Anti-gay protesters taunt war mom

This group has a screw loose. This is not a first amendment right issue it is a moral and respect issue for the families morning their loved ones. We have become a country that protects exceptions and turns a blind eye to the vast majorities. How can that be?! How could a parent, relative, or friend of these dicks not put a stop to their outragious behavior. I think this is disorderly conduct no more no less. They should be treated like the scum they are. The ******* who is directing this should be arrested for inciting civil disobedience.
Jim

Tell Jimmy Carter

Did he protest at funerals? I'm not up to speed on that, so you'll have to enlighten me.

I agree with Father Knows Best. I don't agree with their message, but I do believe they have a right to say/yell/scream it. I just think they're incredibly disrespectful, and they discredit themselves every time they do something like that.

I didn't say illegal, just 'bad.' The nationwide reporters on the Westside shooting that showed up in Arkansas and set up cameras in a ditch across from the funeral home to catch glimpses of the families as they left, just left a bad taste in my mouth for that kind of thing. Luckily it wasn't me trying to block the 'church group.' I doubt I'd have been able to take THR.

jmm

These idiots showed up at the miners' funerals at Sago, WV. I never even saw a mention of them in the news until weeks later. Media finally did something right. Don't guess any one actually came into the area with kansas tag on a vehicle. Sure wouldn't have wanted to be a tourist from Kansas who just happened to be in the area at the time!

Stay safe.
Bob

See the hypocrites pray on the sidewalk, where men might see them.


What kind of sick twit tries to upset a grieving mother and father at the funeral of their child?

Jim
Couldn't their conduct be prosecuted as disturbing the peace?
Biker

No one has a right to protest at a funeral. Let them protest somewhere else. If one could just call the police to disperse them or load them in a paddy-wagon, there would be no need for "chicklets on the ground."

It was not gay protestors. It was anti-gay protestors.

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Actually, they are anti-homosexual protestors. "Gay" is a synonym for "happy."

I don't really like Michael Moore, but so far he's the only one with guts enough to put these morons down.

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Michael Moore has no guts, only a lot of nerve and a bundle of insecurities. Okay, he's got a good-sized gut, but he's no more gutsy than the annoying kid who seeks attention by defaming his obvious betters. Has the NRA revoked his membership yet?

What kind of sick twit tries to upset a grieving mother and father at the funeral of their child?

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I dont know, but the best night I ever spent in jail would be for beating one of those twits up.

+1 They aren't Christians, regardless of how they spin themselves.

our local radio talk show

has this clown on from time to time just to let him spout off and prove what an idiot he really is.

Freedom of speech--put him on every channel at 6 o'clock and let him showcase his idiocy to everyone.

Fifteen minutes of fame ought to solve that problem.

Biker it is open to interpertation. Depends on the local ordinance or state statutes. I for one would certainly try it. I think it meets elements of several misdomenour crimes. Only way to tell for sure is to make the arrest and let the court rule. Either way if each city did this they would soon have to have some sponsers or stay home. I can't believe some DA who has political asperations has not tried this yet. It will come.
Jim

Direct action...

I just paypal'ed the Patriot Guard Riders some gas money. Seems a worthwhile use of the funds.

migoi

jondar said:

Everybody says they would do something about it but nobody does. that is except Michael Moore. He showed up trying to interview Fred, the patriarch of the Phelps clan, and Fred just fed him the same old fire and brimstone idiocy. So Michael brought in a busload of gay men, each man stationed himself at a buswindow and at a signal from Michael each man dropped his pants and mooned the whole Phelps clan. The whole clan, including Fred, vacated soon afterward. I don't really like Michael Moore, but so far he's the only one with guts enough to put these morons down.

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If I were caught between MM & this Phelps creature, my Despise-O-Meter would just about burst.

But, in the above case, I give two cheers for MM & the homosexual guys who showed Phelps the respect he deserves.

And I thank the Almighty for http://www.patriotguard.org/ & groups like them.

I just emailed the head of my state's contingent and offered to send him a check or money order for his next tank of gas. Apart from any of the political or social issues concerning the war in Iraq, gay rights, etc., it just strikes me as unconscionably cruel...inexplicably evil, really, to taunt grieving friends and family at a funeral, particularly a military funeral. So the Patriot Guard Riders have my utmost respect and admiration.

Former President Carter never disrupted funerals by screaming abuse at the family of the deceased. At worst he made a political statement, not terribly unwelcome by the participants, that you happen to disagree with.

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First off I never said I disagreed with what he said, I do but that is besides the point, what I disagree with was that he did it at a funeral, I personally don't believe that a funeral is the place for ANY political message, right or left. Although you are right, what Former President Carter did was not nearly the scale of what these people are doing.

A funeral should NEVER be the place for protesters of any type....

No matter the politics, religion, sexual proclivity, or other factor of the deceased the mourning family should not have to endure such disrespect.

It never fails to amaze me to see how stupid some groups can be.

Good for the Patriot Guard Riders... Wonderful idea!

JMOFO

JP

nfl1990, I'm afraid you are still several degrees off course. Carter was invited to give a speech by the family of the deceased. He gave one which had political content, which they probably agreed with and he almost certainly vetted with them beforehand. The differences between that and disrupting funerals to cause maximum pain to the bereaved shouldn't even require pointing out.

Funerals should never be political? You probably didn't rise up in protest when Saint Ronald the First, Our Messiah and King Forever was buried. The politics was so thick you could hardly cut it with a chainsaw. Funerals of prominent political figures always take on political tones - look at Northern Ireland or Ramallah. Heck, start with famous lines like "Friends, Romans, Countrymen. Lend me your ears...." The difference is who is invited to be there and who is defecating in the punchbowl.

Another voice of reason from a fellow northwesterner.



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Re: Fred Phelps

1. Who someone chooses to have sex with isn't my, yours, or the governement's problem, as long as the sex is consesual. I'm not gay, because men don't turn me on. But if they do, and your partner as well, where is the harm to me or mine?

2. Subjecting the family of a dead <whoever> to unneeded pain and suffering to make a political point is simply disgusting. Phelps and his ilk deserve whatever reprisals come thier way. If ignoring these people until they shut up and go away works, then that's what should be done. But if someone decides to kick Fred Phelp's slimeball a$$, you'ld be hard-pressed to find a jury to convict them. I sure wouldn't.

Re: The funerals of Coretta King / Paul Wellstone / Ronald Regan

These were politcal people. Regardless of your opinion of thier opinions, their ilves were lived in the furtherance of those opinions. To celebrate their lives without celebrating their opinions would be, at best, shallow and meek. It's only those who violently disagree with the policies and values they lived for who can be offended at an expression of support for those values at their memorials. I am no fan of Ronald Reagan. But nothing said at his funeral struck me as inappropriate. His ideas were out there for everyone to see, and he spent his life pushing them. To espouse those ideas at his funeral is to memorialize that which he lived for. No higher tribute could be paid, IMHO. It also matters that, in all of these cases, the family of the deceased were supporting the people who made political speeches on the side of the dead's ideals. The grieving weren't offended, why should anyone else be?

--Shannon

Does anyone know if there is a legal defense fund for the Dodge county, WI sheriff that socked one of these Westboro degenerates?

Truly dispicable that people can twist the 1st Amendment and denounce the very county that gives them the right to "free speech" at a funeral for a fallen heroe. I don't see how these protests can help their cause. It's a shame civility as left the modern political scene.

Jim
Couldn't their conduct be prosecuted as disturbing the peace?
Biker

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Unfortunatly this is a very hard sell. Phelps is a hatefull moron, but his protests are clearly political and religious in nature, that makes them the most protected type of speach.

For example, simply making noise can (and is) charged as a disturbance, but when it turns into speach that has a political/religious meaning it becomes sancrosanct.

Technically speaking the patriot guard could more easily be charged with disturbing the peace than the Phelps idiots. This is one place where a little bit of enforcement discretion (sp) is a nice thing to have.

These idiots just make me sick. Worse yet, they feed the political media meat grinder with their hate. Nothing sells to the media like hate-spewing "Christians". (Edited after PP's excellent point below to point out .... These goofballs ain't Christians if we're talking about the same Christ.)

And as much as I am sickened by their message...isn't there a better place than the funerals of soldiers to make their inane point?

I believe we will have a lot more folks joining the Patriot Guard Riders if these idiots keep it up. That group seems like a great grassroots flashpoint for a more realistic politicial movement than anything we have today.

Readyontheright, I do not know about you but I think the word "christian" is not one that can really apply to these people. I have seen the word used to justify alot of bad things but wouldn't this behavior be more "anti-christian" if you take into account the true preachings of the religion. I myself am not a christian and have had a bad taste left in my mouth by many things the major churchs has done but this is even beyond what they would be willing to do. i think it has less to dowith religion and more to do with wanting to pick a fight and maybe get some money out of someone...maybe even sue the state if one of them gets injured.