Looks Like An Election
photo credit: slightly-less-random
As the last few weeks have passed, it appears more and more that it is not IF we’re going to have an election but who will trigger it and when. In all likelihood we will be into a campaign before the end of this month, likely next week.
If it wasn’t so hypocritical it would almost be amusing how the parties are claiming they don’t want an election while preparing for one that of course the ‘other guy’ is going to trigger. Really, let’s get real. Harper wants an election in the hope he can attain a majority government, Ignatieff, & Layton want to unseat the Conservatives. The only one who likely doesn’t really care if there is an election is Duceppe since he knows full well he wont form the government.
As for me, I’m good with an election taking place. I’ll admit my bias, Harper and his band of cronies need to be banished to the opposition benches. Even better, they need to be off the public payroll but I know some of their people will get elected or re-elected. In fact, some of them need to be elected in order for our democracy to be healthy.
It is our unhealthy democracy and my concerns about it that is a big part of why I want to see an election.
Having said all that, the huge struggle isn’t really going to be which political party to support and elect. The biggest challenge is going to be getting Canadians to sit up, pay attention and make informed choices at the ballot box.
All the democracy in the world doesn’t mean anything unless we as Canadians participate. A disengaged population provides the government the right and to some degree the duty to run the country without the people’s input.
Is that what we want to happen? Do we really want to hand over power to a few?
Our votes are stronger than we realize. Collectively we make the choices. So, if you haven’t been paying attention, it’s time you sat up and did so. Don’t just blindly react to political parties and their propaganda, take responsibility for making an informed choice.
Are you engaged or really don’t care?
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It is NOT Harper’s Government
Canadians did not elect Stephen Harper as Prime Minister. He was elected as an MP by the people in his riding. He was elected leader of the Conservatives by other Conservatives. When we, the people, last voted in a federal election we sent more Conservatives than Liberals to Ottawa and thus Harper became Prime Minister as the leader of the Conservative party.
So, where does he get off at calling it the ‘Harper Government” on official government correspondence? Because he can get away with doing so, doesn’t make it right.
In a democracy those in the government and even those in the Opposition are there to serve the people. They are paid by tax dollars supplied by the people to lead our country where it needs to go. It seems increasingly, that far too many of those elected to provide that leadership, failed to do so while focused on growing their own perceived status.
This is the latest in a long line of behaviour from Harper and his Conservatives which make it very clear that they lack respect for our democracy. When they lack respect for democracy, how can the people trust that they will safeguard it?
We are seeing a wave of anger across the Arab world as the people move to throw off the yoke of dictators who have denied them democracy for far too long. We sit smuggly back and watch knowing that we don’t have to take such actions. Are we sure we wont have to in the future?
If those we elect are allowed to snub their noses at democratic principles, are we that far away from them deciding to simply dismantle them? When we fail to be vigilant about upholding our freedoms that have been fought for, we are in danger of them being eroded into history.
Now, branding the government as ‘the Harper Government’ in itself doesn’t make the base for a loss of our democracy. It does take another chip out of it. This government is not the first to chip away at democratic respect, it certainly has been more brazen than any government I’ve been aware of.
From twice proroguing parliament to avoid facing up to the consequences of their behaviour, to sacking bureaucrats who have the courage to expose their behaviour, to playing fast and lose with election funding laws, to their contempt of parliament through refusing to disclose documents which are necessary for parliament to do it’s business and a host of other actions this government shows gross disrespect for our rights and freedoms earned through our democratic process.
You want to see just how easy it would be for them to cross the line to a full dictatorship?
Go back to last summer in Toronto and take a good hard look at the behaviour of the police during the G20 weekend when the largest mass arrests in Canadian history took place. The police acted with impunity in rounding up those they wanted out of the way and with hardly any consequences coming from those we elect to preserve our democracy and freedoms.
Many Canadians reacted by wondering why those people didn’t ‘just stay home’. They need to rethink that question to why did the government not move to stop the suppression of the democratic right to assembly and protest?
It chose to remain silent and to refuse to call an inquiry into the conduct of the police. In doing so, shows up how easily our rights and freedoms can be terminated. At this point, only the press has been willing and able to shed the spotlight on this disgrace.
We need a government willing to stand up for democracy. Not one that campaigns on standing up for democracy and then stomps on it once in office. We need a government willing to stand up for Canada not just for what keeps them in power.
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Broke My Rule; Learned A Valuable Lesson
photo credit: Harvard Avenue
If you read my last post on Keywords, you’d have seen down near the end my statement:
Alas, one of the goals I laid out for myself was to not spend any more money on tools, books, software or even domains until I have used what I have to generate some actual income. I slowly put away my ‘buy’ urge and settled back to do the hard slugging until I can meet my goal.
Well, I broke that rule last week. I succumbed to a marketing offer claiming to show it’s customers how to get Facebook ads for nothing in order to promote on Facebook. I bought the offer and then quickly realised the promises were way bigger than the delivery.
The promised ‘free ads’ were nothing more than buying ads and then offsetting the cost of them by the income derived as the result of placing the ad. The fact is, unless you hit it lucky with a hot market, you would likely lose more than you’d make. I immediately went to Clickbank and requested a refund.
I then did what I should have done in the first place. I visited the review section of the Warrior Forum. (if you are not already a member, you should become one) Sure enough the product was being reviewed. Customers were not happy at the sense of being ripped off.
If you want a lesson in what not to do when it comes to producing and launching your own product. Read that thread. If you watch closely as you are reading, you’ll discover that the product owner JaniG only posted to belittle those who were unhappy. He also tried to thwart people wanting a refund by changing their refund requests at Clickbank to tech support.
Neither action did him any good. People became angrier not just at him but also at those who push products in the same manner. Clickbank made the refund promptly when I called them. Now, one marketer did suggest that he had some good ideas, but they were not what he promoted.
So the lessons learned:
- check for reviews, real reviews, of a product before buying. The Warrior Forum is the best place I’ve found to get legitimate reviews. Not reviews produced as part of the marketing of a product launch.
- When you launch your own product, make sure what you promote, is what you are delivering. Don’t promise free, unless it truly is going to be free. You might think it’s clever to play with the language. It just makes your customers angry.
- If you are participating in promoting a product launch, make sure you have a look at the product before putting your name to the promotion. You’ll see in that thread that some marketers lost subscribers because of their promotion of the product. I’ll admit, I unsubscribed from several who promoted it to me.
- When customers want a refund, give it to them. Don’t try to make them feel like they are caught in product hell. Sure, there is nothing wrong with trying to communicate with the customer and encouraging them to reconsider, once. JaniG kept sending the same canned ‘encouragement’ and then changing the refund request to ‘tech support’ which only served to make his customers angry.
- If you make mistakes or handle something badly, don’t compound the problem by continuing to handle the situation badly. Own up to the problem, either resolve it or offer the refunds being sought without question.
So, back to my rule about not spending until I’ve made income.
What have your experiences been with products you’ve bought? Did you learn lessons from how the sale was handled?
visit the Patti Network News to see where else I’m writing.
Broke My Rule; Learned A Valuable Lesson
Those All Important Keywords
Keywords. Now, they have been a real stumbling block for me. I can generate lists of keywords. Even I know where to find the Google Keyword Tool and to enter terms in to find more terms. Making sense of keywords and how to use them, that has been my stumbling point.
I can’t just blow the concept off though. Keywords are the building blocks of search engines. When people enter terms in the search engines, those keywords determine what sites are going to be found and displayed for the person’s search. Their relevancy on each site determines which sites will be displayed first. Therein lies my stumbling block.
How do I move that list of keywords from list to relevancy?
I’ve read lots of material about keywords, much of it really well written yet, it seemed most writers just left it up to me to understand them so well, that I’d just know the right keywords to use. I’d know which ones I’d want to optimize for. I really had started to think I was a bit thick, I always seemed to hit the wall.
I often opted for throw a bunch of keywords at the wall and hope something stuck. Not a very effective use of time and resources.
Finally, Some Keyword Light!
Last week I stumbled across an article on the Clickbank blog which gave me a Eureka moment. The two part article, Moneywords, Your Key to the Keyword Kingdom, is one of the best laid out articles I’ve read. What really got me excited that I had found a guide I could understand and use was the moneyword matrix found in part two.
I’ve used that guide to create my keyword list for the project I’m currently working on putting together. I did the list manually, which took me most of a day to go through, find the number of competing sites and then apply the matrix to the list to find the moneywords.
Niche Profit Classroom
The author of the Moneywords article is Adam Short, the creator of the Niche Profit Classroom. Inside that membership site is an automated tool which would have cut my keyword search time to a fraction. Man, I was SOO tempted to spend the $1 for the two week trial just to get at that tool!!
Alas, one of the goals I laid out for myself was to not spend any more money on tools, books, software or even domains until I have used what I have to generate some actual income. I slowly put away my ‘buy’ urge and settled back to do the hard slugging until I can meet my goal.
I’ll be talking more about Niche Profit Classroom in a future post. It is definitely on my tool want list for when I get my first income from my efforts. You don’t have to wait, so go and visit there now and let me know what you think.
So, how are you with keywords? Do you have a handle on them? Are you using them?
visit the Patti Network News to see where else I’m writing.
