Freedom of speech?

[Mathias]

Because the Westboro Church is totally a fascist nation with an immediately immobilized army capable of destroying half of Europe in one fell swoop.

We must respond with swift action, lest we lose our American way of life to those dictators!

[Lacchi]

*falls out of chair from laughing so hard* Now that was funny!

Nah, you know what you need to do, you need to tell them all to go on a religious retreat to, um... The Bermuda Triangle... Yeah, that'll work, they can picket there complaining about the attention that place is getting, bcause obviously it is the retribution of god, proving that he hates, ummm, gay fishes and, umm, pilots and the like. Yeah... Or just make them all eat McDonalds for as long as possible, I hear that's unhealthy for you...

[Terminus Mortis]

It's like Stalin said. "Death solves all problems. No man, no problem."

Though realistically a Westboro pseudo-genocide is a bit out of the question.

That Nazi thing was good though. Got a good laugh out of that.

No, what we need is to try them for disturbing the peace and instigating violence after they picket a poor soldier's funeral claiming God hated him. There's no way in hell we could lose that case.

[Enther]

I recognized the woman heading the people on the video from an interview I had watched a while ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRorH1HeyQg

There's her logic.

[Max Dirks]

Reiko, I'm not sure "incitement to violence," or "clear and present danger" is the current legal standard for "fighting words." The Brandenburg standard is "immanent lawless action," which I feel posting an offensive video on YouTube does not meet. On the other hand, if the police stopped (not prevented) these people from picketing at a funeral for a Marine, that might meet the standard. Of course, what police department, city or state wants to get boggled down in a long 1st amendment trial?

Support your troops, ignore these fools.

[lPulse]

Le sigh. There is no contradiction Damion. =S The Bible did not say to quarterdeck WBC on ground full of fire ants. That was MY idea. Logic ftw.

However in case you still wanna go that route- Proverbs 13:24 "He that spareth the rod hateth his son." That means love disciplines. A long shot from my idea of making WBC do pushups in fire ant hills but you get the point... or do you?

I see a contradiction, does anyone else?

[Terminus Mortis]

I like those phrases. "Imminent lawless action." "Clear and present danger." It reminds me of a directive my friend was given when he trained for a Marine SOC unit. He told me their orders in the field were to "Locate, identify, and render harmless enemies of the United States and of the free world." It's really just a more eloquent way of saying "Terminate with extreme prejudice."

[Taskmienster]

"Terminate with extreme prejudice" was put in Army terms as "You don't shoot to kill, you shoot to eliminate the threat". Another words, hurt them and don't kill them, then watch a bunch others come to help them and shoot but don't kill them too. It's sick, but that's what it reminded me of too. haha

[Death's Nephew]

Because the Westboro Church is totally a fascist nation with an immediately immobilized army capable of destroying half of Europe in one fell swoop.

We must respond with swift action, lest we lose our American way of life to those dictators!

lol

Nice way to dodge my point. You do realize Hitler didn't seize power of Germany over night right? He did it over time with lots and lots of talking and promising. My point was that when you let people like Hitler do what they want when they want to, you get major catastrophes.

Never said that we should drop bombs on their churches, but standing by idly doing nothing is amazingly stupid and weak-minded. The quote "Speak softly but carry a big stick" doesn't stand the test of our generations for no reason.

[Mathias]

I was pointing out how I think it's a rather illogical comparison. And he didn't take it over in a night, but Blitzkrieg happened pretty damn quick.

But that aside... I didn't see not to take action. I said that it would be unwise to take violent action. Within the bounds of law and decency, these people could be defeated by common sense and logic. They are an infinitesimally small group of people who are an outspoken rabble-rousing hate group. And yeah, they cause minor amounts of grief and frustration, and a sheer, "How stupid can you be?" factor, but it's not like they are taking the world apart, brick by brick. They're more like banging their hands against it like idiots, thinking that the noise their hollow skulls make actually mean something to somebody.