Wednesday, July 19, 2006

The Line Up

Yates thought she ruined kids


Andrea Yates drowned her five children in the bathtub because she thought she had ruined them so much that one would grow up to be a serial killer and another would become a mute gay prostitute, a forensic psychiatrist testified Wednesday. Dr. Phillip Resnick, who evaluated Yates about three weeks after the June 2001 drownings, said she knew her actions were illegal but didn't know they were wrong because she was trying to save the children from going to hell. "If she did not intervene and take their lives while they were still innocent, they would end up in hell," he said, testifying as a defense rebuttal witness. "Mrs. Yates knew what she was doing was right for her children." Yates, 42, is being retried because an appeals court overturned her 2002 capital murder conviction on the grounds that some erroneous testimony may have influenced jurors. Yates, charged in only three of the children's deaths, has again pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If convicted, she will be sentenced to life in prison. If found not guilty by reason of insanity, she will be committed to a state mental hospital, with periodic hearings before a judge to determine whether she should be released -- although jurors are not allowed to know that. Her attorneys say she suffered from severe postpartum psychosis and meets Texas' definition of insanity: that a severe mental illness prevents someone who is committing a crime from knowing it is wrong.

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  • Bush vetoes embryonic stem-cell bill


    President Bush on Wednesday vetoed the embryonic stem-cell research bill, his first veto in 5 1/2 years in office. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect, so I vetoed it," Bush told backers at a White House event. House Republican leaders have said they would try for an override vote on the measure, but it's unlikely to pass, lacking the two-thirds majority needed in each chamber. In August 2001, Bush announced that his administration would allow federal funding only for research on about 60 stem-cell lines that existed at the time. Researchers have since found that many of those lines are contaminated and unusable for research."In 2001, I spoke to the American people and set forth a new policy on stem-cell research that struck a balance between the needs of science and the demands of conscious," Bush said.

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  • U.S. swelters under deadly heat wave ("NO SHIT")


    Jessica Blue stood barefoot in the fountain at Manhattan's Washington Square Park, her clothes and hat getting drenched with cool water as the temperature neared 100 degrees.

    "I was out shopping, but I couldn't take it any more," the 54-year-old said Tuesday. "Better cold water than sweat. I'm sick of sweating."

    Relief from the heat wave was in sight for Blue and others in the Northeast as a cold front was expected to lower temperatures to the mid-80s on Wednesday.

    The first signs of cooler weather arrived with a bang starting Tuesday afternoon, when heavy thunderstorms swept across parts of the region, knocking out power to tens of thousands of utility customers from New Jersey to Vermont.

    The storms, coupled with the hot weather, were the likely causes of an outage that left about 9,900 Consolidated Edison customers without power in and around New York City, spokeswoman D. Joy Faber said Wednesday. (Watch what relief and threats may come from the West --2:57)

    Almost 26,000 customers of New York's Long Island Power Authority were still without power early Wednesday, according to the utility's Web site.
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  • Words Of Wisdom

    Man Admits To Luring, Extorting Sex Offenders


    Two people were charged with luring sexual predators to a church and robbing them, authorities said. Michael Barnett, 22, and Maria Catini, 21, both of Salineville, were arrested Saturday and were being held in the Carroll County Jail, each on one count of extortion and one count of aiding and abetting, sheriff's Deputy Ron Clapper said Monday. In a jailhouse interview with NewsChannel5's Carolina Leid, Barnett admitted to using the Internet to lure the predators. He said he got the idea from watching the news magazine television series, "To Catch A Predator." Nude pictures of Catini in which she claimed to be 15 were posted on the Internet to draw people to the grounds of Riley's Church, near Salineville. There, the couple allegedly used video cameras and baseball bats to threaten the victims, and extorted money from them. Investigators said the couple lured at least half a dozen victims, who came from as far away as Michigan and New York. "We have no victims that have come forward, and the sensitivity of this probably is going to make the victims hard to locate," Clapper said.The sheriff's office launched the investigation based on an anonymous tip. Up to 12 others may have been involved, Clapper said, though investigators believe Barnett and Catini were the ringleaders. Bond was set at $1 million each. Clapper said he expected more charges to be filed.

    Random Hottie

    Customer Subdues Robber With Applesauce


    A customer at a city grocery tackled an armed robber and beat him with a can of applesauce when he refused to drop his gun, police said.

    The suspect shot himself in the head during the struggle, and passed out after the 66-year-old customer administered four blows to the head with the Mott's applesauce.

    "Finally, the guy passes out," said Det. Curtis Matthews. "There's blood everywhere _ on the floor, all over."

    About 15 customers were in Gomez Grocery in the city's East Germantown section when the gunman walked in Sunday afternoon, jumped atop a small freezer and pointed the gun at store owner Eddie Gomez, police said.

    Customer Thomas Santana, who is 5-foot-4, grabbed the 6-foot-1 gunman from behind when he was on the freezer, and with help from Gomez knocked him down.

    The suspect, 23-year-old Thomas Reyes, was in stable condition at a hospital, and was expected to be charged with attempted murder, attempted robbery and other charges, authorities said.

    OUCH!

    TEENAGE PAIR FORCE WEE PALS TO FIGHT


    TWO teenagers forced a boy of four to fight his five-year-old pal as they filmed them on a camera phone. The incident puts a vile new twist on the "happy slapping" craze, where young thugs record violent attacks on phones for kicks. The teenagers shouted at the terrified lads to fight harder as they rolled in the dirt in a lonely wood. The ordeal only ended when local residents heard the screams and ran to the scene. The teenagers, said to be aged 16 and 14, face a police probe. Locals in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, say they know the pair involved. Officers have spoken to witnesses. The five-year-old was playing with his friend outside his babysitter's home when the two teenagers appeared. The youngsters ended up in nearby woodland with the yobs. The babysitter's husband said: "The older boys encouraged the little ones to start fighting. "In the end, the little boys were really going hard at it, and rolling about in the mud.
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  • Woman blinded in one eye by carrot


    A 46-year-old man is accused of assaulting his wife with a carrot, causing her to lose sight in one eye. Roderick Vecsey is charged with second-degree assault and disorderly conduct. Pamela Vecsey, 46, underwent six hours of surgery after being hit in the left eye with the vegetable Saturday night, but doctors were not able to restore her vision, prosecutor Stephanie Damiani said. The couple was arguing when Roderick Vecsey tossed the carrot, Damiani said. Roderick Vecsey told Judge Patrick Carroll that it was a terrible accident, and was advised to remain silent. The judge set a hearing for Thursday. Vecsey is currently free after posting $500 bond.

    I Am So Going To Hell For This

    Utopex


    Utopex is an online store that sells: a new type of Adult Novelty Toy, and software that connects people to these toys (The Utopex Client software).
    With the Utopex Client software members can log onto the exchange and meet people from all over the world who own Utopex toys.
    You cannot access the Utopex Exchange without the Utopex Client software.
    Utopex is a fun, safe place developed to give Adults who own Utopex toys the ability to connect, peer-to-peer, with the world.
    Utopex is a resource for software, and harware support for your Utopex toy.
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  • BLACKLIGHT BEAUTY

    Do The Urkel

    Warning

    Why

    Message Found In Bottle Gets Man Honeymoon Trip


    A message discovered in a bottle turned into a honeymoon trip for a Texas man.

    John Reed was fishing on a Gulf Coast beach in 2003 when he found an old rum bottle that was sealed. Documents inside said the bottle was one of 12 tossed in the ocean in 1987 off Grand Cayman Island in a promotion for a rum maker, a resort and the Cayman Islands.

    Inside were free certificates for a plane ticket, a hotel stay and rum.


    Reed gave them to his parents as a present, but they gave the certificates back to him to use for his honeymoon. Reed said he plans to marry in late July.

    A Tortuga Rum spokeswoman said Reed will get two round-trip airline tickets to Grand Cayman Island, a six-day stay at a resort and a case of rum.

    Seven of the original 12 promotional bottles have yet to be redeemed.

    The Big Lebowski - F_cking Short Version

    Park & rise willy implant


    A MAN who had a willy implant to cure impotence is rising to the occasion — whenever his neighbour opens his garage doors.

    The remote control is on the same frequency as the electronic device in his groin.

    The sufferer told a BBC Radio Merseyside phone-in it was causing endless embarrassment — but doctors cannot stop it because the implant op was done in Turkey.

    He said: “Every time my neighbours park their 4x4 I get an erection. It’s embarrassing.”

    When DJ Roger Phillips asked if he had seen a doctor he replied: “I had it done in Turkey, using equipment not known in this country.

    “Every time his car pulls in, I can’t leave the house. It’s not funny.”

    Hottie Of the Day Kiki Kakuchi

    Aerosmith - Pink