http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/31/funeral.protests.ap/index.html

Fina-****ing-ly.

I can only hope this bankrupts the church.

$10.9 million?

And while I think these people are scum, if they are on public property and aren't in direct disturbance of a private event, there's not a very good case against them. Harassment, hate speech, and defamation are, however, arguable cases.

Funerals are a private event, cemeteries aren't public property (owned and controlled by a church/city/state).

But if they were on a sidewalk away from the home, and weren't in earshot of the event, then they weren't invading on a private event.

Kirby, don't even try. This has been a long time in coming. 10 million is too low.

Those douchebags deserve to have every cent stripped from them.

I do not agree with what they have to say, but I'll defend to my death their right to say it.

Okay, that's cute.

Nobody is saying they can't say it.

People are saying they cannot say it in inappropriate places. The right to free speech is not absolute just like any other right.

Inappropriate places is too vague of a concept. A civil dispute about personal damages ammounting to 10.9 million dollars seems a little radical for an inappropriate picketing. That is, given they were a certain distance away from the private property, and weren't causing a direct disturbance to the event, or harassing its attendees.

I just don't want to go witch hunting because someone finally punished them. The problem here is that no one agrees with what they're saying, so their right to speech is a lot more threatened than yours or mine. If they weren't breaking laws, and were simply demonstrating, there's not a lot you or I can do as far as the law is concerned.

Personally, I'd see using the term "***" in a hateful manner as hate speech, and some of their slogans as invitations to violence. Not to mention, the way they protest at funerals could very easily be recognized as a threat. I think claiming your God is going to strike down anyone, or did strike down anyone in particular is pre-meditated 3rd degree murder, or at least accessory. That's a stretch of the law, but if you recognize God as a real being, and recognize that he kills people and you think it's ok, then you're an accessory to murder, in my book. Especially if you pray for that kind of a thing.

Let's face it though, people have been gunning after the westboro baptist church since the beginning. They found a way through the law to sue them in a legal manner, but simply because they disagreed with what they said.

I still want to hit them with a bus.

Hopefuly this forces them to break up that scary *** compound thing they got going on. Lest we have another waco.

For ****s sake though, someone needs to get their children away from them.

No, they disagreed with the manner they said it in.

The case would have held no water if they tried to sue over an internet site.

I don't think that protesting someone's funeral should be protected speech. It's one of those things that just isn't right.

I'd like to see someone remove psycho religious people's kids from their homes, but the definition of psycho is too vague. But honesty, some people need to just not reproduce.

I can't believe you're more or less defending the phelps.

:/

You might as well defend carpking's hentai child porn collection. LOL SPEACH SHOULD BE PROTECTED, ESCPEIALLY AT THE EXPENSSE OF OTHERS

Wow that's the worst comparison ever.

That's like saying we should build a wildlife preserve for Robs if we are going to save the Bald Eagles.

Yes I just compared you to hentai child porn.

Yeah, like 80% of the US population.

I'm not saying it's right, I'm just saying they have the right to say it. We absolutely can't start saying which speech is "right" and "wrong", it goes against everything we stand for as a nation.

It was the idea that society would decide what speech was right and wrong.

Society has decided that these douches deserve poverty.

Yep. That's the whole point of free speech. If someone can regulate it, it can be regulated for bad just as easily as for good, and almost certainly will be.

The idea of course, is that people are allowed to make their ideas available to people if they want to hear them. It doesn't guarantee that you can express them in any way or place you desire. That's why I hate people using the first amendment to defend violent video games or porn. While it would be pointless or stupid to do so, and there are plenty of reasons not to, the first amendment doesn't really apply.

These people have a right to say what they say, but not at a funeral, and not in a manor that constantly harasses particular people.



Because we all know from history that society is a great at distinguishing good and bad speech. Didn't you just get done making a thread about how people didn't have a right not to be offended? If we did it your way, abolitionists would have found it nearly impossible to get support for ending slavery.

I can too say which speech is right and wrong.

That doesn't mean I can stop it. Or that I even want to. I do however want to limit the places people can spout hate speech. I am as opposed to having them protest funerals as I am allowing myself to protest on or near their churchgrounds.

"I thank God for all the freedoms we've got in this country. I cherish them. Even the rights to burn the flag. I'm proud of those rights. (Booing) I'll tell you what, we've also got, let me tell you something, shhhh.

We also got a right to bear arms and if you try to burn my flag I'll shoot ya."

-Johnny Cash




A haunted mansion?

What they are doing is harassment. They are infringing on the well being of those who are holding the funerals, and it's a fairly unique situation. What they do at those funerals which are traditionally hard times on families in general will go with the victims for the rest of their lives. The memories of lost loved ones will be irreversibly tainted, causing what I'd imagine some degree of mental anguish.

To those who are defending Westboro's right: are you really thinking? For the church to give individuals life-long scars with impunity is fundamentally wrong.

This has nothing to do with being offended.

It's about disrespect, and lunacy.

I don't care what a person did as a soldier Iraq or not, these people must seriously take for granted the blanket of freedom that is provided by our servicemen and women.

In the same way that it wouldn't be right and I probably wouldn't be allowed to burn a cross at an all black church in the south, you shouldn't be allowed to protest at a funeral with hate-speech. I mean seriously, have you ever really lost someone? Do you know what thats like? Do you really need some big group of *******s standing across the street telling you you're a *** lover and you're going to hell because your loved one is a *** lover?


I'd watch out forrest, your mama will die someday. Then maybe you'll know what it's like to lose someone.

no one asked you.

What branch of the military are you in?

Well said, Rob. You da man.

I believe he is part of the people's militia of the United States of America.

(counterargument) God loves everyone. (John 3:16)

Therefore, (theorem) cannot be true.

That church is only giving the Church (wider scope, as in all the Christian churches collectively) a bad name. I don't even know where they get "God hates fags" from, since it goes against about every part of the Bible. I believe God is credited with the death of some homosexuals in some Old Testament passages, but another passage makes it clear that God hates the sin, not the sinners.

Anyways there's probably a special place in Hell reserved for that church congregation. *sigh*

Mystic you are my favorite satire writer ever.

It sounds like rob's finding out what it's like to be offended.

You misunderstand completely, Rob. I think there are ways to make them stop what they're doing, but if they want to protest a mile out of eyeshot of the church, they should have a right to do so.

Also, you asked if we've lost someone: If Phelps was protesting a funeral of someone that I loved, I would ruin their faith by any means possible. I'd rather not go into detail, as it could be considered hate speech and I could get thrown in jail for terroristic threats. Put it this way: They'd regret it.

lol.

WHO GIVES A ****.

These ****ers need to just stop. We live in a democratic society, right? Well I'm sure that if it came to a vote we stop these *******s one way or another.

And the homosexuality war rages...

That's horrible thinking, Freelancer. I could explain it to you, but you'd think of it as a competition. Simply put, simply because enough people know what kind of crazy and horrible these people are doesn't mean that a democratic hatred for them means they cannot speak. Many of the greatest minds of history would be squelched if this were true, not that these people are any of them. But if we make this exception for them, than we're opening the doors to squelch Martin Luther King, Ghandi, Jesus, and a number of influential people. You can't let government decide these kinds of things.

You really think that people who protest a funerals have the rational ability to care what you say other than to be more angry at you?

I wouldn't say anything.

For christsake we're not talking about jesus, or ghandi or Martin Luther King Jr.

WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE ****ING PHELPS'. YES; THERE'S A DIFFERENCE.

there is... trust me

..Go nude on front of them?