Decency v free speech

[buglerbilly]

Decency v free speech: grieving father goes to Supreme Court to fight weirdos of the Westboro church

April 13, 2010 - 5:01PM

Free Speech is a piss poor excuse for the grossly offensive nature of what these loons do. You'd need a bloody big Taser to stop me attacking these people if it was my son..............no time at all for ass wipes like this...........:f-off

Some nights Albert Snyder wakes up at 3am. Other nights he doesn't sleep at all, tormented by thoughts of the hateful signs carried by a fundamentalist church outside his Marine son's funeral.

"Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

"You're Going to Hell."


Albert Snyder and his later son Matthew and, below, children from Westboro Baptist Church protesting at Matthew's funeral. Photo: AP

"Semper Fi Fags."

Hundreds of grieving families have been targeted by the Westboro Baptist Church, which believes military deaths are the work of a wrathful God who punishes the United States for tolerating homosexuality.

Most mourners try to ignore the taunts. But Mr Snyder couldn't let it go. He became the first to sue the church to halt the demonstrations and he's pursued the group further than anyone else.

Now, more than four years after his son died in a Humvee accident in Iraq, Mr Snyder's legal battle is headed to the Supreme Court. And his tireless efforts have drawn support from across the country, including a wave of donations after he was ordered to pay the church's court costs - a $US16,500 judgment that the congregation plans to use for more protests.

Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, 20, was not gay. But for the Westboro church, any dead soldier is fair game. Pastor Fred Phelps oversees a congregation of 70 to 80 members - mostly his children and grandchildren. They consider themselves prophets, and they insist the nation is doomed.

As Mr Snyder sees it, Westboro isn't engaging in constitutionally protected speech when it pickets funerals. He argues that Mr Phelps and his followers are disrupting private assemblies and harassing people at their most vulnerable - behaviour that's an incitement to violence.

"This is more than free speech. This is like yelling, 'Fire!' in a crowded theatre. Somebody's going to get hurt," Mr Snyder said, his voice rising and eyes welling with tears.

Mr Snyder's lawsuit accuses the church in Topeka, Kansas, of invading his privacy and intentionally inflicting emotional distress. He has the backing of his ex-wife and his two daughters, but Mr Snyder insisted on being the only plaintiff.

Except for the 40 hours a week he works selling industrial equipment, the case takes up nearly all his time. He says it's more stressful than a second full-time job.

Mr Snyder, who lives in York, about 135 kilometres west of Philadelphia, is soft-spoken and polite. But anger and sadness flare up quickly, with little warning. The litigation has forced him to relive the anguish of his son's death, and his grief is still raw.

"It's still very emotional," Mr Snyder said in an interview at his attorney's office. "It's like I constantly relive this every day, and I just wonder sometimes, when this is all over, what I'm going to do with that void. Will the grieving process begin?"

The fight has taken its toll on Mr Snyder's health. The broad-chested 54-year-old has struggled with clinical depression and diabetes.

Mr Snyder fought back against the church in part because he felt Westboro paid special attention to his son. Several weeks after the funeral, the pastor's daughter Shirley Phelps-Roper wrote in an online diatribe that Mr Snyder and his ex-wife taught their son "to defy his creator".

Westboro also protests against non-military events, such as the 2007 funeral of the Reverend Jerry Falwell, and the deaths of 29 miners in West Virginia last week. The group first grabbed widespread notice in 1998, when members appeared outside the funeral of Matthew Shepard, a gay University of Wyoming student whose killing drew national attention.

Lawyers Sean Summers and Craig Trebilcock, both military veterans, agreed to take Mr Snyder's case pro bono. They warned him about the emotional toll of a long legal dispute.

Mr Snyder won the first round decisively, when a jury in federal court in Baltimore awarded him $US10.9 million in damages in October 2007. A judge later reduced the award to $US5 million.

Last September, the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the verdict, ruling Westboro's protest was constitutionally protected speech.

The Supreme Court agreed last month to consider whether the protesters' actions, no matter how provocative and upsetting, are protected by the First Amendment. The case will be argued in the autumn.

Then something unexpected happened: the appeals court ordered Mr Snyder to pay Westboro $US16,510 in court costs. While it's not unusual for the losing party in a civil case to be required to pay some costs, it rarely happens when an individual sues a private entity, especially when the case is still active, experts say.

Margie Jean Phelps, one of Fred Phelps's daughters and an attorney, will argue the case before the Supreme Court. She has said the church plans to use the money from Mr Snyder to stage more protests. That's what's so upsetting to Mr Snyder, who says he would drop the matter if the church stopped picketing funerals.

Mr Snyder has received plenty of publicity since filing the lawsuit, but interest intensified after the court-ordered payment.

Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly pledged to pay the entire $US16,510, and the American Legion has raised more than $US20,000. Every day, hundreds of envelopes arrive at Mr Summers' office. Mr Snyder plans to use the money for other court fees and to donate what's left over to veterans.

Not everyone is on Mr Snyder's side, even if they find Westboro's protests loathsome.

They point to the undisputed facts of the case. Westboro contacted police before its protest, which was conducted in a designated area on public land - nearly 300 metres from the church where the Mass was held in Westminster.

The protesters - Mr Phelps and six family members - broke no laws. Mr Snyder knew they were present, but he did not see their signs or hear their statements until he turned on the news at his son's wake.

Jonathan Turley, a George Washington University law professor, asked his constitutional law class to grapple with the case. At first, the entire class was sympathetic to Mr Snyder. But after they dug deeper, they concluded that Westboro's speech was protected by the First Amendment.

"Once you get down to trying to draw the line between privacy and free speech, it becomes clear that a ruling against Westboro could create the danger of a slippery slope for future courts," Professor Turley said.

The professor, who studies the Supreme Court closely, said it's difficult to predict how the justices will rule.

Ms Phelps-Roper has no doubt the court will favour Westboro. "If that case can prevail, there is no First Amendment left," she said.

Some military families see no reason why such protests cannot be restricted.

"I don't think these people should be allowed to come in and disrupt a family's grief," said Diane Salyers of Arkansas, whose son's funeral was picketed by Westboro in 2007.

Mr Snyder "speaks for all of us who've been affected by these people".

AP

[Gubler, A.]

Free Speech is a piss poor excuse for the grossly offensive nature of what these loons do. You'd need a bloody big Taser to stop me attacking these people if it was my son..............no time at all for ass wipes like this...........:f-off

Bear in mind their 'demonstration' was 300m away from the grave site and cordoned off by the police. The only reason the bereaved even knew it was happening is they saw it on TV after the event.

There used to be a day and age when such outrageous activity would be ignored by all and sundry – especially the media. But now sensationalism and titillation is so dominant that any ethical and accurate media standards are junked. Every whack job gets their 15 minutes of fame despite the complete pointlessness of their opinions and the harmful nature of it. We all know this in the form of Air Power Australia!

While the source of the problem is the whack job it is the media that makes it noticeable. And the media do it because that is what people will watch.

[buglerbilly]

There also used to be a day and age when people such as this would have been forcibly removed from being anywhere near such tragic events. Unfortunately in this day and age of PC the perpatrator often has more rights than the deceased or his family.

My contempt and loathing of "normal" journalists is well known, not just here...........

[Gubler, A.]

There also used to be a day and age when people such as this would have been forcibly removed from being anywhere near such tragic events. Unfortunately in this day and age of PC the perpatrator often has more rights than the deceased or his family.

Did you hear about how a credit card scammer who was convicted in the ACT recently got off because the Judge's sentancing comments calling him a 'blight on the community' or words to that effect were found to have infringed upon his human rights... LOL... Long live romanticism over reason!

[buglerbilly]

Did you hear about how a credit card scammer who was convicted in the ACT recently got off because the Judge's sentancing comments calling him a 'blight on the community' or words to that effect were found to have infringed upon his human rights... LOL... Long live romanticism over reason!

NOTHING would surprise me in this day and age..........

[JKM Mk2]

One thing that struck me about this, apart from the discusting nature (in my opinion) of the protest, was the fact that they were using children (as shown in the photo) as one of their protest media. This must be in violation of some law in the US! How these people can claim to be parenting these kids well is beyond me. I am totally disgusted by their actions.

JKM

[Riđđu]

One thing that struck me about this, apart from the discusting nature (in my opinion) of the protest, was the fact that they were using children (as shown in the photo) as one of their protest media. This must be in violation of some law in the US! How these people can claim to be parenting these kids well is beyond me. I am totally disgusted by their actions.


It´s a bloody religious cult. The point is that they brainwash their followers to believe that their opinion is the only right one.

[McDethWivFries]

It´s a bloody religious cult. The point is that they brainwash their followers to believe that their opinion is the only right one.

The 'brainwashing' would totally depend on the church leadership. In this case they have the heads seriously screwed wrong. Why? Well they sure as heck aren't following the "love thy neighbour" commandment acting like that! Thats what happens when you pick and choose what to believe in, whether its the Bible, Koran or whatever.

[Chunder]

Dick me to death man... Those kids in those photo's wear their shirts and hold their signs, because their parents tell them too. No other reason. The Girl with "God hates Fag's Dot Com" Shirt looks about 7-9. The Kid looks all of about 4 years old.

Poisoning the minds of children is irresponsible parenting. Not only will the kids be in for a future life of ridicule. When they / if they do ever grow up, they will never be able to live it down.

No point getting all worked up. They are what they are. Fuckwads holding a sign. Lets see them do the same thing at the local mardi gras.

[SteveJH]

Did you hear about how a credit card scammer who was convicted in the ACT recently got off because the Judge's sentancing comments calling him a 'blight on the community' or words to that effect were found to have infringed upon his human rights... LOL... Long live romanticism over reason!

I thought it was a Judges job to give dramatic speaches and impress on Criminals that they are the scum of the earth? ;)

[Gubler, A.]

I thought it was a Judges job to give dramatic speaches and impress on Criminals that they are the scum of the earth? ;)

You’re out of touch. It would appear the role of Judges today is to make the most ludicrous decisions trouncing all concepts of common law and reasonable doubt in order to avoid convictions.

Take for example the Brisbane Magistrate who recently threw out the charges against four drunken self proclaimed Satanists who destroyed 82 historic headstones in a cemetery. The Magistrate did so because there was no evidence to prove that the vandals did not have permission from the grave site owners!

Hello? Where is it possible to have a reasonable doubt that 82 out of 82 grave site owners could have agreed for a group of drunken Satanists to destroy the headstones of their ancestors in the middle of the night? I mean 81 out of 82 I could believe… Not.

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/satanic-charges-dismissed-20100414-sd7y.html

[McDethWivFries]

The Magistrate did so because there was no evidence to prove that the vandals did not have permission from the grave site owners!

wow . . . just wow . . . . i remember there was a Judge in Perth who had the nickname 'no action Jackson' because if you got him you pretty much were almost guaranteed NOT to be found guilty or even given a slap on the wrist if you were found guilty!

[Chunder]

There was a Magistrate that used to walk around the central markets in Adelaide. Everyone there used to call him "The Penetrator"

No Prizes for guessing what he ended up getting "Done" for.

[buglerbilly]

There was a Magistrate that used to walk around the central markets in Adelaide. Everyone there used to call him "The Penetrator"

No Prizes for guessing what he ended up getting "Done" for.

BAD Arnold Schwarzenegger impressions? :big

[buglerbilly]

Efforts Grow to Stop GI Funeral Protests

June 02, 2010

Associated Press

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 Rev. Fred W. Phelps and his 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.

But that is not how Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli sees it.

According to a report today in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Cuccinelli's office announced it will not join with the other states and the District on behalf of Snyder.

"The attorney general's office deplores the absolutely vile and despicable acts of Fred Phelps and his followers," the paper quoted Cuccinelli's spokesman, Brian Gottstein, as saying in the statement. "We also greatly sympathize with the Snyder family and all families who have experienced the hatefulness of these people."

But Cuccinelli is chose not to join the legal brief "because the case could set a precedent that could severely curtail certain valid exercises of free speech," the statement said.

Military.com contributed to this report.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Westboro Says Funeral Protests Protected

July 08, 2010

Associated Press

BALTIMORE -- The fundamentalist church that picketed the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq with anti-gay signs argued Wednesday that its actions were protected by the First Amendment's constitutional protection of political speech and protests.

An attorney for the Westboro Baptist Church submitted a 75-page brief to the U.S. Supreme Court, which will hear arguments in a lawsuit against the church this fall. Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania, claims that the church's free-speech rights did not trump his First Amendment right to peacefully assemble for his son's funeral.

The Topeka, Kan.-based church believes that U.S. military deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of homosexuality. Founder Fred Phelps and six of his relatives picketed the 2006 funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Westminster, Md., carrying signs that read "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and "You're Going to Hell," among other statements.

Attorney Margie Jean Phelps, the church founder's daughter, will argue the case before the Supreme Court. She argued in her brief that Westboro did not disrupt the funeral in part because its protest was 1,000 feet (305 meters) away from the church, on a public street. Snyder did not see the protesters and could not read their signs during the funeral, but was aware of their presence.

"He was able to go to and leave the funeral without any slightest disruption or interference," Phelps wrote. "WBC was out of sight and sound; maintained a very reasonable distance; acted peacefully and engaged in no disruption or intrusion. ... This is the wrong case to decide whether there is a privacy interest in a funeral."

Phelps also argued that the church was engaging in public speech on a matter of public concern; that the funeral was a public event; and that the church did not assert provable facts but instead expressed "hyperbolic, figurative, loose, hysterical opinion."

In 2007, a jury found against Westboro and awarded Snyder nearly $11 million as compensation for emotional distress and invasion of privacy. That award was later reduced and then overturned by a court of appeals.

The Supreme Court agreed in March to take the case, and the justices will hear arguments during the court's next term, which begins in October. Forty-eight states and the District of Columbia submitted a brief in support of Snyder. The states argued they have a compelling interest in protecting the sanctity of funerals.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Counterprotests Drown Out Westboro

July 12, 2010

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

ARLINGTON, Texas -- Protests at two Arlington churches organized by Westboro Baptist Church on Sunday morning were drowned out by more than 100 counterprotesters who rebuked the controversial group.

About a dozen members of Westboro Baptist Church picketed at Fielder Road Baptist Church and later at Most Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church, two of four North Texas religious institutions they planned to visit Sunday. Most of the group's members were children related to Fred Phelps, the church leader, who was not there. The group has gained notoriety for protesting at military funerals and alleging that U.S. Soldiers' deaths are God's punishment for America's acceptance of homosexuality.

At both Arlington events, Westboro members were outmatched more than 10-to-1 by counterprotesters, many of whom opted for irreverence over anger as their weapon against the Topeka, Kan., group's message.

Westboro members' signs included: "Your Pastor is a Liar," "You Hate God," "God Hates Israel" and "Pray For More Dead Soldiers."

Some of the signs from counterprotesters were: "God Hates Signs," "I Love Pie" and "Cheerios Lowers Your Cholesterol." Counterprotesters also held signs featuring pop culture references including the Twilight series, Harry Potter and Monty Python.

Abigail Phelps, a spokeswoman for Westboro Baptist Church, said the group chose the two Arlington churches because they are "representative of all so-called Christian churches in this area." They targeted a Catholic church because of the international priest sexual-abuse scandal, she said.

Both churches encouraged their congregants to ignore the Westboro protesters, representatives said.

Arlington police kept the two groups separated at both events.

Abigail Phelps said Sunday that the church likes to see large counterprotests at its rallies.

"Of course we want them to come see the signs," she said. "That's why we're holding the signs. We don't put our light under a bushel. My hope is that they'll get the words. God controls what they do with the words."

Counterprotester Kitty Miller, 35, of Arlington held a sign that read "God Loves Fairies."

"I think what they're doing is horrible, and it's hurtful, and they made the mistake of coming to my city," Miller said.

Patrick Murphy, 25, of Fort Worth held a sign reading, "God Hates Fax (but loves email)," mocking one of Westboro's signs that included an epithet against homosexuals.

It was the first protest he ever attended, he said.

"I'm doing this for people going to church, so they just don't see hate," Murphy said.

Counterprotest organizer Charlotte Duncan, 53, of Arlington said the rallies were mostly publicized via Facebook.

Bryan Atkinson, 35, of Arlington said he went to the counterprotest at the Catholic church dressed as a cow to help people smile.

His wife and two kids went too. The family opted to attend the protest instead of church, he said.

"We can go to church 52 Sundays a year, but the crazies are only in town this weekend," Atkinson said.

Abigail Phelps said Westboro Baptist Church has been protesting around the country for 20 years.

"This entire nation and the world has been saturated with these words, and we have bound this nation," she said. "So yeah, we've accomplished exactly what the lord God intended us to accomplish."

The group's newer signs include: "Thank God For Oil Spills." Phelps said God caused the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as punishment for "antichrist Obama" and the country's refusal to repent of its sins.

As a group in a car was leaving Most Blessed Sacrament and turning onto North Davis Drive, the driver asked Abigail Phelps why she was thanking God for the oil spill. Phelps shouted that priests are sexually abusing boys.

"Keep those babies away from those priests!" Phelps yelled.

Each side briefly yelled at the other. The driver finally sped away.

© Copyright 2010 Fort Worth Star-Telegram. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Judge Overturns Protest Ban Aimed at Westboro

August 17, 2010

Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- A federal judge Monday ruled that Missouri laws restricting protests near funerals are unconstitutional.

Missouri legislators passed two laws in 2006 in response to protests at servicemembers' funerals by members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The church contends the deaths are God's punishment for the U.S. tolerating homosexuality.

U.S. District Judge Fernando Gaitan ruled the laws violate the right of free speech guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.

The primary state law had barred protests near any church, cemetery or funeral establishment from an hour before until an hour after any funeral ceremony, procession or memorial service. The secondary measure specifically stated protesters must stay back at least 300 feet from ceremonies and processions. Both provisions levied the same penalty: up to six months in jail and a $500 fine for a first offense and up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine for repeat offenders.

Gaitan concluded Missouri officials did not demonstrate the protest restrictions served a significant government interest nor that they had been narrowly tailored to prevent the harm of interruptions of funeral services. The judge wrote he was sympathetic to the argument people attending a funeral deserve some protection but noted a federal appeals court already had previously rejected that argument.

The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Westboro church member Shirley Phelps-Roper. Last year, Missouri officials were barred from enforcing the protest restrictions while the lawsuit was pending. Missouri Attorney General Koster appealed that decision but the U.S. Supreme Court refused without comment to consider the case.

Koster also plans to appeal Gaitan's latest ruling, said spokeswoman Nanci Gonder.

Gonder said Gaitan's hands were tied by a federal appeals court ruling that there was no compelling government interest in protecting people from unwanted speech outside their homes. She said the attorney general's office would ask the appeals court to "reconsider the abhorrent acts" church members "routinely inflict upon our servicemen and women."

ACLU attorney Tony Rothert said Monday that Missouri's restrictions created too large a zone in public areas where speech was restricted and made even non-disruptive speech illegal.

"Just not liking speech isn't enough reason," Rothert said.

Rothert added that the ban was aimed at the Kansas church but could have affected others. For example, he said it could have made it illegal to picket anywhere a funeral procession happened to drive past.

Numerous states have passed laws restricting protests at funerals; Phelps-Roper also challenged a similar law in Ohio. Missouri's law was sponsored by two St. Joseph lawmakers after Westboro members protested outside the 2005 funeral of a Soldier from their legislative districts. State lawmakers said they approved two laws so there was a fallback in case one was challenged in court.

According to court documents, members of the Kansas church say they have held more than 42,000 pickets, including more than 500 at funerals.

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved

[buglerbilly]

Nebraska Drops Case Against Westboro Member

August 24, 2010

Associated Press

PAPILLION, Neb. -- Family members of a fallen U.S. servicemember expressed disappointment Monday after prosecutors and protesters from Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church reached a deal that will keep both sides out of court over actions stemming from a church member's 2007 protest of the serviceman's funeral.

The 11th-hour deal was signed Monday, the same day Shirley Phelps-Roper's trial was to begin on charges of disturbing the peace and negligent child abuse. Those charges will be dismissed in exchange for Phelps-Roper, 52, dropping a federal lawsuit against Nebraska authorities accusing them of malicious prosecution.

As part of the deal pending a judge's expected Aug. 31 approval, Phelps-Roper also agreed to remove Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov from a separate lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's funeral protest law. Defendants in that ongoing federal suit include Republican Gov. Dave Heineman and state Attorney General Jon Bruning.

But family members and friends of the fallen Bellevue servicemember say the deal leaves them out in the cold.

"I came here today to see some justice done. This isn't right," said Randy Chaney, 44, the brother of Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Chaney, who was 35 when he was killed in 2007 by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

It was outside the National Guardsman's funeral in the Omaha suburb of Bellevue that Phelps-Roper allowed her 10-year-old son to stand on an American flag in protest, while she wore a flag as a skirt that dragged on the ground. Police arrested her on suspicion of violating a state flag-mutilation law, as well as child abuse and disturbing the peace charges.

Chaney said he had hoped the justice system would constrain the group's ability to bring children to such protests.

"She's putting her children in danger," he said.

Jeff Chaney's mother, Connie Chaney, said she was disappointed with the deal and that consideration should have been given to her and other families attending troops' funerals who have had to encounter signs by Westboro members proclaiming "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "Thank God for IEDs."

"They're catching people at the most vulnerable time they can get them," Connie Chaney said.

Members of Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Kan., travel the country protesting at servicemembers' funerals because they believe U.S. troop deaths are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. Members often trample on, wear and display the American flag upside-down as part of their protests.

Phelps-Roper, an attorney for and lifelong member of Westboro Baptist Church and mother of 11, has maintained the charges against her were not warranted because she was executing her right to free speech and had been in compliance with a Bellevue permit for the protest. She had pleaded not guilty and twice unsuccessfully asked for the case to be dismissed.

Under the terms of the deal, Phelps-Roper agreed to drop a federal lawsuit against Nebraska authorities related to her 2007 arrest.

"Nobody is admitting any wrongdoing here," said Omaha attorney Bassel El-Kasaby, who represents Phelps-Roper.

The lawsuit accuses Polikov, as well as other prosecutors in the office, of violating Phelps-Roper's constitutional rights "by investigating her for protected expressive activity," among other things.

Phelps-Roper also agreed to remove Polikov as a defendant in a separate federal lawsuit challenging Nebraska's funeral protest law, which prohibits picketing within 300 feet of a funeral or memorial services.

Phelps-Roper had also filed a lawsuit challenging the state's flag-mutilation law, which had barred intentionally "casting contempt or ridicule" upon an American or Nebraska flag by mutilating, defacing, defiling, burning or trampling on it. Last month, the state attorney general indicated the state law was unconstitutional, and a federal judge permanently stopped the flag-mutilation law from being enforced.

"I'm so sorry that Polikov dragged this out for three years," Phelps-Roper said. "He caused these people to believe in a lie. His effort to make us stay out of Nebraska failed. I love it."

El-Kasaby said he approached prosecutors about the deal this weekend in an effort to have the child abuse and disturbing-the-peace counts dropped.

"After the flag-mutilation law was determined to be unconstitutional, all that was left, in my opinion, was religious and political persecution," El-Kasaby said.

Religious persecution of scum sucking gutter trash? The Law truly is an Ass..............:jerkit

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Judge Overturns Nebraska Flag Mutilation Ban

September 03, 2010

Associated Press

OMAHA, Neb. -- A federal judge overturned Nebraska's ban on flag mutilation Thursday, clearing the way for Kansas church protesters to continue trampling on the U.S. flag when they protest at military funerals.

The ruling from U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf said the law can't be applied as long as Megan Phelps-Roper and fellow members of the Westboro Baptist Church "otherwise act peacefully while desecrating the American or Nebraska flag during their religiously motivated protests."

It was unclear whether the ruling applied only to the church members or to everyone in Nebraska. An earlier temporary block of the law applied only to Phelps-Roper.

The judge declined to explain the intent of his ruling when reached by The Associated Press.

A message left Thursday with the Nebraska attorney general's office wasn't immediately returned.

Attorney General Jon Bruning has previously said the flag-protection law passed in 1977 is not consistent with later U.S. Supreme Court rulings that labeled flag desecration a form of protected speech.

Bruning has said he wouldn't fight to save the Nebraska law. If he chooses not to appeal, Kopf's decision would close the case.

Members of the Topeka, Kan., church protest at servicemember funerals around the country because they believe U.S. troop deaths are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. Group members often trample on the U.S. flag, wear it and display it upside-down as part of their protests.

In July, Phelps-Roper filed the federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Nebraska's flag law, saying it infringed on her right to free speech. The law barred intentionally "casting contempt or ridicule" upon a U.S. or Nebraska flag by mutilating, defacing or burning it or by trampling on it.

Phelps-Roper's attorney, Margie Phelps, said Thursday the church has been "expressively using the flag a lot in Nebraska."

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Funeral Protest Case Reaches High Court

September 30, 2010

Associated Press



YORK, Pa. -- One thing Al Snyder wants to make clear: His boy fought and died for freedom in Iraq, but not for the right of some "wackos" to spew hate at troops' funerals under the protection of the Constitution.

"It's an insult to myself, my family and the veterans to say this is what our military men and women died for," Snyder says, barely concealing his anger.

Yet more than four years after the death of his only son, Matthew, Snyder is in the middle of a Supreme Court case that raises almost precisely that issue.

The court is set to decide whether members of a fundamentalist church in Kansas who picketed Matthew's funeral with signs bearing anti-gay and anti-Catholic invective have a constitutional right to say what they want.

Or, in intruding on a private citizen's funeral in a hurtful way, have the protesters crossed a line and given Snyder the right to collect millions of dollars for the emotional pain they caused?

The justices will hear arguments in the case next Wednesday.

The case is shaping up as a potentially important test of the First Amendment. "The difficulty in this case is that the speech occurs at the most personal and sensitive of times," said Cliff Sloan, a First Amendment expert at the Skadden, Arps law firm and the former publisher of Slate magazine.

Margie Phelps, a daughter of the pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church and the lawyer representing her family members at the Supreme Court, said that if the justices reinstate the $5 million judgment to Snyder, anyone who says anything upsetting to a mourner "is subject to a crushing penalty."

But Snyder said in an interview with The Associated Press that if he had the chance, he would tell the justices "that this isn't a case of free speech. It's case of harassment."

Snyder's nightmare began on a late winter night in 2006 when he flipped on the porch light and saw two uniformed Marines standing at the front door of his home in this small south central Pennsylvania city.

He knew right away that Matthew was dead, after just five weeks in Iraq.

He could accept his son's death because Matthew always wanted to be a Marine.

But Snyder was not prepared for what came next.

Eleven hundred miles away, in Topeka, Kan., the Rev. Fred Phelps and other family members who make up most of the Westboro Baptist Church decided that Snyder's funeral at a Catholic church in Westminster, Md., would be their next stop.

Phelps and his small band of followers have picketed many military funerals in their quest to draw attention to their incendiary view that U.S. deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq are God's punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

They showed up with the usual signs, including "Thank God for dead soldiers," "You're Going to Hell," "God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.

The church members drew counter-demonstrators, as well as media coverage and a heavy police presence to maintain order. The result was a spectacle that led to altering the route of the funeral procession.

Several weeks later, as Snyder surfed the Internet for tributes to Matthew from other servicemembers and strangers, he came upon a poem on the church's website that attacked Snyder and his ex-wife for the way they brought up Matthew.

That's when he decided to take action and soon filed a lawsuit accusing the Phelpses of intentionally inflicting emotional distress. He won $11 million at trial, later reduced by a judge to $5 million.

Then the federal appeals court in Richmond, Va., threw out the verdict and said the Constitution shielded the church members from liability.

The idea that the picketers' rights might trump his own led Snyder to continue the lawsuit. "They want to use the First Amendment as both a sword and a shield and that's not right," he said.

The Supreme Court gave him some hope that, in deciding to hear the case, the justices might say that funerals are different.

Phelps and his followers do not limit themselves to funerals. They have been protesting for decades, about homosexuality, abortion, Catholics and Jews. The court is made up of six Catholics and three Jews.

The Phelpses have even picketed unlikely targets, college students and breast-cancer survivors, to call attention to their belief that God is angry with the United States.

When Chief Justice John Roberts appeared in Lawrence, Kan., in 2008, Westboro protesters were there as well.

Asked about free speech cases that day, Roberts said, "It's certainly the responsibility of the Supreme Court to uphold freedom of speech, even when it's unpopular."

Media organizations, including The Associated Press, are urging the court to side with the Phelpses despite what they call the church's "deeply offensive" message.

The groups said that "to silence a fringe messenger because of the distastefulness of the message is antithetical to the First Amendment's most basic precepts."

Other groups, including the Anti-Defamation League, are not taking sides, but say the case is a poor one for making any broad pronouncements about the First Amendment that could inhibit religious expression. Some conservative groups are concerned that a ruling for Snyder could be used to limit anti-abortion protests.

On the other side, all the states, except Maine and Virginia, and veterans groups say that the court should stand behind state laws that limit funeral protests and recognize that mourners at a funeral have a right to be left alone.

The church's lawyer said the outcome of the case will not affect the work of her father and his flock. "The Westboro Baptist Church will talk to the nation until the job is done," Margie Phelps said.

Snyder said he thinks a victory would "put a dent" in the Phelpses' ability to travel far and wide to other military funerals.

He wants other parents, having just been told a child was killed in action, not to have worry that the funeral might be disrupted. "I had one chance to bury my son and it was taken from me," Snyder said.

But he also struck a more ominous tone. "It has to be stopped," Snyder said. "If the courts don't stop it, believe me, someone is going to."

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Illinois Gov. Signs Law to Protect Military Funerals

August 15, 2011

Chicago Tribune|by Brian Slodysko



As the U.S. continues to mourn the deaths of 30 Americans killed Aug. 6 when their helicopter crashed in Afghanistan, Gov. Pat Quinn signed a law Sunday that seeks to insulate grieving families from vitriolic anti-gay protests sometimes held alongside military funerals.

"Every family has a fundamental right to conduct a funeral with reverence and dignity," Quinn said in a statement. "This law ensures that the families of those who have given their lives for our country can grieve without harassment."

The measure updates the Let Them Rest in Peace Act, spearheaded by Quinn while he was lieutenant governor and enacted by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich in 2006. Keeping with the spirit of the old law, it bans picketing 30 minutes before and after military funerals, but it keeps protesters farther at bay by increasing the distance they must maintain from 200 to 300 feet.

Mentioned nowhere in the new law is the Westboro Baptist Church, an independent Kansas-based congregation that initially forced the issue. Members of the church protest at service members' funerals, bearing signs that said "Thank God for IEDs" and "God Hates Fags." The church contends a wrathful God is punishing America with war casualties for the country's embrace of "the mentality that it is OK to be gay," said Jonathan Phelps, an attorney and member of the church.

Quinn's signing of measure comes on the heels of an 8-1 Supreme Court decision in which justices reaffirmed the First Amendment right of the group to protest, overturning a lower court ruling that awarded $5 million to the father of a Maryland Marine whose funeral the church picketed.

The decision does not appear to affect the laws in 43 states that seek to keep the protesters away from military funerals.

The heightened level of protection in Illinois was applauded by Dan Hough, assistant state captain of the Illinois Patriot Guard, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts who attend military funerals on roaring bikes to drown out the sounds of church protesters.

"To add another hundred feet, yes, that will help put that buffer between (them)," said Hough, a fourth-generation funeral director from Raymond. Given the extremism of the church's statements, he said, the protesters have been given more than enough leeway to exercise their First Amendment right of making "disrespectful and vulgar" comments.

Hough lamented the spotlight put on the protest group. Phelps at least partially agrees.

"We say Mr. Quinn ... you keep up the good work," Phelps said. "God is not going to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah, and (this) will put a larger megaphone to it."

Jim Frazier, of Lake in the Hills, whose son Jacob was killed in Afghanistan in 2003, praised Quinn for the new law but said even 1,000 feet of distance from a funeral wouldn't be enough.

"We do have a Constitution but we also have common sense, and when it causes that much harm and that much pain and anguish, then we have to group together and say, 'Wait a minute this is far too harmful.'"

© Copyright 2011 Chicago Tribune. All rights reserved.

[buglerbilly]

Westboro to Protest SEAL Crash Victim’s Funeral

August 18, 2011

Connecticut Post|by John Nickerson

STAMFORD, Conn. -- A renegade fundamentalist Kansas church professing the demise of the United States because of its liberal policies on homosexuality, abortion and divorce is threatening to protest the Friday funeral for fallen Stamford SEAL Brian Bill.

Fred Phelps Jr., spokesman and son of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church leader Fred W. Phelps, said Wednesday that five or six church members are on their way to Stamford for Bill's services.

"That's the idea. We are doing as many SEAL funerals as we can," he said in a phone interview from Kansas.

U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Bill, 31, was killed Aug. 6 when a rocket-propelled grenade shot down the helicopter he and 21 other SEAL commandos were flying in during a combat mission in Afghanistan.

Bill was a 1997 graduate of Trinity Catholic High School and the first servicemember from Stamford to be killed in combat in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The last Stamford resident to die as a combatant on foreign soil was in 1983, when U.S. Marine Cpl. Devon Sundar, 23, was killed in Beirut when a terrorist's bomb ripped through a barracks, killing 229 servicemen.

The Westboro Baptist Church, which according to published reports has about 70 members -- mostly relatives of the Phelpses -- has irritated and angered many as it travels to military funerals spreading its message that God hates America and is killing its troops as revenge for what the country has become. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in March that the group's demonstrations, while at the most devastating time for many families, is a form of protected free speech.

Clearly angered by the church's stance toward the military, police Chief Robert Nivakoff, out of respect to Bill's family and in an apparent effort to not support or promote Westboro Church, declined comment on the threatened protest.


Phelps said Bill should have known that he would face God's wrath when he voluntarily "fought for such a filthy nation."

"If you believe the Bible, this is a no-brainer, my friend," he said at close of the interview.

Bill's stepfather, Dr. Michael Parry, said he knew Westboro Baptist was thinking about sending protesters to the funeral.

But as far as Westboro's message was concerned, he said, "We believe in Brian, and we believe in what he believed in. We support our troops on the mission to which they have been assigned."

George Ogilvie, Greenwich resident and volunteer motorcycle rider for the Connecticut chapter of Patriot Guard, said he does not expect Westboro to show.

"I think that is more of a scare. They say they'll protest everything. I haven't heard anything form the Stamford mayor's office," Ogilvie said.

Stamford Mayor Michael Pavia could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Ogilvie, 57, is a Vietnam-era Marine who rides his motorcycle with other volunteers to greet troops coming home and escorting military funeral processions. The Patriot Guard was created to contest Westboro's funeral protests.

"They are very misguided. For the life of me, I cannot understand how they can call themselves a church. A church is about peace and love and turn the other cheek, but these people spew nothing but hate," said Ogilvie, who has never encountered a Westboro member at a funeral he has escorted.

If they show up at St. Cecilia's Parish at 1184 Newfield Ave. on Friday morning, Ogilvie said he and the other volunteers will be ready.

Ogilvie said many riders are coming from in and out of state to ensure the funeral goes as planned. The fire department has allowed riders to spend the night in a city firehouse if they don't feel like going home right after the service, he said.

If the "UGs" or uninvited guests show up, he and the other riders will assemble with up to 200 flags between the protesters and the church, he said.

If the protesters begin singing some of their "nasty" songs, Ogilvie said some of the riders might start their bikes and rev their engines to drown out the "noise."

During a candlelight vigil at Trinity on Saturday, the Rev. Richard Futie, pastor at Sacred Heart Church, referred to Bill as the son he never had. Futie first met Bill when he was serving as a priest at St. Cecilia's Elementary School in the 1990s and was visibly shaken by his loss.

"It is a mark of good breeding never to speak ill of the dead," Futie said. "Our constitutional rights over religion and speech can only flourish when exercised with good taste, respect and honor."

© Copyright 2011 Connecticut Post. All rights reserved.