Brenda Stardom [ `´ Bong Hits 4 Jesus´´ Creates Unlikely Bedfellows ]

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22-3-2007 - `´ Bong Hits 4 Jesus´´ Creates Unlikely Bedfellows

I'm so amused by this and concerned at the same time. When Joseph Frederick and friends created a big banner with letters made from duct tape reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" it was just a lark, a way to get noticed when the Olympic Torch passed through Juneau, Alaska. I've read several places he saw the slogan on a skateboard and thought it was funny. I'm sure no one expected this to go all the way to the Supreme Court, where the case is currently being heard.

The thing about this case that has me amused are the people and organizations standing behind Frederick -- from the ACLU to NORML to religious groups, including Pat Robertson. I couldn't understand why Christian groups andattorneys were defending Frederick until I read this case could affect Christian students rights to exercise free speech about pro-life and pro-family views.

I get further amused when reading the sign was interpreted as an endorsement for drugs. One site said no one knows what it means. The Justices are confused and are making bizarre statements and asking inane questions. There have been so many jokes and drug references made about the case, they're taking away the real issue here, that of freedom of speech.

Bush is up in smoke over it as are his cohorts the neocons. The unforgettable Ken Starr from the Clinton case is heading the team against it. These idiotic fools. Why should this be being heard in the first place? If not for the principal, Deborah Morse, described in a Pug Bus article according to several ex-students, she's "so tight she used her butt hole for a pencil sharpener." She took such offense to the sign, she tore it up and suspended Frederick who challenged her punishment and now here it is in the duh-tuh-duh Suepreeme Court five years later.

[Note: I just discovered Pug Bus is a satire site. It's now 16h13 GMT and I'm glad I caught this in time, but am a bit red in the face for not realizing I'd been had. The piece had factual information and I also bought into NORML holding rallies Saturday at 4:20, the time to the hip to smoke pot.]

I checked NORML and was referred to MapInc (Media Awareness Project" and found a lot of good links under the bold headline, "BONG HITS 4 JESUS IS ABOUT FREE SPEECH, NOT DRUGS". Another article that is a must-read, is from News From the Sandbox which sums the case up very well. The sign in question is also shown.

The decision will either empower teachers and the educational system to stifle free speech, or it will endorse and embrace it. It had better be the latter or any sign depicting displeasure at any issue could land the maker in very hot water. About the only freedom left in the States is that of free speech. Take that away and it's all over. The Bong Hits 4 Jesus banner did NOT violate the constitution, as Starr keeps repeating. I view all this as a modern day Reefer Madness and that's simply not the case. I rest mine.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose.
--Janis Joplin

Brenda Stardom
Portugal - 5h35GMT