Marty! wrote: Hopefully this will get some sort of response among the elite to get these whack jobs stopped.
This is the most dangerous possible outcome. You can bet that somewhere in the power structure there is an opportunist licking his chops at idea of suppressing this guy with law. Like it or not - if you stop them you have put a measure in place that disarms free speech for everyone.
Hell, maybe that IS their end game.
aircooled wrote: We need a button for this...
Nuke them from orbit. It's the only way to be sure.
EvanB wrote: A church, they aren't all the same...
Pssst...
It's the all the same guy in the end
They just don't want to admit it.
Just recently they went to protest a soldier funeral here in Higginsville, Mo. Just east of KC. They got escorted out before the family even showed up. Other members of the community showed up before they did, and as the church group got out of the van, they became surrounded by the other community group. The cops showed up in case things got out of hand. I had a good laugh seeing their failed attempt that day.
Edit to correct name of town.
How about we just buy all the WBC nuts plane tickets to Mecca, Beijing, or Tehran. I'm sure they can find something to protest there, and I'd like to see how well that goes over.
Or perhaps someone could just tell the ATF that this bunch has some illegal guns at their church.
People protesting the funeral of the soldier who has earned them the very freedom to protest makes me a sad panda.
They're handling them fine so far. Isolate them and drown out their speech. Don't have to interfere. Too bad you can't handle them like we handle the KKK down here: Ignore them. They protested once in Canton some years ago: downtown Canton shut down. Only people there were news guys.
Where's my shotgun?
Of course, I kid. I would never ever hurt these people. I would never ever increase the lead content of their chest cavities and/or skulls. That is my least favorite thing to do.
several have opined that to shut them down would necessitate doing away with the RIGHT to free speech for everyone... I'm not really sure that's the case... there are examples a-plenty.. the first that comes to mind is: it's against the law to yell "FIRE" in a crowded theater ... if you even so much as whisper your thoughts about how to kill the pres. when he comes to your home town.. forget habeas-corpus, you going to be in jail for the duration if not longer
if any of you try to use the "N" word where some ACLU type can hear you, you'll most likely be arrested for some form of hate crime....
I'm sure some of the more research minded on this forum can find many more examples where "free speech" is limited...
so there probably is some way to stop them, just so far no one has dug deeply enough to find it... and as was pointed out earlier this is a very high profile political figure (at least wife of) not a joe-blow nobody (I'm not being disrespectful to the soldiers these whack jobs have protested before)... some one will find a way
What they need is more ridicule (some raw language):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8cN2pB3MCE
That was followed shortly by this sermon, though:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bll_x2eUZ_U
I've heard a lot of my fellow lefties claim that they're funded by some colossal right-wing conspiracy, but that's absolute nonsense. They've discovered a way to make money-by suing anyone who takes action against their idiocy. Here's one case where Westboro was actually allowed to ask for legal fees (even though many Westboro principals are lawyers, and they don't have to actually hire any lawyers) from some poor guy who was trying to take them to task for chooing his own son's funeral to disrupt.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/03/31/2010-03-31_bill_oreilly_helps_albert_snyder_after_weird_westboro_baptist_church_protests_hi.html
Yeah, they never win cases, but when a case isn't heard, legal fees are split. And again, since Westboro doesn't have to hire lawyers from outside their "church", they use this money to continue to travel elsewhere, attract more lawsuits (which are again, never heard in a courtroom if they're run far enough up the appeals system) , and make more money.
Disgusting little parasites, they are.
Twin_Cam wrote: Where's my shotgun? Of course, I kid. I would never ever hurt these people. I would never ever increase the lead content of their chest cavities and/or skulls. That is my least favorite thing to do.
Of course you kid! Lead shot is getting really hard to find; you'd be increasing the steel content of their brainpans...although THAT'S hard to believe too....
There were some rumblings that they'd show up for a soldier's funeral here in Colstrip. I think they discovered that 1) Colstrip is a fair piece off the beaten track, 2) lots of folks here carry rifles in their rigs, 3) most of the town would be showing up for the funeral because said soldier was a good kid who had made lots of friends, and 4), they would not be well received in any sense. There is absolutely no sympathy locally for their cause, none.
Edwards isn't the first high-profiler they've picketed. They picketed Barry Goldwater's funeral years ago. Back then, they had only risen to the level of disgusting oddity. Most folks didn't know who they were.
What they SHOULD be doing is picketing John Edwards continuing to be a douchebag.
no mention of any disruption by the douche bags at EE's funeral ... did they actually show up ?
In reply to wbjones:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/12/11/edwards.funeral/index.html
The "public" mourners included several hundred people who packed a balcony inside the church, as well another 150 supporters who gathered a few blocks away from the church for a counter-demonstration against a group of picketers from the controversial Westboro Baptist Church.
The Kansas-based congregation is known for its extremist opposition against homosexuals, Jews and other groups and regularly holds protests at funerals for fallen U.S. service members, saying the war's dead are God's punishment for the country tolerating gays and lesbians.
In the end, only five Westboro congregants showed for the protest, which took place in a cold, steady rain.
this was datelined Raleigh on the 7th :
"Westboro's announcement of the picket also claims that God hates Edwards and that she is dead because she thought she could control God."
with their protesting about homosexuals, Jew, etc.... and with what I know about Elizabeth Edwards (whether I agree or disagree with her politicly, doesn't matter) I really can't see where God would hate her and her cancer was caused because she thought she could control God...
I'm surprised a vet with PTSD hasn't shown up at a buddy's funeral and off'd a bunch of them.
Wait for them to die and protest (preferably do worse than that) at thier funerals.
mpolans wrote: I'm surprised a vet with PTSD hasn't shown up at a buddy's funeral and off'd a bunch of them.
I am a vet and I do have PTSD! And if I could, I would be there to try and prevent the buddy from "off'd a bunch of them." This vet at least, feels the sacrifices of all vets for over 200 years would go to naught if we tried to censor even the most horrendous act of political or religious free speech.
I triangle fold my flag, don't fly it after dark, & when it is too worn, it goes to the Boy Scouts for an honorable disposal. Yet, If need be, I would help defend a flag burner from the arm chair "patriots" who don't understand how fragile our rights are! In fact that flag burner and the arm chair "patriots" are among those I did help defend.
Will wrote: How about we just buy all the WBC nuts plane tickets to Mecca, Beijing, or Tehran. I'm sure they can find something to protest there, and I'd like to see how well that goes over. Or perhaps someone could just tell the ATF that this bunch has some illegal guns at their church. People protesting the funeral of the soldier who has earned them the very freedom to protest makes me a sad panda.
People protesting at a soldier's funeral makes me very sad too. I hope they don't do it at mine. But that right which you and I also share, is worth the death of every veteran who has fought or been killed earning that very freedom to protest.
If they show up at my funeral, I hope my friends and family will leave them alone. We all will then still share that right!
I will only say this.. when the founder of that church dies.. I will gladly drive to Kansas to proest and exercise my rights
mad_machine wrote: I will only say this.. when the founder of that church dies.. I will gladly drive to Kansas to proest and exercise my rights
Turn-about is fair play. I would hold a gay pride berkeley fest outside their church every Sunday if wasn't so busy not giving a E36 M3 and ignoring them.
for those who have not seen it..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVb0ifzw4d4
and Micheal Moore's Gay Freedom Riders http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra_fAYl4Th4
MM brings a bus full of gay guys to make out infront of phelps.
A protest is usually trying to make a change. Are they against her being dead? Do they hope to petition the lord to bring her back?
(I know Doors fans, YOU CANNOT PETITION THE LORD!!!)
Another thing to think about..the only scientific study I can find about homophobia seems to show that the old urban legend about homophobes being "closet gays" actually might have some evidence behind it.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8772014
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