Courage of Conviction

I wrote a post on my EADD blog about taking time off from work - whether you are the owner or not.  Here’s a small sample of questions people should be asking themselves:

If you have your own business, take a moment and answer this question - why did you start your business?  Was it because you got tired of being told what to do?  You wanted more freedom?  I’m sure for many of you, those reasons were a part of the equation.

If you work for someone else, you can ask yourself a similar question - why did I go to work for the company I work for?  I’ll bet that one of the reasons has to do with having more freedom in some form.

Ok, so here’s the deal - we entrepreneurs need to take time off in order to be refreshed, renewed, and re-charged.  Without taking time away, even the most creative entrepreneur becomes stale.  Without time off and away from the business, even the hardest working person becomes prone to accidents and mistakes.

Take time right now to determine when you will take some time off, even if it’s only a day.  Spend time with your family, take a small trip, or just take a day and go to the park and read.

Today on my EADDblog, I posted an article on saving money and how it relates to life and business.  Here’s an excerpt:

This past week, I cut out about six different monthly services that my wife and I haven’t been using all that much.  These were for both business and personal use - including the landline phone at home.  It’s been months since I picked up the landline to make a call - so why did we keep paying the phone company $35 each month?   

In total, we’ll be saving just under $200 each month by canceling the services that we did.  So why didn’t we do this months ago?  Why did we keep sending our hard earned money to other people for things we didn’t use?   

and…

The lesson is simple - small things, when combined, can make big impacts.  It’s true when in comes to money.  It’s also true when it comes to time.   

I’ve had a pretty full schedule lately - hence, not much time to post anything.  I didn’t want you to think I had fallen off the face of the earth.  I’ll write more soon.

The latest edition of The Keystone Report is now available here.  I interviewed Russ Diamond, founder of PA Clean Sweep about the organization’s new campaign for the voters to vote no on all 67 judicial retention races in the Commonwealth.  We discussed the reasons for such a campaign and Russ addressed some of the critics’ claims about the campaign.  Russ also explained the top 10 list that the organization will be unveiling which gives reasons to vote against retention of judges.  They also discussed the general mood of the voters being unsatisfied with the rate of reform in Harrisburg and what could be done about that. 

Further discussion surrounded Supreme Court Chief Justice Ralph Cappy’s announcement last week that he will retire at the end of the year.

You can learn more about PA Clean Sweep by visiting their website at www.pacleansweep.com

To listen to this podcast click here.

The next edition of The Keystone Report is now up and available.  This week I took a step back and did an introduction of The Keystone Report - what it’s all about, what I’ll be focusing on, etc. 

I also talk about some of the interviews that are coming up over the next few weeks.

I also took the opportunity to give an update the Courage of Conviction blog and introduced a brand new website - Link to Politics.  I’ll share more about the website in my next posting. 

Enjoy!

Podcast Thursday is obviously been pushed back a couple of days.  Hey, I’m still new at this, so cut me some slack.  LOL.  At any rate, you can listen to the next edition of “The Keystone Report” here.  This time, I went to the other side of the aisle and interviewed Nathan Willcox of PennEnvironment about a new report that the organization released on rising temperatures in Pennsylvania cities.  It was a pretty good interview.  You’ll hear questions about the report, questions that critics of the the finds might ask, discussion about a few pieces of legislation and what PennEnvironment would like to see happen in regards to alternative energy. 

As a side bar, since this is my second podcast, the purpose of the podcast is not to be confrontational - it’s to give my guests an opportunity to speak beyond a 30-second sound bite.  It’s their opportunity to tell their story.  I believe too many of us shut off our listening to people we disagree with way to quickly.  I’ve learned a great deal over the past couple of years by listening.  I don’t have to agree, but atleast I know where someone is coming from. 

Next week I’ll do more of an introductory podcast telling the listeners what I’ll be focusing on, my style, and what they can expect from future podcasts.  This one you’ll want to listen to for one simple reason - you’ll find out who’s coming up. 

I warned you that I was going to make some changes.  Not only is the look and feel of the blog new and improved, but I’ve also made other changes as well. 

I changed the theme to be more in line with my business website - www.somedayisland.com.  If you visit the site, you’ll see what I mean. 

I created an “about” page which gives you a little insight into the direction this blog is heading. 

I created a new survey for you to participate in. 

I cut down on the number of categories - which means that a bunch of previous posts are now uncategorized.  They are still there, but you’ll have to search a bit more for them than previously.  All new posts will fit into the categories I’ve created.  I now have four link sections for your convenience - Business, Leadership, Networking, and Politics.  I’ll be adding more links to the first three as I come across worthy sites.  I may add another category - Development.  This would be a category of sites that are people-development oriented.  This could also include spiritual development.  We’ll see what happens here.  All in all, I’m open to suggestions of links you like and use. 

Enjoy the new Courage of Conviction.

The Hill, one of DC’s political inside-the-beltway magazines, ran an article on its blog today by Sen. John Kerry, D-MA about insurance for kids.  Here’s how it starts:

The fact that nine million children in our country live without health care is unacceptable. When it comes to family values, it’s time for Congress to start putting its money where its mouth is.

Ok, I have a problem with this statement, and it’s not even with what you might think of first.  My problem is the continued notion that health insurance = health care.  They are two distinct things.  You do not need health insurance in order to have health care. 

I’m not naive - so I understand why this confusion of terms is happening.  It’s simply this - If people believe the spin of politicians across this country that health insurance equals health care, then how much easier it is to push universal health insurance. 

There is some interesting discussion going on over on the comment section of Grassrootspa - specifically about Judge Saylor’s retention election. 

I see two sides coming out - one in favor of Judge Saylor because he is a decent judge and the alternative would be worse.  The other side saying that he needs to go because his recent votes are nothing more than pandering to save his hide and that the house cleaning is not done.

I can understand both sides because I’ve been on both sides of this debate in one discussion or another over the many years. 

After reading all the comments, I wrote the following comments:

Here’s the real reason this discussion is happening in the first place - The establishment has violated its integrity. Integrity is one of the most, if not the most, important thing there is. Without it, there is no trust, no communication,etc. You see the results of the establishment violating its integrity ever since the pay raise fiasco up until and including today’s comments here. It takes a long time to build up integrity, and not long at all to destroy it. Right now the GOP establishment has no integrity in the eyes of the grassroots. That, ultimately, is why this whole discussion is occurring. Saylor may be a good judge or a bad judge, it really doesn’t matter in relation to the long term relationship of the GOP establishment with the base. Saylor could be the best judge who ever walked the planet, I would venture to guess that the same comments would still be made for the simple fact that the GOP establishment destroyed its integrity with the base. You can equate this to a marriage. If one partner has an affair, that is a major violation of integrity. It conflicts with all the vows, expectations, matters of trust, etc. that were set up at the beginning of the marriage. Until integrity is restored, I wouldn’t the expect the base to be openly supportive of any candidate that the establishment supports.

My question to the establishment is - what are you going to do to rebuild your integrity? It’s not a simple one step process. Integrity is too important to just give is a passing notice. It won’t fly with the base either. It will take a few years. What steps are you going to voluntarily do to rebuild the integrity you had with the GOP members? I’d love to hear what the plan is, as I’m sure so many others would as well.

James Taylor, the Franklin County GOP Chair penned a great piece that ran in the Patriot-News today.  The people’s revolt is finally being heard within some leadership ranks within the Republican Party.  It’s about time someone who is a leader within the party started grabbing the party by the shoulders, shook the beast, and looked it straight in the eye and told it to wake up.  That’s what Mr. Taylor’s article did.  He’s asking the questions that conservatives have been asking for a few years now - what does it mean to be a Republican?  Who are these people that supposedly represent the Republican Party?  Why are they not as conservative as the rest of the base? 

The only question remaining is, what are the grassroots going to do about it?  The grassroots has already voted against the party a couple of times.  There are really two options left - to keep shooting their own by voting against the party, which is quite negative and frankly, most people will get sick of in the long term, or to leave the party.  Either way, the party is headed for the dumpheap if the people in charge remain stubborn because there will be no one willing to identify themselves as a Republican.  It may take some time. 

Of course, the revolt could end tomorrow if the party started to listen to the people that are members of the party.  Don’t count on it though - there’s way too much ego at the top.  They won’t really understand the message until no one is left to stand by their side.  It’s kind of like the old proverbial question about the tree in forest.  In this case, if the leadership of the Republican Party embraces true reform, and no one is there to hear it, does true reform actually happen? 

As for me, I’m still a registered Independent.  I had enough of the arrogance, the in-fighting, the pettiness, the smallness, etc.  I moved on with my life.  I’m glad I did.  The continuous infighting that is still going on and the egos at the top just confirm to me that I made the right decision.  Yeah, yeah, I know what all the critics are saying - but you don’t have a voice in the primary.  Bull.  I get involved in primaries, like I did in Eichelberger’s campaign. 

It comes down to this.  Do I want to identify myself politically with the likes of John Perzel, Rob Gleason, Bob Jubelirer, and other Republican leaders, meaning the people who actually run the party?  Nope, not a chance.  I don’t share the same values as they do and I don’t have the same vision as they do.  I’m all for a big tent.  I’m also for humbleness and listening to the people that you represent.  In the current state of the Pennsylvania Republican Party, those two qualities are lacking.