OK passes law to restrict Westboro protests.

Not a single elected member of the state voted against this bill. My son lives outside of McAlester, so this issue has been one that I have followed from the start. From RawStory:

Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin signed a bill into law Monday that restricts members of the Westboro Baptist Church from protesting at military funerals. 

The new law, introduced by Republican State Senator Josh Brecheen, prohibits protests two hours before or after a funeral. It also restricts protesters from being within 1,000 feet of a funeral, up from 500 feet under a previous law. 

"Protesting a funeral for political purposes is an abhorrent and disgusting practice," Fallin said. "While such distasteful protests have been ruled constitutionally protected and cannot be legally prohibited, this legislation will help protect grieving families from people who are looking to exploit their suffering." 

Not a single Oklahoma lawmaker from either house of the state legislature voted against the bill. 

In November 2010, angry residents slashed the tires on the church's van after they picketed the funeral of a McAlester, Oklahoma soldier. Police said the Westboro Baptists were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle.

So, fuck you very much Freddy Phelps and your sick friends and relatives too. Hopefully this will save city, county and state funds as law enforcement was forced to protect these sick fucks when they showed up every month in retaliation for the slashed tires during their first picketing session in McAlester.

Hundreds counter protest Westboro Baptist

The five or six haters from Westboro Baptist were counter-protested by hundreds of people today before Elizabeth Edwards funeral. From a local report:

A counter protest aimed at members of the Kansas based Westboro Baptist Church drew hundreds to downtown Raleigh Saturday.

Organizers said they sought to drown out the anti-gay group which sent members to Raleigh to protest at the Elizabeth Edwards funeral - saying she advocated for homosexual rights during her life.

By 11:30 Saturday morning, Westboro members were yelling at the counter protest group calling itself the Line of Love, but it was hard to tell what they were saying. The Edwards supporters responded with cheers and applause.

In other news, the same assholes from Westboro showed up in my son's neck of the woods yesterday. McAlester, OK a very small, rural, almost tiny town, has been a target for Westboro after their last military funeral protest there found their van with two slashed tires.Keep in mind that OK keeps electing the rightwing nutter/neocon Tom Coburn to Congress, so to me, the fact that they stood up to the hate-filled assholes from Westboro speaks volumes. From the NewsOK link:

Under the guard of about three dozen law enforcement officers, eight members of the Westboro Baptist Church picketed three locations in town for two hours Friday and left the city with their tires intact.

Stung by their last visit to McAlester, the church members and their van were provided a police escort to each protest site and then promptly out of town.

While the church members protested, police stood guard over their van to prevent a repeat of their last visit, when two of the tires on their vehicle were slashed.

Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said officers were ordered to protect the van because “We want these people out of here as soon as possible.”

The heavy police presence was expected to cost the city of McAlester nearly $1,500 in overtime pay, Miller said.

Seven evening shift officers had to be called in early to provide protection, and 10 SWAT team officers also were used, he said.

Assisting McAlester police were troopers with the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, Pittsburg County sheriff’s deputies and a few officers from nearby Krebs.

When the church members last visited McAlester to picket at a soldier’s funeral on Nov. 13, they were met by nearly 1,000 counter-protesters.

It makes me really fucking angry that small cities like McAlester are forced to spend thousands to actually protect the fuckwads from Westboro. That is one of the reasons why I believe hate speech should not be protected by the 1st Amendment.