Ditto. We already have laws handling this sort of thing. I don’t doubt they spit on people and threaten them with rape. These guys are crazy. But if we observe them, film them, and just let them be, sooner or later, one of them is going to screw up and do this in front of a camera. Then the law can step in and handle the situation exactly like it should be handled. Legally. Constitutionally. By the book. I’ve said it elsewhere in this thread, and I’ll say it again. The more they protest, the more they stand outside of funerals and make asses of themselves, the more chance they have of screwing up.
Insanity is like the casino house. Sooner or later, the house always gets your money. Sooner or later, crazy always wins out. Look at the video in the OP again. This woman isn’t just weird; she’s ready to snap. And she’s the public liason who’s earmarked for all the media performances. Now what do you think the rest of the Phelps members who avoid the camera are like? Permitting these screwheads to protest is like giving them just enough rope.
Right you are. It has to be by the book. Otherwise, they will skate out again. I’d love to see them locked up, and also be fined so heavily that all their ill gotten gains are wiped out completely. But, unless it’s done by the numbers, by the book, it won’t happen.
Peter Schickele, the world’s leading authority on PDQ Bach, unearthed a composition by the latter titled Desecration of the House. Should such an occasion as Sampiro describes ever come to pass, I think this would be an excellent piece to play at the grand opening.
Oh, wait . . . if the definition of “church” is “house of God,” then Phred and kin have desecrated it far beyond the wildest dreams of us mere plebes. Perhaps an exorcism would be in order.
There would be a zoning problem with turning the place into a bar. It’s in a neighborhood of regular housing, and is itself Phred’s home, now enlarged somewhat, with a small sanctuary( pews, pulpit and so on) inside. If you ask me the whole church thing is a tax dodge. The family also owns all but one other house on the block, and has a continuous tall privacy fence connecting the properties (except for a detour around that one house) So the backyards are all joined into one large* compound*, with play equipment and a swimming pool. I hear the pool is down, for tax purposes, as a baptismal pool", not a recreational one. Suuuuuure.
I wonder what it’s like to the one private family, the WBC on one side, and a Phelps family house on the other.
I don’t know. Ask Margie where her son Jacob came from. She was never married, and they say he was adopted.
As for the tax issue, the Phelps did try to get a pickup of theirs off the tax rolls, as a church vehicle, because it was supposed to be for the hauling around of their protest signs. It didn’t work, because at times it was used for secular purposes as well. Can’t do much about the pool I suppose, as long as an occasional baptism is held in it.
I could, and would defend him/them. They’re not out to offend, per se (as offensive as it may be). They’re exercising their right speak their sick, twisted, black-hearted minds. And the soldier’s family’s right to mourn is not being infringed. They’re mourning whether they have a big military funeral or they just quietly inter him. Mourning is emotional and cannot be stopped no matter how much Phelps tries. I would never trade my right to free speech for a peaceful funeral. There’s just no comparison.
There’s nothing to be ashamed of here as long as you separate the message from the right to express that message. There’s no constitutional right to live free of offense. And that’s a good thing.
Actually IIRC, they have said they are out to offend all the people they perceive as being sinful and going to hell. (To paraphrase.) They admire “God’s Hate” and that is the message they are spreading.
Well, that may be…I don’t follow him all that closely (because he’s a piss-ant and not worthy of my attention). But even if that’s the case. No law against it. I just think there is so much more to lose (and so much more to be offended by) if we play that game. Where do you draw the line? What’s offensive to me may not be offensive to the next guy, and so on…until every shred of the constitution is lost in an endless series of pissing contests. I think the damage that would be done by silencing him is a gazillion times worse than putting up with his rantings.
They came to St. Paul, to protest at St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church. The church didn’t want to turn it into an ugly, violent event (to the extent that anything involving the Phelps doesn’t start out as an ugly, violent event), so they asked people to make pledges. People pledged X amount of money to local GLBT organizations for every minute the Phelps did their demonstration. The church had a big timer out front, and a display that showed how much money had been raised. The crowd cheered when new targets were hit, and “encouraged” the protesters to keep going as long as possible. Oddly, they left after a very brief protest.
I’m posting this in case anyone else wants to try it. Making fun of them and using their hate to do good seem to be effective tactics.
I’ve seen or heard of that being done in other places.
In fact,right here in Topeka the Topeka Aids Project was going to do that. Since the WBC always picketed at their main annual fundraiser letters were sent inviting pledges per minute for time the Phelps would spend. Then, for the first time ever, the WBC didn’t show up to picket at the dinner and auction. So more letters were sent out offering to refund the money of people like me who had made a contribution ahead of time. Mine was only $25, so I told them to keep it, and I imagine others like me did it as well. But I thought it was classy of TAP to offer to make refunds.
Of course the most famous protest of Phelps (and in my opinion the classiest and most effective) was Romaine Patterson’s wing costume protest as portrayed in The Laramie Project.
Unfortunately it’s hard to use the word classy about somebody whose web site is entitled eatromaine dot com. :rolleyes:
Shrug. I understand the ACLU’s position. If they don’t represent Phelps, someone will play the “hypocrisy” card.
If it were me, I’d tell Phelps to eat shit and die slow, and I’d deal with the hypocrisy accusations later, in my own “charming” way. But, that’s just me.
