Farce and Free Speech

Today the scales of justice tipped.



In an 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court ruled that the Westboro Baptist Church and founder Fred Phelps would not be held liable for inflicting emotional distress on the family of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, killed in Iraq in 2006.  Church members had attended Snyder's funeral, carrying signs that read, "Thank God for Dead Soldiers", and "God Hates Fags".  Earlier they had done the same thing at the Idaho funeral of 19-year-old Army spc. Carrie French, also killed in Iraq.  As mourners turned into the French ceremony, members of the Phelps congregation yelled, 'Carrie is in hell!", and, 'Watch out for IEDs!".  If anyone yelled back, the Phelps clan just laughed.

It's important to point out that neither of the deceased was a homosexual.  But in Phelpsland, that wasn't the point.  American soldiers were being killed by a vengeful god, reportedly conducting a jihad against a sinful nation for not being more diligent in riding itself of actual homosexuals.  

Showing the good grace of the family, daughter Margie Phelps said after today's ruling, "When you're standing there with your young child's body bits and pieces in a coffin, you've been dealt some emotional distress by the Lord your God."  She graciously added, "I very much appreciate the fact that I get to be the mouth of God in this matter."

Snyder

Is this odious?  You be the judge.  But speaking of the protesters, Chief Justice John Roberts defended his authorship of the majority opinion by declaring, "the issues they highlight--the political and moral conduct of the United States and its citizens--are matters of public import."

Well, you know, in a funny kind of way, doesn't that make you just a tiny bit proud?  Yes, it's sickening, but isn't that what America is all about?  No one being deprived of their right to peaceful protest?

Except, except...how does this square with how the courts have ruled in 'matters of public import' concerning protests over the way George W. Bush conducted the war in which Snyder and French were killed?

In case you forgot, Bush sent the U.S. military into a conflict to find and destroy mythological weapons of mass destruction.  His mistake killed more than 4,000 American troops and at least 100,000 Iraqi civilians. In our bastion of free speech, you could expect a few citizens to be a little perturbed.  And to protest.  After all, free speech is what we're all about, right?

Well, yes--except when it came to George W. Bush.  At the instruction of the Secret Service, peaceful protesters in cities across America were dispatched to controlled 'free speech zones', located at least a third of a mile away from wherever Bush would track a bloody footprint.  There, they would remain out of sight, out of mind, and in many cases, legally off limits to any reporter who cared to interview them. 

And it must be noted that these restrictions were not applied equally.  Those banished were the ones who indicated they opposed the Iraqi War.  Those allowed to remain were those whose signs and shirts showed support for Bush.  One of the pretenses for the disequity was the purported fear of 'suicide bombers'.  Think about that for a minute.  The conviction that a terrorist would not figure out to wear a 'Bush is Great' button and a flag lapel pin on his mission erases any doubt as to how we could have allowed 9/11 to happen in the first place.

Anyway, the tactic of 'controlled' free speech moved to another dimension when the Republicans held their 2004 National Convention in New York City.  An anti-war group received a permit from the city to march three miles to the site of the festivities, Madison Square Garden.  But they got only a block or so before police leaped from storefronts, apartment vestibules and alleys to circle them inside orange crime scene tape--this creating an instantly declared, instantly controlled 'free speech' zone. 

That same week, the father of one of the first servicemen killed in Iraq managed his way into the GOP convention, and silently held up a sign reading, "Bush Lied; My Son Died".

French



Unlike 'Thank God for Dead Soldiers', his sign was offensive.  He was summarily tossed out.



So here, once again, we see the travesty of the current court system unmasked.  The same radical jurists who disastrously inserted Bush into the Oval Office have expanded their variable rulebook.  No man shall be denied his right to freely speak on 'the political and moral conduct of the United States', even if that speech brings distress and dishonor to the families of our fallen troops.

Unless, of course, such speech should dare hurt the feelings of the man who sent them to their rest.

Indeed, the scales are askew.  Snyder and French are gone.

And today, America died a little.