Current Events Watch

With this being my first post, I would like to welcome you to Current Events Watch. My name is Steve and I am very excited about having the privilege to write on this blog. I really encourage you to e-mail me by clicking on “Contact Me” on the right of the page. I also encourage you to leave comments if you have anything to say regarding a topic I’ve blogged on. I realize that my first post is about a topic that isn’t exactly uplifting, but it seems to be the big story of the day.

Yep, contrary to what your eyes may be telling you, these pictures are of the same person. The pictures are of NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak before and after her arrest due to her alleged murder attempt. The story is that Nowak attacked a woman named Colleen Shipman with pepper spray in a parking lot and was planning to abduct her. Before this, she had driven 900 miles from Houston to Florida to reach Shipman. When the police found her she had with her a compressed air pistol, a steel mallet, a knife, pepper spray, four feet of rubber tubing, latex gloves and garbage bags. Allegedly she had also been wearing diapers so she could urinate on the go without stopping. It is being reported that Nowak and Shipman were both romantically involved with Navy Commander Bill Oefelein. The news has repeatedly referred to this story as a “love triangle gone wrong.” Meaning what? I suppose they are under the impression that most love triangles end up happliy ever after.

Well, the news seems to be reporting this story in a way that suggests that the big news is not necessarily the act itself, but the fact that a NASA astronaut would commit the act. I guess I can understand that. I would imagine that astronauts go through an extremely vigorous testing process. And I’m sure this test would definitely look into the mental health of the subject being tested. So it’s not likely that she was mentally unstable. I guess you could make the argument however that love and jealousy could drive a person to a mentally unstable state.

Whatever the case, it’s definitely sad to see something like this happen. I also wonder how the man feels right now. Please comment, I’d love to hear what you have to say about this story.