TRIANGLE GARMENT FACTORY FIRE ANNIVERSARY MARCH 25, 1911



CNN commemorated this tragedy with a documentary called TRIANGLE Remembering The Fire on its anniversary today.  The deaths of 146 workers eventually led to changes in labour laws to protect workers in this industry. The Garment Workers' Union meets at this building yearly to this day.  

Interviews with the living relatives of some of those who died were especially poignant; the EMT who present at 9/11 saw the same horrendous sights of people jumping out of the building holding hands or with arms wrapped around each other as his grandfather did in 1911.  There were those who had to identify bodies by shoe wedges, or by stockings that were stitched in a certain way or by hair that had been braided just that morning by a friend.

The Brown Building, at 23-29 Washington Place between Greene Street and Washington Square East in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, was the site on March 25, 1911 of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in which 146 garment workers, mostly young women, died, due to there being no way for them to exit the building. In the wake of the fire, landmark legislation was passed to protect the health and safety of workers.

The Asch Building, as it was called, was built in 1900-01, designed by John Wooley in neo-Renaissance style. The Triangle Shirtwaist Company occupied the top three floors. The building's facade was relatively undamaged by the fire, and New York University began renting parts of in 1916. In 1929, Frederick Brown, the owner at the time, donated the building to the university. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1991 and a NYC landmark in 2003. There is a memorial plaque on the building from the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, which was instrumental in getting the legislation passed, and historical plaques from the National Parks Service and the New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation. {Source: Guide to NYC Landmarks (4th ed.))

"FOR MY UNCONQUERABLE SOUL"

INVICTUS
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

IS JAPAN UNDERSTATING CONDITIONS THERE?

Today Japanese officials are warning of a 'possible' breach of reactor #3 and suggesting a further voluntary evacuation up to 30 kilometers or 19 miles while western countries suggest 80 k for their citizens.  
Have you ever heard anything from political spokesmen that has ever not been understated particularly in cases of dire warnings in times of disaster? Two days ago they said that tap water in Tokyo was too dangerous for babies and 24 hours later they said it's okay now.  I see a lot of people wisely did not believe that 'miracle'.
  What is a 'breach' anyway?  Or is that just a euphemism for meltdown?
I think things are even worse than portrayed to the world stage by those who are trying to calm the masses.  Perhaps those in the 'steering committee' of this tragic nation are scrambling to get their own personal agendas in order before the true reality of things becomes evident. 

@Tokyo (CNN) --
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said authorities are encouraging people living between 20 and 30 kilometers (12.5 and 19 miles) from the plant to leave the area voluntarily because of the challenges they "have faced in their daily lives."
Those who live closer already have been ordered to evacuate because of dangerously high levels of radiation.
A primary challenge for that region, he said, has had to do with commerce -- namely, the difficulty in getting needed materials in and out of the area.
This is not a mandatory evacuation, Edano said.
Still, he said, he could not rule out future mandatory evacuations if radiation rises to unsafe levels.
Other nations, including the United States and England, have urged their citizens to stay 80 kilometers (50 miles) or more away from the embattled power plant over radiation concerns.
Japan has urged those within a 20-kilometer radius to evacuate and those within 30 kilometers to try and stay indoors.
Still, even those well outside the plant area are being affected by the radioactive emissions.
Traces of radioactive iodine tied to the plant have been detected as far away as Sweden and the United States. Authorities have said those levels are far below what's considered harmful to humans.
Two Japanese citizens -- one from Nagano and the other from Saitama, both 200 kilometers or further from Fukushima -- traveling to China were taken to a hospital after showing exceedingly high levels of radiation, China's state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
A spokesman for Japan's embassy in China said Friday that the two are "fine" having left the hospital and joined their tour group.
"Abnormal radiation" was also detected earlier on a Japanese ship, Xinhua said.
But in Japan, radioactive materials detected in water, food and elsewhere have had a major impact. The number of banned food items is growing regularly, and has affected not only consumers, but farmers who rely on the products to make a living.
One chief concern is the presence of radioactive substances in tap water.

A MOMENT OF LEVITY

"Copyright: Bronnian Comics. Reproduced with permission - Torstar Syndication Services"

 In the Daily Mail from the Uk comes this by Richard Littlejohn:
Japan is an advanced, wealthy nation, which will recover and rebuild over time. It doesn’t need our money.

I disagreed with this comment yesterday because 

Mr. Littlejohn completely forgot about the third chapter of this compound tragedy.  If the radiation threat becomes reality by the looming possiblity of the nuclear reactors meltdown there will be unimaginable suffering for many, many years with a huge burden on the health care system. Radiation is already in the water coming out of taps in people's homes.  There will be no food exports.  There will be no exports of any commodity that absorbs radiation.  There will be no tourist dollars.  It means economic disaster for Japan.

He spoke of his wife's grandfather and the hatred he had for the people of Japan due to the atrocities committed in WW ll POW camps and that her grandfather would not remove his hat for a minute of silence for Japan.  Past hatreds belong in the past.   
This is today and in any great humanitarian crisis all people deserve our support, our compassion and our money regardless of race, color or creed. 


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1368594/Why-wifes-PoW-grandad-wouldnt-mark-minutes-silence-Japanese.html#ixzz1HIJ3JlQ7

DAYS OF DOOM FEELING

There has never been a Doomsday movie made that rivals this scenario. 

If the events in Japan since 3/11 had been made into a big screen Armageddon movie, the critics and movie buffs would have laughed out loud as they walked out of the theatre as being beyond realistic. 


Not so today.  In fact this is the reality of the moment and perhaps for the rest of our lives.  If you disagree then maybe the statement made in the article below will jerk you back to reality--  "Even if you eat contaminated vegetables several times, it will not harm your health at all." 
This may eventually be OUR reality.


While no one knows what the fallout from this disaster will be it is safe to say that this is not only an unparallelled tragedy it will cut a very deep mark into the very fabric of time. 

The following article was written by:  By ERIC TALMADGE and MARI YAMAGUCHI, Associated Press.
Workers were evacuated today from the area to buildings nearby due to smoke conditions though radiation levels remained steady, the officials said.
Problems set off by the disasters have ranged far beyond the devastated northeast coast and the wrecked nuclear plant, handing the government what it has called Japan's worst crisis since World War II. Rebuilding the northeast coast may cost as much as $235 billion. Police estimate the death toll will surpass 18,000.
Traces of radiation are tainting vegetables and some water supplies, although in amounts the government and health experts say do not pose a risk to human health in the short-term.

"Please do not overreact, and act calmly," said Chief Cabinet spokesman Yukio Edano in the government's latest appeal to ease public concerns. "Even if you eat contaminated vegetables several times, it will not harm your health at all."

Edano said Fukushima's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co., would compensate farmers affected by bans on the sale of raw milk, spinach and canola.

The troubles at Fukushima have in some ways overshadowed the natural catastrophe, threatening a wider disaster if the plant spews more concentrated forms of radiation than it has so far.



CARTOON



I haven't had any problems getting permission to post a cartoon when I approached a couple of Canadian cartoonists but when I sent an email to Mike Baldwin for his work called Cornered it got very interesting. 
What I got from his agency was a full page 'manifesto' listing three different levels where my request might fall and if I would be making money from this and so on and so on.  Believe or not they wanted $12 American for each posted cartoon!
He's got some really good stuff and the humour reminds me of the 'Herman' cartoons that was very popular in the 80's.
 I'm really sorry I won't be sharing it but ultimately it will be his loss.  Here was my reply.

LOL well my head is spinning!  I do not have any commercial intent nor do I get any gain from www.deltajoy.blogspot.com nor is it social networking.  Feel free to have a look. I think I have one follower....my son.  I talk a lot about medical discoveries (I am a retired nurse) also genealogy thus lots of pics of gravestones and dead people. 
So you are saying I have to pay $12 dollars per image just to amuse myself one or twice?  I'll probably pass.
I am quite surprised as I recently wrote to a Canadian published cartoonist here in Canada and was give carte-blanche for only mentioning that I do have permission!
Thanks anyway for your time.