[Cengaeas]

I don't think it should be limited to military funerals, but yeah that does make me happy.

[BCVB9SOc]

Damn right.

[SoftrermaBioniaSat]

One of the great things about Freedom of Speech is that it allowws you to pick out the *******s. This will probably fail at the supreme court as well, simply because it turns military funerals into a special case. Why didn't they include gay funerals, or all funerals? It really begs the question.

It should include all funerals.

Freedom of speech can have sane limitations.

[Metrujectiktus]

The joys of our legal system. Legislating things because of one or two bad apples without a whit of common decency. Followed by the inevitable one or two asshats who feel the need to contest laws based upon slippery slope rationales.

[Soassesaisp]

Only for the present. Won't be once Texas secedes.

[Xqjfxmfk]

I am completely indifferent about this.

[gdjfhdf]

I am completely indifferent about this.

And by completely indifferent I suppose you mean "cares enough to post in a thread about it" and pose questions about it.

[ClaudeMarkus]

But why the need to announce your complete indifference? If nothing was worth consideration on the topic, why make any proclamation at all?

[velichay]

OK

[Vomekayafboke]

I think we do that, only with revving motorcycles.

[eduptultyt]

It should include all funerals.

Freedom of speech can have sane limitations.

Exactly right. A time and a place for everything. "Knowing what liberty means" doesn't mean that you abandon all sense of respect. If it's thought that the protesters have a right, why do the grievers have no rights, up to and including those that shield from the roadway? Someone's right to swing a fist ends before my nose begins, as a physical comparison.

[KukkoDrukko]

An amendment for common decency shouldn't be required.

[Arrocousa]

I don't believe they should have a right to protest a funerals. They can say whatever they want, as far as I'm concerned, but do it at the right place and be civil about it. I don't think this is a hard issue.

[Xtatotvk]

OK, Lorizael. What about the rights of the family to converse and conduct the ceremony in peace? Quote all the crap that you want.

[BrifsGefel]

An amendment for common decency shouldn't be required.

We had something close to that, an attempt to criminalize distasteful behavior at the constitutional level.

Prohibition didn't work out too well.

[gyjsdtuwr]

OK, Lorizael. What about the rights of the family to converse and conduct the ceremony in peace? Quote all the crap that you want.

How would their free speech be any different? There is no right to converse in peace, which also makes it ok to rev motorcycles while hatemongers try to speak.

ACK!

[CibQueersejer]

What is the difference between Westboro Baptist and OWS?

Frame it in a way that will pass constitutional muster.

Which is funny because the OWS folks seemed to spend quite a lot of time getting peppersprayed and dragged into vans by the cops.

[ChyFDjfed]

... and one, no matter how distasteful, is a Chistian church. I'm sure if a small group of atheists tried to disrupt any funeral in the USA, they would be arrested, convicted, and jailed.

[LypeReexy]

From Wiki:

In an 8–1 decision, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of Phelps on March 2, 2011. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion stating: "What Westboro said, in the whole context of how and where it chose to say it, is entitled to 'special protection' under the First Amendment and that protection cannot be overcome by a jury finding that the picketing was outrageous."[119] Justice Samuel Alito, the lone dissenter, said Snyder wanted only to "bury his son in peace". Instead, Alito said, the protesters "brutally attacked" Matthew Snyder to attract public attention. "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he said. Given the sole dissenter was Alito, and the language used in the decision, I sincerely doubt a law will ever be crafted finely enough to pass scrutiny.

That wiki entry is something else, BTW.

[ManHolDenPoker]

As they are, they're somewhat more embarrassing than the KKK. ...and in other news, the WBS was counter-protested by the KKK.