Something Good Comes of a horrific act. . .

FuzzyKen

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As bad as the mass shootings were in Arizona, the threatened picketing by the joyous bunch of party crashers at Westboro Baptist Church prompted immediate legislative action in Arizona to really rain on Fred Phelps parade.

More significant is that this incident and the cold hearted Phelps promises to spread his hate to the funerals of children have prompted many other State and Local governments to start working on similar legislation.

Be nice to just see some of our overpaid representatives just do this on a Federal level. Why don't we just deal with "Fast Freddie" once and for all.

Thoughts?
 

midlifebear

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On the surface such legislation seems to be the beginning of that "slippery slope" to abridging free speech. We'd have to see what the Supreme 9 decided about such legislation. Then again, it's patently illegal to yell "fire!" in a crowded theatre, unless there really is a fire.
 

B_LittleNate

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I am all for restrictions on speech for purely safety reasons- yelling "fire" in a crowded theater when no fire is present should be illegal.

That said, I am very uncomfortable with any legislation that regulates free assembly or free speech on the grounds of distastefulness or offensiveness.
 

Zeuhl34

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I can't imagine why anyone would support that nutcase, but I don't like this legislation. He's a complete and total dickweed, but he isn't endangering anyone. As long as no-one is being put in harm's way, I see no reason to legally limit what he does, and I'd hope that the courts would feel that way too.
 

B_Marius567

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As bad as the mass shootings were in Arizona, the threatened picketing by the joyous bunch of party crashers at Westboro Baptist Church prompted immediate legislative action in Arizona to really rain on Fred Phelps parade.

More significant is that this incident and the cold hearted Phelps promises to spread his hate to the funerals of children have prompted many other State and Local governments to start working on similar legislation.

Be nice to just see some of our overpaid representatives just do this on a Federal level. Why don't we just deal with "Fast Freddie" once and for all.

Thoughts?

The shooter that a girl friend so I wonder why women want him and no one wants me.
 

Mensch1351

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There is a very harmless quick fix LEGAL solution to this. Each state should adopt legislation making it illegal to picket a funeral period. WHO in God's name IN THEIR RIGHT MINDS picket funerals?????? The other alternative would be a $10,000 permit fee to picket a funeral. Nice way to raise tax money!!:smile::eek:
 

FuzzyKen

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Though I have not seen it the law does not 100% stop it, but allows the individuals involved in the funeral ceremony to be able to bury their loved one or ones in peace. From what I have heard the legislators patterned this law after a similar law written in another jurisdiction to deal with "Fast Freddie" in the past. Of course "Freddy" appealed, and he lost the appeal.

The law is as I understand it very specific in that it simply outlaws this kind of political demonstration at the funeral or burial ceremonies of the dead. If people want to protest they are free to do so, as long as they do it several football fields away from the distraught families of the deceased.

It is really sad that we are at a time and place that this entire country must make laws based on one specific "nut case" member of the religious right.

I think that the permit fee is a great idea and there are legal precedents for that for political protests and gatherings. The permit should still specify a distance away from the event itself to give space to the families of the dead. There has to be respect of the rights of those in mourning and to me this is the issue.
 

maxcok

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The Arizona law prevents protestors from entering a 300 foot perimeter for one hour before until one hour after a funeral service. I haven't entirely decided how I feel about this as a free speech issue, though I think it's appalling to protest a funeral under any circumstance, and as such it might warrant special protection. The law is based on one in Ohio, which recently survived a challenge in federal court from the Westboro crazies.


It's certainly no more draconian than the Orwellian named "free speech zones" that have existed for years and carried to an extreme by the Bush administration (not that this is the standard to judge by). Secret Service swept the area around venues where he was to appear, as well as the route to and from. Anyone 'suspicious', or with an unflattering t-shirt, or with a protest sign, sometimes only a bumper sticker, was "escorted" to these areas, and if they refused, they were arrested. In San Diego for example, protestors were quarantined nearly a mile from the covention center in an empty isolated parking lot surrounded by a ten foot high chain link fence. Of course friendly supporters, many of them planted, were allowed to stay around the venue and along the route. This was the typical modus operandi. I'm not aware if the Obama administration is doing anything similar.



 
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