I just finished this essay and sent it off to the ACLU electronically, and gonna mail a hardcopy in a couple of postage paid envelopes to NY and DC.
I am pissed that they are representing the Westboro Baptist Church in a case in Missouri. I will wait to see if they appeal further, but here are my feelings about it.
In Defense of Decency
(Why Not Quit the ACLU?)
By Shale Stone
December 14, 2012
I have a gripe with the ACLU, since recently discovering that they have been representing the Westboro Baptist Church. Hence, the title of this essay, "In Defense of Decency" because I consider the people they are representing to be indecent, abhorrent, sociopathic scum. (I am trying to refrain from using my favorite vulgar term "asswipes" to describe the Phelps pack.)
For those not familiar with this disgusting excuse for humanity, the Phelps' started out with the Website "God Hates Fags" and was known to picket funerals of gay men who had died of AIDS in the 1990s and even those innocent gay men like Matthew Shepard who were murdered by other, similar scum. It wasn't until they started picketing the funerals of our fallen war dead that most Americans now know of these (Oh, fuckit, I'm gonna say it) ASSWIPES.
Of course they were sued for their disruptions and they have counter sued, so the poor bereaved families not only have suffered their initial assault but often judgments of the courts went against them. Some governments stepped in trying to stop these egregious intrusions on people grieving their lost family member or friend.
Such was the case in Manchester Missouri, where they passed a reasonable ordinance limiting protests at funerals. Phelps and his wretched ilk could not come within 300 feet of a funeral or burial service or protest at all for an hour before or after the service. This reasonable restriction was first overturned by a federal court (what the hell were they thinking?) but upheld by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which said it met First Amendment requirements.
So, you know my feelings on this matter and I thot it had a good outcome and would be a model for other communities to keep these asswipes from disturbing distraught families in future. However, in that article, which I read in October, it was revealed that the American Civil Liberties Union was representing Phelps and at the time was deciding whether to appeal.
I am so outraged to see that an organization of which I have been a card carrying member since 1986 has soiled themselves by sitting at the same table as this shit. My passion immediately made me want to tear up my card but as of yet I have not dropped my membership because the ACLU does more to protect our freedoms than this one battle. But, I will see if they actually do plan to waste further resources with this scum and appeal this case, in which case I cannot continue to associate with it.
I have long accepted that First Amendment protections and free speech is for everyone, and understand why the ACLU has to crawl into bed with some whose speech is abhorrent. The example has been that they defended the Ku Klux Klan when they were barred from having assemblies or parades. However, the KKK did not attack grieving people and ironically even the KKK is against Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.
Free speech is one thing. Attacking vulnerable people and disrupting their solemn moments of grief is yet another. I should hope that the leaders of the ACLU would pull their heads out of their legalistic ass for a moment and realize that respect for human decency overrides some arguable free speech right. Choose your battles more wisely or your base of support, all of us who have been members for decades may just abandon you in defense of decency.
I have been reading rumors that the asswipes are going to picket the funerals of the kids in Conn. However, there are groups forming to block them physically from doing that. Also I read that Anonymous has hacked their server and distributed the names of all the asswipes. Gonna go see if I can find that for sure and send them an e-mail.
Hitskin.com
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