Governor Gregoire thinks the state needs an earlier deadline for mail-in ballots, since close races can remain unresolved days after Election Day.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2010237920_webvoting09.html

Isn’t Election Day purely arbitrary, anyway? What difference would it make to impose an earlier, yet similarly arbitrary deadline? Ballots have to be counted, either way. Someone wins, someone loses, either way. She says ‘The people deserve to know’… why?

Is the apparent right of state citizens to know voting results so important that we should risk confusing voters on when they need to get their ballots in? If we add another deadline, it simply makes the actual Election Day moot for mail-in voters. Essentially, all of us mail-in people would have a new ‘Election Day’, and then we’d have to wait just as long as we do now to hear the results. The only difference I see is that we’d be getting our results the same day that everyone else in the country has their voting deadline.

The governor’s push poses too many risks for the relatively insignificant benefit it promises.

I was a little slow getting this up here, but here ya go… the link to the article on modern male wimpyness I mentioned tonight on the show.

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59D0BR20091014?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=11604&sp=true  

PM Bellingham for 10/21/09:
http://kgmi.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&audioId=4107595

Jackie almost had me convinced on this issue, since I’m usually in favor of letting people do whatever they want, regardless of whether it offends others. But the burqa is such a symbol of the oppression of women, I really can’t believe liberals are saying we need to be ‘tolerant’ of them. Isn’t tolerance what it’s all about? Is there anything ‘tolerant’ about burqas in the first place?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009368118_apeufrancesarkozyburqa.html

http://chattahbox.com/world/2009/06/20/france-eyes-banning-islamic-burqa-shrouds-liberation-or-oppression/

I’m especially surprised by feminists who are opposed to this ban. Shouldn’t they be applauding it, just as they applaud other increased freedoms for women? Read this interesting post on Feministe.us:

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/06/22/banning-the-burqa-in-france/

Here in the newsroom yesterday, I heard over the scanner something about an accident on E. Badger Road north of Everson, so I used Google maps to check the location of the address given.

Lo and behold, Google has apparently sent their camera vehicle down E. Badger to provide images for their ’street view’ feature, and honestly, it’s a little creepy.

Try it yourself: click here, http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl, then search ‘e badger rd everson’… once you have a map of the area up, then click and drag the icon of the little orange man onto E. Badger Road on the map. You’ll see the roads with ’street view’ turn blue, and then when you let go, you’ll get a photo from that location on the road.

I’ve used ’street view’ before, usually to check out things in big cities like Seattle. But when you can zoom in on trucks in the driveways of local dairy farms, it starts to get a bit weird.

So far, Google only has street view for state highways, I-5, and a few Bellingham streets in Whatcom County, but it’s already starting to feel like an invasion of privacy. If I could zoom in on a street view of my own house out in the country (not just an overhead satellite view, as they also provide), I don’t think I’d be okay with that.

Also, I see today that Greece is banning ’street view’ in that country. Read the article here: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.35c2e98a13639c54adb496c3f97d16bf.21&show_article=1

What do you think?

Tomorrow, City of Bellingham, Whatcom County, and even federal officials will be on hand to dedicate a solar power system installed on a parking garage in downtown Bellingham.

While I’m always intrigued by new ways to generate power, and I applaud PSE and others’ efforts on this project, I have to look at the numbers. Is this project really worth it?

The City of Bellingham press release it says it’s a 2.4 kilowatt system, and they expect it to produce about 2,000 kilowatt hours of power per year (read the full city press release here http://www.piersystem.com/go/doc/1264/267506/).

I did some quick research online, and it seems the average U.S. home uses 9,000 kWh per year. That would mean this entire new system would cover less than 25% of the power needs of a SINGLE home.

Am I just raining on their parade? I don’t know how much it cost PSE to set it up, but my guess is that it’s going to take an extremely long time for this to pay for itself.

It seems so many people are so excited about so-called ‘green energy’ that they forget to do math.

Let’s try some more basic math. This system puts out 2.4 kW. A basic, portable home generator — the kind you fire up when the power goes out, and you at least want to keep some lights on and use the microwave — puts out anywhere from 2 to 20 kW.

Hmmmmm…. sounds like I could barely depend on this system to run a few things in my house during a power outage.

*UPDATE* I just researched small, portable home generators online. Looks like the 3kW to 5kW generators range in price from $300 to $600 dollars. Granted, they take costly gas to run and produce lots of pollution in the process, but the fact that 300 bucks will buy a generator that will produce as much power as this entire solar power system shows just how financially inefficient this solar energy thing is, at least so far.

I couldn’t help but get ticked off today seeing video on CNN of protesters smashing windows at a London bank. What a bunch of fools, smiling like idiots as hundreds of reporters, photographers and camera operators surround them while they break the law and make a pointless mess.

It seemed there were at least 10 times as many media members there as protesters… aren’t they basically enabling them? The whole thing is about attention, and these freaks are getting it. But why? Why is this glorified as some sort of legitimate cry against ‘greed’?

The protesters I’ve seen on TV don’t appear to be suffering some sort of oppression — they’re clothed, apparently well-fed, and they live in a society where they’re free to move about, say what they want, and GET A JOB if they feel so inclined.

Basically, they look like a bunch of spoiled kids throwing a tantrum. They’re not leading a ‘revolution’ — they’re attention-hungry criminals making a joke out of the free society so many fought and died to create and preserve by exploiting that freedom.

I think they need to get a life — seriously, find something better to do.

And reporters there in London: don’t give these freaks the attention they beg for. You’re nothing more than enablers.

I’m working this morning on setting up a Fan Page for KGMI on Facebook, so look for it soon on the social networking site!

I caved and joined facebook a couple years ago (after boycotting the trend for years). Now, I have to admit, I check my Facebook page all the time, and I think it’s time for KGMI to join the Facebook world, or ‘the vortex’ as some call it.

We’ve got tons of content here on our KGMI.com website, but I’m hoping to have some good stuff on the Facebook page, too. Any ideas?

Anyway, I hope to have the Fan Page up ASAP!

Here I am, working the overnight on KGMI, getting programs ready for the weekend and making sure the station (not to mention KPUG, KBAI, KAFE and KISM) stay on the air. Exciting stuff, I know.

I don’t know how you graveyard shift people do it, but I know there’s a lot of you out there. My goal right now is not to sound like a groggy fool when I’m on the air. But don’t be fooled, I am a groggy fool right about now. Gimme some more caffeine. I don’t even have any friends who are online on Facebook right now… sounds like a great Friday night (wait, Saturday morning), huh?

Okay, I’ll quit whining. It is the first day of spring, for crying out loud.

I know it’s lame to talk about the weather, but I am a self-proclaimed weather junkie, and the long-range forecast I check online says we might have some weather as warm as the 70s the first week of April. Key word there: MIGHT. But we can hope.

So, I’ll keep telling myself, the spring weather IS going to arrive eventually.

Right now, though, I’m just waiting for daylight, rain or shine.

I know it probably sounds lame, but I’m pretty pumped on our website. Finally (after working toward it for years) adding live streaming of KGMI to our site is a huge step for us, but as the “morning producer” around here, I’ve been trying to add as much cool stuff on our website as possible.

We’ve expanded our news stories, and JUST TODAY I started adding sound bites to stories — where you can read the story, then actually LISTEN to the quote! Maybe I’m just ignorant, but I’ve never seen news stories like that before. It’s kind of a hybrid, multimedia way to consume the news, where you can read the text, listen to the quotes, and see any pictures we’re able to get our hands on.

Which, by the way, if you have any pictures of news happening, SEND THEM TO ME!!! I want to provide as much good stuff on this site as I possibly can.

If you can’t tell already, I’m having fun with my job as a website caretaker around here. Do you like what you see? Also, any suggestions of other things you’d like us to provide here on KGMI.com?

As a SNEAK PREVIEW, I’ve shot some ‘Behind The Scenes’ video during the morning news, and we’ll hopefully have that up to view soon. Don’t forget to check our videos frequently, since we’re trying to do as many of those as possible.

This is one of the fun parts of this job, and so I’d love to hear from anyone with good suggestions for me!

Another story today about Fire District 18’s Chief George Henderson (I’d suggest you read it on our local news page - click here). Wow… when will this end?

I will grant that what he’s in trouble for (and pleaded guilty to) I don’t view as particularly severe at all. Henderson was in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he should’ve known better, but it’s not a big deal.

BUT… a fire chief who actually has no-contact orders issued against him is a problem to begin with. Henderson has been in trouble for a variety of things, none of which seem to rise to the level that the district’s board feels moved to remove him from the position.

I’ve got to ask, though, does Henderson really have nearly 100 percent support from the community out there? Again, I’d suggest you read the full story on the local news page, but I’ll repeat a choice quote here:

     “‘The board and the firefighters and the majority of the community have been behind me, almost a hundred percent, on this whole last few years,’ said Henderson.”

Are you kidding me? George Henderson is probably a good guy, who’s made some foolish mistakes. But he’s a liability to Fire District 18. How can they still trust the guy to lead the district when he has such a tarnished track record?

Again, I don’t view his mistakes as incredibly severe, and for the average citizen, they wouldn’t be much of an issue. But public servants at his level should be expected to live up to a higher standard.

Here are some suggestions: keep out of domestic issues with your ex-es — just don’t go there, at least if it’s going to bring the cops out. Make sure you have permits when you do construction work — and pay attention to the fact that everyone else around here seems to be quite concerned about protecting Lake Whatcom. Don’t drink and drive, and don’t drive negligently (by the way, Henderson wasn’t charged with DUI, because he was apparently below the legal limit. But he was pulled over on his motorcycle after having a few, and allegedly driving negligently). 

Joe Blow citizen can get away with this stuff… local leaders in charge of teams of people, big budgets funded by taxpayers, and, especially, public safety — can’t.