September 5, 2011 | 6:39 pm

Drug dealer doesn’t get court approval for religious use of marijuana

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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As we learned in the story of Craig X. Rubin and Temple 420, the state of California just doesn’t buy the marijuana-as-religious-sacrament argument. See People v. Rubin. Not surprisingly, it appears the federal government doesn’t either.

At least not under the terms that arose in United States v. Lafley.

In Lafley, the Ninth Circuit held that a “federal district court did not violate the Religious Freedom Restoration Act when it imposed as a condition of supervised release the requirement that a convicted methamphetamine dealer not possess or use controlled substances, including marijuana.” That according to Howard Friedman.

The problem for Lafley, who appealed the condition, was that this order would prevent him from worshipping freely as a member of the Montana Cannabis Ministry, an organization that has had its own share of legal troubles. More from the court’s opinion:

Lafley called two witnesses to testify as to his religious beliefs. Randy Leibenguth, a leader of the Montana Cannabis Ministries, is “a Cannabis Sacrament Minister, a dispensary owner, and a D.J., who has lived between the cities of Bozeman and Belgrade, Montana[,] for the past seven years.” Lucas Mulvaugh “is a minister at the Montana Cannabis Ministries and acts as the spiritual advisor.” In his allocution, Lafley testified to his rehabilitation, aided by his association withthe Ministries, and his desire to continue that association—and to continue partaking in its “religious sacrament,” marijuana.

The district court had not reached the question of whether Lafley’s religion was sincere and under the protection of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, finding that regardless the burden on the government would be too high. But the court did have this to say: “with . . . all due respect . . . it doesn’t sound like a religion to me, it sounds
like a way to smoke marijuana,”

Sounds familiar.

You can read the full opinion here. The Ninth Circuit upheld the lower court ruling. In short, Friedman says that the court “rejected as imposing too burdensome a monitoring requirement on probation officers defendant’s claim that he should be allowed religious, but not recreational, use of marijuana.”

September 5, 2011 | 4:13 pm

Jesus Daily: Facebook version of ‘My Utmost for His Highest’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I’m pretty sure people still read “My Utmost for His Highest,” Oswald Chambers’ classic book of daily Christian devotion. But there are definitely a lot more Christians engaging on the Jesus Daily page on Facebook. There Dr. Aaron Tabor posts four or more times a day on the words of Jesus.

For the last three months, more people have “Liked,” commented and shared content on the Jesus Daily than on any other Facebook page, including Justin Bieber’s page, according to a weekly analysis by AllFacebook.com, an industry blog. “I wanted to provide people with encouragement,” said Dr. Tabor, who keeps his diet business on a separate Facebook page. “And I thought I would give it a news spin by calling it daily.”

That’s from a New York Times about people connecting spiritually through new media. It’s a well-trod path, but the NYT found some previously mentioned players.

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September 3, 2011 | 5:37 pm

Bachmann mistaken for being ‘the Jewish candidate’

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Fundraisers for Mitt Romney claim they are having trouble raising money from Jewish donors. Why? Well, the donors allegedly would prefer to give money to “the Jewish candidate.”

Funny, I didn’t realize there was a Jew running for the GOP presidential nomination.

When did Michael Bloomberg switch back from being an independent and enter the race? He didn’t. The Jewish candidate, according to Romney’s fundraisers, is Michele Bachmann. But she’s not Jewish.

The story from the Daily Mail:

Bachmann has repeatedly spoken about her stay on a Kibbutz in Israel in 1974 when she was a teenager.

She told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee last year: ‘I am a Christian, but I consider my heritage Jewish, because it is the foundation, the roots of my faith as a Christian.’

A Bachmann campaign spokesman told the New York Post that the congresswoman from Minnesota is doing well in the Jewish community because of ‘her strong support of the nation of Israel’, not because of confusion over her religion.

Read the rest here.

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September 3, 2011 | 3:41 pm

Tony Blair’s sister-in-law calls for destruction of Israel

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Christmas dinner must be really awkward in the Blair household.

There’s Tony Blair, who was the British prime minister at the time of the invasion of Iraq and now is a Mideast envoy working for peace between Israelis and Palestinians. There’s also Blair’s sister-in-law. Though I suspect she doesn’t celebrate Christmas, Laura Booth is a convert to Islam who wants Blair tried for war crimes for the invasion of Iraq. If that isn’t enough, Booth is also urging Muslims from countries surrounding Israel to invade and “liberate” Jerusalem.

Here is the story from Arutz Sheva:

Booth went on another rant against Israel. “We say here today to you, Israel, we see your crimes and we loathe your crimes. And to us your nation does not exist, because it is a criminal injustice against humanity. We want to see Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt go to the borders and stop this now. Liberate Al Quds! March to Al Quds!”

Read the rest here.

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September 1, 2011 | 4:09 pm

Israel’s Gaza blockade was legal but still draws blame

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

This just in at JewishJournal.com:

A long-awaited U.N. report on a May 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound ship that killed nine Turks says that Israel’s blockade of the Gaza Strip was legal, the New York Times reported on Thursday.

The report by a panel of investigators, which was due to be released on Friday but was leaked in full to the Times, also said that Israeli commandos faced “organized and violent resistance from a group of passengers.”

It also had some criticism of Israel. It said the amount of force used by the Israelis on board the Mavi Marmara, the largest in a flotilla of six ships that the crew said were delivering aid to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, was “excessive and unreasonable.”

Read the rest here.

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