Patriotism Test....How Much Do You Believe In Your Constitution....

Here in Northern Nevada, another atrocity was committed by yet another scumbag who insists on living amongst us on this great planet of ours.  This time, a couple of National Guardsmen as well as a civilian lost their lives while enjoying a meal at the Carson City IHOP. (Here is the story) A gunman (allegedly) opened fire in the restaurant with an AK-47 killing three guardsmen as well a a civilian diner in addition to several others who were seriously wounded. At the time of this article, there does not appear to be any clear motive for this attack nor did appear that this man was targeting the soldiers but this fact has not deterred every one's favorite abusers of the first amendment from capitalizing on this senseless crime.  



The Alleged Shooter

Within hours of this story hitting the wires, the Westboro Baptist "Church"  threatened to use the occasion to promote their hate filled brand of Christianity in front of a nation-wide audience. For those of you who are blessed to not have any idea who these people are, these are the genii who pop up at just about every memorial event for US soldiers they can find; holding signs that display wonderfully supportive and Christian messages such as: "God hates Fags" ( the link provided by clicking on the name of the "church" leads you to a site http://www.godhatesfags.com/) "God hates Jews" (I am a tad bit confused about this statement...), "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" and many others that are equally offensive and hurtful; having been designed specifically to be as offensive as possible to the grieving family as well as the nation in order to further their cause of religious extremism.

Again, for those of you who have not had your brain polluted with this garbage and who still may have faith in the general good nature of all mankind, let me fill you in on some background information on this group.  They are basically a cult who masquerade as a Baptist "church" .  They preach many of the same basic messages found in most Christian religions but they fill theirs with the same style of  extremism and hate that our young men and women are overseas fighting to eradicate. They openly boast their belief  that the attacks of September 11, 2001 were punishment from God  for a nation that permits homosexuality and other social "ills" to exist freely in our society without persecution or harassment. On Sept. 10 of this year, they plan to picket all of the 10th anniversary memorial events  honoring those who lost their lives in the most devastating act of terrorism our nation has ever seen. Their explanation? Read on if you have the stomach:

 "WBC [Westboro Baptist "Church"] to picket the body worship session at St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York.  You have been worshipping these dead bodies now for 10 years.  How shameful!  You never learn.  The Lord God Almighty required the souls of every one of those people on that day and you think that all this whining and crying around will bring back one of those dead bodies?  Wake up!  They are all in hell." 

This quote was taken directly off of their picket schedule which can be found HERE along side of many other examples of hate run amok. They also plan a protest at ground zero on the the anniversary date itself. Here is an excerpt of the information given about this particular protest:

"God is sick of your words!  You prop up EVERY evil person as a hero, no matter what they did in this life!  It is shameful!" 

   As with every bit of ridiculous hate speech, I have let most of what this group says fly through my ears and re-direct it to my rectum where the other material of the same value ends up.  Unfortunately, it is not enough for them to simply believe what they do and keep it only on some obscure website in some dusty backwoods part of the Internet.  Their trademark "evangelical" technique and the act that has earned them such notoriety, is to show up at the funeral services of fallen US soldiers, holding those inflammatory signs and accosting the families with their bile. 

   They have made themselves such a hated organization that a group of veterans formed a counter-protest / protection group called  the Patriot Guard Riders who use their bodies and Harleys to form a wall between the ahem...missionaries...ahem and the soldiers' families so they do not have to see this hate and to minimize the access and contact the hate mongers have with the grieving families; thus stopping them from intimidating the bereaved.  They escort the motorcade and serve almost as body guards, protecting the families (as some of these protests have actually turned violent....either by church members themselves or angry mourners) and using  the sound of their Harley engines to drown out their ignorant chanting.  To most of us, the last thing we would like to hear at the funeral of a loved one taken in the prime of their life is the guttural roar of a line of Harley Davidsons; but to these families, I am sure it sounds like a choir of angels sent from heaven to protect them from the worst humanity has to offer. 

   As mentioned above, this group has declared it's intention to come to Northern Nevada on Sunday (this is also the date of the services I believe) in order to exploit the death of our sons, our brothers, husbands, friends, fathers and neighbors in order to propagate their hate speech using the funeral services as their platform.  This was first reported as a possibility in my local newspaper here in Churchill County. (Click HERE for the article.)  The more I researched this topic, the more I knew that I needed find out if they indeed planned to exploit the deaths of the guardsmen and civilians so that we might be able to get the word out about it.  
In my usual charming Tmaxx style, (hard-headed and stubborn) I just had to go and find out exactly what they have to say about this tragic incident.  It is not fair to assume what the WBC's take on this tragic event might be (as these poor souls were not in combat etc) or to base all my writing off of third and fourth hand regurgitated information.  So late last night, I contacted them with some questions and they were "good" enough to respond. I really wanted to know if they were indeed planning on ruining the services of these local heroes and what their organization had to say about the fact that these were not men executing the will of the "immoral" USA but a group of men eating pancakes.
   I was directed by who I assume is their PR guy to a  person named Margie Phelps, who was the one who provided me with the statements you are about to read below.  The PR person was very cordial and described the lady who was to answer my questions as being an "elder woman and a very kind and wise soul." (Personal note: You can judge for yourself but I did not find the tone of response to my questions to be very "kind"  but that is neither here nor there.)  The PR representative was very proud to point out to me that Ms. Phelps is the very person who successfully argued their case in front of the US Supreme Court. I am not going to lie, I did not feel very good about myself for sending them such a professional inquiry and not lambasting them for their ignorance and total lack of basic human kindness but I felt it necessary.  After all, if our soldiers can come back from Iraq and Afghanistan and brush these folks off then certainly I could suck it up and do what needs to be done.

(disclaimer, her responses have NOT been edited.  I have indicated her errors where I have remembered to do so but ALL of her responses have been copied and pasted directly into the article. All the errors from this attorney with a victory in the US Supreme Court are entirely her own.)

TMAXX: Are you planning on having a presence at the services of the soldier victims of the IHOP shootings?
 Margie Phelps: Yes, we are planning to picket these funerals and warn the living that God is not mocked, and if you live in proud sin, mock His messengers, and disobey His laws, He deals with you in His wrath.

 TMAXX: What is your organizations official stance on the shootings of the
guardsmen and civilians at the Carson City IHOP on Sept 6? (Your site
contained a blog entry entitled: "God's weapon: Nevada shooter" or
something to that effect. Blogs are often written by informal users so
I can not assume that this is the OFFICIAL stance of your organization until told so by a
member of your administration.)
Phelps: We have said over and over, in many fora – and say here again -- that God sent the shooter. See our sign that says “God Sent the Shooter” at http://twitpic.com/4nt2pz & our Sign Movie, “God Sent the Shooter” at http://twitvid.com/4S6J8.  God holds the breath of life and the hearts of all mankind in His hands.   “Shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it?” Am. 3:6.  That’s rhetorical; all evil in all cities is done by the LORD (when you see all caps on LORD, that’s God the Jehovah the Avenging Judging Warrior!)  You bow down to people in uniform; you are a violent rebellious people.  Violence is breaking out all over this land.  God did it.  Are duty – AND YOUR DUTY – is to warn the living.  When God brings the sword – affliction, violence, punishment, war, etc. – if you don’t lift up your voice and say “STOP SINNING” – when the rest of your fellow man still alive, die in their sins, their blood is on your hands.  Ezekiel 3 & 33.  The blood of this nation will not be on our hands.

TMAXX: Does it matter, according to your interpretation of the tenets of
Christianity (as there are many interpretations) that the soldiers
were not enforcing any foreign policy of the USA and were merely
having lunch?
Phelps:There aren’t many interpretations. 2 Peter 1:20  Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. 21  For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.  The Bible is clear, and requires no interpretation to rightly understand, on God’s commandments against homosexuality, same-sex marriage, fornication, adultery (including divorce/remarriage), idolatry, greed, sorceries (mind-altering drugs) and murder.  This nation is proudly awash in all those sins, and aggressively practicing those sins from early youth is the national policies of the doomed-america.  We don’t know or care what those particular soldiers were doing at the moment God struck them dead.  If you think they were greater sinners than you, you’re foolish; unless YOU repent, you will likewise perish.  God creates those national guardsmen, and He disposed with them according to His good will and pleasure.  For His glory, He struck them down at that hour.  He raised up the shooter, brought him to his adult years, formed the weapon, and sent him forth from eternity past, for this event to happen.  He did it to WARN YOU TO STOP SINNING.  He has given this nation so many fair warnings, it is utterly amazing.  You hard hearts open your big maws, and start blathering about innocence and happenstance, and absolutely refuse to see the mighty works of God.  For that fact, ALONE, this nation is doomed.
TMAXX: Due to the apparent random nature of this
crime and the fact that these men were in "the wrong place at the
wrong time" had  this had been the children of your clergy or other
person whom your church considered in high esteem, what would the
church's honest position be? I have no interest in the usual position given
to the media intended to reinforce the church's political agenda.....I want to know what
the church would be telling its own congregation on Sunday morning as the reasoning
behind their death.
Phelps: First, in point of fact, it’s NOT members of Westboro Baptist Church who got killed.  God makes the decision who gets killed, when and how.  Rather than cursing this little humble church with the mayhem that permeates this evil land, He has kept us, protected us, blessed us, and made us to prosper.  He has kindly permitted us to preach to the whole world.  We are very thankful.Second, we’ll discuss your straw man, so you don’t leave pretending you have some talking point.  WE ARE AN OPEN BOOK.  We don’t have two different tracks of message.  What we say to the world, we say to each other.  What we testify to about the glories of God, we testify amongst this body DAILY, with great gratitude.  If God ever saw fit to kill a member of this church, WE WOULD REJOICE!  We know that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of one of His saints!  We know it is better to be with Christ in glory than in this evil world.  We know that we will be in this world the exact number of nanoseconds God leaves us in this world, then – we have a strong hope which we are ready to give the reason for to all comers – when we are done, we will be in glory.  Also, if someone in this church died in this current condition of things, it would be a massive publicity event.  So if any little lamb in this church died, at the hands of God Almighty, that little lamb would be SO ECSTATIC that the last thing s/he did on this earth was bring more attention to these words!  The fact that this dumb superstitious idolatrous bloody nation is full of necromancers does NOT make death a big mystery.  The days of man are short and full of mischief.  It is a finite speck on the grand scheme of time.  But you brutes invest EVERYTHING into lying to each other with every breath, and living out your days chasing your lust and sin (whatever is your preferred brand of poison).  We do not.  We live our days in humility and thanksgiving, knowing that at any second the Lord could take us home.  We recommend it for all your readers.

 Finally, in the close of my message to them in which I was explaining to them what I planned to write about and offering to send them a link to the finished article they responded:

None of these words were/are necessary.  Are (sic) duty is to publish.  We publish.  What you do with the words, you and everyone else who sees and hears them (because God opens the doors of utterance), you will answer for at the White Throne.  We don’t serve man; we serve God.  It is of the greatest irrelevance what the walking 7 billion damned on this earth think about the words.  They are true; they are everlasting; and the duty every individual ever born will have for eternity is to fear God and keep His commandments.  Thank you for the opportunity to say these words.

Getting that interview to explain their point of view was the easy part.  There are so few people like that in this country that the list of those qualified to speak on their behalf is quite short.  The hard part is finding the perfect person to pen a rebuttal.  Although, I believe to know how the servicemen think about this group, I have never returned from war, having lost friends in the battle only to be confronted at their funeral by this sort of ignorance.  Nor have I ever depended on a group of men to protect my very life only to return to my home town to see them gunned down (allegedly) by a madman as they enjoyed a meal at a local restaurant while a "church" makes fun of their death and tortures their families.  I am not qualified.
I am honored to have amongst my circle of friends one of America's finest.  He has served our country in several tours of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as having served with the very men who were cut down in the cowardly act in Carson City. I could not think of a single person who is more qualified to offer a rebuttal to the bile filled intellectual vomit printed above than Spc. Brian Crane.  He has so graciously donated his time to offer us a point of view that only someone who has fought for our freedoms side to side with the very men who were just (allegedly) murdered at the hands of that madman can.  The deaths of these soldiers, his friends, being the very thing that brings this hate group into our very own community.    Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honored to present to you Mr. Brian Crane:

The moment I read a single text from my wife about a shooting in Carson
City that left several Nevada National Guard members dead, that I knew
them. See, I used to be a Title 32 Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) Supply
Sergeant with the Nevada Guard. Basically this means that when the bulk
of the unit is back home attending to their civilian lives, I'm on full
active status to work the business of the unit. There's typically 2 to 4
people who do this for every unit. There's also a small contingency that
runs the state's headquarters and runs the business for the State, and
overseas the various unit's of the State Guard. These members were also
personnel on full-time, serving the National Guard. I used to work with
the murdered service members and I can honestly say that the good things
said about them in the newspapers was entirely true. I've known them for
years and the State and the US Military has lost some of it's finest. I
truly mean this, these people were good people and I have high standards
on this. I will miss them as well.  I learned the Westboro Baptist
Church (the ones that like to protest military funerals) will possibly
be taking a trip the Nevada to protest at the funerals for these service
members. This is even worse behavior considering the members weren't
even killed in combat, but murdered while eating breakfast. Well here's
what I have to say about that: Go for it... Now let me explain... I'm
not saying that they SHOULD do this...remember these people were friends
of mine, but that they have the right, and the right to exercise that
right, because of people like the murdered Guard members. I still serve
in the Guard... I have 8 years in the Army, 4 and a half years active,
and would never wish this church on anybody...but I would opt for them
to protest over losing the right to do so. I'd allow them at my own
funeral as long as I know that their right to do it is protected.
America's sovereignty lies with it's people, not it's government. This
means that we, as a people, need to exercise our rights as much as
possible. This includes the right to refuse service, this includes the
right to sue, this includes the right to protest... This includes the
right to direct those at the Westboro Baptist Church. Nobody is being a
better person by not exercising the rights. They, in a way, are slightly
negating the sacrifice of millions of military, law enforcement,
civilian and others that have lost their lives to preserve the right for
us still here. I say we should honor their memory, not with thought, but
with action. I'm not calling for a call to arms or violence or anything
else. I'm calling for those that can, to exercise our rights, and use
them against hate groups like the WBC. I'm saying that we should fight
fire with fire so to speak. Remember, and I truly believe this : The
best way to honor the fallen, is to stand up. - Brian Crane

Amazing isn't it?  The Westboro Baptist "Church" chuckles at the idea of Spc. Crane and his fellow soldiers dying while fighting for the "church's" right to spew their venom YET despite this group's name-calling, lack of intellectual honesty/ maturity in debate and just general juvenile behavior when explaining their views, the US soldier still argues for their right to do so!  When they are attacked in the media, they cry and whine.  The US soldier is the innocent "victim" of this hate group, having never done a single thing in violation of their beliefs yet they comport themselves with honor and integrity. (I use "victim" in quotations as no soldier would classify themselves as a "victim" of these intellectually challenged people.)
As much as I would LOVE to tear their stated positions apart both on the theological front as well as the patriotic one I shall not.  That is not what we are discussing here today.  Spc. Crane shows the strength and self control of a US soldier in his response and shows us all why our men and women in uniform deserve all the respect they are given despite this group showing their families such hate during their darkest hour.  So if he can keep his emotions in check to keep the bigger issue in sight then so must I.

   Here's where your test begins.  In case you couldn't tell, neither Spc. Crane nor I believe  whatsoever in what these people stand for and we are disgusted to share a planet with insensitive individuals as these.   This, however, is America and our constitution guarantees these individuals, these "Christian", these bigots the right to do all the hateful things that they do. After all, though they can be classified as many different things, most of them negative, they are also "American" and as such they have the same right to their religion and to free speech and the soldiers they mock. Admittedly, they  (in my opinion) flirt with being classified in the same group as other religious extremist organizations (Hamas, Al-Qaeda) but for the fact that they have not actually been caught yet orchestrating any sort of attack. I have no doubt (read their website) that if they had the means, they would love nothing more than to force the entire country if not world into their belief system ; they've already established that those who do not agree shall be killed (sound familiar? death to infidels?) BUT as of yet, it is just an ideology which is protected by the lives of millions of young men who have laid down their lives in the past 250 years or so.   So I ask you.....How much do you believe in the US Constitution?  As despicable as these morons are, should they be able to continue to do this?  Even though they are accosting the very men and women who swore their very lives in defense of the very document the WBC hide behind to purvey their ignorance?
  If you answered "NO" to this then you have FAILED your constitution test. What they do is constitutional and must remain so.......as much as it sickens me to say it.  

 My question for all of you freedom-loving believers in the constitution is this:  Between this group of.....lets just call them "zealots" and those of us who are NOT hate filled, which one is actually exercising the rights men like Brian and the fallen shooting victims fight to preserve?  If we detest these horrible people so much, why doesn't America as a people exercise OUR rights and put these people out of business?  The Freedom Riders are doing it, what are the rest of us doing?  I cant help but notice that the "church" has a website, signs, ad space etc.....where are the Americans who CHOOSE to do business with these groups of animals?  This site upon which you read this is granted to me so long as I abide by certain rules: no porn, no hate. If I break these rules they will back out of our agreement and shut me down. Certainly, WBC's Internet host has a similar rule.  Why don't they enforce it? Is this not "hate"?
   This is a free country and people can choose to enter into business agreements with those whom they CHOOSE to. Basically, if we don't want them here in Carson City or wherever the funerals will be held, why are the business owners and population as a whole not exercising their rights and denying any business arrangements with them?  Hotel owners, why on earth would you cry about how horrible this group is and then turn around and rent them a room?  Yes, WBC has every right to do what they do but we have rights as well.
   Should we then amend the Constitution to prohibit such speech from occuring or adjust the interpretation to allow for punishment for groups who behave like this in the future?  Absolutely not.  In order to enjoy these wonderful freedoms that make us the envy of the world, we sometimes need to endure some darkness that hides in the loopholes.  Close these "loopholes' and somewhere down the road, what was once meant to limit hate speech can later be used to ban any number of other types of speech depending on which judge is interpreting it.   So the best response is to let it be;  they are free to speak and society is free to react. 
  Their right to speak does not include a pulpit, megaphone, shelter, air time and hotel accommodations.  These are all up to other individuals to provide. "We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone." I hate to think that my fellow Americans who are as outraged as I am, would sell their convictions as well as assist in the ruining of the funeral for a fallen hero for the price of a room and some poster board.  There is a difference between having a right to do something and having the ability to spread their message.  The government can not stop them and that is a good thing.  WE can.  The constitution limits what the government can do.  These morons have the right to say and do whatever they want. That is it.  They do not have the right to all the tools they need to exercise effectively their free speech.
In closing, we should celebrate the idea of living in a country where every spoken idea is permitted and every act of expression is protected. This group, no matter how vile their message, is a great example of what our brave men and women fight for.  They are actively using their rights and in the process getting exactly what they want. They want to to be pissed.  They want you to know that you can not stop them and that every family of a fallen soldier is basically at their mercy. It makes them feel powerful and in their closed group they believe that they are forcing "God's" will down your throat whether you like it or not. In reality, this is not at all what is happening but that is the beauty of closed societies!
   The best way to really show the world the greatness of this nation is to fight fire with fire, support their constitutional right with YOUR constitutional right!  They have the right to speak, NOT the right to be heard, so why then must we give them the podium, microphone, housing and national air time to exercise this right?  The Patriot Guard Riders are awesome and with some of our country's biggest hearts are doing their best BUT they need your help.  I dare say that these scum are more "American" than those of  us who complain but do nothing.  If we really despise those among us who would use our freedoms for evil, to cause pain and sadness, then let us all exercise our right to not have any dealings with them!  The WBC is a very small group of individuals who, but for the intense media coverage surround their little protests, would be unknown to America save their immediate community. We need to resist the knee-jerk reaction to alter our interpretation of the constitution just to silence a tiny band of wayward souls in desperate need of some sort of professional help. Our constitution is a dynamic document and any alterations would indeed have consequences that would strip us all of our rights.
  In closing, I would like to share with you a little sparkle of hope.  There are those in the media who are using their rights to combat the WBC.  In my phone crusade this morning to all the local media outlets I ran across the editor of the Nevada Appeal , the print newspaper in Carson City.  He informed me that he is choosing not to publish anything about this hate group until they actually do something that is newsworthy.  He stated that this group has zero credibility as, in a ploy for free publicity and public reaction,  they often will state their intention to come to local military funerals but then never actually show up.  He went on to explain that if he published every inflammatory statement that slid out of their mouths, he would only be giving them a large platform and audience to spread their message and he had no interest in doing so.
So there you have it.  Sensationalism sells newspapers but at least one editor will not indulge in it because he is using his right to deny WBC an audience.  That is putting his money where his mouth is.  I think we should all do the same.
-Tmaxx

Disclaimer:  a) I do not support the use of the word "fag" in the context of referring to a homosexual. As a person who believes this is a biological predisposition as well having several loved ones in my family and circle of friends who identify as homosexual, I do not use this word as part of my personal lexicon nor do any of the people I choose to associate with. It was necessary for illustrative purposes in this article and I believe this would be totally understood by all my readers.  However, as a decent human being, I could not publish this without making clear my own feelings on the matter.  b)  I struggled with allowing the publication of the web addresses of the Westboro Baptist "Church's"  filthy propaganda here in the text of the interview.  However, I do believe that knowledge is power and chose to leave them intact so that the reader may see for themselves the depth of their ignorance and have a full, first-hand understanding of the issue.