The Pittsford Perennialist

Della Mae Perform "Letter From Down The Road," "Walk On Boy," "Turtle Dove," "Pine Tree," & "Empire"

2013-05-25T21:37:00.000-04:00

The New Beginning introduces us to more great music — Della Mae, "Empire".

Age of Majority, Age of Consent, Age of Stupidity, Age of Moral Panic

2013-05-25T21:25:00.000-04:00

I'm sure you instantly see all that's wrong with this headline, as I did when reading it over breakfast — Man, 18, accused of sending naked pictures to teens. Maybe it should have been worded "Eighteen-year-old accused of sending naked pictures to teens" or "Teen accused of sending naked pictures to teens."

"The teens were not physically abused," but nevertheless the boy — I mean the teen — I mean the man — is "facing felony charges," specifically "two counts of first-degree disseminating indecent material to a minor, attempted first-degree coercion, third-degree criminal solicitation and use of a child in a sexual performance," as well as "two counts of endangering the welfare of a child and fourth-degree criminal solicitation," etc., etc., blah, blah, blah. "One of the teens complied" with his request "to send him some naked photos in return." Quelle horreur!

First of all, if this kid had done this a couple of months earlier, it would have all been fun and games, the digital era's version of "playing doctor," right? Second, any parent who surrenders his authority to the Nanny State as these girls'es have done should have thought a bit deeper about the vocation to parenthood. Third, I guess we "The People of the State of New York" will send this poor kid to prison where he'll be the victim of state-sanctioned gang rape and homosexual slavery, on a daily if not hourly basis, and all pat ourselves on the back for having "protected our children" from a "sexual predator."

Atheist "Raked Over the Coals"

2013-05-25T21:23:00.001-04:00

For views not in line with "orthodox Darwinism" — Where Thomas Nagel Went Wrong. The Chronicle Review's Michael Chorost's chronicle of this ongoing brouhaha is by far the most succinct and clear I have read. He writes:

The Chronicle

The crux of the affair:

Radio Derb Asks Two Questions and Offers an "Impertinent Speculation"

2013-05-25T21:16:00.000-04:00

The two questions the Derb asks after "Muslims thank Brits for taking them in" in London last week — Why Are We There? Why Are They Here? Indeed. Yet to ask these two questions puts one beyond the pale, earning one the enmity of both the neolibs and neocons, and the mark of an extremist.

The "impertinent speculation" John Derbyshire, himself a mysterian, makes was response to this video — Ha! Wolf Blitzer Asks Atheist Tornado Survivor If She 'Thanked The Lord'. He speculates that this "Beltway bandit" finding himself in "flyover country" "just naturally assumed that anyone he would meet would be a fundamentalist Christian and he tried to strike an appropriately patronizing tone." (This one of the rare instances in which this blogger found himself cheering on an atheist; the other was when a Turkish student declared his atheism in a class full of Saudis.)

The Victorians Were Smarter

2013-05-25T20:55:00.002-04:00

Idiocracy's vision of "a dystopian society full of extremely dumb people" is fast coming to pass — Researchers say Western IQs dropped 14 points over last century. The study corroborates "previous research studies [that] have found that women of higher intelligence tend to have fewer children on average, meaning that population growth may be driven by those with a lower IQ."

The article concludes, "The study had other positive observations about the Victorian era, noting that economic efficiency began to flourish during the period and that the 'height of the per capita numbers of significant innovations in science and technology, and also the per capita numbers of scientific geniuses,' occurred during that time, followed by a steady decline."

Stange Bedfellows: Left-Liberals and Alpha Male Pick-Up Artists

2013-05-25T20:47:00.002-04:00

"I find it curious that the same liberals who believe trace levels of relatively innocuous chemical compounds are an unconscionable threat to public health and safety, that need to be banned 'for the children,' are willing to subject pubescent girls to a powerful hormonal cocktail, the long-term effects of which on their physical development and health have yet to be assessed," writes Stuart Koehl, quoted by the Young Fogey— Calling out lefty hypocrisy: pushing contraception on girls. The Fogey carries the thought:

Roissy explains that in the contraceptive culture only alpha player men get most of the sex, licit or not, not the beta, herb and omega majority of men. (1950s society equalized this, favoring nice-guy providers, whom the women needed financially, which was better for society.) Cleverly marketed as girl power. Political correctness about sexual harassment is both a ripoff of the church’s teaching against illicit sex (the church says to respect women and our liberal Protestant hosts in America mock it; the left says it and betas had better obey, or else; alphas can do whatever they want) and a cover for female hypergamy, a fancy way of saying girls can now screen out nice guys for the illusion of no-strings sex with alphas. It’s short-term empowerment: through taxes, unfair divorce laws, etc. the women have fun with the alphas on the betas’, et al.’s dime. But the women end up ill-used, alone. (In short, feminism’s a lie.) And it’s bad for society in the long run, with fewer kids and more of those kids being maladjusted literal bastards (fatherless homes are bad for kids both financially and for social development). And of course contraception fails; the abortion culture is part of this too. Why society turns a blind eye to Kermit Gosnell (Obama in scrubs).

"Blue Moon Magic"

2013-05-25T20:45:00.000-04:00

The name given to the above piece, made by the Genesee Valley Quilt Club, founded in 1936, and to be raffled off to benefit the club— Magical Threads – Inspired Stitches coming to RIT.

Women Should Be Armed

2013-05-25T20:13:00.000-04:00

"Next time dial .357 Magnum," writes cryptogon.com in posting this horror story — 911 Dispatcher Tells Woman About To Be Raped That There Are No Cops To Help Her Due To Budget Cuts. We should not handover our rights to self-defense to the State.

Taylor Pfeiffer Performs "My Daddy Was A Yodeling Cowboy"

2013-05-25T20:12:00.000-04:00

"The Banjo Girl" from Adelaide. Yes, that Adelaide: the capital of South Australia! Love her Strine pronunciation of the word "cowgirl." Adorable!

Sam Amidon Performs "As I Roved Out"

2013-05-24T20:46:00.000-04:00

More Millennialism

2013-05-24T20:45:00.000-04:00

A conservative blog for peace links to this article by fellow GenXer (or 13er) Jim Quinn defending the younger generation — And the Band Played On. An excerpt:

Defending the Château

2013-05-24T20:44:00.000-04:00

The Young Fogey answers a critic who says, "I don't understand why you read the trash produced by Roissy" — Why Roissy, again. The Fogey rightly reminds us that "he [Roissy] tells the unvarnished truth about human sexuality, as part of fallen human nature, and human biodiversity (groups on average aren’t equal)" and that "beneath the amoral bluster, he’s profoundly conservative." More:

His message is a splash of cold water in the face trying to wake up two kinds of well-meaning nice guys, who are related: conservative Christian white knights like you seem to be, and their politically correct, peer-pressure liberal cousins who now dominate the culture (they’re Christian heretics, a ripoff of Christianity). The guys who do everything mainstream society, including the conservative churches, tells them about trying to be nice, pedestalize women because of their God-given love for them, and wonder why they end up alone.A conservative blog for peace, one of the first blog's I ever read ten years ago, was where I first read Cheateau Heartiste. I was retardedly somewhat put off at first, but quickly realized this genius was only speaking truths (and let's face it; the truth is scary) that I had learned the hard way during years of single and married life. Great that this site is out there for my younger brothers. I shall impart his teachings on to my son in a way my boomer dad never did.

"Conservative" "Opposition" to "Gay" "Marriage"

2013-05-24T20:42:00.000-04:00

Great news that Gavin McInnes now describes himself as "a reformed atheist who recently rediscovered his Catholic roots," and that this rediscovery hasn't caused him to forget the obvious fact that "marriage died long before homosexuals got involved" — Gays Didn’t Kill Marriage, Divorce Did. An excerpt from what might be this writer's most spot-on article yet:

Dorothy or Eleanor?

2013-05-24T20:41:00.000-04:00

You can't have both; The LewRockwell.com Blog's Charles Burris "brief informative description of the confrontation between the great libertarian peace activist and anarchist... and the sanctimonious uber-liberal ex-First Lady" — Dorothy Day vs Eleanor Roosevelt. The "great libertarian peace activist and anarchist" is also a Servant of God.

Life Upheld Locally

2013-05-24T20:40:00.000-04:00

A man described by a caregiver as "alert, awake and communicative, [who] enjoys social interaction and activities," has been spared, against the wishes of his "parents and attending physician [who] did not want the use of the life-sustaining treatment" — Court orders feeding tube for disabled Yates County man.

What was "called a 'life-or-death' ruling" hinged on the "legal question [of] whether the use of the feeding tube equates to 'an extraordinary burden.'" Ordinary and extraordinary means are the terms from Catholic moral theology that have "gradually come to be used in medical ethics more generally both by non-Catholics and those of no religion." That was written in the Journal of Medical Ethics in 1981. In three decades there has been plenty of backlash against their use.

Anyway, I read enough Thomas Fleming not to see this "ruling from the Rochester-based state Supreme Court Appellate Division, Fourth Department," as a sign of hope. Death panels giveth and they taketh away. Their existence is what should disturb us. The fact that it takes a court to intervene to feed and give water to a man who "suffers from mental retardation, spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy, and curvature of the spine," against parents and his doctor, that is a defeat.

The Lumineers Perform "Flapper Girl"

2013-05-22T22:23:00.002-04:00

A song that reminds me of one of the millennial feminine inspirations behind a recent post of mine, who wishes she had been born in the Roaring Twenties, performed by some of the Millennials whom I described in said post as "carrying on the traditions of the past, with organic developments of their own" — Millennialism & Manospherism.

Coachella & Hypergamy

2013-05-22T22:09:00.000-04:00

Watching this video posted on my blog — The Lumineers Perform "Stubborn Love" — I noticed in the audience a whole bunch of (rather hot) gals sitting on their boyfriends' shoulders. God bless 'em! Natural state of affairs, correct?

You saw this at least as far back in ancient times as Woodstock, before this blogger was born, right? My guess is that the Vikings even did the same thing. (Wife carrying, anyone?) Equalism, in contrast to this natural sate of affairs, should hold that until 50% of those shoulder-riders are males on the backs of females, we have not attained freedom, right? But how many modern feminists really long for a little fellow they could carry on their own shoulders?

Millennialism & Manospherism

2013-05-22T22:03:00.000-04:00

A conservative blog for peace quotes one Stuart Koehl, "Compared to the Baby Boomers, the Millennials are models of sobriety, industriousness and chastity" — The generations.

I'm a fan of the generation that came right after mine; most of the music posted on this blog comes from them carrying on the traditions of the past, with organic developments of their own. I grew up thinking I was born decades (and sometimes centuries) after my time, but maybe I was just born ten years too early.

"I'm a Gen Xer who loves the Millennials with whom I work," commented I on the Young Fogey's post. "The gals are more comfortable with being feminine than were those of my generation. Their existence is a sign of hope." The Fogey later in the thread responded:

I agree with Iosue (Joshua). I love the ones I work with. Two examples: a probably upper-class girl who sounds exactly like a movie or TV actress 50 years ago; elegant, with no Valley Girl accent or vocal fry. A lady. Another young lady but a lady nonetheless, whom I mentioned in the blog before: pretty, and stylish in an edgy modern way, who nonetheless says she wants her man to be a man who can take care of her, not an oversensitive crier (she's had that and found it wanting), plus '(I believe in fairness for women of course but) women who go around saying they're feminists are a little messed up'.I, too, have two in mind. Both are local and rural, "stylish in an edgy modern way," and both absolute charmers. [One has occasional vocal fry, mistaught to her by a high school teacher who thought her voice too feminine, and thus somehow weak.] Whatever feminist claptrap they might spout, probe a bit further and you'll hear what you might hear on Chateau Heartiste; they're at least honest about their hypergamy, which in this blogger's opinion is no sin, just the natural state of affairs. The younger of the two is married, hypogamously I fear, for both her and her husband. The elder is unfathomably still single, already an old maid by my oriental standards, but quite a catch if I might say so myself. Contra Roissy, I fear there may be a dearth of young men able to step up to her plate.

Deschooling Rochester

2013-05-22T22:02:00.000-04:00

Ivan Illich, author of Deschooling Society, would be proud to read City Newspaper's Rebecca Rafferty's account of Rochester Brainery and Rochester Makerspace, two "of the newest independent, collective, community-education offerings and learned where you can go to gain a skill, teach a skill, use the kinds of tools found in a professional workshop, or just to get inspired by local makers and thinkers" — Train your brain.

Our Catholic Faith

2013-05-22T21:39:00.000-04:00

A post of mine titled "The Vicar of Christ vs. The Prince of This World" comes to mind reading this news — Claims that Pope exorcised young boy from demons after Mass. Follow the links at the bottom of the article to video footage.

"I am close to the families of all who died in the Oklahoma tornado, especially those who lost young children" — Pope prays for victims of Oklahoma tornado. "Earlier in the day during his morning Mass in the Vatican, the Pope personally added a prayer intention for the tornado victims and those who are missing, especially the children."

Rumors have long abounded that the Bard was a Crypto-Catholic; here's more evidence, circumstantial at least— Author finds Catholic themes in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

The Western Confucian would have been all over this news — Sainthood cause of 16th century Jesuit moves to Vatican. "Father Ricci died in Beijing May 11, 1610, and his death was followed by centuries of church debate and even disputes over the extent to which a very limited number of Confucian practices -- including veneration of ancestors -- could be seen as a tolerable part of Chinese social and cultural tradition rather than as religious practices incompatible with Christianity."

Damien Rice & Lisa Hannigan Perform "Rootless Tree"

2013-05-20T21:57:00.003-04:00

"Burke Was Liberal Because He Was Conservative"

2013-05-20T21:50:00.000-04:00

Thus spake Russell Kirk, a quote that comes to mind reading this helpful summation excerpted from the New Statesman's John Gray — Reviewed: Edmund Burke: Philosopher, Politician, Prophet by Jesse Norman:

"Black"

2013-05-20T21:09:00.001-04:00

CounterPunch's M.G. Piety takes apart one of the pieties of politically correctness — Why “African-American” is a Patronizing, Even Racist Term. I was told to use "African-American" by a white professor and not to use it by a black friend; "I'm black, you're white; what's the big deal?"

(On a similar note, do not miss Taki Magazine's Jim Goad's latest, an example from which is the term "anti-racist" defined as "A person who makes everything about race" — The Progressive Glossary.)

"Evolution, Intelligent Design, or a Third Possibility"?

2013-05-20T20:57:00.000-04:00

LeRockwell.com's Charles Burris posts a short video — Birds of Paradise — and more importantly links to Catholic Answers Magazine's Michael W. Tkacz's article about that third possibility, which "may help to move the debate away from its polarized Creation vs. evolution state toward a discussion that is more philosophically productive" — Aquinas vs. Intelligent Design.

Trampled By Turtles Perform "Widower's Heart" & "Help You"

2013-05-18T01:45:00.001-04:00

A band upon whom I stumbled searching for a decent version of an American classic — Trampled By Turtles at MN Twins Game 06/17/2012 "Take Me Out To The Ball Game". Coincidence that the Rochester Red Wings happen to be the farm team for the Minnesota Twins? You decide. More — Trampled By Turtles at MN Twins Game 06/17/2012 Set 1 and Trampled By Turtles at MN Twins Game 06/17/2012 Set 2.