Newsletter (2004) April 2020

Arpil 2020

THE KCDW IN-PERSON MEETING ON APRIL 22 (WEDNESDAY) IS CANCELLED: We WILL HAVE an informal meeting through ZOOM on that date starting at 12:30 pm. Invitations with instructions will be sent to those for whom we have email addresses. For those uncomfortable with this or who have no capability to join this meeting, feel free to contact Jo via phone or email at other times.

 

IF WE ONLY HAD A PRESIDENT… Jo Fox Burr 

When I walk my dog in the backyard at night, I hear the frogs croaking in the pond below. My daffodils have been blooming for a couple of weeks as will the tulips shortly. My neighbor’s cherry trees will soon be snowing pink petals into my yard. The eagles soar overhead, and morning birds greet me when my dog and I finally make it out of bed to wander outside. Spring is here. And with the stay at home order, I find I am living in a cocoon. 

 

There are times when I am lonely, but mostly I’m OK. I call friends and family every day. I am even doing video conferences with various groups. As I have a fixed retirement income, the current economic crisis is not financially affecting me. I am lucky. I could be happy with this life – except for the fear of someone I care about getting sick or seriously depressed; except for the anxiety I have for all those people and small businesses that prior to this catastrophe were already living on the edge; except for the damage being done to our economy from which I doubt we will easily recover; and except for the fact that the current administration is living up to my expectations of being totally incapable of managing this horrific crisis and people are dying as a result. It did not have to be this way.

There are times when I am lonely, but mostly I’m OK. I call friends and family every day. I am even doing video conferences with various groups. As I have a fixed retirement income, the current economic crisis is not financially affecting me. I am lucky. I could be happy with this life – except for the fear of someone I care about getting sick or seriously depressed; except for the anxiety I have for all those people and small businesses that prior to this catastrophe were already living on the edge; except for the damage being done to our economy from which I doubt we will easily recover; and except for the fact that the current administration is living up to my expectations of being totally incapable of managing this horrific crisis and people are dying as a result. It did not have to be this way. 

 

There is a meme that says, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. And stupid! We should be scared shitless of stupid!” What seems particularly stupid to me is that Trump and company cannot seem to get its act together to provide enough testing. Had they done this early, the spread could have been mitigated enough to flatten the curve sooner and fewer people would have had to die. Whether Trump deliberately dragged his feet on this because he did not want the nation to know how prevalent Covid-19 was or not, by not focusing on it he has stupidly shot himself in the foot. Now, even without adequate testing, the number of known people infected is rising exponentially every day. Imagine what those numbers would be if everyone could be tested. Current best-case scenarios from the scientific truth tellers is that we will be lucky to only have between 60,000 to 200,000 deaths. And that is if we do everything right. But that would take sane leadership from Trump – which is not possible. Some states, like ours, are doing the right thing and seeing positive results. New York is trying to do things right, but they face a daunting situation. They desperately need federal help which is too slow in coming. Given the lack of enough tests, the only effective way to stop the spread is for states to shutdown non-essential businesses and order people to stay at home. As a result, the economy is shutting down. And this is what troubles Trump most – not the unnecessary deaths his mismanagement has caused.

 

Much of this could have been prevented. Perhaps there was no way to avert a shutdown of the economy to stem the spread of Covid-19. However, experts now say that people who survive this virus will be immune to it for at least a couple of years, during which time a vaccine will hopefully become available. Many infected individuals experience no symptoms or only mild ones, which could be confused with a cold or the flu. Without ample early testing we cannot know who these people are. Had they been tested, once cleared of the virus, they could be free to help restart the economy at no risk to themselves or others. There are blood tests being developed that can determine if individuals have antibodies to Covid-19, but until they are sufficiently available there is no way now to safely open the economy. So, we wait. And will these tests be free or only available to those who have insurance to cover them? I fear the latter will be the case and as a result the virus will continue to spread, the shutdowns will be extended, and our economy will continue to freefall. Trump could fix this – if he only had a brain that could focus on something besides himself. But that would require him to know that he was there to serve the public, not the other way around.

 

What gives me hope is the generosity I see from people reaching out to others. My neighbors check on each other constantly. My gardener insists on grocery shopping for me. I’ve heard that at least one local food bank has seen a significant increase in donations. When Governor Cuomo asked people to step forward to help, thousands responded. All this gives me hope that despite Trump, we will survive. As a nation we are better than he is. By reaching out as much as we can to those in need, we can prove this to ourselves. As a national community, it is up to us to fill the leadership gap that is so lacking at the top.


OTHER UPCOMING DEMOCRATIC MEETINGS AND EVENTS: (*GM designates a general membership meeting) 

Kitsap Co. Dem. Central Com: GM* Apr 20th (Mon); 7:00 pm Via Zoom; See https://kitsapdemocrats.org/ 

23rd Leg. District Democrats: GM* Apr 23rd (Thurs); 6:30 pm Via Zoom; See https://kitsapdemocrats.wildapricot.org/ 

26th Leg. District Democrats: GM* May 3rd (Thurs); 6:30 pm; Via Zoom See http://26d.org/wp/ 

35th Leg. District Democrats: GM* TBA 


DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT CONTACTS 

CONGRESS: - Email for all of these can be done through their website 

Senator Maria Cantwell; 202-224-3441 (DC); 1-888-648-7328 (State Offices); Cantwell.senate.gov 

Senator Patty Murray; 202-224-2621 (DC), 206-553-5545 (Sea); 253-572-3636 (Tac); Murray.senate.gov 

Congressman Derek Kilmer (6th District); 202-225-5916 (DC); 360-373-9725 (Bremerton); Kilmer.house.gov


STATE GOVERNMENT - 

Governor Jay Inslee: 360-902-4111; Governor.wa.gov; Email from Website 


23rd Legislative District 

Sen. Christine Rolfes (D); 360-786-7644; christine.rolfes@leg.wa.gov 

Rep. Sherry Appleton (D); 360-786-7934; sherry.appleton@leg.wa.gov 

Rep. Drew Hansen (D); 360-786-7842; drew.hansen@leg.wa.gov 

26th Legislative District 

Sen. Emily Randall (D); emily.randall@leg.wa.gov

35th Legislative District (Currently there are no Democratic elected legislators in the 35th) 


KITSAP COUNTY GOVERNMENT - Homepage - http://www.kitsapgov.com 

Commissioners’ Office; 360-337-7146 

Rob Gelder (District 1); rgelder@co.kitsap.wa.us & Charlotte Garrido (District 2); cgarrido@co.kitsap.wa.us 

Treasurer -Meredith Green; 360-337-7135; mgreen@co.kitsap.wa.us 

Auditor- Paul Andrews; 360-337-7129; pandrews@co.kitsap.wa.us 

Clerk – Alison Sonntag; 360-337-7164; asonntag@co.kitsap.wa.us 

Prosecuting Attorney – Chad Enright; 360-337-7174, cenright@co.kitsap.wa.us 

Sheriff - Gary Simpson: 360-337-7101; gsimpson@co.kitsap.wa.us 


President of Kitsap County Democratic Women– Jo Fox Burr: 360-613-4042, foxburr@comcast.net 

Kitsap County Democratic Women 

PO Box 3411 

Silverdale, WA 98383 - 9998 

“Timing is everything in pandemic response: It can make the difference between a contained local outbreak that endures a few weeks and an uncontrollable contagion that afflicts millions…The months the [Trump]administration wasted with prevarication about the threat and its subsequent missteps will amount to exponentially more COVID-19 cases than were necessary. In other words, the president has blood on his hands.” – Boston Globe Editorial Board

 

Newsletter: