Letters to the Editor: November 20 - 26, 2014

Posted

The Editor:

Thank you, Darin Detwiller, for revisiting your E. coli tragedy. You understand the dangers of food-borne pathogens and physical contact with pathogens. People need to understand how healthcare coverage prevents pathogens from spreading and that the uninsured need to gain access to care before other people are infected.

Pending in the legislature this year will be a bill that could save millions of dollars for the state and secure healthcare for all, better protecting us from human-spread pathogens and health problems. Washington Health Security Trust (WHST) will save medical insurance costs paid to all employees.

The WHST care system is estimated to have an administrative overhead of 2–4 percent of medical delivery costs. The average insurance company requires 15 to 20 percent for overhead. WHST savings would be huge for the whole state.

Our current for-profit medical care keeps our population of under-insured and uninsured service workers – food handlers, daycare providers, and food processors – from the care they need. My neighbor’s pathogen becomes my pathogen and one worker’s Hepatitis C can infect many. One sick child’s E. coli can be lethal to another.

I support the passage of WHST in the hope that we can improve the quality of our health and community safety. Ask your legislator to co-sign this bill in the legislature.

Donna Starr

Blaine

The Editor:

The Blaine School District would like to invite performers from the Blaine community: you, your friends, your music group, family, church choir, etc. to represent the community and perform on one of our two Blaine schools community holiday concerts held in the Performing Arts Center (PAC) during December.

The high school community concert is Thursday, December 11 and the middle school concert will be Tuesday, December 16. Both concerts begin at 7 p.m. Please limit your selections to no more than two songs or 12 minutes of performance time, including setup.

If you would like to participate, please contact Andy Harmening, Blaine schools choir director, as soon as possible at 332-8226, ext. 1223 or email aharmening@blainesd.org. Three community performance spots are open for each concert. You will need to provide the name of the group and director/performer, the title and composer/arranger of the song or songs. If needed, time will be available before the concert day to do a dress rehearsal or sound check in the PAC.

Andy Harmening, Choral director

Blaine School District

The Editor:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Jonathan Gruber was one of the primary authors of Obamacare and was hired by the administration to consult on the bill while providing the media with supposedly independent assessments of the law. For his efforts, he was paid approximately $400,000 of taxpayer money.

As of this writing, three videos have surfaced showing him describe how the law was intentionally crafted to hide the true nature, effects and costs of Obamacare. He says a “lack of transparency” was needed and “the stupidity of the American voter … was really critical for the thing to pass.”

He makes the explicit admission that the law was designed in such a way to avoid a congressional budget office (CBO) score that would have tanked the bill. Basically, the Democrats who wrote the bill knowingly gamed the CBO process.

His statement clearly shows he thinks it’s acceptable to lie if it bolsters a policy he favors. Gruber may believe American voters are stupid, but he was the one who was dumb enough to admit his sins on camera, on at least three different occasions.

After this administration’s scandals involving Benghazi, Operation Fast and Furious, the IRA, AP phone record, the VA, the Solyndra debacle, the NSA and voter intimidation to name a few, this type of dishonorable, arrogant behavior shouldn’t really surprise anyone.

Now Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats claim they don’t even know Gruber, which, surprise, other videos prove is yet another lie. It seems anyone still supporting these people should be ashamed.

Gordon Bennett

Custer

The Editor:

As we embrace this season of thankfulness, I want to say how grateful I am to live in the beautiful bayside community of Birch Bay and for all the amazing natural features we enjoy here.

I am opposed to the Gateway Pacific coal terminal because I do not trust the promises of SSA Marine/PIT, BNSF and Peabody Energy, who have historically proven their primary concern is their financial survival and growth. Because money is first for them, jobs, employees, safety and this beautiful area that we call home will always take a back seat.

We cannot afford the pain of watching what these

corporations will call the “accidental” destruction and degradation caused to our beaches, forested lands, farms, fishing, hunting, recreation and drinking water. It will enrage us to hear them say the source for the “accidents” cannot be identified and they are not at fault.

We will curse ourselves for letting them despoil our treasured resources, lives and lifestyle here while they decrease the number of jobs they offer at every opportunity because they implement technologies that allow them to do the work more cheaply than paying for human workers.

‘Tis the season to be thankful for our human friends, neighbors, families, other living creatures and lands and waters that help us thrive.

SSA Marine, BNSF and Peabody Energy are not our families, neighbors and friends and will rid themselves of as many humans and our earth of as many resources they possibly can in order for their companies to make as much money as they possibly can.

Let’s do all we can to forever remain thankful their destructive project is not approved.

Dena Jensen

Birch Bay

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