Month: February 2003

Is Killing a Fetus a Crime?

A judge in Pennsylvania recently ruled that a woman could be charged with murder for the death of a fetus of a romantic rival.

Corinne Wilcott was charged with murder after she attacked a pregnant woman at a graduation party in June 2002. The pregnant woman survived, but her 15-week old fetus died four days later due to the force of the attack.

According to the Associated Press, Pennsylvania is one of 27 states that allow prosecutions for fetal homicide. Wilcott had argued that under Pennsylvania law a fetus is not a person and, therefore, it is impossible to murder a fetus.

In rejecting Wilcott’s appeal, Judge John Trucilla offered the rather unsatisfying legal argument that the difference between Wilcott’s alleged killing of a fetus and an abortion was that in this case the mother did not have a choice.

But that sort of criteria seems to simply sidestep the issue. Certainly society may want to create a special sort of crime for the intentional killing of a fetus in violation of a pregnant woman’s wishes, but if a fetus is genuinely not a person then it is unclear how anyone can be charged with murder for killing a fetus (anymore than someone who committed arson and thereby killed a dog trapped in the fire would be charged with murder).

Source:

Judge rules down challenge to Pa. Fetal Homicide Law in Murder Case. Associated Press, January 25, 2003.

World Conservation Union Report Claims Alien Species Cost Africa’s Economy Billions of Dollars

The World Conservation Union recently released a report, Alien Invasive Species in Africa’s Wetlands, claiming that invasive alien species are costing Africa billions of dollars annually. Such species include water hyacinth, water lettuce, water fern, Louisiana crayfish, and common carp.

The water hyacinth, for example, grows extremely quickly and harms wetland ecosystems by blocking sunlight and oxygen from bodies of water. Similarly, the water fern is a haven for mosquitoes and snails that carry bilharzia (a tropical disease that infects up to 300 million people annually).

Most of the invasive species were introduced accidentally through tourism and trade. Worldwide, the World Conservation estimate total economic costs of invasive alien species at $400 billion.

Source:

Alien species ‘cost Africa billions’. Alex Kirby, The BBC, February 5, 2003.

IUCN launches new publication on alien invasive species. Ramsar.Org, February 2003.

Food Shortages Abate — Except In Zimbabwe

The World Food Program reports that food shortages are coming to an end in Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia, but such problems continue to worsen in Zimbabwe.

James Morris, head of the World Food Program, told The New York Times,

A serious humanitarian disaster has been averted. Food has been put in place over the last several months in such a way that mass starvation and death has not occurred. We’re seeing significant progress in Malawi and Zambia. We don’t have that same optimism in Zimbabwe.

In Zimbabwe, the WFP’s estimate of the numbers of people facing food shortages jumped to 7.2 million in December, up from 6.7 million in August.

Source:

African food shortages ending everywhere except in Zimbabwe. Rachel L. Swarns, The New York Times, January 31, 2003.

WHO to Launch Intensive Polio Immunization Effort in India

Following the largest polio epidemic in recent history, the World Health Organization is launching an intensive immunization effort in India. An estimated 1.3 million volunteers will go to door to door in an effort to vaccinate every child under five.

In 2002 India reported more than 1,500 new cases of the disease — easily the largest outbreak of the disease in decades. WHO had set a goal of eradicating polio by 2002, but now hopes to declare the planet free of polio by 2005.

Unfortunately, the BBC reports that the polio eradication effort faces a $275 million shortfall that could limit its immunization efforts.

Source:

UN targets polio in India. Emma Jane Kirby, The BBC, February 5, 2003.

An Animal Rights Activist Against the War

Anti-factory farm advocate and Global Hunger Alliance coordinator Pattrice Le-Muire Jones recently posted an article to an animal rights e-mail list offering reasons “Why Animal Liberation Activists Must Join the Peace Movement” and oppose any war against Iraq.

The article includes a top ten list of reasons why animal rights activists should join the peace movement which give a nice insight into the bizarre way that some animal rights activists see the world. Here are reasons 1 through 4 that Le-Muire Jones offers (emphasis added),

4. Because military attacks on urban spaces terrify, kill, injure, displace, and bereave companion animals.

3. Because military attacks on rural locations terrify, ill, and bereave farmed animals.

2. Because bombs and biological weapons destroy habitats and poison the environment upon which all animals depend for sustenance.

1. Because bullets, bombs, and biological weapons don’t distinguish between human and non-human animals.

What Le-Muire Jones means by “bereav[ing] animals” is anybody’s guess, but it is interesting that if there were a way for weapons to distinguish between human and non-human animals that Le-Muire Jones might have a different view of war.

It is telling that in a long list of “Do’s and Don’ts” for activists, Le-Muire Jones has to remind activist “Don’t forget to include humans when discussing the innocents who will be hurt in the course of warfare.” Presumably Le-Muire Jones is a student of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals view of warfare in which a terrorist attack using a donkey as a bomb is reprehensible simply because a donkey is injured in the effort.

Source:

Why animal liberation activists must join the peace movement. Pattrice Le-Muire Jones, February 2003.

HP ScanJet 5500c

One of the many projects I’ve been working on is converting all of the pieces of paper I have hanging around into digital versions (and then safely hiding the paper versions away). A couple years ago I tried using a cheap film scanner to take care of the thousands of pictures I’ve accumulated, but ran into a number of problems (the operative word turning out to be cheap film scanner).

I’m having a bit more luck with HP’s ScanJet 5500c. The ScanJet 5500c has a photo document feeder — essentially a document feeder that is designed to accommodate stacks of photographs up to 4×6″.

Over the last two months I’ve scanned in about 2,000 photographs and so far have few complaints. I have run into some problems with jams, but for the most part those involved either a) photographs that were somewhat warped or b) photographs that were not cleanly cut during developing.

I generally scan the photos at 600 DPI and the highest color setting, which usually results in TIFF files of 17mb to 20mb. I use those files to generate smaller JPEGS for my web site and then archive the TIFF files on CD-R (still waiting to buy a larger hard drive to store all of the photos in one place).