When Did Elections Become So Unimportant?

One more quick look around the websites of the 4 major TV stations across New Mexico before I begin...Nope not a mention anywhere of any election results or even an election for that matter, save for a 1/2 paragraph blurb on the New Mexico Fox channel website. In fact, minus the useless and incredibly vague scroll bar across the bottom of Channel 4's broadcast during the 8 o'clock hour, there wasn't even a peep about the STATEWIDE round of elections going on today, until the various evening news broadcasts began.

First on the scene at 9pm was the Fox channel who dedicated a whopping 3 minutes at the top of their show to a few scattered results of assumed importance. I'm sure the people in the 3 or 4 areas that they mentioned felt important, but as I don't live in any of those areas they meant squat to me. SO off I go to the website, confident that at least now after they have been able to report some of the results that some of that information, and hopefully more would be reflected on their website....I would be wrong.

I then begin flipping back and forth between the show I want to watch and the Fox channel thinking surely they will mention more results throughout the hour...again I would be wrong, but it is now the 10 o'clock hour and the rest of the news broadcasts are coming on. Results on the races around the state are mentioned in various amounts of detail and more assumed importance, but I am not worried since surely NOW there must be some information on at least one of the 4 stations websites...once again I am wrong.

In fact as I sit here at the computer now at just past 10:30pm and over 30 minutes past the time each of the stations has reported election results, I have yet to see one mention of any of them, or even the fact that there was an election today on any of their websites. (save the previously mentioned 1/2 paragraph blurb on the local Fox channel's website)
In their defense, I was able to find a link on all of the stations websites, with varying degrees of difficulty, to the Secretary of State's election information page. However, from the time I began to check around 7pm to approximately 10pm it only led to a "Page could not be displayed" error page. Shortly after 10pm there was a page available, but only referencing the June 2006 primary and various other voting information.

So my questions is the same as the title of this article...When Did Elections Become So Unimportant? After all, are these not the future Governor's, Senators, Members of Congress and other various higher positions of authority in the state we could be electing into office? Surely, the residents voting for the officials that will interact with them on an almost daily basis deserve to have the same level of coverage as an election for an offical who they may never meet in person in their lifetime? (and I'm not just talking about Presidential candidates here)

A brief moment as another screen I have open on my computer flashes that a webpage has been updated...Could it be actual results? I'm excited as one of the news story headlines now references the statewide elections, but my excitement is wasted as the 'full story' version reveals a similarly useless 1/2 paragraph which I will quote for you below...

**As seen on TheNewMexicoChannel.com**

Voters Head To Polls In Several Cities
POSTED: 9:38 am MST March 7, 2006 (My computer read approx. 10:40pm when I was notified of the update, but will give them the benefit of the doubt here)

There are mayoral elections Tuesday in Rio Rancho and Santa Fe as well as in several other cities.

There is no election in Albuquerque on Tuesday.

Polling places in areas where elections are taking place will be open 7 a.m.- 7 p.m.

**End of story**
(The Fox Channel story previously mentioned was not much better, but did at least mention a couple of the candidates names)

I'm not sure you can even call that a story, but then I'm not a journalist by trade.

It is entirely likely that I could contact each of the television stations and ask them why they felt the elections were so unimportant and would most likely get some seemingly heartfelt apology and a promise to do better next time, or may even be told where to stick my opinion. I will be sending a letter to each of the stations anyway, but anything said now does not excuse the fact that a state as small in population as New Mexico has 4 major news networks who don't respect their own viewers enough to give them the information that could potentialy change their lives.

As I close this off, it is 11:15pm and I see that KOB-TV, Channel 4, now has results for "most of the larger races" (their words and complete with number typos/errors), TheNewMexicoChannel.com KOAT Channel 7 has now taken down the headline previously quoted, KRQE Channel 13 still has no mention of the election at all, and KASA Fox Channel 2 has also apparently taken down the short story they had posted on their website. Freedom of the press is a wonderful thing...If it is actually used that is.

The Real Reason for Alternative Fuel Sources

The debates are seemingly endless these days on the reasons we should be looking for ways to use alternative sources of fuel. It occurred to me recently though, that there is an even more important reason, that being the HUMAN cost. The steady and high cost to run your vehicle and heat your house, are certainly spurring public opinon in this direction, but stop for a moment and think of just how many people's lives are lost each year in attaining the traditional sources of fuel we use to today.

It goes without saying that the mining industry loses it's share of workers each year, which can apparently be attributed to negligence by the mine owners in many cases. While mining deaths in general seem to be at their lowest levels in many years, safety issues and the bottom line still seem to be butting heads. The oil industry is yet another dangerous fuel source industry where people are lost. Many workers have lost their lives in the various methods used to extract oil from the places it resides. One could argue that all of the soldiers who have died during the conflict in Iraq could be included in this group, but that is for another time.

The underlying reason behind these deaths, both for the worker and the companies that employ them, is money. This is no big secret as mines and oil companies rake in huge profits, although the oil industry is the clear winner, and new workers are lured in by high wages which supposedly compensate for the dangerous conditions. How many times though have you heard of a disastrous Solar panel catastrophe or a horrible Wind generator accident? I would venture a guess that most of you would say none. I'm sure there are accidents in every job field each year, just not with the same frequency or severity.

It is possible when considering the Ethanol fuel source as an alternative, one could include farming accidents in the mix, but even there the number of incidents are smaller and less severe. The point here is that above ground, clean energy would also appear to be safer to produce. Electricity, as it relates to a fuel source would also appear to be safe, although the electric industry has it's share of deaths each year as well.

With the current government administration now focusing on clean energy, if only to avoid war with other countries, the end result should be a safer environment for energy workers in the future. As these jobs become safer, their respective salaries may also go down, but alive with a few less dollars in their pocket is most likely something many would prefer over the alternative.

Forced Apology - The Bode Miller Story

Let me start out with a clear statment here. I DO NOT condone the actions taken by Bode Miller, however...

For the Olympic athlete fans out there, Bode Miller is a household word, but to those of you who aren't, this story may have passed you by. Recently, Olympic Skier Bode (pronounced Bodee) Miller was profiled on the CBS television show '60 Minutes'. During this interview he was asked questions about his lifestyle, including drinking and partying which he is known to take part in.

Keep in mind that he was ASKED these questions by the interviewer and answered them honestly. This apparently prompted outrage within the various associations involved in professional skiing where Mr. Miller competes, ultimately ending with what can only be considered a forced apology to the public for the statements he made. So what's the problem here?

The problem is that these were questions he was asked directly by the interviewer and which he answered honestly. No doubt, Mr. Miller could have chosen to give some none-of-your-business type response or maybe even a political style 'non-answer' answer, but he did not. Bode Miller answered honestly and openly the questions posed to him and for this he has to apologize? What sort of example is this to other athletes who are interviewed or asked questions in the future, publicly or privately?

If this was as serious an issue as the powers that be in skiing are making it out to be, than why did nobody go to Mr. Miller directly and say, "Hey, you need to straighten up..." This is really just the equivalent of the skiing world saying, "Go ahead and do what you want on your own time, just don't tell anyone about it, because it will embarrass us."

In hindsight, perhaps Mr. Miller should have declined the interview, as I'm sure he knew he would be asked about his lifestyle. Whatever the right thing to do would have been, the wrong thing to do is punish someone for answering questions honestly. Punish the actions sure, but if that was the goal in this case, it should have been done while it was happening, not only after it was brought into the public eye. Honestly, nobody in the various skiing associations knew he partied and drank? Give me a break.

Sure I was appalled when I heard that Bode Miller had competed while still intoxicated, but nobody noticed and said "Give me your Skis"? Sure they noticed, but the paying public came to see Mr. Miller ski so they let him. At the end of the day, this was simply a matter of public embarrassment and someone being the scapegoat for it. Hopefully, Mr. Miller will compete responsibly from this point on and perhaps the skiing associations will become a little more proactive with their competitors now.

Resolving to Change is Just the First Step

Have you made your New Year's resolution yet? Many people take this time of year to make decisions about their life and how it could be better. It must have something to do with the whole idea of starting fresh at the beginning of a year and the guilt for all the things done or left undone, in the past year.

Whatever the reason, people all over the world will make promises to themselves, that will be broken within days, weeks or sometimes months from now, but they will be broken in most cases. How can we stop this cycle you might ask?

The first step is to make resolutions that can be accomplished quickly. This differs somewhat from the standard goal setting techniques. However, setting short, and even easy goals and accomplishing them is only the first step. For many people, the list of resolutions goes on and on, and if they are lucky, one or two may be accomplished by the end of the year. By setting a few short term and easily completed resolutions, the person gains a set of successes that in turn build up their spirits and motivate them to do even more. This is not to say that common goal setting techniques do not work, just that people need to feel accomplishment in order to stay motivated.

Think of your standard weekend to-do list and let's say you have 10 things on it that need to be accomplished. Starting is actually the first accomplishment that many people never get past. Sometimes they look at the whole list (i.e. the goal), become overwhelmed and never even start for fear of failure, which in this case would be not getting the entire list of items completed. At the end of the day though, how would you feel if all you accomplished were two or three of those items? Most people by nature would feel guilty for not completing them all. So imagine how hard it would be to even get started the next time they attack the list?

By accomplishing even part of the list you have succeeded and herein lies the reason for most people's failure to keep resolutions. They assume failure when the whole task is not completed and failure is most definitely not a motivator, or at least not a very good one. We've all heard that you have to fail to learn how to succeed and this is true, but perception of failure or success is a key player. So back to the list again... If you sat down at the end of the day, or even the end of time you had devoted to accomplishing the tasks and had actually started AND completed even one of the items, you have succeeded.

This is now where step 2 comes in, and one most usually missed...Start Again. The phrase "If at first you don't succeed try, try again" really should be "If at first you don't accomplish everything, but did accomplish something, start again where you left off", of course in much more eloquent wording.

One definition of a resolution is, "A course of action determined or decided on", so decide on a course of action this year (your resolutions), and remember it is a journey and that the first step is getting started. If you accomplish only part of it and lose focus, stop; acknowledge your success to date and start again from there and repeat this until the journey is complete. All the best in the 2006 and may your journeys all be completed.

My Apologies to Mr. Letterman

So here we are, on the near Eve of Christmas and what should we hear? A Santa Fe woman accusing 'Late Night' television show host, David Letterman of talking to her in code through her TV, wanting her to marry him and become his co-host on the show. Not such a big deal you might think, as there are all kinds of people out there in the world, with ALL kinds of ideas of their own.

The issue here is that she actually filed for a restraining order against David Letterman, based on these, what can only be considered delusions, and it was granted. So now the question begs to be asked, who is more delusional, the woman or the judge who granted the restraining order without even a shred of proof of any wrong-doing on the part of Mr. Letterman?

Perhaps if the woman in question had a record of some questionable contact, other than the 'code talking' through her TV, or some history of contact with Mr. Letterman, the restraining order could have been granted on at least something tangible.

There is more on the story here...
http://kobtv.com/index.cfm?viewer=storyviewer&id=23369

Everyone does indeed deserve their day in court, but this is just plain laughable. The end result here will be a lasting impression of how our beloved State of New Mexico not only has questionable characters living in it, but even worse, how a member of our judicial system somehow found this person's story as credible enough for legal action.

At the very least it's a great headline for the scandal sheets..."David Letterman proposes to woman through her TV". Sorry Dave, and please don't hold this against our great state.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to ALL!

Cool Cast Radio is LIVE!

As of December 1st, 2005, our venture into the field of podcasting is up and running in the form of an online radio station broadcasting podcast content. Don't know what podcasting is? Internet Tech types have known for a long time, but you can get an full explanation here --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcasting.

While previous attempts have been made at organizing podcasts, more times than not, a good quality podcast, only lacking in exposure, will get buried deep amongst the myriad of podcasting content available through podcast directories. Itunes, Yahoo and others have developed large collections of freely available podcasts for download. The problem being, how do you decide on even just ONE that is worth downloading and then listening to?

CoolCast Radio strives to help alleviate this problem by playing this 'middle' section of podcasts within it's 24/7 streaming broadcast of podcast content. Up and coming podcasters looking to reach a new market can have their podcast inserted into the station's schedule, which can then be discovered by real-time listeners to the station. If a listener chooses, they can then download the podcast and any other podcasts from that show.

In the interest of appealing to a wider audience, the CoolCast stream broadcasts at levels low enough for even the low-end dial-up user to listen to the stream. This makes the ability to preview a podcast, that much more valuable, as downloading audio content can be very cumbersome and time consuming on even the best dial-up connection and often users on these lower end connections don't even bother to try.

As the first station of the recently formed BX Radio Network, this stands to become an innovative means to promote otherwise unknown podcasters to the online world as well as promote podcasting in general. The website also provides a Writer's Section where podcaster's and other writers can submit articles to be posted on the BX Radio website. If you would be interested in becoming a member of our podcast family or writing articles for the website, please contact Peter K Yanke at info@bxradio.net for more information.

The Minimum Wage Debate

If the additional cost to employers could be addressed properly, there probably wouldn't be anyone who would vote against the minimum wage being raised. Unfortunately that is the biggest problem with raising minimum wage. The government earns more tax dollars from the employee, the employee earns more money, but the business has to almost immediately find a way to absorb the additional cost of the wage increase.

Most of the time businesses plan for raises and implement them at an appropriate time to do so, and when they have the revenue to support it. However in this case, there is no guarantee the business can afford it. The recently proposed increase to $7.50 per hour from $5.15 per hour would mean that the average business would have to shell out an additional $94.00 a week or almost $4900.00 a year PER full-time employee. For a small company with 5 - 10 employees that is nearly 25 to 50,000 dollars a year in extra overhead for the business. How many small businesses do you now that can absorb that kind of increase?

Another consideration is the employee who has already put in their time and earned seniority at their place of work and is already earning $7.50 or more an hour. How would you feel if you had put in 2,3, 5 or however many years in a job, only to have Joe/Jane Somebody start next week at the same rate of pay you make? Shouldn't all employees be given the same increase to maintain equality? Of course, this won't be the case and in fact, my educated guess would be that people of a higher wage may even be laid off, benefits may be cut, part-time hours may be reduced for higher paid employees, etc., to allow the company the ability to pay the higher minimum wage.

For the larger companies with hundreds of employees or even thousands, it only gets worse and who really gains here anyway? Lets start with the business side of things where most businesses will be forced to raise prices for goods and services to handle the additional overhead. Then you have the consumer who now has to pay those higher prices, so are they really gaining anything? Then you have the government tax rolls who now receive increased employee taxes, increased gross receipts tax from businesses, but may end up paying even more themselves for goods and services, which translates into a higher burden being placed on the taxpayer over the long haul.

Don't get me wrong here. I have longed believed the minimum wage issue should be addressed, but what is the reasonable solution? Perhaps a gradually decreasing government subsidy over the next 5 - 10 years would help businesses absorb some of the additional cost and not place an immediate burden on their bottom line. Another way may be to gradually increase the minimum wage over the next 5 years. Maybe an increase in minimum wage isn't even needed, but rather take a look at the major industries and daily costs people have like fuel, groceries, utilities, etc., and see if they can be adjusted/controlled to make the current minimum wage actually a decent living wage?

Whatever the solution is, it is more than just a simple matter of raising the amount. The economy is such a fragile thing and the whole picture needs to be looked at before making any decision of this magnitude. The bottom line is that people generally just want to do their job well and get paid a decent wage for doing so and be able to afford to pay their bills and buy groceries. There are entreprenurial types who want more out of life, but at the end of the day, if there is food on the table and your bills are paid, what more could you ask for?