McDonnell said President Obama's speech was a lot of rhetoric with big government as the solution to all America's problems. He was incredulous that Obama offered a laundry list of requests but no deficit reduction.
McDonnell said it is tough to do the response to the State of the Union and said Rubio presented the Repulibcan case and principles and used his compelling life story as an example. Ingraham contrasted Rubio and Jindal's stagecraft versus McDonnell's when he gave the SOTU response.
Sessions said good policy is good politics. He thought the first immigration policy would work and it was a disaster and thus he thinks this new effort must be done more carefully. Ingraham disputed that the system is broken; that really it hasn't been enforced due to craven politicians. Sessions agreed saying we've admitted people who are a charge to the state, haven't fixed the borders or dealt with illegal employment. He said we'll have millions more coming in again without fixing the problem.
Sessions said most of the people who come here are good people, but we have a legal system that hasn't been followed and law enforcement has become the enemy by not letting them do their job. He said that if many low wage people into the country it will depress the middle class and weaken entitlements.
January 04, 2013
Laura Ingraham hosted Superintendent Joseph Erardi of Suddington, Connecticut.
Erardi said his community decided to follow up with parents' courageous conversations and asked parents to talk to their children about the content of video games and if there is a decision that the games are too much, the families can turn in their games and get a token for an alternative activity. They hope to promote honest conversations within the families and communities, not to ban video games. He said there is no easy fix to issues of violence and a desensitized culture. He is concerned about the hours spent on these video games and woud like to see children outside playing. He feels solutions need to be local.
Next Saturday his community's SOS group will be sponsoring the video game turn in.
Laura Ingraham hosted Major Garrett with Naitonal Journal.
Garrett said the Romney campaign said they were very pleased with their initial response to the Supreme Court decision on Obamacare. They feel the debate is about President Obama, not Romney's health care law. Ingraham argued that Romney should be out hitting on Obama rather than vacationing and Garrett said that Romney sticks to his schedule, regardless of what's going on. He also added that swing voters are sick of the health care debate while Ingraham disagreed. Garrett said that both the President and Romney appear as elites this week on their vacations while the nation is worried. Garrett said the Romney campaign is wary of making the mistakes made in responding too quickly to issues.
Garrett says he's confued by the swing state polls and is discounting them, except one from CNN where Romney is gettting some traction on the economy.
Journey of Jesus: The Calling—the first-ever video game based on Jesus—launches today from Lightside Games, makers of the popular Journey of Moses. Interestingly, also launching today: Diablo III, the newest installment of a game series built around battles with demonic creatures, which debuted in 1996 with the tagline: "All hell breaks loose."
"Both games immerse the player, and you are what you eat," Brent Dusing, CEO of Lightside games said. "While one game goes one direction, Journey of Jesus: The Calling players walk in the Messiah's steps, in an authentic experience of Israel in Christ's time."
North Korea launched a three stage rocket Friday morning that appears to have not made it out of Earth's atmosphere. It was in honor of the 100th birthday of the repressive regime's founder Kim Il Sung.
The anti-violent party of civility has published a video game in which users can slaughter the SOB Tea Party, Sarah Palin, Bill O'Reilly, etc.. What does President Obama, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz have to say about this?
Garrison said there is an impact on behavior to pre-school age children being exposed to violent video games. She said there are healthy content choices for parents to make and it is a parent's role to figure out which are suitable for their children. She agreed with Ingraham that having digital gadgets on arouses both adults and children and is distracting. She thinks it is in the end a parenting issue rather than a legislative issue while Ingraham noted there is a wide range of issues in which rules have been made for children's behavior. Garrison said that children end up seeing violent games, movies, etc. even if there is legislation or ratings systems in place.
If one wants to point to a reason American children are falling behind other nations' students in school and are obese, they should look no further than this study which implicates all groups, but especially minority groups children. Whether this relates to more parents having to work and not supervising children and turning to electronic babysitting or whatever, it is a disturbing trend.
It analysed race data from a 2010 study on media use among 2,000 8 to 18-year-olds and compared it to another 2006 study on another 2,000 children from birth to 6 years old.
It also found that minority youth media consumption rates outpace their white counterparts by approximately an hour for music, up to one and a half hours for computer use, and 30 to 40 minutes for playing video games.
'In the past decade, the gap between minority and white youth's daily media use has doubled for blacks and quadrupled for Hispanics,' said Northwestern Professor Ellen Wartella, who co-authored the study.
The New York-based Kuma Games has attracted more than 20 million gamers since launching in 2004, and programmers work with military personnel - both former and current - to add realism and accuracy to the interactive action.
Kuma's CEO Keith Halper told the Hollywood Reporter: 'We read the same published reports as everyone else, though I suspect with a different eye.
News of the New York State Health Department's summer recreation program rules restricting such games as whiffleball, kickball, Red Rover and tag because they pose a significant risk of injury sent gasps of incredulity nationwide. Such programs would have to declare themselves children's day camps and be subject to expensive state regulations to play such dangerous games. The department responded swiftly, lifting such restrictions, but only until May 16th as the rules are reviewed.
But chances that New York's kids will get to engage in unrestricted play is doubtful, given Governor Cuomo's new health commissioner.
The New York Post reports, "Commissioner Nirav Shah is an acknowledged fan of heavy sugar taxes for soda pop and quickly hopped on the anti-McDonald's bandwagon earlier this month when supersized New York City Councilman Leroy Comrie proposed a ban on Happy Meals."
Taxpayers are triple teamed: they have to pay more for putting their children in summer recreation programs, are taxed for some foods they may choose to feed their kids and then have to underwrite federal programs such as First Lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" initiative.
Ms. Nanny State, that most onerous of overseers, needs to go to the time-out room for the summer so law abiding taxpayers and their children can run in the sun freely as parents and kids are meant to do.
Nintendo's new Wii and PlayStation 3 game "We Dare " is described as ‘a sexy, quirky party game that offers a large variety of hilarious, innovative and physical, sometimes kinky, challenges’. Yet the game, to be released next month, will have a 12+ rating, suitable for people 12 years old and above.
Parents in the know are increasingly outraged over this game being available for game consoles used by families and teens. The trailer suggests wife swapping, orgies and pole dancing. Two virtual girls are shown kissing and two couples stripping to their underwear and spanking each other.
But will Nintendo be around to deal with the aftermath - the STDs, the unintended pregnancies, the images of gamers that will no doubt land on Facebook, the lowering of the bar of what is healthy and acceptable for teens and indeed adults to experience.
This is hardly a technical version of "Spin the Bottle". What appears as fun and games in the digital playground can have profound consequences in the real world .
The question is do we dare to put our feet down and demand Nintendo and other game providers clean up their act and provide true family friendly gaming experiences that can pass the ratings smell test? Already the trailer has been either taken down or modified to take out the damaging portions. Power to the people!
Jane McGonigal, director of games research & development at the Institute for the Future
McGonigal said the common perception is that playing video games is a waste of time, but it is a big selling market, but she's found people are more confident and take on bigger goals from gaming. She said that goal setting and long term strategy planning are advantagious. McGonigal said that extreme players who neglect their families are warped. She said that research shows soldiers had the lowest rates of PSTD, suicide, violence who played these games intensely. She said it should be under 21 hours a week and in moderation.
In the online game, players assume the role of WikiLeaks founder and outsized personality Julian Assange hiding behind President Obama's desk in the Oval Office.
Using their mouse, players must manipulate the Assange character to smuggle secret documents from Obama's laptop onto a USB drive as the president dozes off. Those who fail are treated to a juicy presidential sound bite and a mock story planted in the newspaper.
Rich said we have to be aware that we've embraced technology completely but haven't thought about how it has all affected us. He noted that First Amendment restrictions have stifled conversation on how we use tech tools and how they affect us all. He said we are born with embryonic brains that aren't capable of functioning alone which gives us the advantage of building the brain as we grow up as connections are made in response to what we need to function. He said there are three elements to building a healthy brain: face to face interaction, manipulating the environment and creative play. Rich said that tech toys don't take much effort and a survival instinct is to take the path of least resistance that retards our long term ability to survive.
