Liberty is not only dead in Maryland, they’re defiling the corpse too.

Two months into the school year, more than 2,000 students in this suburban county outside the nation’s capital had yet to get the shots they needed to attend class. So the school system decided it was through playing nice.

Parents in Prince George’s County have been ordered to appear at a special court hearing Saturday where they will be given a choice: Get their children vaccinated on the spot or risk up to 10 days in jail and fines.

It is one of the strongest efforts made by a U.S. school system to ensure its youngsters receive their shots.

Prince George’s County school officials and prosecutors said parents have been duly warned about the need for vaccinations over the past year. They said the goal isn’t to throw parents in jail but to protect public health and get kids who have been barred from school back to class.

“How can you in good conscience allow your child to miss school and their education for no particular reason?” said John White, spokesman for the 132,000-student school system. [source]

For me, the question is, “how in good conscience can you throw parents in jail for choosing not to vaccinate their children?”

It seem like the mentality here is that the citizens of this county are like cattle owned by the government rather than independent people with rights and liberties guaranteed by our constitution. The school has every right to not allow children to attend classes if they haven’t been vaccinated, but to threaten the parents with jail time is a bold leap over the line.

Remember the school in Maine that voted in favor of distributing birth control pills to 11 year olds, without parental consent? Some parents decided not to roll over on the issue:

A conservative civil liberties group said it will proceed with a lawsuit against the Portland, Maine, School Committee for refusing the reconsider its policy on prescription contraceptives for middle school students as young as 11.

“This is an issue where the rights of parents must be protected,” said Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which specializes in constitutional law.

…

The ACLJ said it has heard from more than 40,000 Americans across the country, including hundreds of Maine residents, who consider the Portland school system’s contraceptive policy “dangerous.”

“Unless school officials make an 11th hour concession, we will move forward and file a lawsuit within a matter of weeks to remove this policy,” the ACLJ said in a news release on Thursday.

For a refresher on the program, parents sign a permission slip, allowing the school to provide their child with health care. With this program, the permission slip gives the school the authority to provide contraception to children as young as 11. By the way, it isn’t legal for 11 year olds to have sex in Maine.

The policy also violates Maine law by not reporting all illegal sexual activity involving children 13 years old or younger, the ACLJ said.

Promoting pedophilia? No, just not reporting it, so it’s more like tolerating pedophilia, or excusing pedophilia. “Oh well, the children are doing it anyway, so we should help make it less dangerous for them.”

What’s next: a needle exchange program for pre-schoolers?

Oh, the most important part of this, the service is confidential, so the parents do not need to be notified if the school gives a little girl the pill. Little 11 year old Suzie can get her script and continue to be molested, and the parents are non-the-wiser. Classy.

I wonder how many have considered homeschooling?

An author who homeschools her five children had her book signing at a public library canceled due to a phone call from the city’s mayor.

“Initially, I called around to the local media last week announcing the program and book signing which was to take place Thursday at the Jonesborough Public Library,” Haskins said. “The purpose at the time was just to get the word out about it.

“I was later told that the library had canceled the event at the request of the mayor, which was something I disagreed with because it is a public library; they’re independently run and cannot be told what they can and can’t do by a public official like Mr. Jaynes.”

The mayor denies he told the library staff to cancel the event, but then goes on to say that he told them to reconsider having it in the future. Let me get this straight in my head: you called them to complain, but didn’t tell them to cancel, but told them to think twice about trying something like that again. No, that doesn’t sound too dictatorial.

What could be the reasoning for speaking out against parents taking the time and effort to homeschool the children they brought into the world? What reason could there be for the mayor’s call to the library?

“I didn’t think that it was right to promote something against the Washington County school system,” he said. “I did not say anything to the fact telling them not to have the program.

“I just said maybe you ought to rethink it,” he said. “For each kid that we don’t have in our school system, it’s $7,000 (we don’t get). I did not tell anyone that we were losing the money, we’re just not getting it.”

What a total and complete jackass.

Homeschoolers typically perform better than public school kids in academic contests, including the National Spelling Bee. But this guy is more concerned with $7000 than he is with children getting the best education they can get. Typical bureaucrat.

It’s a bad day when a home school mom is not welcome in a public library.

I understand the idea behind not wanting kids in school groping on each other. It is not why they are in school. But teenage girls giving each other a hug goodbye is not a sign of sexual activity. It’s normal. But in this St. Louis school, it’s worth two days suspension:

Megan Coulter, an eighth-grade student at Mascoutah Middle School, was hugging her friends goodbye after school Friday when vice principal, Randy Blakely, saw her and told her she would receive two after-school detentions.

Blakely had previously warned Coulter that she was in violation of the school’s policy on public displays of affection after she was seen hugging a student at a football game.

The school’s policy says that “displays of affection should not occur on the campus at any time.”

There are really two problems here. One is this idea that affection is a bad thing. There isn’t anything wrong with hugging someone goodbye. Grabbing someone’s butt while you are sticking your tongue down their throat, see, that’s a problem. But rather than create the distinction, the school has created this idiotic zero tolerance program so school officials don’t have to think. And this is the result.

The other problem I have is this girl not being allowed to show affection at a football game. I don’t know about you, but that seems a bit of a reach to me. This is a public event, and while it might have been on “campus,” it wasn’t disrupting classes or causing a scene in the hallway. I mean, how far does this go? Should the kids learn to be cold and unfeeling to one another? No emotions, kids. Stop caring about one another.

Another example of this kind of thinking, a student was discipled for hugging a friend who’s parent had died:

“When I went through school, I hugged my friends,” said Lea Muir. Her daughter was given detention Monday at Prattville Junior High School. She called it an overreaction.

“It’s a little bit extreme, I think.”

But according the Autauga County School System’s code of conduct, “inappropriate public displays of affection, including but not limited to embracing and kissing” are not allowed.

And Autauga County isn’t the only one. Just last week, a school in Illinois disciplined a student for the very same thing. And a South Dakota student got in trouble for holding hands with a friend.

“It was made to be something ugly and it wasn’t,” Muir said.

She says the hug wasn’t meant to be sexual. She says her daughter was consoling a male friend who recently lost a parent.

“What’s it going to come to next?,” she asked. “You can’t high five or touch anybody? You can’t brush by someone in the hallway?”

Exactly. This will solve all the problems. Rather than teach the student what is acceptable and why, schools just ban all forms of public affection. And then wonder why kids are so cold these days.

We talked with Greg Lukianoff, the president of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), in a podcast interview today. We talked about the University of Delaware’s Orwellian indoctrination program and where the case stands now. Greg also mentioned other universities and similar programs they had run in the past. Some of those could have been started by Jim Jones, they are on that level of mind control.

It was an interesting look at the current state of education and politics. Thanks go out to Greg for taking the time to talk to us.

This is fairly outrageous. In Great Britain, the teachers and students have to don traditional Muslim garb in the spirit of multiculturalism. How nice:

Teachers at a primary school have been ordered to dress up as Muslims to promote multi-culturalism.

The West Midlands school is belatedly celebrating the Muslim festival of Eid and told its pupils and teachers to don traditional Muslim dress for the day.

All 257 pupils, most of whom are Christians, and 41 teachers - two of whom are Muslims - dressed up.

It gets worse. They had to have two assemblies.

A morning assembly was held to mark the event and an afternoon party was strictly for women only, because Muslim husbands object to wives mixing with other men.

CELEBRATE! CELEBRATE!

Except for you women. You are not allowed in here. Men only. Welcome to Islam.

The head of the school said she has not heard any complaints, but then again, who would want to put their job on the line? One thing I always wonder…what kind of response would the school get if they made the Muslim students dress in traditional Western clothes? You know, in the name of multiculturalism. I’m sure they would all just go along with it.

Right.

How long before something like this happens in America?

Good question. Answer: It already has.

We talked about this on the podcast today, but I thought it was outrageous enough to warrant its own post. At the University of Delaware, over 7,000 students are being “treated” for “any incorrect attitudes regarding class, gender, religion, culture or sexuality they might hold upon entering the school.”

It gets worse:

The organization cited excerpts from the university’s Office of Residence Life Diversity Education Training documents, including the statement:

“A RACIST: 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. By this definition, people of color cannot be racists, because as peoples within the U.S. system, they do not have the power to back up their prejudices, hostilities, or acts of discrimination….’”

The education program also notes that “reverse racism” is “a term created and used by white people to deny their white privilege.” And “a non-racist” is called “a non-term,” because, the program explains, “The term was created by whites to deny responsibility for systemic racism, to maintain an aura of innocence in the face of racial oppression, and to shift the responsibility for that oppression from whites to people of color (called ‘blaming the victim’).”

All whites are racist. Isn’t that a bit…I don’t know…racist?

The University of Delaware is a state school that receives federal funding. Your tax dollars are paying for this brainwashing.

Here’s a number to call: (302) 831-2792. From the main page of the school’s website.

From the state that just approved giving birth control pills to 11 year olds (without parental notification) comes another great program. Here, the nanny staters will make it required to apply for college before you can get your high school diploma:

Education Commissioner Susan Gendron proposes a requirement that seniors apply to college before becoming eligible for a diploma. The change in state rules on graduation requirements would require approval by the Legislature.

If enacted during the upcoming session, the change would affect the class of 2009, but Gendron is urging high schools to voluntarily make the change during the current school year.

The idea is to raise the number of Maine youths going to college and promote educational opportunities for all students.

WRONG!

The idea is that the state understands the students situation better than the student or the student’s parents, so it has to inject itself into the student’s life and tell him what to do. If this student wants to go to college and can afford it, he will apply to numerous colleges. He does not need the state to tell him to do so.

Also, what about the additional cost to colleges and universities? It will cost the taxpayers to process all those applications. How much money will be thrown away for applications the students have no intention of following up on after graduation? It has to cost something. And someone has to pay. That’s you.

Finally, what about the student who joins the military? Why does someone who has already signed up via the delayed enlistment program need to apply for college? He can take college classes in the military, and the government willl pay a big chunk of the expense. And after his service, the G.I. Bill will pay another part.. Is this not good enough for Maine?

How about this: if a student has reached the required level of indoctrination from the Maine Public School System, he should get his diploma and the student and the parents decide what to do after that? It’s called personal responsibility and it’s going out of style.

If a parent gives the school permission to treat his child, then according to this school, that gives the school permission to prescribe birth control…to 11 year olds. It gets worse. The school does not have to tell the parents about the prescription.

Students who have parental permission to be treated at King Middle School’s health center would be able to get birth control prescriptions under a proposal that the Portland School Committee will consider Wednesday.

The proposal would build on the King Student Health Center’s practice of providing condoms as part of its reproductive health program since it opened in 2000, said Lisa Belanger, a nurse practitioner who oversees the city’s student health centers.

If the committee approves the King proposal, it would be the first middle school in Maine to make a full range of contraception available to some students in grades 6 to 8, said Nancy Birkhimer, director of teen health programs for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services. Most middle schoolers are ages 11-13.
…

Belanger said health center workers encourage students to tell their parents about their health center experiences, but by law they cannot compel students to do so or inform parents without the student’s consent.

Is this a big problem in this school? Are a lot of 11 year olds getting it on?

Of 134 students who visited King’s health center during the 2006-07 school year, five students, or 4 percent, reported having sexual intercourse, said Amanda Rowe, lead nurse in Portland’s school health centers.

“This is a service that is totally needed,” Rowe said. “It’s about very few kids, but they are kids who don’t have the same opportunities and access as other students.”

Four percent. I’ll wager right now that following the implementation of this program, that number rises. Why?

“Liberalism always generates the exact opposite of its stated intent. “

Every liberal idea is “totally needed.” Like sex education. It was totally needed. How did that work out? Oh yeah, we are in worse shape now than when that liberal program started. So, as per the norm with the left, rather than see they are the problem, they move for more control, more power.

George Will has written and interesting article titled “Conservatives Need Not Apply”. It’s another example of how the ultra liberal crusaders are using public financed education to cram the liberal agenda into our children’s brains. I recommend reading the whole piece, but here’s the part that really got my dander up. (The bold type is mine)

In 2005, Emily Brooker, a social-work student at Missouri State University, was enrolled in a class taught by a professor who advertised himself as a liberal and insisted that social work is a liberal profession. At first, a mandatory assignment for his class was to advocate homosexual foster homes and adoption, with all students required to sign an advocacy letter, on university stationery, to the state legislature.

When Brooker objected on religious grounds, the project was made optional. But shortly before the final exam she was charged with a “Level 3,” the most serious, violation of professional standards. In a 2 1/2 -hour hearing — which she was forbidden to record and which her parents were barred from attending — the primary subject was her refusal to sign the letter. She was ordered to write a paper (”Written Response about My Awareness”) explaining how she could “lessen the gap” between her ethics and those of the social-work profession. When she sued the university, it dropped the charges and made financial and other restitution.

The NAS study says that at Rhode Island College’s School of Social Work, a conservative student, William Felkner, received a failing grade in a course requiring students to lobby the state legislature for a cause mandated by the department. The NAS study also reports that Sandra Fuiten abandoned her pursuit of a social-work degree at the University of Illinois at Springfield after the professor, in a course that required students to lobby the legislature on behalf of positions prescribed by the professor, told her that it is impossible to be both a social worker and an opponent of abortion.

In the month since the NAS released its study, none of the schools covered by it has contested its findings. Because there might as well be signs on the doors of many schools of social work proclaiming “conservatives need not apply,” two questions arise: Why are such schools of indoctrination permitted in institutions of higher education? And why are people of all political persuasions taxed to finance this propaganda?

Read the whole article at Real Clear Politics

A school in New Jersey has more kids than lunch room space and has resorted to having them eat on the floor:

That’s right. Nearly 1,000 students attend classes at Mahwah High School daily, and at lunchtime, a good majority of them are on the floor, as seen in pictures obtained exclusively by CBS 2 HD.

The cafeteria holds around 300, some outside picnic tables are provided, and seniors can leave for lunch. But parents and some students were quick to speak out to school leadership against hundreds left to floor dining — and got nowhere.

“Kids should not be eating on the floor,” one mother said. “Nobody should be eating on the floor. Animals eat on the floor.”

Added a student named “Samantha”: “It’s dirty. It’s disgusting.”

It’s more than disgusting. It’s unsafe:

Renowned microbiologist Dr. Philip Tierno warns 80 percent of all infectious diseases are spread through contact. So when a child touches the floor to sit, then touches a sandwich, whatever is on the floor can then be ingested.

“I would categorize it as stupid,” Tierno said. “I would characterize it as primitive, and the scourge of third world countries.

“You may be stepping on the fecal matter, sputum, blood, urine.”

Mmmmm…fecal matter.

Rather than stagger the students through the lunch room, the school decided to force all the students through at the same time. You can see the results. But the teachers get more time in the class room, so what’s a little Staphylococcus aureus in your tuna salad sandwich.

Middle School Students Caught In Sex Act In Class

It would seem that two middle school students in Houston, Texas decided to engage in sexual activity in the middle of a classroom, surrounded by other students. On the one hand, at least the teacher wasn’t in the room, watching and/or participating. On the other hand, where WAS the teacher? Yes, there are obviously times that a teacher must step out of the room, but long enough for students to engage in sexual activity?

What’s also disheartening for some parents was the amount of time it took for the information to get to them. It’s been more than a week since the incident happened.

I wouldn’t call it disheartening- more like enraging. Schools are constantly talking about parents’ lack of involvement in children’s education, but when there is a serious issue at school, parents are deliberately kept in the dark. This lack of communication has occurred in our local public school as well. When a student made threats to shoot the principal and teachers, the school was locked down, but no note was ever sent home. At the time, our daughter was in kindergarten there. I heard about it from a student, and when I asked a teacher, they simply told me that yes, the school was under lock down for three days, but parents were not informed for fear that they would keep their children home. What? Shouldn’t sending their children into a potentially life-threatening situation be the parents’ choice?

Still, some parents said it all boils down to a lack of respect.

Those parents were talking about a lack of respect on the part of the students who performed the sexual sideshow. I believe the same could be said about a school system that failed to notify parents for a full week.

Attention all public officials. Before you go to talk at a high school, you might want to review this and learn from others’ mistakes:

Here’s a tip: If you’re a State Representative about to lecture high school kids on, well, anything, and you’re planning on using a Powerpoint deck on your thumb drive, it’s probably a good idea to delete all the porn off of it, as some computers will automatically play back images as a slideshow. Just so you know.

Also, denying the porn is yours isn’t a very good defense.

*Sigh* Should this make this podcast as a Reason for Homeschooling? I think so too.

From the original article:

Investigators interviewed Barrett as well as others in the classroom at the time of the lecture to determine if the image of the woman came from the memory stick or the school computer.

The school’s technology director looked at the memory stick and determined that it had a directory of nude images.

Barrett tells Channel 3 News that he reported the incident to the school principal as well as the Superintendent. Norwalk Police were called to the scene as well and eventually the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Can you imagine the sinking feeling in this guy’s stomach when they walked in and asked for this USB drive. And I thought I hated to see the state patrol in my rear view mirror.

Duncan Hunter is running for president. Did you know that? He’s a Republican and he has done one thing that I know of that I like: He built a fence on the Mexican border.

Now he has done two:

SEC. 3. DENIAL OF FUNDS.

(a) Denial of Funds for Permitting State Terrorist Access to Campus- No funds described in subsection (b)(1) may be provided by contract or by grant to Columbia University of New York, New York, or any subelement of Columbia University.

(b) Covered Funds-

(1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the limitations established in subsection (a) apply to the following:

(A) Any funds made available for the Department of Defense.

(B) Any funds made available for any department or agency for which regular appropriations are made in a Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act.

(C) Any funds made available for the Department of Homeland Security.

(D) Any funds made available for the National Nuclear Security Administration of the Department of Energy.

(E) Any funds made available for the Department of Transportation.

(F) Any funds made available for the Central Intelligence Agency.

(2) Any Federal funding specified in paragraph (1) that is provided to an institution of higher education, or to an individual, to be available solely for student financial assistance, related administrative costs, or costs associated with attendance, may be used for the purpose for which the funding is provided.

(c) Notice of Determinations- Whenever the head of a Federal department or agency makes a determination under subsection (a) or (b), the head of such department or agency–

(1) shall transmit a notice of the determination to the Secretary of Education, to the head of each other department and agency the funds of which are subject to the determination, and to Congress; and

(2) shall publish in the Federal Register a notice of the determination and the effect of the determination on the eligibility of Columbia University for contracts and grants.

Well played, Congressman. Well played. I just don’t know him that well. Maybe I should change that…

Sex education is a standard part of the curriculum in public schools these days.  Not only do they teach how to do it, when to do it, and where to do it, many also hand out free condoms to the children.  Abstinence-only curriculum is scorned, and adoption over abortion isn’t even considered.  Now, one school is saying that even discussing the sanctity of life is out.

Des Moines, IA (LifeNews.com) — Roosevelt High School officials are beginning to respond to criticism of its decision to cancel a speech there by a leading pro-life advocate. The Des Moines public school canceled a scheduled talk with pro-life advocate Alveda King, the niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Amazingly enough even the Iowa ACLU, which is pro-abortion, disagrees with stopping Ms. King from speaking to the students.

. . .representative Ben Stone told the Register that Danielson is doing a “disservice” because it makes the school appear to be shielding its students from various viewpoints on abortion.

“Alveda King was invited to speak, and telling her to stay away now is wrong, for it implies that the school is taking sides on the abortion issue, while at the same time depriving students of an opportunity to engage in this important moral topic,” Stone said.

King has spoken previously about the high incidence of abortions in the African-American community.

“In the last forty-plus years, 15 million black people have been denied their most basic civil right, the right to life,” King noticed.

“Roughly one quarter of the black population is now missing,” she reflected. “This hasn’t happened because of lynch mobs, but because of abortionists who plant their killing centers in minority neighborhoods and prey upon women who think they have no hope.”

King said abortion is a “great irony” because it has decimated the African-American population in ways the Klu Klux Klan never could.

“It’s time that we remember the sacrifices of men like my father and my uncle who worked and died so that our children could live,” King concluded. “It’s time to stop killing the future and keep their dream alive.”

King regularly speaks at public schools and charges no speaking fee for her presentations.

Kathie Danielson, the principal who canceled the presentation, said that she examined King’s presentation beforehand, and thought it would be good for focusing on diversity and race issues, but decided to cancel after a few pro-abortion parents of students complained about King’s pro-life views, as there was “a connection to morals” in the speech.

So, the public education system that believes it is their job to teach sex education, how to prevent pregnancy, and how to end pregnancy, won’t let a pro-lifer present an opposing view?  Sounds to me like morals are already being taught there.