Westboro Baptists Claim Protest of Whitney Houston Funeral; Lie About Protesting

Newark, New Jersey hosted the funeral of singer and actress Whitney Houston today a week after she was found dead in a hotel room in Los Angeles. The funeral was a closed affair, but was streamed online for the public. Police had cordoned off the area in anticipation of the crowds that were sure to come out to pay their respects.

Also claiming to come out to show their hate: the Westboro Baptists. However, it appears that they did no such thing:

... they broke the Ninth Commandment when Margie Phelps, the daughter of church founder Fred Phelps, tweeted a photo purporting to show the church's protest in front of Whitney Houston's funeral in Newark. However, reporters for the Star-Ledger "confirmed no active protests were occurring in the place depicted by the photograph."

Here's the photo in question:

Ex-Boyfriend Shows Why He's An Ex After Posting Odious Abortion Billboard

There was a time when the personal stayed personal and if a boyfriend had a disagreement with his girlfriend over whether to have children, this stayed private. It didn't go up on a billboard for all the world to see.

A New Mexico man's decision to lash out with a billboard ad saying his ex-girlfriend had an abortion against his wishes has touched off a legal debate over free speech and privacy rights.

The sign on Alamogordo's main thoroughfare shows 35-year-old Greg Fultz holding the outline of an infant. The text reads, "This Would Have Been A Picture Of My 2-Month Old Baby If The Mother Had Decided To Not KILL Our Child!"

Fultz's ex-girlfriend has taken him to court for harassment and violation of privacy. A domestic court official has recommended the billboard be removed.

But Fultz's attorney argues the order violates his client's free speech rights.

"As distasteful and offensive as the sign may be to some, for over 200 years in this country the First Amendment protects distasteful and offensive speech," Todd Holmes said.

The woman's friends say she had a miscarriage, not an abortion, according to a report in the Albuquerque Journal.

Holmes disputes that, saying his case is based on the accuracy of his client's statement.

"My argument is: What Fultz said is the truth," Holmes said.

The woman's attorney is focusing on the privacy rights and Fultz claims that this is a free speech right.

Fultz has also turned this into an abortion issue, but it's not clear that an abortion even took place. The woman's friends claim that no abortion took place; this was a miscarriage, which is something that a significant percentage of all women who get pregnant will endure. It's an extremely disappointing and emotional situation and sometimes requires a medical procedure to remove the failed fetus.

What this shows is that Fultz is a piece of work and the woman was justified to turn him into an ex-boyfriend. A judge has already ruled that the billboard should come down. Fultz's lawyer claims that Fultz has a free speech right to post the billboard, and cites to the recent Westboro decision at the US Sup. Ct., but that's a gross misreading seeing that the Supreme Court limited that decision to only the Westboro situation at issue.

Haters Protesting Haters

The Westboro Baptists didn't take the Memorial Day weekend off. Instead, they were out protesting at Arlington National Cemetery, but they were greeted by none other than the Ku Klux Klan, which organized a counter protest.

Hours before President Barack Obama led the nation's Memorial Day observances at the Tomb of the Unknowns, three members of the Westboro Baptist Church were challenged by others who disagreed with them -- including members claiming to be from the Ku Klux Klan.

The Kansas-based church has attracted nationwide attention for its angry, anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military members.

Among those counter-protesting at the cemetery's main entrance: About 10 members of a group that claims to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan from Virginia called the Knights of the Southern Cross. They were cordoned off separately in a nearby area, but drew little attention as they gave out small American flags behind a banner that read "POW-MIA."

They said they were there to object to the Westboro Baptist Church's anti-troop message.

Anti-gay preacher once fought for civil rights

"It's the soldier that fought and died and gave them that right to free speech," said Dennis LaBonte, the self-described "Imperial Wizard" of the KKK group that he said he formed several years ago.

"That's fine," said Abigail Phelps, the daughter of Westboro Baptist Church founder Fred Phelps. "They have no moral authority on anything.

"People like them say it's white power ... white supremacy," Phelps said. "The Bible doesn't say anywhere that it's an abomination to be born of a certain gender or race."

LaBonte insisted he is not a racist nor a "hate-monger," but said he believes the white race is "slowly and most assuredly being denigrated."

US Supreme Court Rules In Favor of Westboro Baptists In Free Speech Case

The US Supreme Court ruled, 7-1 (Alito dissenting) that the Westboro Baptist Church was protected under the First Amendment to picket outside military funerals (HT: Simply Sarah). The group, whose odious messages are hurtful to families burying servicemembers who died in the service of their country, is protected by the First Amendment.

The Court found that the group picketed and engaged in free speech in compliance with local rules and that its choice of picketing didn't disrupt the funerals themselves, but more importantly - that the US has chosen to protect hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that public debate is not stifled.

The Westboro picketers carried signs that were largely the same at all three locations.They stated, for instance: “God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11,” “America is Doomed,” “Don’t Pray for the USA,” “Thank God for IEDs,” “Thank God for Dead Soldiers,” “Pope in Hell,” “Priests Rape Boys,” “God Hates Fags,”“You’re Going to Hell,” and “God Hates You.”

The church had notified the authorities in advance of its intent to picket at the time of the funeral, and the picket-ers complied with police instructions in staging their demonstration. The picketing took place within a 10- by25-foot plot of public land adjacent to a public street,behind a temporary fence. App. to Brief for Appellantsin No. 08–1026 (CA4), pp. 2282–2285 (hereinafter App.).That plot was approximately 1,000 feet from the church where the funeral was held. Several buildings separated the picket site from the church.

The First Amendment isn't about protecting favorable speech, but protecting political speech that isn't liked, so while courts have held that even protected speech is not equally permissible in all places at all times (Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense Fund), the group was conforming to local rules on where and how to picket. The group's members had the right to be where they were and the right to engage in speech as they did.

The Court ruled that the outcome is limited to the particular facts before the Court, so the precedent set here is limited.

Westboro Baptists Return To New York City To Hate On Jews and Gays

Westboro Baptist Church is in the news again after their free speech case has been taken up by the US Supreme Court this session and they're returning to Brooklyn to hate on Jews, and will then show their hatred and intolerance for gays and lesbians in Manhattan. They're scheduled to protest outside a couple of synagogues and yeshivas in Brooklyn before heading into Manhattan:

The Kansas-based fringe group plans to stage anti-Semitic and anti-gay demonstrations in Brooklyn and Manhattan on Monday - and counterprotests are expected.

Fred Phelps and his band of rabid bigots will set up shop outside Jewish schools and a synagogue in Kensington and Midwood, in Brooklyn, Hebrew Union College in Greenwich Village, and a gala for a gay and lesbian support group in Tribeca.

Drew Tagliabue, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG NYC), said his group plans to ignore Westboro's presence.

"They manufacture these controversies," he said. "They do it for publicity and attention."

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Borough Park) plans to attend counterprotests in Brooklyn - where Westboro says it will preach that Jews are destined for hell.

"This is a fringe group. These guys are crazy and the schools are nervous," Hikind said.

"I have to be there. There's a lesson to be learned that there are haters out there."

Outside Chabad of Kensington on Ocean Parkway, members were horrified by Westboro's plan.

This is the same despicable church that protests US soldiers, sailors, and Marines who have died in the line of service because they consider gays to be immoral and against the Bible. Along the same lines, they consider Jews to blame for the spread of all manner of immoral and unethical actions in their view.

They're entitled to their opinions and to express them, but I can just as surely call them freaks who have misinterpreted the Bible and ignore the messages of love and tolerance contained therein.

Others covering the moron-a-thon: L Magazine, Gothamist, Media Matters.

As if that isn't enough, the group has taken upon itself to appropriate the Ozzy Osborne song Crazy Train, which has sent Ozzy into a tizzy. It's not without a certain amount of irony that Osborne is taking a church to task for showing intolerance and hatred.

Westboro Goes To New Jersey

The hate-freaks at Westboro Baptist decided to come to New Jersey, and while Tony Soprano and his crew were unavailable, the Rutgers Hillel managed to get 200 counter protesters to come out against the six Westboro Baptist haters who showed up on campus.

Six members of Kansas hate group Westboro Baptist Church protested this morning at Rutgers Hillel, a campus Jewish group, but were met by roughly 200 Rutgers students and others who rallied for tolerance.

Word of the planned visit by the Kansas group spread quickly over the past two weeks through Facebook, Hillel organizers said.

As of today, more than 14,000 people became Facebook “friends” of a page created for the rally, titled “Rutgers United Against Hate,” said Andrew Getraer, executive director of Rutgers Hillel.

The Topeka-based hate group is touring New Jersey this week, with stops Tuesday in West Orange, Elizabeth and Hoboken, and today demonstrations in New Brunswick, Paramus, Secaucus and Jersey City.

This morning, the group started protests at 7:30 a.m. in front of New Brunswick High School on Livingston Avenue, then moved to a corner on College Avenue, across from Hillel Rutgers, at about 8 a.m. They left by 8:40 a.m.

The Westboro haters regularly protest against US servicemembers killed in Iraq or Afghanistan, hate gays and lesbians, and routinely protest outside synagogues and Jewish centers.

Westboro Baptists Protesting In NYC Again

This group of haters is coming to New York City again, and will be setting up protests in front of Brooklyn Tech (one of the top high schools in the city) and four Brooklyn synagogues.

The group, which has protested outside funerals for US service members killed in service to the nation, and various gay and lesbian groups, has picked out a protest against a Jewish congregation the day before the holiest day on the Jewish calendar - Yom Kippur. They did it on purpose too:

And a press release distributed by the group on Wednesday morning suggests that the protests are timed to ruin the Jewish New Year.

“Memo to evil [ones],” the release states, “No ‘Shana Tova’ for you!”

It goes on to blame Jews for pretty much everything: “You have filled modern Jewry with abominations, forsaken God and broken His covenant,” it states. “You thought the curses of the past year were bad (financial collapse, Madoff swindle, war in Gaza, Holocaust Museum shooting, Beast Obama in the White House, and more), but you haven’t seen anything yet!”

A church spokeswoman, Shirley Phelps-Roper, said the rallies were not anti-Jewish or anti-gay.

“How about we call it an ‘Obey your God’ rally?” she said. “You Jews and gays have got to put away your false gods, your idols and your filthy way of life.”

She added that “God hates the disobient.”

“We picked these weekends because these are the high holidays,” she said. “You Jews broke the covenant with God. The day is near. The beast is going to bring the nations to march upon Jerusalem. Your houses will be destroyed and your women ravaged. It’s going to make the Holocaust, the Babylonian captivity and the destruction of the Temple look like a tea party.”

Preaching this message on Saturday, church members will hit Congregation Beth Elohim at the corner of Garfield Street and Eighth Avenue at 9:45 am, Union Temple on Eastern Parkway near Grand Army Plaza at 10 am, and the Kane Street Synagogue in Cobble Hill at 12:30 pm.

The rally outside Brooklyn Tech might get interesting as a counter protest appears to have gotten itself organized to rally against the hate.

Westboro Goes To West Village; Target Of Scorn Scores!

Westboro Baptist Church has a long history of odious statements and pronouncements, including anti-gay and anti-Semitic slurs, and protesting the funerals of US service members killed in service in Iraq and Afghanistan. Fred Phelps runs this church, and has at various times called American combat deaths God’s punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

They came to New York City over the weekend and protested outside a West Village synagogue which counts a significant gay and lesbian following.

Instead of buckling, the synagogue turned the protests in to a fundraising opportunity. Counterprotesters outnumbered the Westboro nuts by a significant margin. I don't think the Westboro protesters quite knew what was in store for them:

Leaders of Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, a West Village synagogue that caters to gays and lesbians, didn't want to ignore a planned visit by members of the rabidly anti-gay and anti-Semitic Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.

Instead, they asked supporters to pledge a dollar or more for every minute that six protesters stood near their synagogue hurling epithets and holding signs that read "God Hates Fags" and "Jews Stole the Land."

The final haul after 50 minutes: $10,000.

"Their very presence will actually raise money for the mission of this community," said Rabbi Sharon Kleinbaum of the synagogue, which now holds services in rented space. "The synagogue wants a building so we're hoping this will help us get a building."

The Kansas church, known for picketing soldiers' funerals to say their deaths are God's punishment for Americans' tolerance of gays, has ramped up its demonstrations against Jews, who they say are sinners.

The group visited several New York synagogues and Jewish institutions over the weekend and planned to hit a Central Park celebration marking the 100th anniversary of the founding of Tel Aviv.

When they arrived at Beth Simchat Torah, they found about 150 congregants from several synagogues and a nearby church as well as other supporters on the sidewalk singing Jewish songs and prayers.

I don't think the Westboro protesters quite knew what was in store for them, and the synagogue made out like bandits - raising $10,000 in just under an hour.