The late Andy Warhol postulated several years ago that "in the future, everyone would be famous for 15 minutes". Some people just haven't figured out that 15 minutes of fame can go very quickly, and isn't a gift card that can be renewed with impunity.
Case in point: The dreaded Westboro Baptist Church is back in the news, just two weeks after the church's spokeswoman, lawyer Marge Phelps, declared they would protest the funeral of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. This time, the congregation is pointing their wagons to the Northwest, where they won't find a welcome wagon, but, more than likely, a very angry mob that is sick & tired of the Phelps family and their misguided flock leeching off tragedy to push their hateful agenda.
Earlier this week, Josh Powell, already a person of interest in the disappearance of his wife 2 years ago, had brutally slain his two children with his axe, then blew up his house, with himself and the children in it, in a bizarre murder-suicide. All that did was ratchet up speculation that Powell had also killed his wife, and realized the police were on the verge of reaching that conclusion, or at least he thought so. The children are being laid to rest this weekend, and, according to an article on MSN.com, the Westboro Wack Pack is headed to the funeral, using the occasion to protest the state of Washington allowing same-sex marriage. That's what has the citizenry up in arms. That the funeral of two innocent little boys is being used to push someone else's agenda, and raise a ruckus.
Westboro Baptist has become infamous for protesting at military funerals, but the truth of the matter is, the funerals are the wrong place to be. If they've got a problem with same-sex marriage, they're better off taking their case directly to the state capitol. Their continued use of funerals to push their hateful agenda has gotten tiresome, and now, every time Marge Phelps announces they're going to protest, someone will form a counter-group to block them. Rev. Fred Phelps insists on misinterpreting the Bible to suit his ends, but he's too far gone to see the error of his ways. His daughter is the same way, and for the first time, earns her own set of weasel ears. Just for kicks, we'll give her the snout, tail, & paws to go with it, because, let's face it, pilgrims, it'll save the trouble of mentioning Westboro in the Weasel of the Week ever again.
Damn I wish these people would go away!
ReplyDeleteThe sad death of the Powell children isn't enough (not to mention the saddened soul of the social worker who was the last person to see them alive and witness the house explode) but they have to turn it into another circus is just a travesty.
Had the Powells been a same sex couple there might be more of a connection to the protest, but really, there is no excuse for these weasles to be there.
As I wrote, Magicdog, Westboro is using the funeral as an excuse to protest the state's legislation allowing same-sex marriage, but they have 0 regard for the recently deceased. They have their agenda, and that's all that matters to them.
ReplyDeleteThe sad part is that Marge Phelps is a lawyer, and has the 1st Amendment in her pocket to protect her and her flock of fools. All I know is that they are deliberately misinterpreting what it says in the Bible. We didn't have this kind of ruckus with Anita Bryant 30+ years ago, and now she seems more like Joan of Arc next to these losers.
Hobbyfan: As you may or may not know, I live in the Seattle-Tacoma, WA area, and the story about the Powell children's death and the fact that their dad set the fire and all the stuff about that story has dominated the news up here on TV and Radio since it happened last Sunday.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I get alerts from the local newspaper via e-mail(the Tacoma News Tribune in this case) and earlier today I got a breaking news alert saying the Westboro people won't be picketing the Powell kids funeral after all(thank goodness).
It's unfortunte though that every time the Seattle area is in the news, it's for something negative.
Although there is the whole new arena possibility thing for Seattle, which is good news.
It really stinks, because the Seattle area is a beautiful area of the country(as is Western Washington).
If more people knew that there were more good then bad things about the area where I live, maybe more people would visit here and maybe we wouldn't have a bad economy.
But that's what you have to deal with if you live in the Seattle area(as I do). Plus there was the thing about money being embezzled from the fund for the 4 Lakewood police officers that were killed a few years back.
I guess though we're still going to have the bad attention leveled on Seattle-Tacoma, because there are stupid people who continue to do stupid things up here.
Scoobyfan1: I figured you'd check in on this, since's it's in your neck of the woods. Thanks for the heads-up on Westboro wimping out on another idle threat. Seems they can't take the heat after all. Maybe now, they'll start thinking more clearly once they see that more and more people are tiring of their act.
ReplyDeleteOh, and check out what's up in Toon Zone's Story Board when you get a sec......