The_Fat_Man wrote on Jul 26
th, 2006 at 11:55pm:
What about a man who is mentaly retarded b0b? What if he accidently, being as most retarded people don't realize there own strength, killed a child or an adult?
Emphasis added. The key word there is "accidentally." What Andrea Yates did was
not an accident. She intentionally, calculatedly murdered her children one at a time. She has stated multiple times that she was perfectly well aware that she was harming her children.
Postpartum psychosis affects mothers after 0.2% of all births. That might not sound like a high number, but when you think of the number of births taking place across the US (and the civilized world as a whole), that a fair number of affected mothers
every day. How many of them show up on the news after having meticulously murdered her five children? Yeah, I thought so.
Yates started out blaming her serial killings on religion. When she realized nobody was going to buy it, she played the depression card. It wasn't until this latest trial that she tried a blend of both excuses. I'm just disappointed that 9 jury members bought it.
Quote:She thought she was "saving" her children.
Religion is a powerful tool when used for the wrong reasons. If I convinced a generally sane person that flashing their nekkid bodies in public would get them a bigger house in heaven, would you expect the cop to not arrest them? Of course you wouldn't. Religion is not an excuse to murder your children.
EVER.Have you ever studied the predecessors of the Pagan religion? When Assyria occupied Israel, they used to have live human sacrifices in the valley of Hinnom just outside of Jerusalem. Parents would bring their children to a continuously burning pit and throw them, kicking and screaming, onto the fiery coals. Was that justified? Were their actions excusable simply because they thought it would "save" their children?
Quote:You can't treat people like that by the same rules as a person who KNOWINGLY goes out and does evil.
The woman drowned her five children, one at a time, even after having to chase down the eldest and drag him forcibly into the bathroom. The woman is freakin'
evil. Execute her and let God deal with her.
Quote:Your looking at it from a kill and be killed point of view.
I'm looking at it from a "
she killed her own children" point of view. How else is any rational human being supposed to see it? In any other society in any other time period, she would've been walked to the gallows before the ink on her death warrant was dry. Why is our society so "enlightened" that we think we can
fix her?
Quote:Matthew 7:1-2
"Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again"
That quote is being taken way,
way out of context. If you read the rest of the chapter, you'll see that the entire passage deals with
fairness. It does not say, "don't ever judge anyone for any reason." It is entirely appropriate to condemn someone (i.e. Andrea Yates) for commiting a horrendous crime (i.e. murdering her children). The main concept of the passage that our conduct toward others will affect God's conduct toward us.
I want to ask you guys an honest question. What is the best case scenario going forward? Do you think she should be rehabilitated (if possible) and released back into the general public? Do you think she should be locked up for the rest of her natural life? I want to see if you guys agree on your ultimate "solution."
-b0b
(...can't figure out how a hung jury resulted in a verdict, anyway.)