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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 07:49:59
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Can anyone check to see if Hell is still hot? |
I'm pretty astonished. I just might have to take back some of those evil things I've said and written about him. Not all by any mean, no, not yet, but some. Newsmax reports, "No. 1 cable news host Bill O'Reilly said Tuesday that he will personally write a check to cover $16,500 in legal costs for the father of a fallen U.S. Marine who sued the members of a church who picketed his son's funeral."
"On Friday, Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ordered Snyder to pay $16,510 to Fred Phelps, leader of the Westboro Baptist Church, despite the fact that the Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case as to whether the protesters are entitled to free speech at the funeral," the Associated Press reported. "Phelps conducted protests at Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder's funeral in 2006."
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Maybe our BillO is beginning to develope a sense of Justice that the scumbags on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit seem to lack.
Of course, 16.5 grand is pocket change to O'Reilly, but nevertheless, he's putting it in the right place.
Westboro Baptist is scum, deserving of nothing more than disgust.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Starman
SFN Regular
Sweden
1613 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 07:55:46 [Permalink]
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A good deed by BO, indeed!
Does not make him a nice person, though. |
"Any religion that makes a form of torture into an icon that they worship seems to me a pretty sick sort of religion quite honestly" -- Terry Jones |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 08:40:09 [Permalink]
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It just proves that even crazy ass faux "news" people have some limits on what they will tolerate from the far right extremists.
One good deed does not erase Bill-O's record of racism, stupidity, and general douchebaggery though.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong. -- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n. The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 09:04:53 [Permalink]
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A good deed indeed, however will O'Reilly now turn around and call the Court of Appeals judge a "liberal"? Maybe, maybe not. Or is that more of a crazy Beck thing? |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 09:52:29 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Maybe our BillO is beginning to develope a sense of Justice that the scumbags on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit seem to lack. | I'm going to have to agree with the Court of Appeals, here. If we are to enjoy free speech, we have to defend it for everyone, even complete schmucks like Fred Phelps.
The Snyders shouldn't have filed the lawsuit. Their lawyer should have dissuaded them from doing so. It looked like a First Amendment loser case from the get-go. Sticking the Snyders with the court costs is completely appropriate.
A summary of the case is available. And here is the actual complaint. The trial court saw through the defamation, "making a private life public" and conspiracy charges. The appellate court dismissed the other two, inflicting emotional distress and invasion of seclusion. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Gorgo
SFN Die Hard
USA
5310 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 10:09:02 [Permalink]
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BillO will look like a hero to all the right-wingers who want to protect dead soldiers (not live ones) and who hate homosexuals enough not to have dead soldiers associated with anything homosexual.
It's a frivolous lawsuit and should be treated as such. |
I know the rent is in arrears The dog has not been fed in years It's even worse than it appears But it's alright- Jerry Garcia Robert Hunter
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Fripp
SFN Regular
USA
727 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 10:53:53 [Permalink]
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I heard Bill talking on GMA this am and I was heartened to hear his position on this. If Phelps gets the right wing to turn against them, he's going to lose whatever support he may currently have. If that matters to him. |
"What the hell is an Aluminum Falcon?"
"Oh, I'm sorry. I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a small thermal exhaust port that's only 2-meters wide! That thing wasn't even fully paid off yet! You have any idea what this is going to do to my credit?!?!"
"What? Oh, oh, 'just rebuild it'? Oh, real [bleep]ing original. And who's gonna give me a loan, jackhole? You? You got an ATM on that torso LiteBrite?" |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 11:13:15 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Originally posted by filthy
Maybe our BillO is beginning to develope a sense of Justice that the scumbags on the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit seem to lack. | I'm going to have to agree with the Court of Appeals, here. If we are to enjoy free speech, we have to defend it for everyone, even complete schmucks like Fred Phelps.
The Snyders shouldn't have filed the lawsuit. Their lawyer should have dissuaded them from doing so. It looked like a First Amendment loser case from the get-go. Sticking the Snyders with the court costs is completely appropriate.
A summary of the case is available. And here is the actual complaint. The trial court saw through the defamation, "making a private life public" and conspiracy charges. The appellate court dismissed the other two, inflicting emotional distress and invasion of seclusion.
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Yeah, we have to let Phelps say what he wants to say. This law suit was doomed before it even started, it was probably driven by being intensely pissed off at the Phelps Klan.
The best counter to the Phelps Klan stupidity I have seen was a bunch of bikers parking next to them and just making way more noise than they were making.
You have to hand it to Phelps, he has his little crew of asshats well disciplined. They ignore all taunts and other provocations to make sure they don't get sued. They know they would get their asses handed to them, with prejudice, if they are ever on the wrong side of one.
If they were even at a funeral I was attending they might find themselves on the recieving end of a couple "water" baloons, where the water was somehow mysteriously replaced with wolf urine.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong. -- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n. The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 12:46:28 [Permalink]
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I believe Keith Olbermann is going to name Bill O'Reilly "Best Person in the World" on tonight's show. Did anyone else hear of this? |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 17:27:44 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dude
Yeah, we have to let Phelps say what he wants to say. This law suit was doomed before it even started, it was probably driven by being intensely pissed off at the Phelps Klan. | As was the Federal law which was prompted by the Phelps' appearance at the Snyder funeral. So far as I know, the Phelps' have been complaint with that law, simply because they don't have the funds for the courtroom drama (which will, eventually, inevitably result in its being found unconstitutional, too).The best counter to the Phelps Klan stupidity I have seen was a bunch of bikers parking next to them and just making way more noise than they were making. | Some others are pretty good, too. God Hates Signs. Cthulhu Hates Chordates. Corduroy Skirts Are a Sin. But probably best of all are the same-sex love-ins that have been staged at Phelps appearances. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 17:29:14 [Permalink]
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Well, I agree that the suit was a bad First Amendment case, and that those filing it should pay the costs. At the same time, I'm glad that someone is able to reimburse the father of the fallen soldier. I've rather mixed feelings that that someone was Bill O'Reilly. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 17:52:51 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Well, I agree that the suit was a bad First Amendment case, and that those filing it should pay the costs. At the same time, I'm glad that someone is able to reimburse the father of the fallen soldier. | That's the thing: the one filing the loser lawsuit was the father of the fallen soldier. They're the same guy.
I don't think that people who think that they somehow have a right to not be offended by someone else's speech should be reimbursed when the courts correctly find otherwise. Just like I wouldn't expect to be paid back for wasting the court's time were I to file a lawsuit against my neighbor for owning a red car.
Really, at most, Mr. Snyder should have lost much, much less. His lawyer should have said, "You will lose this to a First Amendment defense. You'd be stupid to file this lawsuit. That'll be $300."I've rather mixed feelings that that someone was Bill O'Reilly. | Bill is simply showing off his failure to understand the First Amendment, and so his actions are totally in line with just about everything else he says. What's shocking to me (judging by blog comments all over the Web) is how many liberals don't get it, either. The applause that O'Reilly is getting from the left indicates that a lot of people think that Phelps should have lost $5 million just for saying some nasty things. But what a terrifyingly chilling effect that would have on all speech were it to be precedent.
Think about this: Bill O'Reilly and the ACLU are generally on opposite sides of First Amendment issues, and they're on opposite sides of this case, too. If I remember correctly, the ACLU offered to defend Phelps at trial (he refused). The "injustice" O'Reilly is railing against is really that the appeals court wouldn't allow itself (or the lower court) to be a tool to stifle free speech. He may just not have thought it through (or maybe he did).
Bottom line: the enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail) Evidently, I rock! Why not question something for a change? Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 04/01/2010 : 18:05:17 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Well, I agree that the suit was a bad First Amendment case, and that those filing it should pay the costs. At the same time, I'm glad that someone is able to reimburse the father of the fallen soldier. | That's the thing: the one filing the loser lawsuit was the father of the fallen soldier. They're the same guy. | Yeah, I know. I still appreciate that he doesn't have to pay. Consider it a human failing on my part. I think such suits are made less likely in the future by the judgment, though.
And I agree with you on all the rest. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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R.Wreck
SFN Regular
USA
1191 Posts |
Posted - 04/02/2010 : 15:04:24 [Permalink]
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And of course, the Sodomobile. |
The foundation of morality is to . . . give up pretending to believe that for which there is no evidence, and repeating unintelligible propositions about things beyond the possibliities of knowledge. T. H. Huxley
The Cattle Prod of Enlightened Compassion
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