Holy Crap! A new low for anti-war protests

[whottt]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/9102443/




Anti-gay church protests at soldiers¡¯ funerals
Counterdemonstrators in Tennessee chase away members of small church


Updated: 5:38 a.m. ET Aug. 28, 2005
SMYRNA, Tenn. - Members of a church say God is punishing American soldiers for defending a country that harbors gays, and they brought their anti-gay message to the funerals Saturday of two Tennessee soldiers killed in Iraq.

The church members were met with scorn from local residents. They chased the church members cars¡¯ down a highway, waving flags and screaming ¡°God bless America.¡±

¡°My husband is over there, so I¡¯m here to show my support,¡± 41-year-old Connie Ditmore said as she waved and American flag and as tears came to her eyes. ¡°To do this at a funeral is disrespectful of a family, no matter what your beliefs are.¡±

Story continues below ¡ý
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The Rev. Fred Phelps, founder of Westboro Baptist in Kansas, contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays. The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps¡¯ children, grandchildren and in-laws.

¡®God hates you,¡¯ signs read
The church members carried signs and shouted things such as ¡°God hates fags¡± and ¡°God hates you.¡±

About 10 church members protested near Smyrna United Methodist Church and nearly 20 stood outside the National Guard Armory in Ashland City. Members have demonstrated at other soldier funerals across the nation.

The funerals were for Staff Sgt. Asbury Fred Hawn II, 35, in Smyrna and Spc. Gary Reese Jr., 22, in Ashland City. Both were members of the Tennessee National Guard.

Large counterdemonstrations
Hundreds of Smyrna and Ashland City residents and families of other soldiers turned out at both sites to counter the message the Westboro Baptist members brought.

So many counterdemonstrators were gathered in Ashland City that police, sheriff¡¯s deputies and state troopers were brought in to control traffic and protect the protesters.

The church members held protesting permits, and counterprotesters in Smyrna turned their backs to Westboro Baptist members until time expired on the protest permits.

¡°If they were protesting the government, I might even join them,¡± Danny Cotton, 56, said amid cries of ¡°get out of our town¡± and ¡°get out of our country.¡±

¡°But for them to come during the worst time for this family ¡ª it¡¯s just wrong.¡±

[whottt]

Remember the good old days when all the anti-war protestors did was support the enemy?

[JoeChalupa]

Remember the good old days when you were allowed to protest without being accused of supporting the enemy?

[Johnny_Blaze_47]

Remember the good ol' days when Whottt wasn't a fucking asshole?

Me neither.

[boutons]

Typical right-wing smear job by whott. Smearing the entire anti-war/anti-Repug dissenters based on this totally unrelated, private-agenda, fringe case by anti-GAY nutcases politicizing FUNERALS for their cause.

And of course, there's the standing smear of anti-war/anti-Repug dissenters being smeared as anti-American/pro-enemy. The stupid smearing gets spewed in place of coherent, serious response from red-state super-patriots to the serious dissenters.

[whottt]

Remember the good old days when you were allowed to protest without being accused of supporting the enemy?

Who's accusing?

[whottt]

Remember the good ol' days when Whottt wasn't a fucking asshole?

Me neither.

Me either.

[whottt]

Typical right-wing smear job by whott. Smearing the entire anti-war/anti-Repug dissenters based on this totally unrelated, private-agenda, fringe case by anti-GAY nutcases politicizing FUNERALS for their cause.

And of course, there's the standing smear of anti-war/anti-Repug dissenters being smeared as anti-American/pro-enemy. The stupid smearing gets spewed in place of coherent, serious response from red-state super-patriots to the serious dissenters.


What? Stop babbling.

[whottt]

By the way...if anything is an indictment of the fucked in the headedness of the anti-war protestors...it's the fact that all of you were more offended by my attacking this group of protestors than you were by what they did...

Fuck all ya'll...

[JoeChalupa]

Who's accusing?



Perhaps maybe not accusing but your post...


Remember the good old days when all the anti-war protestors did was support the enemy?

Leads me to believe that you feel that anti-war protesters support the enemy and while I'm sure some do that does not speak for the majority.

[whottt]

Perhaps maybe not accusing but your post..

I am just using my right to free speech...I get accused of supporting the enemy all the time by the left...or haven't you noticed the content of some of their anti-Bush rhetoric...

And I am not accusing anyway...

The goal of terrorism is to cause political change by causing fear in the people, not the government, and getting the people to defeat their government....

It's the only way a powerful Democracy can be attacked.

So it is supporting the enemy, whether intentionally, or not...

Do you honestly believe that those we fight after disheartened by the anti-war movement?

"Oh shit...maybe they'll leave and we can seize the country...how awful".

Do you honestly think they don't pay attention to it?




Leads me to believe that you feel that anti-war protesters support the enemy and while I'm sure some do that does not speak for the majority.

They all do, whether they realize it or not....

The enemy can't beat us militarily...they can only do it politically.

[hussker]

Spurs signed Nick Van Exel...Just thought I would post something that we might be able to agree on (Not whether you like the move or not, but agree that yes, the Spurs did sign NVE)

[JoeChalupa]

I am just using my right to free speech...I get accused of supporting the enemy all the time by the left...or haven't you noticed the content of some of their anti-Bush rhetoric...

And I am not accusing anyway...

The goal of terrorism is to cause political change by causing fear in the people, not the government, and getting the people to defeat their government....

It's the only way a powerful Democracy can be attacked.

So it is supporting the enemy, whether intentionally, or not...

Do you honestly believe that those we fight after disheartened by the anti-war movement?

"Oh shit...maybe they'll leave and we can seize the country...how awful".

Do you honestly think they don't pay attention to it?





They all do, whether they realize it or not....

The enemy can't beat us militarily...they can only do it politically.

So what you are saying is that I support the enemy and I don't realize it?

I would die for this Country before I'd support ANY enemy of the USA and I'd die for everyone's right to disagree with any administation, be it Republican or Democrat.

You do see how someone like myself finds offense to your post right?

[whottt]

So what you are saying is that I support the enemy and I don't realize it?

Yes...what other way does this enemy have of defeating us? Are we losing this battle militarily? The only way these guys can kill US Soldiers is to kill themselves.


I would die for this Country before I'd support ANY enemy of the USA and I'd die for everyone's right to disagree with any administation, be it Republican or Democrat.

Protesting a war during a time of war is not protesting the administration...it's protesting the war, it's protesting against winning the war, the terrorists are protesting the war too....


If you are protesting this war at this stage...you are protesting winning this war.





You do see how someone like myself finds offense to your post right?

I see how you might be offended...but it's ludicrous to think we can pull out of Iraq now....whether you thought it was a good idea in the first place or not...It only emboldens and heartens those that we fight in Iraq...it's not real complicated to figure out.

No one ever stops fighting when they think they still have a chance of winning...

[Bandit2981]

Anti-war protestors are mainly liberal, and this group is anti-gay, which is mainly a conservative position. I don't get your correlation, other than they are protesting something. And I'm really sure Al Qaida visits spurstalk.com and gets a morale boost upon reading that Joe is critical of the war :lol

Protesting a war during a time of war is not protesting the administration...it's protesting the war, it's protesting against winning the war
Not if you believe the administration's strategy for the war is counter productive to accomplishing the mission.

[boutons]

whott, you are so full of shit, VOLUMES of irrelevant, confused shit.

1. shrub's bogus war in Iraq has NOTHING to do with terror, so there's no fucking way your "anti-war = pro-terror" smear even makes sense, never mind stick.

2. non-jihadi, secular Saddam didn't/COULD NOT attack the "powerful Democracy" with terror, or with anything else. shrug/Repugs CHOSE to attack him UNPROVOKED, instead of going after the jihadi terrorists who attacked the USA.

3. Protesting a bogus war started by and FOR the Repug administration is protesting the Repug administration. bogus Iraq war = Repub administration = protest target. The Iraq war is shrub/Repug's PILE OF SHIT, and it deserves to be protested by every American IN THE NAME OF AMERICA. The %age of Americans protesting the shrub/Repugs/Iraq war is over 50% now, the %age will not be turning back, your side is losing whott.

4. protesting the war is NOT protesting winning this war. It's protesting the disastrous, misadventurous error of the war itself, as well as the mind-boggling hubris and incompetence with which the war is being waged.

5. 130K troops of the most powerful, most advanced, most mobile army in the world is unable to control Iraq after 2+ years of trying. shrub/Repugs aren't going to win this war because they are incompentent and under-manned. They need 300K or more troops. shrub/rummy won't pay for 300K troops. Genl Shinsheki was right, he got fired.

The majority of the American people now see that the war is disaster, they see the costs in US and Iraqi lives and $$$ is way too high, they DON'T hear shrub/Repugs articulating any way forward or showing ANY war management competence. "stay the course" is robotic slogin uttered by a cretin, NOT a war-winning strategy.

[whottt]

Anti-war protestors are mainly liberal, and this group is anti-gay,

They are also anti-war.


I don't get your correlation,

That's because you...like all liberals...are so lost in a sea of moral equivalency that your ability to differentiate is severely retarded...

Just like those liberals that can't tell the difference between the deliberate targeting of civillians as done by terrorists and civillians killed in a war because they were put at risk or because of error.

Just like liberals that can tell the difference between Iraq...a country in violation of a cease fire agreement...and Iran and Saudi Arabia...countries that aren't.


other than they are protesting something. And I'm really sure Al Qaida visits spurstalk.com and gets a morale boost upon reading that Joe is critical of the war :lol

Again a liberal exhibits his retarded INability to differentiate, in this case the difference between a message board discussion, and those that gather on the street corner or a fucking funeral....


Not if you believe the administration's strategy for the war is counter productive to accomplishing the mission.


No...it's guranteed that protesting the war aids and comforts those we fight and gives them encouragement to fight even harder, gives them hope...that point is not debatable. ...unless you are just totally ignorant...

Now to be fair...

You can say if the administration is going down a road to defeat your protests might change that course...but of course...what you advocate is losing the war...so I really don't see how you can claim the protest is going to prevent that...when in fact it's going to gurantee it...

But I'll go ahead and give you that as a legitimate reason to protest..to prevent the country from going down the wrong road...

You might be right about that....you might not...it's entirely your opinion.


But protesting the war? That definitely encourages the enemy...it's not even up to debate...so basically you definitely stab the country that gave you freedom in the back...on the assumption that you just might be right about this war being a bad course of action...

You are trading off a definite negative for a possible positive...

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Remember the good old days when all the anti-war protestors did was support the enemy?
http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif Whottt, if you believe that protest had ANYTHING to do with the war, you're more naive than I thought you were.

[Manu'sMagicalLeftHand]

Spurs signed Nick Van Exel...Just thought I would post something that we might be able to agree on (Not whether you like the move or not, but agree that yes, the Spurs did sign NVE)

:smokin :smokin :smokin
:drunk :drunk :drunk
:lol :lol :lol

[whottt]

http://spurstalk.com/forums/images/smilies/smilol.gif Whottt, if you believe that protest had ANYTHING to do with the war, you're more naive than I thought you were.


Well...they could certainly have protested gays without protesting at the funerals of dead GI's...So I think it does have something to do with it.

They are idiots...but I do think they are anti-war....and it's no different than all the tard protestors we got trying to relive the 1960's with the claims they are making about this war and our VOLUNTEER military...I just know some of those clowns wish they had draft cards to burn, so they could totally recapture the drug delusioned sixties...instead they are protesting VOLUNTEERS who are trying to fight for their country.


FWIW...the point I was trying to make in this thread originally...these idiots are far worse than the other anti-war protestors...like I said...they make me long for the days(of a week ago) when all the anti-wars did was support the enemy.

[jochhejaam]

Anti-war protestors are mainly liberal, and this group is anti-gay, which is mainly a conservative position.


Elaborate on your interpretation of "anti-gay" please.

[MaNuMaNiAc]

Well...they could certainly have protested gays without protesting at the funerals of dead GI's...So I think it does have something to do with it.

They are idiots...but I do think they are anti-war....and it's no different than all the tard protestors we got trying to relive the 1960's with the claims they are making about this war and our VOLUNTEER military...I just know some of those clowns wish they had draft cards to burn, so they could totally recapture the drug delusioned sixties...instead they are protesting VOLUNTEERS who are trying to fight for their country.


FWIW...the point I was trying to make in this thread originally...these idiots are far worse than the other anti-war protestors...like I said...they make me long for the days(of a week ago) when all the anti-wars did was support the enemy.
Finally Whottt, something we agree on! lol Those guys are scum. I don't care how much you hate the war, Bush, or his administration, to go protest at a dead soldier's funeral is as low as you can get! and to pretend you're protesting the war, when you are actually just being a intolerant, ignorant religious zealot makes it worse. These are the real cowards.

[Useruser666]

These "church" members are so far fringe that they've fallen off one end and are coming back around the other side. What side that is, doesn't matter. I think we can pretty much all agree that they are nuts. JB, I understand the freedoms to protest peacefully, but wasn't this atleast done in poor taste? If I were part of the family I would be a little upset to say the least at having protestors at my family members funeral.

[mookie2001]

they should just join the church of Bush

[gtownspur]

whott, you are so full of shit, VOLUMES of irrelevant, confused shit.

1. shrub's bogus war in Iraq has NOTHING to do with terror, so there's no fucking way your "anti-war = pro-terror" smear even makes sense, never mind stick.

Oh really dickspaz,.. i guess all the car bombs and roadside bombs in iraq along with "oh my GOd! Terrorist" kidnappings have nothing to do with terrorism... Yeah right, i guess we're duking it out with the Iraqi Guard over there in complicated 18th century European line formations. Can you say BAyonets!


2. non-jihadi, secular Saddam didn't/COULD NOT attack the "powerful Democracy" with terror, or with anything else. shrug/Repugs CHOSE to attack him UNPROVOKED, instead of going after the jihadi terrorists who attacked the USA.

Thats right, after all Sadaam's administration had a "Zero Tolerance Policy" with bargaining and collaborating with terrorist like Hamas and Alqueda. Not to mention that sadaam did allow alqueda to orchestrate camps and ops in his own country.


3. Protesting a bogus war started by and FOR the Repug administration is protesting the Repug administration. bogus Iraq war = Repub administration = protest target. The Iraq war is shrub/Repug's PILE OF SHIT, and it deserves to be protested by every American IN THE NAME OF AMERICA. The %age of Americans protesting the shrub/Repugs/Iraq war is over 50% now, the %age will not be turning back, your side is losing whott.

The war was also started and voted by Democrats who voted on the resolution for the iraq war. The same democrats who later chickened out to ride sperm recipients like yourself to protest the war.


4. protesting the war is NOT protesting winning this war. It's protesting the disastrous, misadventurous error of the war itself, as well as the mind-boggling hubris and incompetence with which the war is being waged.

OFcourse not.. Protesting the war and at the same time telling our president to pullout to lose the war is totally opposite in our beloved universe.


5. 130K troops of the most powerful, most advanced, most mobile army in the world is unable to control Iraq after 2+ years of trying. shrub/Repugs aren't going to win this war because they are incompentent and under-manned. They need 300K or more troops. shrub/rummy won't pay for 300K troops. Genl Shinsheki was right, he got fired.

300k or 130k, whatever. The country is ran by the citizens and u.s. and the only ones fighting the U.S. are foreigners from Syria. The iraqi's now are working on their govt and they want a democratic Iraq. the Sunnis and Shiites all oppose the terrorist and the terrorist have more public support here than in Iraq. there is no Victor Charlie types in Iraq when over 99 percent of the country wants the terrorist to fail.


The majority of the American people now see that the war is disaster, they see the costs in US and Iraqi lives and $$$ is way too high, they DON'T hear shrub/Repugs articulating any way forward or showing ANY war management competence. "stay the course" is robotic slogin uttered by a cretin, NOT a war-winning strategy.

i wouldnt put too much stock in public polls on the war SINCE WARS ALWAYS HAVE UPS AND DOWNS strategicaly and politically. Coming October things will be different. also the news media has been editorializing the conflict. Funny how you only hear of casualties and not of progress. The only people who think we are losing are the ones here. Over in Iraq, the iraqi's themselves believe the war is winning. We too must believe that we can win this war. In vietnam we won all the battles and eliminated the South Vietcong but lost in the green rooms and the living rooms of america because the left sees to it that america lose every war so that it can crumble upon the beliefs it holds dearly and strays towards PACIFISM AND STATISM.

[boutons]

"I guess all the car bombs and roadside bombs in iraq along with "oh my GOd! Terrorist" kidnappings have nothing to do with terrorism.."

... all non-existent under Saddam. all that current terror in Iraq is reaction to the shrub war. (you fucking right-wingers are very low-hanging fruits).

"bargaining and collaborating with terrorist like Hamas and Alqueda"

this has been looked at so many times by so many people, and there was no significant, effective co-operation between secular Saddam and jihahi terrorists. Certainly NEVER enough to justify a full-blown war, when the real terrorist weren't in Iraq until after the shrub's war sucked them in. and Saddam didn't do 9/11 WTC attack either, as dickhead keeps repeating to the general ridicule.

"Democrats"

Yes, they fucked up, were hoodwinked by the lies of the Repugs. No excuses for the Democrats. But this war is 1000% a Repug idea and 1000% a Repug responsibility.

"telling our president to pullout"

I said nothing about pulling out, but jerk yourself off anyway.

"300k or 130k, whatever"

you whistle right past the KEY PROBLEM. nice one.

"the only ones fighting the U.S. are foreigners from Syria"

:lol No Pakistanis? no Saudis? No N. Africans? or European-based Muslims? No Iranians? nobody but Syrians? uh huh, right.

"the terrorist have more public support here than in Iraq."

calm down now. Which Americans support the terrorists? :lol you fucking joker.

"i wouldnt put too much stock in public polls"

above all, when they aren't going YOUR WAY.

"Coming October things will be different"

oh yeah? exactly what? and how? better? worse? the same?

"The only people who think we are losing are the ones here"

The Iraqis, -100K civilians due to shrub's invasion, think the US is winning the war? They, well some of them, wish the war was over, but there are plenty of Iraqis turning against the USA who originally had high hopes after the US arrived. But the US has failed to provide security for their own troops, let alone Iraqis, as well as no reliable electricty, water, sewage, telephones, gasoline, and, no security for the Iraqis, not even in Bagdad, never mind outside of Bagdad where the US controls nor the south, nor the north.

plonk, another fruit bites the dust.