Privacy concerns?

I dislike the way business and government seems to be hell-bent on reducing our personal privacy. People don't seem to understand the concern. I once explained this to my mother and her response was, "What do you have to hide? Are you doing something bad?" That's not the point.

Luckily, the ACLU has figured out a way to explain it much better than I could:

http://www.adcritic.com/interactive/view.php?id=5927

Watch this 2-minute animation. It's great! (scary great)

Howard Dean elected chair of the DNC

I once hear that one of the reasons that the DNC worked to undermine the Dean campaign was because in a fit of rage Joe Trippi told them directly that once Dean has the nomination "the first thing we're going to do is fire all of you."

Of course, that actually goes without saying. Once the Dem nomination is selected, the campaign essentially takes over the DNC. You just don't want to make enemies by reminding them of this fact.

Well this week was quite historic. After a few months of heavy campaigning (including Howard Dean personally calling each of the 447 Democratic representatives that would be voting on the issue) all other nominees for DNC Chair dropped out, making Dean's election to be a forgone conclusion.

Usually "the 447" are only given one person to vote for anyway. The DNC hegonomy picks who they want to be the next DNC chair and the "slate" is presented as a fait acompli to the 447 who vote by aclimation to elect him. This time it was different but the same. The 447 had one person to vote for, but it was not because the "Washington insiders" picked him, it was because the grassroots swelled up and pushed everyone else out of the race. The slate was presented as a fait acompli, but for a much better reason: Howard Dean Elected DNC Chair.

So what's happening to Dean's old organization DFA? Jim Dean, Howard's brother is the new chair of that organization. Jim, like so many other DFA members, was not political until recently. Read more about Jim and the new Executive Director.

Personally I feel vindicated by the groundswell of support for Dean as DNC Chair. It is a confirmation that the grassroots can take over (Dean's message). The conversion of so many anti-Dean people (Harold Ickys, from the Clinton camp) into Dean endorsers makes me feel like after Kerry lost everyone realized "oh shit, Dean was right." (My message).

However, the best article I've seen is by Jesse Jackson who says Dean should move to the center... the Moral Center.

How to know they are screwing you

A "bonus" is a reward for past performance.

A grant of "options" is an incentive to do well in the future.

If someone rewards you by giving you more options, then they're just screwing you.

A bonus is for when the group has met certain criteria and the company has done well. They are sharing the wealth. Options are very different. Options are more valuable as the company does better, and less valuable as the company does badly. The point of giving an employee a grant of options is to incent them to do better in the future. That is, to link in their mind behavior that benefits the company to money they will have in the future. If a dog does a trick you reward him with a snack. You don't reward him with a gift certificate that is valid next year, if the company is still in business.

Howard Dean follow-up

Wow, 20 (and counting) comments about the Dean post. Lots of good stuff. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

The best post so far is by cos, of course, since he never fails to be so well spoken. Read his comment here.