Pubdate: Sat, 26 Sep 2015
Source: Trentonian, The (NJ)
Column: NJ Weedman's Passing the Joint
Copyright: 2015 The Trentonian
Contact:  http://www.trentonian.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1006
Author: Ed Forchion, NJWeedman.com For The Trentonian

WHAT A TRIP: CHRISTIE'S HYPOCRISY AND THE UNION OF CHURCH AND STATE

I hear the Pentagon ordered Gov. Christie to tell his National Guard 
commander to lose weight. At first I thought it was an Internet hoax, 
then I had to take a couple bong rips to stop laughing so hard. Ummm, 
can you say "Pot, meet the kettle." The late-night TV hosts have had 
a ball with this one.

I can only take that as a funny scenario. Is it political or 
intentional? As far as timing goes it was perfect - right in the 
middle of his presidential campaign. I'm with the "just say no to 
Christie" pot-smoking crowd.

You see, just as the president is "commander in chief" of the U.S. 
Military, the governors of each state are the "commanders in chief" 
of their respective state's National Guard units, thus Gov. Christie 
is the civilian boss of Brig. Gen. Michael Cunniff - commander of the 
New Jersey National Guard. But even the state's national guardsmen 
must meet minimum U.S. military standards, and Gen. Cunniff failed 
his last known physical then hid this fact from Gov. Christie and 
avoided numerous other physical tests. The Pentagon contacted 
Christie and told him to order his fellow chubby-buddy to lose 
weight. Just when you thought the Christie sideshow couldn't get any better!

Closing a bridge to punish a Democrat for not supporting him, giving 
billions to Exxon, making stupid remark after stupid remark about 
marijuana, and now this - being ordered to tell someone else to lose 
weight as he's still overweight himself.

"The Governor has expressed directly to the General that his failure 
to meet that standard or to provide notification of his formal 
reprimand is both unacceptable and disappointing," Christie spokesman 
Kevin Roberts said in an emailed statement. "The governor has given 
Cunniff 90 days to slim down and meet his obligations," Roberts wrote.

Now normally I don't fat shame; I don't make fun of fat people, 
especially women - I'm a chubby chaser. I admit, I love them big 
girls, so I personally don't want to offend any biguns by publically 
fat shaming anyone.

But I have a Christie exemption to this rule: He's fair game, because 
to him I'm fair game - for using marijuana. In the past I have in 
jest invited him down to my shop to have a healthy salad, and I've 
also renamed my Jive Turkey burger The Christie after him.

But in this instance I'm just opining on a current political news story.

The pope is in the country, and the country is going insane. I admit 
I don't get it. He's a man, not a walking deity. I know there are 
many who will resent what I'm about to say, but so what - I've said 
saner things and been jailed for it.

The very first thing the Founding Fathers of this country did was 
protect the secular institution of government with the First 
Amendment: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of 
religion." This whole treatment seems like a colossal violation of 
that. Is the pope the leader of the U.S. government, too?

It sure appears to me that our government has chosen one religion 
above others. The pope is traveling between Washington DC, 
Philadelphia, and New York City, and local governments as well as our 
federal government are spending tens of millions of dollars for this 
"religious event."

Personally, I wish the cash spent on the pope would have been spent 
on the inner cities of the cities he's visiting.

I wonder if any non-Christian government employees are refusing to 
participate, like that village idiot in Kentucky did earlier this 
month: County clerk Kim Davis refused to issue marriage licenses in 
same-sex relationships. "I can't put my name on a license that 
doesn't represent what God ordained marriage to be," Davis told ABC 
News's Paula Faris.

So many Republican types think she was right - I have my own opinions 
on same-sex marriage, but this lady is whacky. Republican 
presidential candidate former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee actually 
championed that nut. That was worst than Christie's anti-marijuana 
rhetoric, and coming from me, NJWeedman, that's bad.

If I took a government job then I wouldn't bring in my own religious 
beliefs to dictate what I did as a government employee. Really, I 
wouldn't give everyone this Ganja I'm smoking now as a mandate to 
share the herb as my religious belief. All smoke aside, imagine a 
Quaker getting a government job dealing with weapons and then 
refusing to enforce any gun laws because of his religious beliefs 
against violence and he considers guns in violation of that. Or a 
Muslim Motor Vehicle Agency employee refusing to handle any documents 
with unveiled women pictured on them.

If any pothead gets the chance to ask the pope a question, I suggest 
you ask him if Genesis 1, verses 11 12, would also include the herb Cannabis?

There's nothing I can do to avoid this weekend's chaos but go to 
Boston and enjoy myself at the Boston Freedom Rally one of the oldest 
marijuana-legalization events in the country. There will be a cloud 
of freedom hanging over the Boston Commons this weekend, while 
traffic smog will be lingering between D.C., Philadelphia, and NYC.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom