Free Republic

Today's Phelps-Roper v. Strickland upholds a ban on "'picketing' or 'other protest activities,' within 300 feet of the funeral or burial service, from one hour before until one hour after the funeral or burial service." ("Other protest activities" is defined as "any action that is disruptive or undertaken to disrupt or disturb a funeral or burial service or a funeral procession.") The court concludes that the ban is content-neutral, serves the important government interest in "protect[ing] the citizens of Ohio from disruption during the events associated with a funeral or burial service," including disruption in the sense of "unwanted communication...

You better eat your . . . Frosted Flakes? Olympic legend Michael Phelps will appear on boxes of the Kellogg's brand sugar cereal, drawing sharp criticism from health experts worried about the message he'll be sending to children across America. "I would not consider Frosted Flakes the food of an Olympian," said nutritionist Rebecca Solomon of Mount Sinai Medical Center. "I would rather see him promoting Fiber One. I would rather see him promoting oatmeal. I would even rather see him promoting Cheerios." The announcement yesterday that Phelps, 23, winner of a record eight gold medals at the Beijing Olympics,...

I was reminded today, while having lunch with a friend, that there is one thing that everyone shares - time. While some of us have more money than time and some have more time than money, we all have the same amount of time - 24 hours per day. It is up to each of us to determine how to spend our time. Will we make our time worthwhile or simply while away the hours? Her point was not that every minute had to be fun or enjoyable – just worth our time. Two very different people have become very...

Michael Phelps News *****Spoiler alert****

Phelps ties Spitz's with seventh gold By Steven Nelson Posted Friday, August 15, 2008 6:38 PM ET BEIJING -- Move over Mark Spitz. Michael Phelps won his seventh gold medal of the Beijing Olympics on Saturday, edging Milorad Cavic by .01 of second in the 100m butterfly. Spitz won his seven gold medals at the 1972 Munich Games. Phelps will try to beat the record in the 4x100m medley relay Sunday. "I've always marveled at the fact that in the last four years (since Phelps won six golds in Athens), he has had to live with a lot more expectations...

Another gold another world record!

Michael Phelps is 5-for-5 in his quest for eight golds in Beijing. After winning his fourth gold of these Olympics with a first-place showing in the 200 butterfly, his 4x200 freestyle team claims first for his fifth gold and a record 11th gold of his career.Breaking news headline only

Michael Phelps became the most successful Olympic athlete of all time by claiming his 10th gold medal in the 200 metres butterfly on Wednesday. Phelps collected his fourth gold of the 29th Olympiad in Beijing to add to the six gold and two bronze medals secured in Athens four years ago......

Michael Phelps carved his name among the Olympic greats on Tuesday, smashing another world record in the pool to join Mark Spitz and Carl Lewis in an elite group on a record nine career golds. ...Phelps joined compatriots Lewis and Spitz, as well as "Flying Finn" distance runner Paavo Nurmi and Soviet gymnast Larysa Latynina with a total of nine golds. He could overtake them all on Wednesday when he swims in two more finals. "To be tied for the most Olympic golds of all time, with those names in Olympic history ... it is a pretty amazing accomplishment," he...

HONG KONG (AFP) - US swim legend Mark Spitz won't be on hand in Beijing if Michael Phelps breaks his record of seven gold medals at a single Olympics—because, he says, no one bothered to invite him. Spitz said the International Olympic Committee, a US television network or FINA—the international body that governs world swimming—should have brought him to the Games this year, with Phelps making a go at his record.

If Michael Phelps goes on to win eight gold medals in the Olympic swimming competition at the Water Cube, he will owe a huge debt of gratitude to teammate Jason Lezak. No, make that HUGE. In one of the greatest anchor legs in swimming history, Lezak reeled in boastful Frenchman Alain Bernard in the final 50 meters to bring the United States home to a breathtaking victory in world-record time in the 4x100 freestyle relay to provide a riveting finish to this morning's program. "It was a crazy thing to watch," said Garrett Weber-Gale, who swam the second leg for...

Dear God, please let the Patriot Guard Riders know about this ahead of time. The Phelps gang is ready to strike, and they outline their intent here.

Immediate Alert for Saturday Morning, Waterbury Connecticut, June 7, 2008 IN an e-mail alert from the Patriot Guard, there is supposed to be a presence of antiwar types at the FUNERAL of a fallen Marine from Waterbury TOMORROW morning early! If you can attend, be there before 9 AM maps to the location of the cemetery below, the presence of the antiwar types is supposed to be north of this location http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&dq=Riverside+cemetery+loc:+Waterbury,+CT&daddr=496+Riverside+St,+Waterbury,+CT+06708&geocode=15632629214542374654,41.548818,-73.046660&ll=41.548818,-73.046660&iwstate1=dir:to&iwloc=A&f=d The original Patriot Guard posting is here: http://www.patriotguard.org/Forums/tabid/61/postid/886371/view/topic/Default.aspx The Obituary for this Marine is located here: http://www.rep-am.com/Obituaries/346098.txt If you will not fight for right when you can easily...

Having heard talk of "God hates Soldiers" protesting the funeral of hero, Matt Maupin, whose remains have been recently restored to his family, I went to the devil's den at Westboro's website and found confirmation. From Phelps' own website, which I won't link to, because I don't want to give him traffic, comes this gem: Great American Ball Park 100 Main This is for the funeral of Army Staff Sgt. Keith M. Maupin. Thank God for another Dead Soldier! Whoohoo! That is some goodness right there! One item that I noticed only recently comes from Matt's family, and is information...

The family and friends of two teenagers who died in a car accident over the weekend are puzzled as to why a fundamentalist church group plans to demonstrate at the teens’ funerals. Tracey Burke, whose daughter Emily died in the crash near Finksburg late Saturday night, said she doesn’t understand the logic of Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church unless its members, "are just people of hate." "It makes no sense," Burke said. "I can’t believe they’d choose to [demonstrate at] the funeral of a child." Julio Calderon, whose brother Rodolfo Calderon also died in the crash, said he was...

A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday ordered liens on the Westboro Baptist Church building and the Phelps-Chartered Law office. If the case presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett is upheld by an appeals court, the church, at 3701 S.W. 12th, and the office building, at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd., could be obtained by the court and sold, with the proceeds being applied toward $5 million in damages Bennett imposed on church members for picketing a military funeral. A lien is a legal hold on property, making it collateral against money owed to a person or...

BALTIMORE - A federal judge in Baltimore ordered Westboro Baptist Church members to post their church building and nearly $500,000 more in cash and property while appealing a judgment for protesting a Marine’s funeral. The Kansas church members had hoped to avoid posting a bond while delaying payments in the $5 million judgment a jury awarded Albert Snyder, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder who died in Iraq. Westboro church members preach that God kills American soldiers as punishment for the country’s tolerance of homosexuality. They protested Matthew Snyder’s Westminster funeral in March 2006 by waving signs...

TOPEKA | Instead of picketing by members of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church, about 400 people targeted the church in a Sunday protest of their own. Organizers said the event drew marchers touting messages of compassion and tolerance for homosexuals. The church is known for its anti-gay message and picketing of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Homosexual, heterosexual and transgender pickets hugged, danced and cheered as passers-by honked their support for the protest at Gage Park in Topeka. Organizer Chris Love of Leavenworth said he got the idea for the march after Westboro members picketed actor Heath Ledger's memorial service.

A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday ordered liens on the Westboro Baptist Church building and the Phelps-Chartered Law office. If the case presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett is upheld by an appeals court, the church, at 3701 S.W. 12th, and the office building, at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd., could be obtained by the court and sold, with the proceeds being applied toward $5 million in damages Bennett imposed on church members for picketing a military funeral. A lien is a legal hold on property, making it collateral against money owed to a person or...

RENO, Nev. — A small group from a Kansas-based church that protests at the funerals of U.S. soldiers faced off Saturday night against more than 150 counter-demonstrators outside a memorial service for a Reno woman killed by a serial rapist. The tense standoff during a fierce snowstorm ended peacefully when three female anti-gay protesters associated with the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., were escorted away from the Reno-Sparks Convention Center in a police van, Reno police Sgt. police Sgt. Chris Lange said.

Jacksonville, North Carolina, January 26, 2008— The NC Gathering of Eagles sponsored an Operation to demonstrate support for and celebrate the American Military. Hundreds of people came to Jacksonville, from all over North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and West Virginia.They spread out along Highway 17 waving American and Marine flags and holding signs proclaiming respect, admiration and gratitude to the men and women of the United States Military. GOE National Director, Larry Bailey reports: In response to the pitiful gathering of Westboro Baptist Church miscreants near Camp Lejeune, NC, on 1/26/08, the North Carolina chapter of Gathering of Eagles organized...

The radical Baptist church known for picketing the funerals of American soldiers who lost their lives in Iraq has announced that they intend to protest Heath Ledger’s stateside memorial service because he played a gay character in “Brokeback Mountain.” “You cannot live in defiance of God. He (Ledger) got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it's OK to be gay,” said Shirley Phelps in a statement sent out by the Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church. The only compelling reason to ignore Westboro Baptist’s reprehensible intentions is that highlighting the vast inappropriateness of...

Shirley Phelps-Roper of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka said that she and other members will picket Ledger’s United States memorial services, not those held in his native Australia. “You cannot live in defiance of God,” she said. “He got on that big screen with a big, fat message: God is a liar and it’s OK to be gay.” A press release circulated by the church references Leviticus 18:22 in the Bible, which states that “thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it is abomination.”

Today's memorial for a Parkville family killed in a drunken driving crash in Ohio was protested by a group that was recently ordered to pay millions for protesting the Westminster funeral of a soldier killed in Iraq. Three members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church, known for protests at military funerals, were demonstrating about a block from St. Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church, the site of the service...

<p>A federal appeals court Thursday sided with a Kansas woman who believes that God’s hatred of homosexuality requires her to picket funerals for American soldiers holding signs that read “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” and “God Blew Up the Troops.”</p>

Members of a small Kansas congregation known for its anti-gay message say they plan to demonstrate during a memorial service Friday for a Bremerton soldier killed in Afghanistan. That comes following passage of a state law in January, which requires protestors to remain 500 feet or more from funeral processions, the grave site and the funeral home or building where a funeral service is taking place. The law was passed in response to protests at soldiers' funerals. The funeral is for Sgt. 1st Class Johnny C. Walls, a 1985 Bremerton High graduate who died Nov. 2 of wounds suffered when...

It's a True Crime post with crimes involving dogs. A fellow saves a dog from sure death but he might lose his job for the good deed. A pit bull attacks a baby so why are the child's parents in trouble? And yes, we have a dog that shot its owner. Some Baltimore crime and how about those Westboro church kooks?

PAPILLION, Neb. - Shirley Phelps-Roper and her attorney want to know exactly why she has been criminally charged for protesting at a Bellevue soldier's funeral in June, so they can challenge the charges. Phelps-Roper and her attorney, Bassel El-Kasaby, asked a Sarpy County judge Monday to order prosecutors to spell out in writing why she is charged with flag mutilation, negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and disturbing the peace. They say the details of those charges will be important to Phelps-Roper's defense. "This case clearly raises some substantial constitutional issues," El-Kasaby said. Phelps-Roper is a...

-- Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages to a grieving father smiled as they walked out of the courtroom, vowing that the verdict would not deter them from protesting at military funerals. Members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags." "Absolutely, don't you understand this was an act in futility?" said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church. The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality....

BALTIMORE — Members of a fundamentalist Kansas church have been ordered to pay nearly $11 million in damages for protesting at the funeral of a Marine killed in Iraq, but they have vowed to continue their protests. Church members promised to picket future funerals with placards bearing such slogans as "Thank God for dead soldiers" and "God hates fags." "Absolutely, don't you understand this was an act in futility?" said Shirley Phelps-Roper, whose father founded the Westboro Baptist Church. The group believes that U.S. deaths in the Iraq war are punishment for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality. They say they...

BALTIMORE | Shirley Phelps-Roper told jurors that she was an angel assigned to speak the truth to earth dwellers, that God hates their evil. On the witness stand in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, she explained last week that’s why she picketed the funeral of Matthew Snyder, a 20-year-old Marine from Westminster, Md., who was killed in Iraq in March 2006. After 33,000 protests over the last 17 years, the Snyder case is thought to be the first individual lawsuit brought against the Phelps family of Topeka and their Westboro Baptist Church. The Snyder family is seeking unspecified monetary damages...

BALTIMORE (AP) - The head of a fundamentalist Kansas church being sued over a funeral protest testified in Baltimore today. Fred Phelps of Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church said he didn't consider whether children would see a sign carried by protesters with the words "Semper Fi Fags" and two stick figures that appear to be engaged in a sex act. Phelps says they needed to warn to the country to change its wicked ways. Under cross-examination, Phelps agreed his presence was NOT wanted at the funeral and he could have protested somewhere else. Phelps' group is being sued by Albert Snyder,...

The Westboro Baptist Church has announced that they will be protesting the funerals of two victims of the 35W Bridge Collapse. They will be protesting the funeral of Paul Eickstadt at 10:45 AM on Tuesday, August 7th at Grace Evangelical Free Church at 755 73rd Ave. in Minneapolis. They will also be protesting the funeral of Sherry Lou Engebretsen at 10:45 AM on Wednesday, August 8th at Incarnation Lutheran Church at 4880 North Hodgson Rd. in Shoreview, MN. Links to copy and paste to your URL.... These two are just opinions on why the bridge collapsed. 1. http://www.godhatesfags.com/writings/20070804_americas-highways-lay-waste.pdf 2. http://www.godhatesfags.com/fliers/aug2007/20070802_minneapolis-bridge-collapse.pdf...

I am writing about an issue that concerns me greatly. I reside in Southern MN and, like everyone in this area, was shocked and saddened by the recent tragedy that has occurred in Minneapolis. The Phelps Family of the Westboro Baptist Church (or "WBC") in Topeka, KS, the same who picketed funerals of fallen soldiers back from Iraq, plans to picket the funerals of the victims of the bridge collapse. I am severely outraged at this disrespectful display of hate, and I am certain that others would feel the same way were they to know of these plans. I am...

BELLEVUE, Neb. — The Bellevue City Council won't let members of a Topeka church protest next week outside the funeral of a sailor killed in Iraq. Print Reply E-mail A Bellevue permit application form filed Monday with the city said a maximum 15 people affiliated with Westboro Baptist Church wanted to hold a "religious demonstration" on Monday morning near the Bellevue Christian Center. A funeral has been scheduled there for Petty Officer 1st Class Jeffrey Chaney, 35, a 1990 graduate of Bellevue West High School. The Defense Department says he and another sailor were killed by a roadside bomb last...

OMAHA, Neb. -- A woman was arrested in Bellevue on Tuesday during the funeral for a fallen soldier. Shirley Phelps-Roper was arrested on suspicion of contributing to the delinquency of a minor for allowing her 8-year-old son to stomp on an American flag. Phelps-Roper is a member of a Topeka, Kan., church that conducts anti-homosexual picketing at funeral services for U.S. soldiers. Hundreds of people packed Bellevue streets Tuesday morning to pay tribute to a firefighter and soldier. Spc. Bill Bailey was serving in the National Guard in Iraq when he was killed by a roadside bomb. Police said the...

OMAHA, Neb. - A member of the Kansas group that has drawn criticism for protesting at soldiers' funerals has been arrested for letting her 10-year-old son stomp on a U.S. flag during a demonstration. She promised Wednesday to challenge the state's flag desecration law in court. Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, will be charged with flag mutilation, disturbing the peace and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov said Wednesday. Phelps-Roper, a member of the Westboro Baptist Church, acknowledged that she allowed her son Jonah to stand on the flag Tuesday — something she says is protected...

Westboro Baptist Church Member Jailed In Nebraska Terri June 6th, 2007 In The News I’m a Kansas native and I join most of my fellow Kansans in being totally disgusted with the activities of the Westboro Baptist Church, who go out of their way to protest the funerals of our Fallen Troops, and gleefully sing praises about their deaths. So, when I saw the news about Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps, I did a couple “happy dances” myself this morning. The members of this church, much like al-Qaeda and the jhidists in Iraq, have taken...

Today, protestors from WBC protested the late Rev. Jerry Falwell's funeral in Lynchburg, VA. These are the same people who protest at soldiers' funerals.

Westboro Baptist Church is at it again, this time planning a protest of Jerry Falwell's funeral. Westboro Baptist Church (WBC Chronicles - Since 1955) 3701 SW 12th St. Topeka, Kansas 66604 785-273-0325 GodHatesFags.com Religious Opinion and Bible Commentaw on Current Events Tuesday, May 15,2007 NEWS RELEASE WBC to picket the funeral of Rev. Jerry Falwell - at Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia -in religious protest and warning: "God is not mocked!,, Gal. 6:7. God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and all such Arminian heretic preachers - from fundamentalist evangelicals to openly...

WBC to picket the funeral of Rev. Jerry Falwell - at Thomas Road Baptist Church, Lynchburg, Virginia - in religious protest and warning: "God is not mocked!,, Gal. 6:7. God Hates Fags! & Fag-Enablers! Ergo, God hates Jerry Falwell, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, and all such Arminian heretic preachers - from fundamentalist evangelicals to openly gay Episcopalians and pedophile Catholics - all of whom have created the Satanic Sodomite Zeitgeist wherein America has irreversibly gone the way of Sodom. There is little doubt that Falwell split Hell wide open the instant he died. The evidence is compelling, overwhelming, and irrefragable....

he families of those killed in the Virginia Tech massacre may not be able to grieve in peace at the funerals of those they lost. An anti-gay religious group known for protesting at the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq is planning on appearing at services for those killed on Monday as well. The Topeka, Kan.-based Westboro Baptist Church (WBC), which is not affiliated with any national Baptist organization, announced plans to protest at victims’ funerals only hours after 32 people were killed in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. They also may protest at other events on...

BALTIMORE (AP) -- A federal judge in Baltimore is ordering Topeka's Westboro Baptist Church to pay more than $3,000 in costs related to the funeral of a Marine the group picketed. Albert Snyder of York, Pennsylvania, is suing because church members demonstrated at the funeral of his son, Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder. Church members also posted pictures of the protest on their Web site. Corporal Snyder was killed in Iraq in March. The lawsuit was filed in June. It says church members violated the family's right to privacy and defamed the Marine and his family at the funeral and on...

LAWTON-- It's supposed to be the time to honor a fallen American hero. But, once again a radical church group from Kansas has plans to the contrary. On Sunday, Fort Sill will hold a memorial service to remember Specialist Wilfred Flores, Junior of Lawton. You'll remember he was killed last month in Iraq while fighting the war on terror. 7-News has learned the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas plans to protest the memorial. They're the same group that has sparked states across the country, including Oklahoma, to create laws restricting when and where they can protest funerals. They believe...

The Most Hated Family in America They call themselves the most hated family in the US and they picket funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. So what did Louis Theroux make of the Phelpses after three weeks? In any country, let alone one as patriotic as the US, few actions are as provocative as protesting at a soldier's funeral. The Phelps family pickets mourners across the country, to mark what it describes as God's revenge on the US for tolerating homosexuality. Their actions are in the name of the Westboro Baptist Church, which numbers 71 and is headed by "Gramps",...

Louis Theroux, left, with Gramps on the right They call themselves the most hated family in the US and they picket funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq. So what did Louis Theroux make of the Phelpses after three weeks?In any country, let alone one as patriotic as the US, few actions are as provocative as protesting at a soldier's funeral. The Phelps family pickets mourners across the country, to mark what it describes as God's revenge on the US for tolerating homosexuality. Their actions are in the name of the Westboro Baptist Church, which numbers 71 and is headed...

A trial will be conducted in October in which the father of a fallen Marine alleges protests at his son's funeral defamed the Marine and his family. Last week, U.S. District Judge Richard Bennett set the jury trial for Oct. 22 in federal court in Baltimore. The trial is expected to last for two weeks. Depositions will begin in March, the York Daily Record reported. ... snip ... Several members from Phelps' church protested at the service carrying signs that read, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers."

Law rushed into place after threats from Kansas churchOLYMPIA – Rushing a new law into place in time for today's threatened protests at military memorial services in Yakima and Spokane, Gov. Chris Gregoire on Friday signed "the Washington Rest in Peace Act." The law, which a handful of lawmakers opposed due to freedom-of-speech concerns, bans "tumultuous conduct" and other disruptions within 500 feet of funerals. "It's a bill, candidly, that I wish I did not have to sign," Gregoire said Friday, flanked by lawmakers and veterans, including her husband, Vietnam combat veteran Mike Gregoire. At his request, she said,...

......Westboro Baptist Church plans to protest York Suburban Senior High School's production of "The Laramie Project" and six area churches that they allege let the "propaganda play" be put on, the group said in a news release. The high school's drama club is presenting a series of plays focusing on diversity and conflict. "The Laramie Project" deals with the 1998 murder of gay college student Matthew Shepherd near Laramie, Wyo. Westboro received a call about the production and decided to protest, said church member Shirley Phelps-Roper. The play promotes homosexuality and an acceptance of the "sinful" lifestyle, she said........... York...

West Bend, WI - Police Capt. Toby Netko looks pretty good for a guy who has just been sentenced to the hellfires of eternal damnation. "They already damned me to hell," noted Netko, in what is really just an aside. He is standing in a parking lot just west of Main St. while eight people who normally inhabit what must be a very unique corner of Kansas picket a military funeral taking place at St. Frances Cabrini here. Netko's sin? "I told them not to scream at the cars." Now, for the most part, the itinerant members of Topeka's notorious...