The Trial of Russell Yates

Hi, I'm Bill O'Reilly. Thank you for watching us tonight.

The trial of Russell Yates is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo.

Desperately looking for answers, the family of Andrea Yates is now lashing out at her husband, Russell, calling him "apathetic and insensitive to the needs of Andrea."

Talking Points has long been saying that Russell Yates was incredibly negligent in protecting his small children from a dangerous woman who had little control over herself and violent tendencies to boot.

Suicide is a violent act. Andrea Yates tried it twice.

Yet Russell Yates impregnated this troubled woman even after being told by a battery of doctors that she could snap at any time. Insensitive to his wife's needs? I don't know, I wasn't there. Irresponsible? Absolutely.

Russell Yates then allowed his unstable wife to home-school five little kids, keeping an incredible amount of pressure on her nearly all the time.

Now, Mr. Yates dislikes me intensely because I called him on these things early on, so he avoided THE FACTOR and brought his defense to more sympathetic programs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, TODAY, NBC)

RUSSELL YATES, ANDREA YATES' HUSBAND: If they don't understand, you know, the biochemical nature of Andrea's illness, then they're going to look to other things that they do understand, so they'll say there must have been something else going on in that household, or there must have been, you know, this or that. And it's all false. There's no rational explanation for what happened other than the fact that Andrea was psychotic.

And as far as not being attentive, I mean, you know, I -- you know, I worked so hard to get medical treatment for her, you know, I mean, unbelievably hard.  And we just couldn't get it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'REILLY: Well, perhaps Mr. Yates should start a new company, Excuses, Incorporated.

While Andrea Yates did the killing, "Talking Points" believes Russell Yates was criminally negligent. If I were the D.A. in Houston, I'd go after him. But that won't happen, because many in our criminal justice system don't want to dirty their hands with sticky moral questions.

There is an epidemic of child abandonment in America, mainly by fathers, and what is society doing about it? Very little. Fathers and mothers who walk away from their child-rearing and financial responsibilities to their children should be punished. They should not be allowed to have a driver's license. Their wages should be garnished. And in extreme cases, they should lose the right to vote.

Also, if the parent flat-out refuses to help the child, that parent should be sent to prison.

For far too long, American taxpayers have been financially raising the children of derelict parents. And it is wrong. Society must crack down.

That brings us back to Russell Yates. Moments before Andrea Yates's guilty verdict was announced in the Houston courtroom, the camera panned to Ms. Yates, who was talking to her lawyer. Then the camera landed on Russell Yates. He was grinning. His five kids had been murdered, his wife's life hung in the air. The guy is grinning.

That's all you need to know about Russell Yates.

And that's the Memo.

The Most Ridiculous Item of the Day

Time now for "Most Ridiculous Item of the Day."

Barnabus R. Miller is a registered Republican in Contra Costa County in California. Like most registered voters, Barnabus got called for jury duty. Only there's a problem. Barnabus is only nine-years old and he's a poodle. His owner, Donald Miller, sent in the form registering Barnabus to vote, to point out how out of control voter registration is in California.

Said Mr. Miller, "You're supposed to be a citizen, not a poodle." And that is true. It's also ridiculous.

— You can watch Bill O'Reilly's Talking Points and "Most Ridiculous Item" weeknights at 8 & 11p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com