GREETINGS CONSERVATIVES!

IT’S BEEN A DIFFICULT SUMMER!

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Another September 11th has come and gone, but we haven’t forgotten the fallen. I still remember exactly where I was and exactly what I was doing. I can’t say that about last Thursday, much less a date almost 2 decades ago.

Soon thereafter I changed my major to Middle East Studies/Arabic and planned a career in the Intelligence Services — a life plan that didn’t pan out, as is often the case.

Many other life plans didn’t workout that day, and in much more profound ways. Our thoughts and prayers go with those they left behind. Our entire country was changed by that day.

So likewise, but less severely, over the last few months many lives have been uprooted by Irma, Harvey, and various fires across the Northwest. Our own state had at least two public shootings that I can think of, most recently in Spokane. This summer there were many more funerals than I am accustomed to seeing.

We hope and pray for all who are in harm’s way, and those who must struggle to piece their lives back together, whatever the reason.

County Health Care: Proposed Public Hospital District (PHD) on Orcas, SJI Lifecare Center to close, and PP Coming to Orcas

Late Friday the Sounder published a series of articles regarding health care on Orcas Island.

The generically titled “Hospital district could be on April 2018 ballot” which lays out the case for a PHD. A PHD is not a hospital, despite the name, rather a junior taxing district which can contract debt, propose taxing levies, and contract for medical services of many kinds.

A group calling itself “Our Revolution of San Juan County” had a press release published in the Sounder regarding an upcoming lecture on Sept 22 on Orcas by Linda McCarthy, the executive director of the Mt. Baker Planned Parenthood in Bellingham.

The Orcas Medical Foundation reported on their first day of operation under UW leadership.

Several letters, one by conservative Tom Ritter (of the Gentleman’s Club), one by JoEllen Moldoff, and one by Art Lange all advocate for having the establishment of a PHD on the ballot (though do not all necessarily explicitly advocate voting for it).

ON SJI, the Lifecare center is slated to close this fall.

The State AG last week sued St. Joseph Medical Center in Tacoma for “withheld charity care from tens of thousands of low-income patients since 2012.” The industry across the state is paying attention.

Because I work for PHD #1 on SJI, I want to note that I am doing my best to here reproduce the news and consolidate it. I am not taking a position on any of it.

Local and State News Digest

The letters and articles justifying the harassment we received at the fair continues. They all seem to boil down to the same line of reasoning: a laughably mild rebuke of the treatment we received proceeded by justifications for harassing us. This is hardly surprising. In any case, in addition to the ones previously published, Eric Hall on Lopez and Michael Riordan on Orcas both argued in defense of the harassment we received. Barbara Parnes guardedly stuck up for us, which we appreciate.

Barbara Parne’s letter reminded me of a Ted Talk that a friend sent my way about a friendship between a conservative and a liberal (yes, TED talks found this sufficiently original to justify inclusion).

• Best line ever: “‘Mom, we don’t know anybody who voted for Trump do we?’ and I paused, and I took a deep breath. ‘Yes, we do. The Quatramannis.’ And his response was so great: He kind of got this confused look on his face, and he said ‘But we love them!'”
• People I have known for years have shown such a similiar response, “wait, you’re a conservative?” And I’ve not exactly been undercover, I’ve been involved for years.
• In any case, most of us have many friends who are liberals, we are surrounded by them, but I think many liberals in this county honestly think conservatives don’t exist except in stories to frighten children.

A letter about the ferry issues over the summer in the Islands Weekly.

Another letter in the Islands Weekly endorsed Chris Greacen for school board on Lopez. This is quite a few letters for Lopez!

Vote counting equipment will be tested on Sept 20th. It seems this is standard in advance of an election.

OPALCO is rolling out details regarding their planned solar array. If I am reading it correctly, they plan to sell shares in the arrays to fund their placement.

On SJI, “Pear Point Road residents question plans for the connector road.” This is a subject that has received quite a bit of coverage and proven fairly controversial.

“Deputies injured at San Juan County Sheriff’s Office training” It does not sound like any lasting harm was done. Those steel targets are pretty neat, you fire at it and has a tuning fork behind it so that you hear a different chime depending where you hit it. However, there are definitely distance requirements, and they vary depending on what rounds you are using.

The Port of Friday Harbor is seriously considering buying Jensen Boat Yard.

“The San Juan County Department of Community Development will be hosting events to solicit public input on the County’s Comprehensive Plan vision, values, and priorities.”

Seattle’s mayor stepped down after another accusation of rape, this on from a cousin.

Last, but not least: “Spokane-area school shooting: A gun jams, and a student tries to help,” also on ABC here.

A friend sent this to me, and the linguist in me liked it: “How Orwell Became the Prophet Who Foresaw Our Future.” It describes how the use of language to alter perception impacts how we see the world. Burgess’s “A Clockwork Orange” did the same thing, by using slang words and euphemism to describe horrific acts he showed how evil can loose its impact on us.

Greetings Conservatives!

Picture: central washington on fire

This week is short and sweet. I have no announcements to make, and no issue to spotlight.

Local News Digest

“San Juan County settles with alleged assault victim.” (Journal) The county admitted no fault, and settled for a very small amount of money. If there was really a case, the settlement would have been much higher. The county risk pool apparently decided to settle.

• Whatever else he may be, Ron Krebs seems a very decent person, so it would take quite a bit for me to believe allegations of wrongdoing — and there seems to be very little evidence to convince me otherwise.

“San Juan Island School District teachers’ strike ends” (Journal) Now school can start.

“League of Women Voters holds comp. plan forum.” (Journal) It will be on Sept 11th. From the text: “The comprehensive plan update will set the growth policies and goals for the county for the next 20 years with updates to the plan being required every 10 years.” It would be good to have conservatives at least observing what is happening, and if you attend please send me a report.

Hunting season is here. (Journal) We have a very serious problem with deer right now, their numbers are high, and as a result they are in poor health. They also pose serious hazards to human health via diseases that transmit through the vector of animals like deer (e.g. Lyme Disease), and as direct hazards to motorists.

Be careful of the wildfire smoke, especially if you have compromised health and/or are elderly. This article has helpful guidelines and resources. (Sounder) If you want to see some footage from around the state, Seattle Times posted some footage here. Apparently ash was actually falling like snow in Seattle.

There have been a couple of letters on housing: David Gow in the Guardian and Gay Graham of SJ Community Home Trust.

Even as Tim Eyman’s initiative to reduce the car tab tax to $30, Washington state is planning to test a pay-by-the-mile scheme to cover lost revenue due to improving fuel efficiency. It’s like a game of wack-a-mole.

There have been a few articles and letters following our signed statement on harassment at the fair.

• As I circulated last week, Martha Fuller commented (Sounder).
• This week Gretchen Allison commented (Journal). Gretchen was polite enough as a person when she came to our booth to protest, so despite how… crazy (dare I say it?) her letter sounds please be polite in return and keep it about the issues.
• What is worrying, though, is that as unhinged as her article may seem, it is actually pretty mainstream for liberals right now and many echoed her sentiments in comments. I was amazed by this at the fair.

State and National News Digest

“Havard: Washington’s Online Voter System Secure” (Guardian).

• I feel I should note that no electronic system is totally secure. Skilled hackers can break into any network given enough time, even military and intelligence agencies.
• Even supposedly totally offline networks get compromised from time to time, as in the Stuxnet case — since human error always adds a element of insecurity.
• Still, this was reassuring, and an indicator that our sole Republican in statewide office (Kim Wyman) has done well at her job.

Republican Dave Reichert has announced that he is retiring from congress and will not seek reelection in 2018.

• In a rare moment of praise for a conservative, the Seattle Times said “It is Reichert, though, who deserves praise for his leadership spanning four decades of public service — as a member of the U.S. Air Force Reserve, a King County deputy and sheriff, and as a congressman.”

President Trump has ended President Obama’s executive order on dreamers.

• While this is the subject of much furious invective, the actual statement was, to quote a friend “both sobering and responsible” in his approach. It’s worth reading the actual text, which can be found on the White House website here.  The gist of it was that he wants congress to solve this issue rather than resolving the issue by executive fiat.
• It does, however, set a bit of a timebomb if congress cannot resolve the matter, so I doubt we have heard the last of it.
• AG Bob Ferguson has joined other states in suing (Ferguson has never found a trendy liberal cause he didn’t want to support), though I’m not sure how he has grounds for that. It was an executive order, which can be reversed with an executive order — which is why it’s so important that congress deal with this issue in a legal matter.
• It was unkind of President Obama to give such temporary and unstable status to dreamers rather than learning to work with congress and resolve the issue in a more legal manner. Now, President Trump must deal with it.
• The people affected by this deserve a permanent solution rather than a shaky executive order, or at least deserve to know that they will have to leave. They should not be left in limbo, so I hope congress will act on this to decide the matter one way or the other.

Do you agree or disagree with anything you’ve read? Check our media contact links, and submit your own letter!  You may also email me (see below). 

County calendar here

GREETINGS CONSERVATIVES!

As residents of an island, I think we know better than many how vulnerable one can be when things go wrong. We express our sincerest condolences to those in harms way as Hurricane Harvey causes untold devastation and trauma. You are in our thoughts and prayers. The Houston Chronicle lists some ways you can help.

Locals Respond to SJCRP Statement on Harassment of Republicans

This week our press release regarding harassment Republicans received in the county fair was covered by all of Sound Publishing’s papers. It was posted online in the Journal, the Sounder, and the Islands weekly. Islands Guardian chose not to cover it. It went online well in advance of the print version, so there has already been plenty of response.

Local and State News

As previously circulated, last week the Journal published an editorial criticizing the speed with which the county council passed the “sanctuary county” measure, and the fact that they didn’t allow the public to vote on it. We also published several letters criticizing the measure.

• In response, the reporter was attacked (in print, I should say) for publishing an opinion piece, despite also covering it in the news. It seems more likely that it was because she dared take a position that was vaguely conservative, I’ve seen their reporters take liberal positions on issues they previously reported on many times.
• The Chairman of the Democrats, David Turnoy, published a letter defending the sanctuary county measure and the way it was handled. I thought his letter was an articulate defense of immigration, but I couldn’t figure out how it justifies illegal immigration.
• I think his letter was at least in part a response to letters published by myself, Barry Cave, and Katherine Schwartz (see last week), which may provide some context.

Although it has no real political significance for this newsletter, please note a general burn ban, including campfires.

There is some news regarding health care services on Orcas and Lopez. For one, UW has named a chief for their Orcas and Lopez island clinics. For another, a group calling itself “Coalition for Orcas Health Care” has petitioned for the establishment of a public hospital district.

Some school related news. Orcas Island School district hired a new para-educator. In San Juan Island School District the teachers are striking.

If you want to vote for a custom SJC license plate click here for guidance.

Regarding ferries, the Hyak has been pulled, and its slot is being filled by the Kitsap from the Mukilteo/Clinton route. During routine maintenance on the 30th it was discovered to have more serious problems. It will be out for two weeks.

Last week the news covered the release of farmed Salmon from a damaged pen. Legislators are seeking review of the industry.

New rules governing public records requests are being considered in WA State. The Seattle Times didn’t run an article on this that I could find, but they did have an editorial.

In an article giving plenty of space to her challenger, the Seattle Times noted that the US House’s most high ranking Republican female is facing a new opponent.

The League of Women Voters is starting a “County Comp Plan” program, to be held on September 11th.

In the last couple months I’ve been published at least a dozen times. I can’t possibly respond to them all. Please consider speaking up. Thank you to those who have done so. Links to local media here.

Last, but not least, I think this headline is emblamatic of how hysterical the left has become: “Last straw: Flyer on campus calls for banning veterans from attending class.” Horrifying. Truly horrifying. If the “common sense” of the left is that Republicans are all racist (an assumption I encoured over and over again at the fair), we will see more of this. It is genuinely frightening to see how something so patently untrue and damaging could be assumed true by so many.