Ick of the week

An Oregon State University student walked into a police sting when he entered the house of a “13-year-old girl” he had been chatting with online, ostensibly for sex. The young teenager was in fact officers from the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, OSU’s Daily Barometer reported.

In what seems like an unorthodox police procedure, the 26-year-old student, who lives in an OSU residence hall, was tasered while trying to escape from police, charged with Attempted Sodomy II among other things and hustled before a television crew to be interviewed within a few minutes of his arrest.

He was arrested along with six other men as they showed up at a prearranged location for um, gatherings that had been discussed in online chat rooms.

It just goes to show the Internet can be a dangerous place for innocents and perverts alike — you never know who you’re chatting with.

Worship the weed

Cannabis users have a new reason to rejoice: His name is Craig X Rubin, he’s the author of a book called 9021Grow and he’s the head of a Hollywood-based religious institution called Temple 420.

According to an interview Rubin gave the UCLA Daily Bruin, there are 12 religious organizations in the country that use dope for religious purposes. His church, which teaches Christian beliefs while marijuana burns from the altar, convenes Saturdays and Sundays at — you guessed it — 4:20 p.m.

Rubin told the Bruin he believes marijuana is what is referred to in Revelation 22 as “the leaves of the tree,” which the New International Version of the Bible says are for “the healing of all nations.”

Unlike holy water, however, Rubin doesn’t just give his sacrament away. Church members, of whom there are about 400, pay a $100 fee to join and another $100 each year in dues.

Church members say Rubin’s teachings (not to mention the grass) have opened their eyes to new opportunities. One churchgoer is quoted in the Bruin as saying Rubin has inspired him to start working at the local YMCA “in child care.”

Police, of course, are dubious of Rubin’s religion. After Temple 420 was busted last year, Rubin and his church await the results of a trial that pits his beliefs against state law.

Rubin, who may be protected by a New Mexico court decision that set a precedent allowing the use of Schedule 1 hallucinogens for religious purposes, says the prosecution doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

Hallelujah.

Got tenure?

What do you do if you’re an MIT professor who has been denied tenure for what you believe are reasons of racial prejudice and you think you’ve exhausted every course of action there is?

Apparently you launch a hunger strike outside the door of the university provost’s office. At least, that’s the solution James L. Sherley, an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT came up with.

Sherley, who began his hunger strike Feb. 5, told The MIT Tech he plans to ingest nothing but water, electrolytes and vitamin supplements until MIT’s provost resigns, Sherley’s tenure is granted and MIT acknowledges that it used race as a factor to deny his application for tenure in mid-December.

The MIT administration issued a statement saying it respects Sherley’s right to slowly starve to death and has urged the campus community not to interfere.

Stay tuned.