Sometimes Speech Has A Price

Hey folks,

Happy Thursday to you. I cannot believe how fast this past week went by. You know, I am a BIG advocate for free speech. I have and will fight with everything I have for ANYONE’s RIGHT to say whatever they want. But sometimes, when you DO speak, there is a price for what you say. In this case, $10.9 million dollars.

I do not care where you stand on the war. I do not care what you believe about Homosexuality. I do not care what you think about God. There are just some things you do NOT do. There is a time and a place for everything. A grieving family burying their child, is NOT it.

What I’m talking about is the Westboro Baptist Church and those that blindly follow the Idiot that heads it, Rev. Fred Phelps. These morons actually believe that God killed American Soliders because America accepts Homosexuality.

According to Reuters - Kansas church liable in Marine funeral protest By Jon Hurdle Wed Oct 31, 7:24 PM ET

BALTIMORE (Reuters) - A jury on Wednesday ordered an anti-gay Kansas church to pay $10.9 million in damages to relatives of a U.S. Marine who died in Iraq after church members cheered his death at his funeral.

Good.

Church members said Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's death was God's punishment of America for tolerating homosexuality, and they attended his 2006 funeral in Maryland with signs saying “You're going to hell” and “God hates you.”

Completely and unadulterated ignorance of anything God, The Word, Jesus, or his true mission here on earth. COMPLETE ignorance. What these people were doing, was practicing pure hate in the guise of religion.

The federal jury determined the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, and three of its principals invaded the privacy of the dead man's family and inflicted emotional distress.

ABSOLUTLEY!

Albert Snyder, the Marine's father, testified that his son was not gay, but the church targeted the military as a symbol of America's tolerance of gays. Matthew Snyder died in combat in Iraq in March 2006.

Which also shows the protesters ignorance.

The jury awarded Snyder's family $2.9 million in compensatory damages plus $8 million in punitive damages in the first civil suit against the church, which has demonstrated at some 300 military funerals the past two years.

I hope more follow. They deserve it.

The lawsuit said church Web sites vilified U.S. soldiers, accusing them of being indoctrinated by “fag propaganda.”

“I hope it's enough to deter them from doing this to other families. It was not about the money. It was about getting them to stop,” said Snyder, of York, Pennsylvania.

The church, which is unaffiliated with any major denomination, is headed by Rev. Fred Phelps, who has led a campaign against homosexuality for years. Most of the estimated 70 members of the church belong to his extended family.

{Laughing} 70 members? Extended family? This guy is a moron.

“It will take the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals a few minutes to reverse this silly thing,” Phelps said.

No it won’t. I hope they double it. They can’t, but you get the point.

His daughter and co-defendant, Shirley Phelps-Roper, vowed to continue protesting military funerals and called the court's decision a blow against free speech.

Message to you Shirley. Same message I give to the Islamofacists. God does NOT teach hate. Nor does He tolerate it.

Outside court on Wednesday, Phelps and his children waved placards with slogans such as “Pray for more dead kids” and “God hates fag enablers,” while passing drivers and pedestrians shouted abuse at them.

Defense attorney Jonathan Katz urged jurors not to award punitive damages because the $2.9 million in compensatory damages was already three times the defendants' net worth.

“It's enough already to bankrupt them and financially destroy them,” Katz said.

GOOD. I hope it does. I hope the families of these brave men and women, that have paid the ultimate price for these morons to say whatever they want, get to live in their house, drive their cars, or at least take them and sell them to help other families that have lost loved ones. I couldn’t care less if the Rev Phelps and his little “family” of a church end up in a tent somewhere in the middle of nowhere eating beans in a can. As long as he does not hurt any other families.

Rev. Phelps, God does not teach hate. God does not condemn ANYONE. Never has, never will. Jesus did not come for the Saint, but the Sinner. You know, being a “Reverend”it may benefit you to ACTUALLY read what God is, says, and does. Just a thought.

Like I said before folks, everyone, including Rev. Idiot here, has the RIGHT to say whatever they want. It does not matter how insane, incorrect, or nuts, it may be. However, there is a time and a place for everything. Sometimes, even though you have the RIGHT to say it, a price goes right along with it. Slander, malice, bomb threats, “hate speech” ETC. Protesting fallen Soldier’s funerals, is right there with them.
Peter

Sources:
Reuters - Kansas church liable in Marine funeral protest