Bold are direct quotes from the post that this thread is all about:

A couple of days before, one of them (Westboro protestors) ran his mouth at a Brandon gas station and got his arse waxed. Police were called and the beaten man could not give much of a description of who beat him. When they canvassed the station and spoke to the large crowd that had gathered around, no one seemed to remember anything about what had happened.

We have no details as to what the guy said that caused the beating. But if a crowd starts whooping on someone, most witnesses are going to be too scared to point out who the criminals were, whether the guy deserved it or not. IMO, nobody deserves getting beaten, unless they are a threat to someone else. If the guy was disturbing the peace, the police can take action if needed and the gas station owner had the right to tell the guy to leave. If he refused, he'd be trespassing. All legitimate ways to handle the situation.

Most of the morons never made it out of their hotel parking lot. It seems that certain Rankin county pickup trucks were parked directly behind any car that had Kansas plates in the hotel parking lot and the drivers mysteriously disappeared until after the funeral was over. Police were called but their wrecker service was running behind and it was going to be a few hours before they could tow the trucks so the Kansas plated cars could get out.

The post said, Rankin County pick up trucks. I read this as county government vehicles. And the police were apparently in no hurry to help. But the really disturbing part is that ANYONE with Kansas plates were victimized. It didn't matter whether they were Westboro people or not. So now we're oppressing people based on what state they came from. I don't know what "the drivers disappeared" means, whether they were kidnapped by the locals or just ran scared, so I just left that one alone.

A few made it to the funeral but were ushered away to be questioned about a crime they might have possibly been involved in. Turns out, after a few hours of questioning, that they were not involved and they were allowed to go on about their business.

People being illegally detained over their political views by the police? Very few things are more anti-American than this. I imagine you would agree, if, for example, you were hauled away in a liberal city because the local police thought that you might be a problem for the anti-war protesters or a similiar type situation.

This isn't just about whether the westboro idiots should have the right to free speech. That's a minor point here and I probably wouldn't have bothered to comment if it was only their speech that was restricted. In this case, they were attacked and beaten over their political and religious views and they were not allowed to leave in their vehicles from the hotel and the police illegally detained them.

But, again, the really scary part to me was that the targeted victims extended BEYOND the westboro people, to anyone from the same state.

IMO, it's both easy and cowardly to beat up, detain, intimidate and oppress people who you disagree with, especially when you have the power of popular opinion and the government behind you. Nevermind the innocent people that get caught up and harmed in the resulting mob oppression.

I believe a true patriot is someone who will defend the rights of all people, so that all people will forever have those rights in the future. Obviously in this case, that's a very tough thing to do. Just like with skinheads and neo-nazis. But it's the price we pay for being the freest country on the planet...and by a wide margine. At least, for now.

I appologize if I've offended anyone by hi-jacking this thread and raining on the parade of the original poster. This is a private board and opinions, including mine are only a privelage, not a right to post. So, I will stop here and drop my arguments. I've made my case. If you still disagree, that's perfectly OK with me. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/cheers.gif" alt="" />