Alternative Work Schedule Form . - Oregon: Fill & Download for Free

Let's start out with the basics. Tens and hundreds of millions, possibly billions of people will be adversely affected in serious ways by climate change. Many of them will die prematurely via severe weather, failed refugee boat accidents, starvation, disease and etc. Most people's diets and lifestyles will change. The amount you spend in food will change. What we think of as beachfront property today we will think of as underwater tomorrow. At least small scale wars will increase, killing many more.This is just reality now. That's what fifty years of ignoring what science tells us has led to. But that's not as bleak as you might think.There are a handful of things to give you hope:Many major corporations are voluntarily pricing carbon. That's a strong sign that they are predicting carbon pricing from governments and preparing for it in advance. Large Companies Prepared to Pay Price on CarbonMany jurisdictions around the world already have carbon prices and the sky hasn't fallen. Quite the opposite, in fact. B.C. reaches carbon-pricing deal with Oregon, Washington stateChina, one of the world's biggest concerns regarding carbon emissions, is testing market-based solutions and considering carbon taxes. I know that Graciela Chichilnisky, the architect of the carbon market in the Kyoto Protocol, has been consulting with them for years. China Tests CO2 Emissions Markets Before Tax, NDRC Official SaysWind energy is now cheaper than new coal, and in many jurisdictions is cheaper than natural gas. That means more of it is going to be built regardless. Updated: Massachusetts Utilities Sign PPA for Wind Energy That Is Cheaper than Coal, Australian Wind Energy Now Cheaper Than Coal, Gas, BNEF Says, Wind And Solar Competitive With Natural Gas In The Lone Star StateThe same dynamic is true for solar. It's dropping in price so drastically that it's cheaper than new coal or natural gas too. Page on WwwCoal generation plants are closing world wide. 150 in the US alone since 2010. Dozens of old plants in China have been shut down. Ontario shut down its entire fleet. That's because coal is expensive in pollution, CO2 emissions, water use, supply chain, regulations, scrubbers, etc. Daily Kos: Shutdown of 150th coal plant reminder that so-called 'war on coal' must not be war on coal workers, Attention Congress: China is shutting down its old coal plants,And many of China's infamous new coal plants are stalled and will likely never be built. The Chinese Coal BubbleA lot of what is driving coal off the generation mix is cheap natural gas. In general, that's a good thing, as natural gas generation has 50% of the CO2 emissions per KWh of coal. While that's still 50 times worse than wind and solar, that's an acceptable bridge, and natural gas plants make better peaking plants than coal plants in any event as they typically respond faster. Assessing the environmental impacts of different forms of generationTesla paid off it's $465 million USD loan to the government nine years ahead of schedule, had a stunning IPO, made a profit and can't make cars fast enough. Other car companies are scrambling to adjust to a world in which electric vehicles are sexy, safe, fun-as-hell and have huge range. Why Everybody Loves TeslaGlobal efficiency of energy use on a per capita basis is amazingly good these days and just getting better. Every MW and gallon of gas goes a lot further than it used to. Lightbulbs are mostly fluorescent and LED now instead of wasteful incandescent. Electronic devices are all solid state instead of electromechanical. Car mileage is up-up-up. All appliances are more efficient than they used to be. That's important because it's lowering everyone's carbon footprint pretty much without them having to do anything, and since most people won't, that's the way it has to be. What's Energy Efficiency?The world's population growth is slowing and is projected to stabilize and maybe even start to fall around 2050. This is a long-term goal of Gro Brundtland's 1970 Toward a Sustainable Future, which said to make people stop having too many babies, we need to make them rich, in essence. It's worked. China has eliminated it's one-child policy because it's unnecessary (and arguably never was). Outside of a couple of odd pockets, children per couple statistics have been trending down rapidly for decades. There are still going to be about 9-10 billion people on the face of the earth, and they will in general have much more consumption of energy, but the Malthusian curve is actually seeing an end. World population projected to reach 9.6 billion by 2050Finally, I'm going to give you the best reason I could think of twenty years ago when I saw the handwriting on the wall.It's a lot better to live in hope, live positively, live happily and work for positive change. The alternative sucks.

Ok, let's explore it.For this to remotely work out, we need to figure out what "winning" means. Mexico was simply playing a defensive war for territorial integrity so let's leave it at that.So to make this hypothetical even remotely plausible, let's make some other historical changes that don't take too much imagination, only knowledge of history in the ground in both countries at the time and a few strategic what-ifs:* Santa Anna doesn't dissolve the Mexican congress to create the Siete Leyes, but instead is able to form a coalition government. With this stable government in place in Mexico (rather than the rebellions he had to put down that prompted him to nickname himself the Napoleon of the West), he has a fresh army and has full support by the time the Rebellion of Texas happens and war is declared by the US. The circumstances and trigger for the war otherwise are mostly the same.* Coalition government in place, the 2nd Republic of Yucatán rebellion never happens. There may be sporadic fighting here and there, to keep the fact that the Mexican troops were highly seasoned and can more or less match the magnificent West Point training with actual combat experience, but nothing to create a political crisis.* The Anahuac Disturbances in Texas and related events are spun by the Mexican government as the first salvo in a Mexican war against slavery in its Texas territories. This prompts Congressman Abraham Lincoln, during his speech against the Mexican war, to get full support of congressmen throughout US Northern states, who are also openly discussing ending slavery. If our country is predicated on the proposition that all men are created equal, asks Lincoln, why are we fighting a government of free people, of free mixed people, who is showing us the way to fight for freedom and has since its independence in 1821?Now we only have Tenesseee-Southern President James K. Polk having to make the pro-slavery case the Confederacy ends up making 20 years later, in front of a congress neatly divided amongst north/south (what could possibly go wrong?)With these changes done, it's much easier to imagine the following changes:* A Mexican-government supported slave rebellion in Texas, prompted by the freedom they now have as Mexican citizens, and the Saint Patrick's Battalion phenomena completely demoralizes the US along familiar Union/Confederacy lines, a full 20 years ahead of schedule, and it's constantly talked about, causing desertion in the ranks. Many Irish (instead of just a few) and Germans (the heartland - Wisconsin, midwest) flee or rebel in dissent. Irish and German-Americans pronounce themselves against slavery, and in support of Santa Anna's Mexican government and their favorite US congressman, Abraham Lincoln.* Lincoln abolishes slavery through congress instead of executive order. Ut passes narrowly. The order is vetoed by president Polk. This causes a huge crisis of confidence in the executive.* The Polk government starts to crumble. Polk, a strong president, is losing legitimacy with the North and he never had it with the south. He decides to go for his geographical base and double down on his connections with the South. He eventually flees to Tenessee along with Vice President Dallas and the speaker of the house, among others.We have now an modified Civil war situation, where the US government is run by Tennessee confederates and the Northern states - and Lincoln - are siding with Mexico. There are massive desertions. Congress starts an impeachment trial.* Lincoln is made president by the electoral college in an act of emergency. Chaos ensues. Lincoln prepares troops against Polk. Polk flees to Tenessee along with Congress. Since John Riley and company (from St Patrick's batallion) are West Point cadets, this crisis happens early, and it gets resolved by Lincoln, ordering general Fremont taking it over and protect it. Fremont stays to defends the area from southern general's incursions and ex-cadets who want to take it over.Now we have an early Civil war scenario, with Mexican territorial integrity guaranteed in the US mainland mess.Polk invites Texas to the Southern union, but internal divisions in Texas and the prospect of joining a country in war make them accept the abolishing of slavery as a palatable alternative and go back to the Mexican fold.Texas independence now a distant memory, Sam Houston's troops retreat to Louisiana, and joins Polk's US Southern command. Santa Anna pursues and invades New Orleans.Santa Anna immediately orders all New Orleans slaves freed, and invites any ex-slave to join the Mexican movement against slavery. He has many, many takers, including New Orleans existing squadrons of free blacks.The South is squeezed.At the North, they have general Winfield Scott, with junior officer Ulysses Grant at his command. The sea is covered with northern ships.In the south, they have General Santa Anna who has access to the Mississippi and can go up and down the river more or less at will, using free blacks and Louisiana ships as cover.José de Urrea, Arizona native, is attacking Oklahoma from the West.Now that you have control of the entrance to the Mississippi river and the Gulf by a friendly Mexican General Santa Anna and the coast by the Northern states (no need to patrol the Gulf means there's more hardware to patrol the Eastern Seaboard), it's easy to imagine tons of plausible win scenarios for Lincoln's troops. Virginia and South Carolina don't stand a chance against Union troops if the towns by the Mississippi are constantly being harassed by the Mexican troops and requiring support. As Mexico has no designs on her neighbor's territory, they go up, harass and attack to distract, come back down, and take nothing. The Mexican hit-and-run distractions cause the Southern states to lose against Grant's Union forces with a minimum of casualties, as they are mostly marching between two fronts while being attacked.The map stays as in 1848. The California and New Mexico campaigns never happen. Santa Anna returns Louisiana to Lincoln's forces, under the condition that they follow through with their promise of abolishing slavery, as the Mexican Louisiana is a free city when it is return to the US in 1849. The US has fought a short civil war, and now also has abolished slavery.Mexico is spent, but California finds gold in 1849. Immigrants still come, but now that Mexico has proven they can keep everybody free (and will fight to do so), corruption lessens. Pride increases.Mexico uses the California gold taxes to pay its debt and become a large power. The United States also becomes a great power and pays its large debts and reconstruction, as it modernizes faster with its industrial base, for which their closest friend, Mexico, pays as the major investor. The US does end up with two seas, starting at Oregon Territory, and they still end up with Hawaii. Together and in peace with negotiated borders, Mexico and the US, first American nations to abolish slavery (in 1821 and 1848, respectively), still create a foundation from which to police the world in the century to come thanks to the long peace dividend.

Yes, I have fired a doctor and I would do it again without hesitation.My wife and I were expecting our first child. My wife, not the child, was 39 weeks pregnant and our baby was breech positioned. Our plans for a home birth had crashed against hard reality, but we were still hoping that our daughter could be turned at the last minute. We called everywhere and doctor after doctor refused to even attempt an external cephalic version (ECV). Finally, my wife found one doctor who agreed to give it a try and scheduled an appointment with him for the next morning. The doctor recommended she take a long soak in a bath and drink plenty of fluids, to ensure that there was sufficient amniotic fluid to make the ECV easier.My wife went home, drank a lot of water, and took a long, warm bath. Finally, just after 11:00 PM we went to sleep. At 12:30 AM, I heard a loud popping noise followed by our bed being soaked in clear fluid. My wife’s water had broke, which meant we now had no choice but to have a breech birth — our daughter could no longer be turned.More than anything, my wife wanted a healthy baby. Second to that, she wanted a natural birth. To honor that and help her adjust to the change in circumstances, we had decided to take our time while monitoring the health of the baby and not rush to a cesarean section. On the otherhand, it was advised we go to the hospital, to ensure our child remained healthy since her water had broken.At about 3:30 AM, we went to the local, baby-friendly hospital. The same hospital that the doctor from the day before worked at. We also knew he was supposed to be on staff that day as the delivery doctor. We were hopeful that he would be there for us to at least talk to him.We were checked into a nice, large room and started to make ourselves at home as my wife was wired up to a baby and contraction monitor. Over the next several hours we met the staff, the residents, the attending physician, and discussed our options. Since none of the available doctors were willing to consider a vaginal breech birth at that hour, we were working towards acceptance of a cesarean birth.In light of the likely need for a cesarean birth, we knew we wanted to have the best cesarean possible, which included delayed cord clamping. With the first shift of doctors that night, we were given 75% of our desires - basically everything but a second family member to help my wife in the operating room during the birth.At 8:00 AM we had a shift change, which meant we had to deal with new staff, new doctors, new residents, and a new attending physician. Shortly after 8:00 AM our family showed up in the waiting room. At the same time as our family was arriving in the waiting area, the new resident walked into our room. We started to chat with the new resident and we immediately connected with her and it was obvious she had at least skimmed our birth plan. While she was not able to promise as many of our wishes as the earlier doctor, she felt that at least 40% of it could be satisfied and we could discuss the remainder with the attending physician.A little bit later, the new attending physician came into our room. Immediately the atmosphere changed as people stiffened up. She sat down across from us, next to the resident, and we introduced ourselves. Quickly things started to fall apart:Doctor (D): “We have an opening now for a cesarean. We will start preparing you for it.”Wife (W): “Have you read our birth plan?”The doctor looked at us confused for a moment, “What birth plan?”The resident handed the doctor our birth plan. In the doctor’s defense, our birth plan was long: it was definitely not a single page. It was the product of a lot of last-minute changes from what we had envisioned our birth as being. However, we had written a summary and highlighted the key elements.The doctor held the plan out between her forefinger and thumb and let it dangle. It gave the impression that she was holding a freshly soiled diaper and was trying to figure out what to do with it.D: “We don’t have time for this.”
W: “I want my husband and father in the delivery room.”
D: “Only you can come into the delivery, they will have to wait outside.”
W: “Not even my husband?”
“No.”
“I want a delayed cord clamping.”
“Your child is not premature, it is not necessary, we will not be doing it.”
“I have existing scar tissue near the delivery site. I would prefer if it was not made worse and, if possible, it was cleaned up.”
“If you want plastic surgery, you can hire a plastic surgeon.”The doctor made two things clear: she had not read our birth plan and she was going to give us 0%, nothing, zilch, nada, zippo of our requests from the birth plan. It was going to be a cesarean birth, done her way, and there were no other options.My wife started to cry and try to explain why the desires in our birth plan were important to us and why it was important to her that at least I be allowed at the birth. The doctor wanted nothing to do with our emotions or the grief of having changed from a home birth to a hospital birth.As my wife tried to explain, the doctor kept trying to overpower her. Unexpectedly, my cellphone started to ring. The security company for my office was calling, which means someone had tripped the alarm. I answered the phone:*ring ring* Me: “Hello?
Phone: “Yes, your alarm is going off.”
Me: “My baby is being born, call the police.”
Doctor: “You need to get off the phone now.”Me: “Wait a moment, it is my security company.”
D: “Someone else can take that call.”
Me: “I am a solo practitioner, nobody else can take the call.”Suddenly I start getting a second call.Me: “Hello?”
Phone: “Yes, we are trying to do some repairs in your office but your alarm is going off.”
Me: “Seriously? I told you my wife was in labor.”
Phone: “We thought it would be a good time, since we wouldn’t be disturbing you.”
Me: “You’re disturbing me.”D: “You are rude, stop talking on the phone.”During my trying to sort out the alarm company, the doctor kept trying to pressure my wife into doing a cesarean now.D: “You will kill your baby if you do not do the cesarean now.”Me: “You need to stop talking to my wife, I need to be able to comfort her through this conversation, but I need to finish this call.”The doctor ignored me and kept talking to my wife. I kept trying to sort out the people on the phone.I repeated myself again, raised my voice, and said, “I am a lawyer, someone is in my office, my alarm is going off, I have to attend to this, please wait before continuing the discussion.”The doctor continued to ignore my requests.D: “You cannot tell me what to do! I am a doctor!”
Wife: “And he is my husband and I don’t want you talking to me without him.”Me: “Just wait a moment, this call is an emergency. Think of it like an alarm at a doctor’s office, if someone broke into your office and your alarm went off and you were worried about your patient’s HIPAA protected materials being stolen, you would answer the phone as well. I have a legal and ethical duty to deal with this.”D: “I am a doctor. We are doing the cesarean and if you do not get off that phone I will call security.”By this point my wife is sobbing. She is extremely upset because I am annoyed, I am getting louder, and the doctor is telling her she’s going to kill the baby if she does not do what the doctor says immediately. At the same time I am completely done with this doctor.Me: “Just SHUT UP for a moment, I HAVE TO TAKE CARE OF THIS CALL. YOU CAN WAIT OR LEAVE. I need to be able to comfort my wife during this conversation.” I admit, the stress of the combined situations had peaked, I was not in my best form, and I was rude in my request.Phone: “What?”Me: “Not you, the alarm will go off in a moment.”Future note: next time let the police show up and arrest the landlordD: “You have no right to talk to me that way!”Me: “Shut Up.”I hung up the second line, went back to the first, “Cancel the alarm, it’s my landlord. Thank you.”Doctor: “You cannot talk to me like that! I am a doctor!”Me: “And technically, so am I. An MD and a JD are both professional doctorates. Unless you have a PhD we are effectively on the same footing, except you have a mandatory residency and I did not.”Doctor: “I have never been spoken to so rudely!”Me: “You’re fired. Get out of our room, now.”D: “You can’t fire me!”
“Yes, I can.”“You are interfering with your wife’s care and jeopardizing the health of your baby!”
“No, I am not.”“I will have you arrested!”
“No you will not.”“Your wife can speak for herself!”
“Yes, but you do not seem capable of listening to her and respecting her.”“You interrupted me with your phone call.”“The call was necessary. I would not have taken it otherwise. It is literally the only call that would have rang through with the settings on my phone. The timing was unfortunate.”“You did that on purpose.”Me: “Let me be really clear with you. You are fired. You are not welcome in this room. And unless you leave immediately and make sure a new doctor is found for us, my wife and I will leave the hospital with or without permission and go to any of the numerous other hospitals nearby for this birth. We do not need you.”“You can’t do that!”
Me: “My wife has the right to fire a doctor at any time and if you had read the birth plan, which is signed, you would know that I have the right to help her do that at any time. GET OUT OF HERE NOW!”…And the doctor swept out in a huff.At this point we were distraught and did not know what we wanted to do next. My wife’s labor took several steps back due to the increase in stress, and we were seriously thinking of packing up and transferring to another hospital. To get some support, we called in my wife’s parents, told them our story, and asked for their input. They reinforced that we had done the right thing and that we deserved to be respected, and acknowledged that we were being reasonable and flexible -- we knew that if we could not convince the doctor on what we wanted, we would have to do it his or her way, but we also knew that we wanted to be respected in being told no as opposed to being told no without any discussion or choice.About twenty minutes later the Nurse in Charge, entered the room to chat with us. With the support of my wife’s parents, we talked with her and explained our frustration and what our wishes were. The Nurse in Charge had obviously read our birth plan, as she quoted from it while talking to us. We then told her that we were willing to wait for the next attending physician: the doctor we had planned on meeting that day for the version and had been told would be the attending physician that morning. Alternatively, we told her, we were more than happy to transfer to a different local hospital. She was very understanding and told us that she would see what she can do.Future note: Nurse in Charge is your best friend when a crisis hits. Calm, cool, collected, awesome. No way would I ever want to make her angry.Thirty minutes later the new doctor walked into the room. Immediately he introduced himself and said, “Wasn’t I supposed to be seeing you today for a version?”He understood that being at the hospital was a major change in plans for us, and said he had scanned our birth plan. He then took the time to chat with us, discuss our needs and desires, and help us figure out what could and could not be done. To be frank, he was amazing and is a doctor that we have gushed over him for years now.While discussing our birth plan his general response was, “Yes, we can do that.” Even when he was uncomfortable, he took the time to listen to our request, listen to our reasoning, and contrast it with the research he was aware of and his experience. He worked with us to take a stressful situation and figure out the best compromises that would work for all of us. Most importantly, he discussed delayed cord clamping with us and the pros, cons, and complications of doing it. Ultimately, he agreed to do it, but warned that it would irritate the pediatricians.The following is a list of everything he agreed to do, items both on and off of our list: mother awake, mother’s arms free, two support team members in the operating room as long as the anesthesiologist agreed to it, baby to mother as quickly as possible, no announcing the sex, delayed cord clamping by at least two minutes (if possible), skin to skin with mother as soon as possible, delayed newborn procedures except for the initial pediatrician checkup, removal of the mother’s prior scar tissue if there was time and bleeding was under control, mother’s choice of music in the operating room, and just before surgery - when one of the anesthesiologists suggested it - he agreed to letting the second support person use a camera in the operating room.The new doctor also discussed the possibility of a vaginal breech birth with us. Unfortunately, the hospital had a policy that they will only do a vaginal breech birth for a second vaginally born child. That meant we were not going to be able to do it there. However, the doctor had done his residency at OHSU in Portland, Oregon, and knew that their program would consider doing a vaginal breech birth. The requirement for OHSU is that you do an MRI, from which they would evaluate the baby’s head size versus mother’s hip size and decide whether to do the birth. He then offered to arrange transport for us and to get us down there for it. We seriously thought about it, as it was a compelling offer, but the cost - time - risk - possibility of the answer still being no - and taking an emergency transport away from someone else made us decide it was not worth it. Most importantly, we were comfortable with the doctor and that a cesarean birth at this point would be the best thing for our darling baby.After the new doctor left, we were elated, we had not just 100% of our birth plan, but he added things to it which we had not contemplated. An hour later he returned with the resident and the nursing staff, reviewed the birth plan again and the cesarean birth process, reconfirmed everything, showed knowledge that he had read our birth plan by quoting from it and reflecting on our past experiences, and helped us re-establish comfort with the resident. Finally, an hour before the cesarean birth - which kept being pushed back due to other people having to use the operating room before us - we met the anesthesiologist who agreed to let a second support person in the room as long as the attending physician thought it was okay.The birth itself managed to comfort every concern my wife had. All around it was the best possible cesarean birth she could have given, with all of the circumstances at hand.Fast forward a few years: we had our second child via a successful VBAC at the same hospital.Long story short: Yes, you can fire your doctor, the same as you can fire anyone else who is working for you. The only exception would be an active emergency — for example, firing your doctor mid-operation may not go over as well.[edits made to match my wife’s memories]