| Topic: |
Sociology > Education |
| User: |
"" |
| Date: |
05 Oct 2006 11:35:44 AM |
| Object: |
Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals |
http://www.pennlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/115992961467770.xml&coll=1
Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
BY IRVIN KITTRELL III
Of The Patriot-News
Members of a Kansas-based church that has picketed funerals of fallen
American soldiers are expected to protest at the funerals of the Amish
girls killed Monday in Lancaster County, according to a news release issued
by the church.
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka blamed Gov. Ed Rendell for the mass
murder of the five girls in a one-room schoolhouse because he ridiculed the
church on a national television news show, the news release said.
The church said nothing about the man who shot and killed the girls and
wounded five other girls. He was identified as Charles Carl Roberts IV of
Bart.
Members of the church have been in the national spotlight after picketing
at funerals of soldiers killed in action. The church says the military
deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of gay people.
In June, a York County man sued the church, seeking unspecified damages for
the messages held by church protesters outside his son's funeral.
The lawsuit seeks damages for invasion of privacy at the funeral.
About a dozen states, including Pennsylvania, have adopted laws limiting
funeral protests at services for soldiers killed in combat.
President Bush signed a bill curbing pickets at national cemeteries.
***************************************************************
You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Hampton Roads [Virginia] SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
[Its not just Hampton Roads folks who are members, there are members from
all over the US and a couple from overseas as well]
***************************************************************
.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
****************************************************************
USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
****************************************************************
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| User: "Peacenik" |
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| Title: Re: Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals |
05 Oct 2006 11:07:56 PM |
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<buckeye-elo@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:r2dai2pqi6fichbf83i2n2fuemi2vejfd9@4ax.com...
http://www.pennlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/115992961467770.xml&coll=1
Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
BY IRVIN KITTRELL III
Of The Patriot-News
Members of a Kansas-based church that has picketed funerals of fallen
American soldiers are expected to protest at the funerals of the Amish
girls killed Monday in Lancaster County, according to a news release
issued
by the church.
There is no depth of lunacy to which these sick, twisted Phelps folk will
not attempt to dive.
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| User: "Michael Ejercito" |
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| Title: Re: Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals |
06 Oct 2006 11:17:14 AM |
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Peacenik wrote:
<buckeye-elo@nospam.net> wrote in message
news:r2dai2pqi6fichbf83i2n2fuemi2vejfd9@4ax.com...
http://www.pennlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/news/115992961467770.xml&coll=1
Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
BY IRVIN KITTRELL III
Of The Patriot-News
Members of a Kansas-based church that has picketed funerals of fallen
American soldiers are expected to protest at the funerals of the Amish
girls killed Monday in Lancaster County, according to a news release
issued
by the church.
There is no depth of lunacy to which these sick, twisted Phelps folk will
not attempt to dive.
They canceled their picket when Mike Gallgher, a radio talk show
host, offered them some time on his show.
Michael
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| User: "Roedy Green" |
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| Title: Re: Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals |
06 Oct 2006 09:10:58 AM |
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On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:35:44 -0400, wrote,
quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
Members of the church have been in the national spotlight after picketing
at funerals of soldiers killed in action. The church says the military
deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of gay people.
They also picket the funerals of gay people, including Matthew
Shepard, the boy who was crucified on a fence by gay bashers.
To learn more about these wackos who push the first amendment to the
limit, google on Fred Phelps their leader.
--
Canadian Mind Products, Roedy Green, http://mindprod.com
For links to books about George W. Bush see
http://mindprod.com/politics/bushbooks.html
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| User: "Stan de SD" |
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| Title: Re: Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals |
06 Oct 2006 03:13:01 PM |
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"Roedy Green" <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> wrote in message
news:isoci21h036asd8slisvls2uaado9u8mdj@4ax.com...
On Thu, 05 Oct 2006 12:35:44 -0400, wrote,
quoted or indirectly quoted someone who said :
Members of the church have been in the national spotlight after picketing
at funerals of soldiers killed in action. The church says the military
deaths are God's punishment for tolerance of gay people.
They also picket the funerals of gay people, including Matthew
Shepard, the boy who was crucified on a fence by gay bashers.
Incorrect - he was killed by fellow tweakers who robbed him (no defense of
Phelps & Co implied or intended):
==================================================
Exploiting Matthew Shepard
You know there must be something happening when the New York Times praises
ABC News for running "an intellectually brave episode" of the "20/20" show
that has angered the homosexual lobby. That means the Times found it
convincing, and so did we. In the November 27 show, "20/20" uncovered the
truth about the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, widely depicted as a hate
crime because he was a homosexual. Almost everything we were told about
this murder at the time by ABC, the Times and every other major news
organization was false.
We were told that this University of Wyoming student was murdered simply
because he was a homosexual. The truth is that he was the victim of a
robbery gone bad by two drug addicts. What's more, Shepard was also a heavy
drug user who was HIV-positive. Not only were the perpetrators of this
brutal crime not "homophobes," but one of them knew Shepherd and was
allegedly bisexual. The real story of the Matthew Shepard case, as the
prosecutor says on "20/20," concerns the dangers of methamphetamine. The
two killers and Shepard were big meth users.
Why were the stories about this crime so wrong? The gay rights movement
wanted to depict Shepard as an innocent victim of a homophobic society.
This played into their demands for legislation to curb so-called "hate
crimes." One of the perpetrators used that to his advantage, arguing when
he went on trial that he went into a panic when Shepard tried to proposition
him at a bar. His girlfriend made the same claim in the media, including on
"20/20." But now they say it was all a ruse, designed to get him a reduced
sentence by suggesting that he wasn't in control of his faculties when the
murder occurred. The ploy failed. Both of those involved in the murder got
life in prison.
ABC and correspondent Elizabeth Vargas are now under heavy fire from the
homosexual lobby for dispelling the Shepard myth. But ABC and Vargas ALSO
show Shepard to be a very depressed young man, on the verge of suicide,
because of his homosexual lifestyle. The "gay rights" lobby doesn't want to
face up to that. Matthew wasn't "gay" and "proud." He was profoundly
troubled.
http://www.aim.org/media_monitor/A2331_0_2_0_C/
Just hours after Shepard's battered body was discovered, and before anyone
knew who had beaten him, Shepard's friends Walt Boulden and Alex Trout began
spreading the word that Shepard was openly gay and that they were concerned
the attack may have been a gay-bashing.
Boulden told "20/20" in an interview shortly after the attack in 1998, "I
know in the core of my heart it happened because he revealed he was gay. And
it's chilling. They targeted him because he was gay."
Prosecutor Rerucha recalls that Shepard's friends also contacted his office.
Rerucha told "20/20," "They were calling the County Attorney's office, they
were calling the media and indicating Matthew Shepard is gay and we don't
want the fact that he is gay to go unnoticed."
Helping fuel the gay hate crime theory were statements made to police and
the media by Kristen Price, McKinney's girlfriend. (Price was charged with
felony accessory after-the-fact to first-degree murder. She later pleaded
guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor interference with police
officers.)
Price now says that at the time of the crime she thought things would go
easier for McKinney if his violence were seen as a panic reaction to an
unwanted gay sexual advance.
But today, Price tells Vargas the initial statements she made were not true
and tells Vargas that McKinney's motive was money and drugs. "I don't think
it was a hate crime at all. I never did," she said.
Former Laramie Police Detective Ben Fritzen, one of the lead investigators
in the case, also believed robbery was the primary motive. "Matthew
Shepard's sexual preference or sexual orientation certainly wasn't the
motive in the homicide," he said.
"If it wasn't Shepard, they would have found another easy target. What it
came down to really is drugs and money and two punks that were out looking
for it," Fritzen said.
'All I Wanted to Do Was Beat Him Up and Rob Him'
Asked directly whether he targeted and attacked Shepard because he was gay,
McKinney told Vargas, "No. I did not. . I would say it wasn't a hate crime.
All I wanted to do was beat him up and rob him."
But if the attackers were just trying to rob someone to get a drug fix, why
did they beat Shepard so savagely?
Rerucha attributes McKinney's rage and his savage beating of Shepard to his
drug abuse. "The methamphetamine just fueled to this point where there was
no control. It was a horrible, horrible, horrible murder. It was a murder
that was once again driven by drugs," Rerucha said.
Dr. Rick Rawson, a professor at UCLA who has studied the link between
methamphetamine and violence, tells "20/20" the drug can trigger episodes of
violent behavior.
"In the first weeks after you've stopped using it, the kinds of triggers
that can set off an episode are completely unpredictable. It can be: you say
a word with the wrong inflection, you touch someone on the shoulder. It's
completely unpredictable as to what will set somebody off" Rawson said.
"If Aaron McKinney had not become involved with methamphetamine, Matthew
Shepard would be alive today," Rerucha said.
Did Matthew Shepard Know His Killers?
Another widely held belief about the case is that McKinney and Shepard had
never met before their fateful encounter at the Fireside Lounge. But a
number of sources tell "20/20" the two were not strangers.
"Everybody knew Matt Shepard was a partier just like Aaron, just like the
rest of us," said Bopp.
In fact, Bopp said he had seen Shepard and McKinney together at parties.
"Aaron was selling [drugs] and him and Matt would go off to the side and
they'd come back. And Matt would be doing some meth then," he said.
Though they frequented the same party scene, McKinney maintains he had never
met Shepard before the night of the crime and wonders why people might say
he had. "I've never met him. . Maybe they seen us somewhere in the same spot
or something. I don't know," McKinney said.
A bartender familiar with the local drug scene, who asked to be identified
only as "Jean," says she was friendly with Shepard. She also says McKinney
and Shepard knew each other.
When she learned of the beating, she said, she recalls thinking, "It's
either money or dope, yeah. He'd be the perfect target especially because
Aaron knew him."
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=277685&page=3
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| User: "Uncle Vic" |
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| Title: Re: Kansas church plans to picket girls' funerals |
06 Oct 2006 01:09:54 AM |
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Once upon a time in alt.atheism, dear sweet (buckeye-elo@nospam.net) made
the light shine upon us with this:
The Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka
Who else? Brown-noser Phred Phelps and his Phucking Phollowers.
--
Uncle Vic
aa Atheist #2011
Supervisor, EAC Department of little adhesive-backed "L" shaped
chrome-plastic doo-dads to add feet to Jesus fish department.
Plonked by Kadaitcha Man
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