"The Freedom Of Speech..."

We have a great country , although at times I worry about our future... about our direction... and one of the things that makes our country great is the Bill of Rights... which consists of the first Ten Amendments of our Constitution.

The First Amendment is the Right of Free Speech.  What is and what isn't free speech is often debated and discussed.  Generally, we are accorded the freedom to say what we want... to whom we want... within reason or boundaries... 

For example, we have the freedom of speech to shout out , "FIRE!!"  but not in a crowded theater... where hysteria could kick in and people could be trampled and injured... maybe even killed.  So most of our Freedoms afforded to us through the Constitution are situational, I guess...

I've been  home sick most of the last week... and I had entirely too much time on my hands.  One of the stories that seemed to stream on TV news was the one of the Westboro Baptist Church pastor zealot and his followers ilk.  Fortunately, Westboro seems to consist of Phelps and members of his circular flow family tree church don't seem to be affliliated with any known Baptists conventions or associations... Thank God.  If you aren't familiar with this idiot and his followers, they are the ones that have protesting at funerals of soldiers killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Fred Phelps

While members of families and their communities appreciate support such as this...

Full Military Honors...

Grieving comrades...

Turn out of an entire community...

... to honor one of their fallen...

... these idiots at this 'church' have taken it upon themselves to protest and demonstrate at funerals of soldiers kill in combat.... like this...

Arguments were heard last week before the Supreme Court of the United States of America (Snyder V. Phelps)... that Phelps and his ilk have the right to protest and demonstrate at the  military funerals... in to interfere with his rights to do this could impede our rights to do and say what we want.  Snyder is the father of slain Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder and just one of many funerals that have been disrupted by Phelps...

The fellows in the fore-ground are honorable... I wish I could say the same about those idiots behind them...

I would love to say that these people are mis-guided, but I just can't...
This is just evil...
This is just mean...


and unfortunately,


is probably protected by the Constitution...

These idiots are hiding behind the disguise of being a church... a religious organization... which of course, provides no benefit to religion...

Not long ago, the media (NBC, ABC, CBS, CNN, MS-NBC and to an extent, FOX was lambasting Terry Jones, the minister from Florida that was wanting to burn the Quran...

And they were tearing into this fellow, basically saying that we should be concerned about the rights of Muslims around the world... and how it would be a desecration of their holy book...

... but, if Phelps has the freedom to hurt the families of fallen American soldiers, why doesn't that other preacher have the right to express his Freedom of Speech?  Where is the Media and its concern about the pain suffered by the Snyders' and other families?

Don't we have the right to be concerned about the feelings and the emotions of the families of those 3,000 that were killed by muslim extremists on 09/11/2001??

I have to say that the Phelps' probably do have this right to do this...

but...

Where is the moral decency?

Where is the moral compass??

I hope the Phelps' and their ilk burn in Hell for what they've done to innocent families...  IF this is what God is all about... then DO count me out!!!

I MUST be feeling better!!!!

This makes me so angry!!!!!!!

~shoes~