Sequim Gazette Editorial and Letters to the Editor

Fueling the feud



Once again I must refute Roy Wilson's vituperative ramblings in his May 27 letter.

First, he isn't "... countering right-wing myths and unproven assertions ...;" he's representing his opinion as a fact, which it most assuredly, is not.

Second, his recollection of what happened in 2000 is conveniently only half-truthful, as is his style. The statements I made "... about convictions in the Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and Clinton administrations ..." were all factually correct.

Whether Wilson chooses to recognize them as such is his problem, one of the reasons that I've said he's in denial. However, I do resent the fact that he calls them "not fact-based."

Third, my accusation that his "writings are riddled with half-truths and lies" is already proven by the examples in the above paragraphs. Others include:

1) That the DHS memo was not leaked and available on the government Web site; it was there, but first it was published on several blogs several days before, no doubt the result of a patriot's leaking it;

2) That "fear mongering and negative propaganda" are his conclusions to my statement that "all citizens should be concerned about the socialist, fascist and largely unconstitutional direction that the one-party Democrat administration and legislature is taking our wonderful country."

What is Wilson's problem with that statement? Surely it can't be: "... all citizens should be concerned about ...." The truth of that is a given.

Perhaps it's: "... the socialist, fascist and largely unconstitutional direction ...."

In that case, I suggest he look at the nationalization of banks, financial institutions and automobile manufacturers, and the attempts to stifle private health care then look up the dictionary definition of socialism.

Or possibly, he's ignorant of Democrat party efforts to stifle opposition (DHS memo and Lexicon, redistricting, census, ACORN, Tea Party ridicule, George Soros); if so, he should check the definition of fascism.

Maybe he doesn't equate Obama's attempts to take away First, Second and 10th Amendment rights by stealth means such as presidential decree or nonconstitutional convention methods with a "... largely unconstitutional direction ...," but I do.

Neither can it be: "... that the one-party Democrat administration and legislature is taking ...;" that is a fact that even Wilson can't deny.

Maybe it's: "... our wonderful country ..."; no, even Wilson wouldn't be so offbeat as to dispute that.

I've reached my 400-word limit. With the paper's cooperation, I'll complete this next week.

Don Boensel

Sequim



The council and the college



Your editorial (May 27) hits the civic nail on the head. To one who lives outside Sequim's limits but who is often affected by its city council's decisions, the recent immobilism is puzzling.

Almost two decades ago, when the city fathers crafted a mission statement to comply with the state's Growth Management Act, I understand their objective was to "make

Sequim the premier shopping destination for the Olympic Peninsula."

Now one need only drive Washington Street from extreme east to west to see how that mission, now achieved? plus many other council measures and real estate deals later, have skewed the character of this once-pleasant little market town.

The east end, among other things, has been hollowed out, the west inflated with more urban-mall commercialism than we deserve (... or with which we are comfortable?).

The council's decision to bid Linda Herzog a peremptory goodbye, without taking advantage of her generous offer to lend her professionalism until a successor could be found, is more than puzzling.

The recent "clean sweep" elections lent hope for change, but now the present council majority seems no more capable of clean and crisp decision-making than the previous lot were capable of the other kind.

Let's hope Sequim can grow up one of these days.

Another civic matter? Among your letters was that of Clint Jones, who argues strongly for replacing the Electoral College with directly-electing our presidents. When thinking about this, I hope he and others will reflect on the federal, and not only the democratic, character of our American system.

The Constitution of 1787 was a compact between 13 sovereign states, put together miraculously but laboriously by the states' delegates. Among other things, they balanced a popularly elected House of Representatives with a Senate, in which each State - from tiny Rhode Island to big Virginia - would carry the same weight. The Electoral College was an expression, now perhaps somewhat archaic, of that same desire to bring together a balanced compromise between the populace and the sovereignty of the varied states.

As for me, I'm rather happy to confine a great many of our government decisions to the state of Washington; federalism is a great system.

Be careful what you wish for, Mr. Jones. Changes might be in order, but - I would suggest - with great care.

James R. Huntley

Dungeness



Here come the runners

The seventh annual North Olympic Discovery Marathon and Half Marathon will be held Sunday, June 7. The marathon starts at Carrie Blake Park at 9 a.m., and the half marathon starts at the Agnew Soccer Fields at 9 a.m.

We invite you to come out and cheer on the runners as they run through beautiful Sequim. Here's a brief description of the race start:

Marathoners will start at Carrie Blake Park, run a loop to the east toward Keeler Road, West Sequim Bay Road, through the park again and onto Blake Street.

Around 9:25 a.m., get ready! You should see runners coming west down Washington Street. They will run on the north side of Washington (closed to parking) to Fifth Avenue where they will turn north, go east on Fir Street, north on Sequim Avenue and end up on Hendrickson Road.

From there they will follow the Olympic Discovery Trail to the finish line at Port Angeles City Pier.

Half Marathoners will start at Barr Road near Old Olympic Highway. They will run southwest using Barr Road. They will make a short dogleg on North Barr Road before meeting the Olympic Discovery Trail. The main action in this area will take place between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m.

Our organizers think it's pretty neat to run

a marathon and half marathon from one town to its neighboring town. We designed the course to not just use the Olympic Discovery Trail, but to show off our great small towns.

We anticipate 2,000 total participants plus their family members to attend the event. It is a great opportunity to show off the Olympic Peninsula.

On the day of the race, those of you who live along the course, have a business along the course or attend a church located along the course will have front row seats of this fun event. Please come out and cheer for the runners.

The race, of course, will impact the area for a brief time. Please consider re-routing your way to church or work. We also ask that you use caution when driving if you will be traveling near the race course. We anticipate that all runners will be through downtown by 10:30 a.m.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience as well as our gratitude for your positive support. The city of Sequim has been great. Let's show our visitors a warm welcome and hope they spread the word.

Larry Little

Marathon director



Protest now

Are we becoming a nation of lawlessness? We have seen the ineptitude of our elected officials in Washington, D.C., whereby legislation was passed without thorough review, which is now costing us billions of unfunded monies.

Unfortunately, Olympia has followed suit. The latest capital budget was introduced by the Democrats at 3:25 p.m. on April 24, which was 25 minutes after cutoff for any amendments to be offered by the minority party (Republicans). This is corrupt!

The operating budget was e-mailed to Republicans at 1:30 a.m. with no amendments to be allowed after noon the same day. This budget, several hundred pages, was voted on the same afternoon without giving time to review it or offer even hurried amendments.

This operating budget sets our state up for an approximate $10 billion shortfall in the 2011 biennium. Where is the good stewardship of taxpayer dollars?

We need to encourage our citizens to protest this behavior. We all admire and treasure optimism, entrepreneurial spirit and even willingness to be opinionated, which will help us fight our way back to economic health and pride in our state as well as country.

Helga McGhee

Sequim



Patriotic gesture



Many thanks to Sequim Sunrise Rotary for organizing and to the homeowners that participated in displaying the American flag in front of each of their homes along Spruce and Alder streets from Carrie Blake Park to Brown Road during the Memorial Day weekend.

I know I speak for all the veterans in the area when I thank you for the patriotic gesture.

Donald McClure

Sequim



The mess we're in

How did this crisis come about? After all, the need to deal with risk is not a new human problem.

From the beginning of time, people have faced risks of growing old and outliving their assets, dying young without having provided for their dependents, becoming disabled and not being able to support themselves and their families, becoming ill and needing health care and not being able to afford it, or discovering that their skills are no longer needed in the job market.

These risks are not new. What is new is how we deal with them.

Prior to the 20th century, we handled risk with the help of family and extended family. But during the 20th century, families became smaller and more dispersed - thus less useful as insurance against risk.

So people turned to government for help. In fact, the main reason why governments throughout the developed world have undergone such tremendous growth has been to insure middle class families against risk that they could not easily insure against on their own. This is why our government today is a major player in retirement, health care, disability and unemployment.

Government, however, has performed abysmally. It has spent money it doesn't have and made promises it can't keep and all on the backs of future taxpayers.

The trustees of Social Security estimate a current unfunded liability in excess of $100 trillion in 2009 dollars. This means that the federal government has promised more than $100 trillion over

and above any taxes or premiums it expects to receive.

And while many believe that Social Security represents our greatest entitlement problem, Medicare is six times larger in terms of unfunded obligations.

These numbers are admittedly based on future projections. But consider the situation in this light:

What if we asked the federal government to account for its obligations the same way the private sector is forced to account for its pensions? As baby boomers start retiring, this deficit is going to grow dramatically. In 2012, only three years from now, Social Security and Medicare will need one out of every 10 general income tax dollars to make up for their combined deficits. By 2030, the midpoint of the baby boomer retirement years, it will require one of every two income tax dollars.

A recent forecast by the Congressional Budget Office - an economic forecasting agency that is controlled by the Democrats in Congress - shows that Medicaid and Medicare alone are going to crowd out everything else the federal government is doing by mid-century. And that means everything - national defense, energy, education, the whole works.

We'll only have health care.

If on the other hand, the government continues with everything else it is doing today and raises taxes to pay for Medicare and Medicaid, the CBO estimates that, by mid-century, a middle-income family will have to pay two-thirds of its income in taxes.

Lloyd Pedersen

Sequim



The right thing,

not the legal thing



Re: Your article regarding the possibility of Olympic Medical Center changing its decision to "opt-out" of Death with Dignity.

I was struck by your quote, "He (Robert Larson of Port Angeles) was the only speaker to be booed by the audience."

This spoke volumes to me! I do not know Mr. Larson, but he seems to be a man of conviction with the courage to speak for what is right, not for what is legal.

All have a right to life; a majority have made it "legal" to kill the unborn.

Marriage is between a man and a woman; a growing number of states have voted to make "legal" a man/man, woman/woman "marriage."

Taking one's own life is wrong; a majority have declared it "legal" to do so.

I believe there is a law written in our hearts which knows right from wrong. Declaring something "legal" does not and never will make it "right."

Your article also mentioned that a number of the OMC commissioners will be seeking re-election. My hope is that they, like Mr. Larson, will fearlessly hold to their convictions of doing the right thing, not the legal thing.

Jeanette Poeschl

Sequim



Support needed

for littlest assets

I met Dr. Cynthia Martin when I served as chairperson of the Clallam County Literacy Council. I was immediately impressed with her dedication to early learning and her tireless efforts to raise awareness in the community about how much our early years of learning influences our success as adults.

Supporting education for all ages should be a given in creating an ideal community. Supporting our littlest assets (and their parents and grandparents) is paramount.

If you haven't been to the First Teacher classroom and library in

Sequim, you may not realize what a wealth of information is available for parents and grandparents. If you haven't been to a morning reading of stories by community volunteers to youngsters or visited the kid-friendly play areas, inside and out, you can't appreciate the positive atmosphere for learning and play. If you haven't read one of the many informative, accessible, brightly colored newsletters that offer tips on parenting, you can't imagine how all these positive, educational experiences will be missed if First Teacher isn't funded.

Take the time to learn about First Teacher at www.firstteacher.org/.

Rebecca Redshaw

Port Angeles

Rebecca Redshaw writes the Sofa Cinema column for the Sequim

Gazette.



What conservatives

are and are not



Roy Wilson can be commended for his military service and living well past his prime, but his analysis of the reasons why the U.S. is in trouble are wrong, and his assertion that there are no facts in evidence to point out a socialistic administration is in power is willful blindness.

The initial fallacy in his argument is that all Republicans are Reagan-style conservatives. They are not. Many are big-government liberals in the contemporary sense. Reagan did have large deficits, but he was willingly to accept those in order put the Soviet empire on the ash heap of history.

The Republicans of 2000-2006 lost the conservative/libertarian wings of the party with spending and foreign misadventures that rivaled LBJ, and they deserved to lose.

To assert, as Wilson does, that the conservatives were in favor of spending money we did not have, enacting a ruinous new drug entitlement for seniors and engaging in a war in Iraq is a total mischaracterization.

Most fiscal conservatives voted against the Bush 43 budgets. Most conservatives were very skeptical of going into Iraq and were right. It took late night arm-twisting (and several illegal acts) to pass the free drug prescription bill. Those are facts.

Bush was a strange amalgam of social conservatism and northeast Republican patrician. He was not a conservative by any stretch of the term.

As to the alternative policies to Bush/Obama, I would have let AIG and all the crooked companies on Wall Street fail. The resulting tumult would have been painful but short and much cheaper.

Now we see a president prancing around with taxpayer bailouts for every large business, including newspapers. This will cause a long period of slow or no growth as dead companies are propped up by fiat money.

The Japanese tried it and failed. Socializing losses while allowing profits to stay private is not strictly socialism, but corruption is likely the better term.

As to the DHS memos, I agree with Wilson that is an overreaction. The only problem is that Bush put so many weapons in place to fight terrorism, that they could be turned against the domestic population.

Wilson says he has faith in American and its institutions. Fifty years ago, I would have agreed. Today, I think he is being naïve or refuses to see how government has insinuated itself into every aspect of our lives, and not for the better.

Douglas Wolf

Sequim