If you haven’t already rushed over to vote for Kim Klein, take a look at this article on the costs of breast cancer. These numbers are STAGGERING. 
I was weeping last year over having to pay almost $8k out of pocket for various medical treatments, but $55K+? You can see why people are turning to alternative treatments when the prognosis gets so bad that they have to choose between expensive treatment that could leave their family homeless and bankrupt or something that probably won’t work… How can we keep letting the drug manufacturers get away with this crap? 
Archive for October 11th, 2007
The Costs of Cancer
11
Oct
Act now, react later
11
Oct
Judge Ellen Huvelle has temporarily blocked the Bush Administration’s attempts to ignore the environmental impact of building the border fence right through a protected area in Arizona. This is yet another example of the Bush Adminstration’s policies (like wire tapping, spying, torture, the war, etc.) that involve quick action and dealing with the fallout when it comes. Unfortunately Secretary Chertoff has the power, apparently, to disregard Judge Huvelle’s ruling and order continued work on the fence. What else is new?
Just pray
11
Oct
Many of you have been following LagLiv’s nightmare of a week with her little baby and accusations of child abuse. Unfortunately, just when we thought it was getting better, it has taken a horrible turn. I’ve been unable to think of much else this week because, even though I don’t know her personally, as a mother I cannot even begin to imagine how terrified she is during this time. First, not knowing why her baby is injured in such a painful way and then having people around her convinced that it is either her fault or that of someone close to her, like her husband or the nanny. She’s done absolutely everything right, bent over backwards and put her child first and yet they are still taking the baby away. 
Please pray for this mother, her child and her husband.
No Match, No Go!
11
Oct
Federal judge Charles Breyer (brother to Justice Stephen Breyer) Wednesday blocked Homeland Security’s plan to send no match letters employers nationwide. I think this was the right result, for now, and I’ll tell you why.
1) If the FBI has a two-year backlog on USCIS name checks for pending applications, exactly how do you think the SSA is going to respond to requests for verification when a U.S. Citizen or legal permanent resident accidentally gets a no match letter due to recordkeeping errors? Knowing the government, this is very possible and the 90-day window for verification simply is not enough time.
2) There are 12 million undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Our economy is sliding now. What do you think will happen when those people are pushed out of the workforce and employers have to pay a higher wage to others, if they can even find them, to take the jobs?
That said, I do think that it is crucial for the government to come up with some plan to bring people out of the shadows and encourage people to enter the country legally. Also, identity theft is a terrible thing to be faced with so I agree that it’s important to put an end to it. That said, until the government gets its shit together and has a path to legalization coupled with a strong, fast database for checking SSNs, they shouldn’t interfere with the labor market this way. Also, instead of harassing local immigrants, both undocumented and legal, states should be following New York’s example and offering state ID cards so that they can actually account for more of the people residing in their state than under current hide-or-we-will-catch-you policies.
