Oregon's Governor Needs To Be Shown The Door...

Oregon's Governor John Kitzhaber has taken it upon himself to stop executions under Oregon's Death Penalty Law.  Under his watch, only two prisoners have been executed and he feels really bad about it.

If he doesn't have the stomach for upholding the law, he should step aside and let a new governor take over.  This is not a decision he alone can make.  Or at least shouldn't.  Our governments are set up to be run by the people through elected officials.  Oregon residents put the death penalty in place.  The majority supports it.

If someone, or many, don't support this any more, then go through the proper legislative channels and change it.  But if a law or act is on the books, it is every elected official's responsibility to enforce them.  Rules/laws are to be followed.  There is no gray area here.

Governor Kitzhaber needs to be relieved from his duties since he has quit representing his constituents.

Cheap Computers & Internet... But Not For You Or Me...

A Federal Communications Commission program titled 'Connect to Compete', funded with our tax dollars, has the government teaming up with communication providers and computer sellers to offer cheap internet access to those who can't afford it.

Sounds reasonable, at first...

Our local cable company, Charter, will offer internet broadband service to low income families at a $10 a month rate for two years.  I pay $50 a month.  (Granted, I assume my 'tier' is higher, meaning a faster connection.  But even at a lesser tier, I'd pay at least $30 a month, and likely more.)

But wait, in addition to a connection, one needs a computer.  Not to fear!  Microsoft will sell these families one, loaded with MS Office, for $250.  Refurbished PCs from other companies will sell at $150.  Hmm, those prices are much cheaper than I have paid for recent computers...

So, who gets to benefit from this program?  Families that take part in the National School Lunch Program.  Oh, so if your kid gets a free or reduced cost lunch...  I see...

Sorry, I have a major problem with this whole thing.  Access is already available to the poor.  I haven't been to a library in recent history that didn't offer free computers and internet access.  Taking it a step farther, a person can buy a cheap used laptop on Craigslist and get free WiFi at McDonalds.

There is no reason MY tax dollars should be used to offer cheap computers and access to the less-privileged.  This is basically 'stealing from the rich to give to the poor'.  If I have to pay full price, then why shouldn't everyone?

I support giving those in need a helping hand.  And in today's world, every U.S. citizen should have internet access as it is almost a mandatory need.  But this doesn't mean it needs to be SO convenient.  Life is hard.  Everyone needs to make their own way.  The government can't just GIVE to people.  People need to earn, to feel a sense of worth.

Now about those free or reduced lunches...  Never mind, I guess that can wait until another day...

Millionaires Lobby Capitol Hill for Tax Increase

A recent newspaper article highlighted a group of millionaires who went to Capitol Hill and lobbied for a tax increase on themselves.

It's well documented the top earners generally pay the most taxes already.  But this group wants them all to pay more.

My question though is, why don't these people just pull out their checkbook and write an additional check to the IRS?  If they don't feel they are paying enough, then just pay more! 

It seems many people don't just want to spend their own dollars, but they want to reach in everyone else's pockets too.  Sorry, that isn't their choice.

But again, there is nothing stopping them from digging deeper into their own pockets!  (But for some reason, they rarely do...)

Retail Employees Whine About Working Thanksgiving... Waaaahh!

So you don't want to have to go to work at midnight after Thanksgiving?  Then work towards a better job!

Do you really aspire to work in retail the rest of your life?  This should be a stepping stone to better things.  Get an education and do something better, more gratifying.

These people complaining don't seem to get it.  If you don't like your job, work a little harder to better yourself and move on to bigger/better.  Find a career that gives you the schedule you want.

And consider this... there are a lot of professionals who also work at times they would rather be with family.  Our military.  Police. Firefighters.  Hospital staff.  Utility employees.  You don't hear them complaining. 

As a retired member of the Armed Forces, I worked many a Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But you know what, my family planned around it and we still had great celebrations.

So quit your whining!  Nobody owes you anything.  It's up to you to improve your lot in life.

Oil Pipeline Decision Delayed - Why Not Ease our Energy Pains?

So President Obama's administration is delaying the decision on a Canadian oil pipeline that would move oil from the Canada's oil sands reserves to refineries in Texas.  Why?  What is the possible downside to this?  I'm not buying the potential 'environmental impacts'. 

This strikes of political posturing to me, with the decision likely pushed to 2013, after the presidential election in late 2012.

So while families struggle with $3.80 (locally) a gallon gas, our federal government sits on a partial solution to relieve some of this pain.  (Consider that gas prices are partially driven by a speculation market on oil prices.  If speculators believed more oil would be on the market, the barrel price would drop quickly, even before the actual movement of oil began.)

Oh, and consider this...  By delaying this decision, the U.S. is offering up an opportunity for other potential buyers of this oil.  Maybe Asia or Europe will offer to fund a pipeline to the East or West coast to move the oil off continent.  I'm sure in the end, Canada is going to look out for their interests first...

Hydroelectric: As 'renewable' as it gets!

Just how stupid are Washatonians?  Given the passage if I-937 in '06, I'd say the majority are idiots.

Who in their right mind would pass a 'reweable energy' act that doesn't include our current hydroelectric generation as a renewable source of electricity?  It's cheap, clean and certainly available.

I support clean energy.  I'm not a tree-hugging believer in global warming by any means, but common sense tells me we should be reasonably kind to our planet, especially if it makes economical sense.

Dam-generated electricity has a pretty low impact as far as I'm concerned.  Yes, it does change the landscape.  So does Mother Earth, naturally, over time.  Yes, many times dams cause fish migration problems.  But this is only an engineering issue and can (and has been) overcome.

Wind power isn't a bad thing, in the right environment.  I used to be a bigger supporter, but even I'm getting tired of seeing new turbines popping up.  The bigger issue though is that wind energy isn't constant and we can't yet store the excess when we have it.  And then there is moving the power around, which requires more ugly transmission lines.

I love the idea of solar.  Not large scale solar farms, but small home-based systems.  But this too is costly, sometimes not pretty, and you still don't have power all the time without a back-up source or battery storage.

But getting back to I-937, our state passed an initiative that says our local power companies need to source 15% of our electricity from 'renewable' sources (excluding hydro) by 2020.  So that means you and me get to pay more as local utilities invest in more 'renewables', (since renewable energy costs more to produce), while our local hydro plants produce a surplus... that gets sold to other parts of the country that don't have this silly mandate.

It's possible the legislature will improve this situation.  SB 5964 and HB 2124 are offering to "Eliminate the requirement for utilities to purchase unneeded electricity, renewable energy credits, or electric generating facilities that are not needed to serve their customers' loads."

Only time will tell if this situation is fixed with a little common sense...

Selah Mayor Bob Jones - Bye Bye!

I've watched the work of Selah's Mayor, Bob Jones since we moved to the Selah area in 2001.  My take has always been that he is a pompous @ss.  And from what I've heard, there is a true 'good ol' boys' network regarding the Selah City Council.

As a Mayor, he could have been worse.  Overall the City is in pretty good shape.  But there have been some questionable decisions made.  There have been many rumors of employees being forced out when they didn't see eye to eye with Jones.

While I don't know if that is true or not, what I do know is the City Council, led by Jones, approved the questionable purchase of a large chunk of property with the intent of building some city buildings on it.  The City waaaaaaay overpaid for the property.  And then they weren't able to use it as planned.  It took years before the property was developed.  (Some of it... there are still several parts undeveloped.)

A local fruit packing company, a fixture in Selah forever, wanted to purchase and develop a piece of property in the area I'm talking about above, and the City wouldn't give them the change in land-use designation to do it.  Never mind the community, not to mention neighboring businesses all supported it.  (They wanted to expand their packing house and move their office buildings; we aren't talking anything that should have caused a concern.)  So not only did the City risk losing a local business, (they said they may leave and find a friendlier environment), but they lost out on added tax dollars in the coffers at a time when this money is truly needed.

One that people seemed to have forgotten is the Regional Library issue.  Jones was fighting the Library and they nearly closed their Selah branch.  Jones said, "let 'em go; we'll open our own library".  This ended up on the ballot and the residents voted to keep the Regional Library.  This was a real "duh!" moment.

One time I agreed with Jones... but not really... was over the 'Welcome to Selah' sign.  A group wanted to erect a sign that said "Welcome to Selah, home of the Vikings."  My personal opinion is that Selah is much more than the local high school, and any welcome sign should encompass more city attributes.  Jones position was "I'm not a Viking!", (because he is originally from West Valley.)  The man has no tact.

So yesterday, after 16 years,  he was voted out of office.  People have finally... and I mean FINALLY, since it took them this many years... had enough.  Of course Jones isn't gracious in defeat.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  His quote in the paper reads:  "The voting public is not too smart."  "Am I supposed to be polite?  I'm not polite."

Don't let the door hit you in the @ss on your way out Mayor Jones!

Local FairPoint Rep Redeems!

A FairPoint Communications van showed up in my driveway at about 9:15am this morning.  Matt Cleem was the rep.  SUPER guy.  Quickly trouble-shot the problem, and even made a quick temporary fix.  Never mind it is MY problem with the house phone wiring.

Even though we sometimes deal with faceless... not to mention poor and frustrating... 1-800 customer service, it is good to know that the people actually out in the field are hardworking and caring.

Thanks Matt!

Forest Service Could Use Some Common Sense

A recent article in the newspaper highlighted a problem hunters were having over in the Cle Elum area.  Forest Service roads that were damaged last spring during the severe flooding were closed to vehicle traffic.  I've seen the pictures, and it is questionable as to whether some of them could have been quickly and easily repaired, but let's assume this wasn't an option.

So on one section of road, there is an open culvert.  Hunters camp on the bottom side of the culvert area and have for years.  They hunt farther up the road on the other side of the culvert.  Some of the hunters drove their vehicles for 60-80 minutes around to get to the other side of the culvert, they thought legally, and parked them.  In the morning they walked across the culvert, and went hunting.  In the afternoon they came back, parked, and walked back to their camp.  All seems reasonable, right?

Except that the road on the other side of the culvert is 'closed' for about 1.5 miles up to the point of the next road intersection.  (Apparently there had been a sign, but the Forest Service acknowledges it went missing.)  Nothing is wrong with the road, but the Forest Service closed it because they didn't want people driving down and then trying to cross the culvert.

BUZZZZZZZZ - WRONG ANSWER!  Apparently the Forest Service has dumped a bunch of rock to stop vehicles from accessing from the lower side.  So it seems to me they need to do the same from the upper side, at the culvert, not 1.5 miles farther up.  And given the limited damage at the culvert, why didn't they just make the repair, permanent or temporary, and not cause an issue to begin with?

And what was the threatened fine to the hunters that parked on the upper side of the culvert?  $5,000!  Yowza!

One wonders if the Forest Service actually wants people in the Forest....  (Don't get me started on this topic!)

Valley Mall Boulevard Traffic Circles - A Worthwhile Project

After living in New England for numerous years, I became accustomed to traffic circles our 'roundabouts'.  I didn't really see them as being better than traffic signals though.

But after living hear for many years and dealing with the intersection near Shopko of Valley mall Boulevard, Rudkin Road and the interstate on/off-ramps, the proposal of traffic circles seemed to have merit.

And wow, what a change!  Traffic flows nicely!  No more waiting FOREVER at the lights!  Of all the road/highway projects I've witnessed recently, this one was worthy of our tax dollars.

(Now let me rant a little about another traffic circle!  The one just outside of Selah on Selah Loop Road.  We did not NEED a traffic circle there.  Traffic used to flow real nice along Selah Loop Road, and from Selah Loop onto Gore road.  The only problem was transitioning from Gore to Selah Road.  What was the solution?  Moving the section of Gore Road that connected to Selah Loop into the middle of the corner radius and putting up a new stop sign.  The traffic circle slows down most of the traffic to only benefit Gore Road.  Note too the original design of the traffic circle actually was bigger and more logically laid out.  Had that one been built, it would be a lot better.)

Idiot Customer Service I

So I just had to call FairPoint Communications to report a problem with our phone line.  We can dial out, but incoming calls are not getting through.

So I look up the Fairpoint number online and it is a 1-800 number leading into an automated system.  Of course.  Press 1 if you are calling about... (and then it reads off my phone number).  Done.  Press 1 if you have a residential phone and want to change service, check your bill, or other service.  Done.   BUZZZZZZZZZ - WRONG!  I had listened long enough to find out that 2 was for commercial service... but I didn't listen long enough to find out that 4 was actually for repair, (after 3 for internet service questions).  Really 4?!  Would reporting an outage be 1?!  And to make matters worse, after I had pressed 1, the voice told me in a condescending tone what the business hours were and I was outside of them... right before it hung up on me.  Didn't even give me chance to try a different number!

So I called back, figured out to press 4 and did so.  The automated voice asked me if I was calling about my phone number and then read it off to me.  She knows who I am!

But then the actual person comes on and asks why I called.  "Phone line problem."  (I'm curt since I'm annoyed.)  Then she asks what my phone number is.  "Are you serious?  You don't have my number?"  She says no.  How can that be since your automated system just read it off to me?"  Silence.  "Hello?"  She says just a minute... and then reads my number off to me.  Imagine that!

Now, will they fix the line?  Time will tell!

Kittitas County Fire District No. 8 Should Be Ashamed

Are you aware of the ongoing issue up on Snoqualmie Pass regarding the fire station at Crystal Springs/Stampede Pass?

If you believe the local Fire District, they are being prevented from offering life-saving emergency response because the Forest Service won't allow them to plow the road leading to their firehouse.

Well, it is true the Forest Service won't let them plow the road to their firehouse.

But here is the rest of the story.

Before the Fire District built the firehouse in 2005, the Forest Service told them they would not be allowed to plow the road during the winter.  The reason is safety of the local winter recreational users, mostly snowmobilers and cross-country skiers.  (Crystal Springs Sno-Park is the busiest sno-park in the state due to it being close to Seattle and the burbs.)

But wait, there is more.  The land the Fire Station was built on was donated by a local landowner, and the scuttlebutt has always been that the local landowners are using this issue as a way to get the road plowed to their cabins/homes.

While I certainly support public safety, this fire station should never have been built in this location.  Just because it is there now does not give the Fire District the right to change the rules and plow the road.

Yakima Downtown Improvement District - Hmm...

It isn't often that I agree with Joe Morrier.  I think he has taken financial advantage of the City of Yakima on more than one occasion and is the cause of much of his own problems regarding the closing of the downtown mall.

But in reading about the fees assessed on him and other business owners in the Downtown Improvement District, I can certainly see why he is opposed to supporting it.  A whole lot of money has been collected and spent, and I don't think those who have paid have seen value for that much money.  (Morrier's portion has been $28,440 a year since '08.)

Who's to blame?  The 'Committee for Downtown Yakima'.  With a budget of $360,000 a year, their claim to fame is being responsible for a 77 block area, sweeping sidewalks, caring for flowers and removing graffiti.  Oh, and paying an 'administrative staff' to handle promotional duties.  Ah, I think I see where there is some fat that could be cut from the budget!

Funny how when Morrier balked, they offered to reduce his payment by 32% to $19,352.  (But he is standing firm, wanting it lowered to $10,000.)

Yakima's downtown is on shaky ground.  The core is looking pretty good and businesses are moving in.  But move just a few blocks in most directions and you can find the problem areas.  (No amount of money is going to improve these areas... well, unless you hire a lot more police to crack down on the gang crimes.)  I do think there is a need for the Downtown Improvement District.  But how about getting rid of the paid 'administrative staff' and instead install a board of volunteers from local affected businesses.  Put the money on the ground where it belongs. 

Pechtel Not Fit For Yakima City Council

Regardless of what a person thinks of Rick Ensey, there is no way an intelligent person could vote for George Pechtel.

Only one issue, and it has been raised several times:  Taxes!

Let's take him at his word that he couldn't afford to pay his taxes and felt his other obligations were more important.

But if you are running for an elected position, (especially for the City Council in which you owe taxes in that city), you need to have your house in order.  That means not being delinquent in taxes.

This shows a serious lack of good judgement... and isn't it good judgement you expect from your elected representatives?

And honestly, doesn't it seem a little fishy the taxes were paid just as soon as it became a news item.  What are people supposed to think....