There are a few government control concerns that have been in the news recently.  It’s really quite amazing that “we the people” are allowing government at every level to encroach on freedoms as we sit around watching it happen.  Sometimes we chirp out and complain, mostly we just shake our head, or bury it in the sand.

Big Government is taking freedoms and liberties.  As you give them to the government you give other things.

I can only hope that the quantity of ridiculous power grabs (by the government from the people… anyone see anything wrong with that???) will get to a point that even the pollyanna types can say “wait a minute… is this really happening?  Maybe I should really do something.”

It might be too late, though, by that time.

Here are a few examples of what I’m referring to:

The IRS targeted people who were politically active.  Not illegal to be politically active, is it?  I hear the IRS is going to be heavily involved in administrating Obamacare (since it is a tax)… so the people who work for us, but are aggressively penalizing people for exercising constitutional rights, will now have their hand in our health care like never before.  Scary.  Yeah, there’s a lot of debate about ObamaCare (aka, the “Affordable” Care Act).  These comments are common and intriguing.  This article is scary. And with comments by Pelosi about passing an doomed plan, with a lot of pork and crap in it, without reading it but we “have to pass the bill so we can find out what is in it,” I can’t believe she is still in office (and gets reelected!).

The NSA is collecting every conversation you have on the phone, including voice and text, as well as emails and most likely social networking as well as internet history (sites you go to).  But they won’t snoop, or look at what you are doing, unless you are a terrorist, or not a U.S. Citizen.  Um, yeah, like I believe they will respect the privacy.  Keep your head in the sand, folks.

The Common Core (which has to do with education) is being used as a big stick to make states adopt the next level of No Child Left Behind (because that works so well).  States adopting it will get federal money.  That is not “forcing,” but it is THE incentive to march to the pied piper (check out the second definition: “2. A person who entices people to follow them, esp. to their doom.” Before you blindly adopt what your state is enthusiastically pushing, check out the cons on sites like this.  Want your kid to have DNA tests illegally?  It happened in Park City, Utah (no reference).  Want your kid to share information that is private, illegally, with the government on tests like the ACT and SAT?  It is happening right now.  Wake up. Follow the money before you blindly trust your politicians.

Lobbyists are keeping you from doing things that are self-sustaining, like owning chickens…  even in a farming community like Burley, ID. I know there are arguments that have to do with disease (mostly to other chickens), and noise (which have more to do with roosters than egg-producing chickens)… but seriously. It used to be illegal to collect rainwater in Utah.  People have been fined because of their gardens.  Seriously, folks… lobbyist are POWERFUL even at the local level.  Just because a law passes doesn’t mean it was for your best interest.  Lobbyists make a lot of money to represent… THE COMPANY THAT PAYS THEM. And busy politicians sometimes let lobbyists sway them.  There goes more of your personal freedom.

I don’t believe the Fed Gov’t should fix all the problems, but take note of this article: FEMA denies aid for Texas fertilizer plant blast. Don’t think that the IRS, or the new federal doctor panels (aka death panels?) are going to act differently.  Maybe the fertilizer plant problem doesn’t affect you but when it is your kid or sibling or parent or loved one, and the ObamaCare deciders “deny aid” … how are you going to feel?  You can’t give them the authority to do things all-thing-healthcare for you and your family but then complain when they decide contrary to what you think they should do.

 DNA samples from a private company, funded by federal (YOUR) money, and enforced by local police.  WHY?  Why are you giving your DNA and data to the government?  Is it for the $60 they paid you?  You think the federal government is not going to use the data?  You are crazy if you think this is going to be an isolated event.

Folks… here’s the scary part.  The government doesn’t have to TAKE any of your rights from you.  Because you are willingly and blindly giving them away.

And don’t think that this is a Federal issue.  It starts at the small, local level.  Disgusting.

Excellent blog post (with a killer slideshare embedded) on Windmill Networking.  This was written by Kristi Hines: Composing a Successful Blog Post

I’ve been blogging for about 7 years, almost daily (less weekends and holidays), and have seen the rise and “fall” of blogging.  The “fall” came when a lot of the conversation went social… comments happened on Facebook or Twitter… this was supposed to be the death of blogging.

Blogging is far from dead or irrelevant.

There are a number of reasons to blog.  I have told tens of thousands of people that blogging is a critical part of an online strategy.  But it is hard.  It takes long-term commitment.  But it is a crucial part of my strategy.

ONE reason is because I can refer back to great blog posts from years ago.  I can’t refer back to tweets (not easy to find), or Facebook or LinkedIn wall posts, Group Discussions, etc.  I love being able to have an easy-to-access archive that I can refer back to.  I’ve tapped into this by creating the Favorite Friday series on JibberJobber, which kind of brings old posts to my current audience.

Anyway, blog!  And read Kristi’s post.

I am cleaning up my old email and came across this page, which is pretty relevant to me right now since I’m getting really close to releasing 51 Alternatives to a Real Job (and have already taken pre-orders).

Rob Kelly’s Thrive book page.  I love it.

If you want to start a gig just to “pay the bills” and be able to quit your day job, go for it.

I think you can do it.

If you don’t think your gig can become huge, read this post, written by James Altucher: How To Go From $0 To $1,000,000 In Two Years

That is an awesome story.

This is a really interesting post on how to get more business.

For years I’ve been asked if JibberJobber has an affiliate program (aka, a referral fee for people who refer JibberJobber to their network).  The answer is NO.  While affiliate programs were very popular five to ten years ago.

I started with an affiliate program but found it was just not appropriate for our model.  One reason is that most people who asked would refer less than 50 people a year, and the percentage that would actually signup, use it, and then upgrade (for $9.95/month) was very low.  It wasn’t worth it for anyone.

Kent is a professional service provider (executive coach).  If I refer one person to him, that could be worth hundreds and easily thousands.  There is a lot more money to share in that scenario.

But Kent’s post, Why I don’t want a referral fee, goes to another level.

Let’s say you give me a referral and I give you $100.  How was that?  Are you fulfilled?

If you are giving a referral so you can increase your income, $100 isn’t very much.  If you consistently get $100 a day that is interesting, but if you get $100 a year, it is barely fun money.

Kent’s blog post starts out “My business is built on referrals.”  Why, then, doesn’t he pay for referrals?

Another line says: “a (referral) fee would deter me from giving referrals to you.”

WHY?

Read his post to find out what’s more valuable than a referral fee.

I LOVE Tim’s blog posts like this… it’s like a formula to go from zero to “successful.”  While you  may not be positioned to write a book, or pitch it, or get an advance, you can learn a lot from this long guest post.

With that, I’ll let you go over there now.  It’s a long post, but it’s worth it. I need to print all of the posts like this on Tim’s blog and study them!

How a First-Time Author Got a 7-Figure Book Deal

I just read an interview by Liz, who I know and have interacted with a number of times.  Liz is one of those special ladies you wish you could work with in your life.  She’s awesome.

The interview is great, and it shows some of the reality of being an entrepreneur.  Here’s one of my favorite sentences:

“As an entrepreneur, one day you think you own the world and the next day you’re losing your house.”

Can you imagine building something awesome, only to have something catastrophic yank it away.

Liz is still in control, and she will always be awesome.

I got an email from Joan Stewart about the Social Media Image Maker and thought “I use snagit from techsmith… they are the bomb.”

Yes, they are the bomb.  If I get a new computer it’s one of the first apps to go on the computer.

But the Social Media Image Maker is different.  Totally useful and awesome.  Here’s Joan’s post about it.

It helps you create the perfectly cropped image for many social sites you might be on.

I’ve heard the Email is Dead argument a bit from young people.

They say that email is for old folks… GenX and beyond.  My heavens, they don’t want to be bothered with having to check their email.

Why can’t people get on the texting bandwagon?  Life would be so much better and more efficient, right?  LOL (if you are old, that is text language for laughing out loud, which means it’s funny)

I don’t think email is going to die anytime soon.  I think those young kids who think email is for the birds will get on email when they get a real job.

When their boss sends them an email (and not a text), guess what?  They’ll check email.

It will become important to them.

When a prospect or customer communicates with them via email, guess what will all the sudden become important, and not-dead-anytime-soon?

Yup.  Email.

For an excellent post on this, check out what Dave Girouard has to say: In Defense of Email

This is one of the funniest things I’ve seen… I actually finished the unabridged Les Mis in January… but I saw the new movie right after Christmas (I was about 250 pages away from finishing the book).

To be honest, I didn’t like the movie because there was so much missing!  I know everyone on Facebook loved it but oh well.  What can you do in 2+ hours (compared to a 1,400 page book), right?

Here’s the funny stuff:

Les Miserables review by Sam Richardson….Went to the movies with my wife.  We saw this obscure movie I had never heard of, some French foreign film.  They must have been giving away free tickets because the lines were out the door.  Anyway, the moview starts and Wolverine is singing his guts out.  Then Catwoman starts crying and singing, and it’s all very moving.  The only problem was, the girl next to me, who had apparently read the book or something, starts singing along.  It was very distracting.  So Wolverine is on the run from the Gladiator because Catwoman had a baby at Borat’s house, but now she wants Wolverine to care for her.  Time Skip. A bunch of kids get shot, and in the end everyone dies.  Four stars.

ROFL.