"Tim Daneliuk" wrote in message
...
On 12/10/2010 10:26 AM, RonB wrote:
As a life-long Kansan, I love my state, but there are times when I
want to hide under a damned rock. For those who haven't heard the
nutcase a**holes from the Topeka-based Westboro "church" plan to
protest her funeral.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/contr...ry?id=12364430

No word regarding Patriot Guard intervention.

%$@#&*

The irony is that if we truly wish to defend freedom, speech like that
from these people must be protected.

However ... I fail to see how they get away with forcing people to
listen to them by interfering in private events like funerals. A free
society guarantees you the right to speak freely. It does not
guarantee you the right to have listeners.

The simple solution to this is to back these people far enough away so
that they cannot disrupt an entirely private event. They belong on
public property where they can exercise the 1st Amendment rights so
any squirrels or other nut collectors that wish to listen ...


That's where they operate, on public property. They protest on the sidewalks
across from the funeral home, church, streets going to either, etc. This is
all public property. The key, which was accomplished at a few funerals for
soldiers, is to have more people lined up on the same sidewalk as the Phelps
clan, with HUGE signs and flags blocking theirs. I'm willing to bet if this
was accomplished at all of their sites of protest, they would eventually
diminish. We outnumber them by thousands. Surely we can overpower their
existence with a greater display.