I'm sure many of you have read and/or heard of the passing of Heath Ledger. In reading articles here and there, I have gotten wind that Fred Phelps of the ..:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Westboro Baptist Church and his congregation plan on picketing at the funeral. "WTF?" I thought when I heard this news. I looked deeper into the subject because I just had to know the reason. The church (WBC) is picketing because of the role Ledger played in Brokeback Mountain. Phelps claims that Ledger is a "fag-enabler". Well, isn't that nice? I pondered (yes, I pondered) why this Phelps guy seemed so familiar to me. Then it dawned on me! This is the same whack job that was protesting at funerals of fallen service members. I had to go Google crazy on my pc. I had to find out exactly what sort of sicko does this sort of stuff and is able to get people to actually FOLLOW him. Phelps actually stated the WBC back in 1955. He's a disbarred lawyer and has ran for numerous offices in the state of Kansas including governor in both 1990, 1994, and 1998. Lucky for the people of Kansas, he lost (and miserably too). Phelps and his followers believe in the unconditional election which is a Calvinist view that only predestined followers chosen by God before creation will go on to heaven. His congregation consists of 71 members (60 of which are related to him either by blood or by marriage) and they are part of this elect group. He refers to the United States as "a sodomite nation of flag-worshipping idolaters." Any tragedy that happens (i.e. September 11, Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake), Phelps claims that it is God's way of punishing the "fag-enablers" of the world. Can someone say psycho? Phelps has some pretty whacky political views as well. He is anti-gay, anti-Semitic, anti-Swedish, anti-Irish, and against flag idolatry. In 1988, he supported Al Gore in the presidential primary but opposed Clinton and Gore in 1992. He has praised both Fidel Castro and Saddam Hussein and has even gone as far as to write a letter to Hussein asking if the WBC could come to Iraq to protest America. He's a democrat and of course all about the first amendment. He hates everyone but specifically lesbians, gays, bisexuals, the transgendered, the Irish, the British, the Swedes, the Canadians, and yes Americans. He hates the Roman Catholics, Muslims, and Jews claiming all are akin to devil worship. It is said that the group as a whole is racist. The group has protested the play The Laramie Project. It is a true story about the town of Laramie, Wyoming and their reaction to the hate crime that left a young homosexual man named Matthew Sheppard murdered. In the play, there is a character that depicts Phelps negatively. For some reason Phelps was surprised! He consistently sends his followers to protest any performance of this play he finds out about. Well, Mr. Phelps, the truth hurts. The WBC is completely picket crazy fools! Phelps claims that do six pickets daily and 15 on Sunday "God-willing". Anything having to do with homosexuals like the Gay Pride Parades you'll find these sign-wielding lunatics. As I mentioned before they like to picket fallen service members funerals as well. A motorcycle group called the Patriot Guard Riders has attended many funerals to help protect the families of the fallen and deter the ignorance of the WBC and their hateful and outright ways. Once the WBC even picketed in front of an appliance store. Why? Because the store sold Swedish vacuums. No kidding! What is truly appalling are the signs the held at these protests. Listed are some of the "slogans" used by Phelps and cult of brain-washed fanatics. God Hates You God Hates Your Tears God Hates Fag Enablers God Is Your Enemy Thank God For 9/11 The Tsunami Dead Soldiers Dead Miners IEDS California Fires AIDS Fag Santa Fag Flag Fags Doom Nations Fags Are Worthy Of Death Fag Troops Your Pastor Is A Whore Semper Fi Semper Fag The group has many websites to include http://www.godhatesfags.com and http://www.godhatesamerica.com. On one of these sites you will even find a schedule of upcoming protests http://www.godhatesfags.com/schedule.html. Coming up, Phelps plans to picket at the Oscars and in April he plans to be all over the pope. I'm all for freedom of speech but when is enough, enough? I think protesting funerals is going WAY too far. One thing that I don't understand is what good does it do to protest at funerals? If their beliefs are wrapped around this Calvinist "unconditional election" and the rest of us are damned anyway then why are they wasting their time? It doesn't make sense to me. If Phelps was a normal person (and obviously he's not), he'd protest the right places. If you want to protest homosexuality in a movie, go to Hollywood and hit up the studio or production company. If you want to protest the war, go to White House. If I didn't have kids I'd get together a group and go protest Phelps for being a moron. I'm sure it wouldn't be hard for me to get my own "followers". I'd carry picket signs that said things like "God Thinks You're An Idiot", "Move To Iraq", and "Phelps Likes It In The Butt." I think it would be fun to come up with my own slogans. In my opinion, Phelps is a coward and a fool. He's one person I wish would move to Antarctica. As a matter of fact, I think we should all pool our money together to send him and his congregation to Mars. They can start their own colony of crazies and go about their business hating, er, everybody!
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