Westboro Baptist Church ordered to pay $11.9 million

[XCashier]

I'm glad the court ruled against Phelps and his brood. Good luck getting them to pay up, though; an article said all their assets together totalled about 3 million, tops (and who's going to want to buy their crap so they can raise funds?). Still, it's a moral victory at least. "Christians" like Westboro Baptist Church give true Christians a very bad name.

What is the name of that biker group that rides out to these funerals and protects the families from Phelps' bunch? I bet they were having a field day!

[Rapscallion]

I think they were called the Patriot Guard, if memory serves.

Rapscallion

[RecoveringKinkoid]

Yup, that's correct. http://www.patriotguard.org/

Geez, don't call them Christians. Not even with the quotes. They aren't. They don't even know what that word means.

Heck, don't call them Baptists, either. The Baptists hardly deserve to have their name tarnished like that. I'm not Baptist, and differ greatly from them in many of my views, but they don't deserve being associated with this crowd.

[Diablo]

Crazy people

A similar thing happened a few years ago. The Southern Poverty Law Center represented a family that was harassed by the KKK. In a civil suit, the family got a large settlement. While the KKK would never be able pay the family the full amount, it was enough that all the property of the group, both physical and intellectual, was given to the family. Basically if these jackasses wanted to wear their costumes for another event, they would have to get permission from the family and pay royalty rights as well. Its going to be the same thing in this case. The family won't see any money close to what is due to them, but at least they know these morons won't have the funds to terrorize mourning families across America any more. Free speech is just like any right, you need to understand it fully before you go around acting like an ass. As an Iraq and Afgan Vet, plus being from Maryland (where the case was held) I'm very happy with this judgment.

[derangedperson]

*MOD EDIT - Please do not quote entire posts. Quote removed due to excessive quoting.

The city where I live (West Bend, WI) recently buried a soldier and they showed up. All I know is, if I were on that side of town I'd still be picking hair and teeth out of the grill of my VW Beetle. I'd be hailed as a fucking hero for doing that.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

See, that's what I don't get. How is it possible that nobody's rolled a grenade into their gathering place some sunday morning? I know that sounds bad, and I'm not suggesting anyone should, but when you consider the levels of madness inflicted by people unhinged by grief and anger, how is it possible someone who lost a loved one hasn't snapped and literally gone postal on these people?

If you go to Wikipedia and read about the cult, you will see that they have indeed been attacked, but never with lethal force.

I mean, I don't get it. Steve Irwin's death spurs massive killings of innocent wildlife by vengful idiots. A guy comes out of the closet and gets lethally attacked by ignorant rednecks. An beligerant asshole gets filmed getting his ass whupped by cops and an entire city goes into a violent spasm of trying to destroy itself. Yet, here is real evil, real victimization of the innocent, desecration of a hero's funeral and the attacking of families while they are in pain, and these shitstains get away with it pretty much scott-free.

People are strange.

[tacohuman]

Raps, I asked the same thing. While I am happy about this, I am very interested in law and court cases and would love to know what the exact charges were.

But you know what I'm thinking? I'm thinking the prosecuter knew that all he had to do was trot this case out in front of a jury. Can you imagine an American jury (or any jury, for that matter) doing anything but deciding to pummel these evil, sick shits with anything less than a guilty verdict?

this wasn't a criminal trial, so there was no prosecutor and no charges. in a civil trial there's merely a claim of damages by the plaintiff, and the judge or jury decides whether that claim has merits and to what extent, if any the damages are awarded.

also, count me in as a "yay!" for this.

[Acolyte]

*MOD EDIT - Please do not quote entire posts. Quote removed due to excessive quoting.

It's because they have a LEGION of lawyers in the clan. One lady tried to run them down with her truck, and only avoided serious jail time and fines by pleading temporary insanity. Several other people have assaulted them, and all been forced to pay high fines and such because of it.

[Broomjockey]

One thing I'm surprised no one's mentioned about First Amendment rights. I'm 99% certain hate speech isn't covered. At least, it isn't in Canada, and I can't imagine it so in the US either. And saying things like "God hates f**s" certainly qualifies, as it is directed towards a specific, identifiable group, and is intended to lower the reputation and public perception of that group. And the stuff about "Thank God for dead soldiers" might qualify too, if you argued it right.

[crazylegs]

Human Rights Act 1998 (I know, I've mentioned it before, but this is the actual wording of the disclaimer part as free speech is not without restrictions.

Any emphasis is my edit

(2) The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartiality of the judiciary.

Any of the above bold text would apply in this case (should it occur anywhere in the EU)

[Kara]

His people are known for carrying around signs that say "God Hates Fags."

The other day the local news showed a picture of the Westboro Baptist Church. Someone spray-painted "God Hates Phelps" on their sign in front of the building. I smiled.

[RecoveringKinkoid]

One thing I'm surprised no one's mentioned about First Amendment rights. I'm 99% certain hate speech isn't covered. At least, it isn't in Canada, and I can't imagine it so in the US either. And saying things like "God hates f**s" certainly qualifies, as it is directed towards a specific, identifiable group, and is intended to lower the reputation and public perception of that group. And the stuff about "Thank God for dead soldiers" might qualify too, if you argued it right.

Exactly. This may well qualify as "hate speech", but I'm not sure what the ruling is on that. I don't think it is protected, or at least that it's not AS protected. Not sure what the specifics are on that. Surely, "God hates fags" could be nothing but hate speech.

Certain things are not protected under the 1sh Amendment. You can't yell "fire" in a theater, for instance. You can't stalk or harass people. The ruling must have charged them with something, I'm just not entirely sure what. Hate speech, inciting riots or whatever, harassment. The 1st Amendment does not grant you freedom to say whatever you want whenever you want to whomever you want to say it to. There are limits.

I would be really interested in learning how all this charge was worded.

[Can I Help Your A$$?]

As you can see, Rapscallion, the First Amendment has become a joke here, and many people don't seem to care much about it anymore.

Recent poll showed that 90% or something like that of 18-30 year-olds believe that free speech "goes too far." They have no concept that free speech also means allowing people to say stuff that makes you want to kill them. The heroes of days gone by--heroes who upheld the concept of free speech, are either dead--Frank Zappa, or abhorred.

This country is screwed.

I must add:

It is absolutely NOT true that the first amendment "grants you" the right of speech. Neither the constitution nor the bloody government gives you rights. As the constitution says, these rights are endowed to us "by the creator." If you are an unbeliever like me, we understand that these rights are natural. No piece of paper nor bureaucrat can be lofty enough to give us such rights. No, the first amendment was put in place to protect us from having those rights violated.

And from what, pray tell, is it protecting us from?

The government. So, no the government does not lower its mighty self in order to so generously give us, us little peons, our rights.

[Lace Neil Singer]

God hates fags

God hates cigarettes? O_o

Slightly back on topic, yeah, this is good. Those people don't even deserve to be called religious; real religious people probably hate their guts.

[blas]

If they ever dared show up at a funeral of anyone around here, I can guarantee, they'd be the ones in the caskets next time.