Don’t tell me what I wanted to say!

If that is what I wanted to say, that is what I would have said. I clearly didn’t.

Of course it does speak volumes about those who seek to control what others say and think.

That is what you get with “hate crime laws”, which is also the successful regulation of “freedom of thought” along with “freedom of conscience” which is now under attack.You remember, some of the fundamental principles of most democracies, and in the US has historically been protected by the First Amendment.

It is a direct result of “political correctness” and is directed at the liberal’s penchant for EMOTION.

The court has been unanimous successful in finding… rights that are nowhere in the Constitution and removing those that are. Most always using the 14th Amendment. Hmmm

I respect the Court when they get it right, NOT when they rewrite the Constitution using their ideology.

That’s just not true. Not even close. What you wanted to say is “any law that targets a class of people for special protection, has to pass strict scrutiny, so must fulfill a compelling state interest, be narrowly tailored to achieve that goal, and use the least restrictive means for achieving that interest.”

See, you didn’t even get a single one of the prongs right.

And even if you’d gotten the prongs right, the courts have universally rejected your premise, “any law that targets a class of people for special protection.” The court has been unanimous in finding that the Hate Crimes laws they’ve looked at don’t do anything of the sort. They don’t punish you more because you assaulted a homosexual. In fact, you can be charged with a hate crime for assaulting a heterosexual, if your intent was to strike fear in the hearts of straights.

And to answer Dethanial, no one has ever been charged with a hate crime for protesting at a “queer person’s” funeral.

I am a member of the Patriot Guard.

I definitely support your actions. I think you’ve chosen the proper way to deal with these radicals.

Well then you’re not understanding what I said. So we’ll start with your words…I don’t recall the situation with much detail

THAT’S what I meant. It was all over the national news

Nah, I’m not a good example. At that point in time, I wasn’t paying attention to any of the news. I vaguely recognized Shepherd’s name, but I had to look it up to know what he was talking about.

I guess I’m just not willing to place all the blame on the media. They’ll talk about whatever their polls/ratings say we want to hear. It’s not like they didn’t know about Phelps. Clearly they did.

I suppose it could have been collectively ignored due to a media-wide agenda, but Occam suggests otherwise. It seems much more likely that Phelps didn’t appear on the national radar simply because those that did hear that part of the story didn’t care enough to demand more coverage. That story never “got out of committee.”

As for “hate crime laws”, you know as well as I do that any law that targets a class of people for special protection, is unconstitutional.

The laws must be equal for everyone in both application and protection.

I oppose them as well.

To answer your last question… we used to do something about it sooner. The MEN would have given this bunch, a good’ole butt stomping.

I can’t condone vigilante justice, unless there is a general state of anarchy. Even then, it’s morally questionable. As you said, the law must be equal for everyone and that includes due process rights.

Of course none of that is relevant, assuming we’re still talking about law-abiding demonstrators. There can be no justification for attacking a person whose done nothing but voice an unpopular opinion.

To answer your last question… we used to do something about it sooner. The MEN would have given this bunch, a good’ole butt stomping. But now we are a litigious society and nanny staters. We want the government to handle everything for us. It will end up costing us what rights we have left.

There will no doubt, be alot of blood shed and civil violence before that happens.

Well then you’re not understanding what I said. So we’ll start with your words…I don’t recall the situation with much detail

THAT’S what I meant. It was all over the national news, but the MSM wasn’t saying much, if anything about Phelps and his ilk.

Couple that with the fact that a majority of the people were not as sympathetic to the homosexual agenda as they seem to be these days, and apparently they hadn’t succeeded in getting the MSM into their corner as opposed to now.

I have no doubt that the outrage would be expressed the same, regardless of who is the target.

So, why should people have been outraged by something that they weren’t aware of?

As for “hate crime laws”, you know as well as I do that any law that targets a class of people for special protection, is unconstitutional.

The laws must be equal for everyone in both application and protection.

If you will check that was the reason that several hate laws were passed.

Ummm, I’m pretty sure the “hate laws” cover violent crimes motivated by anti-gay beliefs. The first ammendment clearly protects anti-gay protests.

Our main mission is to attend the funeral services of fallen American heroes as invited guests of the family. Each mission we undertake has two basic objectives.

1. Show our sincere respect for our fallen heroes, their families, and their communities.

2. Shield the mourning family and their friends from interruptions created by any protestor or group of protestors.

We accomplish the latter through strictly legal and non-violent means.

To those of you who are currently serving and fighting for the freedoms of others, at home and abroad, please know that we are backing you. We honor and support you with every mission we carry out, and we are praying for a safe return home for all.

http://www.patriotguard.org/

Phelps and his ilk were not exactly on the national radar at the time and I don’t recall anything said about the protest then. Do you?

I think that’s the point, Lobo. No one seemed to care until they began targeting those with unquestioned morality.

I don’t recall the situation with much detail and internet news has come a long way since then, so it’s hard to say exactly how much press Westboro got at the time, but their protests did catch CNN’s attention.

Phelps and members of his church picketed Shepard’s funeral in Casper with anti-gay signs. They also demonstrated at a vigil in Alabama for Billy Jack Gaither, who may have been murdered because he was gay.

You have to wonder: if protesting a funeral is really so despicable that we have to outlaw it completely, how have we survived this long and why didn’t we do something about it sooner?