Dear Readers,
Our apologies for the absence of the Monday and Tuesday LifeSiteNews reports.
The coverage of the Washington March by myself and editor John-Henry Westen was far more demanding this year than we had anticipated. Our agenda was so full with interviews and events to attend that we have been unable to file any reports yet and were not able to direct our other writers on stories of the day.
The March for Life events were very impressive. The huge crowds at the Vigil for Life Mass at the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, the Youth Rally for Life at the Verizon Center and the well over one hundred thousand on the March itself were breathtaking. The attendance by pro-life, pro-family and political leaders from around the US and even some from other countries gave us numerous special opportunities. We developed new contacts and were astonished by the constant compliments received from leaders who read and use LifeSiteNews reports every day.
Early last evening we had hoped to compose and publish some of the Washington stories but discovered to our dismay that Reagan National Airport, in clear site of the capital building of the world’s most powerful nation, had no Internet access anywhere on the premises for waiting passengers. On top of that our Air Canada flight was repeatedly delayed for a total of three and one-half hours because of mechanical problems until we finally took off at 11:30 p.m. for Toronto. We were however able to watch President Bush’s State of the Union speech which surprisingly contained absolutely nothing on the life and family issues.
Today, an associate, Jim Hughes, president of Campaign Life Coalition and vice-president of International Right to Life, is still in Washington at Reagan National and also experiencing repeated Air Canada mechanical problem flight delays. His flight was scheduled to leave at 11:30 a.m. today and at 7:25 p.m. he was still in the same waiting room, waiting for a supposed next opportunity to leave on an 8:00 p.m. flight which was then delayed one-half hour and then later to 9:40 p.m. (It eventually took off at 11:00 p.m.) At 1:30 p.m. he had actually taxied out in one aircraft only to have it taxi back with irresolvable mechanical problems. He was also confirmed on a 5:30 p.m. Air Canada flight but when he got to the departure counter there were no seats left.
For all his trouble and that of the other passengers on the same long-delayed flight, Air Canada issued one $10 food voucher to each of them for the day. That bought Hughes a shrimp cocktail in the airport – period. After all this and our poorly handled additional flight delay when we left Toronto for Washington we are now strongly inclined to find another airline in the future.
Despite these travel frustrations the Washington trip was well worth the time and effort as you will see from the reports in the days ahead. We also have many fascinating photos of events and individuals at the March that we are sure you will appreciate. Especially noteworthy is that most of the Washington reports are positive news stories – a delightful change from our usual cultural war reports
Steve Jalsevac
LifeSiteNews.com