TOO CLOSE TO HOME...AND FAR AWAY

University of Washington graduate student Rebecca Griego was killed by a stalking boyfriend Jonathan Rowen at Gould Hall on the University of Washington campus in Seattle, Washington on April 2nd. I was born in Seattle and I was a student at the University of Washington many years ago. It hurts to see news like this from home.

On April 3rd, Clara Riddles was shot by a man who was arguing with her in the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Police then shot the man in the face. Rebecca Griego was 26, Clara Riddles was 22.

There is no justification that the NRA can give for these deaths. These were homicides of innocents, not self-defence and not sport hunting unless you are sick enough to think that Johnathan Rowen's stalking of Rebecca Griego constituted sport. Women being afraid of murder does not fit into the hack philosophy of self-defence or sport that the National Rifle Association advocates. The tragic deaths of Rebecca Griego and Clara Riddles make a lie out of the ignoble beliefs of fanatical gun owners who want legislation to absolve anyone who uses a gun in a License to Murder. Guns do kill people, much easier than any other weapon, and ownership of guns should face stiffer regulation.

SAVE THE SEALS

On Vancouver Island, sports fishers are calling for a cull on harbour seals because allegedly the animals are destroying spring Chinook salmon runs in the Puntledge River. In reality, pollution from various sources is damaging the river and poisoning the salmon. Killing seals is too easy a solution compared to the more difficult solution of saving the salmon environment. A seal cull would be cruel and unnecessary slaughter when human activities endanger not only the fish and seals but human life as well.

WE STAND WITH YOU FOR YOUR COURAGE

An Open Letter To The Family of John Edwards

I did not know my maternal grandmother because she died young of breast cancer. Another family member has had breast cancer but survived because of radiation treatment. Breast cancer is a shadow that hangs over all the females in our family from the eldest to the newly born. I salute John and Elizabeth's courageous decision to carry on with the presidential campaign and wish them the strength that their family will need in this time.

---Anne

CAN WE DEPORT ANN COULTER?

A coalition of evangelicals called the Families First on Immigration is trying to halt the right of citizenship by birth. In the 14th amendment to the Constitution, people who are born in the United States have immediate citizenship. The bill would not allow immigrants who are born in America to have automatic citizenship.

Well, yours truly knows a little bit about citizenship. Some of my ancestors were Native American. So it stands to reason that those, mostly of European descent, who are backing this policy ought to be the first ones to be tossed over the border. Especially,Manuel Miranda who is the head of Families First and who was born in Cuba.

UPDATE: LESLIE PINNEY

UPDATE/FAREWELL:

This falls into the wrapping up of loose ends category and saying a farewell to a topic subject. There are some matters that have become stale for me and others, like Karla Homolka whom I have blogged in the past, have entered the realm of the yellow press. The topic of Rachel Corrie may have a certain fire and controversy to it in diverse circles but it has no pzang for me as a writer. I will not be blogging Rachel Corrie as much, if at all,because I have lost interest in the subject of the Middle East. I want to work on subjects of a more cultural or sociological framework.

Rachel Corrie Play in Seattle

UPDATING

As you may have noticed, the site is looking a bit less ragged but not altogether there. I'm spiffying it up with graphics and doing housecleaning on some of the entries. If articles disappear, it was meant to be.
So, watch out for the dust bunnies and I'll see you soon.
----Izzy

UPDATE ON BOB WOODRUFF

COMPLETELY CUTE

Al Gore at the Oscars and his speech about the environment was endearing. Initially, the former VP seemed as if he didn't know that he should be there in front of all those "Hollywood types".I would have loved to know what was going through Gore's mind at the moment. He had a wonderful face,like a little boy on his birthday who had been hoping for the one special present and suddenly what he wished for was the first gift.

Nothing, however, could replace the gift that Al Gore has given the world as a statesman, a scientist, and an activist for the environment. His film and his persistence in sounding the alarm about our ailing planet will be a present to our and future generations.

APOLOGIES

Accck!I missed Alan Rickman's birthday on the twenty-first of February! That's what happens when you start a new job and are writing a second novel. Belated good wishes to one of the world's greatest actors.

TOO CUTE TO NOT BLOG

Yes, I have been away too long doing other things like writing an unpublished novel and another blog. However, this came to my attention and I can't resist noting the item. It seems that former Arkansas governor Mike Huckebee thinks that the war in Iraq is the beginning of World War III. Then why is the rest of the world leaving Iraq as fast as they can pull troops? Britain is leaving that country. Japan departed last year. Several other countries including Denmark, South Korea, and Italy have gone or will go.

My question to Mike Huckebee is, if this is World War III in Iraq, where is the rest of the world? It is going to be awfully lonely for America in Iraq.

Leslie Pinney lost her bid to ban books in the Township High School District 214 six to one, with Pinney against her school board colleagues. In celebration, the authorsof Freakonomics are offering signed copies of their book to the school district.

Oh, please. Yet another Christian idiot is trying to ban books without reading them.

Earlier, this month a fundie woman in Georgia attempted to ban Harry Potter books from the local schools.Of course, she didn't read them but did you expect those hooked-on-phonics types to have that level of literacy? Fortunately, the school board shot her down and Harry can remain to enlighten those savages in the deep South.

Recently a hausfrau, Leslie Pinney, on an Illinois school board is attempting to ban such books as Kate Chopin's The Awakening and Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner for being pornographic.

Now, The Awakening may have been pornographic ---say in the late nineteenth century--- but girlfriend, no one reads that now but Lit majors (like me) and middle-aged English profs (not me...I still look hot in fishnet stockings). Like many of the other books, Ms. Pinney has as not read Chopin and the author is not smutty by contemporary standards. In anyone's imagination, Mrs. Pontellier would not be a Playmate of the Year. It is ridiculous to ban something that has gathered the dusty name of "a classic". Oy, just don't show Leslie Pinney anything by the Brontes or (and this is being very racy) Djuna Barnes...

Four U.S. Marines killed in Baghdad.

I honestly do not want to hear the Religious Right whine about Christians being persecuted in the U.S. when soldiers are dying in Iraq for Amercian corporations who are bilking taxpayers as well as the government they are supposedly helping; and defending pious churchgoers who can (barely) fit their candy arses in gas guzzling SUVS so they can indulge in their yearly necrophilia worship at an environment killing megachurch. Wah. Grow up.

A British soldier,Lieutenant Richard Palmer aged 27, of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards died yesterday from an IED in Iraq.

Vigilante militia are patrolling the Canadian border in hopes of keeping out terrorists and illegal immigrants.The Minuteman Civil Defense Corps plans to watch along the Washington state border to stop refugees fleeing Canada.

There's something wrong with this picture. Why anyone would flee to the United States when Canadian businesses are welcoming immigrants. It is a mystery to me. Canada, compared to America, isn't bogged down in a no win war and their dollar is rising against the U.S. currency. Furthermore, in Canada there is more tolerance for diversity and immigration because this country is sparsely populated and has a birth dearth. America can't attract tourists from Canada. So why are these whiners playing soldier at the border? Probably because their white tushes are in wedgies over America becoming a land of brown skinned people. The militias do not realize the anti-immigrant trend is futile. Eventually, diverse ethnic groups will outnumber Caucasians. And then where will the militias be? They will have a lot of explaining to do.

Three soldiers died in Iraq yesterday bringing April's total to a stunning 32 dead this month.

Meanwhile, Bob Woodruff is recovering as an outpatient. Prayers for the family of the dead soldiers. Speedy recovery for Mr. Woodruff.

The Republican Party has descended to new lows in its quest for power.

Police arrested a Homeland Security press aide on charges of sexually preying on a detective posing as a 14-year-old girl in an Internet chat room. Brian J. Doyle, 55 is being held without bail in Maryland pending extradition to Florida.

Meanwhile, Republican Curt Weldon is attacking 4-year-olds with brain cancer. The GOP candidate from the 7th district in Pennsylvania has bashed his opponent Joe Sestak for renting a house in Pittsburgh while his 4-year-old daughter receives treatment for brain cancer in Washington D.C.

Essentially, Curt Weldon is bashing Mr. Sestak for not being politically committed to the 7th district despite the Sestak's heroic commute between Pittsburgh and Washington D.C. to give their ailing daughter the best pediatric care. Once again, the GOP has shown itself to be disgusting filth both in its preying on teenagers and in its hypocritical trashing of those who, like the Sestaks caring for their ill daughter, show true parental family values.

Well, I said I wouldn't post anything more about Bob Woodruff but I have to note that he won the David Bloom Award for excellence in enterprise reporting. Here's to the continued best for Mr. Woodruff and his family.

Radio Free Canada is in hiatus on Bob Woodruff's condition. While there has been no more recent news, we can certainly hope he is progressing in his recovery.