In an interesting response to the loathsome Rev. Fred Phelps of Kansas, who enjoys traveling around the country and disrputing funerals of fallen servicemen as his own special way of gay-bashing, the President signed a law restricting protests of military funerals today (Memorial Day).
At a knee-jerk level, one wonders why Mr. Phelps shouldn’t just be picked up, right now, and shipped to the brig as an “unlawful combatant” as were Jose Padilla and Saleh Al-Mari… frankly, Phelps is probably doing more to undermine the morale of American troops and their families than all of the detainees held in the brig in Charleston, Guantanamo and the CIA ghost prisons combined, and given that the Supreme Court has said that all that the President needs to do is say anyone he feels like is an unlawful combatant, and it’s sayonara… Obviously, as Phelps is a White man and a self-described Christian activist (as opposed to a Moslem, or even an Hispanic gang-banger converted to Islam), it would be impolitic to do this. No. no…
So, “the better way” to combat “the Reverend” Mr. Phelps is deemed to be a broader ban on protests at all military funerals. Certainly, Congress can impose reasonable “time place and manner restrictions” on speech at federal facilities, such as national cemetaries as in the bill… query whether it can go further and do so at all funerals, just because the decedent was in the military… I don’t know. I personally suspect it exceeds Congress’s power, which, believe it or not, is actually limited by the Constitution (and the President’s power is even more limited… who knew?) I’m sure the Rev. Phelps (or perhaps the ACLU) will sue to test the law, and we’ll find out that way.
Obviously, Mr. Phelps is a disgusting human being (and indeed, one questions if such a monster is even human.) The thing with free speech, though, is that, in order to protect “the good kind” of speech, we have to be willing to put up with “the bad kind”– insults, distasteful stuff, hateful crap… yes… the kind of hateful crap that spews from God damned Fred Phelps.
It’s shall we say ironic that on the day that we honor those who have fallen to protect our freedoms that we peel away one of the most basic of our freedoms.
tdog
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I am a left leaning ex military person looking forward to the day when the right Reverend Phelps and his crew of lackeys protests a military funeral in my area. I am not in love with loud mouth gays anymore than the next person; Hell I’m not even in love with the war, but I am in love with my brothers and sisters in the armed forces. If the Reverend Phelps starts his rhetoric at a local funeral, then I am afraid the shit will hit the fan. It will definetly be a bloody conflict.