Stories like this one drive me insane.

Here’s the deal. A sophomore at Roosevelt High School in Des Moines was benched from the wrestling team following his failure of an advanced algebra class. He wrote an e-mail to the school board protesting, and received three e-mails back. One of those three e-mails offended his poor little mommy’s sensibilities, because he used “harsh” language. The harsh language? Well, read the two e-mails for yourself.

Here is sophomore Craig Richman’s e-mail:

Dear School Board,

I am sending you a message about my eligibility for sports, and how I disagree with the rule. (Mainly to see if I can do anything about this, so I could change it.)

First to start things off, I want to tell you that I failed my algebra 2 class second semester last school year (Because of this I am now ineligible for 6 weeks for the next sport I play.). I also want to state that I am only a sophomore at Roosevelt high school this year.

Now I would like to explain what I disagree with about the 6 week rule. I honestly don’t think it’s fair that I have to sit out for some of my wrestling season for “challenging myself.”

Last year as a freshman I was taking algebra 2. (A junior grade level math class) I had already received my freshman and sophomore years worth of math credits in middle school. So I am advanced in math. I believe if you say I have to still sit for wrestling season for failing a 2 year advanced class ( That I am retaking this year), then you apparently don’t care that much about the education of kids, because then I’ll take this as you pretty much saying that you don’t want kids to challenge themselves. Now is this true? I honestly hope not since you are the school board but, if I still sit for wrestling season, then ill think way more poorly of the school system.

I would completely understand sitting and not getting the
privilege to wrestle for 6 weeks, if the class I failed wasn’t an advanced class that I was taking to challenge my self. (Do you honestly think it’s fair that I am punished for not understanding the materials in an advanced class?) Also I don’t think this is not fair that I sit because I also never decided to take advanced math (The school did.). When I went to middle school they automatically placed me in a higher math class. I thought about getting that changed, but after discussing this with my mom back in middle school, we thought that this could be good to take advance math, and that no harm could come out of it. But were we wrong?

Wrestling is very important to me, and my season begins next week on Monday. So I hope you read and put some thought in this and email me back quickly. So I know if I can change it so I am able to wrestle all season.

Thanks,
Craig Thomas Richman

Apparently, the kid isn’t doing too great in English either.

Now, here’s school board member Jonathan Narcisse’s e-mail:

Craig:

Look in the mirror. This is a good rule. Perhaps it isn’t tough enough. You are a student athlete and your first priority needs to be your academics.

Playing sports is a privilege not a right.

If you were to become a pro athlete your playing days are numbered. If you expect to be a college athlete your eligibility will be directly linked to your academics.

And if your sports career ends in high school your academic success is even more important.

I played tennis and wrestled in high school. Boxed afterwards. You need to ask yourself what you need to do to be a better student. Life isn’t fair. The world isn’t fair. What if you were able to compete and suffered a devastating injury. What favor would we have done you?

No, instead of complaining about the tough rules, which by the way apply to everyone, you need to suck it up, ask what help you can get to be a better student and then focus on more than meeting the minimum but ask what can you do to truly excel in the classroom.

I remember this great athlete in high school names Randy. The adults let him slide by. Last time I saw him he was at the Git N Go gas station on Keo asking customers for money for wine and offering blow jobs for money. It was very sad because he had world class athletic talent. So much so that no one told him what I’m telling you now.

He didn’t make it in college because they didn’t let him slide and now his life is a shambles.

Robert Johnson, the first freshmen to ever start basketball in the Metro, had all these adults falling all over him. For four years he slid by. Then when he got to Iowa State he couldn’t cut it. Period. And all that God given talent was wasted and none of the adults that made it easy for him rescued him once he failed.

So suck it up man. Hit the books. Work out and stay in shape and don’t make the same mistake ever again.

This may seem like tough love but it’s the best advice you could get in this matter.

Jonathan Narcisse
School Board Member

He referenced oral sex, which has Craig’s mommy up in arms. Craig himself is more angry that he was told to “suck it up” and that “life isn’t fair”. Oh, the horrors.

Richman’s parents feel Narcisse’s 11-paragraph e-mail was unnecessarily harsh. But they are more upset with a story Narcisse shared with the teen about an athlete who hadn’t focused enough on his academics and was last seen at a convenience store “asking customers for money for wine and offering (oral sex) for money.”

Kim Richman, Craig’s mother, said the e-mail was offensive and demeaning.

“It was not something you should be getting from somebody who you should consider a role model, somebody who is on the school board,” she said.

Her husband, Tom, agreed: “The analogies are inappropriate, especially when he’s writing back to a high school student.”

Kim Richman said she plans to express her concerns about Narcisse’s e-mail to him and other school officials.

Narcisse on Monday stood by the e-mail and said that the teen had heard worse language in the locker room at school. He said the teen needed to be told he had to work harder in order to be a better student.

“If I hurt his parents’ feelings and his feelings, tough,” Narcisse said. “I’m telling him what his parents should have told him.”

Craig Richman said Narcisse’s sexual reference made him a little uncomfortable, but he was more upset with Narcisse’s lack of help on the issue and telling him “life isn’t fair” and to “suck it up.”

“He shouldn’t be saying things like that,” Craig Richman said. “He’s on the school board and is supposed to be a role model and give words of encouragement.”

So that’s the whole sordid story.

And you know what? I am 100% on Jonathan Narcisse’s side. Not only am I on his side, but I think someone needs to knock some common sense into the kid’s parents. What kind of upbringing must he have had to think that “life isn’t fair” is a harsh lesson to learn? Good grief.

If you’re wondering why American teenagers have overinflated egos with little accomplishments to back it up, well, here’s example number one.

And of course, Narcisse should not have referenced oral sex. It was extremely unprofessional. But let’s get real here. We inundate kids with sex ed, oftentimes graphic sex ed, and let teenage boys read Maxim and Playboy and watch MTV. This isn’t exactly Victorian London, OK? You’d think the fact that the poor little child’s sensibilities weren’t disturbed at the mention of oral sex, just at the advice to work harder, would be telling you something. It was a poor choice of analogy, but he should still stand by what he said because it was good advice.

We teach kids so often these days that we’re all winners! and that everyone gets a gold star and all kinds of nauseating crap like that. Children today quite obviously have an entitlement complex… much like the rest of the country, actually. Working hard for the privilege to play sports never occured to this kid, did it? No, he just thought he was entitled to play.

To participate in sports and school events when I was in high school, you had to have a 3.0 GPA. The spring semester of my sophomore year, I was not doing well in school. My freshman year I had a pretty decent GPA, but I had transferred to a public school from a Catholic school, and it was ridiculously easier than what I was used to. So I slacked off, and my grades dropped. Therefore, the activities I wanted to participate in were now unavailable to me. So I spent the spring semester working my ass off to get my GPA high enough so that, in my junior year, I’d be able to do everything I wanted to do. My parents certainly didn’t help any or complain to the school board. I distinctly remember my mom being very unsympathetic and telling me that I got myself into the situation and I could get myself out. Sure, she’d help me study or with homework if I needed it, but she didn’t make any excuses for me or tell me that it wasn’t my fault.

Apparently, this approach is inconceivable to this kid and his parents, and a lot of parents around the country. Too many parents think their darling little angel never does anything wrong, and if his GPA suffers, or he broke some rule, well, the school should just look the other way for their little sugar-filled sweetykins. It’s ridiculous. Rushing in to rescue your kid every time they get thrown a hardball is not only bad parenting, but it doesn’t actually help out the kid. The day will come when Craig, and kids like him, will grow up and realize that everything in life is not handed to them on a silver platter; that they can’t just send an e-mail demanding that they get their way. And how will they be able to handle that when that day comes if their parents and teachers have babied them their entire lives while simultaneously telling them how great and wonderful they are? It’s a recipe for disaster.

And a man who tried to help this kid, to give him some very, very good advice is now getting punished for it. And for what its worth, someone in the comments pointed out that the class Richman was taking and complained about is actually not an AP course; it’s a general math course required to pass high school. Apparently he just chose to take it early, but it is still required for graduation, which kind of changes things a little, doesn’t it? It’s just another lesson this kid needs to learn. Kudos for trying to challenge yourself and all, but taking risks is exactly that: risky. Regardless of how brilliant your mommy says you are, the outcome may not be exactly what you want it to be, and part of challenging yourself is acknowledging what may happen if you try and fail.

The really sad, scary thing is that these are the people who will be running our country in the near future.

What happened to the original American dream? It used to be that you could accomplish anything, be anything, do anything, if you were willing to work hard enough for it. If you fail, try again. Try harder. Don’t give up, keep working. Be resilient. And now what is it? If something doesn’t go your way, whine and complain until you get what you want?

What are we doing to the youth of America?

Hat Tip: Rachel Lucas

When I was a kid, I got hurt a lot. Not as much as my brother did, but I swear to you it seemed that my knees were always scabbed and I always had scrapes and bruises everywhere. My brother was even worse. It’s a miracle we both escaped with no broken bones. I always thought this was a normal part of growing up: falling off of bikes, out of trees, tripping on the playground… it was a good thing, unless you want your kid to be a little pansy who’s terrified of bumping into the sofa on his way to bed.

And apparently, that’s exactly what the educrats at the John F. Kennedy Primary School in Washington (the U.K.) are aiming for. Sack races and three-legged races have been banned because… children could fall down. And we all know, that would be a CATASTROPHE.

The sack race and three-legged race have been banned from a school sports day because the children might fall over and hurt themselves.

Parents and campaigners described the move as “completely over the top”. Teachers at John F. Kennedy Primary School in Washington dropped the events after discussions with Beamish Open Air Museum, where the Edwardian-themed sports day is being held today.

About 375 children are dressing up in period costume for the event. Running, hopping and throwing table-tennis balls into buckets will be allowed.

Laura Midgley, founder of the Campaign Against Political Correctness, said: “It’s health and safety rules gone mad. I think it’s completely over the top. The worst thing that could possibly happen is the children fall over.”

Simon Woolley, head of education at Beamish in Co Durham, said: “We looked at a three-legged race and a sack race but what we want to do is minimise the risk to the children. We thought we would be better to do hopping and running instead because there was less chance of them falling over.”

Now, someone explain to me what the big deal is about a kid falling over. Please, make me understand because I just don’t get it. The nannyfication of that country must be near complete for the madness to have gotten this out of hand. I mean, for heaven’s sake. Maybe from now on we should just have all children only leave the house if they’re clad in their protective bubble, a la John Travolta. Will that finally satisfy the terrified parents who will stop at nothing until the pansification of our children is complete?

Hat Tip: Wizbang

Wow, things have sure changed since I went to school.

Middle-schoolers at Fort Herriman Middle School in Utah had a, well, interesting lesson plan waiting for them which made their parents furious. They were taught all about sex! Europe, here we come…

A middle school health teacher is under investigation, accused of teaching too much about sex.

Parents say the teacher is saying crude and explicit things that don’t belong in the classroom. Dewayne Smith says, “These are our children, and we’re not going to breach the firewall of innocence.”

Parents say sex education went too far inside the classroom full of 8th-graders at Fort Herriman Middle School. Suzanne Johnson told us, “She explained how the teacher talked about masturbation. Girl masturbation, boys, the wrong ways … the right ways to have sex, the wrong ways to have sex. How long to make it last. I mean, disgusting.”

“What bothered me is that, not only did we get into discussions of masturbatory activity, but we got into explicit descriptions of homosexual acts,” Smith said.

Parents say the teacher also showed students fliers with explicit cartoon images.

Seventh-grader Marissa Poloei had a friend in the class. She told us, “He thought it was gross and stuff, and she showed a lot of pictures of stuff.”

A spokesperson for the Jordan School District would not comment on the allegations but said there is an investigation. The teacher has been put on administrative leave, but parents don’t think that’s enough.

Johnson says, “We want her fired. We want her never to teach ever again.”

Some of the parents plan to meet with administrators at the school tomorrow. They’ve invited Rep. Carl Wimmer to attend.

Again, the district said it cannot comment on personnel issues. We were not able to contact the teacher for her side of the story.

Kinda reminds me of this ad I used to remember seeing for Sex and the City, except it was the four women when they were middle-schoolers. I couldn’t find it on YouTube, but it was basically Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha as adolescent girls, already gossiping together and already in their cliched roles.

Is that what this teacher was trying to do? Is that what this class was supposed to be? I can just see this being the newest show on MTV: Sex and the Cafeteria. How to have good sex when you’ve just hit puberty and can barely get it up or really understand what it is you’re doing.

The parents have every right to be outraged, and that teacher — if everything the parents are saying is accurate, and I don’t doubt that it is — should be fired. And let me just say this: unlike a lot of conservatives, I actually don’t have a problem with some sexual education. In my high school, we were required to take it (I had it around my junior year). But it was absolutely nothing like what this teacher is teaching. If anything, sex ed was really a huge scare tactic. We were taught in terrifying detail about what different kinds of STDs there are, and what exactly they would do to you. We were taught about what different kinds of birth control were out there, how they worked, what the potential risks to your body were, and how effective they were. Always the teacher stressed that the best way to keep yourself free from STDs and to not get pregnant was to remain abstinent, because even using a condom and birth control was not always foolproof. Best of all, we were told about the emotional and psychological effect having sex when you aren’t ready (read: TOO YOUNG) could be, and how devastating it can be. Like I said, that class scared the bejesus out of me. I lived in fear that if I had sex, I would get pregnant, contract syphillis, and be depressed all at the same time. That class never once said that abstinence was the best answer — it stressed personal choice — but it covered every possible base that there was when it came to possible consequences. The attitude was that if you’re going to do it, you need to be prepared for the risk you’re taking.

And you know, I don’t really have a problem with a program like that — for high-schoolers. I thought it was age-appropriate and made perfect sense. In fifth grade, my sex-ed class consisted of splitting the boys and girls into two different classes. I have no idea what the boys were taught, but we were basically told what would be happening soon, and mainly centered around what our monthly visits from Aunt Flo would be like. Again, no arguments from me here.

But this? Explaining to children how to have sex well, how to make it last longer, how to masturbate, what different kinds of homosexual acts you can practice… that’s just outrageous. The fact that children are being taught these kinds of things says a lot about where we are as a society today. Children are no longer allowed to be children. They’re being asked to grow up and handle adult decisions at earlier and earlier ages, while their parents and teachers either look the other way or encourage them. These are children. Let them enjoy their childhood and innocence and naivete and idealism while they can. They don’t need to be informed about the many different kinds of sexuality that exist and then encouraged to go out and practice. That’ll lead them down a dark, lonely road which will inevitably lead to a lot of anger, cynicism, and bitterness.

I seriously wonder why it is that so many adults seem to want to rush children into adulthood. I really just don’t understand it. Yesterday I asked if they were just living vicariously. I really do think that excuse is grasping at some pretty frail straws, but this entire debacle about teaching kids to have sex boggles my mind, just like dressing your sixteen-or-under little girl like a porn star boggles my mind.

Really, with this case, one of the parents summed it up best:

These are our children, and we’re not going to breach the firewall of innocence.

Glad to see that there are still some parents out there that understand that.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Our kids are failing. Shocker.

… 75 percent of the seniors headed to Dallas community colleges can’t read above an 8th grade level, and others can’t add or subtract[.]

And for the Captain Obvious quote of the day:

“This percentage is much too high,” said Dr. Joan Rodriguez, who teaches developmental reading at El Centro.

Ya think??

And Rachel Lucas points out a grammatical error… which has since magically been fixed in the article!

What is funny is that clearly, the reporter who wrote the article can relate to the subject matter. For example, here’s a paragraph in its entirety:

Showing over the last three years, an average of 75 percent of the DISD students enrolled in classes took at least one developmental education course.

And how about this:

…principals are given a $10,000 bonus based upon how they’re students do on TAKS scores.

Nice work there, reporter person. Maybe you could sit in on one of those remedial writing classes?

The “they’re” has now been corrected to “their”. Way to go, buddy.

I remember sitting in my English classes in college, listening to the professor tell me the difference between “there”, “their”, and “they’re”. I would sit there, bored, as he taught us when to use a comma or a colon. And as he would explain grammatical concepts I learned around fourth grade, I would try to figure out if it was possible to commit suicide via notebook paper. It was clearly the less painful route.

I guess they’re all doomed to Irak now. Right, Jawn Carry??

See for yourself just how “tolerant” they are when pro-life group Pointers for Life put up a display of 4,000 crosses symbolizing murdered fetuses on campus at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Students at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point butted heads Thursday after an anti-abortion organization planted 4,000 white crosses on campus to symbolize aborted fetuses and a student responded by pulling hundreds of them out of the ground.

The display, sponsored by Pointers for Life and planted on Isadore Street outside the Health Enhancement Center, is called “Cemetery of the Innocents” and features crosses and anti-abortion and religious signs, one of which reads “Seek Jesus.”

The group has come to expect minor vandalism each time it displays the exhibit, but students were shocked when Roderick King pulled up many of the crosses in protest.

“It’s just so disrespectful, and it’s disappointing that this comes from UWSP students. I’ve always thought of this campus as a tolerant place. … Someone made these (crosses) with their own hands,” said Pointers for Life member Tracey Oudenhoven.

King eventually left the site of the display after speaking with Protective Services officials, but he later returned to protest. King said his anger was not just politically charged, but also related to the anonymity of the exhibit.

“If you’re not ashamed of this, then you should claim it and sign it,” King said. “My student dollars are going to support this, this travesty.”

Pointers for Life reserved the space but didn’t indicate its sponsorship of the exhibit. At King’s request, students eventually posted a sign reading, “Sponsored by Pointers for Life.”

Students put up the exhibit early Wednesday. By Thursday morning, some signs had been slashed and a few crosses had been broken. King said he didn’t participate in those acts.

Why bother letting someone with a different opinion than you speak out or protest?

Let’s just imagine it was the other way around, and a pro-abortion group had put up a display showing their support. Some members of a pro-life student group came along and started tearing it down because they didn’t agree with it. What do you think the reaction would be?

Let me guess: it would be OPPRESSION! Right Wing intimidation tactics! Christian extremists trying to silence opposing voices!

One student gets it:

Passing students paused to watch King debate the moral implications of abortion with Pointers for Life members, and even some who supported abortion rights said they supported the group’s right to protest.

“You don’t have to agree with this. I don’t agree with this, but they have just as much right to be here as the Pro-Choice Alliance,” said student Colleen Kiefer.

Only some who supported “abortion rights” thought it was OK for the pro-life group to protest? Wow, how very tolerant of them. It must be the liberal streak in them.

Michelle Malkin shows us past vandalism from pro-abortion groups on college campuses.

Who cares about free speech when an angry lefty college student disagrees with you? Free speech only counts when it fits into the liberal — and in this case, pro-abortion — agenda. Too bad these students never got the message.

Oh, boy. Here’s video of Aliza Shvarts, the girl I just wrote about earlier today, who made an art project out of artificially inseminating herself as often as possible, and then — somehow — giving herself home abortions.

Well, here’s Aliza ranting against the “institution”, and the “establishment”, the “patriarchal heteronormative”… and a lot of other crap. Try to figure out what kind of point she was trying to make, because I couldn’t figure out what she was saying. It’s the definition of talking and talking without saying a word.

Welcome to the modern feminist movement.

Hat Tip: American Digest

There are no words, when something like this is considered art:

Art major Aliza Shvarts ‘08 wants to make a statement.

Beginning next Tuesday, Shvarts (pictured) will be displaying her senior art project, a documentation of a nine-month process during which she artificially inseminated herself “as often as possible” while periodically taking abortifacient drugs to induce miscarriages. Her exhibition will feature video recordings of these forced miscarriages as well as preserved collections of the blood from the process.

The goal in creating the art exhibition, Shvarts said, was to spark conversation and debate on the relationship between art and the human body. But her project has already provoked more than just debate, inciting, for instance, outcry at a forum for fellow senior art majors held last week. And when told about Shvarts’ project, students on both ends of the abortion debate have expressed shock saying the project does everything from violate moral code to trivialize abortion.

But Shvarts insists her concept was not designed for “shock value.”

“I hope it inspires some sort of discourse,” Shvarts said. “Sure, some people will be upset with the message and will not agree with it, but it’s not the intention of the piece to scandalize anyone.”

The “fabricators,” or donors, of the sperm were not paid for their services, but Shvarts required them to periodically take tests for sexually transmitted diseases. She said she was not concerned about any medical effects the forced miscarriages may have had on her body. The abortifacient drugs she took were legal and herbal, she said, and she did not feel the need to consult a doctor about her repeated miscarriages.

OK, well, the “there are no words” thing is false. There ARE words.

This is disgusting, this is vile, and I cannot believe that Yale would approve this kind of thing.

Actually, well, yes, I can believe it, but it saddens me. A lot. What is happening on these college campuses? Students seem to pretty much have free reign to do whatever they feel like doing, and there sure won’t be any faculty or staff to stop them — unless, of course, it’s involving a conservative viewpoint. As long as it fits into the liberal agenda, then students can do anything, no matter how depraved.

And I have to wonder how this girl’s parents feel about this. They couldn’t possibly be proud, could they? I mean, what would they say? “Oh, gee, well, we’re so happy that our little girl is endangering her health and sanity by giving herself multiple abortions without seeing a doctor first, and then putting her blood and the videos of her home abortions on display at school. She’s just so smart, we’re so proud!”

Was this girl also not concerned about her health at all? Well, that’s a stupid question — apparently not, because if she was, she would have seen a damn doctor.

Is the story about the sperm donors strange to anyone but me? I mean… so, she was “artificially inseminated”, but they weren’t paid for their “donation”. How, exactly, did she go about acquiring it? Something seems a little off there, but maybe I’m just reading too much into it.

In any case, this is easily the most awful story I’m going to write about today — probably this week. Yale shouldn’t be allowing this to go on. Yes, this girl has freedom of speech like all the rest of us, but no one is required to go out of their way to support that — they just can’t hinder it. The university has every right to tell her they don’t want this disgusting display on their campus, but we all know they won’t.

That something like this is allowed to go on — and is considered art, no less — is a sad indicator of what our society is like today.

Hat Tip: Gateway Pundit

Academia shows how tolerant it is of opposing viewpoints (read: NOT LIBERAL) yet again, this time at Colorado College. For liberals, when you spout idiotic drivel that falls in line with liberal orthodoxy, it’s OK. Anyone offended is supposed to just smile and take it. Lip service is given to “diversity” and “tolerance”, but those values only go skin deep with libs. Diverse skin color and gender = good, diverse opinions = bad. And nowhere is this kind of attitude more prevalent than on college campuses.

Feminists especially love this kind of special treatment. They can say anything they want about men; they can slander them, smear them, and paint them all with a very nasty brush just for the “crime” of being men. Valentine’s Day is cancelled in favor of “Victory over Violence” Day to somehow fight domestic abuse. Love between a man and a woman is bad; women must stick to the sisterhood! Consensual sex is likened to rape; flirting to sexual harassment. Man-hating has become synonymous with feminism, and the most radical of these harpies usually reside on college campuses. Men, meanwhile, are supposed to just grin and bear it. One joke about women is deemed sexual harassment and can get a male student kicked off campus. Double standard? Nope, it’s just “fighting for women’s rights”.

FIRE brings us the newest example of how feminists can say whatever they want about men with no repercussions whatsoever, no matter how offensive, and men can’t say anything that might be deemed slightly offensive whatsoever without seeing retaliation.

Two students at Colorado College were found guilty of violating the school’s conduct code regarding “violence” after they distributed a satirical flyer mocking a publication of the Feminist and Gender Studies program. As part of their punishment, student Chris Robinson and a second student have been required to hold a campus forum discussing issues brought up by their satirical publication. The students have turned to the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help.

“One flyer that mentions ‘male castration’ is not violence, but a flyer that makes fun of it by mentioning ‘chainsaws’ is prohibited? Both should be protected, but the double standard and lack of respect for freedom of speech in this case is simply staggering,” FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said. “Colorado College is brazenly violating its own promise of freedom of expression, as well as both fairness and common sense. Colorado College should reject both double standards and censorship.”

In early 2008, Colorado College’s “Feminist and Gender Studies Interns” distributed a flyer called “The Monthly Rag.” The flyer included a reference to “male castration,” an announcement about a lecture on “feminist porn” by a “world-famous prostitute and porn star,” an explanation of “packing” (pretending to have a phallus), and a quotation from The Bitch Manifesto.

As a parody of “The Monthly Rag,” Robinson and a second student, who wishes to remain nameless, distributed a flyer in February called “The Monthly Bag” under the pseudonym “The Coalition of Some Dudes.” The flyer included references to “chainsaw etiquette,” the shooting range of a sniper rifle, a quotation regarding a sexual position from the website menshealth.com, and a quotation about “female violence and abuse” of men from the website batteredmen.com.

Shortly thereafter, Colorado College President Richard F. Celeste sent out a campus-wide email about “The Monthly Bag,” stating that “The flyers include threatening and demeaning content, which is categorically unacceptable in this community… Anonymous acts meant to demean and intimidate others are not [welcome].” The e-mail asked the authors of “The Monthly Bag” to come forward. When they did less than an hour later, they were charged with violating the college’s values of respect and integrity.

FIRE wrote to Celeste on March 21, 2008, pointing out that any punishment would contradict Colorado College’s own policies and advertised commitments to free expression. The school’s Diversity & Anti-Discrimination Policy states that “On a campus that is free and open, no idea can be banned or forbidden. No viewpoint or message may be deemed so hateful that it may not be expressed.” Celeste, a former governor of Ohio, is abroad, and other administrators receiving the letter have not responded.

Two weeks after their hearing before the student conduct committee, Vice President for Student Life/Dean of Students Mike Edmonds finally wrote to the “Coalition of Some Dudes” students on March 25, stating that they had been found guilty of “violating the student code of conduct policy on violence” and that as a punishment, they would be required to hold a forum to “discuss issues and questions raised” by “The Monthly Bag.” Although Edmonds acknowledged that the intent of the publication was to satirize “The Monthly Rag,” he wrote that “in the climate in which we find ourselves today, violence—or implied violence—of any kind cannot be tolerated on a college campus.” Apparently, according to Edmonds, “the juxtaposition of weaponry and sexuality” in an anonymous parody made students subjectively feel threatened by chainsaws or rifles.

“Not only has Colorado College wrongly punished students for expression that any reasonable person would easily recognize as parody that threatens no one, but according to Edmonds’s standard, countless movies, songs, and other artistic endeavors that ‘juxtapose weaponry and sexuality’ are inappropriate for the adult students of Colorado College,” Adam Kissel, Director of FIRE’s Individual Rights Defense Program, said. “Colorado College must live up to its own promises of free expression and allow its students to engage in robust debate and satire—even when some members of the campus community may feel offended.”

Just so you know, the “violent” speech was this:

Did You Know…??
The Barrett .50 Caliber sniper rifle has an effective range of 2000 meters?

Yes. I can see how this is much more violent than talking about male castration. Male castration = good; Guns = Bad. Porn = good; Sex tips = bad.

To see the “offensive” flier, click here. You can see the much more offensive “Monthly Rag” flier here.

Two things especially jumped out at me, based on FIRE’s findings. One of the worst parts of this is that the male students are being punished because of how some students interpreted the flier!

In response to several complaints about the flyer, [REDACTED] and Robinson received notice on March 3 that the flyer “was allegedly interpreted by members of the campus community as an attempt to target certain campus populations with the intention of devaluing, intimidating, or even threatening harm.”

Ginger Morgan, an Associate Dean, sent a letter to the Feminist and Gender Studies Student List giving them tips on how to fight the male students and saying she would willingly speak on behalf of “The Monthly Rag”. How is that objective and non-biased?

It’s just incredible to me that there aren’t more people speaking out against outrages like this. Why do so many women let these harpies pretend that they speak for us? They don’t speak for me, they don’t speak for a single woman I know, and they don’t speak for most American women. And why do men let themselves be slandered without speaking out against it? How is it that parents of students attending these schools don’t do something? It’s your money paying for this!

And do feminists honestly not see how harmful their man-hating attitude is? Men. Are. Not. The. Enemy.

The thing is, the liberal orthodoxy revolves around having different rules for different people, and that’s the law of the land in academia. There’s lots of talk of tolerance and debate and diversity, but if any accidentally manifests itself, it gets squashed immediately. Free speech is touted as mandatory, but only when it’s speech that fits into the liberal mandate. Otherwise, they scream and screech about how “offensive” and “harmful” it is.

And you know what? A lot of the blame goes on us for just meekly accepting it. We’ve become so afraid of offending overly sensitive people that we won’t speak out, we won’t offer bold opinions. We won’t tell crazy man-hating feminists to go shove it where the sun don’t shine, because we’re so afraid of being labeled as intolerant or a bigot. And that should stop. We should take a cue from FIRE and be willing to stand up for our free speech. It isn’t a right for liberals only; it’s for everyone.

As for women? There’s no shame in loving men. Or guns. We should be standing up for the men in our lives more, too — our husbands or boyfriends, our fathers, brothers, and sons. Staying quiet does just as much harm as the crap that the man-haters spew.

Hat Tip: Ace

Usually, when teachers assign politically charged homework, students are supposed to rigidly toe the liberal line. I guess Melanie Bowers didn’t get the message, because she decided to do her project on anti-illegal immigration. Her poster said, “If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration.” A group of latino students got angry, and jumped her in the hallways, hitting her, and threatening to rape and kill her. When Melanie reported the incident and asked to call her parents, school officials refused and told her to go back to class. Unbelievable on so many levels. Here’s the story:

It was an assignment for history class–to make a protest sign for or against an issue, and Melanie said she chose illegal immigration. Her sign read, “If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration.” Somehow, Melanie said the sign got passed around lunch and angered a group of Latino students.

“I didn’t know any of these people,” she said. One young, she claimed, jumped on her back and he put her in a choke hold. “We have brick walls in the middle school and he slammed my face on the bricks.”

Melanie said a group of boys also threatened to rape and kill her. Eventually, the boys let her go and when she went for help, she was ordered back to class, and told she could not call her parents, she said.

“They handled this wrong, you know, they put a child back in danger,” said J.R. Bowers. “It was a very racially motivated crime.”

Athens ISD gave KLTV 7 a statement, confirming there was a disturbance in the hallway, Friday between two to three students. “We have a camera system in the building,” said Louis DeRosa. “We are collecting other information and statements from witnesses and this is all the information we have at this time,” he said.

Melanie and her parents said they just hope the right thing is done…and quickly.

“I won’t be happy until the kids that did this are out of school,” Bowers said.

There are a lot of troubling questions about this incident. First of all, why weren’t there any faculty members around to break up this fight? Mr. DeRosa said that they have a camera system in the building; is it not being monitored? How was it that no one saw a bunch of teenage boys attacking a girl? How was it there was no one there to defend her?

Second, if a girl has just been attacked by a bunch of teenage boys and goes and reports it school officials, why in the hell was she sent back to class? Why were her parents not immediately notified? Why would they put her in more risk knowing what had just happened?

The students are the ones at fault her, but school officials have a lot of explaining to do. And the students responsible for this attack should be expelled, plain and simple. Anything less would be, at the very least, irresponsible — Bower’s safety will be at risk until these students are gone.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

UPDATE: Well, it turns out the girl made it all up. Way to go, honey. Way to go.

Charges are being filed against 13 year old Melanie Bowers by Athens ISD through the Henderson County District Attorney’s office for filing a false report, said AISD officials today.

Bowers claimed earlier this week that she was beaten and threatened - with killing and rape, no less - by a group of students at Athens ISD last Friday, for creating a protest sign saying, “If you love our nation, stop illegal immigration.”

After Melanie’s accusations, administrators reviewed school survellience videotape of the incident - which, instead of showing students beating or attacking her, showed Bowers scratching herself on her arms, face, and neck, and walking through the halls of the school calmly long after she claimed the incident happened.

After Melanie’s parents were presented with that information and the video, the school confronted Melanie, and she admitted that she made the story up.

The poster was indeed taken from Melanie, but she reported the incident to a teacher and was sent back to class. 3 students involved in taking Melanie’s project were in ‘in school suspension’ for today only.

Bowers’ parents have apologized to school administrators for their daughter, and Bowers’ father, Gary Bower Jr., is agreeing with the charges against her. “I have reviewed the recording and agree with the charges that will need to be filed,” he has said today.

Melanie’s mother, Shera Bowers, released a statement which reads, “I see my daughter was not assaulted, and put the marks on her body. No gang violence as witnessed. She filed a false report.”

Thanks to Wizbang commenter Thumbelina for pointing this one out. And this girl, Melanie Bowers, should get in some serious trouble for this pulling this. Kudos to her parents for not making excuses for their daughter.

No, it’s not a joke. Be warned — graphic material below. From CNS News:

Parents in Deerfield, Ill., are upset that a local high school is using books in advanced English classes this spring that they say are laced with graphic sexual content, pervasive expletives and mockery of religion.

Worse, the books - “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes (Parts 1 & 2)” - are required reading for advanced placement English students at Deerfield High School, but a parents’ group wants them removed.

“Who would have ever thought that we would be handing out pornography in public schools?” asked Lora Sue Hauser, executive director of North Shore Student Advocacy, and a Deerfield parent.

“The fact that this was required is even more astonishing,” she told Cybercast News Service.

Hauser cites numerous examples of offensive passages from the text, including the following:

Man: What do you want?
Louis: I want you to f*** me, hurt me, make me bleed.
Man: I want to.
Louis: Yeah?
Man: I want to hurt you.
Louis: F*** me.
Man: Yeah.
Louis: Hard?
Man: Yeah. You been a bad boy?

(They begin to f***.)

(Louis slips his hand down the front of Joe’s pants. They embrace more tightly. Louis pulls his hand out, smells and tastes his fingers, and then holds them for Joe to smell … they kiss again.)

…

Man: I think it broke. The rubber. You want me to keep going? (Little pause) Pull out? Should I –
Louis: Keep going. Infect me. I don’t care. I don’t care.

After parents fought with the school for six weeks — six weeks — the pornographic play was moved from the required reading list to the optional reading list. And they can’t legally be prosecuted as obscenity, because apparently this pornographic play has “educational value”.

But this Deerfield, IL school undoubtedly won’t give up. It isn’t their first brush with homosexual indoctrination. The district made 14-year-olds attend a seminar on homosexuality, and were told to sign a confidentiality agreement promising to not tell their parents about it.

Angels in America won two Tony awards and was nominated for an Emmy. The author, Tony Kushner, won the Pulitzer Prize (right up there with Ted Rall!).

Are you afraid to send your kids to public school yet? On top of the crappy education that leaves us behind virtually all of western civilization, our children are constantly getting force-fed depravity. I don’t have kids yet, but I can tell you that they won’t be going to public schools — no, thank you!

Hat Tips: Michelle Malkin and Moonbattery