More On The "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Jerk

Joseph Frederick said he was not advocating drug use when he raised his banner at the 2002 Winter Olympics Torch Run.

Yeah, right!!!

Frederick, now 23, who has been teaching and studying in China, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a misdemeanor charge of selling marijuana at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas, according to court records.

He later said had to drop out of college after his father lost his job. The elder Frederick, who worked for the company that insures the Juneau schools, was fired in connection with his son's legal fight.

This guy was and is a jerk. I wonder if his school in China knows he is a convicted drug dealer?

How Each Justice Voted in "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Case

Below is how each justice voted in the “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case. The President who nominated each to the Supreme Court is in parentheses following their names.

Justices who supported the majority ruling:

Chief Justice John Roberts (George W. Bush)
Arntoniin Scalia (Ronald Reagan)
Anthony Kennedy (Ronald Reagan)
Clarence Thomas (George H. W. Bush)
Samuel Alito (George W. Bush)

Justice who noted separately he would give Principal Deborah Morse qualified immunity from the lawsuit, but did not sign onto the majority's broader free speech limits on students:

Stephen Breyer (Bill Clinton)

Justices who dissented the ruling:

John Paul Stevens (Gerald Ford)
David Souter (George H. W. Bush)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg (Bill Clinton)

Writing for the court’s majority, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote, "It was reasonable for (the principal) to conclude that the banner promoted illegal drug use-- and that failing to act would send a powerful message to the students in her charge."

In dissent, Justice John Paul Stevens said, "This case began with a silly nonsensical banner, (and) ends with the court inventing out of whole cloth a special First Amendment rule permitting the censorship of any student speech that mentions drugs, so long as someone could perceive that speech to contain a latent pro-drug message."

"Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Slapped Down By U.S. Supreme Court

The Supreme Court ruled against a former high school student Monday in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner case.

The justices' came to a split decision that limits students' free speech rights.

I had posted to this blog about this specific incident on March 19.

It is good to see the Supreme Count uphold the school's decision in that matter.

The student who displayed the sign was acting like a little jerk when he did and and tried to milk it by going to court over it.

I am glad he got himself slapped down over it. I figured the school had the authority to act, but sometimes the school's right in such matters are often overlooked in the guise of "political correctness" and "permissiveness."

Kudos to the Supreme Court for their 5-3 decision. I will post which justices rules in which way as soon as I can research it.

Five Things One Cannot Say In America

I found an interesting piece on the Right Wing News. It is an article about 5 things you cannot say in America.

Believe it or not, I have said these things, along with others, in the past. In fact, I was discussing listing number 3 this week with my high school students.

Here are the five things:

1. The U.S. military should be far less concerned about civilian casualties.

2. The United States would be better off if less people voted.

3. Men are better equipped than women to do certain jobs.

4. Racism is not the biggest problem that black Americans face any more.

5. The only practical way to make peace between the Israelis and Palestinians is for the Israelis to transfer the Palestinians and take their land.

Check out the original article. It raises some interesting ideas and does make a person think.

I AM JOHN DOE

Join the movement. Texas Truth is!!!

I AM JOHN DOE

We can thank Michelle Malkin for this excellent manifesto. Link to her post here.

Dear Muslim Terrorist Plotter/Planner/Funder/Enabler/Apologist,

You do not know me. But I am on the lookout for you. You are my enemy. And I am yours.

I am John Doe.

I am traveling on your plane. I am riding on your train. I am at your bus stop. I am on your street. I am in your subway car. I am on your lift.

I am your neighbor. I am your customer. I am your classmate. I am your boss.

I am John Doe.

I will never forget the example of the passengers of United Airlines Flight 93 who refused to sit back on 9/11 and let themselves be murdered in the name of Islam without a fight.

I will never forget the passengers and crew members who tackled al Qaeda shoe-bomber Richard Reid on American Airlines Flight 63 before he had a chance to blow up the plane over the Atlantic Ocean.

I will never forget the alertness of actor James Woods, who notified a stewardess that several Arab men sitting in his first-class cabin on an August 2001 flight were behaving strangely. The men turned out to be 9/11 hijackers on a test run.

I will act when homeland security officials ask me to "report suspicious activity."

I will embrace my local police department's admonition: "If you see something, say something."

I am John Doe.

I will protest your Jew-hating, America-bashing "scholars."

I will petition against your hate-mongering mosque leaders.

I will raise my voice against your subjugation of women and religious minorities.

I will challenge your attempts to indoctrinate my children in our schools.

I will combat your violent propaganda on the Internet.

I am John Doe.

I will support law enforcement initiatives to spy on your operatives, cut off your funding, and disrupt your murderous conspiracies.

I will oppose all attempts to undermine our borders and immigration laws.

I will resist the imposition of sharia principles and sharia law in my taxi cab, my restaurant, my community pool, the halls of Congress, our national monuments, the radio and television airwaves, and all public spaces.

I will not be censored in the name of tolerance.

I will not be cowed by your Beltway lobbying groups in moderate clothing. I will not cringe when you shriek about “profiling” or “Islamophobia.”

I will put my family’s safety above sensitivity. I will put my country above multiculturalism.

I will not submit to your will. I will not be intimidated.

I am John Doe.

Come on down to Texas....I am sure you will find many more John Does here. We will welcome you Texas Style, and show you what real Texas hospitality is all about when you dare to threaten our way of life!!!

Free Speech? "Bong Hits 4 Jesus"

Below is a highlights from an article concerning the issue of a public school student's freedome of speech and the right of the school to maintain control.

The Supreme Court examines Monday a case raising questions over free speech rights in US high schools as it hears arguments over a student's unfurling of a quirky banner proclaiming "Bong Hits 4 Jesus."

Joseph Frederick drew the ire of his school principal in Juneau, Alaska, on January 24, 2002, when the then 18-year-old student unveiled the huge banner in front of television cameras as the Olympic flame passed in front of a crowd.

Principal Deborah Morse, whose school had authorized the students to leave class for the event, was not amused by Frederick's linkage between Jesus and a bong, a pipe used to smoke marijuana. Morse crossed the street, destroyed the banner and suspended Frederick from school for 10 days.

Frederick, now 23, said he had conducted "a free speech experiment." The banner is "absurdly funny. It doesn't make any sense at all," he said in a telephone news conference from China where he studies and teaches.

On Monday, his experiment goes before the US Supreme Court, which will hear debate over a student's right to free speech versus the school's power to impose order.

The case has drawn heavy hitters, including the powerful American Civil Liberties Union, which backed Frederick from the beginning. Morse is represented by Kenneth Starr, the former special prosecutor who led the investigation of Bill Clinton and his relationship with a White House intern, which almost cost the then US president his job.

The US government will also side with the school. Frederick took his case to federal court, arguing that his free speech right, protected under the First Amendment, had been violated and demanding damages from Morse.

He lost the first round when a trial judge ruled for Morse, saying she did not violate the student's rights, and even if she had, cannot be held personally responsible for her decisions as an educator.

That judgment was overturned on appeal, based on a 1969 Supreme Court decision in favor of students who wore black armbands protesting the Vietnam war, an act the court said did not interfere with the school's mission.

Morse appealed to the Supreme Court, and Starr will argue for her that school officials need to be able to impose discipline, which has the approval of the National School Board Association.

The US government lawyer, Solicitor General Paul Clement, will argue that the banner's reference to a bong amounts to urging drug use, and high schools must be able to quash that sort of talk.

Surprisingly, religious group have taken Frederick's side, putting President George W. Bush's support base at odds with the administration.

The American Center for Law and Justice, which specializes in constitutional law and is dedicated to defending freedom of religion and speech, submitted a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of the student.

If schools could have banned advocacy of illegal acts during the 1960s Civil Rights movement, "students who urged their black friends not to move to the back of the bus" could have been kicked out of school, the brief said.

"In the abortion context, there would be no First Amendment protection for pro-life students who urged their classmates or others to 'sit in' at abortion facilities," the brief said. Students plan to demonstrate Monday outside the Supreme Court in
Washington. "What the banner said was 'look here, I have the right to free speech
and I'm asserting it,'" Frederick said.

"I wasn't trying to say anything about religion, I wasn't trying to say anything about drugs," he said. "The phrase was not important." It is to some: T-shirts with the slogan "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" are selling like hot cakes on the Internet.

As an educator, I can see the point of the administrator. Schools must be able to maintain control and a level of civility in their schools.

The courts have held in many cases that the school has the right and responsibility to maintain control and have wide leeway in maintaining control.

The question that I raise is whether the students were on a school function or not. I read that they were released from school to attend the Olympic Torch Run but did not read anything as to whether they were under school control at this event.

If they were at an event that was a school, then the principal had the right to do wherever she felt was necessary. If they were not under direct school control, I feel the school had no authority to take action.

From a personal side, I feel the student was being a jerk and probably was trying to see what he could get away with. Educators have always had students who acted like he did.

I don’t blame the principal for taking action. Now we will see if the Supreme Court will agree.