Of all the items I run into that gets me steamed, the Baptists at Westboro Baptist Church really get under my skin. But at the same time I'm almost grateful for them. Let's face it, the media and the Right have done a right good job over the last 40 years of painting the Left as all a bunch of DFH's, Politically Correct Fingerwaggers, and "teh gayz".
Get to the goodies under the fold!
But these jackoffs, well, they are doing a pretty good job of bringing the Right the image THEY so richly deserve yet so rarely are held accountable for.
For those who don't know or remember, these are the good Christian folk who show up at military funerals with signs that say "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for 9/11". Their cute little blonde children holding signs that say "God Blew Up the Space Shuttle".
All this because, you know, their God is killing American soldiers to punish the U.S. for not being a Theocracy, or... something.
So, in Brandon Mississipi the funeral for Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers, killed in Afghanistan on April 7th, drew the attention of these "people". They announced they were going to head on down to Mississippi and bring the Word of their God to the sinners.
Chattanoogan.com - Roy Exum: The Brandon (Miss.) Way
I was laughing so hard I had tears on my cheeks by the end of the article. Go read it, it's worth the click.
"As soon as we heard that Westboro was gonna’ be here, we didn't want that to happen," Zach Magee said. "I'm a firm believer in human rights, and I believe it should be a natural given human right to be able to bury your loved ones without negativity brought towards that," added McGee, who helped organize a counter protest via Facebook and other outlets.
You bet, Zach. While I completely agree with the Supreme Court ruling that the government should not restrict these Christian's right to spew their vile hatred I'm also 100% for people taking it upon themselves to restrict this sort of nonsense.
According to various reports, the trouble started a day or two before the funeral when one Westboro zealot stopped at a Brandon gas station, starting “running his mouth” and – whammo - promptly got a sound Southern thumpin’.
I mean, the earlier protester got splashed with a liberal dose of ratta-tat-tat and was whipped pretty badly. Yet when the police arrived, nobody had seen a thing and all discounted such an incident had ever occurred.
I can hear it now. But that's assault! You can't just go beating up on someone like that! You bet your ass you can. You might go to jail for it, and you probably should. But sometimes you do what's right, even if it means sitting in a jail. Seems I recall more than a few of our liberal heroes sitting out their time in jails here and there, especially in the South, in pursuit of what was right.
A popular rumor is that when the news got out where the Westboro crowd was staying and, this some time shortly before the funeral, the strangest thing occurred. A vacant Rankin County car or pickup truck was mysteriously parked directly behind every car with a Kansas tag in the parking lot. I mean, they hemmed the visitors’ cars in, bumper-to-bumper.
Since all the wrecker companies around were “too busy” to lend a hand until after the funeral, the protesters were stranded. Further, according to the tales now being told, the few Westboro members that did get to the funeral were promptly hustled off to be asked what they knew about a crime they might have been involved in.
I was laughing so hard... okay, yes, I confess, I was a wee bit disturbed by the involvement of the local law in this endevour, but... ah, how sweet it must have been, answering the phones at the local wrecker companies. "Well, ma'am, we'll just see how quickly we can get out thar... just you wait and don't worry none."
Kudo's to Zack McGee of Brandon Mississippi, for starting this and standing up for what is right. The family of Staff Sgt. Jason Rogers deserved to have the chance of burying him in peace, and they got that, thanks to the efforts of these mostly anonymous citizens.
Even in the Deep South some things just ain't right and ain't tolerated. The haters at Westboro Baptist should remember that.