alo|news

Massively Parallel Computing Architectures and the Progressive Mindset.










Recent discussions with friends and peers prompted me to share some key perspectives on progressive versus neoconservative behavioral styles.

My observation back in 2003 was that the neocon machine is very much like a mainframe (highly-centralized) computing architecture. They readily work together toward a common goal -and behaviorally it is much easier for them to work together on common interests. Their behavioral style lends itself well to a typical hierarchical structure and many are happy to passively follow along with the centralized plan or platform.

Progressives are highly individualized and don't necessarily follow along with any plan. Progressives question authority and do not generally respond well to a rigid hierarchical structure. We respond more to peer to peer structures -and are (in my observation) similar to a massively parallel computing architecture. The biggest obstacle we face is that there still needs to be some generally accepted plan to achieve a progressive outcome and while we may all be focused in our respective areas of passion and advocacy -there still needs to be a mechanism to communicate with each other, articulate a cohesive vision or platform and work toward it in a mostly autonomous manner (consistent with our behavioral style). For massively parallel compute architectures to be successful -there must be a messaging and coordination layer -which orchestrates activity between all of the autonomous "nodes". This layer (or backplane) is what remains largely undefined (from my perspective) and when we finally develop an adaptive "backplane" we will be able to drive a socio-economic and political agenda that just might save the planet and humanity (provided we are not too late).

We at alonovo.com absolutely love and support this commercial from Oil Change International and The Other 98%. While we really need funding -so do they to get this project on the air and into millions of homes. Please visit http://exxonhatesyourchildren.com/ to find out how you can help sponsor this important broadcast.

Please share far and wide! -alonovo.com will soon be providing easy to use information on the web and mobile devices -as to which Companies supported consumer's right to know about products containing GMO's -and which companies are on the wrong side of history.

While great organizations like California Right to Know will continue the political fight -lets hit bad companies in their most sensitive spot. You know ... right in their quarterly results.

This is excellent. The reason is that speculative short term investment is seeking to transfer capital and wealth -and this tax will raise the cost of speculative transactions (thus encouraging longer term capital investment that adds jobs while growing/strengthening the economy). It's really a tax on gambling -and goes to the heart of some of our thoughts about transfers of wealth as opposed to meaningful creating of value.
http://www.economywatch.com/in-the-news/european-commission-approves-tobin-tax.24-10.html

The fundamental reason that the alonovo concept is becoming more relevant than ever is that we spend much of our societal focus now debating issues that were resolved (or should have been) long ago. The fact that we debate women's rights, fair pay, anti-discrimination, trickle-down economics and foreign policy that is war and not diplomacy focused is due to economics. The last few generations have embraced policies that have directed the flow of capital to companies (and their investors) that add little to no value -they externalize their costs through pollution, plundering resources, abuse their workforce and corrupt government. Koch industries, WalMart, Halliburton, Big Oil -are all leading examples of such entities. As a people until we either insulate the political process from money (unlikely post-Citizens United) -the market is the place where we can add the engine that can connect demand affinity to companies operating in a fair and sustainable manner -which tends to drive capital to more evolved, socially responsible management and investors. It also provides natural societal protection against companies externalizing costs (as Chevron does -in Ecuador as well as in Richmond, California) where governmental protection and/or judicial relief may ebb and flow with the political landscape -consumers can make value-aligned decisions.

As Californians fight to win a Yes on 37 campaign (proper labeling of Genetically Modified Organisms, or GMO's), massive amounts of money are being poured in by Monsanto, WalMart and other companies and lobbyist groups to defeat the measure.

The fight serves as a reminder as to why political lobbying by corporations (and especially in light of the "Citizens United" U.S. Supreme Court decision -connecting money to speech -and tenuously connecting corporations as "people with free speech rights") typically erodes societal protections for the pursuit of profit.

Monsanto has gained a great deal of exposure (which they continue to attempt to avoid) for their continuing strategy to control world food supply. This -as well as the strategy they use to gain more power -through intimidation -is sinister -and I believe that if more people were aware of their egregious behavior -we would all be working together -Democrats, Republicans, Greens and Libertarians -to revoke the corporate charter of Monsanto.

In is unusual and noteworthy when a small farmer faces the legal team afforded by one of the worlds largest multinational corporation -and wins.

The following article -written by friend and attorney Oscar Michelen describes the counter strategy employed by the small family farmer that not only beat Monsanto -but established important legal precedent to hopefully be a foundation for other small farmers to stop Monsanto and others that attempt to grow revenue and profit through legal intimidation.

http://www.courtroomstrategy.com/2011/12/solo-farmer-fights-monsanto-and-wins-over-patented-seeds/

Equitable executive compensation is an important factor in assessing corporate behavior. People that have driven innovation, assumed great personal risk and have created successful new businesses or even industries should be rewarded. Inher
iting a significant amount of wealth and reaping the rewards of prior generations creates no jobs or value -unless that wealth is directed at improving the quality and dignity of life. While buying four Ferrari's may help the vast network of Ferrari mechanics -it really does very little for America or the world. 

Rob Walton is a poster boy for inherited privilege and is a compelling case study for progressive and fair taxes.
And is another reason you will never find us at a Walmart.
Image courtesy http://walmart1percent.org

Wal*Mart  (and people that consume from Wal*Mart) are creating a secondary wave of horror. Unionized stores (such as family-owned Raley's, HQ'd in Sacramento) are being squeezed between Wal*Mart prices and their unions (UFCW) and there may soon be a strike. As a result -more consumers will shift to Wal*Mart (as opposed to crossing picket lines at Raley's and other grocers that are in contract negotiations -Safeway, SaveMart) and potentially cause non-union consolidation in the supermarket and retail store industry in Northern California. 
While the UFCW should make every attempt to negotiate and advocate on behalf of its members -there should be constant and growing pressure to unionize Wal*Mart -and hold it accountable to pay fair/living wages and benefits to its workers. Without such pressure -Wal*Mart will continue to finish the job started by the Reagan administration -the elimination of collective bargaining. 
For those that don't think unions serve any purpose anymore -the next time you are enjoying a BBQ on a weekend, the reason there is a weekend is because of unions and collective bargaining. Don't think for a second that the extreme wealth behind Corporate America would implement any policy that did not involve transferring additional wealth to themselves -through our labor, Monday - Friday and Saturday/Sunday if they can. This is why the Koch Brothers are funding cheerleaders for wealth such as Scott Walker in Wisconsin. Placing political and economic pressure on unions at a time in which they have been weakened -the multi-faceted attack on unions is an attempt to remove a significant protection society has against extreme wealth and power.

Recently I was honored to be asked to guest lecture at California State University, Dominguez Hills. My topic was Corporate Social Behavior and I covered advertising, junk science (see tobacco and oil companies), externalities, lobbying and how consumers can (and must engage) as government regulation, enforcement and protection ebbs and flows based upon the political climate (as does the ability to obtain protection through the courts).

The presentation is available at http://www.slideshare.net/georgepolisner/csudh-april-2012-1 and the terrific questions and my hopefully adequate responses follow.
Question: Alonovo allows consumers to generally understand a company's values.  But how do you get consumers to care about a company's social/environmental responsibility?  Especially to care enough to stop shopping with a specific company.  Answer: Many people already care and will avoid –generally on the basis of an egregious and very visible event or labor/environmental action. The issue is really sustaining consumer behavior –and not just boycotting/avoidance –but offering good alternatives that will not impose significant economic or convenience barriers.
Question: The website states that when we spend our money to purchase a product or a service we are supporting behaviors of the company. That is understandable but how difficult does it become to choose a company with a positive supportive culture? Many companies outsource, our do not have morally right behaviors, however when money is a main concern on many minds it becomes difficult to ignore other factors. Do you ever think it is a better idea to change the companies behavior or the purchasers support?Answer: True –many companies (large and small) have a vast array of suppliers. We want to hold them accountable for their supplier choices and therefore –supply chain selectivity is one of the attributes we will use to provide a grade. And I think we want to really affect both company and consumer behavior –although our first priority is to mitigate corporate externalities.
Question: I have been following the controversy surrounding the Shell Corporation, and I am wondering how you would frame the issue of sustainability in terms of the oil business?  I think Shell is attempting to drill in Alaska presently, and the oil business is very destructive to the environment--would this mean the focus would be on outside contributions more so than sustainability?Answer: When all companies within an industry segment are poorly rated on environmental issues –we can certainly look at other attributes –such as labor issues, ethics/governance issues, etc (although my best advice would be that if an entire industry is harming a critical social/environmental factor –perhaps we should be abandoning consumption that is perpetuating behavior –ie.- moving to walking, biking, mass transit and electric vehicles to reduce our participation.)
Question: How can we be socially conscious when buying clothes, since very few clothes are made in the U.S. anymore? Is it always possible to vote with our dollars?Answer: Supply chain selectivity allows us to hold GAP, Old Navy and others accountable for their supplier/textile choices. And yes –especially within a sometimes capitalist system (bailing out banks and insurance companies isn’t necessarily a behavior one would expect of Milton Friedman’s idea of a free market) –it is always possible and important to try to do so.
Question: What has been the most difficult part about talking to consumers?Answer: The most difficult is our reach –getting the word out about alonovo is incredibly expensive so we rely on earned media (news stories, blogs and articles about our new/emerging industry).
Question: In your experience, has there been a turn around about how consumers spend their money?Answer: Yes- when there is a sustained action or campaign –there is absolutely direct evidence that consumers will avoid and drive collective action. We hope to evolve and refine such collective action by not only targeting avoidance –but positive alternatives.
Question: What are your techniques to empower consumers?Answer: It comes down to knowledge is power. It really is.
Question: What impact will the outcome of the presidential election have on corporate ethics in the not so distant future?   How much different will things be with an Obama victory vs. a Romney victory?Answer: If Romney wins –alonovo and concepts like it will be even more important –it may be the last piece of societal protection we have against a profit motive that is not tempered by sustainability. We’d also likely see less transparency in reporting of toxic emissions, labor issues and class action lawsuits.
Question: Do you think the major corporations are harmful to society even though they give jobs to a lot of people, how so?Answer: My perspective is that I want an array of legal operating structures for business (such as a corporation) –that best support economic growth and expansion –provided it is accomplished in a manner that is sustainable and will have a positive outcome for society without diminishing our environment, resources and commons. Some corporations that attempt to externalize a significant part of the costs to drive profit –in my mind are criminal.
Question: What made you decide to start alonovo? What experience did you have starting your own company?Answer: I actually didn’t want to start it. I was well-compensated at Oracle –and as I thought of the concept tried to get Working Assets (now CREDO Mobile) behind the idea. When they couldn’t –I felt I had to –when we know that something is right –and has the potential of improving the quality and dignity of life everywhere –what could be more important? While I had not formed a business –I surrounded myself in 2005 with some great mentors with a track record of startup through successful IPO’s (initial public offerings)
Question: Since the founding of Alonovo.com have you seen an increase ordecrease in companies becoming sustainably ethical?Answer: There is a decided increase –that I cannot take credit for. It is concern over climate change, ethical concerns about sweatshop labor conditions, media exposure of runaway executive pay ratio and unethical behavior by financial institutions that have created more focus.
Question: What is being rated in the companies what work with amazon? And if their ratings are very low, does amazon stop doing business with them?Answer: We no longer have a relationship with amazon because of their labor and lobbying practices. Nevertheless –we do not seek to cause products to no longer be available (except of course for something toxic or unsafe) –we want to report and then allow consumers to (hopefully) make informed decisions.

Question: How can we find out what corporation's motives are or what they stand for or support in regards to greed? For example we know things about wal mart but how can we find out things about other corporations that we are not aware if as the public?Answer: We hope to do that for you –by acquiring data about the attributes that are published on alonovo.com (as well as the sources of such data) we hope to be a one-stop shop to help you and others understand the social, labor and environmental behaviors of a company.
Question: Considering the unique rating system of Alonovo, has there been any cases of opposition and support from different organizations (aside from Amazon)?Answer: We’ve not had any opposition as yet –I suspect we are too small and in our infancy. We’ve had decent support from the executives/ceo’s and CSR leads of companies that are actually evolving toward sustainability –and are anxious to have their results published in a trusted and independent manner.
Question: What benefits or empowerment does the low socioeconomic consumers gain from participating in your program? Seems like this program is designed for the privileged who already have everything they need?Answer: I’m very sensitive to digital and economic divide –I want the service to be available and to be used by all. Realistically –the closer we get to the poverty line and below –the less (if any) price elasticity a consumer has. By focusing those that are using the system on fair labor issues –we hope to direct more purchases toward companies supporting a living wage –and therefore have less people at or below poverty.
Question: Is consumer empowerment a luxury only for the middle class?Answer: Good question –consider this –the success of Cesar Chavez and the UFW –was the impact limited to the middle class? I’d say consumer empowerment through knowledge will benefit all.
Question: How do we empower ourselves as consumers? Is this even possible?Answer: Knowledge is power –don’t perpetuate egregious/harmful behavior by directing your purchases toward evolved/evolving companies whenever possible.
Question: What happens after society is informed about cooperate behavior, but are still forced to shop at these companies because they can't afford to shop at other companies?Answer: What impact do you think there would be on WalMart if 10% of WalMart consumers switched to Costco? The impact on their quarterly results (and Costco’s) would be dramatic and force change. We don’t need everyone to drive sweeping environmental, labor and social reform (although I want everyone!)
Question: How should consumers consider ethical consumerism during economic hardships when companies like Wal-Mart appease consumers' wallets but have unethical practices?Answer: Price elasticity expands and contracts on the basis of economic strength. Nevertheless –even a small percentage of demographic can make a significant difference in the corporate profit/loss statement –and if we can get Wal*Mart (and other poorly performing companies) to start incrementally changing behavior to reacquire customers –I’d be delighted.
Question: What inspired you to create an organization like Alonovo?Answer: I think many people are politically disenfranchised –however economics is the real battlefield. I want to empower our society –so whether it is a Wal*Mart greeter or a textile worker in a developing country –people and planet are treated with respect.
Question: How does Polisner market alonovo.com  to the public and how will it continue to help the environmental movement? Are there any changes that can still be done better? I've not been aware of  alonovo.com  until todayAnswer: Yes –marketing and advertising is very expensive –as we develop our product –and when it is ready we will work with media to try to get news stories, articles and blogs about us.
Question: What is your biggest concern regarding corporate behavior?Answer: Really all of it. I think there should be an absolute partnership between business and society. I think economic growth and opportunity is important –but not at the expense of life, nature and the beauty that surrounds us. There is a balance which has been largely ignored for the pure pursuit of profit. As America is the most significant consumer base in the world –it is important for us to drive sustainable and responsible business behavior –and without adequate and consistent government regulation and enforcement it is up to each of us.

Liberal/progressives generally consider taxes to be an investment in our societal infrastructure. Roads/highways, transportation, education, national security, environmental protection, food/agricultural protection, scientific research and other key initiatives that require such massive scale -they necessitate funding from all of us if we want to participate in an advanced society that provides world-class education and infrastructure.
Conservatives might argue that while some of the infrastructure initiatives are important -private industry can deliver with greater efficiency than government. They will often look to support candidates that want to "streamline or reduce" government in order to minimize the taxes we all must pay.
(Vote on the latest poll! -visit alonovo.com.)
What would my conservative and liberal friends say if I were proposing to implement a tax of, lets say 20% on all of our income? And this tax was not going to be used to fund any services whatsoever for the public. In fact ... what if this tax was going to take money from all and then write one big check to the wealthiest people in America? If you are a member of the Tea Party -would you support this tax? If you are a member of Occupy -would you?
This tax can't exist, right? Well I hate to share bad news but it does. It's called (in economic terms) an externality. All major for-profit corporations attempt to maximize profit and return as much (profit) as it can to its investors. This is not inherently evil -a profitable company makes money for investors who can then (theoretically) invest in more companies and stimulate growth. The problem is many companies will do all they can to shift what should be their costs to all of us. Because when corporations have less expenses they make more money. Think of it this way -if you ran an extension cord to your neighbor's home and started to take their electricity -you would be stealing (but lowering the costs of powering your home). When an oil company poisons the air in places like Martinez or Richmond, California -or the Ocean (Deepwater Horizon, ExxonValdez), or rivers -they are stealing clean air, water and other valuable resources from all of us -and transferring the costs or expenses of oil energy to all of us. It is a hidden tax.
So while I haven't seen the Tea Party and the Occupy movement shaking hands yet -I hope to see the anger and frustration they both share directed against companies all over the world that are taxing and stealing from all of us as they externalize their costs. Economic growth and profit are not bad -however should be sustainable and fair. Corporations should account for the true costs and not shift them to generally the most fragile and vulnerable populations in America and throughout the world.
We Agree?

alonovo research, inc. announces 501c3 fiscal sponsorship agreement with Netroots Foundation.

Sacramento, CA, February 10, 2012 - alonovo research inc. has announced the signing of a fiscal sponsorship agreement with Netroots Foundation. The agreement will provide the operating structure for alonovo to pursue it’s mission -to create consumer and institutional procurement demand affinity with products and services offered by companies that are evolving to embrace a triple bottom line.

George A. Polisner, Executive Director at alonovo research, inc. stated “The agreement will allow us to focus on the identification, acquisition and integration of trusted corporate social behavior (more commonly, corporate social responsibility or ‘CSR’) data, educational content and media creation all in parallel to raising donations and sponsorship to support our work. We have deployed a publicly available prototype at alonovo.com. We are very excited to be working under the auspices of Netroots Foundation and have deep appreciation for their work in the areas of justice, equality, economics and participatory democracy.”

alonovo research, inc. is dedicated to providing trusted, easy-to-understand grades relating to real corporate performance on labor, environment and social responsibility areas such as workforce stability, executive pay ratios, lobbying practices, polluting emissions and waste. The alonovo mission is to catalyze a constructive relationship between an informed market demand and the business supply and distribution chain. This accelerates the "race to the top" among businesses that are working to balance life, planet and profit. It has evolved from the alonovo.com concept that originated in 2005.

Netroots Foundation brings together online citizens across America, injects progressive voices into the national conversation and advances the values of justice, equality and community in our nation’s politics. With technology, the information revolution and online communities changing the very nature of civic engagement, we seek to accelerate the understanding and support of this fundamental shift in participatory democracy.

For further information about alonovo research, inc. phone 916.822.4155, or email alonovo@alonovo.com.

A working draft of alonovo.com version 3.0 company data attributes is available for review in google docs.

is nearing completion and due to be released later this month. It is a complete rewrite of alonovo. The alonovo/amazon shopping experience is better and faster.

The registered alonovo community will have the ability to choose their favorite and most hated corporations, comment on blogs and rate blogs and comments and more.

We hope you enjoy the updates to the alonovo site as we move forward with a major rewrite that we will launch later this year. While some of the changes are cosmetic, we will be adding some new functionality that (with your help) will create more revenue share for our family of beneficiary organizations.

As always we are very grateful to all of you that use the service and help us grow.

I made the drive from Austin to Jena, Louisiana and attended a protest earlier today.(you can read more about the background at http://colorofchange.org/jena/index.html).


In the photo to the left -the families of the imprisoned youth speak out -many of their mothers and fathers are ex-military.

What strikes me as remarkable is the courage and resolve of the people I spoke with and at the same time, thinking that Dr. King Jr. gave his brilliant "I Have a Dream Speech" almost 44 years ago, yet here we still are.



The photo below is the march from the courthouse through the small town and back to the courthouse.



I was really glad to make the drive and be here, as much theoretical socio-economic stuff I do behind a keyboard when you have the opportunity to venture out and support people that are speaking truth to power it provides a deep well of motivation and inspiration.

After too long behind a keyboard trying to incrementally drive positive societal change, the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. boom and echo through the back of my mind.


"We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now the time has come to make real the promises of Democracy; now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice; now is the time to lift our nation from the quicksands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood ..." (I Have a Dream, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. -August 28, 1963).

So today, right after a critical strategy call for alonovo.com (which holds the potential for badly needed development resources and a more robust method for more comprehensive social behavior data about corporations, I'm off to Jena, Louisiana to support the Jena 6.

I'd sent the following in email to a dear friend (I won't name names, let's just call him "Andrew" for now) who continually counter-balances my Andy Rooney-ish tired crankiness with youthful optimism and intelligence. He was an early mentor on what was to eventually become alonovo.com and helped connect me to some amazing people at CivicSpace Labs. While I'm not deluded (enough, yet) to think that my notes are all that interesting, he encouraged me to blog this, so here it is ...

The more I think of some of the discussions we had at the Thai restaurant with your parents the more I understand how badly society needs to look up into the sky and dream about what is possible again.

The science and technology that once gave all people hope --that if we could walk on the moon, anything is attainable as a society or within the framework of our own lives --has taken a backseat to war, corporate profit and bling.

While the current administration hasn't totally cast us back into the dark ages yet, they have certainly diminished our educational infrastructure through lack of funding (beginning with the Reagan years). Early childhood education is where the spark of exploration (the desire for knowledge and understanding) begins with well resourced schools, talented, caring teachers and parents that have not totally been beaten down by a system of economic tyranny.

There is mountain of work for the NASA CoLab team ahead, (ironic we originally met in Mountain View?) however the intellect and optimism from that group holds great promise.

If I were asked to characterize myself at this point in my life I'd consider myself a pragmatic liberal. Nevertheless, I continue to keep an open mind (I must have an open mind that would easily explain why I forget things -as new ideas emerge, remembering where I put my keys gets more challenging).

As the concept of alonovo was formed (and yes, it started from a peace-loving, tree-hugging, born and raised in Los Angeles vegan perspective) an interesting thing happened. As I went looking for investment most of the time I found myself in the lair of conservatives and the occasional libertarian. It was pointed out to me that the concept of alonovo could benefit society without regard for political ideology. The concept of corporations trampling on all of us in search of bigger profit margins was something that could rally most of America. The more that I reflected upon this concept the more appreciation I had. Here was an opportunity to bring America back together as opposed to continuing to polarize, divide and conquer. In interviews I coined the phrase "You don't have to be a Democrat to want a blue sky, you don't have to be a Republican to want a growing economy."

As I met with people representing the spectrum of political ideology, I befriended some Libertarians, notably Ernie (Freedom's the answer, what's the question?) Hancock in Phoenix and Eric Garris in the SF area. I found their perspective refreshing and a handful of lunches and coffee's led to the individual weighting system in alonovo. Instead of alonovo determining what constitutes good corporate social behavior, we took the 30+ attributes of Corporate Social Behavior (or more commonly and incorrectly, Corporate Social Responsibility or CSR) and we provide a simple method for each alonovo.com user to establish their own experience by weighting the factors that are important to them. For example, if you are dedicated to environmental issues, however do not feel strongly about labor, animal rights and ethics --you can weight the attributes of CSB to highlight the environmental issues so the ratings that are displayed for you are very sensitive to the underlying environmental ratings data.

We felt this was an important intellectual contribution to alonovo from the Libertarian perspective and we have also applied this philosophy to the organizations we work with that range from CODEPINK to the National Military Family Association.

In a near future release, we expect to have some NGO's and beneficiary organizations we work with establish their own weightings that will be the default for their respective constituency (however can be overridden by their individual alonovo users).

The next release of alonovo.com is getting ready for the development phase while I continue to look for resources that will further the mission without jeopardizing the integrity of the alonovo concept.



I'm convinced that the method of connecting how corporations interact with people and planet is crucial to improving the quality and dignity of life in America and around the world. The alonovo engine is innovative and unique --and it is time to take it to the next level.

The key features of the next release are:

• The Universal Shopping Cart -imagine using an online shopping website that would allow you to shop from many of the merchants in the CoopAmerica Business Network, seamlessly.
  
• alonovo.com Private Label -NGO's such as CODEPINK and United for a Fair Economy can integrate the alonovo.com online engine directly into their own webpages. We would also make this available for public school districts for fundraising and other community-based organizations.
  
• Context-sensitive Content Placement -When people search for a coffee maker we provide a simple area within their search results that reminds them "not to forget their fair trade coffee" from companies like Larry's Beans, Peace Coffee and Equal Exchange.


• An education area -brief, edgy, compelling streams that show the significance of the attributes of Corporate Social Behavior (Sweatshop labor, pollution, lobbying etc.)


• A complete social network that will facilitate the interaction of the alonovo.com community and will help identify emerging products and services that are from evolved companies.


• Interface agnostic -Toolbar, PDA/Mobile Device/Web, anyway you want it!

Like many Americans I felt politically frustrated. Regardless of my vote I felt that because politicians require huge amount's of money to be elected or re-elected the possibility of Congress or the Executive branch of government representing us continues to undermined by vast wealth and power. As a young adult I observed the Reagan administration, and had read enough to understand that the Reagan team was about the transfer of wealth and power to those that already were wealthy and powerful. As GW was about to begin his second term and many were feeling more politically disenfranchised than ever, I felt that the serious flaw in creating a participatory and representative government was economic. I wrote at the time that "politics was a shadow manifesting from the economic landscape".



I spent most of my 25 year career in technology, essentially growing up with the UNIX operating system, well before it had gained popular commercial acceptance. I was at Oracle Corp. since 1993 and was generating a nearly embarrassing amount of money (more so considering that I left high school behind shortly after my father passed away when I was 16). While many talk about Larry Ellison and Oracle in a negative manner, I have many terrific memories and lifelong friendships with incredible people at Oracle and while I may not agree with many business decisions I remain grateful for the opportunity and the relationships I formed while there. Nevertheless, in 2004 my desire to use the knowledge and experience I'd gained throughout my life and apply it to something beyond database performance, Oracle business strategy and customer advocacy was growing. Over the course of my Oracle career I saw many of my friends, very talented people move on such as my first manager there -Cary Millsap. In 2004 I began work in the Oracle On Demand business unit, which at the time was led by an Oracle Executive Vice President, Michael Rocha. I was energized by his management style, he wasn't leading the business unit by Excel spreadsheets as had become more common in different areas, not just at Oracle. Rocha was a visionary and a leader and I was able to spend a good deal of time evolving strategy with regard to customer satisfaction and global infrastructure. I had the privilege of becoming one of a small team that was shaping the business unit. As the Peoplesoft acquisition occurred, Mike decided to retire. He had been at Oracle pretty much since the big bang and formation of the universe and decided that golf looked better than toiling away. Shortly after Mike left, I decided it was time to take the concept of alonovo.com and make it happen.



Throughout my life I have enjoyed reading and learning about human behavior, sociology and economics. In 1984 I began working with Dr. Ralph Williams, an Organizational Behaviorist. It provided a perspective that most technologists are not exposed to and much of the work we did many years ago not only helped define a career that was marked with innovation, it established some of the perspective that helped form the alonovo concept. In 1997 I was in the process of a bitter separation and divorce and early in 1998 I met an amazing woman on my way back to Oracle HQ. I had been in Phoenix to visit with my younger children, and she had been in town enjoying SF Giants spring training (her entire family are committed Giants fans). Linda had been an activist most of her life and I continue to learn from her although she would be the first to say we don't agree on everything. Linda inspired me become involved in San Mateo County Peace Action, and I worked with people who, like Linda, had been committed to activism and peace their entire lives. In 2003 Linda and I sponsored and produced the Symposium for Peace, Justice and Human Rights in San Mateo, California. We wanted to create an educational event for the community, and also try to provide a framework for progressive unity -it was readily apparent to me that many were doing tremendous, courageous work, but in silos -without coordinating with others. Scott Ritter was our keynote speaker, Charlie Liteky (Voices in the Wilderness), Blase Bonpane (Office of the Americas), Paul George (Peninsula Peace and Justice), Torill Eide (Human Rights March), Alpesh Patel (Peace Action), Brian Rawson (Oxfam America/Make Trade Fair), Marie Davis (NAACP) all spoke and shared their experiences with the audience. An event that size doesn't just happen (I learned!) and in the planning stages, I met a wonderful longtime activist, Dorinda Moreno. She helped plan, organize and connect with speakers for the event. On the event day, she introduced me to a godsend -Irma Garcia-Sinclair who helped manage the event. That evening we all enjoyed dinner together. The next day I was deeply fatigued, but Dorinda would not let me rest -"okay, we've got momentum, what are we going to do next?" she chided. So with copious amounts of coffee we authored a very rough paper outlining the need for progressive unity, and a framework for how to get there. While not nearly as eloquent or formal as Lewis Powell's equivalent memo which established the infrastructure for the Reagan and Bush rise to power, it seemed a nice starting point.

Upon trying to shop the paper around (not for publication, but just to get anyone to pay attention) because I was a virtual unknown, there wasn't much of an audience for what we had to say. So, while remaining locally active, I continued to throw myself into my work at Oracle and hoped that our thoughts were not unique, and that an effort toward some form of unity was occurring behind the scenes. My thoughts about socio-economics and politics took a backseat, however I continued to consider how to provide a framework for unity that would also address some of the fundamental issues I saw within the American political and economic landscape.

After the 2004 election, my consideration of the issues took centerstage once again, and essentially the concept of alonovo.com was born. And without the early inspiration, guidance and support of a handful of people I might still be at Oracle (granted, I'd be taking nicer vacations and have a paycheck). People like Brent Emerson and Adam Bernstein at Electric Embers, Max Bollock, Alpesh Patel, Ron Zucker and Dr. Ed Feldman from my Peace Action days, Dr. Kevin Danaher of Global Exchange, Jim Fournier and Anna Coronna of Planetwork.net, Sean Sheehan of New American Dream, Joe Magid of Grassroots for America, Andrew Hoppin, Zack Rosen and the Civicspace Labs team and last and never least, the amazing Suzanne Stenson-O'Brien of the Center for Civic Participation. Those amazing folks helped refine the vision and inspired me to leap into the abyss. As I stood looking over the precipice, my Oracle compensation and comfortable life on one hand, and the unknown on the other side, the person that pushed me out of the proverbial airplane on my freefall (hopefully, with a parachute) was my son in law, Mikko Hal. At family gatherings we'd have many great discussions about social issues, economics and politics (so much so, he'd pretty much run for cover when he'd see me headed his way). At one point he mentioned (and I'm paraphrasing), "you have a lot of good ideas, but so do many other well-intentioned white liberals that quietly take their paychecks and go home". So, words into action.



I formed an advisory board for alonovo, which struck a balance between the business viability world, non-profit activist world, technologists and economists that helped shape the concept and initial direction. I began to recruit our core team and the effort became real as people like Joey Shepp (founder of Earthsite.net), Ethan McCutchen and Lewis Hoffman of Grasscommons, Hooman Rabieh from Intel, Nadeen Sakowski -who like me spent many years in the technology industry and wanted to direct her knowledge, experience and talent toward the public good. Later Matt Cowley, musician and developer extraordinaire joined the effort, along with my animal rights activist daughter, Martina Polisner. Together we went from concept to our first production release in less than five months! And we wouldn't have gotten into production had it not been for the courage and vision of KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. for their early belief in our concept. Shari Aaron (freshmarketing.com) helped with marketing strategy and Amy Weiher (Weiher Creative) and Ellis Neder (Sway Design) provided an excellent visual feel for our site. More fuel came from reading Professor Joel Bakan's remarkable book "The Corporation" as well as books I'd read over the course of my self-education from John Kenneth Galbraith, Steve Lydenberg, John Harrington, Barbara Ehrenreich, Noam Chomsky, Charlie Derber and Economic Apartheid in America by my friends at United for a Fair Economy.

I knew that the meager resources I had accumulated over my technology career, and mostly at Oracle would not take us to widespread use unless we were incredibly lucky. After our formation but prior to our launch I started discussions with Omidyar, the Social Venture Network and private individuals that either funded progressive political candidates and also approached the socially responsible investment community. In February of 2006 we were out of money and the core team (including myself) became a hungry group of volunteers (selling our home in November of 2005 gave us a bit more leeway, but not much. I had one private investor who had agreed to come in with 1/3 of what we needed (600K) but could not get anyone else to step up to the plate.



Finally in May of 2006, I was invited to New York to present to a small group of private investors. I was cautioned to make sure my presentation was constrained to 500K, and did so. I had a late dinner with the individual that coordinated the meeting and the next day met the three other individuals and presented and conducted an question and answer session which, in all took close to five hours. I was well prepared and all of the questions were excellent, and I was able to respond to each. The following day, I met for lunch with the the husband and wife that put the opportunity together, and they had a chance to meet Bob Hornsby, a Wharton MBA and all around great guy who put countless volunteer time in putting our forecasts together, and Dr. John Tepper Marlin, former Chief Economist for the City of New York and Adjunct Professor at the Stern School at NYU (he and Alice Tepper Marlin authored "Shopping for a Better World" and are widely viewed as pioneers in connecting corporate behavior to profit motive.

Upon my return to Phoenix (I was in Phoenix, trying to spend time with my younger children, while shuttling to the SF and LA area) the investors requested more documentation which I was able to provide, and after a few iterations they decided not to invest. They felt that we needed more than our request (500K) to get them to an exit where they could recoup their investment with a sizable return. The experience sent me reeling. I was soon going to be not only without resources for alonovo, but essentials such as rent, groceries and occasional gas money for the Prius. I tried several different alternatives such as an incubator model (where an aligned business would cover our operational expenses and development costs) while we would continue to seek the capital we needed. Most options were still open to us, just not moving to closure. Finally, I had no choice but to take work helping drive business strategy for a Fortune 50 company in order to have enough revenue to continue to fund alonovo, while ensuring I would not have to run the business out of my Prius. While I am still actively pursing ways in which I can acquire funding or resources for alonovo (while also guarding the integrity of the mission), I have had two more than full time jobs since September of 2006, one which thankfully pays for the other.


There are a handful of people and organizations that joined with us at the beginning and are thus notable. They recognize that alonovo.com is not simply a cause-based shopping site (where a percentage of revenue or profit goes to charity). They have understood from the beginning that there is an important mission (connection of corporate behavior to the profit motive) while also providing an innovative method so they can establish a new form of funding for themselves. The folks at United for a Fair Economy, Grassroots for America, Global Exchange, The Center for Civic Participation, Global Justice, WalMart Watch, Conservation Value, World 5.0, the Breast Cancer Fund and Listen for Life were there with us at our beginning. Nevertheless, we have been unable to drive significant (and necessary growth) by sharing a significant part of our ecommerce revenue, and upon reflection late last year, we decided that scale is vital to both acquiring resources and driving toward our objective. Therefore beginning the 1st of 2007, when the constituent of an organization that is actively participating with us (letting their community know about our relationship through their website and newsletters) we pass through all ecommerce revenue on behalf of their registered alonovo users. And when a user registers with an alonovo passive organization (such as Habitat for Humanity, Doctors Without Borders, Oxfam America, Stand for Children, UNICEF, the National Education Association and many others that have not yet activated a formal relationship with us) we share 50% of the revenue on their shopping transactions. The shift has led to several new groups that we are honored to support such as CODEPINK, Youth Movement Records, The Toxics Information Project and OneVoice -LA.

All this leads to today, where we are continuing to develop relationships with social networks and organizations that can benefit by leveraging the alonovo model while also trying to get the effort properly capitalized and resourced. We also have the requirements and design for the next generation of alonovo, which will help provide support for the local community economy. We continue to work with the amazing team at Electric Embers --Brent, Adam and Ben. John Cesario, musician, former music executive and most importantly a friend, has joined the effort to help with business development for us. Amy Weiher continues to provide great visuals for the site. A recent trip to Boston connected me to the unsung heroes at KLD Research & Analytics, Inc. who continue to gather and provide research about corporations for investors and for our work at alonovo.com. I had a chance to visit more friends and spend time with Professor Charlie Derber at Boston College, who has contributed many excellent books such as "People Before Profit" and "Corporation Nation". And we are continuing to work with the leading academic, business and political minds to help catalyze a new era of participatory democracy and a sustainable, fair economy. Since the beginning of this year we've been joined by the Idealswork.com community and we are exploring relationships with CoopAmerica.org, Worldchanging.com, Zaadz.com and Care2.com. And of course our growing alonovo.com community who are in every since the new American pioneers.