editorial comment Quote: "the judge remembered the First Amendment". Sorry. carrer over for this activist judge. As for the coke-ladden guitar, paraphernalia is certain that Condi will give it to GWB, for old time's sake.....

Joseph Frederick, an Alaska high school student, was suspended for unfurling a banner which read “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” across the street from his school. According to Reuters, the principal took Frederick’s banner and suspended him for 10 days for opposing the school’s position on the drug war. Fortunately, the judge remembered the First Amendment:

The appeals court said the banner was protected speech because it did not disrupt school activity and was displayed off school grounds during a non-curricular activity.

“Public schools are instrumentalities of government, and government is not entitled to suppress speech that undermines whatever missions it defines for itself,” Judge Andrew Kleinfeld wrote in the court’s opinion.

The court also cleared the way for Frederick to seek damages, saying Morse was aware of relevant case law and should have known her actions violated his rights.

Hopefully Frederick will sue Morse’s ass off — which might send a chill down the backs of principals across the country who likewise disregard the First Amendment.

Perhaps politicans are lightening up on the drug war, too. Muckraked reports the following:

The interim head of the Department of the Interior, Patricia “Lynn” Scarlett, once endorsed the legalization of drugs. Back in 1989, she wrote an op-ed column for USA Today titled “Give Up the Drug War: Legalize Drugs Instead.” It’s not known if Scarlett still believes in legalization.

According the the article, Scarlett once served as the president of the Reason Foundation. It might seem doubtful that Bush would keep her on in her interim position, except for the fact that Condi is now in possession of cocaine — at least according to this source:

Condoleezza Rice knew coca would top the agenda in her meeting with Bolivia’s new president, but she likely wasn’t expecting to get the real thing.

At the end of their 25-minute meeting, President Evo Morales presented the U.S. secretary of state with an Andean guitar that bore a coca-leaf inlay.

“The gift was well received. We will just have to check with our customs to see what rules apply. We certainly hope we can bring it back (to Washington),” said a senior State Department official who attended the meeting.

The way I see it, Rice is currently in possession of something outlawed in the United States. The US no longer recognizes international borders with respect to its War on Drug Users. Whether she takes the guitar into the U.S. or not, I’d like to see her treated the same way people like Marc Emery or Cory Maye have been.

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