Fox News vs. The Westboro Baptist Church

It is, but since there's no physical evidence (usually, it can get violent though) then it's up to the victim to report it. Believe it or not, it can actually be classified as a form of assault.

That's mostly because you can use several laws to consider religious harassment outside the workplace illegal, but it isn't directly addressed as such. What we need is a law like I think is in some provinces in Canada that blatantly outlaws proselytization.

Personally, I've found that either shaming the preacher with superior knowledge of the Bible does well. I've been known to hit Jehovah's Witnesses with fire extinguisher blasts if they stick their foot in my door when I try to close it. I was involved in a small altercation in Blue Ridge, GA when someone threatened me in a gas station because I was wearing a pentacle, and I responded to the threat by introducing the gentleman face-first into a display stand followed by a knee to his chest. So really, when the law doesn't directly address something, it leaves you pretty open to personal judgment on how to handle the situation.

I am intolerant of evil, and always will be.

I can think of many instances where someone practicing their right to free speech would upset me greatly. I fully sympathise with the families. But we all benefit from the first amendment, we are willing to be subjected to unpopular or even hateful speech.

The only legal way to avoid hearing someone is to avoid them and their calls.

If it passes into other crimes, such as stalking, it can be a crime. But this wasn't like that, so there was no law one could use to stop the speech. You could lobby for a law to place a buffer zone around a funeral. I would support that, out of respect for the dead. I'm sure it would be popular with examples like that.

First: unfounded presupposition that Der is able to procreate.

Second: one could ask Der how he'd respond to a bunch of protesters interfering when he gets it on with God, but he'd just weasel out of that one too - he's good at it, he's got The Almighty as a copy editor.

Now that's just frightening

The point is nobody wants to laugh... it's not a joke to go batter such a solemn moment for a family as the burial of a loved one. Let alone do it with insults geared toward them and the nation as a whole.

I think america has to prep down a little on the technicalities with which we are now coding everything with. How many times has a murderer been set free because the evidence - no matter how valid they are - must be discarded since *gasp* no search order was obtained and therefore they must be cast away and never brought up again? So HORRAY! This criminal's rights have been protected by the oh so efficient legal system.. but there he goes again and slaughters a couple more just to celebrate.

We are so focused on analysing the political correctiveness of each and every pixel on the screen, that we don't see that when they are all put together in one view, the image doesn't look right.

So everyone has a right to free speech - everyone must be allowed to say what they want where they want when they want and how they want. That's true, 100% But remember, just because you have the right to do something, doesn't make that the right thing to do- Which is why I roll my eyes every time I hear people come up and say "they have a right to express themselves" (speaking of the particular burial protest case at hand) without seeing the senseless damage they are provoking to the families they protest at. Sure they have ideas, and yes they have the right to express them. But NO. Protesting at and insulting a family during a burial ceremony MUST NOT be viewd as something they or anyone should be allowed to do.

Good post Marker!


Some people forget that with free speech comes responsibility, the ability to own what you said and take the consequences if there are any.

Not to go off on a tangent, but you have confused a murderer with an accused murderer. And who accused him? The government. He is innocent until proven guilty. As an American he has the same rights we all have. The Bill of Rights guarantees against unreasonable search and seizure. It guarantees it for all Americans, regardless of what the government has accused them of. And this whole process isn't to protect the criminal, it's to protect you and me. If you allow the government to violate the rights of accused criminals and you allow that same government to accuse people of being criminals, then you allow the government to violate the rights of all of us. In America we believe it is more important that innocent people not be convicted than guilty people go free. Sometimes it sucks, but that's the price of freedom.

Fuck Congress. These people have been picketing the funerals of AIDS victims for years and Congress didn't do a damned thing. Now they've started picketing soldiers' funerals and Congress steps up and plays right into their hands. Now they can truly say, "We're being oppressed!" Now they can fight this in court. They'll probably win.

It would have been much better if Congress had let the loved ones sue these bastards for emotional distress. But Congress wanted to do something that looked patriotic during an election year. If they had really cared about the distress these jerks have caused they would have acted years ago. Cynical bastards.

I agree with you. I've watched this man spread his hate for a long time now, sighing as this person rattles my faith in the goodness of humanity. I cried when I found out that he was picketing the funeral of Mr. Rogers, a personal hero of mine, with signs saying he was going to hell.

I smile a little bit though- that in this month alone, the law was passed preventing him from getting near funerals, and that people are actually starting to sue him for interrupting them. Albeit long overdue, perhaps repect is starting to step in the right direction.

It's presumed innocent until proven guilty.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, its a good thing they stayed away from my friends funeral.

on a slightly less violent note, did anyone hear one of their followers interviewed on Howard Stern a few weeks ago. They couldn't string a sentence together. Whats the saddest part of all this, they protested Billy Graham.

I'm feelin' blessed..

He picketed Mr. Rogers funeral? I did not read about that. How Fu*ken sick. I already stood once with the Patriot Guard when he picketed here in Fort Meyers. I'm glad I did not know this when I did, I would have had a much harder time being civil.

I hope they sue him for every penny he has. I hope that someone from his past pops up with pictures showing him in compromising gay love making positions with a horse.

If there is a hell (which I doubt, but I agnostic, so I don't completely rule it out) - I hope he burns in it for eternity.
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Want to know something even sicker? The reason why Fred Phelps picketed Mr. Rogers' funeral, and said he was going to hell-

Because he didn't use Mr Roger's Neighborhood as a platform to tell 3-year old children about the sins of homosexuality.

I kid you not.

I'm agnostic as well, but in my opinion, there hasn't been anyone in the last 100 years who has lived his life by the example of Jesus Christ more than Mr. Rogers has. It's ironic that a Presbyterian minister like Mr. Rogers was the person who taught me that you don't need religion in order to be a kind and moral person, and that we should love ourselves as well as each other because each one of us is different and special. I miss that guy a lot..