Thursday, March 3, 2011

DISGRACEFUL

This is beyond wrong . . .


SCOTUS: Westboro Can Protest Military Funerals

CNN Reports

A Kansas church that attracted nationwide attention for its angry, anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military members has won its appeal at the Supreme Court, an issue testing the competing constitutional rights of free speech and privacy.

The justices, by an 8-1 vote, said Wednesday that members of Westboro Baptist Church had a right to promote what they call a broad-based message on public matters such as wars. The father of a fallen Marine had sued the small church, saying those protests amounted to targeted harassment and an intentional infliction of emotional distress.

“Speech is powerful. It can stir people to action, move them to tears of both joy and sorrow, and — as it did here — inflict great pain. On the facts before us, we cannot react to that pain by punishing the speaker,” Chief Justice John Roberts wrote for the majority.

At issue was a delicate test between the privacy rights of grieving families and the free speech rights of demonstrators, however disturbing and provocative their message. Several states have attempted to impose specific limits on when and where the church members can protest.


For the man who taught these kids to believe in the signs they carry, there is an extra special place in Hell.


The church, led by Pastor Fred Phelps, believes God is punishing the United States for “the sin of homosexuality” through events including soldiers’ deaths. Members have traveled the country shouting at grieving families at funerals and displaying such signs as “Thank God for dead soldiers,” “God blew up the troops” and “AIDS cures fags.”

Westboro members had appeared outside the 2006 funeral for Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder in Westminster, Maryland, outside Baltimore.

Snyder’s family sued the church in 2007, alleging invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress and civil conspiracy. A jury awarded the family $2.9 million in compensatory damages plus $8 million in punitive damages, which were later reduced to $5 million.

The church appealed the case in 2008 to a federal appeals court, which reversed the judgments a year later, siding with the church’s allegations that its First Amendment rights were violated.

Albert Snyder, Matthew’s father, said his son was not gay and the protesters should not have been at the funeral.


In my house, I taught my kids we don't even use the word "Hate"


“I was just shocked that any individual could do this to another human being,” Snyder told CNN. “I mean, it was inhuman.”

Church members say their broader message was aimed at the unspecified actions of the military and those who serve in it. They believe U.S. soldiers deserve to die because they fight for a country that tolerates homosexuality.

Roberts in his opinion noted the Snyder family was not a “captive audience” to the protests that were conducted several hundred yards away.

“Westboro stayed well away from the memorial service,” wrote Roberts. “Snyder could see no more than the tops of the signs when driving to the funeral. And there is no indication that the picketing itself in any way interfered with the funeral itself.”


This just proves how stupid people can be, to embrace this kind of sicko, crazed logic.


Based on that the court concluded Snyder could not collect damages from Westboro.

But the chief justice showed little sympathy for the message Westboro promotes.

“Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many Americans might feel the same about Westboro. Westboro’s funeral picketing is certainly hurtful and its contribution to public discourse may be negligible,” he said. However, “As a nation we have chosen a different course — to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate.”


Read the rest of it HERE - if you can stand it . . .


STORMBRINGER Two Cents Worth:

Sometimes there are degrees of of right and wrong, gray areas, etc.

These people and their crap don't even come close.

As sure as there is an up and a down, day and night, dry and wet; there are things that are right and things that are wrong . . . and it doesn't take a genius to see that this is DEAD WRONG.

This is the antithesis of what our Democratic Republic is all about. This is not Freedom of Speech - this is moral perversion. Even still, in America you have the right to be perverted, the right to be stupid.

That does not mean a person has the right to yell "FIRE" in a burning theater, and this does not mean there is some kind of right to profane the most sacred, most solemn moment for any American family, for the entire fabric of the American timeline; the funeral of an American Warrior who gave his life for our country.


SEAN LINNANE SENDS








Today's Bird HERE . . . to help cleanse this crap from your eyes.



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10 comments:

  1. This would be a "right" not granted in any other place. Any limits on freedom of assembly because of the potential to hurt others' feelings negates the point of both the freedom of assembly and the freedom of speech.Someone will always have their feelings hurt. As long as the "protests" are respecting property rights, they must be allowed. Anything else other than protection of this will lead to a curtailment of similar rights in the future.

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  2. As much as I do not like what these assholes say they have a right to say it. And we have the right to reply in kind if desired. You can not make laws against being an ass and if you did they will still be asses and probably ignore them. We just have to live with it and hope some day these people learn that "what goes around comes around" and someday there will be something coming to them and there will be no one who wants to help them.

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  3. The thing that both4ersw me is this:

    I am very sure that there are people in this world (including some in my immediate family) who feel about me and what I say the way I feel about these creeps and what they say.

    "Then they came for me,
    and by that time there was no one
    left to speak up for me. "

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  4. "This is the antithesis of what our Democratic Republic is all about"

    No, as much as I despise what these creeps are doing their right to do so is EXACTLY what the constitution protects.

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  5. There must be some way to put a stop to these assholes. Somebody (could be some inventive lawyer, with apologies for saying this) must devise a way to create such pressure on these degenerates that they will forget their revolting act.

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  6. Just because you are allowed to do something does not mean it is morally right to do it , it's a funny kind of Christian who believes that this kind of behaviour is appropriate .
    In the UK we have a crime of " behaviour likely to cause a breach of the peace " , have you a similar law that can be used against these people . If so then a citizens arrest should solve the problem .

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  7. As ignorantly vile as these people are, unlike the "fire in a crowded theatre" example, they don't appear to be endangering anybody other than themselves, nor do they fall under any other exception to the broad principle of free speech that I would care to apply (lest under the law of unintended consequences my own oxen be gored next).


    That being said, I am certain of this: these idiots are in for a BIG surprise when the day comes that they must stand and make an accounting before the God whom they claim to speak for. On that day, they will cry "Lord, Lord" look at all that we have done in your name, and he will say "I never knew you: depart from me." Mt 7:22-23.

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  8. while I think that they have the right to protest and to say what they choose to, I also think that this is "hate speech". Which will get you prosecuted in many places.

    If they have the right to do these protests, then the KKK has the right to do crossburnings and such.

    You can't have it both ways.

    If the first amendment is paramount, then EVERYONE gets "free speech"....and few will be those who aren't offended by someone.

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  9. The Patriot Guard have stood up and protected the families of our fallen for years. Many others have done the same when they heard these "people" were coming to demonstrate at a funeral in their town. That is how we deal with "people" like this. We show up, in numbers so great that the signs are lost in a sea of flags. We show up and honor the sacrifice of our troops, show our respect and protect and comfort the families. Join the local PGR and show up.

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  10. Good sharing of this wonderful job. Thanks.

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