Bong hits 4 Jesus rules

Well, well, the Supreme Court gets to decide if an Alaska high school students "Bong hits 4 Jesus" duct tape banner from back in 2002 can be proudly re-waved in the face of the school principal who originally curtailed his activity with a suspension.
The courts first ruled in the school districts favor. The 9th circuit court of appeals reversed that decision. The principal may now have significant financial liability and none other than Ken Starr is representing the school district free of charge. Other supporters of the school and principal include the Bush administration, school boards and of course drug Czar William Bennett. My guess is they'll need him to explain what a bong is.
Then you have the father who lost his job, due in some way to his fatherly and financial support of his son, apparently in partnership with the American Civil Liberties Union. He later won a lawsuit and $200,000 from his former employer.
There's more. The bad deed happened across the street from the school on a day when students were excused to watch the Olympic Torch parade. The boy said the banner meant nothing. He just saw it on a snowboard and thought it was right for what he wanted to accomplish, assert his right to free speech.
There is mention of some prior friction with school Administrators and in 2004 a guilty plea to selling marijuana in Texas. So the kid is no saint.
At a glance what struck me first was a specific difference between this case and the Viet Nam era high school case when the Supreme Court did rule in favor of a students right to free speech. The principle behind this case was admitted to be experimental as opposed to an actual substantive timely expression. There of course is principle involved here to, but limitations may apply a little sooner than in the original precedent. The court said that these limits or balance as sometimes referred to are that students can't be disruptive, lewd or interfere with a schools basic educational mission.
At this point I was leaning in favor of the school district until you realize that the two cases may really have nearly nothing in common. In fact we need to call the kid Mr. Frederick because student is just plain misleading. He was not on school grounds when the incident happened and had not come to school that day so the principal had no right to suspend him. I'm sure she felt pressured to do something but she did the wrong thing and now she should suffer the consequences. Am I heartless? I don't think so. It shouldn't matter but if in doubt look into what a high school principal gets paid these days in your area. I think you'll agree that it's enough that she should have know the rules before she subjected the school district and herself to this kind of expense and criticism. You might call these folks lucky that the outcome of their case was important enough to someones agenda to warrant a free lawyer.
Let me make it clear that I'm no ACLU guy nor do I want to sound unconcerned about this. I realize that schools are up against allot and it may have seemed the sensible thing to do in this case but, there are limits to authority and jurisdiction and when there is a rule it must be followed. Sometimes it also pays to ask oneself in a situation like this, "is this really bothering anyone else as much as it may be bothering me?"

Teflon Vulcans

I've been scurrying around trying to make a living and the like, you know, all busied up with the things that make it far too easy and maybe even sensible to slack off on the writing. What forced me back to it is my utter disbelief at the battering the Bush Administration is taking without a noticeable effect. Let me remind you that I tend to blame the President for blunders made in any department that has representation at or near cabinet level. Unreasonable? Maybe, but they're usually quick to take credit for anything that's done well and especially at this level, so here goes.
Iraq? Disaster. Brits leaving, Cheney calls it a positive sign. His right hand man "Scooter," guilty as sin. Cheney? No comment. I digress, my faith in our jury system is revitalized.
Moving on. Inquiry into Ouster of U.S. Attorneys. The named players are already hiring lawyers. Duke Cunningham's lawyer no less. Is it me or does that seem like a bad move?
Now, the men and women who should be the most revered, the returning wounded soldiers from war are found out to be receiving poor care under deplorable conditions. At Walter Reed, it turns out, they showcase patients for Washington muckamucks and celebrities in the good part of the hospital. Just plain sinful.
Next, wouldn't you think that if nothing else, a sense of shame would make you see to it that F.E.M.A. was on it's best behavior. Not these guys. Thousands of mobile homes built for Katrina victims and never used sit in a field in Arkansas and for unexplained reasons are not available to recent tornado victims. The report alluded to Arkansas Democratic Governor as a possibility. Two nearby States did receive mobile homes and have Republican Governors. We'll never know the truth but it sure looks rotten.
Breaking news: the Justice department concludes the FBI improperly and in some cases, illegally used the Patriot Act to secretly obtain personal information about people in the U.S. and under reported forcing businesses to turn over customer data. I wish we could take John Ashcroft's pension away.
How about the image around the world? "Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate bad spirits after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties with the group said Thursday." Why would he even make such a trip? Chavez 1 Bush 0. Brilliant. I caught a few pieces of his speeches on the air that he made down there and couldn't believe how much he sounded like a "Saturday Night Live" impersonator. That's supposed to work the other way around isn't it?
It really is a different world now. All the Democrats can do is appear to be taking the high road when in fact without the power of the independent council law any efforts to take on the Bush administration will go the way of the Scooter Libby trial and nothing more. No more fishing expeditions like the one that brought down President Clinton. No juicy reports back to congress to chart a course. There's just no way to get after the lower level shenanigans.
What makes it even harder is that bad behavior keeps getting redefined. You realize that the independent council law was used on Hamilton Jordan for doing a little cocaine at studio 54 back during the Carter administration. He was acquitted but it shows how far we have come.
On the media side the so inclined have become entertainment businesses who package product to target audiences. Advertisers identify who uses what they make then place the dollars where it does the most good. It's efficient but it's backwards and it's in no way conducive to good reporting. And lets face it, the straight and narrow, the ethical road, values, all of it is getting real squishy these days. Remember the discussions about relativism a few years back. That's all gone because trend setters don't have to explain themselves. They just have to get away with it. No more friction from irritants like ethics. In an article by Herb Greenberg, the financial guy, who interviewed the two convicted felon turned consultants from ZZZZ Best and Crazy Eddies, asked if there was ever any remorse, "never...we simply did not care about our victims . We simply committed crime because we could." These guys conned billions out of the pockets of very smart people so never think you can't be had.
As I've mentioned before, I think President Clinton's indiscretions and cover up were deplorable. For me it was even worse because I thought he was a capable president. That said, I do think that there are some parallels between his case and Scooter Libby's. Chris Mathews had a right wing Pundit on who said that Libby's case wasn't as bad as Clinton's because Clinton admitted that he lied and Libby didn't, even though he was convicted of it. How do you counter that way of thinking? I remember when "that's my story and I'm sticking to it" was kinda used as a joke. I guess those days are long gone.