I am in shock at this.

The University of Delaware subjects students in its residence halls to a shocking program of ideological reeducation that is referred to in the university’s own materials as a “treatment” for students’ incorrect attitudes and beliefs. The Orwellian program requires the approximately 7,000 students in Delaware’s residence halls to adopt highly specific university-approved views on issues ranging from politics to race, sexuality, sociology, moral philosophy, and environmentalism. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is calling for the total dismantling of the program, which is a flagrant violation of students’ rights to freedom of conscience and freedom from compelled speech.

“The University of Delaware’s residence life education program is a grave intrusion into students’ private beliefs,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “The university has decided that it is not enough to expose its students to the values it considers important; instead, it must coerce its students into accepting those values as their own. At a public university like Delaware, this is both unconscionable and unconstitutional.”

The university’s views are forced on students through a comprehensive manipulation of the residence hall environment, from mandatory training sessions to “sustainability” door decorations. Students living in the university’s eight housing complexes are required to attend training sessions, floor meetings, and one-on-one meetings with their Resident Assistants (RAs). The RAs who facilitate these meetings have received their own intensive training from the university, including a “diversity facilitation training” session at which RAs were taught, among other things, that “[a] racist is one who is both privileged and socialized on the basis of race by a white supremacist (racist) system. The term applies to all white people (i.e., people of European descent) living in the United States, regardless of class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality.”

The university suggests that at one-on-one sessions with students, RAs should ask intrusive personal questions such as “When did you discover your sexual identity?” Students who express discomfort with this type of questioning often meet with disapproval from their RAs, who write reports on these one-on-one sessions and deliver these reports to their superiors. One student identified in a write-up as an RA’s “worst” one-on-one session was a young woman who stated that she was tired of having “diversity shoved down her throat.”

According to the program’s materials, the goal of the residence life education program is for students in the university’s residence halls to achieve certain “competencies” that the university has decreed its students must develop in order to achieve the overall educational goal of “citizenship.” These competencies include: “Students will recognize that systemic oppression exists in our society,” “Students will recognize the benefits of dismantling systems of oppression,” and “Students will be able to utilize their knowledge of sustainability to change their daily habits and consumer mentality.”

At various points in the program, students are also pressured or even required to take actions that outwardly indicate their agreement with the university’s ideology, regardless of their personal beliefs. Such actions include displaying specific door decorations, committing to reduce their ecological footprint by at least 20%, taking action by advocating for an “oppressed” social group, and taking action by advocating for a “sustainable world.”

In the Office of Residence Life’s internal materials, these programs are described using the harrowing language of ideological reeducation. In documents relating to the assessment of student learning, for example, the residence hall lesson plans are referred to as “treatments.”

In a letter sent yesterday to University of Delaware President Patrick Harker, FIRE pointed out the stark contradiction between the residence life education program and the values of a free society. FIRE’s letter to President Harker also underscored the University of Delaware’s legal obligation to abide by the First Amendment. FIRE reminded Harker of the Supreme Court’s decision in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette (1943), a case decided during World War II that remains the law of the land. Justice Robert H. Jackson, writing for the Court, declared, “If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.”

“The fact that the university views its students as patients in need of treatment for some sort of moral sickness betrays a total lack of respect not only for students’ basic rights, but for students themselves,” Lukianoff said. “The University of Delaware has both a legal and a moral obligation to immediately dismantle this program, and FIRE will not rest until it has.”

FIRE is a nonprofit educational foundation that unites civil rights and civil liberties leaders, scholars, journalists, and public intellectuals across the political and ideological spectrum on behalf of individual rights, due process rights, freedom of expression, and rights of conscience on our campuses. FIRE would like to thank the Delaware Association of Scholars (DAS) for its invaluable assistance in this case. FIRE’s efforts to preserve liberty at the University of Delaware and elsewhere can be seen by visiting www.thefire.org.

It’s just unbelievable. There are no words. Fun fact? Freshman are required to live in the dorms unless they have family nearby.

What’s really fun is that Democrats like John Edwards want everyone to go to college. And why not? Then everyone will be brainwashed into being perfect little zombie-fied moonbats.

Please feel free to contact the University of Delaware and demand that they stop this. We live in a free society, and to be completely frank, this is bullshit. NO ONE should have to put up with that. NO ONE.

Patrick Harker, President, University of Delaware: 302-831-2111; president@udel.edu
Kathleen G. Kerr, Director of Residence Life, University of Delaware: 302-831-1201; kkerr@udel.edu

Also, please make sure to visit the FIRE website and show your support. It’s a great organization, fighting against the indoctrination of the people who will be running our country in the future.

Hat tip: Moonbattery

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I stumbled across it and watched it over and over and over again, trying to figure out how many “improvements” they had to make on this girl. First it was the hair and the make-up, and then the Photoshop. For what it’s worth, I didn’t see anything worth changing after her hair and make-up had been done. But no… they gave her bigger lips and eyes, elongated her neck, slimmed down her shoulders and cheeks… it’s just unbelievable.

I understand these companies are only out to sell their product, but I applaud Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty. Do these executives ever once stop and think about what they’re doing to women? About the message they’re sending? I think I’m a decent looking woman — not the hottest thing around, but I think I’m all right. However, I could never, ever measure up to that final picture, for example, or any model. It’s because I’m real, and (most of the time) I’m glad I am. I don’t know that I want to be a size 2 so badly that I’d starve myself, and I like having curves. But at the same time, it is hard to ignore that twinge when you are at the grocery store and see some girl with a tiny waist, perfect boobs, “bed me” eyes, and a full mouth on the cover of Cosmopolitan, accompanied by a headline telling you how to get that look. When you’re as inundated as we are today by these ideals of what beauty should be, it takes a lot of confidence and willpower to not doubt yourself. Not all women possess that confidence and willpower. So they work out seven days a week. They won’t leave the house without taking an hour and a half to make sure their hair is perfect and their make-up disguises what they really look like (the make-up thing in particular annoys me more than anything else). Some might not eat. Some might throw up what they eat. And all in the name of unattainable beauty that some marketing executive for a clothing line or make-up company thinks we should strive for.

Um, no thanks.

I don’t know what there is we can do to change this, but something has to change. It isn’t healthy, and it isn’t right. I understand wanting to have your product sold by a beautiful woman, but it’s being taken way too far. Take the model above. Did she need that much work done? Obviously, she doesn’t look anything like the finished product, but she didn’t look bad to begin with, either. She looked like the girl next door. And even after doing her hair and make-up, it wasn’t good enough. To be considered beautiful, you have to drop reality and look more like a frozen mannequin at a department store, complete with slender body and a frozen, shiny face.

This is me. This is what I look like. That photo was taken by a friend of mine in front of some trees behind her apartment building. She wanted to play around with her camera and needed a “model”, so I took about twenty minutes to throw on some make-up and we did a ten minute “photo shoot”. But these people would have a laundry list of complaints, I’m sure. Not tall enough (5′2″), not skinny enough (size 8), not made-up enough (I still look like myself), not tan enough (I’m not interested in frying myself to skin cancer)… I’m sure they could have a field day with me on Photoshop. Make my eyes bigger, my nose smaller, my lips fuller… who knows. The thing is, most women will have more in common with me than any model on any billboard, and is there something wrong with that? We aren’t all 5′10″ and 115 pounds with a C cup rack and perfect hair. I’m a real women, and I don’t have a problem with that. But sometimes, I think these executives want me to. I think they want women to loathe their bodies and the way they look. Then, they’ll be even more eager to buy loads of make-up, spend money on laser hair removal and plastic surgery, spend every free moment at the gym, and drop cash on weight-loss programs. But it just isn’t healthy. It’s just not right.

Seriously… at what point does enough become enough? Will there be a day when we can just appreciate people for who they are and what they actually look like, rather than an ideallized version of it? No one’s perfect. But these companies are telling women that we need to be, and that needs to stop.

The only question is, can it? Or is it too late?

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Anyone listen to country music?

John Rich of country duo Big & Rich can, shockingly enough, think for himself, it seems. Rather than toe the Hollywood line about politics and culture, Rich has come out in support of Fred Thompson and against gay marriage in a new interview with The Tennessean.

John Rich left no doubt on where he stands after Wednesday’s appearance on The Steve Gill Radio Show, which now features him as a regular commentator.

John is an avid supportive of Fred Thompson’s presidential bid because he’s a conservative who agrees with Fred’s voting record.

“Big & Rich music is so out of the box and so wild and unrestrained,” John tells me. “They probably just make assumptions that you’re that way with everything. One reason why we are able to be so untethered in country music is because we have a really strong base and strong beliefs and core values.”

The pro-lifer is against gay marriage.

“I think if you legalize that, you’ve got to legalize some other things that are pretty unsavory,” he says. “You can call me a radical, but how can you tell an aunt that she can’t marry her nephew if they are really in love and sharing the bills? How can you tell them they can’t get married, but something else that’s unnatural can happen?”

He spoke to his partner, Big Kenny, before coming out publicly for Fred.

“It’s actually a risky thing for an entertainer to get into politics, but I’d rather take a chance on alienating some fans than sit by idly and watch Hillary Clinton go trotting into the White House.”

Predictably, there’s already been a backlash, prompting Rich to clarify his position.

My earlier comments on same-sex marriage don’t reflect my full views on the broader issues regarding tolerance and the treatment of gays and lesbians in our society. I apologize for that and wish to state clearly my views. I oppose same-sex marriage because my father and minister brought me up to believe that marriage is an institution for the union of a man and a woman. However, I also believe that intolerance, bigotry and hatred are wrong. People should be judged based on their merits, not on their sexual orientation. We are all children of God and should be valued and respected.

Hearing a celebrity think and speak for themselves, rather than keep to the mandatory liberal talking points, is so refreshing. It’s even more surprising to hear about the rare conservative celebrities out there.

I encourage all of you to do your best to show your support for Big & Rich.

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This is unbelievable:

Yemen has set free one of the al-Qaida masterminds of the USS Cole bombing in 2000 that killed 17 American sailors, a senior security official said Thursday.

Jamal al-Badawi, who is wanted by the FBI, was convicted in 2004 of plotting, preparing and helping carry out the USS Cole bombing and received a death sentence that was commuted to 15 years in prison.

He and 22 others, mostly al-Qaida fighters, escaped from prison in 2004. But al-Badawi was granted his freedom after turning himself in 15 days ago and pledging loyalty to Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The official said police were told by the government to “stop all previous orders concerning measures adopted against al-Badawi.”

Witnesses told The Associated Press that al-Badawi was receiving well-wishers at his home in the al-Buraika district in Aden.

Why we didn’t tell Yemen that we want him, and they better hand him over or they’re gonna pay big time is beyond me.

After all, didn’t President Bush say that anyone who gives aid and comfort to terrorists is an enemy of ours in the War on Terror? Or perhaps that was just an empty threat.

Regardless, the fact that this murderer and Al Qaeda terrorist is free again is troubling, to say the very least.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

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How does one begin to describe Ted Rall?

He’s a hate-filled asshat who smears our troops on a semi-regular basis and is dripping with nothing but smug condescension and vile hatred for the men and women who give him the freedom to be a complete and total asshat. He’s published in over 140 publications, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, received first place in both the 1995 and 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards for Cartoons, and was awarded the 1998 Deadline Club Award by the Society of Professional Journalists. The Left just loves this guy.

Back in July, I wrote about his then-latest smear of our troops. He published a new cartoon calling our troops suicide bombers, saying our troops are possessed with religious fervor, poor education, immaturity, blind obedience, etc. This is also the same Ted Rall who called Pat Tillman an idiot, a sap, and a “cog in low-rent occupation army that shot more innocent civilians than terrorists to prop up puppet leaders and exploit gas and oil resources”.

He even accused our troops of being murderers for Halliburton (there’s one we’ve never heard before):

There was a time when service in U.S. military was honorable and professionally rewarding. But because of politicians who use the military to pump up corporate profits instead of defending us, that was a long time ago. Americans with personal integrity should boycott the volunteer military and discourage everyone they care about to do the same. “They come from parts of the country where jobs are hard to find,” an acquaintance condescendingly excuses the enlistees. Whatever happened to personal responsibility? I’d rather sleep under a bridge, eating trash out of a Dumpster, than murder human beings for Halliburton.

If we’re attacked by a foreign power, as we last were in 1941 at Pearl Harbor, Americans will line up to volunteer. World War II, won six decades ago by a storied generation of draftees and volunteers, was fought to defend American freedom. But we haven’t fought an honorable war since.

You know, why do I have the feeling that Ted Rall was the bespectacled kid with a runny nose who everyone hated in high school, and was beaten up by the football team over and over again?

Anyways, Ted Rall has decided that he hasn’t smeared and insulted the people ensuring his freedoms quite enough yet, and has come out with yet another vile cartoon, characterizing our troops as idiots and saying that only idiots die at war.

Here’s my question. According to this cartoon, natural selection is kicking in and that’s why our troops are dying.

But if that’s the case, then why is Ted Rall still with us? If natural selection had really kicked in, he would’ve been among the first to go.

And you know, the world would probably be a better place.

But just make sure to not ever, ever question his patriotism.

Hat Tip: Little Green Footballs

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I just received an e-mail from a Media Relations representative for Bank of America concerning the account for donations benefiting the Johnson family:

I am with Bank of America media relations and need to tell you there is an error on your blog http://cassyfiano.blogspot.com/2007/10/please-help-johnson-family.html about how the public can make contributions to the Johnson Family through Bank of America.

The correct name of the account is the “Ashley and Logan Johnson Memorial Fund.” People who wish to contribute can go into any Bank of America banking center in the United States and make a contribution. They will also need to tell the bank associate that the account is domiciled in Texas.

Our hearts and prayers are with the Johnson Family during this unimaginably difficult time, and we thank you taking immediate action to correct this information on your site.

I’ve had a few e-mails to tell me there are problems with donating, and now we know why. I encourage everyone reading this to please make a donation, no matter how small.

Also, a big, big thank you to Bank of America for helping out this family.

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Yesterday, President Bush posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest award one can receive in the military, to Navy SEAL Lt. Michael Murphy (something the mainstream media didn’t find important enough to cover). In this video, you’ll find the ceremony, and President Bush entails the bravery and selflessness that earned Lt. Murphy the award.

May God bless Lt. Murphy and his family.

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So, this morning I was doing my daily check in with my favorite blogs when I happened across Hot Air — specifically, Hot Air headlines. Today, a story was linked about how Alpha females can’t find lasting love because men are “intimidated” by successful women.

Could these women possibly be any more predictable?

They’d had a perfect evening. The wine and conversation had flowed easily and when Clare Connell gazed across the restaurant table at her new beau, a successful merchant banker, she couldn’t help wondering if he might be the one.

“It was then that he dropped his calamitous bombshell,” recalls Clare, 30, an ambitious and highly successful City management consultant who earns over £200,000 a year. “He said: ‘I don’t know why women bother having careers. My mother never worked.’ And just like that, I realised that he was sadly like many other Alpha males I meet. He didn’t want a partner who was his equal, he wanted a Beta female – someone who would pander to his ego and look up to him. In short, like many successful men, he didn’t want a confident business person like himself, but a woman who will stay at home and wash his socks.”

Needless to say, it sounded the death knell for that relationship.

Clare is not alone. According to Nicola Cairncross, a speaker on women’s finance and author of the book The Money Gym: The Ultimate Wealth Workout, the more successful a woman becomes, the harder she will find it is to meet the right man; and, she warns, the more likely it is that any relationship will founder.

Ms. Cairncross, who runs seminars aimed at helping successful women cope with their wealth, says: “Sadly, the clever, attractive Alpha woman who has set her sights on an Alpha man is likely to be very disappointed. Alpha men come home at night after a day of competing in the boardroom and the last thing they want is to compete with an assertive wife as well. He wants an easy life, someone to stroke his fevered brow, and that means marrying a feminine, girly Beta woman who doesn’t have the masculine competitive traits of her Alpha sister.”

Hearing women whine and complain that men don’t want successful women gets on my last nerve, especially the women like this Clare Connell. Guess what, Clare? People have bad luck in relationships sometimes. It will probably take you a long time before you find your Prince Charming — I had to kiss nothing but toads for five + years before I found mine.

Here’s the advice I have to these Alpha females. If you keep going on dates with attractive, successful, smart men who keep rejecting you, didja ever stop and think that, hm, maybe the problem is you?

No, no, no, no, in today’s politically correct, more enlightened world, if a man turns down a successful woman, it must be because he’s intimidated by her. It couldn’t possibly be because maybe she came on too strong, or seemed too needy. It couldn’t possibly be because maybe they just wanted different things out of life, or that maybe he just didn’t feel the spark. Nope, it’s gotta be because he’s intimidated by her success.

Because, you know, all Alpha men just want a woman who will lovingly do their laundry, cook and clean for them, pop out kids, and smile the entire time without ever offering a negative opinion. At least, in these women’s eyes, that’s how Alpha men are.

Take the situation offered. Alpha Male gives an opinion that is just shocking — shocking, I say, shocking! His mom never worked and he thinks it’s the best for a woman. Rather than showing some backbone and having a lively little debate with Alpha Male, or maybe giving him the chance to explain why he feels that way, Little Miss Alpha Female neatly puts him into the same box that she puts every other Alpha Male into without a second thought.

He thinks its best for women to stay home? He must hate all women! He can’t take it when a woman is successful! And all of this can be ascertained because Alpha Male has an opinion that Alpha Female disagrees with.

Gee, maybe I missed something, but I thought it was ok for people to disagree occasionally.

And what’s interesting is that these Alpha women don’t want Alpha men, either. They want the Beta male as they simultaneously castrate the Alpha male for wanting a Beta female. And really, what is so horribly wrong with that? OK, so this guy would like his wife to stay home. To modern-day feminists, that’s blasphemy. But really — what is so wrong with a man preferring for his wife to stay at home? We all have ideals for what we want our families to be. Unless some guy has advocated putting a doggie collar around your neck that will electrocute you if you leave the house, I don’t think most men have any intention of forcing their wives to stay home. I think most men are perfectly happy to let their wives do whatever they choose when it comes to working or otherwise.

I also have never (yes, never) met a single man who wanted a girlfriend or wife who would just smile and nod and do whatever he wanted. I have never encountered one of these men. I’ve never dated one, I’ve never been friends with one. From what I can tell, most men prefer a strong woman. Most men want a woman who isn’t an idiot, who has opinions, and who is his equal, whether she stays at home or works every day. What feminists cannot seem to wrap their minds around is that a stay-at-home mom isn’t a mindless drone. Maybe this guy that Clare Connell wrote off so easily grew up seeing his parents have a fantastic marriage, where his mother complemented his father. But no, he thinks a woman should stay at home, so he’s an evil, woman-hating jerk who is intimidated by a successful woman.

Another woman in this article whines that a boyfriend left her when her business took off, claiming that he said he resented the amount of time she was spending on her business. I’ll presume that as her business took off, it took up more and more of her time, giving her less and less time with her boyfriend. Could it be possible that maybe this guy simply wanted a girlfriend who would make him a priority, and not throw him on the back burner whenever work called? Gee, what a jerk.

The same woman said that several men have told her she is “scary” and “intimidating”. I usually find that people who come across as “scary” and “intimidating” seem that way because of how they present themselves. Maybe she oughtta take a look at her attitude and mannerisms so she doesn’t come across quite as “scary” and “intimidating”.

Of course, plenty of these enlightened women would probably castrate me for all of this. We shouldn’t have to change who we are, they’ll say. Your boyfriend probably keeps you down and hates women, they’ll say. You aren’t a strong woman, and that’s why you’re letting them off the hook, they’ll say.

No, no, and no. A big part of making relationships work is compromise, and if these women are completely unwilling to compromise any part of themselves, then no wonder men run away screaming. Only one woman in the article suggested that compromising could be the key to making a relationship work for these women. Compromising is not the same thing as pandering to a man’s ego, which is how these “strong”, “enlightened” women undoubtedly see it. And, for the record, my boyfriend does not keep me down or hate women, and he loves my career. He’s my biggest fan. (So there!)

My advice to these Alpha Females who can’t keep a man? Get off your high horse. Take your ego down a few notches. Cut Alpha Males some slack and actually give them a chance. Maybe let them see your softer side, rather than the confident, assertive side (it’s all about balance).

But hey, I’m just a chick who writes blogs for a living. I’m not a guy, and I can’t really say I know what a man wants. But I think the aforementioned advice will help these ladies out a lot.

For all you Alpha Males out there — how would you advise these women to finally be able to keep a man?

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I just came across a story today on Michelle Malkin’s blog about an Iraq war veteran.

John Austin Johnson survived five IED attacks, but the sixth one left him with brain damage. When he came home, he expected to see his wife and three children — only to find out two of his children had died in a car accident and the third was on life support.

Army Spc. John Austin Johnson seemed to have a gift for evading tragedy.

During two years in Iraq, the soldier from Fort Bliss, in West Texas, survived five improvised explosive device blasts and several grenade attacks.

“A lot of people go through one IED and don’t survive,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Eugene Schmidt.

But Spc. Johnson’s luck began to turn with the last IED blast, which left him with a traumatic brain injury. Back in Texas for care at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, he was eagerly awaiting a visit by his wife and three children last weekend.

But the children never arrived.

“I went up to his room and told him there was a problem,” said Sgt. Schmidt, an Army medic who has grown close to the family over the last week. “I told him there was an accident and two of his children were deceased.

“He said, ‘Two of my children are dead?’ And we started crying.”

Driving across the plains from El Paso, Spc. Johnson’s wife, Lisa, had encountered a ferocious wind gust in her Chevrolet Trailblazer, Sgt. Schmidt said. “She steered and overcorrected, and the car rolled over four times.”

The youngest children, 2-year-old Logan and 5-year-old Ashley, died at the scene. Nine-year-old Tyler suffered massive head injuries and was flown to Children’s Medical Center Dallas, where he remained on life support Saturday.

Mrs. Johnson suffered bruises but was released from a hospital to join her husband in Dallas. They have been staying at the Ronald McDonald House to be near Tyler.

Though the family was too grief-stricken to talk publicly, Sgt. Schmidt said he was impressed by how they are handling the situation.

“I think they’re very strong, and they have a strong religious faith, and that’s what pulling them through it,” he said.

You can donate to help cover family expenses at any Bank of America — just ask to make a deposit to the John A. and Monalisa Johnson Fund. If you have accounts at Bank of America, you can make a quick deposit while you do your regular banking. It’s completely hassle-free. And if you don’t bank at Bank of America, then all the same — it’ll take five minutes, at most, to stop in and deposit twenty dollars to help this family.

Just take a minute and put yourselves in this family’s position. I know firsthand how expensive medical bills can be. If you can help this family at all, please do. Even five dollars can make a difference.

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I haven’t posted a new picture in a while, and I’ve gotten a few e-mails asking for one, so here you go — brand new picture for the weekend.

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