http://reformalcor.org/blogs/ Get the latest news on reform efforst at Alcor. en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://reformalcor.org/blogs//nucleus/nucleus2.gif http://reformalcor.org/blogs/ http://reformalcor.org/blogs/index.php?itemid=5 recently said on Cryonet. I served on the Board with
Keith for several years and although we disagreed on
some issues, I found Keith to be a thoughtful and
innovative person, often thinking of things that no
one else did. Keith was always one to stand up for
the underdog- he has a heart of gold. No one can deny
that.KEITH SAID:
The leader last time a political battle led to a split
the leader was Saul Kent. This time it's Dave Pizer.
Saul did manage to influence the board enough to get
Carlos out and put Steve in.

DAVID'S REPLY:
I am not *the* leader in this new political battle.
You can go to the website at www.reformalcor.org and
see the growing list of people who want reforms and
improvements at Alcor who have come out so far. Read
the blogs and forums and the area where people post
under "support." These are some of the people who
have been brave enough to take the first step for
themselves and for all of us.

But they are just the tip of the iceberg:
In an informal count, I have counted over 50 people
who have posted something positive about wanting to
discuss reforms on Cryonet, cold filter, and Alcor
United or sent me private messages, in the last 30
days or so. I believe based on this small sample that
*over* 80% of the Alcor members and prospects will
want to discuss reforms. That is a big group.

KEITH SAID:
"........ Then, not being satisfied by the
results of his change, Saul and others formed CryoCare
by mid 1993. A number of Alcor members moved their
suspension arrangements. We know how that turned out;
among other things Tim
Leary was not suspended.

DAVID'S REPLY: I believe that Alcor is destined for
another CryoCare or CryoWar every 10 or 15 years as
the number of members who are dissatisfied or
disgusted with the present system of dictatorship at
Alcor grows until the system is changed to give
members the right to vote for their leaders at Alcor
like CI does.

In the CryoCare incident about 80 members left Alcor?
Now about that many leave every 2 or 3 years.

I believe people join Alcor for the wonderful idea
that cryonics stands for, they learn how Alcor is run,
and they learn that they have absolutely no say
whatsoever in the company that they have trusted their
lives to, and so they leave.

KEITH SAID:
On a more general note, what's going on here is an
attempt to change the political structure of Alcor
rather than trying to fix the problems.

DAVID'S REPLY: There is no way to fix the problems
until we change the political structure. The Board
runs Alcor and they are responsible for the few good
things and the problems. The Board runs Alcor and
they are accountable to no one. All other things
being equal, a company that holds the managers
accountable will do a much better job then a company
where the managers account to no one.

We the members want the Directors to be accountable to
us. Then if *they* don't "fix" the problems, we can
"fix" the Board and keep fixing it evey year until we
get a Board that can "fix" the problems. In fact, a
member-electing system will bring about a Board that
not only can fix the problems it can prevent the
problems from happening in the first place.

I urge readers to go to www.reformalcor.org now and
log in and post your support. Write an article or
talk to all the rest of us in the blogs. There is too
much at stake to not do anything.

David Pizer]]> General http://reformalcor.org/blogs/index.php?itemid=5 Thu, 7 Feb 2008 10:10:09 -0800 http://reformalcor.org/blogs/index.php?itemid=4 recognize the unfairness of the current election
system in Alcor.
WE members are in the same Alcor Boat as you are! For
you to say that only you should be able to vote for
the Directors because “you are going to be in the
storage tanks someday and that is the only motivation
you need to try to do a good job for Alcor” says that
somehow we are not in the same boat, or that our lives
are not as important as yours.

We members have as much to loose as you do, depending
on the performance of the Alcor Directors, (whoever
they may be), in matters of business decisions. Yet,
we have absolutely no say in what happens and
Directors have 100% say in what happens: This just
plain is NOT fair.

Many Alcor members are spitting mad right now, and
that number is going to continue to grow until some
things become more fair for us. There is too much at
state. We do not want Alcor to continue to be YOUR
private club.

I strongly urge you to begin meaningful discussions on
the pros and cons of changing Alcor’s present
Dictatorship type of election system into one where
all members, who have equally as much as stake as you
do, will have an equal say in choosing our Alcor
leaders.]]> General http://reformalcor.org/blogs/index.php?itemid=4 Mon, 28 Jan 2008 17:42:13 -0800 http://reformalcor.org/blogs/index.php?itemid=3
As David Pizer has very clearly pointed out, even the best of intentioned people can drift off course. There have been numerous past problems, which you can read about in the Articles section, and current trends that are troubling. But what has been bothering me the most recently are the numerous people I see being turned off from Alcor. I personally know several very intelligent hard working individuals who feel quite frustrated in their attempts to bring meaningful change to Alcor. After beating their heads against the wall for years, they finally gave up in frustration and walked away. Of all the challenges that face Alcor, this loss of energy, ideas, and enthusiasm from these shut out people is what scares me the most. Alcor, and cryonics in general, is only as strong as the people who are out there in the trenches making things happen. Shut these people out and you literally suck the life blood out of the organization.

That is why we need to bring democracy to Alcor. Yes there are numerous other challenges and problems that need to be overcome. But if you don't give people a say in how their organization operates you will in the end drive them away. People, even the most dedicated, can only swim upstream for so long. And if all these people leave, it doesn't matter how many great ideas you may have sitting around. There will simply be nobody left with the will and energy to implement them.

I joined with others in creating Reform Alcor because I want to bring back, and hold onto, those people who feel like their ideas and opinions don't matter in the current climate. Here is a place where everyone can put in their two cents about what they think is wrong, what they think is right, and how to make Alcor a better organization for everyone. And hopefully with enough of us we can pressure the Board members of Alcor to give us a bigger say in the fate of our organization.

Because after all it is OUR organization. Alcor belongs to the members, and I think it is time we had a place at the driver seat.
]]> General http://reformalcor.org/blogs/index.php?itemid=3 Fri, 25 Jan 2008 18:02:15 -0800