After reading these articles things have become much more clear when talking about mental insanity cases. Before reading this article I thought pleading not guilty because of mental insanity was a very common thing but apparently it isn’t. I leaned that less then 1% of cases end with the defendant pleading not guilty due to mental insanity. For me I have watched many episodes of Law and Order and it seems to me that ever other case involved the defendant pleading not guilty due to mental insanity. Another thing that I didn’t know about was the many different types of insanity pleas there are. They can be not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect, not guilty by reason of insanity, acquitted by reason of insanity, or in other cases guilty but mentally ill, or guilty but insane. Each state has a different way to go about these decisions and for most they go by the M’Naughten rule. This is that the defendant should not be held responsible for his actions if he didn’t know it was wrong at the time he committed the crime. There is also the Durham rule that means it was a “irresistible impulse,” and The Model Penal Code with turns the responsibility to the jury. When it comes to the James Holmes case I have my opinions on the case. The defense is trying to put an insanity plea on the defendant but I dont believe it is fair that he will be able to go to a mental hospital with the possibility to get out even though he killed 12 people and injured 58 others in a theatre shooting. There was no reason this needed to happen. The victims did not deserve to loose their lives or be injured just because they had picked this one night to go see a movie. What James Holmes did was not right and from evidence by the prosecution you can tell he had been planning this violent attack for some time now. Whether it was his journal that he wrote in about he violent attack, the large amounts of ammunition he had with him the time of the attack, or the booby trap he had waiting at his apartment for when the police came to find him. I believe this attack was way to pre planned and had to have been pre meditated. In addition I think the way he looked during trial and the way he died his hair prior to the shooting is more evidence that he had planned this and was going to do anything he could to try and look “mentally insane.” And finally I think they need to change the law so that the prosecution can have a psychologist of their own look at the defendant otherwise the jury and everyone else has to take the word from someone the defense chose and who may be biased in some way. This article changed my view on the whole “mentally insane” plea and from now on I am going to look more into the facts before judging.

This article covers the topic of studying abroad and expanding your education outside of your college. In the beginning it talks about how low the amount of students studying abroad is and the reasons for it. There are a few reasons that seem to cause less and less students to study abroad and they are money, dont want to leave their comfort zone, and no help from the colleges we attend. Studies have shown that many students want to study abroad or show interest in doing so but dont get the opportunity to because of the cost and no opportunities from their source of education or college. In the article they talk about the lack of opportunities colleges give students to study abroad and one main reason they say this is because of the faculty of the schools. Many professors dont want to send students away or try doing it themselves because they know they wont get the same chance to make their own lessons and  do there own thing anymore. By sending their students over seas they dont have control of them and what they study anymore. After reading this article it shocked me to some degree. For me I always knew that not many students end up studying abroad in their college career but what really shocked me was how many institutions dont give the chance for their students to study abroad or explore anything else overseas. The fact that students are not given the chance to explore a new culture and at the same time expand on their education is a shame and all colleges and universities should offer it. For me personally I dont think I want to study abroad because I am so close to my family. Being just two hours away is hard for me at times and I dont know how I would handle a continent away from them. But just because I dont want study abroad does not mean that I dont think others should have the opportunity to do so. Another thing in the article that I think is very important is that fact that if we dont start leaning about other cultures and experiencing it that they will pass us by and we will be left behind. The world views are constantly changing and if we dont start moving with them they will move on without us and we will be stuck in our own ways forever. We have the opportunity to experience someone else’s culture so we need to grasp the opportunity and learn anything we can while we have the chance!

This reading shocked me in many different ways! The first thing that I found interesting was the argue about when Christmas should be held. This reading said that in any parts of the bible there is no exact place that tells us when baby Jesus was born but many have argued it to be certain days. For some they believe it should have been held in March, April, or even November but they could never agree on an exact date. So what they ended up doing was picking the date in between the three Roman midwinter festivals, which was December 25th. I was very surprised hearing this because for a long time I thought we knew this was the day baby Jesus was born but really it is just a guess. So when I am celebrating Christmas from now on I will know that it might not actually be the right day to be celebrating. The second piece of writing that I didn’t realize was the fact that Americans didn’t really start celebrating Christmas and giving out gifts until the late nineteenth century when Santa Clause was created. The fact that Santa Clause was not always present in the Christmas tradition shocks me. I for one can not see Christmas without Santa Clause! It says that in the eighteen hundreds they had such things as Christmas cards and Christmas trees but no Santa Clause. I can not believe that Santa  Clause came after the tree and cards part of Christmas, I always thought it was the other way around. After reading the historical background of Christmas some things do change for me. First I believe I get too wrapped up with the presents part of Christmas because thats what I thought it has always been like but from now on I think I will appreciate the religious background more. Yes I go to church every Christmas Eve but I dont think I ever really appreciate it as much as I should. Also knowing that December 25th may not be the birth of Jesus will cause me to celebrate him often and not just for that one day and evening. For me personally I dont think I have ever heard a claim that there is a “war on Christmas” but I do want to learn what they mean by that. This article shocked me and changed my view on Christmas for the better!

Both of these readings surprised me in different ways. The first article talked about male athletes taking over some of the well known women roles and women start working careers instead of just cooking and cleaning. I can admit that I am a sports fan and love the idea of it but after reading these articles my views changed a little bit. The first article stated that fans were upset when a player took a leave of absence for the birth of his child and I think this is just ridiculous. The fans should have enough respect to allow players to be able to see the birth of their child and spend more time with their families instead of being so selfish that they wont be able to beat a certain team without them. One or two games without your star player wont kill you! Also I believe that if a nobody player left for a leave of absence the fans would not have even noticed so they need to give the players a break! I like the fact that more and more women are starting careers and leaving the cooking and cleaning jobs to their husbands. Men need to appreciate everything we do for them and respect our ambitions to have a career. In the second article I was shocked at the statistics they had but after thinking about the sports shows I watch I realized everything they said was true. The fact that only white men seem to be the leaders of any talk show or sport event needs to change. Women and men of other ethnicities have the same ability to talk about sports and could potentially do a better job then most if they were just given the chance to. Another thing that they need to change is the number of guy to girl sports ratio on tv. They only show a small portion of information about the girl sports and about ninety-nine percent of the shows cover mens sports. Women are doing the same things that men are doing but dont get half the credit for it. I do understand that mens sports are more fun to watch because thats what I think but I do believe women should be represented in the same way, or at least have a ESPN station dedicated to women athletics. Another thing I think needs to change is the sexist images of women on commercials and the amount of violence that they show on sports television. We are not helping the younger generation by teaching them men are superior to woman and that violence and sexism is okay to partake in. Overall these articles opened up my view on sports and the men/woman dynamic.