Tuesday, February 7, 2012 @ 12:18pm

New podcast: 140 seconds on social media

What's your motivation for being on Twitter? It has to be something beyond, "Because the boss says I have to be."

Listen here

Tuesday, February 7, 2012 @ 7:56am

Audio: Josh Powell's voicemail message to his brother

ABC News has obtained a voicemail they say was the last message Josh Powell left before he killed his two little boys and himself.

"Hello, this is Josh, I'm calling to say goodbye. I'm not able to live without my sons and I'm not able to go on anymore. I'm sorry to everyone I hurt. Goodbye."

Listen to the message

In the short 32 word voicemail, he says refers to himself "I" or "I'm" five times. Thinking only of himself.

AP Photo/file of Josh Powell at a court appearance

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Tuesday, February 7, 2012 @ 2:16am

Your Vote 2012: Jay Inslee's third revolution

Listen to this report

Between Jay Inslee's days as an economics major at the University of Washington and his election to Congress - first in 1993 in central Washington and again in 1999 representing the suburbs north and west of Seattle - he's done some unusual things.

He's driven a bulldozer in Bellevue, run jackhammers at construction sites, painted houses in Burien, waited tables in Edmonds, taught community college classes, earned a law degree from Willamette University, prosecuted drunk drivers, and represented Hanford nuclear. He's even grown alfalfa in Yakima.

That list of experiences is of value, he says, because it gives him an understanding of working-class people in our state.

He believes the middle class is slipping away in the United States and in Washington.

"We have over 300,000 good people in our state who aren't working and when that happens your revenues fall off the cliff. That's what happened in the state of Washington," says Inslee, a Democrat. "The best, most important, most fundamental thing we have to do is get people back to work."

But how?

Inslee, sitting less than a foot away from me, with piercing eyes and hands gesturing toward the window of his downtown Seattle campaign headquarters, gets fired up talking about creating more tech jobs here.

"In Seattle, I can throw a rock from here and hit the EnerG2 company, which is the leading ultra-capacitor company to help electric cars take off," says Inslee. "We need more companies like that."

We've already had two technological revolutions in our state, he says. The first revolution was in aeronautics with Boeing. The second was with computer technology, driven by Microsoft. Inslee wants to lead a third economic uprising based on clean technology.

Many clean energy companies already exist in the state. Moses Lake's REC Silicon is the world's largest manufacturer of the raw materials for solar panels and electronic industries. Spokane-based Itron has nearly 8,000 utilities worldwide relying on their technology to optimize the delivery and use of energy and water.

With the right tax incentives, other manufactures could be lured here creating more jobs for residents. He wants to close tax loopholes while giving tax breaks to start-up research companies. The cap for a company would be $4,000 per job created, up to $8 million for the state.

Inslee's clean technology proposal is part of a larger economic plan that focuses on aerospace, biotech, agriculture, small businesses, the military and information technology in Washington state.

"We are fifth per capita in the United States for technical jobs, but we're 45th per capita in the production of people to fill those jobs," he says. "We're basically filling these jobs, these tremendous well-paid jobs, with everybody else's children around the country, rather than ours. We need to reverse that."

Creating jobs is a main concern, but as governor Inslee would have to deal with other issues including same-sex marriage. Inslee supports the state's marriage equality legislation and he does not want voters to overturn it.

"I've been in a marriage of 39 years and I know the rewards of that long-term relationship and I know the rewards of the community recognizing it," says Inslee, who turns 61 this Thursday. "No politician should be allowed to deny any of my fellow citizens that right to decide who they love."

Of his competition in the Governor's race, Inslee only says he "respects all" of his opponents but "fears none" of his opponents.

Next Tuesday, a profile of Attorney General Rob McKenna who also wants to be Governor of Washington.

By Linda Thomas

Related: Your Vote 2012 Step aside men, the effort to elect more women this November

AP file photo/Kevin P. Casey from June 27, 2011 when Congressman Inslee announced his bid for governor of Washington

Monday, February 6, 2012 @ 5:59pm

Breastfeeding moms challenge Facebook

Like everyone else on Facebook, Emma Kwasnica posts pictures and videos about things that are important to her. The social media network objects to some of her photos which show breasts.

Kwasnica is a Vancouver, B.C. child birth educator who says Facebook has wrongfully removed several of her pictures and blocked her account four times for posting breastfeeding photos. She says 30 of her pictures have been flagged as inappropriate. But anyone can report a page as offensive, and then it's up to Facebook employees to decide what should or should not be allowed.

Now she's fighting Facebook with Facebook, by setting up several pages and organizing "nurse ins" at Facebook offices. There's a Facebook page titled "FB! Stop harassing Emma Kwasnica over her breastfeeding pics." Another group is, "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!"

On her page, Kwasnica claims Facebook has removed 257,000 supporters from a group petitioning the site to stop removing breastfeeding photos.

Screen grab from a breastfeeding mom's Facebook page

Facebook's policy pictures and comments posted to the site reads: You will not post content that is hateful, threatening, or pornographic; incites violence; or contains nudity or graphic or gratuitous violence."

The company released a statement to me that elaborates on their policy as it relates to this issue:

"Facebook is glad that mothers and their families – including many who work at Facebook – use our site to share their parenting experiences, including breastfeeding their children. By uploading photos, joining groups, and engaging with different organizations, these families are able to share and connect on a very important topic, and we are thrilled they are using Facebook to do so.

When it comes to uploaded photos on Facebook, the vast majority of breastfeeding photos comply with our Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, which closely mirrors the policy that governs broadcast television, and which places limitations on nudity due to the presence of minors on our site. On some occasions, breastfeeding photos contain nudity – for example an exposed breast that is not being used for feeding – and therefore violate our terms. When such photos are reported to us and are found to violate our policies, the person who posted the photo is contacted, and the photos are removed. Our policies strive to fit the needs of a diverse community while respecting everyone’s interest in sharing content that is important to them, including experiences related to breastfeeding.

It is important to note that any breastfeeding photos that are removed – whether inappropriately or inaccordance with our policies – are only done so after being brought to our attention by other Facebook users who report them as violations and subsequently reviewed by Facebook.

Facebook receives hundreds of thousands of reports every week, and as you might expect, occasionally we make a mistake and remove a piece of content we shouldn't. When this happens, we work quickly to address it by apologizing to the people affected and making any necessary changes to our processes to ensure the same type of mistakes do not continue to be made. We encourage people to re-upload the photos they believe were removed in error."

By Linda Thomas

Monday, February 6, 2012 @ 9:21am

Sheriff: 'It is inappropriate to blame everyone'

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor didn't soften his words when asked about the murders of two young boys and the suicide of their father Josh Powell. He said the case wasn't a tragedy it was "an act of pure evil."

I asked Sheriff Pastor to expand on that. Here is what he wrote:

Your colleagues sometimes characterize me as showing some emotion when I am interviewed regarding such incidents. I do show emotion. And that emotion is anger.

You and your colleagues saw it when five children were murdered by their father in Orting three years ago April. You saw it at the end of November 2009 when four Lakewood officers were murdered in Parkland and we investigated the murders. You saw it when my Deputy, Kent Mundell was mortally wounded near Eatonville three weeks later. And you saw it in Graham [when Josh Powell blew up his house killing his two young children and himself].

I don't like the word "tragedy" since I think the word sanitizes the reality of what we see on the ground in a crime scene. It glosses over things and makes things easier to dismiss.

These things should not be dismissed. They should be faced straight on and called for what they are: horrible acts of murder.

And we should be morally outraged when such things take place. I know that my words may not sound politically correct but I believe that they describe what acts of murder do to families and communities. There is a terrible ripple effect of acts like this.

Now, don't get me wrong. Our righteous anger cannot and should not get in the way of doing a thorough and accurate investigation and keeping an open mind with regard to determining who committed the act. We may be angry but we keep that in check as we work the case through the legal system. We cannot afford to do otherwise.

But the act, itself, deserves our condemnation.

With regard to evil, I believe that it exists and we saw an example of it perpetrated today. It is very hard to come to grips with. And most people can't come to grips. First, because, thank goodness, they seldom encounter it, and secondly, because, thank goodness, most people are decent moral people whose heart and whose character do not lead them in that direction.

People don't know how to cope with evil because they themselves are on the other end of the moral spectrum.

Our moral sense demands that we stop and take notice when one person does something especially horrible to another person. Moral people recognize such acts for what they are. And it angers them. It is appropriate that they call it out for what it is. It is inappropriate to be too quick to make excuses for such acts. It is inappropriate to blame everyone and everything but the one who committed the act.

If we fail to recognize that there are are bright moral lines regarding acts like the one we saw today and if we fail to stand on the right side of those lines, then our own silence and our own reserve undermines the moral character of the community.

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor

Pierce County Sheriff Paul Pastor speaks to the news media with detective Ed Troyer behind him after the bodies of Josh Powell and his two sons were found inside Powell's home. Powell killed his the boys, ages 5 and 7, and himself. AP Photo/John Froschauer.

By Linda Thomas

Monday, February 6, 2012 @ 2:07am

Forget Tiger Mom, French moms are superior

Despite all our assumptions about the French, they might have a better understanding of how to raise children than we do in the U.S.

In politics, the French are often stereotyped as arrogant, unreliable and rude. They supposedly don't like anyone who is not French, and that means they don't like Americans. In reality, we could learn something from French parents.

Pamela Druckerman, an American author and mother of three, lived in France and found her self "struggling to control her toddler in a posh restaurant while small French children around her sat still, ate with cutlery and left their parents to chat calmly to each other." How many meals have you had with young kids with the only strategy beign to scarf your food down quickly before the little ones have a meltdown?

While Druckerman's flat in Paris was overrun by toys that were meant to occupy her children so she could get something done during the day, French moms seemed to have tidy homes with no baskets of books and buckets of blocks. Meals were different too. Druckerman's children ate the usual mac and cheese and finger foods, while French children were trying hearts of palm and tomato salad.

Something was obviously different between American and French parents. But what? Her book, "Bringing Up Bebe: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting ," out Tuesday, explores the differences between parents over there and here.

Photo: Screen grab from WSJ video of Druckerman talking about French parenting.

She found the French teach their children to be patient. Babies are not picked up when they start to cry. They're expected to wait until parents have finished a conversation before getting their attention. Many American parents think a "cry it out" approach is too mean, and might scar their children later in life. Druckerman says French babies she met slept through the night from two or three months old.

The French have a less child-centered approach, in which the adult’s needs at least as important as those of the child, she says. Parenting is just one part of a French mother’s life, not something that's all-consuming. French parents are less likely to follow their toddlers' every steps around a park or playground. No one would mistake them for helicopter parents, hovering over their kids.

Druckerman also points out, the French have public services that help with raising children. Parents there don't have to pay for pre-school, worry about health insurance or save for college. Many get monthly cash allotments wired directly into their bank accounts just for having kids.

The early buzz about how the French raise their children, is reminiscent of the "Tiger Mom" craze from a year ago when author Amy Chua described her strict parenting technique in "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother." While she was criticized for calling her daughters names, placing a high priority on grades, and not letting the girls socialize, Chua told the Ross and Burbank show that book wasn't meant as a "how to guide" for parenting.

By Linda Thomas

Sunday, February 5, 2012 @ 12:10pm

I fell in love again this weekend

Our Seahawks aren't playing in the Super Bowl, our Mariners have another rebuilding year ahead, we don't have the swiftest transportation system, the state and most of its cities have major budget problems too. But, man, it's beautiful here.

I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. I posted one photo on my Facebook page, and soon had friends posting their shots from around the Northwest this beautiful weekend.

Jason Neuerburg's double exposure shot of the Olympic Mountains, from Golden Gardens

By Robert Cvancara

Dan Whittle, North Whidbey Island

Burrows Bay, by Dan Whittle

Mount Baker, Bruce Hawick

Newcastle Golf Club, Dave Barksdale

Bellevue's view of Seattle, by Scott Harder

You know those things I said about you a few weeks ago Seattle, when it was snowy, icy and we all had trouble getting around? I'm sorry. Can we forget that and move on? It wasn't you, it was me. You're perfect Pacific Northwest, don't change a thing.

By Linda Thomas

Saturday, February 4, 2012 @ 8:35am

Olympia student video was made for 'laughs'

A video showing Olympia High School students stumped by the most basic questions about politics, current events and geography was edited to make students laugh. It's not an accurate reflection of students' intelligence, according to the video creators.

The two students who shot the video now admit it was heavily edited to include only a few correct answers, with the majority being silly answers they thought would be entertaining.

Problem is, the video was picked up by national websites, including the Huffington Post, and it made the school look bad.

The video, shot at Olympia High School, features classmates struggling to answer basic civics questions.

Here's an example of a question and answer exchange. When classmates were asked to name the Vice President of the United States, some replies included, "George Bush," "The bald guy - Clinton, right?" and "I don't know, somebody - bin Laden."

The video appears to show how poor the education system is, but it doesn't reflect the reality at Olympia High. The school, with about 1,700 students, has high test scores. 92 percent of 10th graders passed the state reading test last year, 95 percent passed the writing test, and 72 percent passed science. Those test scores are on par with Bellevue High School and other high-achieving schools.

Olympia High School is in the top 5 percent of schools in the state. So why did the students in the video look so dumb? Many didn't even know Olympia was the capital.

Olympia High School juniors Austin Oberbillig and Evan Ricks say they edited the video to get laughs around the school, and some students were trying to be funny by coming up with absurd answers.

They said in a statement, the video is not a fair representation of the student body:

"The video that we made as a school project has received a lot of unexpected media attention, and has been co-opted into an ongoing political debate that has become quite volatile. It should be known that we filmed for several hours, during which time many students gave correct responses; the film represents a short segment of the most entertaining answers. The bottom line is that we made the video to get a few laughs around our school, and it turned into something bigger. It was not our intent to polarize people, set off a firestorm, or get people to point fingers. Having said that, people will take from it what they will. We want to continue our work as student journalists in a productive manner."

The "Lunch Scholars" video has had more than half a million views on YouTube.

Photo: Screen grab of student Austin Oberbillig, who says he's learned a lesson from this experience.

By Linda Thomas