Baltimore judge to Westboromorons: "Gimme yer church, deadbeats"

[Stinky The Clown]

(I posted this in GDP by mistake. I am reposting it here, unchanged.)

Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch.

Members of Westboro church fail to post bonds
BRENDAN KEARNEY
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer
May 5, 2008 7:03 PM
Two members of the Westboro Baptist Church ordered to pay $5 million for protesting a U.S. Marine’s funeral have not posted the bonds necessary to stay collection of the jury award against them pending appeal.

On April 3, U.S. District Judge Richard D. Bennett granted Shirley L. Phelps-Roper’s and Rebekah A. Phelps-Davis’ motion to postpone payment of the verdict contingent upon their posting $125,000 and $100,000 bonds, respectively. Bennett also placed a lien on the properties of the church and its founder, Pastor Fred W. Phelps Sr.

At the time, the sisters argued for far lesser bond amounts, and Phelps-Roper indicated she would not be able to offer such collateral to the court. As of 5 p.m. Monday, the deadline imposed by Bennett, the sisters had not posted the bonds, according to court records.

Sean E. Summers, an attorney for plaintiff Albert Snyder, said the sisters’ appeal of Bennett’s ruling on their motion to stay made it unlikely they would put up the cash Monday.

more at this link: http://www.mddailyrecord.com/article.cfm?id=5292&type=UTTM

The emphasis in the story clip is mine.

I sincerely hope these motherfuckers lose everything. Phred has done nothing but breed (literally) relatives for his army of hate.

[Dr.Phool]

1. So many Phelps. So few lions.

[wtmusic]

3. Inbreeding keeps compound names manageable. nt

[Bandit]

5. And it seems the more Phelps we get the fewer lions are left.

Saving the earth must begin somewhere..I know it's hard to connect the hatred of the Phelp's with saving the earth but if you think about it a bit I am sure it will come to you..

[madinmaryland]

2. I with you on that!!!!

Most disgusting set of human being i've ever seen.

[DS1]

8. Pray for rain and errant JDAMs

[caseycoon]

4. I love it!

I'm smiling!
:D

[Romulox]

6. The Constitution applies to people with odious opinions too...

Ultimately, the verdict will likely be overturned.

Amendment I

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.[/div

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. Yet court cases have shown again and again

that there is a limit on "the free exercise" of religion. For example, when Our Church was established in northwest Arkansas a few years back, they used ganja as a part of their services. The congregation was busted and the church prosecuted for the use of a controlled substance.

The picketing of funerals is even farther afield--it is not considered a part of a church rite or ritual. If church members break the law whilst picketing, they are subject to the consequences.

[Romulox]

14. It's been a while, but I don't think Phelps was held to have "broken a law"

He was sued for Intentional (or negligent, not sure) infliction of emotional distress.

Look, I don't want to defend this guy (I've shouted him down personally at U of M's diag on many occassions. But my feeling is that the free exercise of one's right to practice religion is a constitutionally protected right. There is simply no corresponding right not to be offended.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

15. But he was found guilty

of trespassing and obstructing traffic at one of his protests. Don't know if it was in connection with this one or not.

But I still say that a church's rights are limited--for example, what if a church advocates that blacks are "mud people" and should not be allowed to live in certain areas--and that church sends out mass mailings to a given population and to prospective businesses thinking to move to that location? That actually happened in the town where I work--the local KKK hides behind a "ministry" and periodically spews out such filth. The County Board of Commissioners (here it is called Quorum Court) condemned the mailings and assured businesses that this was NOT the view of all the citizens in the area.

[Winterblues]

17. There are indeed Laws against offensive behavior

Disorderly conduct laws, Assault laws, excessive noise laws. Religion does not trump all other laws...

[Romulox]

22. There are laws against murder and forgery too. That doesn't mean Phelps was convicted of these...

A tort action is not criminal in nature...

[KharmaTrain]

23. Freedom Of Speech In The "Public Square"

I could care less if Phelps and his goons protest to their heart's content...as long as its in a public place. The question of free speech is on different turf when it's in private. For example, would you consider a funeral to be public or private? And then was this a demonstration of free speech or harassment? This is where the lines get blurry.

[DS1]

7. Phelps-Roper?

You married into it?



If that’s the way you want to put it.

I don’t have some way to put it. That’s the way it is.

Well I need to close now.

[msongs]

9. requiring such "bonds" is criminal extortion, even if the defendant is despicable like phelps nt

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

10. And at the sheriff's sale of the property

the church building is purchased by a gay rights group.....wouldn't that be sweet justice?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. Hahahahahaha

That would be SO perfect!

[hootinholler]

13. K&R for visibility!

These assholes deserve the shit storm they started.

-Hoot

[TexasObserver]

16. Free Speech is a progressive ideal.

Government seizure of assets is not.

No matter how despicable the signs are, they are free speech, and no matter how offensive someone finds those words, they're free speech. The facts do not support the case and judgment that have come from them. The judgment and the civil claim are both anathema to progressive ideals.

The judge, a recent Bush appointee, a lifelong Republican, and a lifelong military officer, will be reversed on appeal, eventually, and it won't be soon enough.

As for Fred and his church, who cares what they say? They have a right to believe any nonsense they wish, just like all the other church goers in America who believe and repeat annoying nonsense and call it God's word.

[Richard Steele]

18. Making other peoples lives miserable is NOT a progressive ideal.

"Free speech" is not absolute, and it's certainly no excuse
for deliberately creating disturbances and inflicting pain
upon others.

[TexasObserver]

20. Not if the cost is impingement of free speech

Sorry, but you're simply wrong about both progressive principles and the Constitution.

We value the ability to speak freely, and if someone gets their feelings hurt, well that's too bad. You don't have a right to have your tender ears and tender heart not be offended.

You favor government enforcing harshly your inability to hear or see WORDS that discomfort you.

[Sundoggy]

19. I know you're right...

... and i KNOW it's a failure of my values...


but I just CANNOT get upset about this. There's a limit to what civilized people should be asked to endure.

[TexasObserver]

21. If we don't care about the scumbags, we don't care about our core values.

Opposing the death penalty means defending even the worst of human beings from it - the child killers, the serial murders, the most wretched among us. We oppose the death penalty because we feel the state should be better than that. We oppose impingement of free speech, because we know that the answer to one man's opinion is the opinion of another man (or woman).

These guys in the Phelps church are despicable humans, and worthy of our disdain, but the proper response to speech we do not like is to use the words available to us to condemn the words of those people.

I find all church beliefs to be largely arbitrary and offensive, but in our society, many people accept that large masses of people in a religion have hateful attitudes towards gays and other groups. Are those religions really any better than this Fred Phelps nutcase? How is the condemnation of gays by the Pope really any different than what Fred Phelps does? Who has the greater audience? Who leads the most people? Who really advances the cause of hatred of gays more, Fred Phelps or the Pope?

I don't know how anyone can favor punishing Phelps and not the Pope for gay baiting.

[backscatter712]

24. What can I say? The fuckers got it coming.

They chose to picket funerals in the most offensive way possible, and they caused real hell for the families of those fallen soldiers.

Those families sued them for the emotional distress caused, and won. They're entitled to damages.

With any luck, Fred Phelps and his cult will be reduced to making protests from cardboard boxes...