Church pickets Ronni James Dio's memorial service

The protest is planned by Westboro Baptist which has a history of trying to disrupt funerals as a way to bring attention to their agenda. I suppose they are not getting enough attention for being hateful to the families of fallen soldiers anymore so have moved on to someone else.
Distrubing a memorial service seems pretty unChristian to me.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UMP3AK5jwo
Just so everyone can see Westboro Baptist Church. It may be the only topic that Hannity and Colmes ever agreed on. Westboro should be ashamed of themselves.

Scott wrote:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UMP3AK5jwo
Just so everyone can see Westboro Baptist Church. It may be the only topic that Hannity and Colmes ever agreed on. Westboro should be ashamed of themselves.

All of the "church's" members are from the same family. I think their facial bone structure is alarmingly similar and I think it indicates that they are inbred. They make me sick. I keep waiting for someone to beat them up at these funerals. They're sickening.

I hate that they cause people pain, but I also think it's pointless to condemn them. (I mean... secularly.) They have some genetic mental defect or they are extreme examples of folie a deux. There is definitely something wrong in their brains. Just the defective reasoning tells us that: picket funerals of soldiers, why again? Oh yeah, that homosexual thing. Uh, sure, we see your point. :rolleyes:

http://www.livevideo.com/video/3B6F0746D90E4E0A8E0579EBCCB11A50/westboro-hate-church-gets-atta.aspx
Video of a protest that did NOT go well for Westboro Baptist Church.
The irony of course is that it is the very country that they hate so much that allows them the freedom to wear the "God Hates America" shirts and provides the police to protect them in sitations like this. I wonder if the situations would play out differently for them if they were to protests a funeral in say China or Saudia Arabia with "God Hates China" or "God Hates Saudi Arabia" shirts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZGKx2pTBQc

Apparently my first link did not work. Here is the same video on youtube.

Hmmm. Now there's an idea. Photoshop them replacing their signs with something that the raging crazy muslims would kill for and then post it world wide. It will end like the fantastic film I watched this weekend called Mega Shark VS Giant Octopus starring Deborah Gibson (yes that Debbie Gibson) and Lorenzo Lamas.

Pit the monsters agains each other!

They are somewhat like Sicktanick and Raz[whoever]. They have found their hateful little niche and get attention by being as offensive as possible. I wonder if any of them have jobs. I'd give them all the same advice. Throw out all the hateful crap and use your considerable energy to do something postive.

ziggy wrote:Hmmm. Now there's an idea. Photoshop them replacing their signs with something that the raging crazy muslims would kill for and then post it world wide. It will end like the fantastic film I watched this weekend called Mega Shark VS Giant Octopus starring Deborah Gibson (yes that Debbie Gibson) and Lorenzo Lamas.

Pit the monsters agains each other!

You did mention once that your movie collection was like that of a teenage boy.

Thankfully this movie is NOT in my collection LOL. You can't compete with Super Bad and anything Farrely Bros.

I watched it only because it was So Bad that it was good; funny good. Great for movie comentary. I need a job like that.

tapu wrote:I hate that they cause people pain, but I also think it's pointless to condemn them. (I mean... secularly.) They have some genetic mental defect or they are extreme examples of folie a deux. There is definitely something wrong in their brains. Just the defective reasoning tells us that: picket funerals of soldiers, why again? Oh yeah, that homosexual thing. Uh, sure, we see your point. :rolleyes:

I'm telling you, it is the inbreeding.

WASHINGTON — Forty-eight states and the District of
Columbia have submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in support of a
father who sued anti-gay protesters over their demonstration at the 2006
funeral of his son, a Marine killed in Iraq.

Only Virginia and Maine declined to sign the brief by the Kansas
attorney general.


Albert Snyder sued over protests by the Kansas-based
Westboro Baptist Church at his son's funeral in Maryland. The church
pickets funerals because they believe war deaths are punishment for U.S.
tolerance of homosexuality.

The Supreme Court has agreed to consider whether the protesters'
message is protected by the First Amendment.

In the brief filed Tuesday, the states argued they have a compelling
interest in protecting the sanctity of funerals.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/01/funeral-protests-should-n_n_596830.html

Va. won't join case vs. military funeral protests


Posted to: Military News Virginia

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Johnathan Phelps holds signs during a May 2006 protest by followers of the Rev. Fred Phelps, who claims soldiers have died because they fought for a country that condones homosexuality, in Shumway, Ill. (James A. Finley | The Associated Press)
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A spokesman for attorney general Ken Cuccinelli said banning protests could set a bad precedent.


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By Julian Walker
The Virginian-Pilot
June 2, 2010

RICHMOND
Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has endured his share of criticism for some of the legal fights he's picked as the state's top prosecutor.
Now he's getting grief for not joining a particular courtroom battle.
Cuccinelli has declined to join in a free-speech case heading to the U.S. Supreme Court that stems from a protest by anti-gay activists at a 2006 funeral for a Marine killed while serving in Iraq. As "vile" as the protesters' methods are, banning them could set a precedent that would infringe on the rights of countless other protesters, from environmentalists to anti-abortion advocates, Cuccinelli's spokesman said.
Virginia is one of two states - Maine is the other - that hasn't joined the case, which has attracted bipartisan support from powerful lawmakers on Capitol Hill, according to an attorney for the family of the slain Marine.
The case stems from a protest at the March 2006 funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder by a church congregation from Topeka, Kan.
Westboro Baptist Church members believe the deaths of American servicemen and women are divine punishment for the nation's policies toward gays and lesbians. Church members frequently protest at military funerals. At Snyder's service in Maryland, participants waved signs with anti-gay slogans such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "Semper Fi Fags," according to court records.
Snyder's father, Albert, filed a lawsuit that alleged that church founder Fred Phelps and other protesters caused him emotional distress, defamed his son's name and invaded the family's privacy. A jury in a Maryland federal court awarded him millions in damages.
That verdict, and the award, was overturned when the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond ordered Snyder to pay Phelps' legal bill and ruled that as inflammatory as the church's message is, it is protected speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution.
And that's essentially Cuccinelli's take.
Cuccinelli's spokesman Brian Gottstein said in a statement that there is potential peril in setting "a precedent that could severely curtail certain valid exercises of free speech."
That rationale is unacceptable to Sean E. Summers, a Pennsylvania attorney representing Snyder.
"There's only one side of this issue to be on," he said, "and apparently the Virginia attorney general is on the wrong side of it."
Not everyone has criticized Cuccinelli, who has an unlikely ally: the ACLU of Virginia.
"In order to protect all free speech, you sometimes have to protect despicable speech," said Kent Willis, executive director of the state ACLU, which has opposed Cuccinelli on other matters, including his quest to obtain the research records on climate change of a former University of Virginia professor.
At question in the protests of the military funerals are the "conflicting interests" of free speech and privacy rights, said University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias, who predicted the Supreme Court will uphold the appellate court decision.
Virginia has a law that "balances free speech rights while stopping and even jailing those who would be so contemptible as to disrupt funeral or memorial services," Gottstein said in a statement, referring to a statute that defines disorderly conduct in public places.
That law was updated in 2006 to include funerals and memorial services. The change was made in anticipation of pickets by Phelps and his followers, said Del. Charles W. "Bill" Carrico, a Grayson County Republican who successfully carried that legislation.
Julian Walker, (804) 697-1564, julian.walker@pilotonline.com