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Orlando, Fla. (AP) -- Former astronaut Lisa Nowak is pursuing an insanity defense on charges that she assaulted and tried to kidnap a romantic rival, according to a document released Tuesday. Defense attorney Donald Lykkebak wrote that Nowak suffered from major depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, insomnia and "brief psychotic disorder with marked stressors." He noted that the already-petite Nowak had recently lost 15 percent of her body weight. "This notice does not challenge competence to stand trial, but only raises insanity at the time of the offense," . . .

Orlando, Fla. (AP) -- An attorney for a former astronaut wanted to set the record straight Friday: Lisa Nowak didn't wear diapers during the 950-mile road trip to confront a romantic rival. "The biggest lie in this preposterous tale that has been told is that my client drove from Houston, Texas, to Orlando, Florida, nonstop, wearing a diaper," Donald Lykkebak said after filing motions to suppress evidence in Nowak's criminal case. "That is an absolute fabrication." The tidbit that Nowak wore diapers during her trip was written in the police report filed after Nowak's arrest in February. The diaper detail...

08:27 Bill Gates considering space tourist trek to ISS MORE...

Excerpt - HOUSTON - Lisa Nowak chose a juggling act of dauntingly high difficulty: to be an astronaut and a mother of three. Her background — high school valedictorian, Naval Academy graduate, test pilot — seemed to equip her for the challenge. Yet as she and some of her acquaintances acknowledged, the stresses on her and her family were extraordinarily intense. On Wednesday, transformed from space hero to criminal suspect, Nowak returned to Houston for a medical assessment, a day after she was charged in Florida with attempted murder and attempted kidnapping in what police depicted as a love triangle...

A NASA astronaut is charged with attacking her rival for another astronaut's attention early Monday at Orlando International Airport, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. Lisa Marie Nowak drove from Texas to meet the 1 a.m. flight of a younger woman who had also been seeing the male astronaut Nowak pined for, according to Orlando police. Nowak -- who was a mission specialist on a Discovery launch last summer -- was wearing a trench coat and wig and had a knife, BB pistol, rubber tubing and plastic bags, reports show. Once U.S. Air Force Capt. Colleen Shipman arrived, Nowak followed her...

"Are folks aware of just how meticulously (Sen. John) McCain and his team are going about building their '08 campaign? There's probably not a GOP activist in South Carolina who hasn't been contacted at least once by someone supportive of McCain's candidacy. ... As long as he continues to poll well against Hillary, and as long as the Republicans look as if they could lose power at a moment's notice, McCain should be able to create the air of inevitability that Bush created in 2000." - Hotline editor Chuck Todd in National Journal. Officially, he is not yet running and...

Since we canot post articles from the AZ Republic here is the first line and the link that follows: Arizona Senator John McCain should be the next president of the United States of America. http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/viewpoints/articles/0102woods1202.html

"It's disappointing that John Kerry's frank talk stopped with a discussion of his complexities and failed to include an explanation of his inconsistencies and contradictions on the central front in the War on Terror. John Kerry missed an opportunity to help the American people understand his vote for the war in Iraq based on the same intelligence that the President viewed, his description of himself as an anti-war candidate and his subsequent vote against troops on the front lines. He's right, America can do better."- Campaign Chairman Marc Racicot Even before John Kerry has spoken, he is working to...

Image of Kerry Disrupts Carefully Choreographed Photo-Op By Matea Gold Times Staff Writer 6:41 PM PDT, July 27, 2004 PHILADELPHIA - When Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.) visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Monday, his campaign hoped that the backdrop of the famed shuttle launch site would evoke images of exploration and science. Instead, the photo that was splashed across the nation's largest tabloid newspapers was less than statesmanlike: Kerry, dressed in a hooded "bunny suit," peering out of the hatch that leads to the space shuttle. The reaction was merciless. Under a banner headline that read "Spaceman...

High-Stakes Convention Poll Shows Support for Kerry Weakens on Issues and Attributes The critical convention season begins with John Kerry losing momentum at just the hour he'd like to be gaining it: President Bush has clawed back on issues and attributes alike, reclaiming significant ground that Kerry had taken a month ago. Trust More to Handle Issues Issue Now: Bush Now: Kerry Month Ago: Bush Month Ago: Kerry Terrorism 55% 37 48 47 Taxes 49 43 41 53 Health Care 44 47 38 56 Iraq 52 40 49 47 Education 44 45 43 52 Economy 47 46 45 50 Trust...

[snip] The famously off-the-cuff Heinz Kerry is scheduled to address the delegates tonight. At the Kennedy Center, her husband violated the cardinal rule of politics — getting his picture taken in a ridiculous outfit. Visiting the space shuttle Discovery, Kerry donned dust-free overalls that made him resemble the sperm cells in Woody Allen's "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)." Republican operatives issued a press release featuring the photo and its predecessor — the famous shot of 1988 Democratic nominee Mike Dukakis wearing an ill-fitting tank helmet. "It's the picture worth a thousand words,"...

Tuesday, July 27A Lifetime of Strength & Service4:00 pm to 7:00 pm4:00 pm  Call to OrderThe Honorable Bill RichardsonGovernor of New MexicoPermanent Chair, Democratic National ConventionInvocationThe Reverend Ernest "Gunny" BranchSermon on the Mount, Baptist Church, Roxbury, MassachusettsPresentation of ColorsPledge of AllegianceSteve DanielsCarl Junction, MissouriNational AnthemJim GarrityPresident, Local Firefighters Union 1691Boston, MassachusettsPlatform Approval Representative Robert MatsuiU.S. House of Representatives, CaliforniaLois MurphyCandidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, PennsylvaniaThe Honorable Allyson SchwartzPennsylvania State SenateCandidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, PennsylvaniaJim StorkCandidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, FloridaPatty WetterlingCandidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, Minnesota Elizabeth CavendishInterim President, NARAL Pro-Choice AmericaThe...

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Last week, the presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) very publicly distanced itself from former National Security Advisor Samuel "Sandy" Berger after it became known that Berger was under investigation for removing highly classified documents from the National Archives. Talon News reported that Kerry's anti-terror policy was removed from the candidate's web site immediately following Berger's dismissal as a campaign advisor. But in the last few days, another advisor has apparently been jettisoned from the Kerry campaign. All traces of former Ambassador Joe Wilson, the central figure in the controversy of faulty intelligence...

The campaign of Sen. John Kerry yesterday accused NASA of leaking a widely circulated photo that shows the candidate wrapped from top to bottom in a baby blue "bunny suit," implying that it was a "dirty trick."     One campaign official told The Washington Times last night: "All I can say is it was not an authorized release."    But the National Aeronautics and Space Administration told Fox News that the Kerry team saw the photos before publication and passed on their release.    A NASA spokesman told the top-rated cable network that the images were given to the Kerry campaign to review before several...

DEMS CLAIM NASA LEAKED PHOTOS TO SMEAR Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill claims 'dirty tricks' by NASA after it released 'surprise' photographs showing the Dem presidential hopeful dressed in a space suit crawling through a rocket hatch. Cahill, asked by FOXNEWS whether it was a dirty trick, said: 'Well, what do you think?' No photos were supposed to be taken, she said. Begin Transcript: HUME: i must ask you about this photograph that suddenly turned up and fell in our laps last night nobody thought it was come. nobody had reported on the event which led to-t but there...

BOSTON, July 27 -- The tabloids are painting John F. Kerry as an out-of-this-world figure. The New York Post's front page Tuesday featured a huge picture of the Democratic presidential nominee-to-be in a blue spacesuit, crawling out of the shuttle Discovery at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Next to the headline ("BOSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM") and a description of Kerry's "ridiculous outfit," Rupert Murdoch's paper ran a smaller shot of Woody Allen dressed as a human sperm from the movie "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex but Were Afraid to Ask." The same Kerry photo ran in the Boston...