Bong Hits 4 Jesus

The Almighty gets mixed up in a Supreme Court decision upholding the 10-day suspension of an Alaskan teenager from his high school after he brought a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" banner to a school-sanctioned event support the torch run up to the 2002 Winter Olympics. Who knows if using Jesus' name inspired the ruling. Or if it was just the drug-use reference. Or that crazy two-for-one combo of both on a big white banner held by high school students in the middle of the day along the Olympic torch route.

Anyway, just like recent decisions on campaign financing and corporate shareholder lawsuits, our politically-biased Supreme Court has now started to shave away at free speech rights. Bravo boys! I bet you can't wait to get Roe v Wade called back into question.

Why are such LIFE-LONG appointments that are the FINAL WORD of United States justice politically appointed?? Does that make any sense? We have to elect DA's and judges on the city and state level of politics. Why would we - the people - not also be in charge of who is put in these positions at the national scale??

What if that sign said "Bong Hits 4 Jose"... or "Big Love 4 Jesus"?? Would that have inspired the suspension in the first place? And would it have raised through the ranks for the past five years to the Supreme Court?

Probably not. But it did. And the final decision - as most final Supreme Court decisions to come for many years in our near future - was politically-biased by a Republican administration who was largely elected by rallying their base of the Religious Right.