Okay, I can't resist;

So which is it? The article says Bruce is a part time resident of the region. So presumably he considers his ski resort area interests rather than acting, his "Moonlighting" or is it (now?) the other way around?

Maybe Cybill Shepherd can tell us? Or some Team of Private Eyes perhaps...

...or maybe just another Punster.

Perhaps a shift change at KOMO; "hey, sorry, gotta run. This story will simply have to wait..."

So much for showing respect for the deceased?

Or maybe the person in charge of posting tonight/ this story, had their own emergency?

Huge Boulder Detonated, huh?! Now THAT sure got my attention.

Although I can't help but wonder, if our DOT found a boulder they could detonate, wouldn't the DoD (Department of Defense) be VERY interested? Certainly Iran would be, right?! But there would likely be export restrictions, I suppose.

...I mean, heck, why build bombs if Washington State has found a "rich vein" of ready-made explosives, straight out of a mountain side! And what better luck than right above a pretty major highway so transportation issues virtually nil. Incredible; almost as good as "Manna from heaven," although many would say, even better since it can do SO much more than bread alone can. And just when our Governor needs something like that, to help her balance the budget; something TRULY divine! VERY cool.

Hey, I even looked the word up to MAKE sure I properly recalled what the word (detonate) actually meant and how it should be used and from what I found, it sure seems my joking still works.

Thanks for the chuckle KOMO!

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detonation & note excerpt:
"Detonations can be produced by explosives, reactive gaseous mixtures, certain dusts and aerosols."

The country is in a Surly Mood; that is, "We the People." And it is cutting across ALL political and socio-economic strata. This is SO increasingly evident, I've even made a point of verifying how "very real and growing" it is, with a large number of people. These people include some long standing leaders from all across the political spectra, whether at the State or National levels. Virtually all agree.

The way things had been going even before the current mess, it is likely this would have happened at some point anyway. That is, the reasons were already mounting without voters actually STUDYING major laws like the GLB Act, which, as usual end up passed by BOTH parties to curry Payola Favor for Special Interest and with GLB, the finance industry specifically (look it up; NO way can ANY legislator say it was about helping "the voters!" Financial Information Privacy Protection was, but that was just sugar coating a really BAD pill given us, not unlike Big Tobacco secretly putting nicotine into cigarettes).

What is most tragic is, this "selling out to Special Interests" has effectively caused the current GLOBAL meltdown. Read THAT one again!

...the GLB Act was simply one of the key contributors that added to the list of Government moves the last two decades that together, crafted a Perfect Storm of Unintended Consequences which actually CREATED the sub prime and mortgage-backed securities, GLOBAL economic meltdown. There really is no other way to say it. Wall Street is to blame no more than "our" Congress, when you get right down to it and in many ways, you can actually lay far more blame at the feet of "our" elected officials. Believe me; after extensive study of my own, I've run these contentions by a broad range of studied professionals again from all political spectra, including some with decades of Washington, DC experience and they cannot disagree.

At the root of the problem are two "simple" facts;

1). We are run by what is, in effect, a Two Party "Duopoly." Look up the Reform Party and Presidential Debates in wikipedia, when Ross Perot ran for President. The most telling facts are the League of Women Voters resigning their running the Presidential Debates stating they didn't want to be part of "...perpetrating a fraud on the American People...," and Perot securing 19% of the popular vote but not a SINGLE electoral college vote. Think about THAT a moment.

Simply stated, if the Two Party Duopolists did NOT have effective legal sanctions much like churches, unions and cults, they'd be busted under RICO for racketeering and antitrust. Look up the fact BOTH parties sued Secretary of State Sam Reed and Attorney General Rob McKenna here in Washington State over THEIR (the "Duopolists") controlling how we voters vote! Sam and Rob are trying to protect the voters' interests in that one; no question about it and think about this one...the US Supreme Court agrees!

The electoral college system needs to be reformed to allow at least ONE other party to have meaningful participation in key elections plus that reform needs to be extended everywhere else. To be most representative of the "rest of the country" and also most potent, this "one other party" WILL be a National Coalition Party; the party where ALL others come together, whether disenchanted Democrat, Republican, Libertarian, Green, Independent, Socialist...whomever...others who feel REAL change must FINALLY be made to happen. Voting in the same scoundrels over and over and expecting REAL change from them, is much like Einstein's Insanity Test; doing the same thing repeatedly while expecting a different result.

2). Our Campaign Finance laws need DRAMATICALLY reformed, once and for all. It has simply become DANGEROUSLY (!) expensive for most major races and increasingly, "lesser ones" besides. So "We the People" giving an average of $25 to $50 checks for the candidates we care most about, doesn't come even close to paying the freight. Consequently, "our" elected officials find these realities dictate what can only be characterized as Payola; ask anyone who has lived and worked in Washington, DC especially, for any period of time and if honest, they will admit to this. You can also do some searches and will find that a LOT of the text of many if not most bills, is actually written by the staff of the 600 registered lobbyists PER Congressman or might as well have been; think about THAT a moment, too.

There's more but the above starts to make the case for a genuinely New Way, while also suggesting a path. A path that really could work. It can also be argued that, it is a path which MUST work; the alternatives just are NOT very pretty, to say the least.

MelindaJoGray: I am "afflicted" with what some might call a "Dickens-like" set of fingers. If they are not playing a piano (I compose on the fly) and I make the mistake of placing them on a PC keyboard instead, they can Run Amok spraying far too many words far too fast. Sometimes, to far too many places. Best guess is it comes from being somewhat "force fed" to read the Classics, from a very young age. I've also been told, it could simply mean I was born a few centuries "late!"

In any case, thank you for your kind words; much like tossing a smile to someone in hopes they might toss one back, each of us have far more power than we (typically) realize, to help encourage change. I am glad my words and despite so many, help capture your own feelings.

I can only imagine how many other such "shared tragedies" SO many other families and circles of friends are and will be experiencing from this event. I recall a good friend and the story of his brother literally watching the first plane fly into the first Twin Tower; his brother called my friend first about it...they were so VERY close. While on the phone immediately after with his wife, the phone went dead. My friend and their family and ALL their friends, hoped and prayed for days, learning that yes, his brother HAD managed to through sheer luck, choose the exact right emergency exit to go down as the others had quickly been blocked from the carnage BELOW the level of his office, by the impact of the second plane in the second tower.

...many hundreds of people ended up in various hospitals and it took more days for loved ones to find many of those who managed to escape the unspeakable devastation.

It was some days even later that we learned, my friend's brother had indeed been following his coworkers who had managed to get out, only to be one of those killed on the ground by the falling debris. The dust clouds blocked all vision to mere inches away.

The waiting and not knowing can be as much torture as it ever comes in this life.

Meanwhile, the people of our Nation are shown as we are; some of the most compassionate people on the planet. A huge proportion of the roughly 45,000 Americans in Haiti at the time of the quake were aid workers and others dedicating their energies and often, their lives, to help ease the unimaginable strains of the most impoverished country and people, in our hemisphere. Perhaps through this tragedy, our media will also be sure and place their spotlight on the Good of our Country and our Countrymen; people we can all stand proud for. It has been far too many years of a once Proud Nation being brought to its knees by media and leadership focusing only on our mistakes or sins, or otherwise abusing for "unHoly" gain, our power and influence. It has been far too long since we could proudly state we Love this Country despite its mistakes and shortcomings, naturally while also striving to improve it as we all should be. It has been far too long that stating such pride in loving this country, subjected you to ridicule or arguably worse; it has been politically INCORRECT to admit being a Patriot and this is one key aspect of the culture that has been bringing this country down.

But today, we see three US Presidents Standing United. Just as we should all stand together in support of the massive efforts to help Haiti. But we should also feel proud of having the strongest military in the world that, as Time just published, is the only military in the world that can do what it is currently doing, to anywhere near the extent that we are doing so. We should also stand proud at the literally HUNDREDS of thousands if not millions of Americans like those written of here in this article, who have and continue to work to ease suffering, pain and impoverishment, both in Haiti and countless other nations around this ever-smaller globe.

Our schools need to focus on these facts and realities and less on the mistakes and damage "we" have caused. We need more balance; we mustn't look past our mistakes but we also mustn't dwell on them.

Germany after WWI was a Broken Nation and most agree they brought this on themselves. But every rationed mind also knows the War Reparations went overboard and set Germany up to be ripe for a rebuilding of their Nation's Pride, by a Madman. Our Countrymen here are in a surly mood and I've confirmed agreement with this assessment from a very broad and growing base of thought leaders from all across the political spectrum.

...perhaps this horrible event can help to galvanize a return to balance and improved health and outlook, of our own country and amongst ALL our leadership in both media and government, education and more. There is no question just as this event and our response thus far shows, we have untold power as a Nation and a People, to do SO much good in this world.

We should take this to heart because knowing and OWNING this, can surely help heal many of our own, (usually myopic and petty) "internal bickering" wounds. Perhaps such an awakening can then help enable and even "power" our working together from all across the political spectra toward a more positive future for the world and in doing so, building to a better future for our country and many generations to follow, here and everywhere.

Dredd57: this is one good question to which I would add;

1). Without looking at how much money the Federal government secures from WA State businesses and taxpayers, it really isn't quite so simple. Put simply; the money starts locally and ends up in "the other Washington" where, quite frankly, Special Interests driving "Payola" dwarfs what happens at ANY state level. Not to say any of it is good; it is about scale.

2). The underlying irresponsible, ever-increasing, over-spending ways, that another reader calls out in an earlier post here, is at the root of the problem. Which you are clearly and accurately calling out by your own post.

3). Back to "the other Washington." Political back-scratching and "cover" is a huge reality; guess why Seattle/ Washington State saw such a relatively "huge" number of people, "plucked" from our region into very high ranking Cabinet and Administration roles? Our region played a huge part to paying the Obama Campaign Freight Train; it was a train because of the record volumes of cash generated, with VERY "Special Thanks" due to "cunning use" of online donation systems.

In any case, he is our President now and there is a crisis of, as Clinton said, "Biblical" proportions in Haiti so it isn't the time to calling out facts that could be read by some as divisive.

Finally for now, if all State workers were to take a temporary 5%, give or take, pay reduction, that would cover the shortfall. The State could work with the WA State Investment Board (WSIB) and more notably, the major finance houses where much of the WSIB funds are managed, coordinating finance guarantees, so state workers who could not afford this cut, could be given VERY low interest loans. These temporary reductions could then be paid back later over time or placed into State retirement funds over an even longer period, while also reimbursing some or all of the interest charges, state workers incurred in event they can't afford the cuts hence need loans against the Deferred Salaries.

Or rather, a typical scenario for divorce after.

You do mean "never showered DURING the first date, rather than, never showered BEFORE a first date since..." then, right?!

Sorry, couldn't resist; you could say I "smelled an opportunity" for further silliness which seems a big theme with many of our posts here.

Are you kidding?!

...and if not, plus with no offense meant; dare I ask who was blind? Or does that explain the "went sour" part?