These protesters need to be ass-poked with a hot curling iron.  

February 20, 2006

Bikers drown out funeral protesters

By Ryan Lenz
Associated Press

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — Wearing leather chaps and vests covered in military patches, a band of motorcyclists rolls from one soldier’s funeral to another in hopes their respectful cheers and revving engines will drown out the insults of protesters.

The motorcycle club members calling themselves Patriot Guard Riders are trying to shield mourners from cruel jeers by adherents of a tiny fundamentalist church who picket military funerals to reflect their belief that U.S. combat deaths are a sign God is punishing the United States for harboring homosexuals. Some protesters’ signs said, “Thank God for IEDs,” the improvised explosive devices, or homemade bombs, that kill many U.S. soldiers.

“The most important thing we can do is let families know that the nation cares,” said Don Woodrick, the biker group’s Kentucky captain. “When a total stranger gets on a motorcycle in the middle of winter and drives 300 miles to hold a flag, that makes a powerful statement.”

Across the nation, Patriot Guard Riders number more than 5,000. They show up at soldiers’ funerals to chant patriotic slogans and wave red, white and blue flags in hopes of overshadowing backers of a Kansas clergyman named the Rev. Fred Phelps.

Phelps and members of his Westboro Baptist Church have caused such a fuss that at least 14 states are considering laws aimed at the funeral protests. During the 1990s, church members were known mostly for picketing funerals of AIDS victims, and they have long been tracked as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Intelligence Project in Montgomery, Alabama.

The project’s deputy director, Heidi Beirich, said other groups have tried to counter Phelps’ message, but none have been as organized as the Patriot Guard.

“I’m not sure anybody has gone to this length to stand in solidarity,” she said. “It’s nice that these veterans and their supporters are trying to do something. I can’t imagine anything worse, your loved one is killed in Iraq and you’ve got to deal with Fred Phelps.”

At a recent memorial service at Fort Campbell, church protesters and sang vulgar songs condemning homosexuals and soldiers. The Patriot Guard was also there, cheering to support mourning families across the street as community members came in a freezing rain to chant “U-S-A, U-S-A” alongside the bikers.

“This is just the right thing to do. This is something America didn’t do in the ’70s,” said Kurt Mayer, the Patriot Guard’s national spokesman, referring to the era when protests against the Vietnam war were common. “Whether we agree with why we’re over there, these soldiers are dying to protect our freedoms.”

Shirley Phelps-Roper, a daughter of Fred Phelps and an attorney for the Topeka, Kansas-based church, said neither state laws nor the Patriot Guard can silence their message that God killed the soldiers because they fought for a country that embraces homosexuals.

“The scriptures are crystal clear that when God sets out to punish a nation, it is with the sword. An IED is just a broken-up sword,” Phelps-Roper said. “Since that is his weapon of choice, our forum of choice has got to be a dead soldier’s funeral.”

The church, which is not affiliated with a larger denomination, is made up mostly of Phelps’ extended family. A small group of them appeared last month in West Virginia outside a memorial for the 12 men killed in the Sago Mine disaster. They held signs reading “Thank God for Dead Miners” and “Miners in Hell.”

Kentucky, home to sprawling Fort Campbell, was among the first states to attempt to deal with Phelps legislatively. Its House and Senate have each passed bills that would limit people from protesting within 300 feet of a funeral or memorial service. The Senate version would also keep protesters from being within earshot of grieving friends and family members.

The Indiana Senate has passed a bill intended to prohibit protests within 500 feet (150 meters) of funerals. The House is considering the measure.

The bills were written to protect families of soldiers such as Pvt. Jonathan R. Pfender, 22, of Evansville, Indiana, a soldier from Fort Campbell’s 101st Airborne Division who was killed in January by a roadside bomb in Beiji, Iraq.

Westboro church members protested at Pfender’s funeral, screaming profanities at mourners as they passed. Family members were shielded from the insults by the rumble of Patriot Guard motorcycles.

“We were glad that the Patriot Guard Riders were there,” said Jackie Pfender, the soldier’s stepmother. “This group of protesters wanted to put something negative on Jonathan’s funeral. In actuality, it became a positive thing because of the support we had.”

Patriot Guard members only show up at funerals if invited by family. Richard Wilbur, a retired police detective, said his Indiana Patriot Guard group came to the Pfender funeral at the family’s request after protesters announced they planned to attend.

“No one deserves this,” Wilbur said. “If I were burying my loved one and they were out there yelling anything close to what they yell to the families of these soldiers, I know my temperament. I probably would not handle it very well.”

Kick ass

Hats off to the Patroit Gaurd Riders.

What kind of asshole protests a funeral anyway?

They are lucky those bikers don't kick there asses!

www.godhatesfags.com/main/contact.html

That site above there: That's the site of the assholes who are showing great disrespect to the friends and family of our fallen soldiers.

I just sent them some mail, but I doubt it'll matter because they're irrational. What the f*** does the "depravity" of America have to do with our military? I wish God would just strike THOSE people for being so stupid.

Yes, we've kicked God out of our schools; we no longer acknowledge His hand in things. But, we have all sinned and fallen short, according to the Bible.

This really pisses me off.

If my dad was a soldier and was killed, and someone protested at his funeral, i think i would break out a good ol' 12 gauge with some buckshot and take care of it myself...

    One day this idiot is going to pick the wrong funeral and a soldier's family member is going to take a baseball bat to his ass.

Jesus's message was one of love.  These arffing idiots are as far away from the Good News as you can go.  God does not look kindly on people who mess with His word.

Quoted:     One day this idiot is going to pick the wrong funeral and a soldier's family member is going to take a baseball bat to his ass.

Pay-per-View, anyone? Hell, I'd watch it!

While I respect their 1st Amendment right to say "God Hates Fags" (Which you'd realize is an idiotic statement if even if you only went to church once in your life.), I think that raising a ruckuss and trying to push their agenda in the middle of a MILITARY FUNERAL is BULLSHIT of the first order.

I'm waiting for the day that one of the guys doing a 21-gun accidentally loads some ball ammo instead of blanks. These men died honorably in combat, the LEAST they deserve is an honorable funeral and these assholes won't even allow that.

ETA: Go Bikers!

That is awesome!!!

The Bikers of course!


Travis

I'll bet the "Rev" is doing the nasty with his parishioners. Someone should picket his incestous church.

Hope Phelps kids die a horrible death and some shitbags protest their cause at the funeral.

Quoted: Quoted:     One day this idiot is going to pick the wrong funeral and a soldier's family member is going to take a baseball bat to his ass. Pay-per-View, anyone? Hell, I'd watch it! While I respect their 1st Amendment right to say "God Hates Fags" (Which you'd realize is an idiotic statement if even if you only went to church once in your life.), I think that raising a ruckuss and trying to push their agenda in the middle of a MILITARY FUNERAL is BULLSHIT of the first order. I'm waiting for the day that one of the guys doing a 21-gun accidentally loads some ball ammo instead of blanks. These men died honorably in combat, the LEAST they deserve is an honorable funeral and these assholes won't even allow that. ETA: Go Bikers!

+100000

Quoted: i am a member. here is the website www.patriotguard.org/Home/tabid/53/ctl/Login/Default.aspx

Tell them I said "Thank You."

It shouldn't surprise anyone that satan uses baptists and so called reverends to spew his profanities...how would you like to be down and out in front of his church...they'd probably stone you.


I figured out why the dude is so angry and hateful...his father was a faggot himself and his mother was a whore and he has a masterbating problem ...

it's a good thing the 1A protects them..............

That is the lowest thing I have ever seen.

comments removed per coc

Besides TBS there are several of us on the board.

That shit is going to get this topic locked and you banned.

Edit it now!

Anybody remember the Hard Hat Riot back in 1970

That's kinda what needs to happen here

Back in May 1970 Mayor John Lindsay( NYC ) ordered Flags to flown at Half Mast after the Kent State Shootings
Hippies were protesting and waving Viet Cong Flags and the Hard Working Blue Collar Construction Workers had enough
There were Police present but they just kinda stayed back and let the Hippies get the snot beaten out of them

Let that happen to these "Funeral Protesters" then we'll see how many more funerals they decide to protest

There's a time and a place for everything     A funeral is not an event to protest at ESPECIALLY THE FUNERAL OF A US SERVICEMAN

That church... those are some seriously fucked-up people.

Quoted: Anybody remember the Hard Hat Riot back in 1970

First thing that came to mind actually.

Quoted: i am a member. here is the website www.patriotguard.org/Home/tabid/53/ctl/Login/Default.aspx

That link isn't working, but there's an explanation at;

www.patriotguard.org/

tag

“This is just the right thing to do. This is something America didn’t do in the ’70s,” said Kurt Mayer, the Patriot Guard’s national spokesman, referring to the era when protests against the Vietnam war were common. “Whether we agree with why we’re over there, these soldiers are dying to protect our freedoms.”

holy shit, he's right! as bad as it got between the left and the right in this country, i don't recall EVER seeing a story about hippies or commies trashing a fallen american's funeral...

god bless the patriot riders!

I'd be a member if I rode a bike, they should start 1 for people with jeeps, a lot of patriotic folks with jeeps.

Good going on the bikers part.

I would imagine that they don't have too many funerals left before someone snaps and starts shooting, or shows them the business end of an IED.

Quoted: i am a member. here is the website www.patriotguard.org/Home/tabid/53/ctl/Login/Default.aspx

Please tell Mona not to kick my ass for internet kissing you, k?

Quoted: Quoted:     One day this idiot is going to pick the wrong funeral and a soldier's family member is going to take a baseball bat to his ass. Pay-per-View, anyone? Hell, I'd watch it!

I'd like to be on the jury for the murder trial.