New anti-Phelps law

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President Bush has signed into a law an amendment to U.S. law protecting military funerals from protests like those staged by a controversial Kansas church that characterizes soldiers' deaths as divine punishment for homosexuality.

The new amendment prohibits protestors from demonstrating within 150 feet of a funeral and within an hour of the memorial service. It provides a year in jail and/or an undetermined fine for violators.

...The new law could also restrict members of the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts that has organized protests to counter those of the WBC. Members of the group typically position their motorcycles between protesters and funeral participants, sometimes revving their engines to drown out WBC chants.

Patriot Guard Riders says it only attends funerals by invitation, although the law does not explicitly provide an exemption for demonstrations that are approved by funeral planners.

Nathan Burchfiel, Cybercast News Service, 12/27/06

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Methinks Phelps doth protest too much. [img]graemlins/rainbow.gif[/img]

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ January 03, 2007 06:45 AM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>

My thoughts too Lan. Your local anti-porn nut up there who also is affiliated with a church (can't remember his name, he is up near Trader's World and fought Larry Flynt from bringing Hustler to the area a few years ago). Anyhow, he later admitted in an interview he was "addicted to porn" when he was younger. So Phelps is no doubt fighting his own demons.

If we all protest those who protest then those who protest us can protest against us protesting the original protesters there bye creating a protest of those who protest the protest which will surely lead to a protests of those who are protesting the protest of the protesters which will in turn lead to ANARCHY!

Or a real wild party [img]graemlins/party.gif[/img] [img]eek.gif[/img] (one or the other is sure to follw [img]wink.gif[/img] )

PGR does not protest. They are invited by the family

I know Trav, and I firmly believe that what you guys do is a good thing [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img] [img]graemlins/thumbs_up.gif[/img]

That idiot anti-porn "crusader" I mentioned yesterday, his name came to me when I was watching tv last night (not sure why, it just popped into my head, my subconscience must have been working on it all day LOL) Phil Buress.

And here he is...


Burress' hatred of porn rooted in his former love for it


By Michael D. Clark
The Cincinnati Enquirer

SHARONVILLE - Phil Burress' command post for the war against pornography is a small conference room dominated by a large Tristate map dotted with colored pushpins.

Here in the "War Room" of Citizens for Community Values, strategy is formulated and events are examined. Each pin on the map represents a foe to be defeated.

But don't get the wrong idea. The leader of the nation's most high-profile, anti-pornography group is anything but a grim field general.

Disarming in his candor about his own past, Mr. Burress, 60, comes across as a happy warrior who says pornography nearly ruined his life.

For 25 years, he says, his waking hours were dominated by the need to view pornography. It destroyed his ability to be a loving husband, cost him financially and kept him emotionally estranged from people who should have been close.

"It consumed my life. It was my hidden secret," he says.

The twice-divorced Cincinnati native sees himself as a blessed survivor, whose acceptance of God and admission of his "addiction" to pornography allowed him to reverse a life he is convinced was spiraling into a personal abyss.

Today, the energetic CCV leader knows how to work a room. His skills as an ex-labor mediator mesh well with the evangelical-tinged delivery of his message that a Christian-based nation must be vigilant against enemies from within. Enemies, he preaches, that threaten the hearts and minds of Americans - most importantly, our families and children.

At a recent public forum at Lakeside Christian Church in Northern Kentucky, Mr. Burress repeated his message to 30 citizens, including half a dozen Northern Kentucky elected officials, about the importance of using zoning laws to control sexually oriented businesses.

"Just because it is legal to operate a sex business doesn't mean we have to accept it. You have to be proactive. If not, then sexually dysfunctional males and the sexually addicted will frequent these places," he said, standing in the church's pulpit. "Prayer without work is not worth much."

Nearby, in a front pew, sat his wife, Vickie.

They met at an anti-pornography conference and married four years ago. Mrs. Burress works with her husband as the coordinator of CCV's victims assistance programs while also holding supervisory positions in various associated pro-family groups.

Mrs. Burress says she understands pornography's destructive power and why her husband must abstain from any exposure to such materials. For that reason, she will watch the adult videos and read the adult magazines, then write summaries for her husband so he can speak to groups, lobby legislators or persuade prosecutors.

"I don't even look at it," Mr. Burress says.

"We understand each other," she says. "We both have a passion for this.

This is my favorite part ...
"For 25 years, he says, his waking hours were dominated by the need to view pornography. It destroyed his ability to be a loving husband, cost him financially and kept him emotionally estranged from people who should have been close."
25 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! [img]eek.gif[/img]

As you all know, I wish ill on no one. That said, I think Phelps and his family should take a vacation, you know, get away from it all for awhile. I was going to suggest perhaps a hike to the summit of Mt. Hood might be in order.

Though I have to admit, one of my favorite Howard bits is when they play Holly-weird squares, and he will have Phelps' daughter (and her two teen daughters) in one square, and they'll have an openly gay character in the square next to them, and then maybe a couple of...."employees" of the Mustang Ranch, if you will, in the other square.....radio at its finest....

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A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals in the belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned later in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/10/31...l.protests.ap/

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<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Maybe $10.9 million will shut those fucktards up for a while...

That is good news, Lan, but my suspicion is those little bastards are too sophisticated to allow themselves to be subject to any kind of civil judgment. I would be surprised (albeit it pleased) if the plaintiff ever saw a dime from them.

You know, practicing criminal law like I did, I got to meet some really neat people who did some amazing things. But I would have to say that, on the group level, those Westboro folks may very be the worst thing I've ever seen. It's one thing to visit their website and see what they have to say; I'm a big free speech guy, they're free to say all of that stuff. And, they're free to protest, within certain contexts.

One of those contexts should NEVER be a funeral. A few years ago, when I first learned of them doing these kinds of things, I couldn't believe they were allowed to get away with it. But, at that time, there were no laws against it, I guess because no one ever thought this would be an issue (I mean, seriously, can you get any lower in life than to show up at the funeral of a young person and yell at the grieving mother how her sone just entered hell?). Now the Feds have a law, and I see several states starting to come around.