There is a defense in the law that's based upon the concept of "irresistible impulse". In reality, it fits into the so-called "insanity defense" line of cases and is based upon the idea that if a compulsion to commit a criminal offense is so strong that the defendant will do it, even with a police officer standing at his elbow, then he or she lacks the necessary criminal intent to be charged with the offense.
On the other hand, if someone lacks an irresistible impulse but is just stupid enough to commit a crime in the presence of a police officer, it isn't a defense, it's just what it looks like: stupidity, and there's plenty of that around.
So, when a Western Michigan University student was convicted of "larceny in a building", the conviction stands not only as a memorial to his criminal tendencies, it also serves as notice to others that he might have a considerable problem beyond that larcenous tendency since the object this young man was convicted of stealing (or attempting to steal) was a computer. Not just any old computer, but a computer in the jail where he is reported to have been serving a sentence on another offense.
None of this activity is "resume' building" in a rewarding way.
So, if committing a crime with a policeman at your elbow is evidence of insanity or stupidity...well, you see where this is headed.
There must be a way to use The Wall as an educational opportunity. So often children are exposed to relics and reminders of the past but have no real fund of information available to them that might enable them to really and truly understand the significance of what they are seeing. This is why it's so profoundly important for the Foundation to continue to work to enhance the educational experience of the students by helping to provide funding for trips to Constitution Hall, to the Liberty Bell, to the Washington Monument, where, hopefully, the students can learn the history and grasp the real significance of those things.
We are lucky to have The Wall at our school. The Munnsville Legion has done a beautiful job and the opening ceremony was well planned, well conceived reflecting the utmost respect for the Wall and very moving.
Charles McMahon came to speak. Charles is a veteran of Viet Nam and got to know some of those people on the Wall the hard way, as a medic, trying to repair broken bodies and trying desperately to save lives.
His is a military family, his father served in the Strategic Air Command, his wife, a local ER physician, served in the Air Force and his son is a graduate of the Naval Academy and a fighter pilot flying F-18's for the Marine Corp. Charles knows all about loss, grief and sorrow and understands deeply the significance of the Wall. His speech was memorable, emotional, poetic and hopefully educational to those many students that were there.
Here's his speech:
Names ....
Names on a wall .... No... NO not A wall "The Wall"
Names ... NO ... PEOPLE - Real men and women - Flesh and blood Fathers and Mothers, Sons and Daughters, Brothers and Sisters, Grandsons and Granddaughters, Uncles and Aunts. Nephews and Nieces, Now even Grandmothers and Grandfathers.
People
White and Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American, Christians, Jews, Muslims, Agnostics and Atheists - Republicans, Democrats, Independents, tall, short, strong, weak, nerdy, athletic
People
These names are people who did their duty, as officers and enlisted, as volunteers and draftees,
These names are people - people who did not GIVE their lives, their lives were TAKEN,
People .. ALL wanted to do their duty, ALL wanted to be strong and brave and stand by their comrades,
NONE wanted to be on a memorial.
But This memorial is not for THEM, it is for US . to trigger memories, good and bad, happy and sad, MEMORIES of a time , a place and of people long gone.
These names are people, memories: for family and hometown friends .... hopefully good memories of games and picnics, pranks and parties, dances and kisses, the things that families and friends remember of their loved ones.
The Wall is for them.
These names are people, memories for their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines, - The ones these names did not want to fail - ... memories for us that came home ...for many the memories are painful ..for too many the memories are too painful to recount.
The Wall is for us
This Wall This Memorial The Vietnam War Memorial The Moving Wall
OK, how many times have you received an email with some terrible and heart-wrenching story urging you to take some urgent action, typically involving sending the email plea to everyone in your address book?
In keeping with the prior blog about "Spam 2.0" it's true that people are so kind hearted and kindly disposed to help that they simply send the message along, urging others to do the same.
Recently, I received, from someone I trust, an email alert that all cell phone numbers were going to be released to telemarketing firms at the end of this month and urging me to immediately call the Federal "No Call" number to protect myself.
So, I did.
Now, listing my cell phone on "No Call" isn't necessarily a bad idea, but after having done it, I did what I should have done first; I punched in snopes.com to learn that it's a phony alarm that circulates at the beginning and in June of each year. Snopes is an invaluable tool devoted to debunking rumors and urban legends.
Snopes is great, so many of these email pleas contain a large amount of information that is at least borderline credible and as a result, most readers are duped into simply accepting what it as true.
So, when you get that email telling you how, exactly nine months after the crash of the UFO at Roswell New Mexico, George Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Al Gore were all born, or when you're told that buried deep in the Matterhorn ride at Disneyland you can find a basketball court, (true, as it turns out!) check these things out on Snopes before you involve everyone in your address book.
For those who haven't heard of it, Opera is a web browser similar to Internet Explorer (Microsoft's default) Firefox (Mozilla) or Safari (Apple). What opera is doing with the latest version of their browser is allowing the user to turn his or her computer into a server. What this means is that you will be able to share files off of your computer (yes, music too) with people you choose, or everyone using Opera Unite. You can likely even use this to host your own website. And the best thing is, it's simple and easy. Like I said earlier, Web 2.0 is user-generated web. I think that user-hosted web may be something like web 2.1, if not 3.0. Unfortunately, Opera Unite is still in Alpha testing (testing phases go Alpha, Beta, Release) so it's a little ways off, but I can see this opening a lot of new possibilities.
There is a defense in the law that's based upon the concept of "irresistible impulse". In reality, it fits into the so-called "insanity defense" line of cases and is based upon the idea that if a compulsion to commit a criminal offense is so strong that the defendant will do it, even with a police officer standing at his elbow, then he or she lacks the necessary criminal intent to be charged with the offense. 
There must be a way to use The Wall as an educational opportunity. So often children are exposed to relics and reminders of the past but have no real fund of information available to them that might enable them to really and truly understand the significance of what they are seeing. This is why it's so profoundly important for the Foundation to continue to work to enhance the educational experience of the students by helping to provide funding for trips to Constitution Hall, to the Liberty Bell, to the Washington Monument, where, hopefully, the students can learn the history and grasp the real significance of those things.
wife, a local ER physician, served in the Air Force and his son is a graduate of the Naval Academy and a fighter pilot flying F-18's for the Marine Corp. Charles knows all about loss, grief and sorrow and understands deeply the significance of the Wall. His speech was memorable, emotional, poetic and hopefully educational to those many students that were there.
For those who haven't heard of it, Opera is a web browser similar to Internet Explorer (Microsoft's default) Firefox (Mozilla) or Safari (Apple). What opera is doing with the latest version of their browser is allowing the user to turn his or her computer into a server. What this means is that you will be able to share files off of your computer (yes, music too) with people you choose, or everyone using Opera Unite. You can likely even use this to host your own website. And the best thing is, it's simple and easy. Like I said earlier, Web 2.0 is user-generated web. I think that user-hosted web may be something like web 2.1, if not 3.0. Unfortunately, Opera Unite is still in Alpha testing (testing phases go Alpha, Beta, Release) so it's a little ways off, but I can see this opening a lot of new possibilities.
