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PERRIN LOVETT

~ Deo Vindice

PERRIN LOVETT

Tag Archives: children

Back to School

09 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

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America, children, Perrin Lovett, schools, summer

I’m more confused than Rodney Dangerfield.

This afternoon I checked my voice mail and discovered a message from my daughter’s school. It was a kindly robo-call to remind me that my little girl starts school tomorrow morning. I knew that! It’s in my calendar … I checked to make sure… I forget a lot. I forget a lot.

The calendar reminded me of something. Yes, tomorrow is August the 10th. That seems so early for the school year to begin. Some schools have already started this week or even last week. A little sleuthing on the inter-webs taught me that a few systems even started in July! What’s going on? I remember the days when summer lasted until after Labor Day or at least until the end of August. It just seems to me the children are getting shafted out of big chunks of summer – a month or more in some places.

back-to-school-1416942-639x424

Photo by Piotr Lewandowski/FreeImages.

I checked on a historical hunch to confirm my own fading memory. I forget a lot. Ancient school calendars are somewhat rare so I couldn’t be picky with sources. I did find that, sure enough, in 1980 the Orange County (I didn’t bother with which Orange County) Public Schools started back the Tuesday after Labor Day – just like I remembered.

Further research revealed that there are still a number of systems that allow students to enjoy summer. These are mostly in the Northeast. I suppose there summers are shorter than most and so they let the kids enjoy it while they can. If I know anything about school calendar trends (and I don’t), then I suspect that more and more schools are starting earlier and earlier. At this rate, at some unspecified time in the future, American schools may only break for a summer weekend or maybe summer week.

Out of desperation I searched internationally. Scotland, England and Wales still start later in August (not sure about their calendar histories). Desperation turned to folly when I was forced to accept hemispherical adjustments. Due to the reverse of seasons down under, schools in Australia and New Zealand start back in January or February. Mind blown I returned to reality.

My little sweetie starts middle school (which used to be called JR. HIGH school!) tomorrow. I’m a little nervous for her or maybe for me. Maybe it’s a dad thing. Or a forgetful thing. I do know she’s looking forward to it all. Some of her old friends will be going to school with her, some won’t. She makes new friends easily; I know she’ll be happy. She’s also super-bright. We’ve never encountered any grade level changes that presented unexpected challenges (any challenges really); I suspect she could just as easily skip into high school (if it’s still called that).

She went to a terrific elementary school and this middle is top-ranked. It’s going to be a great experience.

I have been down on modern education on this site previously. However, there are decent schools out there. I just wished they started later than they do now. In my humble opinion school shouldn’t start until after Labor Day and should let out no later than just before Memorial Day. They should have a lot of breaks too. And shorter hours. Less homework. I’m a rebel.

Maybe a rebel without a cause. Maybe even a budding curmudgeon. Times have changed but I have not. Short summers. Four-cylinder engines. Remote controls. Mmmmmm. I hope my daughter has a blog some day so she can tell us why “daddy is wrong”. Unless, she turns rebel. One can only hope.

I realize I’m leaving off the entire subject of when schools are dismissed for summer break, now versus then. That will give me something to ramble about next year at the end of May … or is it the end of June?

Mayberry R.F.I.D.

31 Sunday Jul 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in News and Notes

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America, children, culture, freedom, government, microchips, safety, The People

For a few years now various municipalities have been requiring most pet owners to outfit their critter-friends with microchips – for tracking, health purposes, etc. I warned last year that this phenomena would spread to our children some time soon.

Some time is now.

The public will accept microchips as easily as they accepted barcodes on consumer items, the report says.

Mother of three Steffany Rodroguez-Neely talks about how she briefly lost her daughter after she hid behind a rack of clothes in a department store – “Every parent’s nightmare when you can’t find your child.”

“If it’ll save my kid, there’s no stuff that’s too extreme,” says Rodroguez-Neely. “Micro-chipping would be an extra layer of protection, if something bad does happen.”

I hate to say it, but the public probably will accept microchips. Heck, they’ll probably demand them. Anyway, this will likely be mandated by law (maybe in the next 20 years).

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The all-seeing chip and eye. Youtube.

A few, wisely thinking, are raising an alarm about who will be able to access the chip information and what, exactly, they will be able to learn therefrom. Proponents, of course, say there’s nothing to worry about – this is just a safety measure. Safety, safety, safety – the bane of liberty and civilization.

Electronics expert Stuart Lipoff said that microchipping children is “safe and inevitable.”

“People should be aware that testing is being done right now. The military is not only testing this out, but already utilizes its properties. It’s not a matter of if it will happen, but when.”

Branding human cattle

Lipoff also told NBC that people shouldn’t be concerned about “big brother” tracking their children – this technology will only be used for “safety and convenience,” he says – and that the technology is nothing more than an upgrade on traditional cattle branding, and barcodes on consumer items.

“When barcodes first came out in the late 1960s, people were appalled. They were wary of them and did not understand the concept. Today, it is so commonplace, we don’t even notice it. A microchip would work much in the same way,” he said, adding that it will “definitely happen.”

The only catch is that you won’t know exactly what is being put into your child’s body. You also won’t know who will have access to the data. If history repeats, it will go from being technology adopted for its ‘convenience and safety’ and then overnight will become mandatory for you and your family – or else.

If that’s the only catch, it’s one hell of a catch, don’tchathink? I don’t see the barcode connection. Barcodes are labels on products. People are not products to be tracked, shipped, stored, or sold. Still, the story is right – most people will accept chips just as they did barcode labeling and anything else sold to them as new and innovative. Most, but not all.

A friend and I once journeyed back to our alma mater, the Terry College of Business at UGA. The friendly kids at the welcome office were so happy to have live alumni on hand that they offered us free Terry t-shirts. The shirts said “Terry” over a huge barcode. We both declined the offer; it was eerie to say the least.

Could this technology help find missing persons? Yes. Could it assist in preventing or treating medical conditions? Perhaps. Might it give parents peace of mind? It could.

It could also be used to track one’s every move, location, and activity. It could be used for much worse than tracking. But, hey, Big Brother would never (has never) done anything bad before, has he? Nothing to worry about.

I suppose the masses will inevitably accept this – until they clamor for it. Me, I’m already waiting patiently for my chipping session. Here’s a picture:

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Come and chip it.

A Big Red “F”: The Nation’s Report Card

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Other Columns

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America, children, education, freedom, schools

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), a.k.a. The Nation’s Report Card, is out for 2015. The new results are as bad as any of recent years and many a little worse. American government school 12th graders made no improvements in reading and dropped two points in math since 2013. The Assessment also shows the 12th graders are down two points in college readiness – only 37% possess the proficiency necessary for college, down from 39%. Read more here.

Google.

This comes after decades and decades of government “reforms” in education. The people at the NAEP, the U.S. Department of Education, and others are dying to know why the reforms aren’t working.

The answer is simple: they are. They are doing exactly what they were designed to do. They are engines providing countless jobs for people with no interest or ability to educate the young and they are wasting money as through after-burners. They have also succeeded in dumbing down our children or a large part of them.

If one is interested in helping children learn one needs to dispense with the ideas of school reform and with compulsory education. Bright students will learn regardless. Others, not so bright, will not learn beyond a base level no matter how much money and how many educrats are thrown at them. The majority in the middle need a little push to help them go as far as they will. Our schools cannot provide anything to help any of these groups. The schools should be abolished.

Freedom from a doomed system is why home schoolers and independent learners consistently score off the charts in all categories. The proof of the doomed part is exhibited every time a national report card comes out. Watch; in another two years these trends will continue unabated, regardless of current or future reforms. It will continue until the system is abolished or disintegrates under its own weighty mediocrity. If your child is one of the bright learners, he will succeed no matter what. The other groups will continue to lose ground. All would benefit from real education and real freedom.

 

Amazing Justice: Hastert Sentenced to Prison

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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America, children, crime, Denny Hastert, freedom, government, justice, law, Natural Law, prison, The People

Forget the bullsh!t of Trump and Clinton. Forget terrorism and the economy for a bit. Here is the feel-good story of the day! A federal judge, Thomas M. Durkin, took a rare opportunity to use his office and power for the good of the free and formerly oppressed people. God bless the man.

CHICAGO (AP) — Dennis Hastert, the Republican who for eight years presided over the House and was second in the line of succession to the presidency, was sentenced Wednesday to more than a year in prison in the hush-money case that included accusations he sexually abused teenagers while coaching high school wrestling.

Judge Thomas M. Durkin also ordered Hastert to undergo sex-offender treatment, spend two years on supervised release after 15 months behind bars and pay a $250,000 fine to a crime victims’ fund.

In explaining his punishment, the judge called Hastert a “serial child molester” and described as “unconscionable” his attempt to accuse one of the victims of extortion.

Hastert becomes one of the highest-ranking politicians in American history to be sentenced to prison. He pleaded guilty last fall to violating banking law as he sought to pay $3.5 million to someone referred to in court papers only as Individual A to keep the sex abuse secret.

Earlier in the hearing, a former athlete who said he was molested by Hastert decades ago told the courtroom that he was “devastated” by the abuse.

  • Michael Tarm, FORMER HOUSE SPEAKER SENTENCED TO MORE THAN A YEAR IN PRISON, Associated Press, April 27, 2016.

This sentence is vindication for Hastert’s real and long-suffering victims, the young men he molested. Fifteen months do not seen nearly enough for child molestation but, under these circumstances, it is as stiff a sentence as possible (no, I did not run numbers through the federal guidelines – going gut and by experience).

Hastert plead guilty to banking irregularities and was sentenced under the laws he once rammed through Congress. Judge Durkin though concentrated his discretionary authority on the underlying (underlying but all but admitted) crimes against the then children Denny molested. His insistence on rehabilitation and restitution are huge. They perhaps could serve as the basis for an appeal under the theory Durkin exceeded the scope of his proceedings. However, because Denny entered a plea the odds of a successful appeal are slim. My guess is that the demented scofflaw will slink or roll, rather (see picture), into the nearest minimum security prison camp (country club prison). If his medical claims are true he may be placed near or in a federal MCC for the duration of his sentence.

AP Photo

AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast.

The media seems shocked that such a formerly high-ranking official is bound for prison. I am shocked by the manner in which he is going – labeled as a “serial child molester” rather than as a bank defrauder. Like I say, every once in a while a little justice leaks out of the system. For nearly a year I dreaded this was going to be another case about money and power. Thomas Durkin managed to uphold the letter of the positive law and, more importantly, the spirit of the Natural Law. Hooray!

Structuring a Proper Punishment: The Dirty Denny Hastert Saga Continues

27 Wednesday Apr 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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child abuse, children, crime, Denny Hastert, government, law, Natural Law, Sin, Structuring

Bertolt Brecht, German poet, and Anacharsis the Scythian long before, said that (pardon my approximation) laws are like spider’s webs; they ensnare small, unwary things while larger things break through with ease. It is commentary on inequality of equal protection and application and seems a near, if imperfect, iron law of jurisprudence.

However, sometimes a larger thing, weakened by age or sin – even the old, fat spider himself – falls victim to his own weaving.

Last spring I devoted more than a few articles to the life and sordid times of former Speaker of the House Denny Hastert. It seems that, like more than a few politicians, Hastert at one time favored the illicit company of young boys. Today I find the foul beswiker back in the news.

Rick McKee, Augusta Chronicle.

As you may recall Hastert was once a high school wrestling coach who engaged in “misconduct” with at least four of his underage male charges.  Years later the coach and some of his victims reached an agreement whereby he would pay them restitution by way of hush money. Not wanting to draw attention to his affairs Hastert assembled the money via small withdrawals – thereby violating the Imperial criminal laws against “structuring”.

The former Speaker and lecherous leech now faces prison time. “Former speaker Dennis Hastert will learn on Wednesday [today] whether his stunning fall from grace will also include prison time for bank fraud that he committed as part of an effort to cover up an accusation of sexually abusing a 14-year-old boy.” USA Today, April 27, 2016.

Again, I must note that Hastert is in trouble not for abusing children but for abusing arbitrary banking laws imposed by a corrupt government. That government cares little to nothing for childhood innocence; it’s concentration is ever on protecting criminal bankers and on preserving its own power. Bank fraud, they’re calling it. The real fraud is in the banking system and the government that protects the banks. In other words, the state simply isn’t worth maintaining.

A great irony in this story is that Hastert himself once championed some of the very laws he is now accused of violating. The structuring laws were allegedly enacted to make life and operations more difficult for drug dealers and terrorists. As usual the original or stated intent was immediately expanded so as to probe the private actions of anyone and everyone.

Undoubtedly Hastert deserves prison time or worse but not for imagined banking irregularities. That he has been caught in his own web is fitting. He has suffered in other ways since his indictment.

After decades of silence, his real crimes have come to light. He has been unable to finish his payments under the hush agreements and has been sued by his victims for breach of contract. He supposedly suffered a stroke – and not the kind of stroke with which this filth was once accustomed. Perhaps worst of all, Denny has witnessed the changing times. Had he waited a few years or just been born later in time, his actions would have been permissable to a large segment of the population. Without fear of payments or prison he could have carried on his “lifestyle” in the comfort of a Target restroom.

Denny’s now adult victims, some of them, will have the opportunity long denied to testify today in federal court. The prosecution needs their statements to round out the details of the structured payment violations. One would hope the underlying details behind those payments will serve as aggravating circumstances and consideration for sentencing. Otherwise, the judge will be directed by sentencing guidelines concerning the relative harmlessness of the Speaker’s fraud and his status as a first offender with no other record. A wrist slap may be in order. Today will tell.

At any rate, there is still time for Hastert to repent if he hasn’t done so already. Thereby he may avoid real punishment worse than the millstone. As much as I ridicule him, I hope this is the case. By divine authority and Natural Law, individual sins may be forgiven; government malfeasance perhaps not.

No Child Left To Succeed

17 Sunday Apr 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

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America, children, education, Every Student Succeeds, government, schools

For a very long time I pondered how America would fall, pondering what cataclysmic event would bring her down. It was a series of disappointments (or reliefs). The Atlanta Olympics? No. Bill Clinton? No. Y2K? Ha, no. 9/11? Nope. The Great Recession? Uh-uh. While I was looking for a zombie apocalypse the end quietly snuck up on us. As Jack Perry points out, the end is not near, it is here. Turns out it was all the little things, ever creeping along, that got us. It was like in the War of the Worlds – itty-bitty microbes slowly did what bombs and guns could not in brief but intense battle.

Every facet changed degree by degree – justice, economics, culture, education – creep, creep, creep. As the decades passed the education system (public at least) declined day by day. It was dismal when I was in school (in another century). Now, it is gone, living on in name only. Year by year the names of the great end-all, be-all education programs changed too. Head Start. It never started. Horizons Something. Never got anywhere near the horizon. Common Core. The only commonality was that the core was rotten. No Child Left Behind. This one actually lived up to the name. No one child was left behind – they all stayed behind together. Now, as of December, 2015, we have Every Student Succeeds. Pub. L. 114-95 (2015). Another lie, they don’t all succeed. In fact, under the government’s system most do not and those that do, do so in spite of the programs not because of them.

https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/ZINwnEPhiFM?flag=1&enablejsapi=1&origin=www.ed.gov

Another Lie Becomes Law. http://www.ed.gov.

Like the collapse, Every Student came along quietly. I just heard of it this morning. I read a blurb in a story about the new non-white majority in the school age population. That story isn’t reassuring at all. Sixty years ago, racial discrimination aside, non white children (and all children) in America got more or less a decent, real education. It happened with smaller budgets, fewer standardized tests, no Department of Education, and no stupidly named, do nothing but waste money programs.

Every Student, like its predecessors, is based on lies and misconstrued findings. The government boasts: “For example, today, high school graduation rates are at all-time highs. Dropout rates are at historic lows. And more students are going to college than ever before.” Dropouts are down and graduations are up because standards have been dumbed down and everyone passes regardless of ability. They all get to college now but only half of them can read. This is not a success. This is delusional failure. Measured internally and ignoring illiteracy, things are fine. Measured against the rest of the world or our own history – against stark reality – things have fallen completely apart.

“We are a place that believes every child, no matter where they come from, can grow up to be anything they want… And I’m confident that if we fix No Child Left Behind, if we continue to reform American education, continue to invest in our children’s future, that’s the America we will always be.” – Hussein Obama lying to someone somewhere. Rest assured in a few years some other dipshit will be promising to “fix” Every Student. The children still won’t be reading.

More official lies: “…the bipartisan bill upholds critical protections for America’s disadvantaged students. It ensures that states and school districts will hold schools to account for the progress of all students and prescribes meaningful reforms to remedy underperformance in those schools failing to serve all students.” That was the purpose of the other failed programs. Programs and learning seem to be antonyms. Maybe we need a program banning programs.

Animal House, Universal Pictures.

Never let education get in the way of learning. Get your students, if you care for them, out of this failed and useless system. American education has become child abuse writ large. Leave the government behind and the child will go ahead and succeed.

Is Our Children Learning?

24 Wednesday Feb 2016

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ 1 Comment

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America, children, education, freedom, government, history, politicians, schools, Sin, society, The People

“Rarely is the question asked: Is our children learning?” So inquired President select, George W. Bush to a crowd in Florence, South Carolina, January 11, 2000. The politicians obviously are not learning. But is … are the children? A new international study doesn’t look too good for youngsters in America. The study is massive, 384 page PDF download but here it is.

The 2015/16 Index of Freedom  of Education concentrates on the availability of “non-govermental” education. The rankings are deeply hidden, starting on page 315. The mighty United States, which ever one knows is the freest place on Earth, is in a tie with Hungary for 17th place. Who knew Hungary was the co-freest place on the planet.

This study is concerned with educational opportunities outside of the mainstream of “public” “schooling.” That would include private schools, charters,community, parochial, family schools, tutoring and home schooling. Most global education studies center on proficiency in one or more subjects. The U.S. does poorly in those too. I didn’t bother to look up any of those. Just Google, “where does America place in … reading, math, science, etc.” and you will be unpleasantly surprised as to just how poorly our schools do in any given field. I think we place outside of the top 20 in just about any category. Frequently American students are the only ones who can’t find America on a map. They also have trouble spelling “America” and can’t count high enough to cover all 50 States. The problem runs from elementary school through high school and even to the university level.

StateLibQld_1_141227_Interior_of_a_school_room_at_Postmans_Ridge_in_the_Helidon_district,_ca._1902

Might as well be Harvard today. Google.

As for free choice in education, the Catholic Register sees a worldwide issue.:

Each country’s ranking depends on four differently weighted factors: the legal possibility to create and manage a non-governmental school; whether it is publicly funded, and if so, which pre-specified costs that funding covers; the net enrollment rate of primary education; and finally, the enrollment rate in non-governmental schools as a percentage of total primary education.

Ireland came in at number one. Were it not for American homeschooling, which typically ranks highest in any rankings, the U.S. would have come in worse than 17th. Most students in America are forced to suffer twelve plus years of prison-like “public” indoctrination. After all that many cannot read. Most that can read only at a 5th grade level.

The Register gets it:

Thomas Jefferson over two centuries earlier:

It is better to tolerate the rare instance of a parent refusing to let his child be educated, than to shock the common feelings and ideas by the forcible transportation and education of the infant against the will of the father.

And perhaps a little more surprisingly, with this Jeffersonian affirmation by the Democratic Party National Platform, which declared (as late as 1892):

We are opposed to state interference with parental rights and rights of conscience in the education of children as an infringement of the fundamental Democratic doctrine that the largest individual liberty consistent with the rights of others insures the highest type of American citizenship and the best government.

How times change!

For most of human history, prior to the twentieth century, children were either educated at home, in church, or in small and independent local schools. Many never made it past what we would call the 5th grade but at least they could read (without wasting seven more years). What changed?

During the late 1800s, as larger and more complex government was beginning to grow like kudzu, and as the industrial revolution was taking off, business and state leaders saw an opportunity. They institutionalized education in order to control what was taught and, ultimately, to control society. To paraphrase George Carlin they wanted obiediant workers just smart enough to fill out the forms and run the machines and just dumb enough to keep taking the status quo. That’s exactly what they got.

Today schools, especially in America, what little or nothing to do with education. They raise children into subservient adults who will pay taxes, watch television, and look forward to social security. It’s not just the schools.

Almost all children are bright and inquisitive by nature. They want to learn. Learning is fun. They question everything. How many times has your child asked you, “why?” You did that too, if you recall. Then sadly, after just a few years, most start to turn into zombies.

Ours is a silly culture where people start absentmindedly at screens most of the waking hours. It’s a sick and dying culture where every form of sin is on display and openly celebrated. Many parents cannot educate their own children because they themselves are not educated. Their too busy with triviality anyway.

Enter the government. How convenient that benevolent old Georgia or California or New York offers free daycare and schooling for the kids. We get what we pay for. It costs nothing and it is worth nothing.

Those government schools waste so much time taking attendance, monitoring water fountains, locking down for nothing, promoting football and other bullshit it is no wonder they can’t teach Johnny to read. He doesn’t need to read to work for corporation X, sit in prison, or collect welfare. It’s part of the plan.

There are plenty of exceptions but they are just that – good apples in a rotten lot. Given the wicked nature of the system, there is no point in reforming it. Reform after useless reform is constantly foisted on the dumbed down public: Deweyism, the Frankfurt school, the new school, charter schools, head start, no child left behind, common core. None of it works.

Abolishing government schools entirely would be a good start but only a start. The whole state needs to be abolished so people can be free to spend their time and money with their children effectively. Those who care will have to step in and step up to do the teaching. Fortunately, with modern technology, this is easier than ever before. A free, world class education is readily available online for any who want it – from phonics to calculus.

Have you heard any of the morons running for president talk about this? Of course not. They may pay lip service to education but they will continue to keep things as they are.

We as adults must change. People must stop wasting time chasing raises, getting tattoos, watching television and loafing around. Spend time with your children. Show them by example what decent educated people do with their lives.

The alternative we are experiencing has nearly destroyed is. We have sacrificed multiple generations on the alter of statism. This is a sin worthy of the millstone. When will we learn?

Tweetsie Railroad

20 Sunday Dec 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Uncategorized

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amusement, autumn, children, clean, entertainment, family fun, happy, Mountains, North Carolina, safe, trains, Tweetsie Railroad

I have several burning hot and trenchant columns underway but this morning I figured they could wait. Christmas is almost here and this short post will brighten your day and lighten your heart – positive material for a crazed world.  It has nothing to do with law, government, or any political or economic topics.  It’s a the story about a great American business and tradition.

When it chances to rain I sometimes don a high-quality, hooded raincoat emblazoned with a “12” logo patch. People occasionally inquire as to the meaning and origin of the garment. I love telling the tale.

Tucked away in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, about halfway between Blowing Rock and Boone, just off U.S. 321, there is the most remarkable hideaway. There one will find a tiny, tiny little (very small) amusement park on the side of a mountain.

Disney World it most certainly is not (praise God). It is a chapter from an older, homier book of Americana. It may be the ultimate roadside destination, a place to shame South of the Border or Wall Drug. Tweetsie Railroad is one of my absolute favorite places anywhere. Time stands still in the mountains.

Tweetsie started in the 1950s and, instantly finding perfection, hasn’t changed.  I first went there in the very late seventies and was awed.  Many years later, when my daughter was a tiny tot, we decided to visit the park for a family getaway.  I was over-awed this time.  Tweetsie was (and is) the only place from my childhood that is exactly the same as I remembered it from my youth.  It literally coverts you into a little kid again.  More magical than any kingdom.

The name from crafted from the defunct East Tennessee and Western North Carolina Railroad. Tweetsie is also the name of old No. 12, the park’s flagship steam locomotive. Yes, they have real, full-size, and fully functional trains. No. 190, The Yukon Queen, puffs along on alternate days. The trains are the preeminent attractions.

101907_13331

No. 12 in station.

All day long these fire-breathing beasts of iron and steel haul delighted families around the mountain. The passenger cars are manned by cowboys. About a third of the way around the train stops at a little village. The cowboys get off and engage in gunplay. Sometimes it’s the result of a robbery. Later the show stops at a fort where another battle unfolds against a tribe of hostile yet inept Indians. Cowboys and Indians in the 21st Century. The fun is neither political nor correct, yet fun it is.

DSCN0693_308_308

DSCN0719_333_333

A chairlift carries patrons to the top of Miner’s Mountain. There, and down below, are a variety of shows, acts, rides and entertainment. Up top the summit is ringed by a smaller train ride. The smaller train enters a tunnel and stops so folks can watch mice ride around on an even smaller train. A train within a train within a train.

Behind the mine tunnel is a petting zoo filled with animals. Good, inexpensive carnival food abounds. Midway up the mountain is an arcade, a ferris wheel and a race track. Special occasions are common, including dog shows and Thomas the Tank Train. Thomas is there in the late spring: full size too. He’s propelled by No. 12 at Mr. Tophat’s request.

Tweetsie is open from early April through Halloween. Tickets are $44 for adults and $28 for children (toddlers enter for free). Season passes are $95 an $65, respectively.

1027121125b_0001

Fun for all ages.

Fall is, in my opinion, the best time to visit. The scenery is perfect and the temperature is always ten to twenty degrees cooler than the low lands. The park is open at night around Halloween for the Haunted Train experience.

This is truly an old-fashioned family friendly place. There’s something for everyone. I have been many times during different seasons and always had a grand time. The type of thuggery and foolishness too common these days is simply not tolerated. I’ve never seen anyone out of line. I suspect the cowboys would shoot any hooligans.

Accommodations, from rustic cabins to modern hotels are all over within a ten-mile radius. Boone and Blowing Rock offer numerous other fantastic activities. Everything up there is clean, safe, refreshing and jolly. The smell of wood fires, pumpkins and apples permeates the air. The sounds are of laughter, wind in the trees, and falling water.

Tweetsie even boasts a number of convenient Cigar smoking locations. The towns are also Cigar friendly. Boone hosts a few small tobacconists while the gas station in Blowing Rock has a well stocked Humidor and a decent wine selection. Good food and ale is available in plenty. Blowing Rock even has a local brewery. The place to eat at is The Peddler Steakhouse. They have the finest beef and fare and are operated by attractive co-eds from App State.

Plan a trip if you can. Again, I really recommend the fall. Do be mindful of Appalachian State home football games on fall Saturdays. Even on game weekends early planning will provide a room reservation. I think the place would even benefit the modern micro-aggresion obsessed set. Initially, duct tape could ensure they don’t complain about the cowboys and Indians. The tape could be removed when they start laughing along with the normies. Highland therapy for the soul. Perfection incarnate. Plan a visit soon.

Law Schools: Deans, Dunces, and Degeneracy

28 Saturday Nov 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns, News and Notes

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

abortion, Amercia, attorneys, children, Christians, communism, education, First Amendment, free thought, free-speech, hero, Hobos, idiocy, law school, Madison Gesiotto, Miss Ohio, Moritz College of Law, Natural Law, Nazis, Planned Parenthood, Political correctnous, socialism, students, THE Ohio State University, univerity, writing

This week I protested the wholesale stupidity and cowardice of high school administrators in Massachusetts. Sadly, I now have bigger fish to fry. Fry them I shall. Last night I read about the utter demise of the Moritz College of Law at THE (they put emphasis on that word) Ohio State University.

You may recall my reflections on my own Legal “Education” – a process which bears little resemblance to the legal profession and none to the actual law. Law schools obsess over “positive law,” meaning statutes and court decisions (particularly the courts). There the Natural Law is a heresy.

In general law schools are not worth attending. They offer three years of state worship, communism and idiocy in exchange for entry into a failed and depressing career. THE Ohio State law school provides an excellent example.

Until about 40 or 50 years ago American universities were places where ideas were exchanged and cultivated. Law schools were supposedly high bastions of legal theory. I say supposedly because they also served as gatekeepers for the attorneys’ professional monopoly. Many of our best lawyers – Jefferson, Adams, Spooner, etc. – did not attend law schools – they “read” or self studied the law while apprenticed to a practicing attorney. I digress…

Elementary and high schools provided the base education. They made sure graduates could read, write, add and think for themselves. They also instilled a sense of history and scientific wonder and civic appreciation. Colleges were where serious scholars furthered their learning. Graduate schools were reserved for the elite.

Everything has changed now. Grade schools today serve as temporary detention centers where the inmates are indoctrinated as they await entry into either real prisons, menial employment (becoming rarer), or college admissions. The colleges serve as hosts for semi-professional football teams, sex and drug parties, and havens for the mentally defective, otherwise unemployable people known as “academics.”

Colleges, to include law schools, babysit a generation of uneducated, uninterested, uninteresting weaklings. The students demand “safe spaces.” They obsess over trivial or purely imaginary sufferings of which they have no understanding. They are unfamiliar with free thought or the value of a question. The staff and professors, still mourning the loss of the Soviet Union, cater to this legion of wusses in a desperate bid to keep their own irrelevant jobs. They cater and coddle so long as the little snowflakes are politically correct. The free-thinker, the libertarian, the conservative, the proudly Caucasian and the Christian are considered enemies within.

Madison Gesiotto found out about the deplorable intellectual dishonesty and spinelessness of the Moritz College of Law the hard way. The stunning beauty queen (Miss Ohio USA) came to Moritz for the stunning purpose of furthering her education. A pro-life Catholic and an accomplished writer, she penned a story about the devastating effects of the abortion industry on the black community.

This was a triple sin. First, Christians are supposed to be silent should they even be allowed inside the temples of government worship. Second, abortion is a sacrament to the cult and never to be questioned. Third, and a recent development, the black community is not to be mentioned outside of glowing support for the black lives matter bullshit and other small sects of discontent.

A reasonable, thoughtful person would glean from Madison’s article her concern for black children, all children, murdered by the Satanic likes of Planned Parenthood. The American abortion trade was born of racist Nazi origin. One would think liberals and the modern race hustlers would declare war on rather than fully defend such an institution. Those black lives must not matter.

For her sincere concern and honest scholarship Madison received scorn and even a threat. “The government cannot take action against you for your offensive and racist article. But your colleagues can,” wrote some idiot on Madison’s Facebook page. Madison does not know the fool who posted this statement (smart enough not to be criminal but dumb enough for national condemnation) though she knows or suspects he is a student at Moritz.

I wrote to Madison too, informing her that her online stalker is a wuss and not to be feared. I can almost guarantee he sleeps with a nightlight – the kind who flits about in skinny jeans – the kind just brave enough to threaten a girl on the internet – the kind that finds girls “icky.”

We can tell a good bit about our e-vilgilante by his choice of words. He starts: “The government cannot take action against you …” He really wishes it could. He’s a socialist or Nazi at heart. Anything he deems inappropriate should be a crime. The government should take action.

“…for your offensive and racist article.” Up is down and black is white to these itty bitty babys. An article condemning the murder of several hundred thousand black children each year is racist. Does the bedwetter want them killed? Why? Perhaps his cry is a transferring admission of a conscious he is personally afraid of. And “offensive.” Lefties love nothing more than to be offended by something. Rather than threaten Madison they should thank her for giving them something to cry about.

“But your colleagues can.” Can what? Take what action? Whatcha pansies gonna do? They’ve done it. They sent a Facebook message. They have now exhausted their powers. One would hope they are now safely back in the safe room being safe. You can’t help but feel sorry for them. It’s like coming across a terminally injured rabbit (except the bunny thinks a bit more and isn’t afraid of girl bunnies).

Using this dork as a benchmark Madison has no colleagues at Moritz. She must stand out like a tree among weeds. That last line – the threat – was a subtle warning that politically incorrect thought and expression will be punished by the legal community. The sentiment was echoed by the school itself as I will note shortly.

So what? Madison can’t be kicked out for free speech (though that would rid her of all this stupidity). Perhaps the Ohio Bar will frown on her application. Odds are the review personnel are not smart enough or industrious enough to connect these dots. Even if they did, they can be sued just like a law school. Maybe Madison won’t have the luxury of slaving away 16 hours a day, 7 days a week for years at a big “prestigious” law firm. The kind of firm where, if you survive, they come to you one day and tell you you’re not moving up so it’s time to move out.  Horrors!

No, Madison’s future is secure. She was bright enough to make it on her own anyway. Now, as a victim of statist discrimination, she is a national sweetheart. People (most of us) still love real women and real Americans. She’s probably already had job offers. Maybe book offers. She will be on national television this weekend to explain her experience.

Now, let us look at the school itself. Feeling threatened Madison did what she was supposed to. She contacted the school and arranged a meeting with the dean. At the meeting she found herself confronted by three deans. They blew off her concerns for her safety and freedom and immediately attacked her and her article.

“This is a flawed article, it’s not a good legal piece, it’s not a good journalistic piece, either,” snorted her trio of over(tax)paid assailants. Like the Facebook bully these “academics” revealed a bit of their psyche and lack of mental horsepower. Their statement revealed a lack of understanding of journalism, legal or otherwise.

Dean Alan C. Michaels said he “takes any alleged threat against its students very seriously.” The thought bubble over his head continued, “except in this case. We’re going to abuse the victim here.”

Alan, who graduated from Harvard and Columbia, can be reached at (614) 292-0574. He’s a former prosecutor and criminal law specialist. Criminal. You know. Like threatening remarks criminal. Criminal negligence in refusing to investigate threats. Pitiful. If the roles were reversed, Madison would be in a holding cell somewhere. Pathetic.

Dean Kathy Seward Northern ((614) 292- 7750) alerted Madison she had reached out to the Moritz’s Black Law Students Association and found them not a threat to Madison. This was pointless as Northern knew the stalker was white and likely not a member of the BLSA. Her real intent was probably to fan emotions in the BLSA against Madison’s raaaaaaacism (defending black babies and all that). Her specialty is “environmental racism” whatever the hell that is.

The hidden agenda worked. The BLSA said they were OFFENDED by the racist article. Again, she made their day, showering them with glorious offense. Not mine. All this offense taking is beginning to offend me.

Northern told Madison (probably while looking down her nose) “that in her mind this article could be taken various ways and left questions to be answered.” Yeah, idiot, that’s what good journalism does. It provokes questions. Thoughts. Discussion.

The deans did recommend a “facilitated discussion” between Madison and her intellectual and emotional inferiors. She wisely refused. Such a session would have consisted of lowbrow freaks taunting the young woman (while maybe also flinging poo at her) while the deans looked on in smug approval.

A third dean was mentioned but remains unidentified. It’s as likely as not it was a homeless person pulled in off the street by Michaels and Northern. Hobos look and act much like law school deans. He obviously added nothing memorable to the conversation.

The Moritz website touts its faculty: “Brilliant scholars and devoted teachers, our professors are passionate about making lasting contributions in their fields of expertise and in the lives of their students.” I ponder their lasting contributions to Madison. Maybe they did teach her something – personal fortitude in the face of socialism.

Like a champion, Madison remains undeterred. She wrote another excellent article in her own defense. 

I am Catholic, I am conservative, I am an American, I am a woman, I am a millennial, I am a law student and I am proud.

I am not afraid to voice my opinions and refuse to be stifled by the unwillingness of others to accept views, beliefs or behaviors different from their own.

Madison, Washington Times.

You. Go. Girl.

Concerned Women for America and other groups have come to her defense. Not that she needs it. She has single-handedly defeated the fascists of Moritz. She did it by merely standing up to them. They have no power over her and will fear her going forward. They also have nothing to teach her though this incident has given her an education of sorts.

Madison is beautiful, brave, talented and a winner. She can’t be alone in academia. If there remain even a few like her, then the institution is not completely lost.

northern_kathyHobo-Costume1

The dynamic deanery.

 

The Pied Pollster

24 Tuesday Nov 2015

Posted by perrinlovett in Legal/Political Columns

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

children, freedom, Pied Pollster, plague, politicians, The People

Once upon a time … that’s how children’s stories begin. This is a children’s story for adults. Adults and children – anybody with a pulse really. Enjoy.

Once upon a time …

An anachronistic time;

Yet five hundred years ago;

“Anachronistic” means mixed up;

My words do surely show; …

There was a happy little town;

The people there were healthy and cheerful;

Their rosy faces round.

No troubles had the folks;

Beyond a trifling few;

The grass was always green;

The sky was always blue.

Unto this joyous hamlet;

A plague did come one day;

The people’s hearts were troubled;

There was a frightful fray.

Their bodies began a squirmin’;

Due to the awful vermin;

Worse than rabid rats, much worse;

There came the Battle sound;

Filthy politicians! had found the happy town!

Some were Republicrats;

Demopublicans there were too;

Some said the town was red;

Others claimed it was blue;

Libertarians, commies and greens;

Helped stoke the awful din;

And more and more of the foul vermin,

Kept a pouring, pouring in.

They talked to dogs, they preached to cats;

They kissed the cradled babies;

They bored the paint right off the slats.

They stood upon the square and babbled,

Day and night;

Self-righteous their indignation;

Each convinced only he was right.

Mary Lou tripped over one,

A camped upon her stair;

No body was too safe;

Each suffered his share.

A portly politician,

In search of warmth in rain;

Crawled in a sewer pipe,

And, there he clogged the drain.

The stench was overwhelming,

The picnics all were ruined;

The commercials and yard signs then started,

All displayed too soon.

Free healthcare!

Free trade!

Jobs for all or none!

The pols jibber-jabbered.

The folks began to run.

The people closed the airport,

In their attempt to flee;

But, there they found politicians,

Shaking tambourines.

The radio and television boasted,

Of goodies yet to come;

Most folks were flat annoyed,

The ads appealed only to some.

Pols were in the bars;

And in the diners too;

They claimed to be good Christians,

Some to be good Jews.

Nowhere could one tread,

Without a pol around;

Nothing could be heard,

Above the deafening sound.

Taxes yes!

Taxes no!

Military spending too!

Projects here!

Programs there!

Nonsense everywhere!

The pols had all the answers,

To questions no one asked;

With bloviating zeal,

Each took the other to task.

At last the people cried,

“No more!”

At the hall they had assembled;

They stamped the floor,

They beat the walls,

Until the building trembled.

The mayor they begged,

What could be done?

Before the fools blocked out the sun.

Pitchforks and torches they acquired,

They took out to the streets;

The politicians ran away,

On cheaply shodden feet.

Yet, next day they had returned,

And they were all the more.

The sickened locals,

All a stir,

Beat on the mayor’s door.

An exterminator out was called;

He did his very best;

But politicians still remained,

Surviving every test.

In desperation it was decided,

To just burn down the town;

Homelessness a small price it seemed,

For no politics around.

But, then a stranger did appear,

Strange and in strange gear.

A solution he proposed;

His purpose was then made clear.

A pollster, claimed he to be,

Armed with a ballot box;

The pols would follow him,

Like hounds after the fox.

A place of honor was he given,

As he laid out his plan;

The very unhappy people had all that they could stand.

My price I have,

No more than you may afford;

When I am done you will be rid,

Of politicians abhorred.

We’ll pay! We’ll pay!

The people they all roared;

Yet, the mayor,

Losing money,

The one thing he deplored.

Do this deed, the mayor cried;

He there did play along.

But, no intention did he have,

To pay the pollster’s song.

The people were so clamorous,

To see their troubles end;

They all did beg the pollster,

How soon could he begin?

The pollster held up the ballot box,

Of many-colored hue;

Upon a whistle, shrill to hear,

A note he then blew.

The godless politicians,

Unto the call they came;

And, in a line they all did march,

Their steps for once the same.

The pollster lead them true,

Through all the streets of town;

The clapping, cheering people,

Had all a gathered round.

Out through the gates,

The Pied Pollster led the throng;

Enraptured by his tune, the pols all stumped along.

When the parade had cleared the door,

The people slammed it shut;

Let no more liars here,

May ever show their butts.

No one knows,

Not to this day,

Where were the pols all led;

For all the good folks cared,

They each could all be dead.

Some said they marched into the sun,

And their the fried a livin’;

Some said they plagued a wicked town,

The crooked there just striven.

pied-piper

Google.

But, they were gone;

The people cheered,

A bonfire they did burn;

So happy to be freed,

They missed the Pollster’s return.

His penny he asked,

Now that the feat was done;

Yet, mayor and people,

Declared he should have none.

Perhaps corrupted they had become,

Politician tainted so,

This injustice, the Pollster said,

Simply has to go.

Once more his ballot box he lifted,

A clear note, again, he blew;

I will save your children,

That they be not like you.

The kids had no attention,

To the politicians paid;

In their play and fun,

They had all missed the great parade.

They laughed at pols upon the square,

And trapped inside the drain;

Immune from lies,

Honest they did remain.

But the Pollster’s call they heard,

And one by one they came;

Now, at parents stingy they jeered,

It all remained the same.

Away to Freedom-land,

The Pollster took the babes;

And, there, so happy, they reside,

As our fortunes do fade.

Three alone were left behind,

They did not heed the call;

Their descendants to this day,

May carry on the haul;

One became a Democrat,

He promised stolen wealth;

One a Republican,

Who spoke of war as health.

The last he was an anarchist,

And, he relays this tale;

And, if you do not like it,

Then you may go to …

Wow! What a story. What a poem.

My sincere apologies to Robert Browning.

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Perrin Lovett

From Green Altar Books, an imprint of Shotwell Publishing

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