Where have I been that I missed the good people of the Westboro Baptist Church? They go around "protesting" at soldier's funerals, because they think it's great that these "protectors of homosexuals" have been killed? Gee, what kind of a life must you have for THAT to make any kind of sense? I understand though that a couple national organizations of bikers, some veterans some not, have taken it upon themselves to watch these lunatics planning and web posting and respond with a couple hundred bikers anytime they turn up for one of their "Funeral Celebrations" I'm not certain, but I'm willing to bet that Local Law Enforcement may develop hearing problems. http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/dec2005/20051204_thank-god-for-ieds-killing-marines.pdf
I'm surprised that you haven't heard of this organization before. They started out protesting the funerals of persons who died of AIDS, and they probably peaked in infamy when they protested the funeral of Matthew Shepard. You've likely seen photos of their protests in the past. I've seen "Reverend" Phelps interviewed before. He has a disturbing preoccupation with sodomy. It's all he ever talked about in the news segment, even when he was being filmed chatting with his grandchildren. He was literally explaining what sodomy was to four- and five-year-old children. The one upside to his increased noteriety is that counter-protests pop up at the funerals his organizations picket. I can't imagine what it would have been like to be a parent of a person who died of AIDS in the late 1980s and to have seen a group of people near the funeral holding signs that read "AIDS Kills ******** Dead" and screaming that your son is rotting in hell. (During Shepard's funeral, several activists dressed in angel costumes with giant wings. The purpose of the costumes was such that, as the funeral was happening, they could stand between the mourners and Phelp's protest so that the mourners couldn't actually see the hateful signs that the picketers held. At least this is how it was depicted in The Laramie Project.) Phelps is clearly insane. What bothers me most is that his organization can still afford to travel all over the country to protest funerals. Who is sending these people money, especially now that they've started protesting the funerals of people who have absolutely no connection with the gay culture?
I am as dedicated to free speech as anyone. (I reserve the right to announce what an ass someone is for their beliefs, but if people want to bray in public, I say go for it). But someone needs to do a Jim Jones on these people. Honestly, I never heard of them before. As for the AIDS funerals, that's just disgusting. Jeeez, the guy is dead. If you're somehow happy about that, and feel he derserved it, fine, but he's dead and so HE CAN'T HEAR YOU chanting at his funeral. How do people get this sick?
On the bright side, I look forward to his funeral. I can't wait until his family and organization get a taste of their own medicine. Maybe then, they'll realize how utterly despicable it was to have intruded on the mourning of others.
These people were on Stern a while back. One word can sum up their entire position -- scary. My biggest argument with them is that when they go on tirades about hate, they always pull information from the Old Testament of the Bible. Not once have I seen them use anything from the time of Jesus or afterwords. If these people had a say in our daily lives, we would then know what the average Saudi has to deal with.
I have actually followed them for around five years now. Not to say that I agreed with them (which I did not), but I tolerated their insanity until Reagan's funeral. Somehow he helped the homosexual agenda and is now in hell. Then, when I went to the innauguration in January they were there. Actually got to see up close what a 16 year old looks like with a "Tsunami kills f@gs dead" sign. (Guess the beach where the tsunami hit had a few homersexuals at it.) I love what the bikers are doing. Twenty miles from my home town had these clowns at a funeral. From what I understand that was the first use of the bikers. Drowned out their idiocy.