Shirley Phelps charged with flag mutilation

[proud2BlibKansan]

Phelps family member charged after son steps on flag
By Oskar Garcia
The Associated Press
Published Friday, July 06, 2007

OMAHA, Neb. — A Topeka woman whose church protests at military funerals across the nation was charged Thursday with four misdemeanors after her son stomped on a U.S. flag during a demonstration in Bellevue.

Shirley Phelps-Roper, 49, was charged with negligent child abuse, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, flag mutilation and disturbing the peace.
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"I have not failed to do my duty to my children, to my God or to my fellow countrymen, and I take my job dead serious," Phelps-Roper said Thursday, vowing to aggressively fight the charges.

The charges were filed in Sarpy County Court by County Attorney Lee Polikov. A message left Thursday afternoon for Polikov wasn't immediately returned.

more . . .
http://cjonline.com/stories/070607/loc_182565377.shtml

[stevedeshazer]

1. While I despise everything the Phelps family stands for,

that Nebraska law is ridiculously unconstitutional.

[Suich]

5. I agree.

:)

[alphafemale]

7. Agree. Also don't like what she let her kid do. But it shouldn't be a crime.

It actually sickens me more though, to see someone fly a flag until it's in tatters than to see someone stomp on it.

[Pushed To The Left]

8. I totally agree. How frightening is it that the flag-burning Amendment

only lost by 1 vote?

I think the Phelps family are some of the most despicable human beings on the planet. They have to die sometime, and let's just say their funerals will be very interesting!

[uncle ray]

22. personally i think it would be great

if their deaths went completely unnoticed.

[Tesha]

31. Remind me again which Democrats supported it? (NT)

[blondeatlast]

21. Yep. nt

[Nailzberg]

27. Yeah, I have to agree.

Never thought I'd defend a Phelps - I despise the Phelps clan and all they stand for. As a patriot, I hate burning, stomping, or any other method of flag desecration. But as a patriot, I am adamantly opposed to it being outlawed. So long as no other person or other person's property is affected, expression needs to remain free, in all forms, whether it shocks and disturbs us or not.

[bluestateguy]

2. Somebody else can speak up for her. I don't have time.

Whose on the court at Wimbledon tomorrow?

[Raine]

4. Neither do I

they made their own problems and I have enough of my own that aren't my fault.

[nosmokes]

6. Thank goddess for the ACLU

[Raine]

24. yeah someone has to speak up for the nazis

and KKK. :puke:

[nosmokes]

30. You're right. Fuck that constitution and all the liberties and rights it

guarantees that made the US a great nation.

[slampoet]

15. If you won't stand up for her, then you really aren't for free speech are you?

Sorry to call you on it, but you need to ask yourself if you are actually a real American or if you just live here.

A time will come when we all wish we had the freedom to speak our minds.

[Tesha]

32. You don't inderstand how civil rights work, do you? Or how they get eroded. (NT)

[knight_of_the_star]

3. These people are ridiculous

It is one thing for someone's civil rights to be abused, its another thing to deliberately put yourself in a position that you could construe as your rights being possibly infringed on. Kind of like the difference between clipped by a reckless driver while walking on the sidewalk and playing in traffic suing the bastard who hits you.

[jamesinca]

9. I am enjoying this whole thing

The fundie being subject to a flag protection law, how Republican! The group that wraps itself in the flag and hides behind Jesus Christ are now at odds with different "sect" members and immediately the ACLU has to rescue them from them self.

[ClassWarfare2008]

10. God hates FLAGS!

:hide:

Someone had to say it.

[stevedeshazer]

20. Hee hee

:rofl:

[Wiley50]

34. Better than Fag Mutilation, I guess n/t

[Peace Patriot]

11. Anybody know why he was stomping on the flag?

And why do they protest at military funerals? I haven't followed this much. What is their point?

[DRoseDARs]

12. Because the whole of Humanity isn't under the iron rule of a Phelpsian theocracy.

The Phelps clan members are seriously fucked in the head. Even other fringe groups cringe at the thought of having any similarities with them. Fred Phelps is the "church" leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, which consists pretty much of him and his family. They hate gay people. A lot. They're a one-trick pony of a group, but boy do they relish in that one trick.

[muffin1]

16. Is Fred Phelps

the moron who shows up at funerals for gay people (Matthew Sheperd, for one) with signs saying things like "Fags burn in hell"?

[DRoseDARs]

28. Yep. The one and only ... at least until all his little brain-washed grandkids grow up.

Fred has already completely poisoned his own adult children's minds. One of his daughters was interviewed on FAUX News or MSNBC a few years back. It was surreal. Even the interviewer, a rightwing shill, was disgusted.

[slampoet]

13. I often think that the Phelps church is just a ruse to strip Americans of their right to Protest.

I hear a lot of liberal and libertarian people talk about the Phelps Church and stripping them of their rights.


and that's when I think "Well, this is how it starts."



I am SOOO glad to see that many DU'ers are looking at the bigger picture and remembering the spirit of what Chomsky said.

It was something like....

"If you don't defend the speech rights of people you disagree with, then you aren't for free speech."

[Name removed]

17. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[slampoet]

19. If you only love YOUR free speech then you really are denying others the right.

Sorry, but it is one of those paradoxes.


Nobody liked helping out Two Live Crew when they had their song "Me So Horney", but it had to be done so that Public Enemy and Bruce Springsteen could keep making their kind of records.


EVERYBODY thinks that their free speech is more precious than others'.

[Toasterlad]

23. The ACLU is Taking Care of it. That's What They're For.

Thankfully, I don't HAVE to fight for a Phelp's freedom to spew hate. Nor would I. And, quite frankly, my free speech IS more precious than hers. As is yours. And that goes for anyone else in this country who isn't a hate-mongering sociopath. Her free speech isn't "precious". It's a perversion of a basic American right. It's a MOCKERY of free speech, in that she uses it to deny others THEIR voices...indeed, to undermine their EXISTENCE.

Here's an idea. They can take that poor kid in Georgia, the one who's been locked away for two years for getting a blow job from a 15 year old girl when he was 17, and they can swap him with the she-Phelps. That way, the Georgia prosecutor gets to keep someone in prison unfairly and illegally, the kid goes free as he should, and Phelps is locked away where she belongs, hopefully to be subjected to repeated homosexual raping and daily beatings for the rest of her life.

Edited: now with 30% more outrage!

[matcom]

14. All bullshit charges

as much as i hate these fuckers, these charges are bullshit

[malaise]

18. I hate the Phelps but I do hope they

produce that photo of W and Laura walking on the flag in NYC.

[Kingshakabobo]

26. ....and the picture of the chimperor autographing a flag. n/t

[rurallib]

25. On another note - maybe they should take away her home-schooling license?

[Swamp Rat]

29. I cannot stand those people but those charges are BS!

Well, maybe not the one for "disturbing the peace." :shrug:

[Madspirit]

33. Ack Ack Ack Ack

A despicable as I find the Phelps, I support them in this.
Lee