Friday, April 2, 2010

THE TIME IS OUT OF JOINT….


OMG—it’s the end of the world as I know it!!!!

I agree with something
Bill O’Reilly is doing!?!?!? [what the eff???!!!???]

Generally O’Reilly and his ilk have me screaming at my TV set as they vomit out their conservative crap—most of it highly inaccurate. I get seizures when I hear some of the stuff Fox News puts out there under the guise of news. It’s even scarier that so many people buy it all. But the other morning I got the shock of my life when I agreed with
something he’s doing.

Okay, let me walk ya through it.

A soldier, Matthew Snyder, was killed in Iraq in 2006. At his funeral, the
Westboro Baptist Church picketed and carried protest signs—as they have done at a number of soldiers funerals in the past 8 years. [The least offensive of these signs states “God loves Dead Soldiers.” (charming, isn’t it)] Their rationale is that soldiers are dying because of America’s acceptance of homosexuals. [They make Glenn Beck look reasonable] The families of these young people have had to try to bury their relative—and grieve—while having epithets hurled at them by a bunch of religious zealots. It’s disgusting.

The Westboro Baptist Church and Fred Phelps are very familiar to me. They protested outside of Matthew Shepard’s funeral and the trial of his murderer. When I directed a production of
THE LARAMIE PROJECT a year and a half ago, I learned a lot about this group and its founder [a despicable human being]. One of the most powerful scenes in the play is when Fred Phelps is depicted spewing out his hate—while carrying a sign that says “God Hates Fags.” [It was a very difficult scene for all involved—especially the actor playing Phelps. My cast burned the sign after the final performance]

Lance Corporal Snyder’s father was appalled at the horrendous events at his son’s funeral and took action. He sued the church and its founder,
Fred Phelps for harassment. A Baltimore jury awarded him $5 million in damages for invasion of privacy and emotional distress. But the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision on First Amendment grounds in September 2009.

AND—ruled that Mr. Snyder had to pay the church’s legal fees to the tune of $16,500. Apparently, according to a Philadelphia attorney familiar with the case, that’s how it works in appellate court—the winner pays the losers fees. [That is just wrong in my opinion]

Well, word of this got out and as Albert Snyder was being interviewed on TV, Bill O’Reilly called the program and offered to pay the bill for Mr. Snyder.

And that’s when my head exploded…….

4 comments:

  1. I'm with you on that. Ordinarily, Bill-O is like radioactive sludge to me. So when he does something that appears reasonable (and humanitarian) it makes me wonder if its the end times (grin).

    Matthew Snyder's funeral was pretty much local for me, and I remember seeing Phelps and ilk on the local news, and being absolutely appalled by their odious behavior.

    Try a cold wrap on that head, let's keep it together :)

    And thank you for the follow on Irish Gumbo!

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  2. Hi, I have popped over from cinner's blog and I picked a good day for it. I cancelled my Fox news channel, I couldn't stand all the hate speech coming from their host....Bill O'Rielly would make me angry now you tell me this and I have to say "what a nice thing he did" and it is nice of him......I don't agree that Mr Snyder should ever have had to pay.....thank you for sharing......:-) Hugs

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  3. Yes I saw this and I couldn't believe there were actually people (I say the term loosely) that would picket a funeral and say such hateful things. And then a judge to rule in their favor??? That's just wrong.
    Hugs
    SueAnn

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  4. Well, proof that even the most heinous among can have at least one redeeming factor.

    I've heard about this on the news (and I don't even watch the news). awful really that people like that are protected. Good law gone bad.

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