Westboro Trial Begins
The “emotional distress” case against the Westboro Baptist Church began in Baltimore today. Grieving father Arnold Snyder filed the suit against Fred Phelps’ crew after they picketed his soldier son’s funeral. The original lawsuit accused WBC of “intentionally causing emotional distress,” invasion of privacy and defamation. The latter’s since been tossed.
Opening the case today, Shirley Phelps-Roper said that God himself instructed her and her unsavory ilk to protest funerals with signs reading “God Hates Fags” and “Thank God For Dead Soldiers”. It’s been a while since we saw God last, but we remember “him” being pretty stylish and we can’t imagine such a divine creature would hire Phelps-Roper to be his earthly representative. We could be wrong.
Phelps-Roper also says her brood stayed out of sight and in a cop-approved area. Snyder’s lawyer, however, claims his client knew about the protest, which traumatized him. He’s been struck by diabetic complications ever since. Phelps-Roper blamed that on God, too.
Psych! She didn’t, but we bet she thought it, just like she thought about ruining Snyder’s saddest day
The Phelps family aka Westboro Baptist Church in KS, may not be Christians or any style theologian, but the patriarch and many of his children are lawyers.
To the homophobic dominionists, Phelps must be the group they publicly disdain and privately applaud.
The Phelps group (WBc) is not a “church” it is a one man hate group and his kids. It is not about freedom it is all about the hate.
i think technically they fall under the idea of “cult”…
i just want them to drink that damn kool-aid and get it over with…
These people suck. There is a nice hot place in hell waiting for them.
I live in Kansas. I have written my Representative, Todd Tiahrt, about the Phelps’ klan continuing–and thus far, Constitutionally protected–HATE SPEECH. I requested that my political speech be respected in the same fashion [if you didn't know, it is now ILLEGAL--courtesy of our gutless, spineless, MIA Legislative branch of government--to protest this insane war.]
I have received no response from Tiahrt. He knows where to find me, as I regularly trash his unread form responses to petitions.
I informed him, further, that it is unconscionable that it has taken a motorcycle gang–and don’t get me wrong, My God(dess) Blesses ‘em–The Patriot Guard, to restore civility to the national tragedy that is our ongoing, only for profit, war in Iraq.
It has become obvious to me that it will take gangs–of you, and me, and ours–to not only restore civility/as in equal protection, under the law, for ALL/to this country, but to restore that “quaint document,” former Law of the Land, the Constitution.