Business as usual on climate change
Keep supporting our local healthcare providers
I’m writing to applaud and support Dr. Niran AlAgba’s recent column for the Sun, “Annual fees may be the way local docs survive.” She focuses specifically on Olympic Internal Medicine, one of the few independent medical practices still operating in Kitsap County, and states that “now nearly every independent practice must charge a subscription fee in order to stay in business. There is simply no other way to keep going.”
I have been a patient of Dr. Frederick Dore’s at Olympic Internal Medicine for 15 years and have nothing but praise for him and for the practice as a whole. Dr. Dore is a knowledgeable, thorough, and sensitive physician who knows and cares about his patients and spends time to talk with them. I never feel rushed during an appointment, and I always feel listened to and heard. I’m sure it has been a very difficult decision for him and his partners in the practice to move to a membership-based model, charging patients an annual $250 fee, but as Dr. Al-Agba stated in her column, “there is simply no other way to keep going.”
I thank Dr. Al-Agba for her column and sincerely hope that current patients of Olympic Internal Medicine will continue receiving their care there while others may consider switching their medical care to this long-standing and excellent practice.
Borrowing a final quote from Dr. Al-Agba, “Private practices, like Olympic Internal Medicine, serve patients, not shareholders.”
A ferry system headed for fewer boats, and less service
Washington State Ferries (WSF) says it’s spending $150 million to convert its three Jumbo II class ferries to hybrid-electric power. This is a “green” priority that will end up shrinking the size of its fleet and its service.
RCW 47.60.340 requires WSF to report on the material condition of its vessels. In its last two reports WSF said: “Preservation is prioritized over improvement.” Not true. The reality is (in its own words) a “persistent under-investment in vessel preservation over several decades.” Decades? That’s zero priority.
“Green” hybrid-electric power is a $150 million “improvement.” Yet yearly WSF spends a fraction of what’s needed for preservation such that its “preservation backlog” (money “not allocated”) climbed from $205.8 million in 2019 to $269.7 million in 2022. WSF says preservation backlog is a “good indicator” of whether or not its boats are in a “State of Good Repair.” In 2022 just 9 of its 21 boats were.
The ferries Hyak and Elwha were decommissioned early because their “preservation backlogs” became too insurmountable. As no discretionary (preservation) funding is going to Tillikum, Yakima or Kaleetan. WSF says “unforeseen deficiencies (may) necessitate (their) removal from service.” WSF has no new boats in sight until 2027 (if then). Boats removed from service for “unforeseen maintenance” is increasing (Chelan, Kaleetan, Yakima, Issaquah, Wenatchee).
The trend? Less boats, less “reliable” service. But it’ll be “green.” Whoopee!
I was appalled at the Republican candidates on the debate stage last week, denying that climate change is human caused. So what then is their explanation, when the climate is changing 10,000 times faster than any other time in geologic history? Even more important, why are they not putting forth solutions for solving it?
The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is an international coalition of the best minds in science who have studied climate change intensely and leave us no doubt we must act now and not ignore the issue. Our remaining “carbon budget” to decarbonize everything from manufacturing to our way of life has only a few years remaining, so there must be no delay to action. Their “business as usual” approach is a promiscuous squandering of this precious and rapidly dwindling budget.
These Republican candidates, do they have an alternate IPCC report they can point to that proves there is no such threat? Their lies threaten our very survival as a species. We are already witnessing the sixth mass extinction in the history of the world. None of these people deserve to be elected. The Republicans of decades ago, of which I was one, would not have stood for such absurdity. We cannot solve a crisis without treating it like a crisis…and they are not.
Biden’s promises got him elected, but left voters empty-handed
The people with student loans have been promised debt forgiveness by Joe Biden. You have been lied to and used. The promise was given to get your vote to help him win the election. The same promise was given during the mid terms to get your vote! And now he is ramping up the with the same promise, for the next election. To get your vote!
This time he is blaming the Republicans and the Supreme Court for not being able to fulfill his promise. All to get your vote. The Supreme Court did its job, per the constitution. And Congress has the purse strings, not the President. This was even clarified by Nancy Pelosi when she was Speaker of the House. The Republicans have the majority now, so they control the purse strings.
You have been used and abused just to get your vote. If he really wanted to forgive your debt he would have done it right after winning the election! That was when he would have had all the votes he needed to fulfill the promise he made.