Sonia Sotomayor

The White House says Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor acknowledges she made a poor word choice in a 2001 speech in which she said that a Latina judge would often reach a better conclusion than a white male judge who hasn't lived the same life.

That's according to presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs. He says he has not talked directly to Sotomayor about it but has spoken to people who have.

Makes no difference. If Judge Bork or Judge Roberts or any other white male nominee had made a corresponding statement Judge Sotomayor's supporters would be up in arms. Judge Sotomayor is disqualified as a racist or at the least a very careless judge. She also says judges make policy. She tried to explain it away but failed. She is a racist, sexist, careless judge. Try again President Obama...
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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

Hokey Pokey Anonymous, a place to turn yourself around.

North Korea Fires Again

North Korea firing missiles is not the United States' problem We should stay out of it. We should leave South Korea and let Russia and China resolve any issues, It is not our problem!!!

 

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

Hokey Pokey Anonymous, a place to turn yourself around.

Social media may have profound impact on personality development

I saw this article on a Knoxville Technology Blog. It is a couple of pages but I thought it was up your alley...

 

On a rainy day, a researcher  was sitting in a shopping mall people-watching. About 75% of the folks between the ages of 13 and 25 were either texting or talking on their phone as they were walking – even if they were with a group.

 

Being a teen is all about connecting with friends and social media is the perfect channel to do that. In fact, the average teen in America texts nearly 1,500 times a month and 15,000/month is not unheard of (that's 500 messages per day!)

 

Clearly, screen-based stimulation has become the primary source of socialization and entertainment among teens and increasingly younger children. Just a few generations ago, the vast majority of a child's time was playing with friends in the dirt, kicking a ball or playing "house" (or if you go way back, I guess they played "cave.") What's the impact of the "highly-wired child" in our new world?

 

The social media brain

An individual's neural framework is nearly set by the time they are 15 years old. Everything a child experiences forms neural pathways, and the most-used pathways become aspects of their personality and the foundation of how they interact as adults. Before the days of screen-based entertainment (most of human history!), the strongest pathways were naturally formed by intense socialization with family members and friends, physical activity and interacting with nature in some way.

 

With so many children spending MOST of their time in front of keyboards and flashing screen, I began to think about this impact on their development and on society. Wouldn't personality development in the digital age have to be fundamentally, drastically and permanently different?

 

A disregard for consequence

New research confirms this. A professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln College (U.K.) claims social network sites risk infantilizing the mid-21st century mind, leaving it characterized by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathize, and a shaky sense of identity.

 

Professor Lady Greenfield said the rapid-fire reward of video games and text messaging could be a cause of the three-fold rise in Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) over the past 10 years.

 

She warned against "a marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences. After all, whenever you play a computer game, you can always just play it again; everything you do is reversible. The emphasis is on the thrill of the moment, the buzz of rescuing the princess in the game. No care is given for the princess herself, for the content, or for any long-term significance, because there is none. This type of activity -- a disregard for consequence -- can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling or compulsive eating.

 

"The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction, Greenwood said. "So we should not underestimate the 'pleasure' of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people."

 

A new way of relating

For teens already struggling with insecurity, social networking can provide a constant reassurance that they are listened to, recognized, and valued. That can be a good thing unless there is no balance with other life skills such as learning to interpret non-verbal behaviors, holding a conversation, and dealing with conflict when you don't have the time to think up a witty text message.

 

Free, instantaneous, global communication is creating a generation who will recoil at the thought of three-dimensional conversations, whose social identity and self-esteem will be validated by flashing messages on a computer or cellphone screen. The sanitized, detached world of social media has become the norm, and will reach even younger children with new innovations that avoid live interactions.

 

While this sounds depressing, follow the logic through to its conclusion. Social media is not going away … quite the opposite. So in the ADD world of our future, those who grew up as digital natives of the Facebook society should have an ADVANTAGE over those who were sheltered. Can you imagine a world where an articulate, well-spoken, well-read individual is the social outcast? If you're under 20, it's here.

 

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

Hokey Pokey Anonymous, a place to turn yourself around.

Tabloid Television....H1N1

Reporters ask if the Chinese are over-reacting or just being cautious when they quarantine Americans. Neither, the Chinese are just harassing Americans. YOU are over-reacting. The report is the death toll from the H1N1 virus in the United States is rising……….by 2. Total is now a terrifying 11, worldwide less than 100. 36 children have been murdered in Chicago this year, drunks killed more than that last weekend. How about taking all the money being thrown at a nonexistent N1H1 problem and using it for something useful. Tabloid journalism!!!

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

Hokey Pokey Anonymous, a place to turn yourself around.

Resource Officers / Surveillance Cameras Do Not Provide Security

Recently our local paper ran a story where the victim of a crime told a friend who told the Resource Officer at their school.

 

It is easy to see that Resource officers and surveillance cameras do not make us safer they make it a bit easier to catch the criminal.

 

It seems to me a bit odd that with a building full of teachers, staff, administrators, custodians, etc not to mention parents at home, the only person the child trusted was the resource officer?

The Red Menace? Which Came First. the Chicken of the Egg?

Some people believe the government makes socialism, I do not.

A government of the people, by the people for the people requires the participation of the people. Socialism evolves when the people fail the government. Democracy evolves into Socialis when the people discover they can vote for someone who will give them something. 50% of the people who either are eligible to vote or would be eligible if they would register do not vote. That tells those in power the people do not care. We have just tolerated an administration that did everything it could to negate the Constitution and the people said nothing. The current administration promises to give the people whatever the people want.

On the subject of the type of economy socialist, communist, capitalist etc have you considered the type of economy God sanctioned to save the people through whom He would eventually provide the Messiah?

Under the Pharaohs Egypt appeared to have had a capitalist economy. What happened? When trouble came the people lost confidence in their ability to act and looked to the government to save them. Seem familiar?

During the good years the Pharaoh took a high percentage of the crops if not all of the excess of normal harvest. During the famine, the Pharaoh sold the food he had confiscated to the people who had grown it. When the people had spent all of their money the Pharaoh took the people's livestock in exchange for food and eventually their land and finally the people themselves. The people became servants to Pharaoh. The people had become completely dependent on the government for survival. Pharaoh owned all of Egypt minus the land of the priests. When the people sold themselves for food the Pharaoh gave them seed with instructions that they owed 20% of future crops to Pharaoh. The once free farmers were tenant farmers they owned no land, no animals. The possessed only what the Pharaoh permitted them to possess. No one had anything they could consider their own. Except for the riches of Pharaoh Egypt had all things in common.

Working through Joseph, God apparently thought everyone having all things in common was the best way to proceed. Or did he? Could it possibly have been the mindset of the people, looking to Pharaoh, instead of relying on God?

In the first century the immersed had every thing in common. No one considered any of the things that belonged to him was there own.

I understand the Bible to promote communism more than capitalism or socialism. There is nothing inherently wrong with becoming rich but if one follows God how do they accumulate riches?

The people who founded our country relied on God and themselves and many died broke and indebt. Today the people rely on government. And that is the difference.

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179 cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

Billionaires Club

I realize our capitalist mindset says what you have is yours and you must try to collect as much as you can and keep it. Our society encourages us to buy things. You hear about people going shopping; I think I will go buy something. Imagine what that sounds like to a person who does not have enough food to feed their children. No, considering you can only wear so many clothes at the same time; that you can live in one house, one room at a time; drive one car at a time those rich people are very uncaring, selfish, stingy, egotistical. Nothing to be proud of. For a person who has $50 billions of dollars to dole out $5 billions is nothing. Too many people in the world starving.......I knew a man who gave 90% of his income away and he still lived very well. Now he was a nice man. These rich people are -0- compared to him..

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

Obama Taps Fundraiser as UK Ambassador

 

Instead of appointing political hacks as ambassadors it might be nice if the president would nominate someone who can help the United States and not the president's pocketbook.

--
Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

Colgen Gone

It would be prudent for airlines to be sure their pilots are trained in all aspects of the plane they will be piloting if for no other reason than to ensure the maximum safety for their passengers. My guess is when everything shakes out this airline will no longer be flying. All other airlines should take note.

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

Barack Obama / Joseph

On the subject of the type of economy socialist, communist, capitalist etc have you considered the type of economy God apparently found preferable in his effort to save the people through whom He would eventually provide the Messiah?
 
With God's blessing, Joseph created the Egyptian IRS. And we believe this to be the providence of God.
 
During the good years the Egyptian IRS took a high percentage of the crops if not all of the abundance, the excess of normal harvest. Talk about a tax rate. During the famine, the Egyptian IRS sold the food they had confiscated back to the people who had grown it. Nothing indicates the people had any voice in the price they were required to pay. When the people had spent all their money the Egyptian IRS took the people's livestock in exchange for food and eventually their land and finally the people themselves. The people became servants to the Egyptian IRS The people were completely dependent on the government for survival. The record shows the Egyptian IRS owned all of Egypt minus the land of the priests. When the people sold themselves the Egyptian IRS gave them seed with instructions that they owed 20% of future crops to the Egyptian IRS. The once free farmers, were tenant farmers, they owned no land, no animals, nothing except what the Egyptian IRS gave them.
 
In the first century the immersed had every thing in common. No one considered any of the things that belonged to him was there own.
 
Concerning our economy today, what is our current president doing that the Bible suggests God would disagree with?

Women and Clothes

Something your female reporters and anchors might want to clarify is how they got where they are without taking their clothes off or did they? It appears with Ms CA and Ms RI and most of the women involved in movies take their clothes off to get ahead. It appears we are raising a generation of girls who think sex is not sex and the best way to get ahead is to strip.
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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy

Reports are that President Obama is considering doing away with the Don't Ask Don't Tell practice President Clinton initiated. The president does not have the last word on the subject. If the men and women serving in the military do not want gays with them and stop enlisting and re-enlisting any changes Obama makes will be cancelled. To avoid embarrassment the president had better be sure the members of the military support him.

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Regards,
John Jenkins
865-803-8179  cell
Gatlinburg, TN

Email: jrjenki@gmail.com
Website: http://www.greenbriersolutions.com  
Blog: http://littlepigeon.blogspot.com/

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it." Michelangelo

Dog's beware..

A teenage girl was injured in an apparent dog attack Saturday night, according to dispatchers in Loudon County.

They said the attack was reported just before 10:00 p.m. on Deer Cove Lane in Greenback.

The girl was driven toward Maryville by private vehicle, but an ambulance was called to pick her up from a market just inside Blount County.

Details about the girl's injuries or what breed of dog was involved were not released.

Am I the only person fascinated by the fact we humans do not have enough things to do , enough problems with which we must cope that we bring untrained, undisciplined animals in to our living space with from me must defend ourselves?

As with lawyers, 99% of the dogs that rome our neighborhoods give the remaining 1% a bad rap.

Re: Ms California in the spotlight

Another thing about Ms California. Expressing her beliefs as she did she is being praised for courage to stand on her christian beliefs. The contest paid for her boob job so she could display them on TV to encourage more viewers. My guess is a bikini is not quite the modest address the Bible recommends. She is not a good example for Christian girls to look up to. Al though christian boys would like looking down her t-shirt..

Is Memorization Dead? - Tamim Ansary

I met a man in Pakistan a few years ago who recited the Koran professionally. When he decided on this career path -- in his late 30s -- he got busy and learned the whole Koran by heart, all 114 chapters of it, even though he didn't know Arabic and was thus memorizing pure sounds, not words. It took him six months.

Six months! How is that even possible? How can someone memorize more than 300 pages of text in a language they don't know?

Apparently, it's not hard if you live in a culture that values memorization. Apparently, if you do a lot of memorizing when you're young, you can do it when you're older.

Our ancestors all lived in cultures like that. In ancient times, feats of memorization were routine. The "Mahabharata," the world's longest poem -- over 90,000 verses -- was passed down orally for centuries before it was written down. The same goes for the "Iliad," the "Odyssey" and many other epics.

 

Gutenberg Squared

When the relatively new information technology of books hit ancient Greece, Plato was concerned. If reading and writing catch on, he warned, they will have a detrimental effect. Human beings will lose their capacity for memory. Instead of internalizing the information they need, people will just write it down, to consult as needed. Education will degenerate. Instead of learning The Iliad and The Odessy by heart children will just put it on the shelf. The intellect will shrink as knowledge becomes stored outside the human mind.

Plato was the first media critic. Although it might seem easy to assume that Plato was overacting --- the fact remains that Plato was right. People in literate societies do seem to lack memory capacity of those in oral cultures. African tribesmen can still exhibit prodigious feats or memory, reciting seemingly endless genealogies and thousands of lines of tribal epics, while those of us who can read and write rely on Post-its to remind us what to pickup at the grocery store. New information media do affect the way people think, the possibilities of a culture, and its worldview.

Plato was correct to see that the worldview of his beloved Greece, with its tribal virtues, would be undermined by the rise of books. But this new information technology would fit well with the worldview of the ancient Hebrews, who believed that God communicates to human beings primarily through a Book. The Hebrew Bible goes back to the origins or writing itself.  The alphabet, which breaks down sounds of speech into discrete visible symbols makes reading and writing possible and easily learned, was the invention of an ancient Middle Eastern people, the Phoenicians, whose Semitic language is related to Hebrew.

Ms California in the spotlight

While I support Ms California's right to freedom of speech she, as well as of all Christians, should realize she "represents" all Californians, no matter how ludicrous their views. As a representative she has no right to express a personal opinion that is negative to those she represents.

Christians, and I consider myself one, must understand we no longer live in a Christian nation. Christians are becoming a smaller percent of the total population of the United States and we must accept we are a minority. We live in a Republic where the majority must consider the minority but not necessarily defers to them. In this case, gay's are noisy but politically they are irrelevant.

Christians should bring ethics, morals, and honesty with them. When representing a group, Christians must represent the group. If a person who is a Muslim represents me I do not want them making comments negative to Christianity. If a person who is Gay represents me I do not want them making comments negative to Christianity. If a Christian cannot represent all the people they should not represent.

Ms California should have recognized she was being setup and should have answered accordingly. Now she just might lose her crown. Not in violation of her freedom of speech but her violation of the rules of representation.

Ms California prancing around 85% naked on stage, on television, before millions of voyeurs intentionally drawing attention to every area of her body already violates the conscience of most Christians but who worries about us? But we should not have been watching. I did not....

Interrogation Techniques

Our government prosecuted our soldiers for waterboarding Viet Cong. Instead of waterboarding take two enemy up in a helicopter. Maybe 15,000 feet. Throw one out and ask the other one questions. You might be surprised how effective that would be, and no one considers it torture.

Freedom???

How about investigating to see if this is true:

A Louisiana driver has been stopped and detained for having a "Don't Tread on Me" bumper sticker on his vehicle and warned by a police officer about the "subversive" message it sent, according to the driver's relative.

MLB is World Wrestling Federation in cleats

We now know that Manny Ramirez is a myth. Anyone who believes it was an accident is a moron. MLB is a fake. It will take more than 50 games to get it out of his system so he should be banned for 5 years.....