High court to get 'Bong Hits 4 Jesus' case?(AP/CNN){free speech, K. Starr}

[eppur_se_muova]

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) -- Former Whitewater special counsel Kenneth Starr petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Alaska's "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case, a dispute involving a high school student, a banner and a tough school policy.

Starr, who gained national prominence while investigating former President Clinton's Whitewater land deal and relationship with Monica Lewinsky, filed the petition Monday on behalf of the Juneau School District in response to a March ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The appeals court sided with a high school student who displayed a banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" during an Olympic torch relay in 2002. It ruled former Juneau-Douglas High School principal Deborah Morse violated former student Joseph Frederick's free speech rights.
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Frederick, then a senior, was off school property when he hoisted the banner but was suspended for violating the school's policy of promoting illegal substances at a school-sanctioned event.

"The principal's actions were so outrageous, basically leaving school grounds and punishing a student for a message that is not damaging to the school," said his attorney, Doug Mertz.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/29/bonghits.4jesus.ap/index.html

Apologies if this is old news, but I did a :wtf::wow: when I saw this. Evidently, high school students are now school property or something.

What's the matter, Ken? nothing better to do with your time -- and the SUPREME COURT's ??

[Caoimhe]

1. That's going too far

The kid has a right to make and hold signs like that, his parents are the ones who should be concerned, if at all. The principal overracted and set a bad example.

[rodeodance]

2. and Ken Starr is sticking his nose into other people's business.

[Anakin Skywalker]

3. Why was the school board anti-Jesus?

This kid was clearly promoting Him, damn it! That should have been a GOOD THING to rightwing turds like Kenny Boy Starr.

[Caoimhe]

4. LOL

Isn't there a biblical passage about God making all the plants and seeds for humans? I have a hard time thinking that marijuana is really the "forbidden fruit" as well as the poppy, the coca plant, wormwood, etc.

[bperci108]

5. Especially , considering...

...that THC is a direct and perfect fit (like a key in a lock) into a chemical receptor in the human brain.

Why.....you might just start to think it was designed to be so. :evilgrin:


To borrow a (slightly modified) phrase from Ben Franklin (I think):

"Cannabis is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy" :)


Has anyone run this past the "Intelligent Design" crowd yet?


Hmmm....I wonder what their response would be?

[Caoimhe]

6. No way Ben Franklin said that lol

I have only heard this argument from people pro-legalization... the pro-jesus crowd tend to suffer from short term memory syndrome.. if in fact they even read that "magical" book.

[bperci108]

7. I think he said it about beer....

...I was just updating it a little. :D

But I'm definitely part of the "pro-Jesus" crowd.

What better example to follow than that of a long-haired, rabble-rousing, educated, radical, ex-working-stiff turned-reforming rabbi who hung out with the lowest of society, (treating them as equals) who preached peace, forgiveness, the brotherhood of all mankind and who completely infuriated the "Religious Right" of His day: The Pharisees.

Who hated his message enough to conspire (along with the political forces of the day, who were also scared shitless) to have Him murdered.

Somehow I don't think that's how most of the radical religious right see it.... ;)

They just don't get the fact that it is they who are the Second Coming of the same old Pharisees.

[MadHound]

8. While this case seems to be odd, or overkill, or just plain strange,

Don't be fooled. This is a precident setting case, something than can be used to further erode our freedom of speech. Today it is a student who being repressed. Next year, it could be a teacher or school administrator. Year after that, it could possibly be any government employee. Then stretch it to cover corporate employees. Then none of us have any free speech left.

I believe that this is the base for a set of USSC rulings that will strip us of our free speech rights. That is why Starr is coming into such an obscure case, and why it's being booted all the way up to the neo con Supreme Court.

[eppur_se_muova]

9. Exactly, hence my WTF--note that the activity is only "school-ENDORSED"

which could be extended to cover anything with minimal effort. If the school decided to "endorse" students taking jobs, then anything they did at work would be under the school's purview, as a "school-endorsed" activity. This is just too open-ended a restriction to be enforcable {in a sane legal system}.

on edit: Obviously Starr and his co-minions are hoping they won't be stuck with a sane judge, and slip in the thin end of the wedge. NOW is the time to stop this authoritarian assault -- the appeals court made the right decision.

Someone PLEASE rec this, it needs more attention!