A century later

100 years ago today, 146 garment workers died when a fire started in the factory they worked in. Why couldn't they escape?

The doors were locked.

An eyewitness describes the sight: Horrified and helpless, the crowds — I among them — looked up at the burning building, saw girl after girl appear at the reddened windows, pause for a terrified moment, and then leap to the pavement below, to land as mangled, bloody pulp. This went on for what seemed a ghastly eternity. Occasionally a girl who had hesitated too long was licked by pursuing flames and, screaming with clothing and hair ablaze, plunged like a living torch to the street. Life nets held by the firemen were torn by the impact of the falling bodies..

Some of the bodies were identified where they landed in the street. Others were identified by relatives in the morgue.

The youngest victims were barely teenagers. Most were immigrants.

If anyone ever wonders why I'm a liberal, here is a list of 146 reasons.

And now conservatives want to scale back on worker protection measures and break up unions. If you're one of those--what if one of your children was working in the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory?

I can't believe I missed this

“My switch to pro-life had nothing to do with religion”

Dr. Bernard Nathanson, 1926-2011, abortion doctor turned pro-life advocate.

Sometimes, I wonder if it's hypocritical of me to now speak against abortion when I had one myself. And then I read about men like Dr. Nathanson, and I realize it's never too late to do the right thing.