Miss. shows how to handle Westboro "church"

[littlewolf]

http://nation.foxnews.com/culture/2011/04/21/mississippi-shows-how-you-handle-westboro-freaks

On Saturday, USMC Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, who was killed in action in Afghanistan April 7, was buried in Brandon, Mississippi...Why weren’t there protestors?
Planning ahead by the locals, as it turns out.
From an Ole Miss sports message board, a tidbit of information…

snip

A couple of days before, one of them (Westboro protestors) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.
Rankin County handled this thing perfectly. There were many things that were put into place that most will never know about and at great expense to the county.

snip

Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the Kansas plated cars could get out.
A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business.


Hey it works for me ....

[pnwmom]

1. Would they have reacted that way if a gay man needed to be protected?

Rather than a soldier's funeral?

[TxVietVet]

3. Mississippi defending a gay man against Westboro dummies church?

I seriously doubt it.

[Iggo]

14. I think I coud purdy much lay down and die if that ever happened. (n/t)

[DCKit]

6. Jeebus, give 'em a few minutes to evolve, already.

This whole Westboro thing has got to be one hell of a slap in the face to their ingrained hypocrisy, so it might take a while longer for them to come around on all the other shit.

[rubberducky]

25. Apples and oranges?? Sheesh.

[merh]

33. In a round about way, one most didn't realize, they were.

The bigots protest the funerals of soldiers because they claim the wars and the evils that befall the US, the deaths of the soldiers, are God's revenge against America for its tolerance of homosexuality.

So they did act to derail the hate of the bigoted slim who hate homosexuals.

[Cirque du So-What]

2. I wouldn't be surprised to see a flurry of lawsuits

against the county for interfering with their civil rights or somesuch. Remember, this Phelps clan has several lawyers in the family, and they live for the 'big score,' where they expect to win a huge settlement.

[Mz Pip]

7. I don't doubt that

Westboro is able to finance their hatred and bigotry from winning First Amendment lawsuits. They love it when they are "prevented" from protesting. It's their cash cow.

[BIGFOOTSDADDY333]

15. i think lawsuits are how they keep the church running

[OmahaBlueDog]

4. These actions by the citizens of MS are, of course, wrong in a free society

:evilgrin:

[loudsue]

8. And THAT is about the only thing that's wrong with a free society.

That this type of activity would be wrong...

Ya know what I mean?

On edit: Now that I've thought about it...why can't this be PART of what a free society does? Why does freedom of action only go to one side of an argument? It doesn't, really.

[TxVietVet]

5. Ain't that a shame? The idiot thumpers couldn't make it to the funeral.

Now, everyone in every state knows how to deal with those POS. Give 'em what they don't want, way too much attention.
Deny them the right to interfere with a family or a community's grieving.

[pnwmom]

24. Are you applauding them for beating someone up?

Would you also applaud them for beating up a war protestor?

[Modern_Matthew]

9. Yes. Let's stomp out free speech with violence. Pickup trucks. Why am I not surprised? nt

[ThomWV]

10. A fine case of all the wrongs in the world not adding up to a single right.

[BIGFOOTSDADDY333]

16. i love your analysis of this situation

as much as i detest fred flops. free speech is meaningless if we squelch speech we dont like.

[regnaD kciN]

11. Gee, if this had been a civil rights or gay rights march...

...and one of the leaders "got his arse waxed" because he "ran his mouth," with the police dropping the matter because "no one in the crowd...remember(ed) anything that had happened"; and then, the day of the march, abandoned county pickup trucks blocked all the cars of people involved in the march, with the police tow-truck reporting that, unfortunately, they were delayed and couldn't clear the matter until after the march was over; and the few who made it to the march were "ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might possibly have been involved in," only to be found "not involved" and released after everything was over, would you have been lauding it as the state "showing how to handle" them, and declaring "hey, it works for me"...?

Sorry, I detest the Branch Fredphelpsians as much as anyone, but if you don't see these as bare-faced police-state tactics to suppress a group the authorities didn't like, I don't see how you can object if, say, Scott Walker were to use the same tactics to squelch union demonstrators. Double standard, anyone?

[pnwmom]

18. +1000. n/t

[freshwest]

26. The behavior hasn't changed, just the target. Well, maybe not. The Phelphs are anti-military.

[monmouth]

12. Lawdy, how I love 'merica...n/t

[marsis]

13. I'd

Like to kick their asses also, but what if they were a bunch of liberals protesting war in say Alabama?

[pnwmom]

23. Exactly. n/t

[Speck Tater]

17. I see a difference between "free speech" and "intent to harass".

I for one believe that the family of the fallen soldier has the right to hold a funeral and mourn their very deep personal loss without being harassed by people whose only intent is to stir up trouble. Free speech is one thing, but intent to harass is something quite different.

We know Westboro's position, and nobody should be forced to hear it again, and against their will. I support the community in their efforts to proactively prevent the harassment of innocent citizens at their time of loss. I'd be right there with them in blocking the parking lot.

Your rights end where they trample my rights, and a family's right to grieve should not be violated so that someone can force their religious views on them.

Way to go Brandon Mississippi!

[pnwmom]

19. These are exactly the same tactics that Brandon, Mississippi

would have used against civil rights protestors several decades ago.

This time they were protecting a military funeral. No big surprise that they would do that.

It doesn't sound to me that they've suddenly become enlightened, or that we should be applauding their tactics.

[izquierdista]

21. Some things change, some things don't

And we now know what to expect if the local gay community wants to celebrate pride day in a couple months time. Apparently, the Westboro folks wanted to experience 'Southern hospitality' first hand for themselves. That, or they must have gotten some advice from Rumsfeld that they would be greeted with cheers and flowers.

[Speck Tater]

30. A public demonstration is one thing. Targeting a specific person or family is another.

Public demonstrations, marches, celebrations, etc. protesting specific laws or traditions such as gay rights or racial discrimination are certainly free speech and should be protected.

Demonstrating against a specific person or his family, including the use of hate-filled signs and speech is in an entirely different category of acts. That is harassment directed against an individual, not demonstration in opposition to a law or policy.

I'm sure the spirit of the first amendment was not to give license to personal harassment against an individual private citizen. If that were the case then what would protect you and me from being harassed by anyone who felt like harassing us?

Yes, protect the right to march and protest for racial justice or gay rights or abortion rights pro or con, but don't stretch that to include the right to hound random private citizens with hate speech.

[pnwmom]

31. I'm not justifying Phelps. He's despicable. But I'm not going

to applaud people who beat up on one of his crew and then bragged about it.

[Speck Tater]

32. And I respect your right to disagree with me. nt

[AnOhioan]

20. Wholeheartedly agree

[bbinacan]

22. I so love it. n/t

[SoCalDem]

27. I prefer what another town did..flattened bus tires & no one in town would fix them

then locals blockaded the cemetery with vehicles to keep the intruders out..

no violence, & their point was made..

I think Westboro had to pay an outside towing service, just to get out of there:)

[stevenleser]

28. I couldn't be more conflicted. I can't help feeling some schadenfreude for

some come-uppance for the Westboro baptist church. But the price/cost here is too much.

[Orsino]

29. Um, yay for our side?

First to use violence! We're number one! And no witnesses! We know nothing! WHOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

[lildreamer316]

34. Oh boy.

I'm really sorry that someone got hurt.
....and that's about all I've got on the PC side...