Hecklers harass families of US soldiers killed in Iraq

[truthpusher]

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/12/060312122104.pgrezzqi.html

Hecklers harass families of US soldiers killed in Iraq
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Mar 12 7:21 AM US/Eastern
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Five women sang and danced as they held up signs saying "thank God for dead soldiers" at the funeral of an army sergeant who was killed by an Iraqi bomb.

For them, it was the perfect way to spread God's word: America was being punished for tolerating homosexuality.

For the hundreds of flag waving bikers who came to this small town in Michigan Saturday to shield the soldier's family, it was disgusting.

"That could be me in that church," said Jackie Sandler whose son Keith is currently serving his second tour of duty in Iraq.

The fringe group of fire and brimstone Baptists from Kansas has been courting controversy for more than 15 years, traveling the country with their hateful signs and slogans.

complete story: http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/03/12/060312122104.pgrezzqi.html

[no_hypocrisy]

1. So wrongheaded.

In their world, this country is being punished by their God for the acts of a segment of society. It wouldn't matter whether or not there was a war. If anything "bad" happens to anyone in this country, it's their God punishing indiscriminately because of unrestrained immorality.

Yeah, that makes no sense save for delusional thinking.

[mediaman007]

8. What's God punishing Iraq for?

[Bigmack]

15. Being Moslem, of course! Having oil, too. nt

nt

[Deja Q]

2. I'm sorry they don't feel it's necessary to support the troops.

If these are the same cretins who claim to "support the troops", let them become troops.

I support the troops and America.

I'm sorry they don't.

[niallmac]

11. Support the troops? How about plain common decency?

I can't imagine the mind set I would have to have to heckle grieving parents e.g. at their son or daughters funeral.
Support the troops? Hell, I don't support what our troops are doing over there. I support getting them the hell out of
Iraq but even if I despised our troops for whatever reason...how do you tuck a Bible under your arm and proceed
to intrude on and hassle people who are struggling with unimaginable personal loss? It boggles my mind.

[VegasWolf]

3. These people have spent way too much time communing with the

sky critters. They have COMPLETELY lost any grounding with either reality or sanity. Picketing a funeral has to be the lowest form of sub-human behavior possible.

[laheina]

23. No kidding.

That is some hateful, messed up sh*t.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[saigon68]

14. adios

[FloridaPat]

5. This is the second one I've seen like this. What is wrong with these

people? How in the world can people even come up with this idea? At a funeral? Ok, if I had attended Ronald Reagan's funeral, I would have danced on his casket if I got the chance. But this is just mind boggling. And what is the world is the big problem with homosexuality. The "religious" right tolerates everything but this and lying under oath. There are real people suffering real tortures out there. People going hungry, homeless, illegal wars started by chicken hawks. If I actually believed that God doesn't like homosexuality (which I don't) it would take me a hundred years fighting real problems before I even thought about homosexuality.

[laheina]

24. Their logic is so acrobatic that it is frightening.

And it extends to the manner in which they interpret the bible. The basic premise that they work from, in religion as in life, is that their way of life is right, everyone else is wrong, and everything else follows accordingly.

You can rationalize almost anything this way: the war in Iraq, acting like a schmuck at a dead soldier's funeral, or fighting an imaginary war against "the war on christmas." It's mind boggling.

[CTyankee]

6. The SPLC guy summed it up best

"This man probably thinks more about gay sex than any other person in the United States of America and one can only guess at what that means," he said. "Many of the most homophobic people are deeply afraid that they might be gay."

[LiberalFighter]

18. How about flashing pics of naked men at him when he protests?

and include a tag such as "Do you Do you Do you love me?

[CTyankee]

34. Excellent strategy. The sexier the better! n/t

[genieroze]

7. Sick.

[skip fox]

9. Exactly what we don't need. In the late 1960s and early 1980s a small

handful of misguided souls heckled returning Viet Nam soldiers. Most of us who strongly disagreed with the war, welcomed them back. They were friends and brothers of our friends. And we worked beside them and listened when they wanted to talk (which was not common.) But the few who heckled allowed the misguided pro-war hawks to attack those who questioned the war, painting us all with the same brush. Their activities may have extended support for our nation's action by giving ammunition to the pro-war administration backers.

If you know of anyone doing this, please talk to them. The soldiers are not our enemies. In fact that have been abused in this situation more than almost any of us.

(Many have been my students returning to campus, and I do what I can for them. They know I disagree with the war, but they also know I care about them. This is the type of activity that will make a difference.)

[LeftCoast]

10. Please don't make the mistake of thinking these hecklers are liberals

This is Fred Phelps' clan - you know, the ones who used to do the same thing at funerals of people who died from AIDS. Nasty bunch, the whole lot of them. :puke:

[NoGOP]

17. They hate everyone

but the members of their congregation. Which happen to be his relatives. The sooner these people vanish the better. He's also the one with the famous vile anti-gay website.

[TrogL]

19. This will get re-manufactured in later years

(grammar)

Trust me, in a few years the meme will be that "soldiers' funerals were picketed" (note passive voice). All mention of who picketed them (active voice) will be dropped.

[Media_Lies_Daily]

12. The current hecklers are intolerant rightwing bigots....

...they can NOT be compared in ANY way to the Vietnam era protesters.

[BrotherBuzz]

20. The hecklers are intolerant bigots...

and on the fringe, and all that, but the Phelps gang are registered democrats and have voiced strong opposition the rightwing Bush* administration.

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

22. Nice try. They insult Clinton and other Dems as much, if not more.

Just wait til a Dem gets elected Prez.

Or, if you have the stomach, go to www.godhatesfags.com and search their archives.

[BrotherBuzz]

28. Just stating a fact

and it's safe to say they hate everybody. I will not vist their site, thank you.

Here's some more crap spin from World Nut Daily that proves my point of:

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

....

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=15559

Gore sought help from anti-homosexual group

'God hates fags' creator preaches 'hate because the Bible preaches hate'


By Jon E. Dougherty
© 2000 WorldNetDaily.com


A Kansas-based Baptist church led by a vehemently anti-homosexual pastor was once sought out by then-Sen. Al Gore, Jr. in his Democratic bid for the presidency in 1988, according to group leaders who at one time even worked for the Gore effort in Kansas.

Fred Phelps, Sr., pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., and creator of the notorious "God Hates Fags" website, said that when Gore was running for president 12 years ago, he enlisted "members of the Westboro Baptist Church to help run his 1988 campaign in Kansas."

"In fact, Fred Phelps, Jr. (son of Westboro pastor Fred Phelps, Sr.) was one of his delegates," he said.

Also, in 1989 Phelps claims to have held a fundraiser at his home for Gore, attended by an estimated 500 people and "considered a success by any political standards."

<more crap spin>

[meow2u3]

13. Downright disgusting!!

Cheering dead soldiers? How unpatriotic can anyone get?

I bet you any amount these talibaptists are the same ones who have "support the troops" signs on their Hummers.

[MrSlayer]

16. These people need a serious beating.

Everyone should turn off their cameras and the cops should take a collective coffee break and just let it happen. Free Speech is a wonderful thing but sometimes you can say things vile enough to earn yourself an asskicking. These people cross that line repeatedly.

[raccoon]

25. I think these dips believe that when they do something that

their cuckoo idea of God would approve of--such as harrassing women going to abortion clinics, and demonizing homosexuals, acting like a-holes at funerals, it's OK because it has God's stamp of approval on it.

I imagine some thought the same thing about burning "witches."

[Barrett808]

26. Au contraire, we should exploit them as they exercise free speech

Check out what we do here in Seattle:

Pledge-a-Picketer
http://www.aradia.org/about/pledgeapicketer.html

Here’s how it works: You choose to pledge an amount of money for each picketer who shows up at our steps from now until December 31. (You may also decide to pledge for just one month at a time.) An average pledge might be from $0.50 to $5.00 per picketer. To Pledge-a-Picketer, please contact our Development Department at [phone], [e-mail] or mail in this form (PDF or Word) to this address below.

[mmonk]

21. These people are obsessed with their hatred.

Why don't they get arrested or put in "free speech" zones?

[Jack Rabbit]

27. Can I put a paper bag over my head?

This is just ghoulish.

[Rambis]

30. Mostly his family

they are a fringe weirdo group that wants publicity like this. Ignore them and they will go away that is what we do to them in Iowa City Iowa and they just fold up and leave if no one confronts them. Although one of the saddest things I have seen is the little five year old holding a sign that says "God hates fags" It is hard but ignore them he hasn't gotten any more followers in the last 5 years than he had when he started the hate fest. If he comes back to Iowa city you can sponser him via the pledge a picketer program at the Emma Goldman clinic here.

http://www.emmagoldman.com/contributions/pledgeapicketer.htm

[R Hickey]

29. What if one of those bikers had a gun and shot the homophobes?

Oh, wouldn't that be ironic. Maybe a gay man dying of AIDS could pose as a biker and do it. I don't know, perhaps I should pray to Pat Robertson for ideas on just how to carry out such a multiple assassination.

[triguy46]

31. Other than as a freedom of speech issue...

do we have a dog in this fight? Sure it is obnoxious, hateful, wrongheaded, hurtful, a waste of time, etc., but these fundies are not on our side in any way. Somehow I keep waiting for the stink to get blamed on us. We are against the war, these *holes are just loony, and I'm concerned that their "protest" will get tossed in with our antiwar protests. That is, they will so offend the repuglanistas and el presidente for life, that they might find it convenient to eliminate the first amendment.

[Radio_Guy]

32. Bikers vs. anti-troop fundies

I'm glad the bikers are on our side. Phelps and his hateful group must be stifled.

[BrotherBuzz]

33. These bikers aren't necessarily on my side...

The Patriot Guard attended a funeral in my small town for a fallen servicewoman on just a 'rumor' that Cindy Sheehan was going to protest at it. Never mind the fact that she was in DC that day, and that Cindy no longer lives in the town. Phelps and his hateful group must be stifled and I condone what the Patriot Guard have done, but they also have an agenda that doesn't totally mesh with mine.

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

[ronnykmarshall]

35. Another grave I'm gonna dance on ...

Fred Phelps.

When that worthless sack of shit drops dead, I'm gonna fly out to his funeral and protest the fuck out of it.

If they legalized running someone over with steamrolling for ONE DAY .... I'd line those motherfuckers up, run 'em over and backup just make sure they were flat enough.

[DuaneBidoux]

36. Sent flyers to spouses of Astronauts after Columbia accident saying it (th

e accident) was punishment for homosexuality in NASA.

[erpowers]

37. Wondering

Here is what I am wondering; why do these groups not get more media coverage when they do things like this. Can you imagine how much media coverage this would be getting if this had been done by Cindy Sheehan, Martin Sheen, Micheal Moore, or some other liberal group? In the last few days I say multiple newspaper and TV stories of legislation to stop anti-war protesters from using to names of fallen soldier during their protests and legislation to stop anti-war protesters from protesting outside funerals of fallen soldiers. There was also a story about bikers dealing with anti-war protesters who happened to go to a funeral after protesting at funerals had been banned. I never heard anything about the other type of protesters. I think the kind of protest mentioned in the original post warrants mentioning in the newspapers and the TV media.