It's nice. I like it. I doubt the law is Constitutionally sound.

FANTASTIC!

It does need to be stopped though, I agree completely!

Yeah, I hear Scalia laughing from here.

Freedom of speech means exactly that: freedom. Their protests, as atrocious as they might be, do not put anyone in immediate danger (like yelling fire in a crowded theatre) and this will be struck down.

Want them to stop? Stop giving them coverage. If they don't get the media they crave they will be pushed to more outlandish acts to draw the attention the require and will eventually break a law doing so. Once that happens, all bets are off.

Couldn't their "protesting" be a form of harassment, though? That could have some sort of legal teeth..

Yeah, I hear Scalia laughing from here.

Freedom of speech means exactly that: freedom. Their protests, as atrocious as they might be, do not put anyone in immediate danger (like yelling fire in a crowded theatre) and this will be struck down.

Want them to stop? Stop giving them coverage. If they don't get the media they crave they will be pushed to more outlandish acts to draw the attention the require and will eventually break a law doing so. Once that happens, all bets are off.

Well they are not stopping them completely. They are just not letting them protest 2 hrs before and after the ceremony.

I'd have thought that's the way to go, but I don't know enough about US law to know if it'd have any teeth. Immense kudos to the A&M students and others who have acted to protect grieving families and friends from this, though.

It's nice. I like it. I doubt the law is Constitutionally sound.

As much as i hate, loathe and despise the Westboro group (see my other post on the Chick Fil A debacle), this congressional bill doesn't sit well with me, good intentions or not. My democratic and political worldview is founded consciously on a bottom up principle of government. You know, the whole "government by the people and for the people." This Westboro bill is a tempting but still top-down worldview of government.

The last two Olympics opening ceremonies hightlight these different worldviews: It's like China - state run, top-down, organized, rigid versus England's people run, bottom-up, chaotic, flexible governemnt.

Free speech is not simple or easy. it is not required to follow societal norms and social standards. It is messy and hard and ugly. Do we want representatives doing all of the work for us or are they there to insure that we can do the work we want? The power in the freedom of free speech is that "we the people" control what we like or don't like. Putting a law in place for specific infractions actually limits our ability to govern ourselves. Don't like Westboro - shun them. Don't like Chick-Fil-A, boycott them and shun them.

That said, the Westboro group tried to disrupt the military funeral of a friend's son of ours. They couldn't get near the church or procession however because, of all the allies that came to the rescue, the Hell's Angels kept the Westboro's away! :happy: And the Hell's Angels didn't cost the taxpayers one penny for their gracious service!

-Debra

Couple of years ago WBC protested a church here in Portland on Memorial Day. My daughter and I found out early enough to order T shirts. Daughter's said "God Loves *kitten*" Mine said "God Hates Fred Phelps".

We went down and protested the protesters. They were marching in a clockwise cirlce in front of the church. I joined them and marched counter clockwis, herfing on a big fat cigar. Ran'em off.