A broken clock is right twice a day...

[LMNO]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/02/judge-overturns-nebraska-ban-mutilating-flags/?test=latestnews

The Westboro Baptist Church just won a lawsuit, in which a judge overturned a Nebraska ban on flag desecration.

Score one for free speech... but also score one for God hating fags...

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

 

[Adios]

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/09/02/judge-overturns-nebraska-ban-mutilating-flags/?test=latestnews

The Westboro Baptist Church just won a lawsuit, in which a judge overturned a Nebraska ban on flag desecration.

Score one for free speech... but also score one for God hating fags...

Freedom of speech trumps those idiots. The right decision was made, regardless of what drove it.

Having said that, I wish the earth would swallow Westboro Baptist.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I have no problem with freedom of speech.  I have a problem with forcing people to listen to them express that freedom.

Go have free speech wherever the fuck you want, but if people do not want to listen to you, then you are infringing on their right to privacy.

And I agree, the Westboro people need to just disappear.

[Adios]

I have no problem with freedom of speech.  I have a problem with forcing people to listen to them express that freedom.

Go have free speech wherever the fuck you want, but if people do not want to listen to you, then you are infringing on their right to privacy.

And I agree, the Westboro people need to just disappear.

Uh, If I don't want to listen then I need to ignore them. As distasteful as they are, they have a right to spout nonsense. Any infringement of the 1st Amendment scares the hell out of me.

[Triple Zero]

Does the thing where they protest at gay soldiers' funerals count as free speech too?

I'm seriously asking, cause I wonder if that would have been allowed here in NL. OTOH our speech is not 100% free since you are prohibited by law to deny the Holocaust happened (which I do find a stupid rule, tbh, not that I'd want to deny it, but well, I think you get it).

So, say, you'd exempt funerals from free speech, just stick to the ceremony. Just funerals. How would that become scary?

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I have no problem with freedom of speech.  I have a problem with forcing people to listen to them express that freedom.

Go have free speech wherever the fuck you want, but if people do not want to listen to you, then you are infringing on their right to privacy.

And I agree, the Westboro people need to just disappear.

Uh, If I don't want to listen then I need to ignore them. As distasteful as they are, they have a right to spout nonsense. Any infringement of the 1st Amendment scares the hell out of me.

My issue with them is the protests at the funerals.  I don't think forcing your right to freedom of speech on a grieving families is right.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

Does the thing where they protest at gay soldiers' funerals count as free speech too?

I'm seriously asking, cause I wonder if that would have been allowed here in NL. OTOH our speech is not 100% free since you are prohibited by law to deny the Holocaust happened (which I do find a stupid rule, tbh, not that I'd want to deny it, but well, I think you get it).

So, say, you'd exempt funerals from free speech, just stick to the ceremony. Just funerals. How would that become scary?

The First Amendment doesn't just grant freedom of speech. It also grants freedom of press, assembly, and religion. So they're free to assemble outside. However, it is also illegal to disrupt a religious service, IIRC, so nothing would really change either way, since they don't physically enter the church and disrupt the service.

[Thurnez Isa]

I have no problem with freedom of speech.  I have a problem with forcing people to listen to them express that freedom.

Go have free speech wherever the fuck you want, but if people do not want to listen to you, then you are infringing on their right to privacy.

And I agree, the Westboro people need to just disappear.

I can't disagree more.
Free speech laws are there specifically to protect the worse speech out there. No one is going to infringe on popular speech, their specifically going to go after unpopular speech - which is way Atheists and Mormons against Park51 crack me up.
Privacy exists on private property. If you wanna remain private stay there. If you wanna be a human grow up.

EDIT: Please don't take my last statement as directed towards you specifically

[Disco Pickle]

Does the thing where they protest at gay soldiers' funerals count as free speech too?

I'm seriously asking, cause I wonder if that would have been allowed here in NL. OTOH our speech is not 100% free since you are prohibited by law to deny the Holocaust happened (which I do find a stupid rule, tbh, not that I'd want to deny it, but well, I think you get it).

So, say, you'd exempt funerals from free speech, just stick to the ceremony. Just funerals. How would that become scary?

yeah, unfortunately it does.  They just had a lawsuit overturned filed by a guy who sued them for picketing his son's military funeral.

interestingly enough, from the wikipenial article on this complete ass hat:

Phelps earned a law degree from Washburn University in 1962, and founded the Phelps Chartered law firm in 1964.[citation needed] The first notable cases were related to civil rights. "I systematically brought down the Jim Crow laws of this town," he says.[13] Phelps' daughter was quoted as saying, "We took on the Jim Crow establishment, and Kansas did not take that sitting down. They used to shoot our car windows out, screaming we were nigger lovers," and that the Phelps law firm made up one-third of the state's federal docket of civil rights cases.[16]
Phelps took cases on behalf of African American clients alleging racial discrimination by school systems, and a predominantly black American Legion post which had been raided by police, alleging racially based police abuse.[citation needed] Phelps' law firm obtained settlements for some clients.[17] Phelps also sued then-President Ronald Reagan over Reagan's appointment of a U.S. ambassador to the Vatican, alleging this violated separation of church and state. The case was dismissed by the U.S. district court.[17][18] Phelps' law firm, staffed by himself and family members also represented non-white Kansans in discrimination actions against Kansas Power and Light, Southwestern Bell, and the Topeka City Attorney, and represented two female professors alleging discrimination in Kansas universities.[16]
In the 1980s, Phelps received awards from the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Blacks in Government and the Bonner Springs branch of the NAACP, for his work on behalf of black clients.[19]

fuck, never thought I'd be ok with anything this fucker has ever done.

also:

In response to Phelps' protests at military funerals, President George W. Bush signed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act into law in May 2006,[9] and, in April 2007, Kansas governor Kathleen Sebelius signed into law a bill establishing a 150-foot no-picketing buffer zone around funerals.[10]

aaaaand:

An appeal by WBC was heard on September 24, 2009. The federal appeals court ruled in favor of Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church, stating that their picket near the funeral of LCpl Matthew A. Snyder is protected speech and did not violate the privacy of the service member's family, reversing the lower court's $5 million judgment.[75] On March 30, 2010, the federal appeals court ordered Albert Snyder to pay the court costs for the Westboro Baptist Church, an amount totaling $16,510.[76] Political commentator Bill O'Reilly agreed on March 30 to cover the costs, pending appeal.[77]

also never thought I'd find much these two ever did that I'd agree with..  the world is a funny place.

but I'm with Charley on this one..  The first time you set a legal precedent allowing the banning of certain speech (except when it endangers life..  for instance, yelling FIRE in a theatre is not protected by the 1st) then you set up an instance where future judges around the country can site that case as a justification for another ruling banning speech.

the domino effect would be devastating, considering the litigiousness of this country.

[Adios]

Does the thing where they protest at gay soldiers' funerals count as free speech too?

I'm seriously asking, cause I wonder if that would have been allowed here in NL. OTOH our speech is not 100% free since you are prohibited by law to deny the Holocaust happened (which I do find a stupid rule, tbh, not that I'd want to deny it, but well, I think you get it).

So, say, you'd exempt funerals from free speech, just stick to the ceremony. Just funerals. How would that become scary?

Any exception would lead to more. There is plenty of evidence.

[LMNO]

If any law gets passed that says you no longer have the right to be an asshole in public, just about everyone on this forum is fucked.

[Dysfunctional Cunt]

I will leave it at this.  When one of you have a loved one who these disgusting motherfuckers come and completely disrupt both the church and the graveside service and you don't have a problem with it after experiencing it.  Then we can talk.

I've seen this shit up close and personal and I'm sorry it is disgusting how they behave.  It isn't freedom of speech it is harassment!

[LMNO]

I think you'll agree that there's a big difference between "should" and "can".


Plus, the OP isn't about calling dead soldiers faggots-- it's about the freedom to desecrate the US flag.

[Triple Zero]

ah right they were standing outside. you can't make it illegal for people to be cunts.