There's Nothing Godly About This

Facebook friend Pam Schneider of Great Bend, KS took some photos at a protest event that took place in her town involving the wacky Westboro Baptist bunch (the same group that got maced the other day and is known for protesting at military funerals).  A 14-year old girl had gone out with a 19-year old boy and the girl was found dead.  Apparently that's all it took to get the crazy inbred bunch at Westboro on the case.

Pam took some photos that she gave me permission to use:

The protesters were met by some local members of motorcycle clubs and got an earful from people who thought that protesting a prayer vigil for a 14-year old was anything but Godly.

It's cases like this where I think we've gone off the rails with the First Amendment. A right to protest, which was intended as a right to protest against the government, has been stretched and reformed into a right to protest against anything, even if it causes great distress in a community (or in the case of union against employers in Los Angeles causes great traffic jams). This protest has nothing to do with government or government policies and therefore I don't believe they should have an automatic right to create a situation in which, without police intervention, violence could break out.

Do those bikers look very happy? Do you think they'd like to help the Westboro morons meet Jesus in real time?  You bet.

They may have a right to protest at military funerals since their protest could be deemed as against federal government policies, but the kind of hateful protest they did in Great Bend, KS should not be considered protected speech.