UNBORN VICTIMS: In the wake of the alleged murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son, pro-life activists are pressing for the enactment of the federal Unborn Victims of Violence Act (HR 1997 and S 1019). "The terrible murder of Laci Peterson and her unborn son Conner in California have drawn public attention to a degree beyond any previous unborn victim case," said the National Right to Life Committee May 12. "As permitted by California law, local authorities have brought two homicide charges in the case-which 84% agreed with in a nationwide poll of registered voters (only 7% said a single homicide charge was appropriate). Yet, if this crime had occurred in any of 24 other states, only a single homicide charge would have been permitted." In addition, said NRTL, federal and military law would not have allowed the two charges. "Thus, if Laci Peterson had been a uniformed member of the U.S. armed forces, murdered on a military base, only a single charge would have been possible. Under current federal law, if a criminal who commits a violent federal crime (for example, interstate stalking and assault, or a terrorist bombing) that wounds a pregnant woman and kills her unborn child, he is not charged with any loss of human life."
GREEN DEATH: When Greenpeace granola-munchers protested chemical plants in New York and New Jersey on May 10, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) was there to protest the group’s deadly ideology. CORE protesters complained that "Greenpeace policies bring disease and death to millions of people in developing countries, particularly in Africa. . . . [CORE memorialized] the millions of Africans who perish every year because radical groups oppose pesticide spraying to control malaria, biotechnology to ease malnutrition, and electrical generating plants to power hospitals and water treatment plants." Said CORE National Spokesman Niger Innis, "To serve its own ideological agenda, Greenpeace wants to keep the Third World permanently mired in Third World poverty and pestilence. So far it has succeeded. We are here to tell them that we aren’t going to stand for this anymore. And neither are the poor people of Africa, Asia and Latin America."
TEN COMMANDMENTS BACK: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R.-Ala.) will soon introduce the Ten Commandments Defense Act, which would clarify states’ right to display the Ten Commandments in public buildings. "This bill does not mandate that the Ten Commandments should be displayed anywhere, at any time. It does not compel the states to display the Ten Commandments in any way," say talking points about the bill. "This bill uses the 1st and 10th Amendments as its base (i.e., those powers not delegated to the federal government are reserved to the states). This is a states’ rights issue."
ACCESS? On May 7, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema held a hearing on whether terrorist suspect Zacarias Moussaoui should be allowed to interview an alleged al Qaeda member in order to assist his own defense. "Previously, in March, Judge Brinkema had allowed Moussaoui access to another detained alleged Al Qaeda member. The government has suggested that, rather than allowing Moussaoui access to such prisoners, it should instead be allowed to provide a written summary of the prisoner’s statements to Moussaoui. It has argued that because Moussaoui is also an Al Qaeda member, national security may be jeopardized if he is allowed to communicate directly with other members of the terrorist group," wrote Julie Hilden on Findlaw.com May 12. "However, Moussaoui’s ‘standby’ attorneys have suggested that such written statements are far from sufficient: ‘There is no precedent for denying a defendant facing the death penalty access to such witnesses.’" Brinkema will make the decision.
ETHANOL FOLLIES: Senate leaders Bill Frist (R.-Tenn.) and Tom Daschle (D.-S.D.) are cooperating in sponsoring an amendment to the energy bill (S 14) that would require increased use of ethanol in gasoline. The amendment would cost the government $2.3 billion over four years since it includes giveaways to private industry to produce and use more ethanol. Archers Daniels Midland and other ethanol producers are expected to be big beneficiaries-especially since the legislation would ban ethanol’s biggest competitor, MTBE, which supposedly contaminates groundwater.
