Posted on 03/02/2011 7:26:59 PM PST by pissant
Sarah Palin voiced disappointment with a Supreme Court decision Wednesday protecting the First Amendment rights of anti-gay protesters at military funerals. Continue Reading
"Common sense & decency absent as wacko ‘church' allowed hate msgs spewed@ soldiers' funerals but we can't invoke God's name in public square," Palin tweeted .
The court voted 8-1 in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church's right to protest outside the funerals - though the court recognized the right of local authorities to put restrictions on how close to a proceeding the group can protest.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.foxnews.com ...
I love Sarah but she is wrong on this.
I love Sarah but she is wrong on this.
Free Speech Sarah Free Speech! if they can remove Free Speech from 1 group they can remove it from others.
Under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers may sometimes be prosecuted for tolerating “hate speech” by their employees, if that speech contributes to a broader pattern of harassment resulting in a “hostile or offensive working environment” for other employees.
That’s used against Christians. I think she is just pointing out the hypocrisy.
Maybe funeral times should be published publicly for one time and then actually held at another. These people have a tight schedule to keep, so that might be the way to defeat them. Well that and teargas.
Aren’t cemetaries privately owned property? As such, don’t the owners have the right to say who can or can’t come onto their property?
As I see it, it’s not a free speech issue. It’s a property rights issue. The Westboro group can conduct their display of lunacy out in the street or on whatever public property they can get a permit for.
The WBC crowd are agent provocateurs. They are far left socialists who want to make Christians look bad. The fact that they are protesting soldiers who gave their lives so that they could spew their nonsense is extremely sickening. HOWEVER, creating an exception to the First Amendment for jackass behavior would lead to the left using such an exception to further restrict the First Amendment as applied to other individuals. That would be a terrible tragedy.
Palin seems to think and speak in soundbytes, and this issue is far more complex than that. This is one where bad facts had the potential to make bad law, but cooler heads prevailed.
There are other ways to deal with the WBC leftists besides dismantling the First Amendment.
PDS Getting the best of you - again. But that shouldn’t surprise anyone.
Go look at the tweet again, and pay attention to the last part... “Common sense & decency absent as wacko ‘church’ allowed hate msgs spewed@ soldiers’ funerals but we can’t invoke God’s name in public square,”
She’s pointing out the incongruity of the SCOTUS giving free speech to the vile Phelps followers while religious speech in the public square is being limited.
She’s on the money.
By the way, this SCOTUS ruling is right and proper. What is needed is more free speech to counter Phelps and firends.
Nothing wrong with disagreeing with a ruling that's technically correct. She's just pointing out the hypocrisy and double-standards.
I agree.
Palin's "tweet" makes perfect sense: how can the SCOTUS allow Westboro without allowing the 10 Commandments?
It'll be very interesting to see how constructionist the SCOTUS views the Commerce Clause when ruling on Obamacare: 8-1 again????
Come on, you knew that liberals like Roberts, Scalia and Thomas were going to rule like this...uh...wait.
Seriously this confirms what I’ve always thought about Palin. I understand where she’s coming from, truly, I do. I secretly hope that someone throws a grenade through a window of their bus. If it were to happen, I’d get out of jury duty because I’d honestly tell the judge (I don’t believe in nullification) that I could not convict because I’m horribly biased against Wesboro.
That’s where Palin is coming from, and I get the emotional response. However, as a grownup, I realize that a dispassionate application of the law has to side with Westboro. Palin, obviously does not, or in her case, I would wager simply cannot understand it.
You don’t have to publish the time of a funeral. It can simply go unpublished at the family’s request, so your suggestion is not necessary.
She’s absolutely right. The church was not using common sense or decency. And it’ is their right to free speech. Should they be so vile, No I don’t think so. But they have the right to do it. Sarah was not putting down the ruling. She was pointing out that the vile church is allowed, has the right to free speech. Seems like Christians don’t. And no, I do not consider that church Christian.
Should we be allowed to talk about Christ and God in the open, Yes. And it’s a matter of time, til it all comes to a head. We will be persecuted, so the Bible says...
They may have “freedom of speech” but that won’t protect them from having the snot beat out of them by a bunch of angry veterans.
Anyway, you completely missed her point...which was also Mark's point---that the courts have made a shambles out of the 1st Amendment with its maddening inconsistencies.
Geez you guys need to fricking READ rather than jerking your knees. Nowhere is she saying the ruling itself was bad she's just saying it's common sense that you don't protest at a fallen soldier's funeral.
I’d be willing to suck up an assault charge for pummeling a couple of Westboro freaks. Yes, it’s wrong, yes, it would be a crime, but I think doing 30-90 in jail would be a price I’d be willing to pay. However, I can’t extend that sentiment to the courts. The courts have to uphold the law, only the law, and nothing but the law.
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