Leading me to believe that some folks "Just need killin.."

[SirFozzie]

http://www.pennlive.com/news/patriotnews/index.ssf?/base/news/115992961467770.xml&coll=1


Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
BY IRVIN KITTRELL III
Of The Patriot-News

Members of a Kansas-based church that has picketed funerals of fallen American soldiers are expected to protest at the funerals of the Amish girls killed Monday in Lancaster County, according to a news release issued by the church.

The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka blamed Gov. Ed Rendell for the mass murder of the five girls in a one-room schoolhouse because he ridiculed the church on a national television news show, the news release said.

The church said nothing about the man who shot and killed the girls and wounded five other girls. He was identified as Charles Carl Roberts IV of Bart.

Members of the church have been in the national spotlight after picketing at funerals of soldiers killed in action. The church says the military deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of gay people.

In June, a York County man sued the church, seeking unspecified damages for the messages held by church protesters outside his son's funeral.

The lawsuit seeks damages for invasion of privacy at the funeral.

About a dozen states, including Pennsylvania, have adopted laws limiting funeral protests at services for soldiers killed in combat.

President Bush signed a bill curbing pickets at national cemeteries.

Although it's nice to see that Phelps's particular brand of insanity is more conducive to folks comiing together (against his evil).

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Just to be clear, we in this area of the country hope the rest of the states do not hold the moronic statements of a cult of 70 full-fledged idiots against the rest of the good people in the midwest. FWIW.....many of the 70 members of the church are direct relatives or extended family of Mr. Phelps. So it's more of a brainwashed family thing more than anything else.

Also, Mr. Phelps is a diehard Jayhawk fan and always wears his Jayhawk jacket to the picketing during the colder months. No fooling. We Mizzou fans love nothing more than repeatedly posting pictures of Mr. Phelps all over the internet in his snazzy KU jacket. :)

[BrianD]

Am I getting this right? The church is going to picket the funeral of the dead Amish girls because the governor of the state (containing the Amish school) said bad thing about the church?

So the governor didn't say anything about the Amish school or anyone involved with the school, but God punished the governor through the school because he ridiculed Phelps' church?

[SirFozzie]

Am I getting this right? The church is going to picket the funeral of the dead Amish girls because the governor of the state (containing the Amish school) said bad thing about the church?

So the governor didn't say anything about the Amish school or anyone involved with the school, but God punished the governor through the school because he ridiculed Phelps' church?


These are the guys who picket the funeral of dead US soldiers because it's God punishing the US for tolerating gays (with signs like "Thank god for Improvised explosive devices"

These are the guys who praised the Tsunami for killing godless Dutch folks (Dutch folks being tolerant)

Quite a few folks think it's their way of trying get someone so pissed they take a swing at em, they then sue them for everything they have.

Take a look at him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps

[Ksyrup]

Kentucky's law aimed at stopping these kinds of protests was temporarily blocked last week by a federal judge, pending a final ruling on the issue. Although I don't think it's a laughing matter, of course, I found it quite ironic that the KY resident who challenged the law is named McQueary.

[BrianD]

These are the guys who picket the funeral of dead US soldiers because it's God punishing the US for tolerating gays (with signs like "Thank god for Improvised explosive devices"

These are the guys who praised the Tsunami for killing godless Dutch folks (Dutch folks being tolerant)

Quite a few folks think it's their way of trying get someone so pissed they take a swing at em, they then sue them for everything they have.

Take a look at him:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_phelps

I am familiar with the military funeral protests, and I guess Phelps' logic there is pretty screwey as well. I just can't imagine picketing the funeral of a little girl for any reason at all. Even some of his looney followers must have balked at this one.

[SirFozzie]

Oh please, they'll have their kids telling mourners that they're GLAD that the girls are in hell. (look at the Wikipedia page, for a picture of one of the kids at the protests)

[Crim]

Fucking bullshit that this kind of stupidity can stand. I'm glad that it's so far away from me, as I have my family and career to consider, as it would not be in my best interests to be thrown in jail for aggravated assault on these asschunks. I swear to Christ, I hate these motherfuckers. And their right to assemble is protected speech?!? Who's driving the bus nowadays, anyhow?!? We are the ACLU generation, and this, not terrorism or the Chi-Coms, will ultimately lead our demise as a nation if we continue to pretend that there is no such thing as right and wrong. Phuck Phelps. I sincerely hope that when he meets his end that it is painful and slow. But more likely, someone with more balls than sense will end up gunning him down at one of these protests, and get his ass thrown in jail because of it. The line to donate to that legal defense fund starts right behind me.

[stevew]

Eh, maybe not killin.

But Sterilization would be a good choice.

[saldana]

i may drive down to the funeral and run my truck right over the protesters....if any group deserves to just be locked in a room and set on fire, it sounds like its these asswhites.

[Groundhog]

i may drive down to the funeral and run my truck right over the protesters....if any group deserves to just be locked in a room and set on fire, it sounds like its these asswhites.

If I lived anywhere near this, I'd definately go down there and picket the picketers with signs telling them how sick and fucked up they are.

That human beings like this can exist makes me sick to my stomach.

[thesloppy]

There was an interesting post on Fark regarding alternative motivation for Phelps' actions:

How do I know that Fred Phelps is suing people? I can tell you I just have too much experience around him. I am a journalist in Nashville, TN, and work at a television station that works the Ft. Campbell area. As a television photographer and journalist, I have been trained in all of the rules of private property, verbal conversation, what is legal and what is not legal, etc. (what you can and cannot say, what you can get away with). Honestly, in the last few months, I have seen waaay too much of Mr. Phelps and his crew. Since the war began, I believe they think this is the moneymaking source of a lifetime.

So how am I sure? After the third run in, and not one slip, not one piece of paperwork out of line, I knew something was fishy. My newsman skepticism left me with the idea later that something was more phishy than fishy.
I will tell you where I got this truth about Phelps. I looked him in the eye. I saw that he was way too calm and collected for what he looked like in the media. I noticed that he never made personal statements against a person, which is verbal assault, and an out against a lawsuit. Also, for a religious fanatic, a group of people who pride themselves on personal attacks, he was running a protest so terribly by the books that I was impressed by it. He will not bait a person, ever. He will not make personal attacks. He will make blanket statements. He will look at a person in the crowd that he thinks is gay, walk over to his stack of signs, pull out the appropriate, well designed, easily read, laminated bright board, and hold it up and loudly proclaim that "gays are going to hell" or some such nonsense, and make eye contact, but he will never cross the line of telling that person that they're going to hell. That would be the part that would screw up the lawsuit. He just wants to get them after him, but wants to appear utterly blameless for damages.

They run too tight of a ship to slip up, and at that point, I realized that the objective of the group was not anything religious at all. Someone told me along the way that they were all turned into lawyers after he got disbarred. After that, the stench was just too intense for me. He makes money off of this. He does this so much he has everyone around him do the legal legwork so he doesn't have to pay anyone else.

The last time confirmed everything I suspected about them.
A few weeks later, I saw them again (they LOVE to come to big name funerals) and after I saw the laminated signs change for the audience, I knew EXACTLY what they were doing.

His 'crew' isn't a 'church' as you and I would know. The 'church' are more of a motley crew of family members. Some of them are six year old children that are doing what they're told. I have spoken to them, and they have a lawyers sensibility on them on how they speak to the public. They never make personal attacks. They never verbally assault anyone. For a group of people that are accusing damn near every group of people around them for going to hell, wouldn't that seem odd to you? Do you know any religious fanatics that don't make personal attacks? I don't.

They also don't stick around after the cameras roll. They have an itenerary like a semi truck driver. For them to get cleared for all of these press event protests they're doing, then they have to have someone at home doing all of the setup. For you to get the press clearances by the prescribed times? That's a lot of professional legwork. I should know, I've coordinated a newsrooms credentials when the President comes to town, and that's a lot of phone calls and faxes.

They probably file a load of civil rights violation lawsuits. If a police department looks them up and says, "we're denying your protest right," BOOYah. They just got to sue a police department for the very thing that Americans can't stand, rights violation. I am assuming that this is where they get almost all of their money.

See my previous post. Their beliefs are so riddled with inconsistency. The 'real inconsistency' is that every position that contradicts every other of their beliefs is designed to maximize the number of people that they offend. You cannot be saved to them. You are evil in their beliefs, no matter who you are, and God will punish you like the evil gays/soldiers/innocent people/people who love America/people who are black/everyone else we can think of.

Here's the proof. Who in the world makes a poster that says, "Thank God for IEDs" (Improvised Explosive Devices, aka Roadside Bombs). They are saying God is with the terrorists. Then they say God hates you. And homosexuals. Then when they see you looking patriotic with your American flag shirt, they point the sign at you and say, "Americans are going to hell for supporting this country!" and look you in the eye. NOTICE THOUGH, they never say, "You're going to hell." (That would give a judge an out to deny them their claim.)

[miami_fan]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,217760,00.html


The controversial anti-homosexual Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., has canceled its plans to stage a protest at the funerals of the five Amish girls executed in their Pennsylvania school, a church official said Wednesday.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, the daughter of church's pastor, told FOXNews.com the group canceled the protests in exchange for an hour of radio time Thursday on syndicated talk-show host Mike Gallagher's radio program.

"We're not going to any of the Amish funerals — that's the agreement we're making — that we won't go to any of them," Phelps-Roper told FOXNews.com.

On Tuesday, the church posted a flyer touting the demonstrations in response to the attendance of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has spoken out against the church publicly. Both Amish and non-Amish residents of Lancaster County — where the shooting took place — have vowed to not allow any protesters anywhere near the funeral services; Rendell called the church members "insane."

Phelps-Roper, daughter of Rev. Fred Phelps, said the church had planned to cancel the protests if given media time on radio and television as a platform to espouse Westboro's beliefs.

Gallagher said that church officials would have to sign a document making them liable for the airtime if they broke their promise not to demonstrate.

"It's awful for me to give up an hour of my radio show ... but I think it’s worth the sacrifice to keep them away," Gallagher said.

But she defended the church's initial decision to protest at the Amish girls' funerals.

"Those Amish people, everyone is sitting around talking about those poor little girls — blah, blah, blah — they brought the wrath upon themselves," Phelps-Roper said, adding that the Amish "don't serve God, they serve themselves."

On Monday, Charles Carl Roberts IV killed five girls — Naomi Rose Ebersole, 7; Anna Mae Stoltzfus, 12; Marian Fisher, 13; Mary Liz Miller, 8; and her sister Lena Miller, 7 — in a rural Amish schoolhouse in Lancaster County, Pa.



Donald Kraybill, a professor of sociology at Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County, Pa., calls the church's plans a publicity stunt.

"I don't think there's any connection between the Amish incident and their agenda. They just want to get in the spotlight," Kraybill said. "It's giving them national attention and it's a cheap and easy and really terrible way to gain some visibility."

The church's latest flyer, posted on its Web site notes these protests will be against Rendell for "slanderous" statements against the church.

Westboro's latest rhetoric is in line with the other beliefs of it's 70 church members, who hold that the deaths of U.S. troops are God's punishment for America's tolerance of homosexuality.

The Westboro Baptist Church has made its name demonstrating at the funerals of soldiers killed in the Iraq war. Their controversial and colorful placards proclaim their anti-gay stance with slogans such as "Thank God for Dead Soldiers," "America Is Doomed" and "Soldier Fag in Hell."

Before it garnered national attention, the church made its name around Kansas, where 16 years ago, it started protested the funerals of AIDS victims. And while their demonstrations of late have focused on the funerals of U.S. soldiers, Westboro church members have taken their picket signs to the memorials for the 12 Sago miners who perished in January in West Virginia.

Earlier this year, prompted by the church protests, Congress passed a law that banned protesters from military funerals at federal cemeteries. More than a dozen states have passed similar legislation creating protest-free buffer zones around cemeteries during funerals.

Phelps-Roper told FOXNews.com in February that the church has a right to protest.

"We are delivering a message," Phelps-Roper said. "God is punishing this nation and he is using the IED [improvised explosive device] as his weapon of choice."

[SirFozzie]

blackmail. typical...

[stevew]

hxxp://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/aug2007/20070802_minneapolis-bridge-collapse.pdf

Still need killin'

[Radii]

wow... :(

[Lathum]

I think the thread title says it all

[CU Tiger]

wow just wow even their rhyming skillz bring teh suck...

Its just amazing to me that people actually believe this stuff.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Guess who showed up at the funerals for the victims of the Omaha mall shooting. Evidently, "God sent the shooter"..........

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,316346,00.html

Members or adherents of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., were protesting at some of the funerals. The church, founded by the Rev. Fred Phelps, has gained notoriety for picketing funerals of military men and women who have died in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Among the group's signs Monday outside St. John's was one that said "God sent the shooter."

[Kodos]

I wish God would send the shooters for these folks.

[Warhammer]

Kansas Bapitist Loonies, I hate these guys.

[Kodos]

Kansas Bapitist Loonies, I hate these guys.

The stones will be found, Doctor Jones. You won't!

[flere-imsaho]

Someone ought to do a webpage tracking members of that church, and when one of them dies, picket their funeral.

[Groundhog]

If old age doesn't get em, their inbreeding hopefully will.

[sterlingice]

If old age doesn't get em, their inbreeding hopefully will.

I'm pretty sure there's ample evidence it already has taken effect

SI

[the_meanstrosity]

I just happened to see this and wanted to point out that this statement is false. Phelps is not a Kansas fan and in fact pickets a number of events at the University of Kansas. Here's a quick blurb from a recent article regarding the new documentary on Phelps called "Fall from Grace".

########
Although Phelps and his extended family of lawyers attended Washburn University, the pastor was garbed in KU gear when he met with Jones.

"Fred went on this diatribe of how KU is this homosexual mecca - he had harsher words for it," Jones recalls. "And after this I said, 'I see you are wearing some KU apparel. Are you rooting for the football team (at today's game)?' He said, 'Oh no. I knew you guys were from KU. I have one of these from a lot of schools around here. I wear them to keep the enemies at bay."
########

http://www.lawrence.com/news/2006/nov/24/ryanjones/

Also, Mr. Phelps is a diehard Jayhawk fan and always wears his Jayhawk jacket to the picketing during the colder months. No fooling. We Mizzou fans love nothing more than repeatedly posting pictures of Mr. Phelps all over the internet in his snazzy KU jacket. :)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Saw a press release on the Westboro Baptist Church website that Fred and his nutty gang are picketing the funeral of the female college student at Auburn who was murdered last week. Evidently she's jewish and that was why she 'deserved to die'.

[MJ4H]

Incredible.

[wbatl1]

They also planned to picket the funeral of Eve Carson, who I knew, and who was truly a fantastic girl. Thankfully, the Athens (GA) police cared much more about the family and friends of Eve than these wackos, and they weren't let within seeing distance of the funeral.

[Cringer]

I was hoping this thread was bumped because they were dead, or one of them was. I actually would have been happy.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Anyone else wonder whether the family will announce Fred Phelps' death before he's in the ground? I wonder how many people would show up to picket his funeral and piss on his grave?

[vex]

I'm sure many heard about the tornado we had up here(7 killed)(about 5 miles from me), well, of course WBC is picketing...The flyers are all around the county...it could get really interesting:


Westboro Baptist Church
(WBC Chronicles - Since 1955)
3701 SW 12th St. Topeka, Kansas 66604 785-273-0325 GodHatesFags.com
Religious Opinion and Bible Commentary on Current Events
Monday, May 12, 2008
NEWS RELEASE
Thank God for killer whirlwinds in
Picher & Oklahoma - sent by God
in wrath &vengeance &retaliation
for the unlawful &sinful ways the
evil people of Oklahoma have
mistreated WBC for preaching
God's Word on their mean streets.
GOD HATES OKLAHOMA.
PICHER DIED FOR OK'S SINS.
WBC TO PICKET THEIR FUNERALS.
Yes. WBC will picket the funerals of those God
killed with His whirlwinds - in religious protest
and warning. "Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord is
gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind; it
shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked."
Jer. 23:19. When Oklahomans lifted up their evil
hands against WBC for preaching to them GOd's
Truth, they sowed the wind. Now they reap the
whirlwind. Hos. 8:7. Worse & more is coming.



http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20080512_oklahoma-whirlwinds.pdf

[Groundhog]

Hosea specifically mentioned the "Oklahomans"??? Now that's some foresight!

I hope these imbred fuckers all die slow and painful deaths.

[thesloppy]

God hates Oklahoma?

That's just ridiculous. To some degree, if Fred Phelps was doing this crap alone, it would be one sad, disturbingly lonely and bitter thing, but to think that he's perverted multiple generations of his family into devoting their entire lives to wallowing in other people's misery is just disgusting, and truly evil.

[RainMaker]

The thing is, if people just ignored the group, they'd go away. They thrive off this exposure and do everything for media attention. If people acted like they weren't there, and the media didn't mention them at all, we wouldn't have this problem.

[vex]

Or if they were just fuckin shot..

[Groundhog]

Or if they were just fuckin shot..

I approve of this line of thinking.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Hey, it's the Westboro Baptist Church Choir singing "Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell!".

LiveLeak.com - Santa Claus Will Take You To Hell (http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=d3c_1229133179&p=1)

I especially enjoy the 'God Hates X-mas' sign that one of them is holding up. When did God start hating his son's birthday?????

[jeff061]

Pure genius.

[Mustang]

When did God start hating his son's birthday?????

When he got popular.

Seriously, ever try to book a Chuck E Cheese party for 2 billion people?

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

When he got popular.

Seriously, ever try to book a Chuck E Cheese party for 2 billion people?

Good point. I can only imagine the waiting line for the Holy Bible Ball Pit.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Nice move by these high school kids and their parents. Ended up organizing a counter-protest when they found out Fred and the Loonies would be protesting at their school. The students had nearly 10x the number of protesters that their opposition did and raised several thousand dollars for AIDS charities while they were at it. Good way to take away their media coverage and make some good of the whole circus.

Hundreds outside Shawnee Mission East stage counterprotest to Fred Phelps - Kansas City Star (http://www.kansascity.com/703/story/1020190.html)

[RendeR]

Awesome move by those kids and the staff of the school.

[flere-imsaho]

Yep, saw that on the news. Excellent stuff. :D

[SCgoatman]

so... can i use my now famous signature line in reference to this religious nut job and not get banned? because it definitely applies...

[Coder]

This is classic "look at me"-behaviour, which will go away if everyone just ignores them. Swedish media tend to give them attention about twice a year because a few years ago they did their "God Hates "-crapola about Sweden.

Don't ever understand why Swedish media, or any media for that sake, give in to these morons and give them airtime.

[RainMaker]

Dad of a fallen Marine perseveres against protests at military funerals - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20100331/ts_csm/291560)

[Matthean]

Forgot to post this when the album came out.

Freddy, Please - Derek Webb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOrL2Evorqo&feature=related)
<input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden">

[Drake]

I wish Derek Webb would go back to Caedmon's Call.

(Not a commentary on this song, just on Webb's solo career.)

[molson]

Cool of Bill O'Reilly to foot the bill for the legal fees.

[Uncle Briggs]

It's hard not to be on this guy's side...

From the article:

Ryan Newell is "Army to the bone," friends and family say of the decorated military veteran who joined the service at 17, lost both legs in an explosion in Afghanistan and now stands accused of stalking members of a controversial Topeka church.


Read more: Vet faces 5 charges in Westboro incident | Featured Story | Wichita Eagle (http://www.kansas.com/2010/12/03/1616214/faces-5-charges-in-westboro-incident.html#ixzz1764AQtRB)

[Sun Tzu]

Must...resist...urge...

[CU Tiger]

Officer was just a few minutes early by my calculations.

Now I guess we get to see what kind of Christians these westboro folks are. If they are truly kind, forgiving souls they will conmtact the police and ask that all charges be dropped as they MUST hav foirgiveness in their hearts, right?

[EagleFan]

There needs to be a public collection for that man's defense.

[stevew]

So, it almost seems like we went over the top here in regards to banning free speech.

Congress Passes Restrictions On Military Funeral Protests, Delivers Blow To Westboro Baptist Church (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/veterans-bill-military-funerals_n_1733080.html)

Westboro Baptist Church protesters will soon be severely limited in their ability to disrupt military funerals, after Congress passed a sweeping veterans bill this week that includes restrictions on such demonstrations.

According to "The Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012," which is now headed to President Barack Obama's desk, demonstrators will no longer be allowed to picket military funerals two hours before or after a service. The bill also requires protestors to be at least 300 feet away from grieving family members.

This aspect of the legislation was introduced by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), who, at the urging of a teenage constituent, proposed new limitations on military funeral demonstrations as a response to a 2011 Supreme Court case that ruled such actions were protected under the First Amendment.

In the wake of that decision, many have turned to counter-protest efforts to block Westboro Baptist Church's disruptive and insensitive displays, which frequently suggest that U.S. soldiers have been killed as God's vengeance for gay tolerance.

Thousands turned out in Missouri last month, forming a "human wall" around a church where the service for a fallen soldier was being held.

Earlier in July, hundreds of Texas A&M students showed up in a similar effort, joining together to create a barrier between Westboro Baptist Church members and a military funeral.

And while not at a specific service, a group of demonstrators dressed as zombies gathered at a military base in Washington last month, far outnumbering and overshadowing followers of the far-right congregation.

The bill also contains a variety of measures meant to address veterans health, benefits, housing and education. Obama is expected to sign to the legislation later this month.

[sterlingice]

Not a fan. I guess I could see a reasonable distance requirement "Must be more than 100 feet from the deceased at the funeral" but "from grieving family members" seems a problem since they're all mobile. Also, I really don't like the excessively long window "before or after a service part" as a huge limit of free speech.

I don't like Westboro or what they do, but they have the right to do it as long as it's not violating other's rights.

SI

[albionmoonlight]

Sounds like people were doing a good job of fighting speech with speech there. No need for Congress to step in. So, of course, they do.

[spleen1015]

I believe is anyone's right to free speech, but I don't have an issue with this.

Protesting at a military funeral is beyond idiotic to me.

[stevew]

Sounds like people were doing a good job of fighting speech with speech there. No need for Congress to step in. So, of course, they do.

I bet there is a shit ton of other bullshit underneath this legislation as well.

[Chief Rum]

Not a fan. I guess I could see a reasonable distance requirement "Must be more than 100 feet from the deceased at the funeral" but "from grieving family members" seems a problem since they're all mobile. Also, I really don't like the excessively long window "before or after a service part" as a huge limit of free speech.

I don't like Westboro or what they do, but they have the right to do it as long as it's not violating other's rights.

SI

I'm with SI here.

[JPhillips]

How do you define military funeral?

[SackAttack]

So, it almost seems like we went over the top here in regards to banning free speech.

Congress Passes Restrictions On Military Funeral Protests, Delivers Blow To Westboro Baptist Church (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/veterans-bill-military-funerals_n_1733080.html)

I don't think this DOES "deliver a blow" to WBC, though. For one, their name is in the news, which is one of the things they want in the first place. For another, I can't imagine SCOTUS doesn't overturn this bill eventually.

[molson]

How do you define military funeral?

Pretty broadly:

"For any funeral of a member or former member of the Armed Forces that is not located at a cemetery under the control of the National Cemetery Administration or part of Arlington National Cemetery..."

I guess you could have some grey areas whether someone was ever in the "armed forces" or not, but those disputes are what lawyers are for. But this definitely applies to more than just "military funerals" - it can just be any person that was ever in the armed forces - though westboro tends to target active-duty deaths, I believe.

Bill Text - 112th Congress (2011-2012) - THOMAS (Library of Congress) (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c112:6:./temp/~c112UYTsWo:e98690:)

[panerd]

I bet there is a shit ton of other bullshit underneath this legislation as well.

Big +1. Some intended and a lot of unintended.

[JediKooter]

Looks like the riders have to do with how many plots you can have at Arlington, expansion of presidential memorial certificates and requirements for placement of memorials at Arlington. Seems like those would have been just fine in their own bill.

[Autumn]

I don't think this DOES "deliver a blow" to WBC, though. For one, their name is in the news, which is one of the things they want in the first place. For another, I can't imagine SCOTUS doesn't overturn this bill eventually.

Not to mention they protest anywhere and everywhere. Telling them they can't protest in one spot is just tossing a water cup at the fire. They continue to get their name in the news, and I doubt this holds up at all. It's hard for people to accept, but people acting like total asshats is indeed constitutional.

[molson]

I'm sure they tailored it around what the Supreme Court said last time, and while I don't remember how the Court has addressed these factors in these types of cases, this is what the constitution requires as far as time, place, and manner restrictions:

-Be content neutral
-Be narrowly tailored
-Serve a significant governmental interest
-Leave open ample alternative channels for communication

From a quick skim, I think they tried to focus on the narrow tailoring.

[Glengoyne]

I'm not a fan of the pending legislation, but I do like the sentiment behind it.

Didn't some states make burning the flag in public the equivalent of "fighting words", making some limited battery of the perpetrators legal? I'd rather see this go that direction.

[molson]

I'm not a fan of the pending legislation, but I do like the sentiment behind it.

Didn't some states make burning the flag in public the equivalent of "fighting words", making some limited battery of the perpetrators legal? I'd rather see this go that direction.

Alito thought that in terms of the Westboro protestors, that them were fighting words not subject to constitutional protections, but the majority said fighting words are really personal, directed towards someone, as opposed to protests like this that are really designed for other people to hear.

Still, if there were some "limited battery" inflicted upon one of these guys, that's be some big-time mitigating factors and maybe outright jury nullification and acquittals. I don't think anyone would be looking at more than a fine or probation.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Right, wrong, otherwise ... I can't see any way possible this withstands a constitutional challenge in court.

[Drake]

Back when abortion clinic protests were all the rage, I seem to remember there being legislation that moved those protestors back a certain number of feet from the entrance and set stipulations on ways they could communicate with people seeking services. Did those survive SCOTUS challenges?

(I have to admit that I never really gave a shit about the abortion stuff, probably because my parents gave such a huge shit.)

It could be that there weren't any federal laws like this at all. So much religious propaganda when I was a kid.

[Ksyrup]

Sounds like people were doing a good job of fighting speech with speech there. No need for Congress to step in. So, of course, they do.

Next up during the election year - the "anti-murder" law!