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Post by jon on Mar 2, 2011 8:04:45 GMT -8
Westboro Funeral Pickets Are Protected Speech, High Court RulesWell look at this, this conservative enclave of judicial activism got one right for a change....In a 8-1 vote, they ruled that Westboro Baptist Church can picket funerals of soldiers. Maybe free speech exists after all. (Except for Sam Alito, the lone dissenting vote) I don't usually agree with Chief Justice Roberts, but I'd have to say he nailed it on this one... "Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many Americans might feel the same about Westboro. Westboro's funeral picketing is certainly hurtful and its contribution to public discourse may be negligible. As a nation we have chosen a different course -- to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/02/scotus.westboro.church/?hpt=T1www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/02/westboro-funeral-pickets-protected-speech-high-court-rules/
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Post by msguide on Mar 2, 2011 9:31:04 GMT -8
Yes, I know. This is one of the things we often debated in home school circles. If it's a parents' rights issue, then it's the right of all parents.
Same thing here. Having the freedom to do something does not mean the behavior is biblically correct, ethically correct, politically correct, etiquette-correct, or in any way classy or appropriate.
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Post by dctim on Mar 2, 2011 9:47:17 GMT -8
Yes, I know. This is one of the things we often debated in home school circles. If it's a parents' rights issue, then it's the right of all parents.
Same thing here. Having the freedom to do something does not mean the behavior is biblically correct, ethically correct, politically correct, etiquette-correct, or in any way classy or appropriate. Because, after all, look at Charlie Sheen
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Post by jon on Mar 2, 2011 14:55:39 GMT -8
Yes, I know. This is one of the things we often debated in home school circles. If it's a parents' rights issue, then it's the right of all parents.
Same thing here. Having the freedom to do something does not mean the behavior is biblically correct, ethically correct, politically correct, etiquette-correct, or in any way classy or appropriate. Because, after all, look at Charlie Sheen Hey, get off Charlie Sheen's back, he may be a drugged out, porn-star *ahem* 'dating', spouse abuser, but he's far classier than the Phelps clan of WBC.
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Post by hatboromike on Mar 2, 2011 18:03:15 GMT -8
Unfortunately the right to free speech sometimes requires we suffer fools and their obnoxiousness.
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Post by jon on Mar 2, 2011 19:09:52 GMT -8
Unfortunately the right to free speech sometimes requires we suffer fools and their obnoxiousness. couldn't we just give them "free speech zones" a few miles away?
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Post by msguide on Mar 2, 2011 19:47:08 GMT -8
Unfortunately the right to free speech sometimes requires we suffer fools and their obnoxiousness. couldn't we just give them "free speech zones" a few miles away? We live near Fort Campbell. There are a lot of military funerals in this area. Those people from WBC have been here. Because of WBC, there are groups who have risen up to stand along the funeral routes so the families of fallen soldiers can't see the picketers. I'm not sure what version of the Bible Phelps studies. I have studied under some of the top Bible scholars in the world, and the foremost Greek and Hebrew authorities. There is nowhere in the Bible that says God hates anyone. There are some behaviors that are declared sinful, but homosexuality is not the *only* one. It's not even the first on any list I've ever seen. There are whole books of the Bible that do talk about the judgment of people who mistreat widows and orphans, however. Phelps must have skipped that part.
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Post by floyd on Mar 3, 2011 6:08:26 GMT -8
Westboro Funeral Pickets Are Protected Speech, High Court RulesWell look at this, this conservative enclave of judicial activism got one right for a change....In a 8-1 vote, they ruled that Westboro Baptist Church can picket funerals of soldiers. Maybe free speech exists after all. (Except for Sam Alito, the lone dissenting vote) I don't usually agree with Chief Justice Roberts, but I'd have to say he nailed it on this one... "Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many Americans might feel the same about Westboro. Westboro's funeral picketing is certainly hurtful and its contribution to public discourse may be negligible. As a nation we have chosen a different course -- to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/02/scotus.westboro.church/?hpt=T1www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/02/westboro-funeral-pickets-protected-speech-high-court-rules/ The justices got this right .. I find it terrible what those clowns are doing but free speech is free speech!
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Post by msguide on Mar 3, 2011 10:30:37 GMT -8
Fortunately there is a Higher Judiciary to whom Fred Phelps and his minions will have to answer.
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Post by hatboromike on Mar 3, 2011 14:06:45 GMT -8
Unfortunately the right to free speech sometimes requires we suffer fools and their obnoxiousness. couldn't we just give them "free speech zones" a few miles away? I'd bet WBC would challenge that as well and probably win, unless a successful "danger to the public" argument could be made, or whatever it is they use to keep protesters from Dem or GOP convention sites, WBO and G-8 summits, etc. As msguide points out, some groups - like motorcycle clubs - have risen to the WSC threat by gathering strategically in a way that blocks WSC idiots from insulting the mourners by drowning out the hateful messages. I'd love the opportunity to participate in one of those efforts should it ever happen in my area.
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Post by jon on Mar 3, 2011 19:18:35 GMT -8
Fortunately there is a Higher Judiciary to whom Fred Phelps and his minions will have to answer. Would that be the International Court of Justice? I don't think they have an appellate supremacy in the US over the Supreme Court.
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Post by msguide on Mar 4, 2011 15:50:28 GMT -8
Fortunately there is a Higher Judiciary to whom Fred Phelps and his minions will have to answer. Would that be the International Court of Justice? I don't think they have an appellate supremacy in the US over the Supreme Court. No, I was referring to the judgment seat of God. Phelps is a disbarred attorney, by the way, and has been active in Democratic politics. I don't know where he gets his theology. Seriously flawed, in my opinion.
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Post by george1861 on Mar 4, 2011 18:21:50 GMT -8
No, I was referring to the judgment seat of God. He knew that, he was just being a Liberal.
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Post by jon on Mar 4, 2011 23:46:23 GMT -8
Mike, by calling them idiots have you broken the rules about name calling? If so, please suspend yourself or report yourself to Douglass for suspension at his earliest whim. Thank you
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Post by Maxf1ex on Mar 5, 2011 4:31:12 GMT -8
Westboro Funeral Pickets Are Protected Speech, High Court RulesWell look at this, this conservative enclave of judicial activism got one right for a change....In a 8-1 vote, they ruled that Westboro Baptist Church can picket funerals of soldiers. Maybe free speech exists after all. (Except for Sam Alito, the lone dissenting vote) I don't usually agree with Chief Justice Roberts, but I'd have to say he nailed it on this one... "Westboro believes that America is morally flawed; many Americans might feel the same about Westboro. Westboro's funeral picketing is certainly hurtful and its contribution to public discourse may be negligible. As a nation we have chosen a different course -- to protect even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate." www.cnn.com/2011/US/03/02/scotus.westboro.church/?hpt=T1www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/03/02/westboro-funeral-pickets-protected-speech-high-court-rules/ The justices got this right .. I find it terrible what those clowns are doing but free speech is free speech! And yet .... public land or private? Permits are a requirement. Should a burial be called public? After all, when you are burying a love one are you not "renting" the area? If congress can have closed door sessions, should not the showing of respects be open only for the well wishers?
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