The Non-partisan Politics, Amy Bishop Anderson Thread...

[TIDE-HSV]

This is one thread which will stay on topic or there will be consequences, like being invisible for a while. Please post thoughts on the political aspect of the killings only in the political Bishop thread. There's plenty of room there...

 

[RammerJammer14]

Substance! :biggrin2:

What is this MA bombing incident of which you speak? I did a quick look on Al.com but didn't see anything.

 

[gmart74]

it really is amazing to me that every one of these shootings seem to have been preventable in hindsight. this lady had multiple incidents with guns and violence. the hooters waitress killer was stalking her and acting crazy for months. the ft hood guy had multiple people reporting him for wild statements. the va tech shooter has psychological issues. the columbine kids were building pipe bombs in the garage for a long time. are people really getting this blind to obvious warning signs?

 

[Bama Reb]

it really is amazing to me that every one of these shootings seem to have been preventable in hindsight. this lady had multiple incidents with guns and violence. the hooters waitress killer was stalking her and acting crazy for months. the ft hood guy had multiple people reporting him for wild statements. the va tech shooter has psychological issues. the columbine kids were building pipe bombs in the garage for a long time. are people really getting this blind to obvious warning signs?

Individual isolationism...

 

[Clubfitter]

Just some random thoughts not intended to be organized. There is a fine line between genius and insanity. At a University there are a lot of very large egos in the faculty. Those very large egos were acquired by a lot of hard work spent on a single project or direction in their chosen field. Affirmation by their peers is the ultimate spiritual experience for an academisian who spends their every waking hour toward a goal or discovery. If you have a person who might be a little unbalanced to start with who does not experience spiritual satisfaction from their peers for their efforts then that person might try to get noticed in other ways. Budget constraints could play a role in every deserving person not getting their proper recognition. I have no inside information about Amy Bishop and I don't know if any of the above had any thing to do with what she did. I know this was a tragedy of epic proportions that will not be soon forgotten.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Substance! :biggrin2:

What is this MA bombing incident of which you speak? I did a quick look on Al.com but didn't see anything.

In 1993, she was questioned, along with her husband, when she was a post-doc at Harvard. Her supervisor, whom she quarreled with, received two pipe bombs in his mail. She was not charged...

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Just some random thoughts not intended to be organized. There is a fine line between genius and insanity. At a University there are a lot of very large egos in the faculty. Those very large egos were acquired by a lot of hard work spent on a single project or direction in their chosen field. Affirmation by their peers is the ultimate spiritual experience for an academisian who spends their every waking hour toward a goal or discovery. If you have a person who might be a little unbalanced to start with who does not experience spiritual satisfaction from their peers for their efforts then that person might try to get noticed in other ways. Budget constraints could play a role in every deserving person not getting their proper recognition. I have no inside information about Amy Bishop and I don't know if any of the above had any thing to do with what she did. I know this was a tragedy of epic proportions that will not be soon forgotten.

Last evening on ABC news, an academic "expert" said that not receiving tenure meant, for practical purposes, the end of her academic career. So, yes, a huge ego body blow...

 

[Ldlane]

Last evening on ABC news, an academic "expert" said that not receiving tenure meant, for practical purposes, the end of her academic career. So, yes, a huge ego body blow...

But she seems to be pretty twisted in the first place. I wonder where she would fit into society if she couldn't have the campus atmosphere. However, that point is now moot. One of my history professors at FSU (will remain nameless) was brilliant, but he had the social skills of "Mac Truck". One time he was lecturing in class and the student in front of me coughed. He then asked the student to "not interrupt him again". He also came into the bookstore and asked me, "Why is this store keeping me out of the faculty author section"? I told him that we really didn't know that he had written anything. Academics are strange.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

But she seems to be pretty twisted in the first place. I wonder where she would fit into society if she couldn't have the campus atmosphere. However, that point is now moot. One of my history professors at FSU (will remain nameless) was brilliant, but he had the social skills of "Mac Truck". One time he was lecturing in class and the student in front of me coughed. He then asked the student to "not interrupt him again". He also came into the bookstore and asked me, "Why is this store keeping me out of the faculty author section"? I told him that we really didn't know that he had written anything. Academics are strange.

I had an English prof at UA, Dr. Mason, who was known to be very weird. His whole affect was strange. I tiptoed around him because I knew that, during the previous term, a couple of students had given him a hard time. He brought a revolver with him to class the next day, laid it down on the desk and said "I trust we'll have no more interruptions..."

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Tidbit on the news this AM - she pulled out her gun after about 30 minutes and started shooting down the people around the table one at a time. There was a lull (if she were putting a new clip in, she must have missed some), and the survivors pushed her out the door and called 911. She still had her gun, because she ditched it in a restroom...

 

[jthomas666]

Last evening on ABC news, an academic "expert" said that not receiving tenure meant, for practical purposes, the end of her academic career. So, yes, a huge ego body blow...

Yeah, tenure is pretty much the holy grail in academia, particularly since during the past fifteen years, most universities downsized their faculty and enrolled more graduate students to pick up the slack--resulting in more candidates for fewer positions.

I spent five years doing doctoral work; I've never regretted my decision to get out.

 

[TideEngineer08]

I had an English prof at UA, Dr. Mason, who was known to be very weird. His whole affect was strange. I tiptoed around him because I knew that, during the previous term, a couple of students had given him a hard time. He brought a revolver with him to class the next day, laid it down on the desk and said "I trust we'll have no more interruptions..."

Wow!

He should have been fired on the spot, IMO.

 

[Bamaro]

Its hard to conceptualize what makes a disturbed individual do what they do. People like that just dont function like the rest of us. There is something wired differently in their brain that causes them to act in ways we cant relate to. They can be very intelligent or stupid, it doesn't seem to matter.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

Wow!

He should have been fired on the spot, IMO.

I presume he wasn't turned in for it. That was 1957 and even having a handgun was an oddity. In my six years there, I only knew one student who had one, a Ruger 44 mag revolver, which I commented on in the handgun thread. Everyone regarded him to be a dim bulb and and little "cracked," in part because of the gun. Attitudes have changed radically in the last 50 years or so...

 

[happytidefan]

This woman appears to be as diabolical as they come...she has methodically carried out prior crimes and for the most part has escaped justice, all the whilst holding a job in education. Until now. I smell an insanity defense coming on faster than the speed of light. It doesn't take a genuis to derive that her "chilling affect" was part of a premeditated methodical and diabolical plan to plead insane, i.e., a psychotic break, but would a jury buy it? Would love for Savannah Dare to weigh in on this.

 

[MasterShake]

Any word on if she was a Ron Paul supporter? This seems like a very libertarian thing to do.

Ok seriously, do you guys think we will ever see the husband do a interview? I think that's the most intriguing angle on all of this. I'd like to see what he said about his life with her and her private discussions about her brothers death.

 

[TexasBama]

Is the legal definition of insanity in Alabama similar to Texas'?

 

[TideEngineer08]

I presume he wasn't turned in for it. That was 1957 and even having a handgun was an oddity. In my six years there, I only knew one student who had one, a Ruger 44 mag revolver, which I commented on in the handgun thread. Everyone regarded him to be a dim bulb and and little "cracked," in part because of the gun. Attitudes have changed radically in the last 50 years or so...

That's true. I can understand him getting away with it back then, because attitudes were different. However... I can also see him getting away with it now for different reasons, similar to those that allowed this woman to get away with her crimes until now.

Having said all that... a professor bringing a handgun into a classroom and issuing a veiled threat to use it... yeah something is loose in that brain.

 

[TIDE-HSV]

My assumption that they got to her while reloading was correct. Here's the article: LINK

 

[J.Will]

This woman appears to be as diabolical as they come...she has methodically carried out prior crimes and for the most part has escaped justice, all the whilst holding a job in education. Until now. I smell an insanity defense coming on faster than the speed of light. It doesn't take a genuis to derive that her "chilling affect" was part of a premeditated methodical and diabolical plan to plead insane, i.e., a psychotic break, but would a jury buy it? Would love for Savannah Dare to weigh in on this.

Insanity defense is mostly BS. It really isn't what most people think it is, and it really isn't even a good option...

Cracked.com did their top 6 BS Cop Myths that everyone believes because of Hollywood. Insanity Defense was one of them.

Typical Scenario:

So things aren't looking so great: The cops caught you stabbing a priest, which you have found out is illegal in your city. Fortunately, your lawyer is Richard Gere, and the two of you combine to convince the jury that you are insane, and that the crime was carried out by one of your multiple personalities.


The man who defends himself has a fool for a lawyer. The man who hires Richard Gere has a sentient nose for a lawyer.

You get off, innocent by reason of insanity! Congratulations, a couple of months at the mental hospital and you'll be back on the streets!

Why it's BS:

Obviously if the legal system had this kind of Get Out of Jail Free loophole, the prisons would be empty. In reality, the Insanity Defense is attempted in less than one percent of all legal cases, which essentially means that more people have tried to pin their crimes on aliens or their evil twin rather than their own basket case, shoelace-eating lunacy.


"No no, it was my brother, Larry Busey!"

Of that tiny fraction where the lawyer was even willing to try it, the defense is successful less than 25 percent of the time. Three states in the US don't even allow insanity as a defense.

Then, in that tiny, tiny fraction of cases where the guy "got off" because he convinced the court he was insane, he doesn't get to just go home. You get sent to a mental institution where you don't have a set sentence at all--they keep you as long as they see fit, which may be forever. You're there until "deemed safe to return to society", which according to the American Psychiatric Association is usually twice as long as the jail sentence would have been.


Hope you like white gowns and staph infections!

This has always been one of those situations where people simply want to believe the system is worse than it is. We can't escape the idea that the courts are too soft on the bad guys and that guilty people are running free left and right. Besides, what is insanity, anyway? Can't you say that anyone who willingly kills another human being is "insane"? Won't giving these guys a free pass based on a little craziness bring the whole system down?

Yes, it would. Which is why the courts don't do it.