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Dead Marine's father ordered to pay protesters' legal costs


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While I firmly support the 1st Amendment, this is clearly too far. There are other "vocal groups" that enjoy making $ through legal fines, but at least you can walk away and ignore them. This has a captive audience who are collective for a honorable reason.

You want the legal fines?! No problem: I'd like to see the money, in the form of pennies, soaked in BBQ sauce and placed in a room full of cocaine-addled Rottweilers. I'm willing to bet the money will lose it's appeal...

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/03/30/westboro.baptist.snyder/index.html?hpt=T2

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from their FB page

Supreme court takes Case.

Al Snyder is now responsible for paying over $16,000 in legal fees for the Westboro Baptist Church. To donate to help Mr. Snyder please click on the website above and click How to Help and Make a Donation Online, we really appreciate it.

GREAT NEWS! Bill O'Reilly has just announced that he will pay the entire amount that AL SNYDER owes to those people!!!!

PLEASE keep in mind that any donations in excess will be used to begin the Matt Snyder Fund!

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Fuck that Church and all in it.

If I was at a funeral and saw a dude with a sign that read " Thank God for Dead Soldiers" I would absolutly lose it. These fuckers need to go.

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Sorry, but Bill O's money - I would not take. I wouldn't want my family publicly politicized. There are a lot of invisible strings attached to that money... no thanks.

in the end, the dbags still get paid. i'd rather see Papa Bear shoveling money into financing the dudes defense and making sure they dont get a dime out of it.

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I don't agree with anything WBC does ... but I find it amusing how many people scream "free speach... unless it's REALLY offensive"

It's not just the speech, it's the audience that define constraints to that freedom. Does WBC's rights to use bombastic and provocative protests about a person's dead son supersede their right to bury him in peace?

I might have the right to vocalize my anal-sex stories, but do I have the right to vocalize that across the street from a kindergarten playground with a bullhorn?

What do you think the intent of the 1st amendment was, specifically? Frame every question of free speech in that framework, and issues like Phelps actions become a little clearer. He has the right to protest, to speak his mind, even to be controversial. Does he have the right to do all of that anywhere, any time, no matter the consequences?

He's chosing his audience with the intent of being destructive - his issue is with the survivors of the fallen soldiers? No, not even by his own admission. It's with the soldiers and the government they serve. He should be protected to address the government, but not the parents of dead children during a funeral service. That's not a right, that's a grievous and hideous form of protest, and no founding father would have agreed with it. Not one.

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Let's get it straight. It's a verbal attack by a group on a specific individual and kin.

That's assault. I don't care what the courts say about it.

"verbal attack" :lol: I like that... What's next? I think bad thoughts about someone and it's a "mental attack"

I just mentally attacked you, you should probably file a civil suit...

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blah blah blah justifying your personal opinion on constitutional rights blah blah blah

Where's your argument, or is this spew supposed to stand as your rebuttal? At least my opinion on constitutional rights is consistent with the men who were kind enough to pen them.

No wonder your side in this issue seems to favor Phelps, or as you say blah blah blah.

Nice talking with you.

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"Free speech" is historically about being able to stand on a box in the park, and speak your piece, without being arrested/thrown in jail. Which was the standard in other countries at the time. This country made it legal, and it was done that way for a long time. It doesn't mean you can go to a specific location, to be near a specific person, and throw words at them like stones, with the deliberate intent of causing harm.

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sorry recon I disagree... If I'm in a public place I can say whatever I want to whoever I want, and at any time, anyone can say whatever they want to me. (barring a few exceptions)

If you want to start censoring what people say open a private club, you can make your own rules within the confines of that private club as to what constitutes protected speech.

I disagree with everything these morons say, (wbc) but their right to say it is unquestionable. Otherwise, where does it end?

would the WBC be in the right if they were standing on boxes nearby saying the exact same things to the air?

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Apparently I missed a few details on this story. I thought one of the wacko Church members assaulted the funeral people - like legitimately broke some law of physical violence or trespassing of sorts.

That's not the case?

"Sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can never hurt me."

Constitutionally, they have a right to be dicks. That's what the Constitution is about - protecting people who aren't of the popular opinion. Yea, it's poor taste, and they're sick sons of bitches for doing it... but, it's just words. You just have to trust people like that will somehow get their comeuppance through some other means of conveyance (karma, divine intervention, the grille of a Freightliner), rather than the law.

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