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Pastimes : The Sauna -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Poet who wrote (49)	7/5/2001 3:52:13 PM
From: X Y Zebra	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1857

What are your thoughts on the Andrea Yates case? Terrible of course, killing children is something I cannot begin to understand, as much as I personally think of children they are as beautiful as the stars, (i.e. the further away I am from them, the prettier they look -(gg)-). It seems that in this case, the woman completely snapped. I have no idea what kind of internal demons her depression drove her to... I assume become totally numb to any reactions of her children I am sure they had, as they tried to defend their lives in their last few moments of their existence. Killing your own flesh and blood? One has to be completely evil or crazy. In this case, it seems her mind simply blew up. Obviously, the role of a woman to simply "stay at home and have babies" is wrong. Women HAVE to have some sort of self realization and self worth in order to be capable to do battle should depression, (or any other problem), set in their lives. They HAVE to be their OWN person, before mothers, wives, and/or caregivers to others. Otherwise... such woman is walking a fine line that not all can handle. Was this the result of a "suppressed life" living under false pretenses? I do not know the details of the case. Clearly, in this day and age to take care of five children and a husband is no easy task under normal circumstances, so who knows what caused her to snap the way she did. I won't get into the religious issues that relate to "family planning", (or lack thereof), since I have NO INTEREST of debating the wackos that inhabit this nutty SI Universe, but I am certain that this woman could have used some family planning and probably be allowed to express what REALLY went on her mind as she kept having babies as if they were rabbits... I cannot imagine, given the way things have turned out, she was all that happy with her growing family... how it may differ because she is a middle class female: In reference to the "death penalty"... I am divided in that issue. There are criminals who clearly are evil and they do not deserve to live, based on their crimes. Of course it is a "case by case" analysis and what past history the individual has. Then again, with the legal system allowing absurd claims by the most imaginative of lawyers, how can one determine what is "normal" any more? In this instance, I would not agree to the death penalty as punishment, this seems to be the act of a person whose mind went crazy. On the other hand, in my opinion, there is no way she can return to live in society, so life in prison without the possibility of parole, seems the appropriate penalty. Perhaps, a study of her case would serve to prevent other similar situations to reach the stage she did. I mean, that certain "signs" could be determined and identified, forewarning that the individual is about to snap. (I do not know that such identification would be easy to establish, or accepted by the individuals concerned). "That kind of empathy, unfortunately, does not often extend to the typical capital defendant who may come from a different racial background, and almost always comes from a different class background than the jury." While I would tend to agree, on the other hand, one should concentrate on the facts of every case with an open mind. Under the same scenario, one wonders what are the true motivations of prosecuting attorneys seeking the death penalty. Are they genuine in their statements or are they talking with an election in mind? My "theoretical" ideal, is... to concentrate in taking THE FACTS into account, leave race and political bs out of the picture... does that really happen ? probably not. A hard case anyway... she seemed to be a caring person, yet... she snapped... scary in a way, one does not really know the mental state of the next person... would that person be someone close to you?

To: Poet who wrote (49)	7/5/2001 11:57:21 PM
From: Tom Clarke	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 1857

I've tried not to think too much about the Andrea Yates case. The enormity of her crime is too damn depressing to dwell on. I read an article earlier today about two eight year olds and a nine year old in California who were arrested for trying to kill an eight year old playmate of theirs by putting gopher poison on her sandwich. Thankfully, she didn't eat it. Are we reaching the end of civilization as we know it? I haven't seen any mention on the threads about the Paula Poundstone situation. Doesn't anybody remember the hysteria over the McMartin School case? Kelly Michaels in New Jersey? Then there are less famous cases like the couple who were dragged in on kiddie porn charges because they had taken nude photos of their toddler. It's amazing that they can take an innocent thing like that and make it criminal. I've got a hunch Poundstone will be exonerated, but her life as she knew it is over. All because of some dirty minded insane Puritan in government. Bah!