Man fires pepper spray on protesters outside Marine's funeral

Protesting at a funeral is by far the lowest you could get! The last thing a family in mourning needs is a bunch of loonies outside protesting.

Although it is a little excessive what he did, I don't think he should be charged, and they deserved everything the received!

Originally posted by idonotcollectstamps
I very much like the idea of the Westboro Baptist Church. They are simply following the Bible at a more fundamental reading and interpretation.

Really.

Fred Phelps and his Merry Men do not follow any translation of Sacred Scripture that I have come across. Period.

I have yet to see "God Loves IED's" written in any Bible yet.
Or "God Hates America".

The twisted Sole Fide that the abusive, rageaholic Fred Phelps practices has no grounding in Christianity.

His grandchildren, the ones who are in grade school and hold up the signs, cursing out the bystanders, too, are a product of his hatred. He will be accountable before the Lord for what he has taught them as well. There is a documentary out that he actually gladly participated in that is very disparaging of this cult he has built within his family.

In his ego-fueled mania, he failed to see the irony of it. It is entitled "Fall from Grace".

these people protesting the funeral deserved what they got. and i personally hope that more people follow suit and stop allowing these morons to do what they do. im sorry...but if "free speech" full of hatred can be allowed...then there should be the ability to "freely react accordingly" to what they're saying. and if that means a face full of pepper spray...so be it. people have to realize that the things they say have consequences. its ok to go and run your mouth, but be prepared for backlash. you cant just run your mouth with zero consequences from the person you're mouthing off to. and unfortunately some people will only understand a message in the form of violence.

reply to post by EnactedEgoTrip

This is why I hate religion. It destroys people's rationality and common sense and distorts right and wrong.

Phelps' crew are lawyers. It's my opinion that their deal isn't as much about bashing gays as it is entrapping a lawsuit. You can bet they'll be filing one (or more) over this.

Something needs to be done about them and if attacking them in this way does the job, then so be it. They have NO business bothering people in mourning.

www.youtube.com...


Shirley Phelps....On the Ron and Fez show...very funny....and sad


Mr. Ron Bennington has his way with her.

Originally posted by Hefficide

It's moments like this which make me wish we had the technology to find a way to add an ingredient to pepper spray that made it hurt stupid people even more than it hurts the rest of us.

Actually. The closest you can get to that is using wasp-killer instead of pepper-spray. Wasp-Killer has the same effect except that it inflicts permanent injury.

And I too would like to shake the hand of the gentleman who pepper-sprayed the protestors. Personally I don't think this is violent in a way. Because instead of pepper-spray? It could have been a firearm. But the reality is that it could have resulted on death because; what if one of the protesters had asthma? In case anyone isn't aware? Pepper-spray can kill somebody who has asthma.

Me? If I was in that gentleman's place I wouldn't have used pepper-spray. I would have got a bunch of children with me, carrying super-soakers. And tell the kids; "Spray those angry people yelling over there and I'll take you kids out for pizza at chuckie-cheese."

And when they question me in court. In my defense I'd say that the super-soakers were filled with holy water. And we were blessing them as part of a project for Church youth-group class on their way to field-trip to chuckie-cheese.

the children would have been better off having a alergic reaction and dying than to remain under the care of those individuals.

reply to post by Marrr


Exactly, these people sue and use the money to fund more protests.

It's my personal opinion that these people are the religious extremist that the world needs to look out for. They are playing smart by pushing their legal rights to the extreme.

I wish a few of them would get killed off in some sort of natural disaster. We could just say that God hates traitors.

reply to post by Styki


More like Lawyer extremists. Worst part is the BS they spew to the little ones to get them out to protest. Wonder what happens if/when the kids figure out the con..

reply to post by devilishlyangelic23


What the man did was not violent. Violent would be pulling a 'Beltway-Sniper' on the protestors, picking them off one by one with a 5.56 Bushmaster rifle.

Or far worst...

Driving by in front of the protestors in a U-Haul truck w/ a giant-ass banner, displaying an image of Nancy Pelosi making out w/ Hillary Clinton, tied to the side of the truck. While the truck has a loudspeaker attached to it, connected to a stereo on the truck blaring the song; "I kissed a girl and I liked it."

reply to post by Wertdagf


Come to think of it? Good call.

I wish it was bleach let's see if thier "messiah."Pelps would be able to to cure the blind...

reply to post by mike dangerously


Lmao. A can of 'Raid' wasp-killer would have done the exact same thing.

reply to post by Marked One
HAHA!!! use what these lawyers really fear-RAID!!!!

reply to post by hinky

while Fred phelps and his imbred family do have a right to assemble at a funeral and protest and have protections under the first amendment there are limitations to that protection.

The Federal courts and even the U.S.Supreme Court has ruled that hate speech is not protected by the first amendment!

the federal courts have also ruled that First Amendment protection of free speech has limits, including vulgar, offensive and shocking statements.

all of which Fred phelps and his followers are quilty of.

now to those that say Fred phelps is a lawyer, your partially right he was a lawyer and was disbarred in 1979 from practicing law in the state of Kansas.

A formal complaint was filed against Phelps on November 8, 1977, by the Kansas State Board of Law Examiners for his conduct during a lawsuit against a court reporter named Carolene Brady. Brady had failed to have a court transcript ready for Phelps on the day he asked for it; though it did not affect the outcome of the case for which Phelps had requested the transcript, Phelps still requested $22,000 in damages from her.[citation needed] In the ensuing trial, Phelps called Brady to the stand, declared her a hostile witness, and then cross-examined her for nearly a week, during which he accused her of being a "slut", tried to introduce testimony from former boyfriends whom Phelps wanted to subpoena, and accused her of a variety of perverse sexual acts, ultimately reducing her to tears on the stand.[20] Phelps lost the case; according to the Kansas Supreme Court: “ The trial became an exhibition of a personal vendetta by Phelps against Carolene Brady. His examination was replete with repetition, badgering, innuendo, belligerence, irrelevant and immaterial matter, evidencing only a desire to hurt and destroy the defendant. The jury verdict didn't stop the onslaught of Phelps. He was not satisfied with the hurt, pain, and damage he had visited on Carolene Brady.[20] ” In an appeal, Phelps prepared affidavits swearing to the court that he had eight witnesses whose testimony would convince the court to rule in his favor. Brady, in turn, obtained sworn, signed affidavits from the eight people in question, all of whom said that Phelps had never contacted them and that they had no reason to testify against Brady. Phelps had committed perjury.[20] On July 20, 1979, Phelps was permanently disbarred from practicing law in the state of Kansas,[20] though he continued to practice in the Federal courts.

In 1985, nine Federal judges filed a disciplinary complaint against Phelps and five of his children, alleging false accusations against the judges. In 1989, the complaint was settled; Phelps agreed to stop practicing law in Federal court permanently, and two of his children were suspended for periods of six months and one year.

Fred Phelps

Fred Phelps and his followers are not peaceful protestors either

Phelps was first arrested in 1951 and found guilty of misdemeanor battery after attacking a Pasadena police officer. He has since been arrested for assault, battery, threats, trespassing, disorderly conduct, contempt of court, and several other charges; each time, he (along with Westboro and its other members) has filed suit against the city, the police, and the arresting officers. Though he has been able to avoid prison time, he has been convicted more than once:

The Phelps are the worst scum to walk on this planet. I hope they get every thing that is coming to them they deserve every bit of it. Just wish the guy that used pepper spray would have found a way to do more hurt to them.

One of these days they will protest the wrong funeral and the backlash will get bloody, and they have no one to blame but themselves. And the day they plant Fred Phelps hateful ass in the ground i say all of us that dispise Fred Phelps and his followers should meet, protest his funeral then afterwards urinate on his grave! i can't think of a better tribute to this scum and his family

Correct me if im wrong but don't they have a right to protest the funeral? As much as i disagree with them it's a slippery slope when you start pepper spraying protesters for exercising their rights no matter how much you disagree with them....i thought ATS members of all people would understand this?! You either agree with the right to peacefully protest or you don't...it doesn't matter what your views of the people doing this are. This man should be charged plain and simple, the amount of hypocrites on here is astounding.

[edit on 30-8-2010 by Solomons]

While it's really easy to understand why this guy did what he did, unfortunately it plays exactly into what they try to get. A lawsuit.

I'm sorry if I repeat anything below, by the way.

The Westboro Folks make their money through lawsuits. They call themselves a 'church' but it seems that their main goal is to get to people to the point of angering them enough so something like this happens. They are a family of lawyers, and the only people in their 'church' is their own family.

I mean, look at what they protest (everything that has a huge emotional impact on people). Now, look at what they say. It's never a direct statement (that would be considered harassment under the law, and basically limit their ability to sue). It's always group X, Y, or Z is 'going to hell'. It's never 'You are going to hell'.

These people have protested Comic Con (hilariously counter-protested, I may add), they aren't serious. I bring up Comic Con because as horrible as these Westboro 'people' are, that is the only way you can deal with them (of course, ignoring them would work best).

There are tons of articles that you can find online about this (one by Fred's son who isn't part of the drama is rather fascinating to read). Most have been on ATS man times before.

Edited to add:
A recommended read:
The Scam of the Decade Knowledge is power and all.
His Son Speaks Out This is from Topeka, where the Westboros are located (this is just one of the many articles out there from Nate Phelps (google more, they are interesting to say the least).
Westboro VS Comic Con For some humor.

[edit on 8/30/2010 by Anesthesia]

reply to post by dntwastetime


Good for him... Let the protesters go to the federal building to protest. Let the grieving families have some peace to contemplate on their own the loss of their loved ones. These protesters are bullies and opportunists who care more for the political statement then the people or the war wars they are protesting.

We need more proactive pepper-sprayers!

reply to post by dntwastetime


Good for him... Let the protesters go to the federal building to protest. Let the grieving families have some peace to contemplate on their own the loss of their loved ones. These protesters are bullies and opportunists who care more for the political statement then the people or the war wars they are protesting.

We need more proactive pepper-sprayers!