Westboro fail.

[AncientPaths]

This is a great story.

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

[freeatlast]

Good for them. Wish every city would stand up against these Westboro idiots.

[coadie]

Martyrs
They can claim persecution of the church

[missourimary]

Nah, Coadie. Just the one that was beaten. Maybe the others were being interrogated for information regarding that 'persecution' or witnessing at the local station. :D BTW, is it persecution if you "run your mouth" and ask for it? Maybe the person beating him was just exhibiting his free speech rights too... or his right to bear arms?

[Hoovie]

Am I the only one who is a little bothered by this story?

[Digging4Truth]

Am I the only one who is a little bothered by this story?

No sir.

You certainly aren't.

[houston]

The link doesn't work for me.

[MissBrattified]

Well...

I feel a certain sense of satisfaction at hearing of someone dealing dirty with the WBC, but I have to think that we must be very, very hesitant to rob someone else of their freedom. However repugnant they may be, we will end up robbing ourselves of our own freedoms and pet soapboxes if we aren't careful.

Before I applaud too loudly, I have to think about what this means in terms of someone finding MY protests and MY opinions repugnant or maybe even just rude.

[pelathais]

Am I the only one who is a little bothered by this story?

The collusion of local cops with the local red necks and their pick-up trucks is just typical Mississippi. That they colluded this time to do something worth doing, well, that's probably news.

I don't like the idea that someone who had "run his mouth off" at a gas station was beaten, though his injuries do appear to have been far less severe than those suffered by SSG. Jason Rogers who had not "run his mouth off" but was defending our freedom to critique and analyze these events.

We do give our police authorities broad discretionary powers. They can hold someone without charge for a few hours for just about any reason imaginable if they document it correctly. Who knows? It could well be that given the violent reception the guy at the gas station received, the cops may have been acting in the public interest and out of concern for the safety of the "Westboro" bozos when they detained those who were able to find their way to the funeral.

Those who were blocked in the parking lot... well, that sort of thing can happen.

[MissBrattified]

The collusion of local cops with the local red necks and their pick-up trucks is just typical Mississippi. That they colluded this time to do something worth doing, well, that's probably news.

I don't like the idea that someone who had "run his mouth off" at a gas station was beaten, though his injuries do appear to have been far less severe than those suffered by SSG. Jason Rogers who had not "run his mouth off" but was defending our freedom to critique and analyze these events.

This is the part that bothers me. Vigilante justice is a scary little tazmanian. We have processes in place to filter out vitriolic [over]reactions.

We do give our police authorities broad discretionary powers. They can hold someone without charge for a few hours for just about any reason imaginable if they document it correctly. Who knows? It could well be that given the violent reception the guy at the gas station received, the cops may have been acting in the public interest and out of concern for the safety of the "Westboro" bozos when they detained those who were able to find their way to the funeral.

They can at least sell it that way. :D

Those who were blocked in the parking lot... well, that sort of thing can happen.

That part doesn't bother me a hill of beans. PGR block the WBC on a regular basis. And drown them out. I'm a big fan of the PGR. :thumbsup

[Praxeas]

I don't like the fact the guy was beaten, but the rest of it rocks!

[Sam]

I don't like the fact the guy was beaten, but the rest of it rocks!

Well, there probably could be some "legal" questions of how the local citizenry and law enforcement agents acted, but, all in all it seems they handled the situation well.

[missourimary]

I agree that the man shouldn't have been beaten, although 'beaten' could mean punched for calling someone [something derogatory or saying God hated that person] or it could mean hospitalized. I tend to think this was probably more toward the first, and though I still don't agree with it, I don't get too upset by it. If it comes out that the man was hospitalized, with broken ribs or whatever, I'd be more concerned.

The rest of it is pretty humorous, IMO. And personally, even if he got punched, I don't feel sorry for him. If he got beaten severely, I might feel differently.

[AncientPaths]

I don't like the fact the guy was beaten, but the rest of it rocks!

That's about how I feel about it.

[coadie]

USMC Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, who was killed in action in Afghanistan

The irony. If we lose the war, Phelps loses his free speech. Phelps doesn't exactly connect the dots that a soldier could die to preserve democracy and free speech for bozos.

[Digging4Truth]

When local opinion becomes the law of the land then all but the local "good ol' boys" will live in fear.

This type of attitude between the locals and the cops is exactly what allowed the KKK to kill and harass blacks. The law needs to be the law and they need to stand for right.

What we might "feel like" doing to someone isn't the law of the land anymore than it is the law of our Christ.

[Digging4Truth]

The irony. If we lose the war, Phelps loses his free speech. Phelps doesn't exactly connect the dots that a soldier could die to preserve democracy and free speech for bozos.

And, apparently, neither do the people of MS.

[Pendragon]

I don't like the fact the guy was beaten, but the rest of it rocks!

It's called a 'spanking' when you're little, and when you get big and still need a spanking, it's called a 'beating' (or 'arse waxing' in MS, apparently).

[Jermyn Davidson]

This is a terrible story.

[coadie]

This is a terrible story.

Phelps is in your political party. He has been a lifelong Democrat.

My post is not political in that the point is based on what he is, he has advantage in working the free speech ACLU tactics. As a lawyer, he know how to keep porn in the library and the bible out of schools.

[canam]

I neeed to see a vid of the alleged beating then i can tell you my opinion.

[pelathais]

And, apparently, neither do the people of MS.

Terry Jones, the "Koran burning" "pastor" from Florida ran into a similar situation in Dearborn, Michigan, home of the nation's largest mosque and Muslim population.

In the past, the Dearborn City Council has gone out of its way to "protect" the "rights" of the Muslim community there by doing such things as waving the noise ordinance allowing the mosque to broadcast its call to prayer ('adhan') while denying churches the opportunity to ring their bells and carillons.

Jones and a buddy were held by a Dearborn court until they finally agreed to pay a $1 "Peace Bond." Prosecutors who had dragged the men away from their protest site and into court were asking for $45,000 bonds from each.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/27624669/detail.html

Jones had "cross examined" the Dearborn Police Chief Haddad during the trial. Chief Haddad said that Jones did not strike him as being a "violent man." The jury ultimately found Jones guilty - however, perhaps sensing a real legal battle on Constitutional grounds if they were to have to enforce that decision, the judge set the "bond" at just $1.

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/04/22/detroit-jury-finds-terry-jones-guilty-of-breach-of-peace-for-attempted-protest-outside-islamic-center/

[pelathais]

The thing about Terry Jones is that he's not violent. It's the Muslims who react to Jones' publicity stunts that are violent.

The Westboro idiots are protected by the United States Supreme Court in the performance of their hate fueled orgies disrupting the funerals of American soldiers which are held largely at Christian churches across America.

Kooky Jones gets slapped around without any defenders of his "rights" to "protest" at a mosque because everyone's intimidated by the bullying Muslim extremists.

[pelathais]

I neeed to see a vid of the alleged beating then i can tell you my opinion.

I doubt the Westboro ... "antendee" ... was harmed much. He was seen "running his mouth off" before and after the altercation. He was conscious and able to give a deposition and presumably, even a description of his assailants.

Staff Sgt. Rogers probably never knew what hit him:

"Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, 28, was on patrol Thursday (April 7, 2011) with his unit when the bomb detonated nearby. Rogers and others in his unit were killed by the explosion. Rogers was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C. The Rankin County School District issued a statement about the 2000 Brandon High School graduate. 'Sgt. Rogers was a highly decorated Marine and a young man of strong character and commitment to his country. We are proud that he is a graduate of BHS but we are even prouder of the service he gave to his country,' the statement read."

The "harm suffered" isn't even comparable. Ssgt. Rogers and his family are the "victims" here, not Westboro. They're lame. Let's see them "protest" in Dearborn if they really have the guts.

[AncientPaths]

When local opinion becomes the law of the land then all but the local "good ol' boys" will live in fear.

This type of attitude between the locals and the cops is exactly what allowed the KKK to kill and harass blacks. The law needs to be the law and they need to stand for right.

What we might "feel like" doing to someone isn't the law of the land anymore than it is the law of our Christ.

I see your point. This kind of thing is not good generally. But I just can't help myself.

[canam]

Phelps is in your political party. He has been a lifelong Democrat.

My post is not political in that the point is based on what he is, he has advantage in working the free speech ACLU tactics. As a lawyer, he know how to keep porn in the library and the bible out of schools.

:thumbsup