheline.org.au

What I found very interesting was where the major parties have set ‘your’ preferences should you take the easy option and vote above the line. There’s no way that aligns with my preference at all.

Just imagine the impact we could have in the Australian 2010 election if we all voted below the line using this system? I bet the outcome would be a significantly better parliament, more robust and purposeful debate, and I’d be surprised if we didn’t rid ourselves of some of the factions that have developed over time as a result of party defined preferences.

If there ever was a time in Australian politics where we need a shake up of all the seats in the house of representatives it would have to be now. While it’s obvious that one of the two major parties will prevail I think that a new mix in the house will ensure that Government is about the Parliament as a whole, rather than the partisan stalemates we typically deal with.

I’m voting below the line, www.belowtheline.org.au makes it crazy not to.

Australian Labor – Let’s move Australia forward, a slogan, one of the many we’re being bombarded with by both the current Government and the Opposition in the race to the Federal Election in August. A six week race full of meaningless platitudes, treating voters like imbeciles, rhetoric, and unfounded promises, which, if you consider what democracy means, would only be deliverable if we were electing a dictator, which we’re not.

Interestingly enough the NSW Labor Party’s slogan includes “A New Direction” which I presume must also be forward. The question is; forward to what?

An article in today’s Daily Telegraph entitled Kristina Keneally’s rail land grab gives a stark indication of what the reality of life under the Labor Party of Australia is like. As far as I’m concerned Federal Labour, State Labour, it’s the same bunch of vipers running the show. When you read the article you see that people are being removed from their land without choice, paid a pittance in terms of the real value of the land acquired, and then the NSW Labor Government intends to sell off any excess land to developers.

Given the history of the NSW Government under The Labor Party does anything smell fishy here?

The fact that this land grab is actually happening right now is made even more questionable in terms of Kristina Keneally’s earlier comments (March 12 2010) reported here.

“Compulsory acquisition might be part of the future,” she told Sky News.
“We won’t rule that in or out. But it would have to be done with appropriate guidelines, appropriate safeguards, appropriate rules around it.”

I don’t know about you but I’m looking for truth, integrity, and strong, committed, leadership from politicians – wishful thinking I know – so, if you are taxing me in any way, if you are taking two days pay of the five days a week I work, then you’d better act with integrity and in congruence with the message under which you were elected.

The point of all this is that I can’t make any distinction between State and Federal Labor, in fact is so much easier to see similarities. When I consider what it means to Move Australia Forward with Labor I can only determine what that means by looking back into the very recent past. Sorry, that seems like a direction I’d rather not take.

The red pill or the blue pill question in The Matrix, a movie I really enjoy (the 1st one that is) represents, for me, the question, or continual enquiry, do you choose to see the world how you have been conditioned to think it is, or do you choose to see it how it actually is?

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. Morpheus – The Matrix (1999)

For some time now I’ve had a bit of an identity crisis when it comes to this site, my personal blog. What is the underlying theme of my writing, should I write about business, my philosophy on life, both, or what?

I’ve begun writing business related articles on my company website, so that pretty much frees me up to write here about the way I see the world. Given the choice I would take the red pill.

How about you?

With today’s calling of the Australian federal election it’s an auspicious time to question the status quo. Over the next six weeks we’ll be subjected to election promises, mainstream media bias, fear campaigns, and to a large extent a lack of real integrity that will result in a shuffling of chairs and positions in a parliament largely made up of the same people.

The people who chose to take the red pill will be questioning the real intentions of candidates and parties, squirming about the obvious contradiction between democracy and the fact that we really only get two parties to chose from, and enquiring who will be wielding the actual influence on a the government, it’s members, or policys, and where these influences come from.

The people who choose to take the blue pill, and its a fair choice, will make their decision in accordance with the way they see the world, and more likely get the result they usually get.

I just get a strong sense that all is not what it seems, always have.

Kevin Rudd found out the hard way this week that democracy moves in tough ways, particularly here in Australia. My opinion is that, regardless of what we think of the brutality of Rudd’s sacking, the Labor party factions saw the writing on the wall and made the move that the electorate would have given the chance. This was about Labor staying in power.

Personally I felt for Kevin Rudd the man, I could only imagine what would have been going through his mind when he found himself at home after a day like that. But, this is politics, and it’s a tough world. In my opinion Kevin Rudd may have been the first Prime Minister to be given such harsh treatment in his first term of office, but it demonstrates that in this day of rapid and immediate communications, independent (for now) of government control, and the government/corporate sponsored news media, the tide of public opinion and support, can and will continue to change much more immediately than any time in our history, this is a good thing, and so it should.

I’ve been considering my political position lately not because I want to, frankly i’d rather get on with running our business and spend the rest of the time with my family, and surfing, but I’m sure I’m not alone when I state that I’m tired of the same old two party preferred system where we have a Government too cowardly to admit that the efforts of the previous administration actually contributed positively to their management of the economic crisis, and an opposition who believe their role in life is to oppose everything. I’m suspicious of the Liberal, Labour and Green parties, and believe that politics in general has become too much about allegiances to the party, corporate lobbyists, religious and environmental fundamentalists, combined with the servicing of enormous debt where, if you followed the money trail it would show Australia as being beholden to a small number of private interests, and tax payers footing the massive interest payments that come with it. Yesterday’s events were about a Government that had lost it’s way – I contend that our political system has lost it’s way.

I don’t consider myself on the right or the left, I no sooner buy into the rob from the rich and give to the poor philosophy than I do the illusion the the free market economy will create trickle down wealth to the benefit of all society. I guess I’m a progressive in that regard. But I’m also a tax payer, in the top tax bracket and my political enquiry is what do I get for that? You can be assured that if you are going to demand more than a third of my salary I’m going to expect results that benefit all Australians whether I voted for you or not, and if you don’t deliver those results you should have a bad day at the office just like Kevin Rudd did yesterday.