The Rehabilitation of Astronaut Lisa Nowak

The Rehabilitation of Astronaut Lisa Nowak
By Carey Roberts
Feb 21, 2007

It was one of those stories that not even a Hollywood
scriptwriter could dream up: A NASA astronaut stows a steel
mallet, 4-inch knife, rubber tubing, gloves, and trash bags in
her car. She straps on an astro-diaper and drives 900 miles to
Orlando. During the wee hours of February 6, she disguises
herself with a wig, glasses, and trench coat. Confronting her
romantic rival in the airport parking lot, she douses Colleen
Shipman with pepper spray.

The Rehabilitation of Astronaut Lisa Nowak

An outrageous deed, for sure. Have you noticed that the more
bizarre the crime, the more persons lean over backwards to make
excuses for the perp?

Like school teacher Debra Lafave who raped a 14-year-old student
in Florida. Her lawyer claimed, “To place an attractive young
woman into that kind of hellhole is like putting a piece of raw
meat in with the lions.” That raw appeal to judicial chivalry
relieved Lafave from the inconvenience of a single day of jail
time.

And remember the Clara Harris case? In 2002 she repeatedly mowed
down her husband, David, with her Mercedes-Benz. Both of them
had been involved in extra-marital affairs. Now serving a
20-year sentence in a Texas prison, she was ordered last month
to pay $3.75 million in restitution to her ex-husband’s family.

But guess who the media portrayed as the “lying, cheating
scumbag” who “deserved what he got”? Hint: CBS portrayed Mrs.
Harris in a 2004 movie as the betrayed wife and pitiable victim.
[www.glennsacks.com/suppose_roles_had.htm]

So back to Orlando, Florida, where we discover that literally
within hours of the crime, the rehabilitation of Astronaut Lisa
Nowak is set to begin. Initially the prosecutor charged Nowak
only with attempted kidnapping. Excuse me, Mr. Prosecutor, but
exactly how do you kidnap a person with a steel mallet, latex
gloves, and trash bags?

Soon two fellow astronauts flew to Orlando. No, not to conduct
an inquiry or make sure the victim was recovering from the
attack. Rather, “Our primary concern is [Nowak’s] health and
well-being, and that she get through this,” according to Steve
Lindsay.

The first round of news coverage was objective, featuring photos
of Nowak being lead into the courtroom in handcuffs, her head
hanging in shame. But the very next day, the public
rehabilitation of Lisa Nowak would begin in earnest.

On Wednesday, media coverage turned jocular. Newstands were
filled with headlines about Astro-nut Nowak, Lust in Space, and
the Dark Side of the Loon. Anything to keep persons’ minds off
the sobering reality of an innocent person being bludgeoned with
a hammer.

And drooling over the high-profile story on Valentine’s Day,
newspapers speculated whether Nowak had caused the break-up of
the marriage of her love object two years before.

By Thursday, media coverage had morphed into a soap opera promo:
“The sad tale of Lisa Nowak” and “Lisa Marie Nowak’s life was
falling apart” were the leads of two articles I saw.

Even level-headed columnists went gah-gah. Myrna Blyth suggested
the attack was not as strange as some might think, claiming in
her Feb. 9 column, “There’s a crazy astronaut in all of us.” And
John Derbyshire pooh-poohed the entire episode, saying that
“women are not actually very good at this sort of thing.” I’m
sure that assurance will come as consolation to the grieving
families of the 1,200 persons who are knocked off every year by
hit-women.

Of course when People magazine did its front-page story, it was
all about Lisa, Lisa, and more Lisa: a “naturally gifted” woman
who yearned for a space career at the tender age of five,
Robo-chick astronaut, and a stressed-out but “very loving”
mother of three.

And what about Colleen Shipman, victim of the premeditated
murder attack? In the entire 6-page spread, People magazine
devoted a grand total of 5 sentences to her plight. Sorry,
Colleen, your harrowing experience just didn’t fit into the
storyline.

Mind you, the crime took place last week, and the rehabilitation
of Lisa Nowak has only just begun. We’re still awaiting a call
from Katie Couric, and of course the obligatory Oprah interview.

And soon we’ll be hearing that Nowak was the heroic survivor of
an abusive childhood, she waged a lonely campaign to break the
glass ceiling, and her ex-husband once raised his voice in stern
rebuke.

Before long we will all agree that Lisa Marie Nowak, despondent
from the recent break-up of her 19-year marriage, was
unwittingly seduced into a love triangle and attempted a
Halloween-type prank in futile revenge. Her actions were surely
more worthy of sympathy than scorn.

At that point, what need will there be for a trial?

Carey Roberts is a staff writer for the New Media Alliance, Inc.

On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:20:57 GMT, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

It amazes me how people are seeing this when in fact, nobody does know the
truth in it at the moment. I'd like to think that she will get a fair trial,
but at the moment there seems far too much publicity showing both for and
against and how any jury, if it comes to a trial, will unravel the truth is
anyone's guess.

One of my coworkers was home sick for 10 days, when all this was
coming out. She never watches daytime (and rarely nighttime) TV, but
she was bored and watched a lot while she was sick. She came back to
work a few days ago (thoroughly tired of Oprah et al), and she hadn't
even heard of this story. She's very aware of the important stuff. I
don't think they'll have a hard time finding a jury that's never heard
of her or her case.

It is a very sad story though, and it is probably best of say that at least
it was not played out to an even more tragic end for all concerned. Emotions
are powerful things, after all.

Yeah, it's good nothing happened that can't hopefully be fixed to some
extent. That article was as creepy as the crime it was about.

Dale

On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:46:39 -0800, Dale Carlson wrote:

On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 08:20:57 GMT, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

I
don't think they'll have a hard time finding a jury that's never heard
of her or her case.


Dale
The question asked in jury selection is not have you heard about it.
The question is have you formed an opinion. Another question is can
you be objective. Knowledge of the crime does not necessarily
disqualify the prospective juror.
--

Jim in Houston
osPAm
Nurse's creed: Fill what's empty, empty what's full,
and scratch where it itches!! RN does NOT mean Real Nerd!

Brian Gaff wrote:
It amazes me how people are seeing this when in fact, nobody does know the
truth in it at the moment.

Are you high? We know the truth, in detail, because the perp admitted
it: We know she drove 1200 miles, used a phony name at a hotel,
brought a realistic-looking fake gun, a steel mallet, and directions
to the victim's home. We know she stole the flight info to intercept
her victim off of another person's computer. We know she pepper
sprayed her victim. We know she intended to terrorize her victim in
to breaking off a relationship with a third individual.

We know what she did. We know why she did it. She's admitted to all
of this.

It amazes me you can make such an obtuse comment.

On Feb 22, 5:04 pm, "Bo Raxo" wrote:
Brian Gaff wrote:
It amazes me how people are seeing this when in fact, nobody does know the
truth in it at the moment.

Are you high? We know the truth, in detail, because the perp admitted
it: We know she drove 1200 miles, used a phony name at a hotel,
brought a realistic-looking fake gun, a steel mallet, and directions
to the victim's home. We know she stole the flight info to intercept
her victim off of another person's computer. We know she pepper
sprayed her victim. We know she intended to terrorize her victim in
to breaking off a relationship with a third individual.

We know what she did. We know why she did it. She's admitted to all
of this.
It amazes me you can make such an obtuse comment.

The hard, mf -ing truth of the matter is that the other woman
Shipman, is lucky to be alive. Novak went there with a silent pistol,
a steel hammer, a razor sharp de-boning knife, and a lot of trash
bags. Can we spell desperation??? Like: I will never, never get
another chance with the sort of man my loins crave? So it's kill,
kill, kill for any competition.
In a certain sense, it is quite dangerous these days to be an un-
bearably attractive guy to 40- plus women. You have to be set for
blood-shed for just existing.
Look; I am not making this **** up.

On Wed, 21 Feb 2007 23:55:30 GMT, Wok puked:

She straps on an astro-diaper and drives 900 miles to
Orlando. During the wee hours

LOL
--
lab~rat :-)
Do you want polite or do you want sincere?

On 22 Feb 2007 16:15:54 -0800, "
wrote:

On Feb 22, 5:04 pm, "Bo Raxo" wrote:
Brian Gaff wrote:
It amazes me how people are seeing this when in fact, nobody does know the
truth in it at the moment.

Are you high? We know the truth, in detail, because the perp admitted
it: We know she drove 1200 miles, used a phony name at a hotel,
brought a realistic-looking fake gun, a steel mallet, and directions
to the victim's home. We know she stole the flight info to intercept
her victim off of another person's computer. We know she pepper
sprayed her victim. We know she intended to terrorize her victim in
to breaking off a relationship with a third individual.

We know what she did. We know why she did it. She's admitted to all
of this.
It amazes me you can make such an obtuse comment.

The hard, mf -ing truth of the matter is that the other woman
Shipman, is lucky to be alive. Novak went there with a silent pistol,
a steel hammer, a razor sharp de-boning knife, and a lot of trash
bags. Can we spell desperation??? Like: I will never, never get
another chance with the sort of man my loins crave? So it's kill,
kill, kill for any competition.
In a certain sense, it is quite dangerous these days to be an un-
bearably attractive guy to 40- plus women. You have to be set for
blood-shed for just existing.
Look; I am not making this **** up.

No, of course not.

I have the same problem. I have dozens of Nowaks pursuing me as I
speak.

On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 07:20:18 -0600, Deke wrote:

On 22 Feb 2007 16:15:54 -0800, "
wrote:

On Feb 22, 5:04 pm, "Bo Raxo" wrote:
Brian Gaff wrote:
It amazes me how people are seeing this when in fact, nobody does know the
truth in it at the moment.

Are you high? We know the truth, in detail, because the perp admitted
it: We know she drove 1200 miles, used a phony name at a hotel,
brought a realistic-looking fake gun, a steel mallet, and directions
to the victim's home. We know she stole the flight info to intercept
her victim off of another person's computer. We know she pepper
sprayed her victim. We know she intended to terrorize her victim in
to breaking off a relationship with a third individual.

We know what she did. We know why she did it. She's admitted to all
of this.
It amazes me you can make such an obtuse comment.

The hard, mf -ing truth of the matter is that the other woman
Shipman, is lucky to be alive. Novak went there with a silent pistol,
a steel hammer, a razor sharp de-boning knife, and a lot of trash
bags. Can we spell desperation??? Like: I will never, never get
another chance with the sort of man my loins crave? So it's kill,
kill, kill for any competition.
In a certain sense, it is quite dangerous these days to be an un-
bearably attractive guy to 40- plus women. You have to be set for
blood-shed for just existing.
Look; I am not making this **** up.

No, of course not.

I have the same problem. I have dozens of Nowaks pursuing me as I
speak.



But how do they always seem to find out where we live?

There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure for love
There ain't no drink no drug
(Ah tell them, angels)
There's nothing pure enough to be a cure for love


Leonard Cohen

On Feb 24, 2:28 pm, jacob navia wrote:
There ain't no cure for love
All the rocket ships are climbing through the sky
The holy books are open wide
The doctors working day and night
But they'll never ever find that cure for love
There ain't no drink no drug
(Ah tell them, angels)
There's nothing pure enough to be a cure for love

Leonard Cohen

God bless you. I was thinking the same thing when I saw the title of
this thread.