Comments

  1. hobbitjeff22369 says

    Wow, you know you’re bottom of the barrel when even the Klan refuses to be associated with you.

  2. JD says

    Nice to see some standards. Even hatred is subject to the law of diminishing returns.

  4. Rachel Bronwyn says

    Considering the Klan is in favour of outlawing homosexuality, I have no idea why they dislike the Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe it’s their style?

  5. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    You’d think the “God Hates Jews” signs would have swayed them.

    I guess there weren’t enough “God Hates Niggers” signs.

  6. mxh says

    Ouch. I can’t tell what’s worse, being accepted by the KKK or being rejected by them.

  7. Sili says

    Kudos to the Klan for a change.

    What’s their position on evolution, global warming and abortion?

  10. MadScientist says

    Wow – it seems to be genuine. My guess is that they don’t want to be associated with the people picketing and harassing the relatives of soldiers killed on tour. However, I’d rather deal with the Phelps clan than the Klan.

  11. Zeno says

    Q. How do you know you’re a member of the Westboro Baptist Church?

    A. When not even Jesus loves you.

  12. Androly-San says

    Well, if you’re white and not even the Klu Klux Klan likes you, you must be a real asshole.

    @Rachel Bronwyn: Probably what they do to soldiers and their families.

  13. jerthebarbarian says

    @#4

    Considering the Klan is in favour of outlawing homosexuality, I have no idea why they dislike the Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe it’s their style?

    My guess is that the Klan considers their picketing of soldiers with signs saying “God Hates US Soldiers” to be a bit much – some of those soldiers are white after all.

    Actually that’s pretty much how the Phelps clan fell out of favor with everyone. When they were just showing up to picket at the funerals of gay men, they had a number of tacit supporters. They didn’t become toxic until they started picketing soldiers too. (I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders).

  14. rygold says

    Oh my god, that’s one of the funniest stories I’ve heard in a long while. I’d love a bumper sticker of that, except of course, everyone would mistake me for a member of the Klan…
    Lovely story though…

  15. Knockgoats says

    Doesn’t really work, for me – being despised and repudiated by the KKK is not a badge of shame! I sincerely hope they would despise and repudiate me and any political campaign I’ve been involved in. And we know kooks and kranks of different kinds frequently despise and repudiate each other.

  17. shonny says

    When the worst imaginable bigots find someone even lower, – that is low!

    Posted by: mxh Author Profile Page | April 8, 2010 8:09 AM

    Ouch. I can’t tell what’s worse, being accepted by the KKK or being rejected by them.

    In this case you can look at it as life forms where KKK would be at the bottom rung, but they have found some life form beneath them.
    Most other is way above, of course. With a few exceptions, being on the same rung. No prize for guessing who, though there is quite a selection.

  18. Watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com says

    Really? Even too much for the Klan? What’s next, the Neo-Nazi movement tyring to distance themselves as well?

    I guess we can expect the WBC to start picketing clan meetings with “God hates the KKK”.

    Now that would be an interesting face off ;)

    Damn it, which side should we root for!?!?!?!

  19. Antiochus Epimanes says

    Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!

  21. nigelTheBold says

    I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders.

    So — basically what other Christians do, only moreso.

    “Westboro Baptist Church. Tastes like regular Christianity, but with only half the shame!”

  22. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!

    this

  23. Denis Loubet says

    KKK LLC? WTF?

    What, you need to incorporate to burn crosses now?

    Just seems weird to me, is all.

  24. Michelle R says

    “Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!”

    Oh YES. PLEASE.

    Man… this is so hilarious.

  25. bbgunn071679 says

    I think the KKK despises Westboro for its flagrant use of color in all of its signage. And, since they’re from KS, their kin probably fought on the wrong side of the Civil War.

  26. Celtic_Evolution says

    I tell ya… we Phelps’, we get no respect… no respect at all…

    I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, “Wait til it gets warmer.”

    When I was born the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father, “I’m very sorry. We did everything we could…but he pulled through.”

    I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the west!

    My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.

    When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up.

    [/Dangerfield]

  27. fireweaver says

    @jerthebarbarian #13:

    Actually that’s pretty much how the Phelps clan fell out of favor with everyone. When they were just showing up to picket at the funerals of gay men, they had a number of tacit supporters. They didn’t become toxic until they started picketing soldiers too. (I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders)

    I think Phelps would break the scales on the
    “Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame” with the KKK not far behind.
    Granted, Isaac Bonewits is something of a woo-meister himself, but his particular brand ranks very low on the danger scale. Be that as it may, his cult danger evaluation frame should be kept alongside Carl Sagans “Baloney Detection Kit” as a convenient reference.

  29. cactusren says

    bbgunn071679: I’m pretty sure any member of the KKK would refer to that war as “The War of Northern Agression” or at least “The War between the States”. It’s never referred to as the Civil War by “proper” southerners.

  30. Kieranfoy says

    Well, to be fair, Phelps did spend time as a civil rights lawyer back in the sixties, although as I understand, he did it just to bilk his customers.

  31. Rabid Child says

    The WBC is coming to Blacksburg, VA tomorrow to picket the April 16, 2007 shootings. These swine say that tragedy was the fault of the student’s promiscuity and general “un-Christian” behavior. As a grad from Virginia Tech who still lives in Blacksburg, I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.

    p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.

  33. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Since my days as a GLBT activist lawyer the Phelps clan have always had a truly special place in my heart. I have traded tirades with that old wanker and his shithead offspring so many times that I have always pledged that when the old fuck dies, I will again travel to the US and I will proudly and vocally stand at his funeral holding a placard that says “GOD FUCKING HATES FRED PHELPS”.

    I’ve lost so much of my life arguing against that old arseknob and the bitchclam that is Shirley that it will be my very special pleasure to attend the service and pay my personal respects.

  35. KOPD says

    I’d be interested in seeing an encounter between the Phelps clan and the Klan clan. I’m also picturing something like MTV’s Celebrity Death Match between Phelps and Duke. And one more thing. Perhaps this has been mentioned before, because I can’t imagine I’m the only person who thinks Phelps looks like this guy.

  37. Watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com says

    @ KOPD

    Maybe they should go on Jerry Springer?

    “When ignorant racists and deranged, homophobic religious nut bags clash!”

    The thought of Phelps standing up on stage and taking off his shirt is disturbing to say the least.

    No doubt they’d rumble on the set… And how would Jerry sign off on that show?

    “You know, we can all learn a lesson from this. God hates idjits.”

  38. bbgunn071679 says

    cactusren @29: You are absolutely correct. I am not a proper southerner; nor do I have any desire to be proper or southerner. So I have a tough time using the confederate terminology.

  39. VoiceoftheGods says

    @Rabid Child #31

    I am particularly fond of the counter-protest fundraiser. Using the WBC presence as an incentive for a fundraiser to raise money for those they oppose.

    I don’t know if there is a fund already set up for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting or if other organizations will come to mind for the contributions.

  40. KOPD says

    @Watchingthedeniers

    Let’s hope we don’t ever see them on Maury finding out which is the daddy.

  41. Disturbingly Openminded says

    KKK LLC? WTF?

    What, you need to incorporate to burn crosses now?

    Just seems weird to me, is all.

    No, you need to incorporate to protect your personal assets (like, your trailer home and your rusted Ford 150 pick-up) from civil lawsuits.

    Good business decision by the KKK. They’re evil, not stupid. Well, maybe not stupid.

  42. https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawkbsu50FTcW-y2QCgN20AJH5MYsgFm_bFc says

    This is a religous dispute, Westboro is Calvinist, the Klan runs very heavily mainstream protestant and don’t like catholics or calvinists (they are usually less enthused about destroying the catholics than they are blacks and gays, but that one is in there). The Klan is offended that Phelps thinks only his bunch is God’s chosen, rather than white people (except for those race traitors, you know, what everyone else calls being decent human beings).

  43. Rabid Child says

    @ Steve and Voice of the Gods

    Thanks for your suggestions. I like the fundraiser idea but it may be too late to organize (they will be at VT in 24 hrs). I also like the “God Dates Fags” sign and I might actually grow a pair to make one.

  44. Aquaria says

    I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions?

    Find out where they will be protesting. Dig a deep hole where they’ll be standing. Make it big enough for all 20 of them. Cover with Palm leaves Wait. Laugh. Bury alive. Laugh some more.

    Not that it would happen, but it makes my little black heart do a happy dance.

  45. Disturbingly Openminded says

    While IANAL, the business law attorneys I have worked with tell me that 99.9% of small businesses with liability protection, such as LLCs and S Corps, operate in such a way as to nullify their liability protection.

    The Klucks, for example, transport LLC property in the personally owned rusted Ford pickup rather than in the (non-existent) LLC truck. And, wouldn’t you know it, they can’t produce a lease agreement between the LLC and the individual for the use of the truck.

    So,they are both evil and stupid.

  46. Abdul Alhazred says

    Fred Phelps was one of the good guys of the civil right movement in Kansas, back when that took some courage.

    He went nuts later.

  47. KOPD says

    Another reason the Klan wouldn’t like Phelps is that he was instrumental in taking down the Jim Crow laws in Topeka. To the Klan, he’d be a “nigger lover.”

    From Wiki:

    Phelps earned a law degree from Washburn University in 1962, and founded the Phelps Chartered law firm in 1964. The first notable cases were related to civil rights. “I systematically brought down the Jim Crow laws of this town,” he says.[15] Phelps’ daughter was quoted as saying, “We took on the Jim Crow establishment, and Kansas did not take that sitting down. They used to shoot our car windows out, screaming we were nigger lovers,” and that the Phelps law firm made up one-third of the state’s federal docket of civil rights cases.

    Phelps took cases on behalf of African American clients alleging racial discrimination by school systems, and a predominantly black American Legion post which had been raided by police, alleging racially-based police abuse.

  49. James Sweet says

    I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.
    p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.

    Not sure if this would be appropriate in the context of the VA Tech shootings, but remember in San Fransisco awhile back, when WBC showed up to picket the Twitter offices, people did a surrealist counter-protest. Signs that said things like:

    “Build PRISONS on the MOON!”
    “I have a sign!”
    “God Never Gonna Give You Up”
    “God Never Gonna Let You Down”
    “God Never Gonna Run Around and Hurt You”
    “God Hates Kittens”
    “ME”
    “I was promised donuts”

    http://laughingsquid.com/san-franciscos-answer-to-westboro-baptist-church/

  51. Mike in Ontario, NY says

    At the University of Rochester, student-led counter-protesters used bed sheets strung between long poles to surround and block the WBC’ers from public view. Since they kept their visual barricade at the proscribed distance, the Phelpseses were powerless to stop them. You’d have needed to be 12 feet tall to see the God Hates Fags signage.

  53. Maslab says

    I never thought I’d see Even Evil Has Standards applied to this aspect of real life. Wow!

    Did you have to provide a tvtropes link?

    Someone really needs to turn this into a de-motivational poster…

    I’ll make it my number two priority when I get home later.

  54. Christian says

    Most of you already know that God hates shrimp.

    Or figs, a real classic (Mark 11:12-14).

    Hmm, the URL seems to belong to a strange Japanese website.

  55. Naked Bunny with a Whip says

    @Moggie #3: According to Wikipedia, the “.bz” domain was and still is marketed as a “business” domain, predating the “.biz” domain. I suspect the KKK just didn’t want to pay a squatter for their domain name.

  56. tsg says

    Did you have to provide a tvtropes link?

    I’m glad it’s not just me. Every time I go there I end up in a geometric cascade of “ooh, what’s that?”

  57. ambulocetacean says

    Wow. I never realised that Phelps used to be one of the good guys. So sad that he’s gone insane.

  58. destlund says

    Just as long as nobody tells the KKK that racism isn’t necessarily a Christian value. Nobody should stand up for secular bigots.

  59. scooterKPFT says

    KOPD @ 47

    Yup,

    those westboro maniacs have always been crazy but they used to direct their rage at more legitimate targets like racist assholes in Kansas, back in the day./

  60. Westcoaster says

    In defence of Phelps, at least he doesn’t hide his face behind a bed sheet. The KKK won’t even show their faces.

  62. KOPD says

    amulocetacean,

    He founded Westboro before getting his law degree and taking on civil rights issues, so it’s questionable if he was ever truly a “good guy” or if he’s just not completely evil. I think it’s just that racism doesn’t fit with his interpretation of the Bible.

  63. Richard Wolford says

    The Westboro loons are in my home town today, Charleston, WV; they’re actually about 10 minutes from where I work. The WV Atheists are wanting to have a counter-demonstration about 30 minutes after the Westboro loons do their little number. Man, I despise those baptist fuckers, I wanted to go and hang with my own signs but I have to pick up the kids today, and I’m not bringing them anywhere near those nut jobs.

  64. pdferguson says

    This KKK news release better not be a joke, because as we all know, God Hates Gags…

  66. arensb says

    Moggie @#3:
    I can only assume that after having kukluxklan.org rejected, they tried to get a .biz address, but all the spammers complained that the KKK would give .biz a bad name.

    Presumably no one has told them that Belize is full of brown people.

  67. SteveM says

    If I understand URL’s correctly (and I’m not sure that I do), if the KKK’s domain .bz was a country code, shouldn’t it be followed by “.co” or some such? That is, someone earlier mentioned that “.bz” is actually “biz”, not Belize. And if so, is Belize country code really “.bz”? is Colombia’s “.co” ? So much confusion…

  68. Crommunist says

    Westboro Baptist Church… Poe? It seems like something Andy Kaufman would have dreamed up.

  74. tommorris says

    Yeah, Fred Phelps isn’t a racist. He thinks all “fags and fag-sympathizers” are going to hell regardless of colour or creed! The only people not going to hell are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. If the only people up in heaven are the Phelpses, I’ll take hell…

  75. skylyre says

    From Bride of Shrek: “Arseknob and the bitchclam”. Hey, two new words for my vocabulary! It takes a special kind of disgust to get words like that.

  76. KOPD says

    The only people not going to hell are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church.

    They’re Calvinists. They probably think some of their members are going to Hell, too.

  77. hznfrst says

    If Phelps and the Klan ever do confront each other directly, I want to be there to sell firearms to both sides!

  78. Flea says

    IMHO there is still hope for them. I’m sure they have not tried with Ratzinger. If he backed a legion of pedo priest I see no reason why he would not wholeheartedly embrace the Westboro dudes.

  79. varlo1930 says

    Re the statement (#47) that Phelps was instrumental in taking down “the Jim Crow laws in Topeka,” I have to wonder. I lived in Topeka in the pre-Phelps days (the 1930 in my name is my birth year) and while there was bigotry, some of which doubtless persists today, and policies that supported that bigotry, I at no time heard that they claimed any justification by law.

    Two possible exceptions were the all-white status of the Gage Park swimming pool and, of course, Brown v. Board. Even that latter is misunderstood. If you believe that blacks were not allowed to attend school with whites you are only marginally correct. Grades K-6 were indeed segregated, but that policy did not extend to junior high or the (then) single high school. It was far more complicated.

    Classes at the latter two levels were totally integrated, but in what puzzled me than as now, blacks and whites could compete on integrated football and track teams and, I believe, baseball. but not in basketball. (No interracial dribbling allowed?)

    Now well over a half century later my memory may have been impaired by age, but I strongly suspect that any victories the virulently odious Phelps may have had in court were either against individuals, not the city, or were gained against governmental units in suburban areas, not the city of Topeka.

  81. o-p-e says

    Rabid,
    I would see if there are some FSM followers at VT. They have staged a few counter protest, and you get pirates.

  82. Pierce R. Butler says

    The Phelpses are so misunderstood.

    Think of them as wanderin’ minstrels, just tryin’ to make a livin’.

    This item from Ed Brayton, and the comments, provide links to more Phun Phelps Phacts.

  83. a_ray_in_dilbert_space says

    You know, I’m thinking that what the next Phelps protest needs is drag queens. Is Sister Boom Boom booked?

  84. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Rabid Child,

    As a grad from Virginia Tech who still lives in Blacksburg, I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.

    p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.

    WBC are adept at receiving media coverage, and they don’t require your help. The local media will be there, whether the counter-protest is large or small. So you don’t need to worry that your presence will contribute to any small victory for the WBC; they’ll get what they want, no matter what you do.

    In my opinion, when the media can report that the counter-protest outnumbered the WBC by 50-to-1, this can make the best of a bad situation, by at least demonstrating a community’s solidarity and commitment to values of tolerance and freedom.

    What is unfortunately usually missing from corporate media reporting, though, is any recognition that WBC are here only because they hate gay people. The media prefer to tell the story through an empty-headed us-vs-them narrative, as though Westboro Baptist Church is al Qaeda, and they hate America because, uh, they hate America.

    Reality is that all other WBC targets are secondary to gay people. They hate America only because they hate gay people, and America is a place where people can live their lives freely, love who they love, gay or straight. Homophobia leads to hatred of America, and the WBC share a goal with all the other haters who would like to see gay Americans eliminated or forced back into the closet. I wish I could see that fact relayed in the corporate media from the mouth of a counter-protester.

    Commonly at an anti-WBC counter-protest, even when not formally organized, there are a substantial number of young liberals who oppose the WBC on all counts. This happens even when the event is a good distance from any campus. Religious and pro-military groups may publicize their presence more effectively, but they will not be the only ones there. If you decide to go, you will not feel left out.

  85. Rev. BigDumbChimp says

    And remember, as Pierce’s link highlights, the WBC thrives on cash made from lawsuits.

  86. blf says

    According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the current-era KKK is split into numerous factions that disagree with each other:

    Today, the Center estimates that there are between 5,000 and 8,000 Klan members, split among dozens of different – and often warring – organizations that use the Klan name.

    The kukluxklan.bz domain does seem to belong to one of those factions. It’s registered to a POBox in Arizona:

    kukluxklan                mmason@harrisonweb.com
P.O. Box 862
Compton, AR 72624
US
(870) 427-2376 fax: 123 123 1234
 ...
Record expires on 21-Mar-2012.
Record created on 21-Mar-2002.

    There’s also a kukluxklan.biz registered to someone in Michigan, a kukluxklan.com registered to someone in Shanghai, a kukluxklan.co.uk registered to someone in the UK, and someone seems to be squatting the kukluxklan.org domain. Assorted kkk.stuff domains are also registered, and again there seem to be a few squatters.

  87. mmelliott01 says

    Oh look! the KKK has an online store. Is it too late for the big spring White Sale?

  88. strange gods before me ॐ says

    Yeah, Fred Phelps isn’t a racist.

    You’re a sucker.

    Fred Phelps has always been a white supremacist, the Westboro Baptist Church always promoted racism against both Jewish and black people, and the Westboro Baptist Church still practices racism today.

    Kudos to the Klan for a change.

    Kudos to the Klan for trying to make their racism more palatable to the general public? This is no different from Stormfront’s policy of banning people for using the word “nigger.”

  89. aratina cage says

    Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!
    -Antiochus Epimanes #19

    I wouldn’t put it past them after watching them picket Jerry Prevo’s church, which is on par with the Phelps Clan and has a KKK mindset minus the physical violence (he still commands plenty of intimidation and political violence).

  90. blf says

    Oops! Correction to @86: The kukluxklan.bz domain does seem to belong to one of those factions. It’s registered to a POBox in ArizonaArkansas…

    Fecking two-letter USA state abbreviations.

  91. MrFire says

    @18:

    Damn it, which side should we root for!?!?!?!

    Mutually-assured destruction would be the only satisfying outcome for me. Not an atom left of either.

    @46:

    Fred Phelps was one of the good guys of the civil right movement in Kansas, back when that took some courage.

    Right around the time he was almost beating his kids to death.

  92. Janine, Mistress Of Foul Mouth Abuse, OM says

    So the KKK do not like the Phelps clan. Big fucking deal. The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.

  93. blf says

    The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.

    Graeme Bird, who is a complete collection of nuts.

  94. tsg says

    The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.

    I think they should have a Battle Royale to the Ultimate Death ThingyTM to decide it once and for all.

  95. Walton says

    Re the whole debate about whether Phelps is racist: I suspect it’s futile to look for any kind of consistency or philosophical coherence in his public statements. From the online account by his estranged son, Nate Phelps, it seems that Fred Phelps is an unbalanced, abusive control freak. It looks to me like his religious nuttery, and vicious hatred of everyone who isn’t part of his crazy little sect, are just symptoms of his serious psychological problems.

    He also seems to me to be a pathological attention-seeker. The amount of media coverage his protests receive, and the way he seems to tailor his public statements to be offensive to as many people as possible, support this view. In a way, the counter-protests and public condemnations are probably giving him what he wants: namely, attention. Given his Calvinist theology, he isn’t aiming to win converts, and he certainly isn’t going to be put off by the fact that everyone hates him. He believes he and his family are the predestined elect and the only two Christians, and he expects – and even wants – to be reviled by the secular world.

  96. Walton says

    and the only two Christians

    …should have read “only true Christians”, of course. Typo cooties.

  97. Naked Bunny with a Whip says

    KKK is split into numerous factions that disagree with each other

    Guess they’re still Democrats. *rimshot*

  98. scooterKPFT says

    Janine @ 92

    The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.

    Not really, no matter how you identify, the level of hate you receive from the Phelps Clan has little, if any, effect in the real world.

    On the other hand, if you piss off your local KKK, you are more likely to have an actual problem. The Klan is associated with Aryan Brotherhood prison gangs, skinheads, some of the outlaw motorcycle gangs, and assorted other nasty elements that murder people for fun, profit, and ideological reasons.

  100. Crewvy says

    Would the KKK even know where Belize is?

    And yeah,Phelps ain`t racist ,he hates everyone.

  101. Louis says

    I say we dig a whacking great pit, adorn with spikes and assorted sharp objects as interior decoration dictates, and {ahem} “invite” the Phelps Phunsters and the KKK to duke it out in a Battle Royale.

    Last bigot standing gets a prize.

    Ok the prize is being impaled on a splintery pole, but it’s still a prize dammit, don’t be ungrateful.

    Louis

  102. Moggie says

    #94:

    I think they should have a Battle Royale to the Ultimate Death ThingyTM to decide it once and for all.

    Dressed in Japanese school uniforms, of course.

  103. strange gods before me ॐ says

    And yeah,Phelps ain`t racist ,he hates everyone.

    He is a white supremacist who hates black and Jewish people specifically. Read the thread.

  105. David B says

    Since no-one else can find a good word for Phelps, I will try to provide some fairness and balance.

    He has enough integrity to not just quote bible verses that are cherry picked to be nice.

    He demonstrates the cultic nature of his own group, and, by extension, other similar groups.

    He gives Christianity a bad name.

    So he’s not all bad.

    Apart from that he does seem to be a super shit, though.

    I’ve come across the moving account of one of his sons who managed to escape the cult in a number of places, including here IIRC.

  107. generallydissatisfied.myopenid.com says

    It’s truly a special day when the lowest of the low rejects the lowest of the lowest of the low. I’m smiling now.

  108. tsg says

    Dressed in Japanese school uniforms, of course.

    Well, there goes my favorite porn genre….

  109. Standard curve says

    James (#49),

    That is hilarious. I think I would have to do similar if I see them around. I’m thinking my sign would be, “The cake is a lie.”

  110. Watchingthedeniers.wordpress.com says

    @ David B

    It all makes sense, Phelps is actually a deep cover agent for liberal-secularism trying to discredit Christianity through his evil actions…

    Seriously though, the kids brought up in that nut house must be damaged.

  111. IslandBrewer says

    RE: The comments about whether Phelps is/was a racist and/or was one of the good guys.

    According to his estranged son Nate’s Website, if you read his entire speech, his father actually did seem to be racist, and his civil rights lawsuits were, at the time, a big source of revenue for him.

  114. Yubal says

    I can’t say what’s more hilarious, the News release or the comments on it :)

  115. https://me.yahoo.com/a/SaqGVG0xvJEQVwURVamS3DTCdvov0BLhXK1jOsYPPJQ-#b4893 says

    What I want to know is, Who among us had the courage to check out the KKK web page in the first place?

    My surfing has taken me pretty far afield in the past, even to places I don’t want to admit having visited. But it has never occurred to me to search for the official website of the KKK LLC.

    I’m glad to see the site is hosted in Belize, though. I’d hate it if they had a .edu or a .org domain.

    So I guess the KKK LLC isn’t liable when one of their members burns a cross or lynches someone? How convi-i-i-ient.

    MikeM

  116. Naked Bunny with a Whip says

    I’m glad to see the site is hosted in Belize

    It appears to be hosted in northern Arkansas.

    I’d hate it if they had a .edu or a .org domain.

    .edu domains are restricted to accredited postsecondary US schools, so pretty unlikely. .org is for noncommercial sites, though there are no rules about getting one of those. It would probably be appropriate for KKK LLC; however, I doubt the squatter that owns kukluxklan.org will part with it cheaply, same with the one that owns kkk.org. kkk.com is taken by a different faction, I guess.

  117. DeusExNihilum says

    The klan probably don’t like WBC because Fred Phelps spent 20 years campaigning for the Civil Rights of African Americans.

  118. https://me.yahoo.com/a/DhjBEuJ8pt63x6eBKuPx0Jv9_QE-#7c327 says

    Wow, this is even better than the GOP breaking up into the libertarians and the teabaggers.
    Is there any hope these groups, all of whom I assume are heavily armed, will actually go to war with each other? I mean real war, with bullets and stuff?
    You’d think a black president would bring all the righties together, but it seems to have fragmented them to such an extent that can’t possibly win an election anywhere, except Utah.

  119. Sauceress says

    #31 Rabid Child

    Any suggestions?
    p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.

    #81 o-p-e

    I would see if there are some FSM followers at VT. They have staged a few counter protest, and you get pirates.

    Like this recent one
    usc pastafarians counter-protest of westboro baptist church demonstration

    Virginia Tech Pastafarians do have a Facebook page but (to me….don’t use Facebook) it looks fairly inactive or perhaps it’s just a recent effort.

  120. Sauceress says

    a href=”http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12202088660″>Pastafarianism at Virginia Tech: Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

  121. Athena says

    Remember the definition of a fanatic? “A person who unconsciously overcompensates for a secret doubt”. If Fred hates gays…

  123. Rabid Child says

    Thanks for all the suggestions.

    @ Sauceress

    Yeah I found that link too, but it seems to be inactive. The most recent FSM and VT connection that I can find seems to be from a few days after the shooting in ’07.

  124. pixelfish says

    While it’s somewhat amusing to see the KKK distancing themselves from the WBC, I feel the need to note that it really doesn’t push them up on the scale of humanity…as KnockGoats correctly points out, being hated by the KKK isn’t necessarily a badge of shame. The KKK is still vile, and the WBC, despite being hated by a hate group, is also still vile. It’s just that the bottom feeders are just as ready to turn on each other as they are on other much more decent human beings.

  125. ambulocetacean says

    KOPD, Strange Gods, IslandBrewer,

    Thanks for the links. I’ll have to read some of the longer ones later. It does seem clear, though, that Phelps has always been a total lunatic asshole.

  126. atomjack says

    tsg@108: you’ll just have to settle for white cottom blouses and plaid wool skirts. That even works when they’re 27.

  128. Feynmaniac says

    The klan probably don’t like WBC because Fred Phelps spent 20 years campaigning for the Civil Rights of African Americans.

    Ironically, bigots are a very diverse group.

  130. tsg says

    tsg@108: you’ll just have to settle for white cottom blouses and plaid wool skirts. That even works when they’re 27.

    With pigtails and patent leather shoes buffed to a shine….

    Um, I’ll be right back. I won’t be long, I promise…

  131. randydudek says

    Sigh. I guess this is the wrong venue for a White Sale joke…

    I just haven’t gotten back to this thread in a good long while and had a lot of catching up to do. I LOLZed at your joke. Honest.

  132. sandiseattle says

    They don’t deserve any respect. They are a bunch of idiots. WBC is so stupid they once protested at a funeral.

  133. Steven Dunlap says

    Does this remind anyone else of that scene from The Life of Brian where they are talking about all the different anti-Roman resistance groups? Someone asks “Where’s the ‘Judean People’s Front?’ then someone says, “oh, look, he’s over there,” then they all stand up and shout at him “Splitter!”

    Anyone else think of this?

  134. Crewvy says

    He is a white supremacist who hates black and Jewish people specifically. Read the thread.

    Dear o dear, did`nt think I needed a sarcasm disclaimer on this thread.

  135. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Seriously,

    From my previous personal stoushes with them I can tell you Fred is bug fuck nuts but Shirley, the evil spawn, is on a whole ‘nother level. The woman is totally rabid, certifiably fucking insane. She is so totally into her father and her obsession runs with him runs at such a deep level I had to seriously question the nature of their relationship at one stage.

    Both Fred and her have put the WBC equivalent of a Fatwah on me because it shat them off no end that when they were threatening to do the demo thing at Heath Ledger’s memorial in Aust ( they figure god hates him because he’s like an actor and all and did Brokeback Moutain)that I campaigned our Dept of Immigration to designate them as “unsuitable persons” for a tourist visa.

    Fred is easy to argue with because, no matter what his past, he’s now hitting the senility button and goes nuclear easily. Shirley on the other hand is fucking scary. She’s intelligent, knows her law and is seriously articulate. She’s also a total fucking hypocrite that simultaneously preaches women are basically the shitstain of Adam and should be subjugated and beaten by men yet enjoys the privledges of a legal education and her own professional career herself. She goes apeshit of you ask her about her hypocrisy regarding her famous “god hates unwed mothers” sign and the fact her own first child was born prior to marriage.

    Bitchclam.

  137. Walton says

    BoS, you have a lot of courage, facing down these crazy people in person. I’ve never encountered them IRL (as I recall, they were specifically denied entry to the UK by the Home Office when they wanted to protest here).

    Incidentally, did you get my email the other day?

  138. vreejack says

    As far as I can tell, WBC is the closest you can get to true Evangelicalism. Which is actually one of the reasons I am no longer a Christian.

  139. Enkidu says

    Michael Moore vs Westboro Baptist Church

    Well worth watching . . . ya gotta get to the “Sodomobile.”

  140. cjd says

    This is my favorite Westboro Church story when they decided to protest outside of an “inner-city” high school in Nebraska. Good for these kids to step up to the plate:

    November 22, 2008
    Publication: Omaha World-Herald (NE)

    “Members of a Kansas church that protests at the funerals of slain service members fled the right-of-way near Omaha’s Central High School on Friday because police said they could not protect them from hundreds of student counterprotesters.

    Students threw hamburgers and bottles of lemonade and milk at several members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., students said after the protest.”

  141. cjd says

    As a side note about these folks. Don’t EVER, EVER, EVER physically touch these folks. You can scream at them, argue with them, stick out your tongue, etc. They are all lawyers who are looking to sue, ie. how they make their money, at the drop of a hat.

  142. plien says

    Nate Phelps returns to Topeka;
    http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5332

    cjd, i do not find that funny. The + quarter of a million dollars that the Phelphses use to pickett they mostlty get through court-cases. Probably the police (and thus the people) had to pay, because the family was denied their right to protest.

    Let them protest. I do not know us-law, but look into it, do a counter protest, but such that they CANNOT claim anything.

    Church of FSM has some nice material. Or seeing BoS’ experience search the bible for deathquotes of unwed mothers and such to irritate the bitchclam or on incest to get her and the arseknob.

    (great insults bride!)

  144. IslandBrewer says

    @fiddler

    That’s awesome. “God hates the new Facebook”

    And the Thank you cards sent to Fred, perfect touch.

    @BoS

    I’ve been looking for more information on the extended Phelps family and other members of WBC. For example, did you dig up the fact that Shirley’s firstborn was out of wedlock from behind a computer, or was there more effort put into it? My curiosity is purely morbid, or course.

  145. Dragoness says

    Hello!

    Our local atheist group attended the events on april 8 at both the capital building& the WVU one.
    we had lovely signs.
    non hurtful nor deameaning, only
    encouraging & uplifting while we all smiled smiled SMILED!

    We offered those not in our
    group a number of different more “loving” & “upbeat signs” to replace those signs
    we ran into “WV HATES WBC” or “WHY COME WHERE YOU ARE HATED?”

    i felt that was not the message to send, though it was certainly represented.

    the closer people got the measly two members of the WBC, the more fervent my concerns were about no one toughing them.

    imnshDo, next time we get the opportunity to protest hate groups as well backed as the WBC is, i say we have a pig roast in their honour.
    it surely will be fun & confuse the heck out of the WBC!!!

    lololol

  148. mikee says

    It’s said that some of the most strident homophobes are suppressing their own latent tendencies. Perhaps Fred got turned down by a guy in the past and this is his revenge. Perhaps Shirley knows and this is why she is so rabid??