Soldier tackles Westboro Baptist Church member crowd cheer

[doggie]

we don't see violence too often against them but they sure pushed it too far.

 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/15/s ... wd-cheers/

[thekate]

There's a reason the church members are all lawyers. They keep themselves scrupulously legal and taunt others into breaking the law. Sue them for assault and use the money to further their hateful agenda.

[Mela99]

There is a special place reserved in hell for these people.

Ten bucks says we'll see the police drop the charges and a civil suit ensue...

[lilwriter85]

WBC members have been attacked before and they have sued and won their cases.

[Minerva]

I enjoyed that. Unfortunately, so did the WBC members because that's why they were there in the first place.

[luckystone]

There's a reason the church members are all lawyers. They keep themselves scrupulously legal and taunt others into breaking the law. Sue them for assault and use the money to further their hateful agenda.

Wow...I did not know that...I thought they were just crazies or really clever trolls...just looked it up and so far I've found two with law degrees (the Phelps guy, though disbarred, and his daughter), are there others who are lawyers too? The rest didn't have wiki entries.

I also didn't realise he had several estranged children who actively denounce him and the church.

Edit: Just did further research...he has 11 kids with law degrees and they defend themselves and make their money off their crazy lawsuits and run a regular practice at the same time? For real? I didn't know that. That's actually kinda cool, even though they are psychos.

[BravaAmica]

There is a special place reserved in hell for these people.

Ten bucks says we'll see the police drop the charges and a civil suit ensue...

That's what WBC is counting on. There's more money and press coverage in civil suits.

[thekate]

Wow...I did not know that...I thought they were just crazies or really clever trolls...just looked it up and so far I've found two with law degrees (the Phelps guy, though disbarred, and his daughter), are there others who are lawyers too? The rest didn't have wiki entries.

I also didn't realise he had several estranged children who actively denounce him and the church.

Edit: Just did further research...he has 11 kids with law degrees and they defend themselves and make their money off their crazy lawsuits and run a regular practice at the same time? For real? I didn't know that. That's actually kinda cool, even though they are psychos.

They've "followed" me to three states, the last time when I was teaching high school social studies. We had a good lesson that day on the first amendment, the law, and reasons to ignore trolls.

[doggie]

It's like they are the victim and the ambulance chasers rolled into one.

[swissbeauty]

As much as I'm concerned for the children of their cult, I feel like the best way to deal with them is to simply ignore them. Unfortunately the US has no hate speech laws so they can't be arrested on that, plus all the lawyers in the family, as it'd been said, are expert manipulators.

They thrive and feed off of media attention. Everyone needs to just STOP giving them any. Shirley lives and breathes hatred and retorts. In their illogical, fucked minds it proves their points all the more.

I wish everyone would collectively shun the adults. Like, refuse to serve them at restaurants, refuse to look at them, not protest their protests. They'd go NUTS.

[crassy]

I really wish people would stop engaging the WBC. They are trolls and they feed on the attention. They are almost laughable in their ridiculousness. I understand why this guy did what he did, emotions run high, but he is now going to be in a world of legal trouble and they will not let it go.

[ADoyle90815]

I really wish people would stop engaging the WBC. They are trolls and they feed on the attention. They are almost laughable in their ridiculousness. I understand why this guy did what he did, emotions run high, but he is now going to be in a world of legal trouble and they will not let it go.

This.

[PraiseSeitan]

The way to deal with them is to put a big sign up saying that for every minute they protest X dollars are being donated to the gayest charity you can possibly find, and otherwise ignore them. If you have to say something, cheerfully thank them for their donation.

[Patsy]

I really wish people would stop engaging the WBC. They are trolls and they feed on the attention. They are almost laughable in their ridiculousness. I understand why this guy did what he did, emotions run high, but he is now going to be in a world of legal trouble and they will not let it go.

[miffy]

Fred Phelps was a civil rights lawyer before he went strange.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-05/us/h ... t?_s=PM:US

[HOTW]

Well the way i see it the sign was a weapon and the WBC memebr was going to use it and the Soldier bravely risked his life to stop him...... :whistle:

[crassy]

Fred Phelps was a civil rights lawyer before he went strange.

http://articles.cnn.com/2010-05-05/us/h ... t?_s=PM:US

He was always strange. He pushed for civil rights between races, but has never supported civil rights for anyone else. In one of the documentaries about them (I can't remember which one, but I am sure it isn't Louis...I think) the interviewer asks them this question, and they respond pretty much with what I said here. Fred Phelps is not a racist, but he is an intolerant, power hungry bigot.

[NjoyingNsanity]

You know I'm usually not the type to resort to or condone violence, but if I was around the WBC and they pissed me off enough to hit one of them I'd do my best to make sure they needed to go to the ER afterwards. The way I see it if I'm going to arrested, and I'm going to get sued I might as well make beating the living crap out of one of them worth it.

[debrand]

I am not a lawyer and know NOTHING about law. However, we have contributory negligence in NC. Perhaps that will keep the WBC from suing the soldier.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contributory_negligence

Contributory negligence in common-law jurisdictions is defense to a claim based on negligence, an action in tort. It applies to cases where plaintiffs/claimants have, through their own negligence, contributed to the harm they suffered. For example, a pedestrian crosses a road negligently and is hit by a driver who was driving negligently. The pedestrian has contributed to the accident. Another example of contributory negligence is where a plaintiff voluntarily disregards warnings and assumes a certain level of risk, although accepting reasonable risk while attempting to rescue another person is not considered contributory negligence.

Contributory negligence is sometimes regarded as unfair because under the doctrine a victim who is at fault to any degree, including only 1% at fault, may be denied compensation entirely, which is known as pure contributory negligence.[1]:85 In the United States, the pure contributory negligence only applies in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Virginia. Indiana applies pure contributory negligence to malpractice cases.

I agree with the other posters. The best way to defeat WBC is to ignore them.

[Patsy]

He was always strange. He pushed for civil rights between races, but has never supported civil rights for anyone else. In one of the documentaries about them (I can't remember which one, but I am sure it isn't Louis...I think) the interviewer asks them this question, and they respond pretty much with what I said here. Fred Phelps is not a racist, but he is an intolerant, power hungry bigot.

Not according to the sons who've left.

Much is made of the fact that my father was a civil rights attorney in the late 60's and 70's... While my father did a tremendous amount of good in defense of equality for blacks, this was not evidence of his real attitude toward them. In addition to his Bible based prejudice, he made no bones about how he really felt toward them when he was around his family. It was not uncommon at all for my father, as well as his children, to refer to black clients in his office as "DN"s (dumb niggers), even in their presences.

my father taught us from infancy that the black race was cursed by god

n8rphelps.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/duplicity-of-wbc.html

Peters is the guru-philosopher of the Christian Identity Movement. Known simply as "Identity", the movement believes the white race is God's true Chosen People. They assert the Jews are animal souls that rewrote the Old Testament to give themselves the Chosen's birthright. Blacks are "mud people" who also possess animal souls-meaning they are not immortal and cannot go to heaven. According to Identity, blacks and Jews want to eliminate the white race and rule the earth.

Randy Weaver, the man arrested in the Idaho mountaintop shout-out with F.B.I., was a member of the Posse Comitatus and a follower of Identity. Peters broadcasts his shortwave radio program, "Scriptures for America", around the world, calling for death to homosexuals and warning against the international Jewish conspiracy. Fred Phelps has done broadcasts on "Scriptures for America", and tapes of his anti-gay message and offered for sale in Peters' mail order catalogues. When asked about it, Pastor Phelps only smiles enigmatically and offers that Pete Peters owns the rights to those broadcasts and can sell them if he wants. But Peters, reached by phone at his church in La Porte, says: "If he (Fred Phelps) didn't want them out, even if I had a right, I wouldn't put them out. I have the greatest respect for him." The militant white supremacist then adds ominously, "He's got the support of god-fearing people across this country that are not afraid to back a man who tells it like it is. "And he's got my support if he needs help-whenever he needs help." Not empty words.

http://blank.org/addict/ (chapter 6)

[thekate]

Not according to the sons who've left.

n8rphelps.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/duplicity-of-wbc.html

http://blank.org/addict/ (chapter 6)

The reason I am leaning toward "not racist" is because the WBC obviously doesn't care about what people think about them or being politically correct. So why lie about being racist? The son Nate has an interest in discrediting his father. As for "Scriptures in America" I think the anti-gay mindset has usurped the civil-rights-for-blacks mindset and he has an absolutely one-track mind. I don't think he cared about their other positions, just that they were also anti-gay.

ETA: Gosh, "anti-gay" really sounds like an understatement, doesn't it?

[Patsy]

If you have a read of the "Addicted to Hate" chapter, Mark Phelps corroborates what his brother says about Fred's religious racist beliefs, and goes into detail on the "civil rights" cases, suggesting that the pattern that emerges isn't one of a civil rights advocate but a petty lawyer who just happened to take on a few cases that included a racial component. I have nothing to do with racial discrimination law, so I have no idea if the article's generalisations - that other lawyers would have pushed for a more systematic plan of attack to effect precedent-setting rulings - are actually true.

edit: though I think you have a really good point about the one-track mind, a lot of the insight we have into his character does come from those who've left - I'm inclined to believe their accounts

[JesusFightClub]

This actually vaguely pisses me off because I think you should have the right to desecrate a flag without having the crap beaten out of you.

I wouldn't have chosen this place or time in a million years (because I wouldn't want to commit such an act at a funeral). Generally flag burning is pointless over here and trampling up and down on a flag likwise. However I don't think anyone should get beaten up for being rude to a piece of cloth.

[Deleted03]

This actually vaguely pisses me off because I think you should have the right to desecrate a flag without having the crap beaten out of you.

I wouldn't have chosen this place or time in a million years (because I wouldn't want to commit such an act at a funeral). Generally flag burning is pointless over here and trampling up and down on a flag likwise. However I don't think anyone should get beaten up for being rude to a piece of cloth.

+1

I was going to post exactly that. I'd say I'm satisfied, but really? for a flag?

I don't even thing the point debrand is bringing out is ok, who f*ing cares what you do with a flag? it was homecoming weekend here and I saw so many people in stupid flag clothes. How is that not desecrating (particularly when you know the probability of it being smothered in vomit by the end of the night.

[slickcat79]

This actually vaguely pisses me off because I think you should have the right to desecrate a flag without having the crap beaten out of you.

I wouldn't have chosen this place or time in a million years (because I wouldn't want to commit such an act at a funeral). Generally flag burning is pointless over here and trampling up and down on a flag likwise. However I don't think anyone should get beaten up for being rude to a piece of cloth.

I was really surprised that was what ultimately caused the attack. I accept desecrating a flag as an appropriate act of rebellion, disagreement, contempt, whatever, but I can also see how it'd be more of a hot-button issue for a soldier, on top of the other things that WBC is known to do. Before I read the article I thought one of the members had actually said or done something in regards to the soldier who died, in which case the reaction would make more sense to me.