At the beginning of November I received one of those phone calls you dread–a friend was dead. She hadn’t shown up for work, and a co-worker went to her apartment where they discovered she had died over the weekend.

As we called other friends to tell them of the loss, we heard the same question again and again, “what happened?”

We didn’t know.

Over the course of the day we learned various details. She’d not been feeling well that week, and her coworkers and family had been worried about her. The thought was maybe she had pneumonia or an asthma attack, but those were all guesses. We wouldn’t know anything until the medical examiner’s report.

We talked a lot about her in the following weeks. She’d been unemployed and underemployed for the past several years, and at one point thought she was going to lose her apartment. But in the nick of time, as she was boxing up her belongings, unsure where she was going to go, she got a job offer. It wasn’t full time with benefits, but it was enough to allow her to catch up on her rent and not have to move.

She liked her job, and was delighted after so much struggle to be working again. We’d been so happy for her. Happy because it finally looked like things were turning around for her.

Then suddenly, she’s dead, without warning.

Any death is hard, but somehow it seems so much harder when it’s unexpected.

It reminds you that life is short, and you should embrace what you have while you have it, for you never know what tomorrow will bring.

It also reminded us that if we never know what will happen tomorrow, it’s a good idea to make sure your passwords and bank accounts are available for whomever comes after you and has to put away the pieces of your life.

Somehow, two months have passed, though it hardly seems like it has been that long. But it has, and the family finally received word from the medical examiner.

It wasn’t asthma.

It wasn’t pneumonia.

It was metastatic cancer.

See, when you’re unemployed and underemployed, you don’t have health insurance. And when you don’t have health insurance, you just suck it up when you get sick.

Unfortunately, there are some things that won’t go away with time. Things that only get worse if they remain undiscovered and untreated.

Metastatic cancer.

If you’re not clear on the term, that means the untreated cancer–wherever it may have started–spread throughout her body.

Spread until it finally killed her.

We cannot know whether a diagnosis and treatment would have prolonged her life. Chances are they would have given her at least a few months if not years.

But I do know one thing for certain: If she had been diagnosed, she almost certainly would not have died alone, without the chance say goodbye to those she loved.

So when politicians and talking heads claim that health care isn’t a right, when they claim that we have no moral and ethical responsibility to provide for the medical needs of every citizen, this is what happens.

People die alone.

And those who love them never get the chance to say goodbye.

“If I saw (Lawrence Russell Brewer) face to face, I’d tell him I forgive him for what he did. Otherwise, I’d be like him. My mom forgave all three of them. My mom didn’t want violence anywhere.”
—Betty Boatner, sister of James Byrd Junior

“What a travesty it would be if they don’t uphold the death sentence. … It’s time for justice today. My family needs justice.”
—Joan MacPhail-Harris, widow of Mark Allen MacPhail

As I was half listening to the news this evening, a piece came up that stopped me in my tracks.

The Fukishima nuclear problems have convinced a noted environmentalist that nuclear power is, in fact, a viable alternative.

It was very strange to hear a man delineating all the things I wrote last week about why I was undisturbed by the nuclear reactor problems.

Because as bad as things get, the amount of damage is nowhere near the amount of damage that occurs on a daily basis with coal mining.

As the world stares in abject fascination at the news coming out of Japan, no one outside of WV has heard about Massey Energy being sited for more than eighty (80) safety violations while they still claim that they were not to blame for the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, meanwhile they won a lawsuit over Marsh Fork Elementary. Did you know that a single coal slurry damn breaking has killed twice as many people as all the nuclear reactor disasters ever?

Yet we’re all in a tizzy over Fukishima, while ignoring the numerous deaths due to coal mining. Which is why I was pleased to hear that someone else had sat down and considered the actual dangers and was willing to speak out about where deaths and danger and destruction truly lie.

The following 146 people lost their lives in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire.

Leone, Kate, 14
Maltese, Rosaria, 14
Brodsky, Ida, 15
Mehl, Rose, 15
Viviano, Bessie, 15
Altman, Anna, 16
Billota, Vincenza, 16
Cooper, Sarah, 16
Franco, Jenne, 16
Grasso, Rosie, 16
Koppelman, Beckie, 16
Kupferschmidt, Tillie, 16
L’Abbate, Annie, 16
Midolo, Gaetana, 16
Miller, Annie, 16
Pasqualicchio, Antonietta, 16
Stellino, Jennie, 16
Brenman, Sarah, 17
Brunetti, Laura, 17
Cammarata, Josephine, 17
Caputo, Francesca, 17
Eisenberg, Celia, 17
Gerstein, Molly, 17
Gitlin, Celia, 17
Rosen, Israel, 17
Sabasowitz, Sarah, 17
Shapiro, Rosie, 17
Tortorelli, Isabella, 17
Weintraub, Sarah, 17
Wisotsky, Sonia, 17
Berger, Yetta, 18
Brooks, Ada, 18
Cirrito, Rosina, 18
Evans, Dora, 18
Fichtenholtz, Yetta, 18
Friedman, Rose, 18
Gerjuoy, Diana, 18
Goldstein, Mary, 18
Grossman, Rachel, 18
Hollander, Fannie, 18
Kanowitz, Ida, 18
Kaplan, Tessie, 18
Lehrer, Max, 18
Maiale, Bettina, 18
Nicholas, Annie, 18
Nussbaum, Sadie, 18
Pack, Annie, 18
Pildescu, Jennie, 18
Reines, Beckie, 18
Schiffman, Gussie, 18
Sorkin, Rose, 18
Stein, Jennie, 18
Wendorff, Bertha, 18
Bernstein, Essie, 19
Bernstein, Morris, 19
Dockman, Clara, 19
Horowitz, Pauline, 19
Jukofsky, Ida, 19
Kessler, Beckie, 19
Kula, Bertha, 19
Kurtz, Benjamin, 19
Lehrer, Sam, 19
Levin, Jennie, 19
Levine, Pauline, 19
Liermark, Rose, 19
Meyers, Yetta, 19
Neubauer, Beckie, 19
Oberstein, Julia, 19
Oringer, Rose, 19
Schpunt, Golda, 19
Caruso, Albina, 20
Feibisch, Rebecca, 20
Goldstein, Esther, 20
Goldstein, Yetta, 20
Maltese, Lucia, 20
Ostrovsky , Beckie, 20
Pearl, Ida, 20
Saracino, Teresina, 20
Schneider, Ethel, 20
Taback, Sam, 20
Velakofsky, Frieda, 20
Weiner, Rosie, 20
Brodsky, Sarah, 21
Del Castillo, Josie, 21
Hochfeld, Esther, 21
Lansner, Fannie, 21
Lederman, Jennie, 21
Maiale, Frances, 21
Nicolosi, Michelina, 21
Prato, Emilia, 21
Rosen, Fannie, 21
Rosenberg, Jennie, 21
Rosenthal, Nettie, 21
Schochet, Violet, 21
Weisner, Tessie, 21
Welfowitz, Dora, 21
Benanti, Vincenza, 22
Bierman, Gussie, 22
Giannattasio, Catherine, 22
Goldstein, Lena, 22
Leventhal, Mary, 22
Mankofsky, Rose, 22
Prestifilippo, Concetta, 22
Rosenbaum, Yetta, 22
Rosenfeld, Gussie, 22
Rothstein, Emma, 22
Rotner, Theodore, 22
Stiglitz, Jennie, 22
Terranova, Clotilde, 22
Uzzo, Catherine, 22
Wilson, Joseph, 22
Brenman, Rosie, 23
Florin, Max, 23
Klein, Jacob, 23
Liebowitz, Nettie, 23
Utal, Meyer, 23
Adler, Lizzie, 24
Donick, Kalman, 24
Salemi, Santina, 24
Schwartz, Margaret, 24
Ardito, Annina, 25
Cohen, Anna, 25
Cordiano , Michelina, 25
Dashefsky, Bessie, 25
Greb, Bertha, 25
Saracino, Sarafina, 25
Sklover, Ben, 25
Fitze, Daisy Lopez, 26
Floresta, Mary, 26
Manaria, Maria, 27
Binowitz, Abraham, 30
Colletti, Annie, 30
Pinelli, Vincenza, 30
Starr, Annie, 30
Bassino, Rose, 31
Carlisi, Josephine, 31
Schmidt, Theresa, 32
Lauletti, Maria Giuseppa, 33
Rosen (Loeb), Louis, 33
Seltzer, Jacob, 33
Rosen, Julia, 35
Ciminello, Annie, 36
Bernstein, Jacob, 38
Maltese, Catherine, 39
Herman, Mary, 40
Panno, Provindenza, 43

Photos from the Cornell memorial site.

Photos from the NY Times.

I’ve been mulling over this for awhile, as I’ve been listening to everyone and their monkey freak out over the Fukushima nuclear reactor accident. I am simply not the slightest bit stressed out about this, or, to be honest, very upset.

I’m not saying this isn’t a serious problem, because it is. What I’m saying is that what we’ve got going otherwise for power is a whole lot more deadly.

Total deaths from nuclear power reactor accidents, all time: 56

Deaths from mine accidents in the US only, last year: 31

Deaths from mine accidents in West Virginia since 2000: 46

Reported deaths from mine accidents in China in 2009: 2,631

That’s 56 deaths, ever, from nuclear reactor disasters, compared to 46 deaths, just in West Virginia, just in the past decade.

But wait! You cry, that doesn’t count deaths from cancer that happened later! Nope. It doesn’t. But it also doesn’t count deaths from black lung, and I’m pretty sure that number is a whole lot higher, just for WV.

But what about the environmental concerns and problems from radiation? Don’t make me laugh.

So like I said, I’m having a hard time getting worked up over and accident whose ramifications pale in comparison to what my state has gone through for more than a century.

See this site for some further comparisons of the human costs of different forms of energy.

Thanks Jim!

Here are some numbers:

Number of American children living in poverty (2009) 14,657,000 / 20.7%
Number of children in the US without health insurance (2008) 8,411,000
Number of children in the US who were food insecure (2007) 13,912,000
Infant mortality (2007) 29,138
Child deaths (2007) 10,850
Number of abortions in the US (2005) 1.2 million

Here are some comparisons:
Infant mortality < number of abortions Child mortality < number of abortions Children without health insurance > number of abortions
Children living in poverty > number of abortions
Children without adequate food > number of abortions

I often wonder about political priorities in light of what is really happening.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling

Here’s my story, two days ago, I was in San Antonio, Texas, and my mother had a large tumor removed from her head. They wheeled her away at 7:20 in the morning, and by noon, I was talking to her along with the rest of our family. It proved benign, thanks to a lot of prayers and good doctors at the Methodist hospital in San Antonio. My mother’s fine….No disrespect to our President, but when it comes to the health of my mother, I don’t want this President or any President or his bureaucrat or commissions making decisions for my loved ones.

Translation 1: “I’ve got what I need, to hell with the rest of you.”

Translation 2: “The peasants don’t have health insurance? Then let them use HSAs!”

(March 23, 2010; Sarah Palin’s website Facebook page)

”

We have had hundreds and hundreds of protesters over the course of the last several months. Our office corner has really become an area where the tea party movement congregates. And the rhetoric is incredibly heated. … This is a situation where people don’t–I mean, they really do need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up and, you know, even things–for example, we’re on Sarah Palin’s targeted list–but the thing is that the way that she has it depicted has the crosshairs of a gunsight over our district. And when people do that, they’ve got to realize there’s consequences to that action.
—Rep. Gabrielle Giffords March 25, 2010

ADDENDUM the First:

ADDENDUM the Second:
Note that the date of the “Don’t Retreat–RELOAD” tweet is the same date the “Take Back the 20” image went up on Palin’s Facebook page. (See also http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40965541/ns/meet_the_press-transcripts/)

ADDENDUM the Third:

(T)hose were appalling things … said …, and to have … listened to that — with, I don’t know, a sense of condoning it, I guess, because he didn’t get up and leave — to me, that does say something about character. —Sarah Palin, on the importance of words and their meaning

Is anyone else boggled by the amazing irony of this?

Laid out at last weekend’s NATO summit in Portugal, the partnership would involve a greater role for Russia in the U.S.-NATO war in Afghanistan.

1) The children of illegal immigrants and illegal immigrants who are young children: what should happen to them?

2) Think back: It’s 2000. What did you believe should have happened to Elián González?

Just a check for internal consistency.

This is hard to watch, but it’s also brave and wonderful and everyone should watch it.

Just heard an interview with John Raese, Republican candidate to replace Byrd in the US Senate.

In an almost astounding case of, “Fuck you, I’ve got mine!” Rease said he wants to get rid of the minimum wage. “Asked if the federally mandated minimum wage should be abolished, Raese answered, ‘absolutely.'”

A couple of notes here, the minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. If an employee worked 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year (which never happens mind you) they would have an income of $15,080.00 a year. The median income in WV in 2008 was $37,528. For the US as a whole it was $52,029, and in that same year, 17% of West Virginians had income below the poverty level.

Raese believes that West Virginians should be at the mercy of their employers in determine what is a “living wage” (Let me tell you, the minimum wage ain’t it)

He also doesn’t like regulation of industry, so not only does he believe that businesses can pay you as little as they want, he also seems to believe that industry can do whatever they want to the environment, their employees, their customers–that they answer only to their investors.

Yeah, we saw how well that‘s worked out.

And Raese’s record on safety speaks for itself as does his record on government spending.