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Legal Fights Highlight Church's Message (Flag Desecration Case Involing Westboro in Nebraska)
AP ^ | 11/2/07 | Timberly Ross

Posted on 11/02/2007 6:00:58 AM PDT by Nextrush

...The fiery message of the Westboro Baptist Church has led its followers into a fight for what they say are their First Amendment rights.

After what would appear at first glance to be a setback in one court, the group heads to another one on charges that include flag mutilation-and members of the Topeka, Kan.-based church could not be happier.

"Our message has exploded all over the world," a delighted Shirley Phelps-Roper said Thursday......

Phelps-Roper,50,is to appear in Sarpy County Court on Monday on charges of flag mutilation, negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and disturbing the peace. The charges were filed after Phelps-Roper allowed her 10-year-old son to stand on the flag while protesting at a Bellevue solider's funeral in June.

Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said when the Westboro followers specifically target grieving families, "they don't really deserve the protection of freedom of speech, freedom of religion."

Phelps-Roper attorney, Bassel El-Kassaby, said he has asked that the case be thrown out because the charges are unconstitutional. El-Kassaby was hired by the Nebraska ACLU to represent Phelps-Roper.......

(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: aclu; flagdesecration; fredphelps; shirleyphelpsroper; westborobaptist
Here's the next legal case with the ACLU defending a Westboro member.

And what a doozy.

Flag desecration.

1 posted on 11/02/2007 6:00:59 AM PDT by Nextrush
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To: Nextrush
Here's the next legal case with the ACLU defending a Westboro member.

This proves that they are not true Christians.

2 posted on 11/02/2007 6:03:57 AM PDT by uptoolate (This world is not my home, I'm justa passin' thru.)
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To: Nextrush

“fiery” message?? I’d say it was conceived in HELL....it is VILE and EVIL....they are vile and evil. This has NOTHING to do with the fIRST aMENDMENT. This is at a FUNERAL for God’s sake!


3 posted on 11/02/2007 6:06:53 AM PDT by Suzy Quzy (Hillary '08...Her PHONINESS is REAL!!!)
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To: Nextrush

Look at me! Look at me!


4 posted on 11/02/2007 6:24:34 AM PDT by NurdlyPeon (Thompson / Hunter in 2008)
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To: Nextrush
Phelps-Roper attorney, Bassel El-Kassaby....

That says it all.

5 posted on 11/02/2007 6:31:57 AM PDT by Albion Wilde (America: “the most benign hegemon in history.”—Mark Steyn)
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To: Nextrush

The ACLU defended NAMBLA, a funeral protesting, “fag” hating, flag burning, anti-Christian isn’t that big of a dead to them.


6 posted on 11/02/2007 6:59:23 AM PDT by Brytani
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To: Nextrush

“Our message has exploded all over the world,” a delighted Shirley Phelps-Roper said Thursday.....

I don’t get horror-stricken very often, but watching and listening to this woman speak sends cold chills up my spine. She is truly evil, yet presumes to speak for my Savior...wow.


7 posted on 11/02/2007 6:59:36 AM PDT by jagusafr ("Bugs, Mr. Rico! Zillions of 'em!" - Robert Heinlein)
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To: Nextrush

How many are there of this “church” 8, ten?

Maybe they should just fall into an old well, one at time.


8 posted on 11/02/2007 6:59:51 AM PDT by tiger-one (The night has a thousand eyes)
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To: Nextrush
Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said when the Westboro followers specifically target grieving families, "they don't really deserve the protection of freedom of speech, freedom of religion."

That's a disturbing statement. Since when did unalienable rights have to be earned?
9 posted on 11/02/2007 7:57:09 AM PDT by refreshed
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To: Nextrush
The fiery message of the Westboro Baptist Church CULT...

That's more in line with reality...

Fiery message indeed...that's where their "god" is...

10 posted on 11/02/2007 7:58:34 AM PDT by NorCoGOP (www.youtube.com/sharmer162)
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To: Nextrush
The moonbats defended by a Muslim job nutter. Somehow the universe is full of strange ironies.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

11 posted on 11/02/2007 9:31:26 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: refreshed
A funeral is NOT a public event. Its an occasion for reflection and grieving by friends and family. Its about paying respect to the dearly departed - a solemn act lost on the Westboro kooks.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

12 posted on 11/02/2007 9:33:42 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: Nextrush

Evil,twisted,immoral,cretins calling themselves Christians.I am very surprised no one has gone ballistic on these folks.


13 posted on 11/02/2007 9:41:20 AM PDT by Thombo2
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To: Nextrush

I hate to say it because I absolutely despise these people, but the flag descecration law sounds unconstitutional to me.


14 posted on 11/02/2007 9:48:26 AM PDT by gracesdad
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To: goldstategop

Was the funeral advertised in the paper with dates and times? Was the public invited to attend? If so, this was a public event.


15 posted on 11/02/2007 1:25:59 PM PDT by refreshed
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To: gracesdad
...."sounds unconstitutional to me"....

Depends on who does the deciding.

Prayer was perfectly legal for over 170 years in the US. There were several cases decided in the 1800's about whether the country was a "Christian" nation. We always decided that The Bible was ok to use as a textbook, prayer was ok, and several other topics that were believed by the majority of the country. The late 50's and 60's throughout the "70's saw the SCOTUS go nuts. Rulings that were completely without precedent were decided by fiat. There have been many wrongly decided cases over the years in the Supreme Ct. I say wrongly because nobody at the time could read what they found in the Constitution but them. Dred Scott comes to mind and others. Roe vs. Wade was just made up out of whole cloth. For many years, freedom of speech was never deemed to include obscenity.

We have lived so long under these defective rulings, the original intent of the Founders has been lost. Even the history books have repeated the lies espoused by the liberals that don't like the Constitution as it was written.

Freedom of speech was always thought of as "political" speech. That meant nobody could shut you up if speaking about political subjects in the town square. That has nothing to do with nude pictures, shouting fire in a theater, telling lies about people in print or in voice, and many other things we take for granted as allowed today. A law passed by congress to protect the flag could easily be deemed constitutional. It depends on the judges. Today, I could go to the town square and speak about the virtue of Nazism, but would be arrested for "hate" speech. I could read from the Bible about the fate of homosexuals and get the same result. But I can call Bush a transvestite drag queen and would be protected from every corner because it's popular to some to do that. If I burned a US flag, I would get cheers, but I would be arrested if I did the same to the UN flag.

We are almost completely foiled as a free nation now because of "hate" speech. They decide what you can say and not say. I think for years, people have put up with flag burning believing that it protected their rights to say other things like "Homo's are going to hell". WRONG!!!

The point of this post is just to say that a couple of judges could protect the flag and the Bible, but not if Hillary gets in.

One of my biggest interests right now is trying to get judges to pay for their idiocy in office. They should be impeached. They have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution, but have become an oligarchy over ruling EQUAL branches of government. Tom Delay came up with this principal, but it didn't really catch fire before he left. It's time to take some of these loose cannons out that like sanctuary cities, give tax benefits to illegals, rule with no precedent, raise taxes without the power to do so, etc. When they rule that a school system must do this or that, they never take the tax burden on the districts into consideration. That is an involuntary, non elected, tax hike, with no chance of voting it down. We fought the Revolution over that.

Protecting the flag would be as easy as passing a law and having it deemed Constitutional. In your statement, you seemed to have bought into the line that it IS free speech. This gives meaning to the term "sheeple". If you go a long to get along, you will eventually end up slaughtered. Many here on FR are now deemed "radicals" because they don't go with the world socialist government model. I envision a time when preachers of the Gospels will be arrested and killed over hate speech, someone that is anti UN can be arrested and "re educated", someone that calls tax hikes "stealing" could be called mentally ill and their funds seized, etc.

What you "believe" is important. If you believe the flag of your country is just cloth and doesn't deserve protection, then why have people died to wave it for centuries? Were they wrong to give their lives just to keep it from hitting the ground? Are they wrong to have it draped on their casket as their last statement on Earth? The actual burning of the cloth doesn't diminish our country in any way, but the what the burner represents does.

16 posted on 11/02/2007 1:37:39 PM PDT by chuckles
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