QuoteBiology prof. charged with murder after triple-homicide at University of Alabama-Huntsville
KRISTIN M. HALL
Associated Press Writer
1:00 AM EST, February 13, 2010
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (AP) — A biology professor at the University of Alabama's Huntsville campus was charged with murder late Friday in the shooting deaths of three fellow biology professors at the campus.
Authorities say Amy Bishop, an instructor and researcher at the university, opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting, killing the three colleagues and injuring three other school employees. Bishop has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted.
Bishop, 42, was taken Friday night in handcuffs from a police precinct to the county jail and could be heard saying, "It didn't happen. There's no way .... they are still alive."
Police said they were also interviewing a man as "a person of interest."
University spokesman Ray Garner said the three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson.
Three others were wounded, two critically, in the gunfire, which Davis' husband said occurred at a meeting over a tenure issue. The injured were identified as department members Luis Cruz-Vera, who was listed in fair condition, and Joseph Leahy, in critical condition in intensive care, and staffer Stephanie Monticello, also in critical condition in intensive care.
No students were harmed in the shooting, which is in a community known for its space and technology industries.
Sammie Lee Davis said his wife, Maria Ragland Davis, was a researcher who had tenure at the university.
In a brief phone interview, he said he was told his wife was at a meeting to discuss the tenure status of another faculty member who got angry and started shooting.
He said his wife had mentioned the shooter before, describing the woman as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was."
Bishop, a neurobiologist who studied at Harvard University, joined the UAH biology faculty as an assistant professor in fall 2003.
She and her husband placed third in a statewide university business plan competition in July 2007, presenting a portable cell incubator they had invented. They won $25,000 to help start a company to market the device.
Amanda Tucker, a junior nursing major from Alabaster, Ala., had Bishop for anatomy class about a year ago. Tucker said a group of students went to a dean complaining about Bishop's performance in the classroom, and Tucker signed a petition complaining about Bishop.
"When it came down to tests, and people asked her what was the best way to study, she'd just tell you, 'Read the book.' When the test came, there were just ridiculous questions. No one even knew what she was asking,'" said Tucker.
Andrea Bennett, a sophomore majoring in nursing, was in one of Bishop's classes Friday morning.
Bennett said nothing seemed unusual, but she described Bishop as being "very weird" and "a really big nerd."
"She's well-known on campus, but I wouldn't say she's a good teacher. I've heard a lot of complaints," Bennett said. "She's a genius, but she really just can't explain things."
Bennett, an athlete at UAH, said her coach told her team Bishop had been denied tenure and that may have led to the shooting.
"She went to Harvard, so she is very smart. I can see that her getting denied tenure at UAH would be pretty upsetting," said Bennett.
Nick Lawton, 25, also took an anatomy and physiology class with Bishop last semester. He described her as funny and accommodating with students.
"She lectured from the textbook, mostly stuck to the subject matter at hand," Nick Lawton said. "She seemed like a nice enough professor."
Sophomore Erin Johnson told The Huntsville Times a biology faculty meeting was under way when she heard screams coming from a conference room.
University police secured the building and students were cleared from it. There was still a heavy police presence on campus Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.
The Huntsville campus has about 7,500 students in northern Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programs and often works closely with NASA.
The space agency has a research center on the school's campus, where many scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center perform Earth and space science research and development.
The university posted a message on its Web site Friday afternoon telling students the campus was closed Friday night and all students were encouraged to go home. Counselors were available to speak with students.
It's the second shooting in a week on an area campus. Last Friday, a 14-year-old student was killed in a middle school hallway in nearby Madison, allegedly by a fellow student.
"This town is unaccustomed to shootings and multiple deaths," Garner said.
Mass shootings are rarely carried out by women, said Dr. Park Dietz, who is president of Threat Assessment Group Inc., a Newport Beach, Calif.-based violence prevention firm.
A notable exception was the 1985 rampage by Sylvia Seegrist, who opened fire in a mall in Springfield, Pa., killing three. Dietz, who interviewed Seegrist after her arrest, said it was possible the suspect in Friday's shooting had a long-standing grudge against colleagues or superiors and felt complaints had not been dealt with fairly.
Gregg McCrary, a retired FBI agent and private criminal profiler based in Fredericksburg, Va., said there is no typical outline of a mass shooter but noted they often share a sense of paranoia, depression or a feeling that they are not appreciated.
"They think somebody is out to get them or has mistreated them in some way," McCrary said. "They go back to right this perceived injustice."
Quote3 dead in Ala. university shooting
Alabama biology professor, upset over tenure denial, charged with murder
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
updated 12:27 a.m. ET, Sat., Feb. 13, 2010
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - A biology professor was charged with murder Friday after a shooting at the University of Alabama-Huntsville campus that left three faculty members dead and three other people wounded.
Amy Bishop, a Harvard University-trained neuroscientist, was reportedly upset over being denied tenure. Her husband also was detained, local media reported, citing police and university sources and witnesses.
Bishop has been charged with one count of capital murder, which means she could face the death penalty if convicted.
Bishop was taken Friday night in handcuffs from a police precinct to the county jail and could be heard saying, "It didn't happen. There's no way ... they are still alive."
The mayhem occurred in a third-floor conference room of the Shelby Center, a 200,000-square-foot science building on campus. University of Alabama-Huntsville spokesman Ray Garner said a woman opened fire during an afternoon faculty meeting.
Three faculty members were killed and two faculty members and a staff member were injured, Garner said.
University spokesman Ray Garner said Friday night the three killed were Gopi K. Podila, the chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences, and two other faculty members, Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson.
Two others were in critical condition, and a third who was wounded was upgraded to fair condition. The injured were identified as department members Luis Cruz-Vera and Joseph Leahy and staffer Stephanie Monticello. Their specific conditions were not released.
Sammie Lee Davis said his wife, Maria Ragland Davis, was a researcher who had tenure at the university. In a brief phone interview, he said he was told his wife was at a meeting to discuss the tenure status of another faculty member who got angry and started shooting.
He said his wife had mentioned the shooter before, describing the woman as "not being able to deal with reality" and "not as good as she thought she was."
According to media reports, Bishop had been denied tenure Friday morning. She apparently returned to a campus faculty meeting in the afternoon and opened fire, university officials and witnesses told NBC station WAFF-TV.
It was unclear how many people were inside the conference room at the time. Garner said the suspected shooter was apprehended outside the building without incident.
Nick Lawton, the son of a biology professor at the school, said his father was not among the victims, but he did not know much more.
Lawton, 25, was exercising when a friend phoned him to tell him about the shooting. He called his father, Robert Lawton, and found out that he was not hurt, then he let the rest of his family know.
"All I know is that my father is OK," Nick Lawton told The Associated Press.
Screams heard
Erin Johnson, a sophomore and a student aide, told the Huntsville Times there was a biology faculty meeting under way when she heard screams coming from the room.
University police secured the building and students were cleared from it. There was still a heavy police presence on campus Friday night, with police tape cordoning off the main entrance to the university.
Gina Hammond, a UAH student, told WAFF that she lobbied the University of Alabama trustees to allow students with gun permits to carry their weapons on campus. She was turned down.
"I'm scared to go back to school," Hammond said. "However, if they were to allow me to carry my pistol on campus, I would not be as scared.
"... I'm sorry that nobody in that room had a pistol to save at least one person's life," Hammond said.
"This is a tragedy of immeasurable proportions and a terrible a blow to our community," said U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith, R-Ala., in whose district the shootings occurred. "Now is a time for thoughtful prayer for those affected."
Suspect noted for cell research
Bishop joined the UAH faculty in 2003. Her areas of research focused on the role of gases, especially nitrous oxide, on the central nervous system.
Her lab was working on the development of a "neural computer" that would use living neurons — taken either from stem cells or fish.
She was also known for her work on cell growth.
In June 2006, The Huntsville Times published a story involving Bishop and her husband, Jim Anderson, chief science officer of Cherokee Labsystems in Huntsville.
Together, the two designed a portable cell incubator that eliminates many of the problems with cultivating tissues in the fragile environment of the Petri dish, according to the article.
"It's great to actually see it hit the market, and the sooner the better," Bishop said in the story. "My colleagues think it will change the face of tissue culture. It will allow us, as researchers, to not live in the lab and control our tissue culture conditions, including the sensitive cultures including those like adult stem cells.
"The conditions to differentiate those have to be exact, and the incubator will help that."
The invention earned the couple $25,000 of seed money in a business competition.
The Huntsville campus has about 7,500 students in northern Alabama, not far from the Tennessee line. The university is known for its scientific and engineering programs and often works closely with NASA.
The space agency has a research center on the school's campus, where many scientists and engineers from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center perform Earth and space science research and development.
Previous school shooting
It's the second shooting in a week on an area campus. Last Friday, a 14-year-old student was killed in a middle school hallway in nearby Madison, allegedly by a fellow student.
Female school shooters are rare. The Secret Service studied 41 attackers in 37 school shooting incidents. Of those, all were male.
But there have been female school shooters. For example, in February 2008 a female student shot and killed two classmates and then herself at Louisiana Technical College in Baton Rouge.
© 2010 msnbc.com
Oh :rolleyes: at the "If I could carry my gun" comment!!!
Heh. Sylvia Seegrist shouldn't really be cited as an exception; she was brought up in a recent class about how the insanity defense had adapted and moved away from being a complete defense (Sylvia Seegrist was found "guilty, but insane"- either one of or simply the first to receive the verdict and carry out the sentence after psychiatric rehabilitation).
I find myself humming that Bob Gandalf song.
Quote from: The Brain on February 13, 2010, 04:15:07 AM
I find myself humming that Bob Gandalf song.
I don't like any goddamn day of the week, but you don't see me shooting up schools, do you ?? :yuk:
This story reminds me of George Zinkhan. Last year, the University of Georgia marketing professor went on a shooting rampage, but I don't think he targeted faculty, instead killing his wife and two others. He ended up fleeing the scene, and initially the police had no idea where he went. He was very intelligent, a savvy outdoorsmen, and apparently had international connections, so speculation was rampant that he had some sort of elaborate scheme and was already outside of the country. His body was discovered nearby in a shallow grave with self inflicted gun shot wounds.
I know that backstabbing is common in the academic world, but shooting? Wow.
She shot and killed her brother with a shotgun 24 years ago, was ruled an accident at the time. She loaded the family shotgun after an argument and supposedly it accidentally went off
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/02/professor_accus.html
QuoteBRAINTREE -- The University of Alabama biology professor accused of opening fire and killing three colleagues at a faculty meeting Friday shot and killed her teenage brother more than two decades ago in Massachusetts, according to authorities.
But a local police chief and the district attorney's office gave differing accounts today of the 1986 shooting, which occurred at the siblings' home in Braintree, raising questions about the handling of that case.
According to the current Braintree police chief, Paul H. Frazier, Amy Bishop fatally shot her 18-year-old brother, Seth, on Dec. 6, 1986, but was set free the same day by Braintree Police under orders from then-Police Chief John Polio. In news accounts at the time, Polio called the death an accident that happened when Bishop was learning how to unload a shotgun.
Frazier challenged that account today, saying instead that Bishop shot her brother during an argument and fled on foot with the 12-gauge shotgun before being captured by police, who handcuffed her and took her to the station. The case file, including the report of the incident, disappeared shortly thereafter, he said.
''I don't want to use the word 'coverup,''' Frazier said. ''I don't know what the thought process was of the police chief at the time.''
But the Norfolk County district attorney's office this evening released a six-page report from its archives that showed State Police investigators reviewed the case with Braintree Police and concluded that Seth Bishop's death was an accident.
In the report, dated March 30, 1987, a Braintree Police captain said that Amy Bishop was released on the day of the shooting because she was too emotional to be questioned properly and because her mother said the shooting was accidental.
Local and State Police investigators returned to the home 11 days later to meet with Amy and her parents individually.
According to the investigation report, after Amy and her father had a disagreement, he left for a shopping trip and she went to her room. Amy decided to go to her parents' room to teach herself to load the shotgun the family had acquired the previous year for protection after a break-in. She succeeded but could not remove the shells, and the gun fired in the bedroom. Amy then went downstairs to ask for help unloading it and inadvertently shot her brother while her mother watched, according to the report.
Their stories to the detectives contained some discrepancies. Amy's mother said Amy asked her for help unloading the gun; she told Amy to be careful where she pointed it, and that Amy turned and accidentally shot her brother. Her mother said she screamed and called the police, as Amy ran out of the house.
Amy said she asked her brother, not her mother, for help unloading the gun, and that she was pointing it beside her leg for safety. She said her brother told her to point it up instead. As he walked across the kitchen floor, someone said something, and Amy turned and the gun went off.
Frazier said at a press conference this afternoon that he was a patrolman at the time of the shooting, but was not one of the officers who responded to the Bishop home. He based his account on an officer who was at the scene.
At his home in Braintree today, Polio, who is retired, disputed Frazier's version.
''That's a joke. That's got to be a joke. If anybody knows history, I never covered anything up,'' he said. He said he thought that the Bishop family's explanation of an accident was murky and that he wanted the district attorney to hold an inquiry.
But just one day after the shooting, Polio told the Globe, ''every indication at this point in time leads us to believe it was an accidental shooting.''
The district attorney at the time, current US Representative William D. Delahunt, is out of the country and could not be reached for comment.
Frazier said that the Bishop case file was missing from the records today and that he was told by an officer that it had been missing since at least 1988.
Seth Bishop was pronounced dead at a Quincy hospital 46 minutes after the shooting, from a gunshot wound to the abdomen, according to the Globe accounts.
The teen was an accomplished violinist who played with the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestra. He won third place at a statewide science fair and was an aspiring electrical engineer and Northeastern University freshman at the time of his death.
In Friday's shooting, Bishop, 42, a Harvard-educated neurobiologist, allegedly shot and killed three of her colleagues and wounded three others in an apparent tenure dispute at the Huntsville campus
What exactly did go on anyway? Police report not mentioning arrests; the woman used the gun to try and get hold of a get away car? At the least, given that she threatened other people, I'd think she'd face some charges, even if mitigated by her shock at having accidentally shot her brother. And as an accident, now they're questioning that as well.
Quote
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1233152
William Delahunt aide says police downplayed need for probe
U.S. Rep. and former Norfolk District Attorney William Delahunt yesterday backed off earlier claims he didn't recall the 1986 shooting death of Amy Bishop's brother, with a top aide now saying police downplayed the need for further investigation.
Mark Forest, Delahunt's chief of staff, said both state and local police told the former top prosecutor they believed Amy Bishop, then 20, had accidentally blasted her 18-year-old brother, Seth, with their father's shotgun.
"They pretty much found the death was accidental and there was no need for further action," Forest told the Herald.
But Republican Joe Malone, a former state treasurer who is strongly considering a run against Delahunt, demanded a full accounting about how he handled the investigation into the professor now accused of killing three colleagues at the University of Alabama at Huntsville.
"He owes a complete explanation to the people of Massachusetts and the families of those murdered in Alabama," Malone said.
Delahunt's spokesman, Forest, shot back.
"Getting advice on credible statements from Joe Malone is like getting investment advice from Bernie Madoff," he said. "It is sad that in the midst of a national tragedy like this, we have a long-time politician trying to score cheap political points."
Bishop, now a 44-year-old neurobiology professor, allegedly murdered three colleagues and wounded three others at a faculty meeting in a shooting rampage apparently fueled by her anger over being denied tenure.
Braintree Police Chief Paul Frazier has alleged the probe into Seth Bishop's death was politically derailed by the town's former top cop, John Polio.
Frazier has said cops who arrested Bishop at the time told him she shot her brother during an argument, but that Polio ordered those cops to let her go. Polio has denied that charge.
Bishop's actions after the shooting have raised questions about the handling of the case.
Bishop ran from her parents' Victorian manse with the shotgun and pointed it at a passing car in an attempt to get the driver to stop, according to Frazier, who said his information came from cops who arrested Bishop in 1986.
The Herald reported yesterday that Bishop then held the gun to the chest of an auto body worker at the now-defunct Dave Dinger's in Braintree and demanded a getaway car, according to the former worker, Thomas Pettigrew, 45.
Braintree cops caught up with Bishop nearby, according to Frazier and Pettigrew. But there is no mention of Bishop's arrest in a six-page report written by Trooper Brian Howe, a former member of Delahunt's state police squad. Howe could not be reached.
My father was visiting the University of Iowa when a Chinese graduate student in physics hunted down and killed a bunch of faculty. He was actually in the building where the murders took place, but didn't hear a thing.
A film was later made based on this incident, entitled "Dark Matter":
http://www.darkmatterthefilm.com/
I haven't seen it.
My suspicion is that, for many academics, the academic world is basically the whole world; and it is very small, nasty and competitive in one's specific sub-field. Failing to get tenure or praise is the equivalent of being killed off, and those who are prone already to violence may react violently.
Quote
Amy Bishop was charged with assault in 2002 IHOP dispute
EmailE-mail|Link February 16, 2010 06:51 PM
By Maria Cramer and Travis Andersen, Globe Staff
In March, 2002, Bishop walked into an International House of Pancakes in Peabody with her family, asked for a booster seat for one of her children, and learned the last seat had gone to another mother.
Bishop, according to a police report, strode over to the other woman, demanded the seat and launched into a profanity-laced rant.
When the woman would not give the seat up, Bishop punched her in the head, all the while yelling "I am Dr. Amy Bishop."
Bishop received probation and prosecutors recommended that she be sent to anger management classes, though it is unclear from court documents whether a judge ever sent her there.
The woman, identified in court documents as Michelle Gjika, declined to comment, saying only "It's not something I want to relive."
That's one finely-honed sense of entitlement. No wonder she felt justified in knocking off those who would deny her tenure
Assertive.
Certainly not gun-shy.
I would kill for pancakes. Not for booster seats or tenure.
Glenn Beck claims she's a supporter of Obama. Draw your own conclusions.
Quote from: Razgovory on February 17, 2010, 03:57:36 PM
Glenn Beck claims she's a supporter of Obama. Draw your own conclusions.
So are you saying that she's an ardent left winger? If so, could this be a left wing wacko gone wild? :unsure:
Quote from: KRonn on February 17, 2010, 04:26:03 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on February 17, 2010, 03:57:36 PM
Glenn Beck claims she's a supporter of Obama. Draw your own conclusions.
So are you saying that she's an ardent left winger? If so, could this be a left wing wacko gone wild? :unsure:
We don't have all the facts but she hasn't proven she's not a left winger. :ph34r:
I'm going to apply Fateonian logic and call her a GOPtard.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 17, 2010, 05:48:21 PM
I'm going to apply Fateonian logic and call her a GOPtard.
Good call. After all, she's obviously pro-gun.
Quote from: Malthus on February 17, 2010, 09:37:16 AM
My suspicion is that, for many academics, the academic world is basically the whole world; and it is very small, nasty and competitive in one's specific sub-field. Failing to get tenure or praise is the equivalent of being killed off, and those who are prone already to violence may react violently.
You have absolutely no idea how bad it is.
They're sabotaging each other, stalking each other, harrassing each other, spoofing each other's emails, trashing each other's laptops, killing each other's lab animals...and those aren't even the foreign nationals, who are even batshit crazier.
Of course, as Corporate Security, we have to look the other way. If it's a darkie in Environmental Services or some chick in Billing, they're fired, arrested, and even sued...but visiting faculty or a post-doc? Well, then it's dealt with "administratively".
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 17, 2010, 07:08:13 PM
They're sabotaging each other, stalking each other, harrassing each other, spoofing each other's emails, trashing each other's laptops, killing each other's lab animals...and those aren't even the foreign nationals, who are even batshit crazier.
Sounds like a bunch of bourgeoisie wrecker kulaks who need to be purged to me.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 17, 2010, 07:08:13 PM
Quote from: Malthus on February 17, 2010, 09:37:16 AM
My suspicion is that, for many academics, the academic world is basically the whole world; and it is very small, nasty and competitive in one's specific sub-field. Failing to get tenure or praise is the equivalent of being killed off, and those who are prone already to violence may react violently.
You have absolutely no idea how bad it is.
They're sabotaging each other, stalking each other, harrassing each other, spoofing each other's emails, trashing each other's laptops, killing each other's lab animals...and those aren't even the foreign nationals, who are even batshit crazier.
Of course, as Corporate Security, we have to look the other way. If it's a darkie in Environmental Services or some chick in Billing, they're fired, arrested, and even sued...but visiting faculty or a post-doc? Well, then it's dealt with "administratively".
That is scary, and from the "academic" class!
Quote from: KRonn on February 18, 2010, 09:17:59 AM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 17, 2010, 07:08:13 PM
Quote from: Malthus on February 17, 2010, 09:37:16 AM
My suspicion is that, for many academics, the academic world is basically the whole world; and it is very small, nasty and competitive in one's specific sub-field. Failing to get tenure or praise is the equivalent of being killed off, and those who are prone already to violence may react violently.
You have absolutely no idea how bad it is.
They're sabotaging each other, stalking each other, harrassing each other, spoofing each other's emails, trashing each other's laptops, killing each other's lab animals...and those aren't even the foreign nationals, who are even batshit crazier.
Of course, as Corporate Security, we have to look the other way. If it's a darkie in Environmental Services or some chick in Billing, they're fired, arrested, and even sued...but visiting faculty or a post-doc? Well, then it's dealt with "administratively".
That is scary, and from the "academic" class!
Welcome to academia. That's why I'm getting the fuck outta Dodge, while the getting's good.
The local Boston papers have been running articles on this story all week, questioning the whole series of events from years ago, to more recent events by Amy Bishop prior to the killings.
Quote
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1233894
Bay State con job
Suspect latest from Massachusetts accused of slaughter in other states
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1233896&srvc=news&position=2
Parents' silence deepens mystery
http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20100219the_buck_stops_where_in_amy_bishop_case_not_with_former_da_bill_delahunt/
The buck stops where in Amy Bishop case?
Quote from: KRonn on February 19, 2010, 12:47:06 PM
The local Boston papers have been running articles on this story all week, questioning the whole series of events from years ago, to more recent events by Amy Bishop prior to the killings.
Quote
http://bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1233894
Bay State con job
Suspect latest from Massachusetts accused of slaughter in other states
http://bostonherald.com/news/columnists/view.bg?articleid=1233896&srvc=news&position=2
Parents' silence deepens mystery
http://bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/20100219the_buck_stops_where_in_amy_bishop_case_not_with_former_da_bill_delahunt/
The buck stops where in Amy Bishop case?
Are those from real newspapers, or are some of these kiddie versions? I mean, a paper that allows even an op-ed to start "If Bill Delahunt had done his job, three Alabama families wouldn't be in mourning today. Period" is so very yellow as to be non-credible. That whole piece sounds exactly like the commie-bating articles of the 1950s.
The Herald is basically a tabloid. It tries to present an opposing viewpoint to the Globe and appeal to a more lowbrow audience.
Quote from: Caliga on February 19, 2010, 01:41:40 PM
The Herald is basically a tabloid. It tries to present an opposing viewpoint to the Globe and appeal to a more lowbrow audience.
The Globe is also doing stories, as is local tv news. The Herald isn't some two bit paper.
Some of those links are opinions, like I said, but even those ask some good questions on things. There have been news stories all week, asking questions, discussing things.
Some Globe news stories.
Second link contains multiple stories of the issue.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/19/claim_that_bishop_was_cleared_in_bomb_probe_refuted/
No letter cleared Bishop, official says
http://www.boston.com/news/specials/02_15_Amy_Bishop/
The Amy Bishop case
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
That's because he is out-McVeighed by Hansie.
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
You have a short memory. Clinton blamed it on Rush Limbaugh. This will pass too.
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Really? How do you come up with that fantasy? McVeigh was an atheist who hated Bush 41 for going after poor Saddam during Desert Storm.
Quote from: MadImmortalMan on February 19, 2010, 08:24:46 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
You have a short memory. Clinton blamed it on Rush Limbaugh. This will pass too.
Well before the attack G. Gordon Liddy did tell people on his radio program to "shot for the head" regarding the ATF. And McVeigh blew up the federal building because he thought the ATF was there.
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:13:11 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Really? How do you come up with that fantasy? McVeigh was an atheist who hated Bush 41 for going after poor Saddam during Desert Storm.
I didn't know being an athiest and disliking Bush 41 were in fact mutually exclusive with being a Republican.
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:13:11 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Really? How do you come up with that fantasy? McVeigh was an atheist who hated Bush 41 for going after poor Saddam during Desert Storm.
Mostly from the fact he was a registered Republican.
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 09:15:09 PM
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:13:11 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Really? How do you come up with that fantasy? McVeigh was an atheist who hated Bush 41 for going after poor Saddam during Desert Storm.
Mostly from the fact he was a registered Republican.
You fail. He was a libertarian. He had been a Republican years erlier when he was in the Army (which is of course the default political affiliation while in the military). However, he was obsessed with Star Trek: TNG, which explains why he was a nutjob.
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:27:05 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 09:15:09 PM
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:13:11 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Really? How do you come up with that fantasy? McVeigh was an atheist who hated Bush 41 for going after poor Saddam during Desert Storm.
Mostly from the fact he was a registered Republican.
You fail. He was a libertarian. He had been a Republican years erlier when he was in the Army (which is of course the default political affiliation while in the military). However, he was obsessed with Star Trek: TNG, which explains why he was a nutjob.
What? :huh:
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:27:05 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 09:15:09 PM
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:13:11 PM
Quote from: Jaron on February 19, 2010, 07:07:28 PM
Why do her politics matter? McVeigh was a Republican and clearly had right wing views about government but no one has set him up to be the poster boy of the GOP.
Really? How do you come up with that fantasy? McVeigh was an atheist who hated Bush 41 for going after poor Saddam during Desert Storm.
Mostly from the fact he was a registered Republican.
You fail. He was a libertarian. He had been a Republican years erlier when he was in the Army (which is of course the default political affiliation while in the military). However, he was obsessed with Star Trek: TNG, which explains why he was a nutjob.
He claimed to be a libertarian but was of course still registered as a Republican I think he registered before joining the army. You can of course be libertarian and a Republican at the same time. Like Ron Paul.
I heard an update on this story on the radio this morning... apparently she recently asked her attorney to see if he could find out if she's going to get fired from her teaching job. :lmfao:
People like her who are a savant in one narrow area of life, but utter morons in every other area, amuse me.
Quote from: Caliga on February 26, 2010, 08:07:52 AM
I heard an update on this story on the radio this morning... apparently she recently asked her attorney to see if he could find out if she's going to get fired from her teaching job. :lmfao:
People like her who are a savant in one narrow area of life, but utter morons in every other area, amuse me.
I don't think this is a matter of her being a moron, but rather of her being delusional.
Well, looks like an opened investigation into the past shooting of her brother by Amy Bishop are having some interesting, and disturbing, revelations.
Quote
http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/02/26/suggestion_of_intent_in_86_shooting/
Suggestion of intent in '86 shooting
Judge to review Bishop brother's death; district attorney initiates inquest
The Boston Globe
Suggestion of intent in '86 shooting
Judge to review Bishop brother's death; district attorney initiates inquest
By Donovan Slack and Shelley Murphy
Globe Staff / February 26, 2010
Investigators have discovered evidence they say suggests Amy Bishop may have purposely shot her brother with a 12-gauge shotgun in 1986, prompting Norfolk District Attorney William R. Keating yesterday to initiate a judicial inquest into the death, which had been ruled accidental.
Keating said his investigators enlarged crime scene photos and, next to 12-gauge ammunition in Bishop's bedroom, found a news article that chronicled a crime spree similar to Bishop's actions on the day of her brother's death. He said the story could reflect Bishop's intent.
Bishop took her father's shotgun on Dec. 6, 1986, and loaded it in her bedroom before fatally shooting her 18-year-old brother in the kitchen of the family's Braintree home. She then ran to an auto dealership, where she held two workers at gunpoint and demanded a car.
Keating declined to identify the news article or publication. A search of news reports published at the time shows that two weeks earlier, the parents of the actor who played Bobby Ewing on the popular television show "Dallas'' were killed by an assailant wielding a 12-gauge shotgun, who then held up a car dealership, stole a pickup truck, and fled.
Keating - who said the article they found "closely mirrors what happened that day'' in Braintree - also said there were contradictions in the witness statements taken at the time of Seth Bishop's death. One said Amy Bishop fled through the back door of her house, while another said she ran out the front door. One said her brother's body was found face up; another said it was face down.
Keating also said that when his investigators recently tried to interview Bishop's parents - her mother, Judy, was the only eyewitness, and her father, Samuel, was a material witness - they refused to cooperate.
Bishop, 45, a professor of biology at the University of Alabama, is accused of slaying three colleagues in a shooting rampage at the school earlier this month.
"We owe this process to the Commonwealth,'' Keating said at a press conference yesterday announcing the inquest. "We also owe this to the grieving families in Alabama.''
Keating said that he believed serious mistakes were made in the initial investigation of Seth Bishop's death, and that he could not help but wonder whether the deaths in Alabama could have been prevented if the original investigation had been more thorough.
Quincy attorney Bryan J. Stevens, who represents Bishop's parents, declined to comment on Keating's call for an inquest or his statement that the parents have been uncooperative.
"No comment,'' Stevens said in a brief telephone conversation. "There's nothing to report and nothing to be said.''
Keating sent a letter yesterday to Quincy District Court Judge Mark S. Coven, initiating the judicial inquiry into the 1986 shooting. The judge will conduct the proceedings, questioning witnesses under oath, issuing subpoenas for documents, and ultimately issuing a report on his findings.
Keating will then decide whether to present evidence to a grand jury, which could indict Bishop for homicide, the only crime for which there is no statute of limitations. The statutes have run out on other charges that Bishop could have faced for her alleged actions that day, including assault with a dangerous weapon.
US Representative William D. Delahunt, who as Norfolk District attorney ruled Seth Bishop's death accidental at the time, blamed Braintree Police earlier this week for mistakes that were made in the case, even though Delahunt acknowledged that he was responsible for leading and directing the investigation. He initially stood by his ruling that the death was accidental.
But yesterday Delahunt agreed that the new developments and the questions they raise warrant further scrutiny. He declined to answer questions about mistakes his office may have made but issued a statement supporting the inquest, "given the many questions that have been raised surrounding the death of Seth Bishop and its immediate aftermath, combined with the review by the DA and the lack of cooperation from Judith and Samuel Bishop.''
"I believe that this approach is necessary as it will provide us with facts developed in a manner that should clarify events that occurred on Dec. 6, 1986,'' Delahunt said.
Delahunt's top prosecutor at the time, John Kivlan, said yesterday that no one, including State Police assigned to his office, had told prosecutors about the newspaper found at the crime scene. He said it should have been seized and turned over to prosecutors with other evidence.
"Clearly that would have been significant and should have been included,'' said Kivlan, who at the time recommended to Delahunt that Seth Bishop's death be ruled accidental.
Kivlan said he had been relying on the recommendation of the trooper handling the case for his office, who told him it was accidental.
"It's disappointing, to say the least, that a State Police officer that we respected and trusted to conduct this investigation failed to carry out his responsibilities to report significant facts to us,'' Kivlan said.
Kivlan said prosecutors generally do not review crime scene photos in cases where deaths are thought to be accidental. He also asserted that prosecutors are not responsible for police failures.
"I don't know how we can be found responsible for information that was either intentionally or unintentionally not brought to our attention,'' Kivlan said.
The state trooper who handled the case for Kivlan and Delahunt, Brian L. Howe, has retired, and the Globe's repeated efforts to contact him for comment have been unsuccessful.
Yesterday federal prosecutors announced they are reviewing a 1993 case in which a Harvard professor who supervised Bishop in his neurobiology lab received two pipe bombs in the mail three weeks after he ended her job at the lab. The bombs did not explode, and no one was injured. Bishop and her husband were questioned in the case, but no one was ever charged.
Bishop's life has come under intense scrutiny since the Feb. 12 shootings in Alabama, when she allegedly opened fire at a faculty meeting at the University of Alabama at Huntsville, killing three colleagues and injuring three others.
The planned inquest adds a more formal level of scrutiny of her past, with greater potential consequences for Bishop and her family.
Needham attorney Timothy M. Burke, a former state homicide prosecutor, said an inquest is conducted before a judge to determine the circumstances of an unexplained death. A grand jury is a panel of 23 citizens, and its scope tends to be more general, encompassing any crime. In both cases witnesses are called to testify under oath.
"Generally an inquest is limited to causations of unexplained deaths that really need further information elicited while under oath,'' Burke said. "And a judge makes the determination as to whether there is criminality.''
Attorney General Martha Coakley applauded Keating, saying she believes an inquest is the appropriate course. "Over the past several weeks it has become clear that there was a need for an independent third-party review of what happened at the Bishop home in Braintree in December 1986,'' she said in a statement.
Quote from: grumbler on February 26, 2010, 09:16:19 AM
Quoteople like her who are a savant in one narrow area of life, but utter morons in every other area, amuse me.
I don't think this is a matter of her being a moron, but rather of her being delusional.
It occurred to me after I wrote that post that she also might be doing stuff like that in an effort to appear as insane as possible, in order to pull off an insanity plea.
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:27:05 PM
However, he was obsessed with Star Trek: TNG, which explains why he was a nutjob.
:o
Could Monkeybutt be the next McVeigh?
Quote from: Peter Wiggin on February 26, 2010, 10:00:05 AM
Quote from: Hansmeister on February 19, 2010, 09:27:05 PM
However, he was obsessed with Star Trek: TNG, which explains why he was a nutjob.
:o
Could Monkeybutt be the next McVeigh?
I like ST:TNG? weird.
Mostly just Picard. :P
Dude had some awesome jammies.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg517.imageshack.us%2Fimg517%2F4490%2Fsexypicard.jpg&hash=d278f5233b0dfa9184f55bb4f57fc16ca750e5d4)
Quote from: Caliga on February 26, 2010, 09:50:36 AM
Quote from: grumbler on February 26, 2010, 09:16:19 AM
Quoteople like her who are a savant in one narrow area of life, but utter morons in every other area, amuse me.
I don't think this is a matter of her being a moron, but rather of her being delusional.
It occurred to me after I wrote that post that she also might be doing stuff like that in an effort to appear as insane as possible, in order to pull off an insanity plea.
Possible, but she has been doing nutty stuff all her life.
The insanity defense requires that her lawyers demonstrate that she could not tell right from wrong, not that she was merely insane. I am not sure requests like the one you mentioned help with that. They probably don't hurt, though.
Quote from: Caliga on February 26, 2010, 08:07:52 AM
I heard an update on this story on the radio this morning... apparently she recently asked her attorney to see if he could find out if she's going to get fired from her teaching job. :lmfao:
People like her who are a savant in one narrow area of life, but utter morons in every other area, amuse me.
That's really dumb. I'm sure she's aware of the fact that she does not have tenure.
Well yeah. :lol:
Of course she might be thinking now that it will be easier to get tenure, with all the departmental vacancies and whatnot.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 26, 2010, 10:39:23 AM
Dude had some awesome jammies.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fimg517.imageshack.us%2Fimg517%2F4490%2Fsexypicard.jpg&hash=d278f5233b0dfa9184f55bb4f57fc16ca750e5d4)
I wear something like this.
:mmm:
Too much gay in this thread.
What is hilarious is nobody noticed the man camel toe he had there.
Quote from: DGuller on February 28, 2010, 12:14:56 AM
Quote from: Caliga on February 26, 2010, 08:07:52 AM
I heard an update on this story on the radio this morning... apparently she recently asked her attorney to see if he could find out if she's going to get fired from her teaching job. :lmfao:
People like her who are a savant in one narrow area of life, but utter morons in every other area, amuse me.
That's really dumb. I'm sure she's aware of the fact that she does not have tenure.
Depending on the college she might have a shot if she cast herself a women rebelling against the patriarchal capitalist repression that is extant throughout Western society. She should have stayed up here and lived in The People's Republic of Cambridge.
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 28, 2010, 07:13:07 PM
What is hilarious is nobody noticed the man camel toe he had there.
I think it is more hilarious that you are the only one who did. Stop checking out Picard's package!
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 17, 2010, 07:08:13 PM
You have absolutely no idea how bad it is.
They're sabotaging each other, stalking each other, harrassing each other, spoofing each other's emails, trashing each other's laptops, killing each other's lab animals...and those aren't even the foreign nationals, who are even batshit crazier.
Of course, as Corporate Security, we have to look the other way. If it's a darkie in Environmental Services or some chick in Billing, they're fired, arrested, and even sued...but visiting faculty or a post-doc? Well, then it's dealt with "administratively".
Is Environmental Services newspeak for janitor?
Quote from: Neil on February 28, 2010, 09:21:41 PM
Quote from: CountDeMoney on February 17, 2010, 07:08:13 PM
You have absolutely no idea how bad it is.
They're sabotaging each other, stalking each other, harrassing each other, spoofing each other's emails, trashing each other's laptops, killing each other's lab animals...and those aren't even the foreign nationals, who are even batshit crazier.
Of course, as Corporate Security, we have to look the other way. If it's a darkie in Environmental Services or some chick in Billing, they're fired, arrested, and even sued...but visiting faculty or a post-doc? Well, then it's dealt with "administratively".
Is Environmental Services newspeak for janitor?
Housekeepers. Although we've got no houses on campus.
Quote from: Jaron on February 28, 2010, 09:19:48 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on February 28, 2010, 07:13:07 PM
What is hilarious is nobody noticed the man camel toe he had there.
I think it is more hilarious that you are the only one who did. Stop checking out Picard's package!
I CAN'T HELP IT.