The play My Name is Rachel Corrie is being put on by the Seattle Repertory Theatre in its new season.
And it should be like this. After all, she wasn't a New Yorker. She was a PNWer, one of ours.

---Izzy

Rachel Corrie reading at the Riverside Church, in New York on Wednesday, March 22, 2006.

The Bush administration is attempting to implement regulations that would permit pesticide testing on aborted human fetuses despite the White House's proclamations about the sanctity of human life. It seems, to the Bush government, fetal life is sacred until pesticide companies need a convenient sacrifice for profit. Where the hell is the Religious Right or pro-lifers about this issue, that aborted fetuses can be used for corporate profit but not stem cell research? Why are the voices of the pro-life movement silent?

Too, why is there no outcry that the Bush administration would permit pesticide testing on orphaned, mentally handicapped, and abused children because they cannot give legal refusal to any experiments ? Such experiments include tricking people into thinking that they are taking vitamins while the testers are in fact feeding the test subjects massive doses of pesticides. This disregard for vulnerable populations, the mentally handicapped and abandoned children, is similar to Hitler's T-4 programmes where the Nazis murdered thousands of handicapped (babies, children, and adults) and orphaned children in gas chambers such as the Hartheim Castle.

After reading all that I did about the pesticides being possibly tested on children, I wanted to throw up and crawl into a fetal position. Here in Canada, the mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, is a quad in a wheelchair and the University of British Columbia is thinking of offering college courses for Down's adults---basically auditing classes for people with LDs (learning disabilities). Unlike America, Canada walks the walk on the sanctity of life.

It is grotesque and morbid but not surprising that the Bush administration is following the same path as the Third Reich in targeting abandoned children, and the handicapped for experimentation and execution in the name of corporate profit. The world should turn and spit on the current American government for its callous disregard for the lives of the most sacred --- the children and the handicapped --- among us.

---Izzy

Please sign this petition about the play My Name is Rachel Corrie. Let James C. Nicola, artistic director of the New York Theatre Workshop know that censorship is wrong. Thank you.

---Izzy

Vietnam war deserter Allen Abney has been released from a Marine prison with a discharge so he does not have a tarnished record. He will be back in Canada in time for his brother's funeral.

Today is the third anniversary of Rachel Corrie's death.

Meanwhile, in Palestine the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine kidnapped Mark Budzanowski and held him until they realized that he had a Canadian passport. They released him, saying "We love Canada!" while giving him a business card for the PFLP. Mr. Budzanowski has returned to doing humanitarian work in Palestine.

Bob Woodruff is now in New York and recovering in a health facility. Here's the best to him and his family.

Two U.S. soldiers killed along with twenty other people including young children.

Two more soldiers died in Iraq on Monday
.
Meanwhile, more American troops, 700 soldiers are being brought in from Kuwait to "temporarily" deploy in Iraq for the third anniversary of the U.S. invasion and for the Shiite holy pilgramge of Arbeen which commorates the death of Husayn ibn Ali.

Vietnam War deserter Allen Abney might be released later this week with an other than honourable discharge from the military. However, due to the time it takes to process the order, seven days, he may not make it home in time for his brother Gerry's funeral. Let's hope the American government expedites the discharge and sends Mr. Abney home soon.

A Canadian arrested for deserting the Marines in 1968 will probably be released next week.

I suspect the Bush government finally realised what a hot potato they had on their hands with this one (okay, the administration is a little slow...). and they should not use Mr. Abney as an example to present and future deserters when Bush's ratings are not only in the toilet but flushed.

Four U.S. troops were killed in Afghanistan on Sunday. Meanwhile, Bob Woodruff continues to recover.

MOTHER NATURE KNOWS BEST

James Watson, who helped discover DNA, wants to tamper with germ-line (ovum and sperm) genetics to build "smarter" and more "beautiful" humans.

Designer genetics do not always, and seldom, work. Consider the latest fad of "designer dogs". Many of the "new" dogs have potential problems with hip dysplasia and eye diseases because of the faults in their respective breeds. It is an unwise cruelty to tamper with any life's genetics for superficial characteristics such as "intelligence" or "beauty", because the outcome may not be safe nor effective.

Police in Idaho arrested a man with dual American and Canadian citizenship in Idaho on Thursday. Allen Abney deserted the Marines in 1968 during the long conflict in Vietnam.

Meanwhile, there is a reunion of Vietnam war resisters from July 6 to 9, 2006 in Brillaint, BC.

It has been nearly 40 years since Mr. Abney's immigration to Canada. The Vietnam war is over. Now, someone in the Marines may be making a point about they are going to get tough with future deserters but this is what we call "a double-edged sword". Works great for hari-kiri propaganda to highlight that the war in Iraq is lost and anyone would be a fool to listen to a military recruiter.

Just lovely that the American government stepped in this one.... Squish!

SITE FOR THE WEEK

Each week, I will be posting a random but selected site for the reader's information. This week I am posting DEFCONAMERICA.ORG, a site dedicated against the Religious Right.

ISAIAH 51:11

ISAIAH 51:11

Iraqi hostage Tom Fox found dead.

Two U.S. soldiers died in Iraq today.

Meanwhile, the American military is experiencing a desertion rate of 8,000 personnel since 2003.

I have no problem with military deserters simply because the Bush administration is shafting vets by cutting their benefits to the number of $10.3 billion over five years, mostly slashing health care. Furthermore, the Bush administration is not adequately compensating its current soldiers. Essentially, according to a survey by Challenger, Gray, and Christmas, military personnel are the lowest paid employees in America.

If the Bush administration endangers American citizens in not very well considered wars, there should be sufficient compensation for the military's trouble. To quote Sun Tzu's Art of War under the second chapter entitled Waging War: "There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare."

---Izzy

SATURDAY 3/11

Craig and Cindy Corrie, Rachel Corrie's parents, will give a presentation about their recent trip they took to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. This will be followed by a theatre piece about Rachel Corrie called Daughter of Courage at Consolidated Works, 500 Boren Ave N, 633-1086, 3 pm, free.

THE WAR FROM HERE

Two Canadians died Sunday in Afghanistan.