Where Have all the Sea Lions Gone?

sea lion imagesBloomberg reported that The Mayo Clinic, hailed by President Barack Obama as a national model for good health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients at their primary-care clinics in Arizona, because, they say, the U.S. government pays too low. Michael Yardley, a Mayo spokesman, said some of their Medicare patients will have to pay cash if they want to stay with their doctor.  Here's another great example why we need a single, national, single-payer health care system - this patchwork quilt of systems and reimbursement rates around the nation is badly broken.

In strange news....The sea lions have vanished from Fisherman’s Wharf. They deserted their home of the past 20 years at the end of November and why is a mystery. Among the more speculative theories is that it is linked to an imminent earthquake, as some have pointed out that other sea lions began “hauling out” at K dock directly after the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989.  But now large numbers of the animals have been spotted further north, off the coast of Oregon, still baffling scientists who say that while it's normal for the animals to move north in search of food during the winter it's extremely unusual for them to migrate in such huge numbers. Hmmm....

Comments

Meredith McCown (not verified) 13 years 22 weeks ago
#1

The Sea Lions have disappeared from Morro Bay, CA, about 4 hrs. south of San Fransisco. The city considered them a problem, sinking docks, etc. But we saw at least 20 dead ones on the beach. I'm afraid they were poisoned. Timeframe is the same.

John Precht (not verified) 13 years 21 weeks ago
#2

When my wife and I first heard about the sea lions disappearing from Morro Bay we were in Washington State on our way back to Seattle, and the first thing that came to mind was that we needed to stay out of California. As the Sea Lions were trying to tell us something. Then on Sunday there was a magnitude 6.5 Earthquake in Humboldt County.
Why are the scientist's running around with all this money spent on vast amounts of equipment to detect things when all you have to do is pay attention to nature and its natives. It kinda reminded me of when the Dolphins left the Earth in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy... So Long and Thanks For All the Fish...

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