Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 11:41 AM:
Im sure the politicians will act on this one.
Replies (29)
I suppose, by taking a position on the issues, she made herself a target. That's too bad. She was never in a position to do anything about her postions: She did not hold public office, her husband disagreed openly with her on some positions (gay marriage and the war in Iraq, I believe), and her husband lost his bid for the Presidency, the one forum that may have given her some position of authority. Still, kindly Christian folk over at the Westboro Baptist Church reckon her funeral is a suitable target for their particular brand of love and reverence. Curious.
There was a time when we might have turned a blind eye if their bus had been accidentally waylaid enroute. Not anymore, apparently. We have to be tolerant of the intolerant. We have to respect the rights of others to be disrepectful of others. That's the paradox of our modern society.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 12:07 PM
Westboro will get good coverage on this one.
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 12:51 PM
Agree, it should receive no publicity or coverage what so ever.
I admit, I would like to poke them in the nose, but then I would be no better than they; sure would feel good though.
-- Posted by Acronym on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 1:54 PM
Spaniard wrote:
"I can't say I am crazy about passing laws to restrict these fools from protesting."
No. I don't think passing a federal or state law is a good idea. A municipal ordinance, however, could be passed quickly and cleanly. This would give the police the power to detain them.
As I said, there was a time when we would turn a blind eye if the police were to intercept the busload of protestors on their way to the funeral, and detain them under some pretense, only to release them about the time the funeral services ended.
Not so, nowadays. We have more tolerance for their intolerance, and less tolerance for 'abuses of power'. Cities get sued for such things, police officers get fired, and the riff-raff get more publicity.
I'm not saying it's the best solution, but it's a solution.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 3:23 PM
We should all just get a bus, and a box of rum and go to their church some sunday and see how tolerant of us they would be. Man that would be fun! Drop in right mid service. Maybe plant some folks inside to pass gas at the best times!
-- Posted by timexx on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 3:32 PM
I'll go for the bus and the box of rum if we can do it next summer when it is a little warmer. But I would prefer a good brand of beer.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 3:51 PM
I'm a big believer in freedom of religion. Besides, it's what they are doing outside of the church that is troubling, not what they are doing in it.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 4:24 PM
They are afraid of the bikers. That's for sure,
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 4:49 PM
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 5:23 PM
It appears most all of us are in substantial disagreement with that contemptable crowd. They are just plain downright tacky and exhibit a total lack of good common sense and human decency.
-- Posted by voyager on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 6:12 PM
That church is showing no respect at all, what type of true christians are they doing this it is uncalled for and completely unacceptable in my opinion.
-- Posted by swampeastmissouri on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 6:35 PM
Just another far right radical group.
-- Posted by swampeastmissouri on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 6:36 PM
I like the idea of crashing one of their services, see how they like it when the shoe is on the other foot.
-- Posted by mynameismud on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 7:56 PM
Just another far right radical group.
-- Posted by swampeastmissouri on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 6:36 PM
Swamp,
You have me confused. On one thread you say we are going to all have to work together, Liberals and Conservatives. Now you are blaming this nutcase group as being a creation of the right.
I have no use for the far left or the fall right, but if we are going to all have to pull together, at your suggestion do you think it would be well to start by stopping the name calling.
Sounds too much like Obama making a deal with the Republicans and then calling them hostage takers.
What is it going to be working together or standing up and name calling, you cannot have it both ways.
All pulling together as long as you do it my way is what I am hearing.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 8:06 PM
From what I understand this group gets money from the government for defense under a law from the civils rights act. There have been several attemps to change that but I couldn't find that it has been changed.
They were fined $10.9 million but through appeals that ended up $2.1m. I gave up on following it through, I am not patient with internet research.
But I am still curious of how they can afford to travel as far as they do with the protests.
I think the most effective counter is the wall of flags tactic demonstrated by the bikers.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 9:05 PM
These people are asking to be put down by someone. They are plying with fire.
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 10:09 PM
Spank, Considering the goal of the bikers was to spare the family of seeing the protest, the wall of flags offers a tribute to the fallen soldier.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 10:13 PM
Reinterating, I do not believe anything I hear and only half of what I read. The problem is WHICH half Is believable.
Internet research is particularly suspect.
-- Posted by voyager on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 10:25 PM
To spank the tank: No westboro church is NOT what christianity is about. I'm usre you don't know that The Baptist association in their town kicked them out of their Association because of the things they were doing. THEY do NOT represent us as christians!!
-- Posted by agape on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 5:16 AM
They have no decency at all! yeah, the media will cover that and that is what these fools who are going to picket want.
-- Posted by cadillacman on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 1:48 PM
You are exactly right cadillacman. These silly folks send a half a dozen nitwits with the provocative signs and their sophmoric chants taking up 100 square feet a half mile away and get national publicity. Well, it least it will draw some attention away from John Edwards. He will actually be the sorriest individual in attendance.
You gotta love this country.
-- Posted by blogbudsman on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 7:36 AM
I think the most effective counter is the wall of flags tactic demonstrated by the bikers.
-- Posted by Old John on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 9:05 PM
That was what I was trying to think of earlier but I couldn't remember. That sent them home in a hurry didn't it?
-- Posted by SpankTheTank on Thu, Dec 9, 2010, at 9:19 PM
Actually the Patriot Guard Riders are invited guests to the funerals - and yes the wall of flags is in honor of the fallen hero and their family. PGR do not confront any group and specifically ignores publicity hounds. They are not a counter protest at all, but exist to draw attention to a heroic fallen soldier or veteran. In the rare occasion protesters actually show up, their small and petty demonstration usually makes the locals wonder what all the hubbub was about.
And while I'm hogging the thread I want to thank all the folks who turn out, pull over and pay the utmost respect to the procession of a valiant soldier or venerable veteran being led triumphantly to their final resting place.
-- Posted by Ride Captain on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 7:52 AM
I read their press release, and I have to wonder what planet they're from. How exactly did she consent to her 16 year old son's death? Her incurable disease? Her husband's philandering (their language was much more graphic)? And she didn't humble herself? Please...
-- Posted by SEMO_Storyteller on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 8:55 AM
Nil wrote:
"Unfortunately their are a whole lot of constitutionally illiterate municipalities that play exactly into the hands of the Westboro Baptist Church and pay the big settlements out that keep them flying around the country."
As I've said, we used to turn a blind eye to those communities that detained them on suspicion and let them go without prejudice, after the event they sought to distract was ended. Not any more. Nowadays, judges and juries are more concenred about the rights of the miscreants than preserving a sense of decorum and dignity.
Time was, a multi-million dollar lawsuit lodged by a bunch of rabble-rousing out-of-towners that came by the busload into a community to disrupt a funeral, charging that their freedom to disrupt was being trampled because the local constable detained them for a couple of hours because because they appeared to be violating the community's vagrancy statute would never make it past the initial hearing.
Times have changed, the law has changed. The courts will now grant multi-million dollar settlements to people who have not been harmed in the least, merely on the basis some perceived violation of their rights by a community that was trying to preserve law and order.
At the same time, we're willing to look the other way as Transportation Safety Administrators grope and X-ray us, and detain us for pat-downs and strip-searches before letting us on an airplane.
We are very selective in our indignation.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 9:11 AM
When I was a younger man, I was detained on occasion by the local constabulary when passing through communities in which I was not known. They usually had a pretense - speeding (I wasn't), 'jumping the railroad tracks' (They were flat, there was no way to 'jump' them.), Rolling through a stop sign (I may have done that).
The truth, of course, was that the local constable wanted to know why I, a young man unkown to the community, was passing through his town at such-and-such an hour. If I protested, I would have most likely received a ticket for the perceived offense (I've known friends who did), but they were generally content to see my drivers license, have a few questions answered (some of which were really none of their business), and to determine if I was 'up to no good', which usually meant shining the flashlight into the interior of my automobile to satisfy themselves that there were no young girls hidden, drugs or alcohol visible, weapons carried illegally, or possibly-stolen articles in the back seat. I was always obliging, since I was taught long ago that alone on a dark night was not the time to argue with a man with a gun It did not matter if he had a badge or not.
Protesting that I had somewhere I needed to be, or that I had to get home before curfew were met with "well, you should have left sooner". The constables were not noted to be a sympathetic lot.
It was a part of small-town life. The constable wanted to know who was passing through, and why. Civil rights groups make an issue of it but, in those days, we expected peace officers to keep the peace, and pre-emptive stops were a part of that. Being myself a white male, it was hardly racist, since the constables were usually also white. Age may have been an issue, although I was still stopped even when I was in my twenties.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 10:15 AM
Age may have been an issue, although I was still stopped even when I was in my twenties.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 10:15 AM
That made you a victim of profiling!
Being young didn't mean you were up to no good, but the chances that you were certainly fit your age group to a greater degree than it did Grandma and Grandpa.
Need to bring that kind of logic back to the check in line at the airport.
-- Posted by Have_Wheels_Will_Travel on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 11:17 AM
When I first began dating the girl who would later become my wife, I was pulled over for some non-offense.
Given that he had seen my vehicle at her house previously, and that fact of our dating became talk around the coffee shop shortly thereafter, I'm sure he just wanted to know who it was that she was dating, so that he could be on top of the latest gossip.
However, as you say, profiling has its value, and the occassional pre-emptive stop had merit in its day. Had I been up to no good, it is a fair bet that I would have been reluctant to engage in it there, since the local constable now knew my name, license number, and could identify me as being present in his community at the time of the offense.
-- Posted by Shapley Hunter on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 12:13 PM
Shapley Hunter- Nice read! And I've been there and done that. Traveling around at all hours of the night, and very early morning, with a van full of drunkin musicians. Headed to, or from, God knows where. I knew my band was getting bigger when we got puulled over late one night on some road and the cop says. "You guys are Drivin Rain? I love your song on the radio! OK be carefull and drive slower." Of course the next time in another town a differnt cop says "Are you Timexx from the band?" I knew it was going one way or the other. SO I said "yes", Then two more cops pulled up behind me, I knew where that night was headed.
-- Posted by timexx on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 5:16 PM
Shape
Dated lots of girls from different towns down there. In East Prairie the cop told me to hurry up and get out of town because her ex boyfriend was getting a posse together to come after me. Never dated an E.P. girl again.
In Mathews I was pulled over and told not to date a girl anymore. Her daddy was a big farmer and wanted me to get the hint. I got it. She turned out to a total spoiled little B and went though 3 husbands. Close call I wanted to marry her.
-- Posted by We Regret To Inform U on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 5:39 PM
Westboro is not Christian in any way....
-- Posted by silverwalk on Fri, Dec 10, 2010, at 6:45 PM
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Im sure the politicians will act on this one.
Replies (29)