Alzheimer's Disease and our need to make things pretty

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor retired from the bench last year in order to care for her husband who suffers from Alzheimer's Disease. An article in today's USA Today
informs us (in glowing terms, no less) that Mr. O'Connor has forgotten his wife and has "fallen in love" with another resident of the care facility at which he resides. The O'Connor's son tells us how much his mother enjoys visiting his happy father and watching him hold hands with his girlfriend with whom he rocks on a porch swing.

I just find it to be heart wrenchingly sad that after decades of marriage a wife has to see that. AD is indeed one of the most tragic of diseases, and there is no prettying it up, no "making nice." And why do we need to? Why do we need to put on a perky "everybody's happy" face about something so obviously absurd and just plain lamentable?

Bong Hits for Jesus coming to a movie theater near you

MTV films and Paramount Pictures are making a movie about the kid who put up a banner that read "Bong Hits for Jesus" and was suspended for it. He sued, taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court where he lost on a split decision. His dad lost his job over the case:

Frederick already had a contentious relationship with the school principal when he got suspended for 10 days for displaying a "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" message on a 14-foot sign outside the school. The principal felt the banner promoted drug use. The case made national headlines, and Frederick became a poster boy for the First Amendment, but in a split decision, the Supreme Court upheld the principal's right to suspend the student.

"The heart of this story is the relationship between a father and son," Shamberg said. "Frank Frederick was an insurance adjuster facing the loss of his job if his son didn't back down."

Frederick, who'd often discussed the importance of First Amendment rights with his son at the dinner table, would not force his son to drop the case, and he was fired from his job. Father and son now teach English in China.

This could be an interesting movie to take my kids to see if they do a good job with the material. I think it's good for my kids to see other kids standing up for what they believe.

Students can't say "Bong Hits for Jesus" but they can say...

Bush is a coke head and drunk:

Putting its recent ruling on student speech into practice, the Supreme Court on Friday rejected a school district's appeal of a ruling that it violated a student's rights by censoring his anti-Bush T-shirt.

A seventh-grader from Vermont was suspended for wearing a shirt that bore images of cocaine and a martini glass—but also had messages calling President Bush a lying drunk driver who abused cocaine and marijuana, and the "chicken-hawk-in-chief" who was engaged in a "world domination tour."

[...]

Williamstown Middle School Principal Kathleen Morris-Kortz said the images violated the school dress code, which prohibits clothing that promotes the use of drugs or alcohol.

Probably viewed as political speech which we all can agree should be free but someone might want to explain to the child that it's disrespectful and that he might want to remember his attitude toward drugs when he's in HS. He wouldn't want to be considered a hypocrite.

Tags: free speech

Supreme Court sides with political speech

Huge victory for political speech in America! Take that McCain:

The Supreme Court loosened restrictions Monday on corporate- and union-funded television ads that air close to elections, weakening a key provision of a landmark campaign finance law.

The court, split 5-4, upheld an appeals court ruling that an anti-abortion group should have been allowed to air ads during the final two months before the 2004 elections. The law unreasonably limits speech and violates the group's First Amendment rights, the court said.

The decision could lead to a bigger role for corporations, unions and other interest groups in the 2008 presidential and congressional elections.

The case involved advertisements that Wisconsin Right to Life was prevented from broadcasting. The ads asked voters to contact the state's two senators, Democrats Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl, and urge them not to filibuster President Bush's judicial nominees.

Feingold, a co-author of the campaign finance law, was up for re-election in 2004.

The provision in question was aimed at preventing the airing of issue ads that cast candidates in positive or negative lights while stopping short of explicitly calling for their election or defeat. Sponsors of such ads have contended they are exempt from certain limits on contributions in federal elections.

Chief Justice John Roberts, joined by his conservative allies, wrote a majority opinion upholding the appeals court ruling.

[...]

But Roberts said, "Discussion of issues cannot be suppressed simply because the issues also may be pertinent in an election. Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not the censor."

How ironic is it that the ACLU and labor unions have Bush (a conservative nominating strict constructionist judges) to thank for this victory:

That court, differently composed, upheld large portions of the law in its 2003 decision, including the provision in question in the current case.

On Monday, Justice David Souter, joined by his three liberal colleagues, said in his dissent that the court "effectively and, unjustifiably, overruled" the earlier decision.

Tags: Feingold, McCain, free speech, 1st amendment

Atheists lose faith-based court challenge

If taxpayers can't sue, who can?

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge a White House initiative that helps religious charities get a share of federal money.

The 5-4 decision blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics against eight Bush administration officials including the head of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives.

The taxpayers' group, the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., objected to government conferences in which administration officials encourage religious charities to apply for federal grants.

Taxpayers in the case "set out a parade of horribles that they claim could occur" unless the court stopped the Bush administration initiative, wrote Justice Samuel Alito. "Of course, none of these things has happened."

(via)