The Westboro Baptist Church, run by the Phelps family and owners of vile web sites such as "Godhatesf&$s.com", recently lost a lawsuit for $11 Million for picketing a funeral.
Now, I really can't stand the Phelps family. I feel sorry for their kids, who know that they hate "fags", yet don't even know the meaning of the word. I think that they are the ones that need to wise up and repent, and I pray that some of their children will see the truth over what they've been taught from birth. But, I can't really say that in this case, I agree with the lawsuit. That's a really hard thing for me to say, considering how vile these people are.
The father of the deceased soldier in this case was on The O'Reilly Factor this week. He described what happened. They did have to change the parade route because of these kooks, but during the parade and memorial service, they did not see the Phelps clan (according to what the father said on the program). It was not until AFTER the memorial service that the father turned on the TV, expecting to see coverage of all the well wishers and mourners, that he saw coverage of the Phelps idiots instead.
This is America, and we are supposed to have free speech. We don't have the freedom from being offended, or from having people hurt our feelings. We aren't guaranteed that things will go our way and people will only say nice things to us. Much as I can't stand the Phelps' or their message, they do have the right to say it.
If the protesters had intruded on the funeral, I think that I would feel differently. Funerals cost money, and are normally held on private property. If someone barged in on a funeral that people had paid for and had some reasonable expectation of being relatively peaceful, I can see that there would be damages. But in this particular case, the funeral itself was not interrupted, they stayed away from the parade route, and the protesting was not seen by the family during the protest.
The message of the Westboro Baptist Church is hateful. It is unpleasant. In my opinion, it is also quite misguided and wrong. But isn't that what many people say about Christians? Many non-Christians think that being told that if they don't repent and ask Christ to be their Savior they are going to hell is hateful. They find it unpleasant. They think that it is misguided and wrong as well.
There is a difference between most Christians and those of the Westboro Baptist Church, of course. Most Christians that I know believe that God LOVES the world, which is contrary to what the Phelps clan teaches. The Phelps seem to delight in the thought of everybody that is not in their church going to hell, while most Christians that I know find it exceedingly sad and tragic. But conservative Christians (I realize that some more liberal Christians don't feel this way) do tell other people that if they don't repent and get saved, they will not be going to Heaven.
Perhaps a small settlement for pain and suffering in this case might have been appropriate. $11 million is quite a lot, however. On the other hand, to punish these people because of what they say... no matter how vile and egregious... just opens the door to other sorts of free speech lawsuits. It's only a matter of time before real Christians start being hit with lawsuits too.
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freedom. Show all posts
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Home Ownership = The Right To Be Billed And Taxed To Death?
Something has gone dreadfully wrong in this country, supposedly "the land of the free". So what are the freedoms that we are supposed to have, anyway? And where have they gone?
Take, for example, the airlines. Once upon a time, when I was an Airman Apprentice in the US Navy, I took a trip to visit my aunt and uncle. I had a layover at the Cincinnati airport, and it was delayed for several hours. I had a briefcase with some papers in it, and I left it at the terminal because I didn't want to carry it around. Couldn't do that today!
There was a period for several years where you couldn't do cross-stitch or other forms of needlework while on board a plane. Like you could take over a plane, post 9/11, with a 1 inch needle. If you let someone with a 1 inch sewing needle hijack a plane because you're afraid, you've got some big cowardice problems.
Now the big problem is liquids. If you're a breastfeeding mom who pumps milk and you go on a business trip, you can't take your milk back with you. I have a friend who was facing this dilemma. Thank you, TSA, for making this world a better place by starving nursing babies! At least they don't make you drink your own breast milk any more. That was the policy right after the liquid scare began. Blech!
But the problem of our lost freedoms extends farther than just inconveniences and hungry children during air travel. The problem extends much farther... to the very place where we lay our heads at night.
150 years or so ago, and even more recently than that, people could go out and stake a claim and build a homestead. Farm the land, build a house out of logs, and people'd stay off your backs. Since most people built their own homes, they didn't need to take out huge mortgages to pay for it. Sure, there were some scuffles with the Indians, but there's a tradeoff that must be made between true freedom and a false sense of security.
I don't really know when it happened, but the government thought it would be a good idea if they started taxing people's homes. Have to pay for the schools, roads, and police departments, right? Back then, at least the public schools were worth sending your kids to, and average folks weren't flocking to private schools and homeschools if they could afford it. But nice as it sounds, it was just a start... of taxes and mandatory bills that nickel and dime your average homeowner to a slow death.
Like when we moved onto our property. No, you can't use the septic tank that's already ON the property, you have to tap into the public sewer. And you also have to pay to have a pipe laid across the street so it will go to your property. The costs associated with all this sewer mess forced us to downgrade from a very large house to one that was 600 square feet smaller. Thanks sewer company. Of course, if you fail to pay your sewer bill they will condemn your house and force you off your property.
Don't forget the water bill, which is an entirely separate bill. Oh, and if you happen to live in Orem, Utah, you better make sure that you have enough money to water your lawn and keep the grass green. Or else the police will come and have you arrested like what happened to this lady. Oh, and evidently you're expected to identify yourself to any random police officer that shows up on your doorstep too. Never mind that there are people out there that go around posing as police officers that can hurt you. Sheesh, I don't even identify myself to people that call me on the telephone! Identity theft reasons, you know? Can't be too careful.
Then there's the whole HOA thing. If you live there, you have to pay rent to the HOA for the rest of your life... even if your home is paid off, you're still paying rent. You pay rent to the government in the form of taxes, you pay rent to the HOA in the form of dues or whatever they call them, and then the HOA people tell you what color to paint your house, what you can put in the driveway, whether you can put up Christmas lights, etc.
HOAs are getting harder and harder to avoid as well. They seem to have the new housing market cornered around here. If you want to build a new house, you either have to 1) go HOA, 2) buy a dilapidated old home, tear it down and build a new house, 3) build out in the middle of nowhere and deal with an incredibly long commute, or 4) build a nice stick built house in a manufactured home community. Which on the surface wouldn't make sense, because your house transplanted somewhere else would be worth more than twice any of the other homes on the block... but there really aren't too many choices left other than that.
I suppose that I do have some freedoms. I can write whatever I want in this blog (as long as it is not hateful and nobody turns me in for a hate crime). I can stand on the street corner and hold a sign and peaceably protest (as long as I'm not causing a disturbance and large numbers of people don't want me to leave), I can own a gun (as long as I submit to background checks and register), I can own a pet (as long as I'm willing to have it registered and get it microchipped and pay the microchip company... yup... another "rental" fee every year).
I know that there are many countries that are worse, really. In Germany they would arrest me and take away my kids for homeschooling. Here, they only arrest you and take away your kids if someone calls CPS on you because they think you spank your kids (oh, but if you molest your kid that's okay... a friend of mine in Tennessee has been fighting to get her grandchild away from his sexually abusive father, and 2 years later they're still working on it, even though they have proof that it happened many times).
Well, at least we have the delusion of being free.
Take, for example, the airlines. Once upon a time, when I was an Airman Apprentice in the US Navy, I took a trip to visit my aunt and uncle. I had a layover at the Cincinnati airport, and it was delayed for several hours. I had a briefcase with some papers in it, and I left it at the terminal because I didn't want to carry it around. Couldn't do that today!
There was a period for several years where you couldn't do cross-stitch or other forms of needlework while on board a plane. Like you could take over a plane, post 9/11, with a 1 inch needle. If you let someone with a 1 inch sewing needle hijack a plane because you're afraid, you've got some big cowardice problems.
Now the big problem is liquids. If you're a breastfeeding mom who pumps milk and you go on a business trip, you can't take your milk back with you. I have a friend who was facing this dilemma. Thank you, TSA, for making this world a better place by starving nursing babies! At least they don't make you drink your own breast milk any more. That was the policy right after the liquid scare began. Blech!
But the problem of our lost freedoms extends farther than just inconveniences and hungry children during air travel. The problem extends much farther... to the very place where we lay our heads at night.
150 years or so ago, and even more recently than that, people could go out and stake a claim and build a homestead. Farm the land, build a house out of logs, and people'd stay off your backs. Since most people built their own homes, they didn't need to take out huge mortgages to pay for it. Sure, there were some scuffles with the Indians, but there's a tradeoff that must be made between true freedom and a false sense of security.
I don't really know when it happened, but the government thought it would be a good idea if they started taxing people's homes. Have to pay for the schools, roads, and police departments, right? Back then, at least the public schools were worth sending your kids to, and average folks weren't flocking to private schools and homeschools if they could afford it. But nice as it sounds, it was just a start... of taxes and mandatory bills that nickel and dime your average homeowner to a slow death.
Like when we moved onto our property. No, you can't use the septic tank that's already ON the property, you have to tap into the public sewer. And you also have to pay to have a pipe laid across the street so it will go to your property. The costs associated with all this sewer mess forced us to downgrade from a very large house to one that was 600 square feet smaller. Thanks sewer company. Of course, if you fail to pay your sewer bill they will condemn your house and force you off your property.
Don't forget the water bill, which is an entirely separate bill. Oh, and if you happen to live in Orem, Utah, you better make sure that you have enough money to water your lawn and keep the grass green. Or else the police will come and have you arrested like what happened to this lady. Oh, and evidently you're expected to identify yourself to any random police officer that shows up on your doorstep too. Never mind that there are people out there that go around posing as police officers that can hurt you. Sheesh, I don't even identify myself to people that call me on the telephone! Identity theft reasons, you know? Can't be too careful.
Then there's the whole HOA thing. If you live there, you have to pay rent to the HOA for the rest of your life... even if your home is paid off, you're still paying rent. You pay rent to the government in the form of taxes, you pay rent to the HOA in the form of dues or whatever they call them, and then the HOA people tell you what color to paint your house, what you can put in the driveway, whether you can put up Christmas lights, etc.
HOAs are getting harder and harder to avoid as well. They seem to have the new housing market cornered around here. If you want to build a new house, you either have to 1) go HOA, 2) buy a dilapidated old home, tear it down and build a new house, 3) build out in the middle of nowhere and deal with an incredibly long commute, or 4) build a nice stick built house in a manufactured home community. Which on the surface wouldn't make sense, because your house transplanted somewhere else would be worth more than twice any of the other homes on the block... but there really aren't too many choices left other than that.
I suppose that I do have some freedoms. I can write whatever I want in this blog (as long as it is not hateful and nobody turns me in for a hate crime). I can stand on the street corner and hold a sign and peaceably protest (as long as I'm not causing a disturbance and large numbers of people don't want me to leave), I can own a gun (as long as I submit to background checks and register), I can own a pet (as long as I'm willing to have it registered and get it microchipped and pay the microchip company... yup... another "rental" fee every year).
I know that there are many countries that are worse, really. In Germany they would arrest me and take away my kids for homeschooling. Here, they only arrest you and take away your kids if someone calls CPS on you because they think you spank your kids (oh, but if you molest your kid that's okay... a friend of mine in Tennessee has been fighting to get her grandchild away from his sexually abusive father, and 2 years later they're still working on it, even though they have proof that it happened many times).
Well, at least we have the delusion of being free.
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