Get your hands on a bunch of vuvuzelas, pass them out to the counter protesters and drown them out.

quote Originally posted by Tony Kania: Flamberge.... I always enjoy your honesty.

Thanks Tony, but I don't think that would make a very good anti-protest sign.

The Westboro idiots would be scratching their heads and thinking "Who is Flamberge?"

Why don’t you get some nose plugs, fill your pockets with limburger cheese, road kill and whatever else you can find in the local dumpster? Also make sure you eat a lot of beans.

And then go stand in the middle of the Westboro group.

quote Originally posted by Flamberge: "Legion would be proud of Westboro"

What's wrong with Legion?

I would like to stand there with a sign apologizing for their (Westboro's) actions, then, at the right moment beat the **** out of each and every one of them.

Brad

ugh sickening... paintball gun maybe?

This just in, Supreme Court leaning towards supporting Westboro.

In my mind, the rights of one individual end where another's rights begin. If your rights are trampling on my rights, then your rights must yield to mine.

An example is playing music at level 10 at 2 in the morning in your apartment with the door and windows open. You don't have a right to do that because even though you are expressing "free speech" (somehow), you are disturbing the peace.

Westboro clearly does not obey the spirit of the law, but then again why should they? They wouldn't know what the spirit of anything good is if it walked on water.

May be a little late on this but it has more background on the case than the link above.

Westboro Baptist Church to Defend Military Funeral Protests Before High Court
http://www.foxnews.com/poli...protests-high-court/

quote For parishioners of the Westboro Baptist Church, Wednesday's case at the Supreme Court is more than an hour of legal debate over the constitutionality of military funeral protests; it will also mark the end of their "I-70 GodSmack Tour" of protests across the country. The group's last picket before they arrive at the court is scheduled to happen earlier in the morning at Arlington National Cemetery. For many, the idea of protesting at any funeral -- let alone one for a member of the military -- is abhorrent, yet members of the Westboro Church proudly boast of having held more than 44,000 pickets at funerals and other events. They also strongly defend their First Amendment right to protest. "This case is about a little church in Topeka, Kansas, engaging in public speech on a public right-of-way, about issues of vital public interest and importance," lawyer Margie Phelps wrote to the court defending the protests. She is also the daughter of church founder Fred Phelps and will argue the case before the justices. Westboro's website says the legal dispute is about the "sovereignty of the Living God" and that those who fail to live up to God's standards should be punished. Phelps explains that their decision to picket funerals "is to use an available public platform, when the living contemplate death, to deliver the message that there is a consequence for sin." That sin in their view is homosexuality and all government policies they think support homosexuals. "I want them to stop doing this to our military men and women," Synder said on Fox and Friends, Tuesday morning. "I want the judges to hear that this case is not about free speech, it's about targeted harassment." In the days leading up to the funeral, Westboro parishioners, including Fred Phelps, notified local authorities of their intention to picket the service. They were kept 1,000 feet away from the church and because of the use of an alternative entrance for church-goers there was no disruption to the memorial. Seven protestors held numerous signs including some that read, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," "God Hates Fags," and "You're Going to Hell." There were no arrests. Snyder filed a lawsuit against Phelps based on the protest and a subsequent post on the Westboro website about his son Matthew. "[Albert Snyder] became violently ill at the sight of the Phelpses' website and whose diabetes and depression worsened as a result of the Phelpses' intentionally harmful conduct," lawyer Sean Summers wrote to the court. A jury awarded Snyder nearly $11 million in damages for the intentional infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy. That award was later cut in half and last year the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeal set aside the decision in its entirety ruling that the protests were absolutely protected by the First Amendment. The Supreme Court is reticent to curtail free speech rights. Earlier this year, the court ruled 8-1 that a federal law cracking down on violent animal fighting videos was unconstitutional. Though in 2004, the court by a 5-4 margin ruled that cross burning is not a form of protected speech. If the justices don't resolve the case on lesser technical matters, they will need to address the First Amendment conflict between the church-goers free speech rights and the free exercise and peaceful assembly protections for the father. "The Phelpses' freedom of speech should have ended where it conflicted with Mr. Snyder's freedom to participate in his son's funeral, which was intended to be a solemn religious gathering," Summers told the court. "The Constitution is imperiled if a subjective claim of outrage can be used to penalize into silence speech that does not make false statements of fact, uttered in public arenas on public issues," Rebecca Phelps wrote in her response that is also noteworthy for its personal attacks on Albert Snyder. A group of 21 news organizations joined a brief defending Westboro's case. While calling their views "inexplicable and hateful," they express concern that a ruling against the church will chill the activities of anyone who wants to speak out on a controversial issue and "threatens to expand dramatically the risk of liability for news media coverage and commentary." One of the media groups that joined the brief is Dow Jones whose parent company also owns Fox News. A bipartisan group of senators including Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., joined in their own brief supporting Snyder. They argue that the church members are "free to convey their repugnant message in virtually any public manner they choose. But they were not free to hijack [Matthew Snyder's] private funeral as a vehicle for expression of their own hate." All nine justices will hear Wednesday's case. Their opinion is not likely to come out before year's end.

I read about the court cases this morning. Just how can any human defend them?

Thanks for the links guys. I will catch up on my reading a little later. Right now I need a shower. I smell like lindberg.

I'm watching the Niteline's story on them, I had no idea that they were traveling with little children. If nothing else the kids should be taken away since the expected violence could harm them. Child endangerment.

Brad

If hate group uses law, why don't we?

BY MITCH ALBOM
FREE PRESS COLUMNIST

One day, God will deal with the screaming hatemongers from the Westboro Baptist Church. Until then, we'll have to deal with them down here.

Which may mean changing laws, modifying laws and rewriting laws. If that sounds like a lot of work, it is. And if common decency prevailed, we wouldn't have to do it.

But there is nothing decent about screaming, "God hates you!" at the funeral of a dead soldier. There is nothing decent about waving signs such as "Thank God for 9/11" or going on TV and radio claiming God hates America and that "one of His weapons of choice is sending your children home dead from the battle."

Decency is a struggle these days. You could see it when the Supreme Court heard a case this past week involving the Westboro folks -- who do all of the above around the country -- and the father of a dead soldier.

Initially, the father, Albert Snyder, was awarded more than $10 million in damages from Westboro for its actions at his son Matthew's funeral in Westminster, Md. A judge cut the amount in half, an appeals court overturned the decision altogether and this past week, the case was before the highest court in the land.

And while the justices winced at the Westboro ugliness, you could tell they were squirming. It is hard to stop these funeral protests while protecting our cherished principles of free speech and the First Amendment.

My guess is they won't be able to.

So we must.
Rights of the few and the many

Maybe the most offensive thing about Westboro (and that's saying something) is that while the folks condemn this country and claim God hates it, they use its laws to protect themselves. The only thing keeping them from being murdered without punishment is our laws. The only thing keeping them from a swift arrest and life in a cell is our laws. The only thing allowing their vile signs and disgusting declarations is our laws.

And if we can't change the big ones that protect us all -- such as the First Amendment -- perhaps we can change some small ones that affect just them.

Why not a law that bans protests at funerals within 10 miles of a cemetery? That may seem over the top, but no more so than fanatics soiling the saddest day in a family's lives.

Imagine the Westboro folks stuck on a street corner 10 miles away. They'd get no attention -- which is all they are after. My guess is they soon would drop the practice. Meanwhile, who would challenge such a law? How many groups really want to protest a funeral? Before Westboro came along, it was almost never an issue. That's because people had the decency, no matter how much the dead might be hated, to allow mourners their moment to bury and grieve.

That moment is worth protecting, far more than the hatemongers who would desecrate it.
Just no sense of decency

And that, I'm afraid, is the direction we're going. With the Internet, YouTube and 24-hour news, behavior has sprung up that our forefathers never anticipated. Common decency was common back then. It is in shatters now.

Small laws may be the only way to curtail the lunatic fringe. Remember, the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, located in Topeka, Kan., are mostly relatives from a single family. They are not affiliated with other Baptist churches. They are vehemently antigay, anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic -- pretty much anti-anything they aren't. They protest soldiers' funerals out of some convoluted logic that the military supports homosexuality -- even when the dead soldiers weren't gay.

They may, in our freedom-birthed society, be entitled to their opinions, but that doesn't mean they get a license to express them anywhere. States already have adopted laws pushing their protests back 500 feet or more. Why stop there? Ten miles. Make it no chance a grieving father, wife or child could see these idiots en route to a grave.

Of course, the Westboro members won't like it. But then, they can blame it on a country they hate. Or they can leave. Thanks to our laws, they are free to do that anytime.

Contact MITCH ALBOM: 313-223-4581 or malbom@freepress.com. Catch "The Mitch Albom Show" 5-7 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). www.freep.com/mitch.

anything happen?

quote Originally posted by Gokart Mozart: anything happen?

Bump. And here is another one, but turned out slightly better for the family.

These idiots are planning a protest here in Orlando on the 29th. They plan to protest at one of the High Schools and the shuttle launch.
http://www.cfnews13.com/art...le-Endeavours-launch

quote ORLANDO -- The Westboro Baptist Church, known for its controversial protests against homosexuality and military funerals, said it is taking its message to Central Florida. The church announced two protests on Friday, April 29: One at Dr. Phillips High School, and one near the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. April 29 is the day space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to launch, and church members said they are protesting U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, who is expected to be in attendance as her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, flies to the International Space Station. Giffords was shot in the head in January's tragic shootings in Arizona. But the Westboro Baptist Church, on its website, claimed God sent the accused shooter, Jared Loughner, to punish America, and Giffords, for the country's sins. Earlier that day, the church said it will be in Orlando to hold a protest outside Dr. Phillips High School. Church members said the school is full of "brutish teachers" and "hateful parents" who have "broken the moral compass of this generation," and promised to bring "truth to students." That protest is scheduled to begin at 6:50 a.m., as students arrive on campus. Orange County School officials said Orlando police have been notified about the protest.

I don't know who's message they think they are spreading, it certainly isn't from Jesus or God.

[This message has been edited by avengador1 (edited 04-12-2011).]