Apologies for being slack.

Sorry for being such a slacker.

Been super busy and letting this whole tribe thing slip. Glad to see new people coming aboard. I'll have to dig up some cool stuff and post it online here.

There was something else, what was it? Oh yeah, Kenny Starr sucks!

The Tribe appears to be growing slowly.

Well, I'm pleased with how things are going so far. We are getting new members to join one or two at a time. I'm hoping that some of the new members will start posting, even if it's just to say hello or to post a quick "I agree with Free Speech" message. I'm really hoping that I will not be doing all of the posting, I don't want this to represent only my point of view. Id like people to feel free to speak their mind on the topic. It's always nice to know that you are not the only one concerned about something. I've started doing posts with links to news coverage and even added a link to this tribe on the Wikipedia page that covers this topic, whether they will leave it up or not I don't know.

Most of the press coverage seems to correctly identify this issue as a Freedom of Speech issue and it's tempting to believe that this will be a slam dunk case. However I don't have such confidence in this court and I think the public needs to get involved voicing their support for their 1st Amendment rights. This would be a very depressing thing if the court were to ultimately side with K Starr against free speech. A sad day indeed.

The fear of course is the death of our democracy, death by a thousand paper cuts.

From a joke 2 the supreme court (no kidding).

This is just my opinion I'm expressing here, and it's my hope that everyone will feel free to express their opinions here as well. This is all about being able to speak freely after all. To be free to say whatever you want, however silly or serious it is.

Sorry if you know this stuff already, but this is an attempt to explain what's up to those that might not have heard about this yet.

Ok, Here goes. It started when a bunch of young people in Alaska decided that they wanted to make a banner that would get them noticed by some TV crews that were in town covering a local event. They came up with the phrase "Bong Hits for Jesus" (excellent!). I'm sure their intention was not to get people Bongin fer Jesus, they just wanted a banner with something humorous and outrageous on it in order to get noticed by the cameras and have a good laugh about it. Well they defenitely got noticed. Unfortunately they got noticed by prosecutor from hell Kenneth Starr and that's where the real story begins. Bong Hits for Kenneth Starr! Uhm, no.

Starr has taken this non-event and made a Federal case out of it literally. A Supreme Court, Freedom of Speech case in fact. This is of course the real story here. Any new laws created because of rullings made in this case apply to everyone, not just the people that made the banner. This is so serious an attack on one of our most basic rights that it has resulted in the religious right getting involved in the case. This is where it starts getting really weird. Believe it or not they are actually on the side of the young people that displayed the Bong Hits 4 Jesus banner. Mind boggling? Oh yeah, but their working together makes sense, when you realise that the Right to Free Speech is everyone's right, regardless of race, sex, creed or religion. It's one of those founding father type things. i.e. It's very important and a lynch pin of freedom and democracy.

Pretty crazy huh, this kinda goes from a big joke to really serious in a hurry. It definitely has a Theatre of the Absurb feel to it, which is one of the things I like about this. Needless to say Freedom of Speech is the biggest reason for my involvement. I'm just trying to help raise awareness on the issue. That and the fact that the potential for some awesome headlines exists here and I don't think the press has it in them to go there. I however have no such fear. I'm sure Starr and company are hoping that everyone will think that the Supreme Court voting against the Jesus Bong people is a good thing or that it's no biggie and won't realise until it is too late what is happening to their civil rights.

Ok, Let's get this party started.

Starting a new tribe

This turns out to be more work than I'd actually imagined. I don't really like the idea of dropping in on other peoples tribes and posting "come join my tribe" messages, but since that seems to be the way it's done, I've tried joining a couple of tribes and making a couple of posts. However this has left me feeling like the person that was invited to the party and then puked in the petunias. I'm not getting a warm fuzzy feeling that I've been well received or that I'll get invited to the next party...

So I'm trying to come up with some other ways to get this party started. Ha ha, I'm picturing a giant smoke out on the steps of the Supreme Court next to a giant Freedom of Speech rally organised by the Religious Right. Huge Bong Hits for Jesus Banners flying overhead. This issue truly is bigger and more important than minor differences between various subcultures.

Who'd have thought that the Supreme Court would be ruling on a freedom of speech case that started with some kids waving a "Bong hits for Jesus" banner? Truth is stranger than fiction. Do I think Freedom of Speech is important? You betcha! Personally I'm really worried that this right leaning Supreme Court will rubber stamp whatever billious argument the Grand Inquisitor Kenneth Starr comes up with and that we'll lose yet another freedom (seems to be the trend with this particular regime). I'm worried that the further the United States slips back/down the worse things will get for the rest of the world. Not a pretty picture.

Check out the link for a quick backgrounder.

www.citizenlink.org/CLtopsto...04163.cfm

Oh and sorry about the mess in your petunias.