When I next move, it may be to THIS town...

[Luna]

http://www.retirelikeme.com/2011/04/21/mississippi-town-destroys-westboro-baptist-plans/

[P3nT4gR4m]

An advanced lesson in free speech: You have the right to say whatever the fuck you want. With that comes an obligation to deal with the consequences

[Luna]

An advanced lesson in free speech: You have the right to say whatever the fuck you want. With that comes an obligation to deal with the consequences

As I've stated on another forum...  You may have the right to say whatever you want to say... but you do NOT have the right to an audience.

[LMNO]

Something about that made me uncomfortable.  I think it was the general concept:  

A legal protest was planned.

A protester got beaten by the citizenry, and the police did nothing.

More protesters were harassed, and were hindered, once again, by the police.

Protesters were detained and questioned by the police using blatantly false pretenses.

Perhaps this makes my point more clear...

"A couple of days before the Gay Marriage rally, one of them (a PFLAG supporter) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.

Rankin County handled this thing perfectly. There were many things that were put into place that most will never know about and at great expense to the county.

Most of the Gay Rights supporters never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had pink triangles or rainbow stickers in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the PFLAG cars could get out.

A few supporters for marriage equality made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business."

[P3nT4gR4m]

I don't have a problem with that. Maybe it's a cultural thing but I think part of the reason we don't have anything like WBC over here is that if they turned up to 'legally' protest a serviceman's funeral in my neck of the woods they'd be ripped to shreds. Prosecution prolly wouldn't find enough pieces of the bodies to qualify as evidence.

ETA: your gay rights analogy isn't quite on the money. If the gay rights rally had set out with the express purpose of shouting abuse at a bunch of mourning people then maybe...

[Luna]

Agreed, LMNO, and the beating was, IMHO, out of line.  (I'll point out that the police DID do their jobs and investigate, it was the witnesses who hindered the investigation.)

Yes, the police broke the spirit of the law.  Was it right?  No.  But then, IMHO, what these jackasses were planning was just as wrong.  Legal protest?  Certainly... but it wasn't right.

The family of Staff Sgt. Rogers got to lay their son to rest without having to deal with people screaming at them that he deserved to die.  

Right or wrong, I'm okay with that.

And if the PFLAG supporters were intending to disrupt the mourning family of someone who died serving his country, I'd be just as okay with it.

[LMNO]

I'm sure we're all enlightened creatures here, and have a firm moral compass, but you realize that some counties in the country see homosexuality equally as offenseive as what WBC does, right?

And if we say that it's ok for police to violate their oaths when they encounter something legal but morally objectionable to them, then we open up the door to fully sanctioned subjective application of the law.

[LMNO]

To be clear, if the citizens had planned all this themselves, and carried out their mission without the assistance of the police or government, then I would be 100% on board.

But once you involve the cops, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

[Adios]

Something about that made me uncomfortable.  I think it was the general concept:  

A legal protest was planned.

A protester got beaten by the citizenry, and the police did nothing.

More protesters were harassed, and were hindered, once again, by the police.

Protesters were detained and questioned by the police using blatantly false pretenses.

Perhaps this makes my point more clear...

"A couple of days before the Gay Marriage rally, one of them (a PFLAG supporter) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.

Rankin County handled this thing perfectly. There were many things that were put into place that most will never know about and at great expense to the county.

Most of the Gay Rights supporters never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had pink triangles or rainbow stickers in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the PFLAG cars could get out.

A few supporters for marriage equality made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business."

Parking behind the cars with Kansas plates was pretty smart. The beating makes my redneck side happy but my freedom side agrees with LMNO. As he pointed out, where does it all stop?

[Richter]

If it had happened to anyone else this would have been an abuse of power, and an example of everything that can go wrong in a small town when they decide they don't want a person or group around.  

[P3nT4gR4m]

The law is an imperfect solution, it'll never be perfect but, as a copper friend of mine once told me, "it's the best we got" Expecting people who have sworn an oath to said law to blindly do whatever the fuck they're told in spite of the fact that they know it's wrong is fucking asking for trouble. I'd rather have a police dept who have an order and decide, "you know what, fuck that shit" than have half the funeral party locked up because they decided they couldn't take any more of this bullshit.

Problem is the law is dictated, largely by consensus so in places where the majority think fucking people your own sex is worse than murder the law is merely going to follow suit. Legislation might help a bit but you're really up against the wall until you can change hearts and minds.

[Luna]

I do understand your point, LMNO.  Honest.

And you're right.

The government (ANY government) deciding if and when to apply the laws based on a moral judgment is wiggy at the best of times.

I agree with this 169%.

This conflicts greatly with the happy I get seeing the WBC take a punch to the nose.

[AFK]

Slightly off topic, I was a bit confused by this part of the linked article:

Fred Phelps, who is the leader of Westboro mob, is a disbarred lawyer and Democratic activist.

Democratic activist?  I find that hard to believe. 

[Luna]

Slightly off topic, I was a bit confused by this part of the linked article:

Fred Phelps, who is the leader of Westboro mob, is a disbarred lawyer and Democratic activist.

Democratic activist?  I find that hard to believe. 

Democratic Party

Phelps has run in various Kansas Democratic Party primaries five times, but has never won. These included races for governor in 1990, 1994, and 1998, receiving about 15 percent of the vote in 1998.[32] In the 1992 Democratic Party primary for U.S. Senate, Phelps received 31 percent of the vote.[33] Phelps ran for mayor of Topeka in 1993[34][unreliable source?] and 1997.[35]

Support for Al Gore

Phelps supported Al Gore in the 1988 Democratic Party primary election.[36] In his 1984 Senate race, Gore opposed a "gay bill of rights" and stated that homosexuality was not something that "society should affirm".[37] Phelps has stated that he supported Gore because of these earlier comments.[38] According to Phelps, members of the Westboro Baptist Church helped run Gore's 1988 campaign in Kansas. Phelps' son, Fred Phelps Jr., hosted a Gore fundraiser at his home in Topeka and was a Gore delegate to the 1988 Democratic National Convention.[4] Gore spokesman Dag Vega declined to comment, saying "We are not dignifying those stories with a response."[39]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Phelps#Democratic_Party

[AFK]

Ahh, I see, he's one of the Classic Democrats.  I guess that makes sense.