Wow, you know you’re bottom of the barrel when even the Klan refuses to be associated with you.
JDsays
Nice to see some standards. Even hatred is subject to the law of diminishing returns.
Moggiesays
A Belize domain name? How very patriotic of them.
Rachel Bronwynsays
Considering the Klan is in favour of outlawing homosexuality, I have no idea why they dislike the Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe it’s their style?
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
You’d think the “God Hates Jews” signs would have swayed them.
I guess there weren’t enough “God Hates Niggers” signs.
mxhsays
Ouch. I can’t tell what’s worse, being accepted by the KKK or being rejected by them.
Silisays
Kudos to the Klan for a change.
What’s their position on evolution, global warming and abortion?
boygeniussays
Moggie #3,
Nice catch.
Rachel Bronwynsays
Oppose evolution and abortion, but vary regarding global warming.
MadScientistsays
Wow – it seems to be genuine. My guess is that they don’t want to be associated with the people picketing and harassing the relatives of soldiers killed on tour. However, I’d rather deal with the Phelps clan than the Klan.
Zenosays
Q. How do you know you’re a member of the Westboro Baptist Church?
A. When not even Jesus loves you.
Androly-Sansays
Well, if you’re white and not even the Klu Klux Klan likes you, you must be a real asshole.
@Rachel Bronwyn: Probably what they do to soldiers and their families.
jerthebarbariansays
@#4
Considering the Klan is in favour of outlawing homosexuality, I have no idea why they dislike the Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe it’s their style?
My guess is that the Klan considers their picketing of soldiers with signs saying “God Hates US Soldiers” to be a bit much – some of those soldiers are white after all.
Actually that’s pretty much how the Phelps clan fell out of favor with everyone. When they were just showing up to picket at the funerals of gay men, they had a number of tacit supporters. They didn’t become toxic until they started picketing soldiers too. (I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders).
rygoldsays
Oh my god, that’s one of the funniest stories I’ve heard in a long while. I’d love a bumper sticker of that, except of course, everyone would mistake me for a member of the Klan…
Lovely story though…
Knockgoatssays
Doesn’t really work, for me – being despised and repudiated by the KKK is not a badge of shame! I sincerely hope they would despise and repudiate me and any political campaign I’ve been involved in. And we know kooks and kranks of different kinds frequently despise and repudiate each other.
Adamvs Maximvssays
Well, really, a group does have to maintain some standards.
shonnysays
When the worst imaginable bigots find someone even lower, – that is low!
Posted by: mxh Author Profile Page | April 8, 2010 8:09 AM
Ouch. I can’t tell what’s worse, being accepted by the KKK or being rejected by them.
In this case you can look at it as life forms where KKK would be at the bottom rung, but they have found some life form beneath them.
Most other is way above, of course. With a few exceptions, being on the same rung. No prize for guessing who, though there is quite a selection.
Watchingthedeniers.wordpress.comsays
Really? Even too much for the Klan? What’s next, the Neo-Nazi movement tyring to distance themselves as well?
I guess we can expect the WBC to start picketing clan meetings with “God hates the KKK”.
Now that would be an interesting face off ;)
Damn it, which side should we root for!?!?!?!
Antiochus Epimanessays
Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!
I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders.
So — basically what other Christians do, only moreso.
“Westboro Baptist Church. Tastes like regular Christianity, but with only half the shame!”
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!
this
Denis Loubetsays
KKK LLC? WTF?
What, you need to incorporate to burn crosses now?
Just seems weird to me, is all.
Michelle Rsays
“Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!”
Oh YES. PLEASE.
Man… this is so hilarious.
bbgunn071679says
I think the KKK despises Westboro for its flagrant use of color in all of its signage. And, since they’re from KS, their kin probably fought on the wrong side of the Civil War.
Celtic_Evolutionsays
I tell ya… we Phelps’, we get no respect… no respect at all…
I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, “Wait til it gets warmer.”
When I was born the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father, “I’m very sorry. We did everything we could…but he pulled through.”
I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the west!
My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.
When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up.
[/Dangerfield]
fireweaversays
@jerthebarbarian #13:
Actually that’s pretty much how the Phelps clan fell out of favor with everyone. When they were just showing up to picket at the funerals of gay men, they had a number of tacit supporters. They didn’t become toxic until they started picketing soldiers too. (I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders)
I think Phelps would break the scales on the “Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame” with the KKK not far behind.
Granted, Isaac Bonewits is something of a woo-meister himself, but his particular brand ranks very low on the danger scale. Be that as it may, his cult danger evaluation frame should be kept alongside Carl Sagans “Baloney Detection Kit” as a convenient reference.
bbgunn071679: I’m pretty sure any member of the KKK would refer to that war as “The War of Northern Agression” or at least “The War between the States”. It’s never referred to as the Civil War by “proper” southerners.
Kieranfoysays
Well, to be fair, Phelps did spend time as a civil rights lawyer back in the sixties, although as I understand, he did it just to bilk his customers.
Rabid Childsays
The WBC is coming to Blacksburg, VA tomorrow to picket the April 16, 2007 shootings. These swine say that tragedy was the fault of the student’s promiscuity and general “un-Christian” behavior. As a grad from Virginia Tech who still lives in Blacksburg, I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.
p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.
Celtic_Evolutionsays
Someone really needs to turn this into a de-motivational poster…
Bride of Shrek OMsays
Since my days as a GLBT activist lawyer the Phelps clan have always had a truly special place in my heart. I have traded tirades with that old wanker and his shithead offspring so many times that I have always pledged that when the old fuck dies, I will again travel to the US and I will proudly and vocally stand at his funeral holding a placard that says “GOD FUCKING HATES FRED PHELPS”.
I’ve lost so much of my life arguing against that old arseknob and the bitchclam that is Shirley that it will be my very special pleasure to attend the service and pay my personal respects.
Doug Littlesays
Rident,
Nice article, thanks for that.
KOPDsays
I’d be interested in seeing an encounter between the Phelps clan and the Klan clan. I’m also picturing something like MTV’s Celebrity Death Match between Phelps and Duke. And one more thing. Perhaps this has been mentioned before, because I can’t imagine I’m the only person who thinks Phelps looks like this guy.
stevesays
@ Rabid Child – I personally like the “God Dates Fags” sign from the Irish blasphemy art show, I think this is the same sign I saw in the video:
“When ignorant racists and deranged, homophobic religious nut bags clash!”
The thought of Phelps standing up on stage and taking off his shirt is disturbing to say the least.
No doubt they’d rumble on the set… And how would Jerry sign off on that show?
“You know, we can all learn a lesson from this. God hates idjits.”
bbgunn071679says
cactusren @29: You are absolutely correct. I am not a proper southerner; nor do I have any desire to be proper or southerner. So I have a tough time using the confederate terminology.
VoiceoftheGodssays
@Rabid Child #31
I am particularly fond of the counter-protest fundraiser. Using the WBC presence as an incentive for a fundraiser to raise money for those they oppose.
I don’t know if there is a fund already set up for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting or if other organizations will come to mind for the contributions.
KOPDsays
@Watchingthedeniers
Let’s hope we don’t ever see them on Maury finding out which is the daddy.
Disturbingly Openmindedsays
KKK LLC? WTF?
What, you need to incorporate to burn crosses now?
Just seems weird to me, is all.
No, you need to incorporate to protect your personal assets (like, your trailer home and your rusted Ford 150 pick-up) from civil lawsuits.
Good business decision by the KKK. They’re evil, not stupid. Well, maybe not stupid.
This is a religous dispute, Westboro is Calvinist, the Klan runs very heavily mainstream protestant and don’t like catholics or calvinists (they are usually less enthused about destroying the catholics than they are blacks and gays, but that one is in there). The Klan is offended that Phelps thinks only his bunch is God’s chosen, rather than white people (except for those race traitors, you know, what everyone else calls being decent human beings).
Rabid Childsays
@ Steve and Voice of the Gods
Thanks for your suggestions. I like the fundraiser idea but it may be too late to organize (they will be at VT in 24 hrs). I also like the “God Dates Fags” sign and I might actually grow a pair to make one.
Aquariasays
I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions?
Find out where they will be protesting. Dig a deep hole where they’ll be standing. Make it big enough for all 20 of them. Cover with Palm leaves Wait. Laugh. Bury alive. Laugh some more.
Not that it would happen, but it makes my little black heart do a happy dance.
Disturbingly Openmindedsays
While IANAL, the business law attorneys I have worked with tell me that 99.9% of small businesses with liability protection, such as LLCs and S Corps, operate in such a way as to nullify their liability protection.
The Klucks, for example, transport LLC property in the personally owned rusted Ford pickup rather than in the (non-existent) LLC truck. And, wouldn’t you know it, they can’t produce a lease agreement between the LLC and the individual for the use of the truck.
So,they are both evil and stupid.
Abdul Alhazredsays
Fred Phelps was one of the good guys of the civil right movement in Kansas, back when that took some courage.
He went nuts later.
KOPDsays
Another reason the Klan wouldn’t like Phelps is that he was instrumental in taking down the Jim Crow laws in Topeka. To the Klan, he’d be a “nigger lover.”
From Wiki:
Phelps earned a law degree from Washburn University in 1962, and founded the Phelps Chartered law firm in 1964. The first notable cases were related to civil rights. “I systematically brought down the Jim Crow laws of this town,” he says.[15] Phelps’ daughter was quoted as saying, “We took on the Jim Crow establishment, and Kansas did not take that sitting down. They used to shoot our car windows out, screaming we were nigger lovers,” and that the Phelps law firm made up one-third of the state’s federal docket of civil rights cases.
Phelps took cases on behalf of African American clients alleging racial discrimination by school systems, and a predominantly black American Legion post which had been raided by police, alleging racially-based police abuse.
HidariMaksays
Rabid Child @31
Here’s another option for dealing with the phelps. However, you’ll need some friends.
James Sweetsays
I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.
p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.
Not sure if this would be appropriate in the context of the VA Tech shootings, but remember in San Fransisco awhile back, when WBC showed up to picket the Twitter offices, people did a surrealist counter-protest. Signs that said things like:
“Build PRISONS on the MOON!”
“I have a sign!”
“God Never Gonna Give You Up”
“God Never Gonna Let You Down”
“God Never Gonna Run Around and Hurt You”
“God Hates Kittens”
“ME”
“I was promised donuts”
At the University of Rochester, student-led counter-protesters used bed sheets strung between long poles to surround and block the WBC’ers from public view. Since they kept their visual barricade at the proscribed distance, the Phelpseses were powerless to stop them. You’d have needed to be 12 feet tall to see the God Hates Fags signage.
Christiansays
And one more thing. Perhaps this has been mentioned before, because I can’t imagine I’m the only person who thinks Phelps looks like this guy.
I never thought I’d see Even Evil Has Standards applied to this aspect of real life. Wow!
Did you have to provide a tvtropes link?
Someone really needs to turn this into a de-motivational poster…
I’ll make it my number two priority when I get home later.
Christiansays
Most of you already know that God hates shrimp.
Or figs, a real classic (Mark 11:12-14).
Hmm, the URL seems to belong to a strange Japanese website.
Naked Bunny with a Whipsays
@Moggie #3: According to Wikipedia, the “.bz” domain was and still is marketed as a “business” domain, predating the “.biz” domain. I suspect the KKK just didn’t want to pay a squatter for their domain name.
tsgsays
Did you have to provide a tvtropes link?
I’m glad it’s not just me. Every time I go there I end up in a geometric cascade of “ooh, what’s that?”
ambulocetaceansays
Wow. I never realised that Phelps used to be one of the good guys. So sad that he’s gone insane.
destlundsays
Just as long as nobody tells the KKK that racism isn’t necessarily a Christian value. Nobody should stand up for secular bigots.
scooterKPFTsays
KOPD @ 47
Yup,
those westboro maniacs have always been crazy but they used to direct their rage at more legitimate targets like racist assholes in Kansas, back in the day./
Westcoastersays
In defence of Phelps, at least he doesn’t hide his face behind a bed sheet. The KKK won’t even show their faces.
Goheelssays
Anyone else down for prank calling the KKK?
KOPDsays
amulocetacean,
He founded Westboro before getting his law degree and taking on civil rights issues, so it’s questionable if he was ever truly a “good guy” or if he’s just not completely evil. I think it’s just that racism doesn’t fit with his interpretation of the Bible.
Richard Wolfordsays
The Westboro loons are in my home town today, Charleston, WV; they’re actually about 10 minutes from where I work. The WV Atheists are wanting to have a counter-demonstration about 30 minutes after the Westboro loons do their little number. Man, I despise those baptist fuckers, I wanted to go and hang with my own signs but I have to pick up the kids today, and I’m not bringing them anywhere near those nut jobs.
pdfergusonsays
This KKK news release better not be a joke, because as we all know, God Hates Gags…
Andreas Johanssonsays
@#64: He hates puns too.
arensbsays
Moggie @#3:
I can only assume that after having kukluxklan.org rejected, they tried to get a .biz address, but all the spammers complained that the KKK would give .biz a bad name.
Presumably no one has told them that Belize is full of brown people.
SteveMsays
If I understand URL’s correctly (and I’m not sure that I do), if the KKK’s domain .bz was a country code, shouldn’t it be followed by “.co” or some such? That is, someone earlier mentioned that “.bz” is actually “biz”, not Belize. And if so, is Belize country code really “.bz”? is Colombia’s “.co” ? So much confusion…
Crommunistsays
Westboro Baptist Church… Poe? It seems like something Andy Kaufman would have dreamed up.
Kobrasays
@65: Indeed. Such transgressions come with steep punishments.
Yeah, Fred Phelps isn’t a racist. He thinks all “fags and fag-sympathizers” are going to hell regardless of colour or creed! The only people not going to hell are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. If the only people up in heaven are the Phelpses, I’ll take hell…
skylyresays
From Bride of Shrek: “Arseknob and the bitchclam”. Hey, two new words for my vocabulary! It takes a special kind of disgust to get words like that.
KOPDsays
The only people not going to hell are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church.
They’re Calvinists. They probably think some of their members are going to Hell, too.
hznfrstsays
If Phelps and the Klan ever do confront each other directly, I want to be there to sell firearms to both sides!
Fleasays
IMHO there is still hope for them. I’m sure they have not tried with Ratzinger. If he backed a legion of pedo priest I see no reason why he would not wholeheartedly embrace the Westboro dudes.
varlo1930says
Re the statement (#47) that Phelps was instrumental in taking down “the Jim Crow laws in Topeka,” I have to wonder. I lived in Topeka in the pre-Phelps days (the 1930 in my name is my birth year) and while there was bigotry, some of which doubtless persists today, and policies that supported that bigotry, I at no time heard that they claimed any justification by law.
Two possible exceptions were the all-white status of the Gage Park swimming pool and, of course, Brown v. Board. Even that latter is misunderstood. If you believe that blacks were not allowed to attend school with whites you are only marginally correct. Grades K-6 were indeed segregated, but that policy did not extend to junior high or the (then) single high school. It was far more complicated.
Classes at the latter two levels were totally integrated, but in what puzzled me than as now, blacks and whites could compete on integrated football and track teams and, I believe, baseball. but not in basketball. (No interracial dribbling allowed?)
Now well over a half century later my memory may have been impaired by age, but I strongly suspect that any victories the virulently odious Phelps may have had in court were either against individuals, not the city, or were gained against governmental units in suburban areas, not the city of Topeka.
Naked Bunny with a Whipsays
(No interracial dribbling allowed?)
Ha.
o-p-esays
Rabid,
I would see if there are some FSM followers at VT. They have staged a few counter protest, and you get pirates.
Pierce R. Butlersays
The Phelpses are so misunderstood.
Think of them as wanderin’ minstrels, just tryin’ to make a livin’.
This item from Ed Brayton, and the comments, provide links to more Phun Phelps Phacts.
a_ray_in_dilbert_spacesays
You know, I’m thinking that what the next Phelps protest needs is drag queens. Is Sister Boom Boom booked?
strange gods before me ॐsays
Rabid Child,
As a grad from Virginia Tech who still lives in Blacksburg, I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.
p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.
WBC are adept at receiving media coverage, and they don’t require your help. The local media will be there, whether the counter-protest is large or small. So you don’t need to worry that your presence will contribute to any small victory for the WBC; they’ll get what they want, no matter what you do.
In my opinion, when the media can report that the counter-protest outnumbered the WBC by 50-to-1, this can make the best of a bad situation, by at least demonstrating a community’s solidarity and commitment to values of tolerance and freedom.
What is unfortunately usually missing from corporate media reporting, though, is any recognition that WBC are here only because they hate gay people. The media prefer to tell the story through an empty-headed us-vs-them narrative, as though Westboro Baptist Church is al Qaeda, and they hate America because, uh, they hate America.
Reality is that all other WBC targets are secondary to gay people. They hate America only because they hate gay people, and America is a place where people can live their lives freely, love who they love, gay or straight. Homophobia leads to hatred of America, and the WBC share a goal with all the other haters who would like to see gay Americans eliminated or forced back into the closet. I wish I could see that fact relayed in the corporate media from the mouth of a counter-protester.
Commonly at an anti-WBC counter-protest, even when not formally organized, there are a substantial number of young liberals who oppose the WBC on all counts. This happens even when the event is a good distance from any campus. Religious and pro-military groups may publicize their presence more effectively, but they will not be the only ones there. If you decide to go, you will not feel left out.
Rev. BigDumbChimpsays
And remember, as Pierce’s link highlights, the WBC thrives on cash made from lawsuits.
blfsays
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the current-era KKK is split into numerous factions that disagree with each other:
Today, the Center estimates that there are between 5,000 and 8,000 Klan members, split among dozens of different – and often warring – organizations that use the Klan name.
The kukluxklan.bz domain does seem to belong to one of those factions. It’s registered to a POBox in Arizona:
kukluxklan [email protected]
P.O. Box 862
Compton, AR 72624
US
(870) 427-2376 fax: 123 123 1234
...
Record expires on 21-Mar-2012.
Record created on 21-Mar-2002.
There’s also a kukluxklan.biz registered to someone in Michigan, a kukluxklan.com registered to someone in Shanghai, a kukluxklan.co.uk registered to someone in the UK, and someone seems to be squatting the kukluxklan.org domain. Assorted kkk.stuff domains are also registered, and again there seem to be a few squatters.
mmelliott01says
Oh look! the KKK has an online store. Is it too late for the big spring White Sale?
Kudos to the Klan for trying to make their racism more palatable to the general public? This is no different from Stormfront’s policy of banning people for using the word “nigger.”
aratina cagesays
Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally! -Antiochus Epimanes #19
I wouldn’t put it past them after watching them picket Jerry Prevo’s church, which is on par with the Phelps Clan and has a KKK mindset minus the physical violence (he still commands plenty of intimidation and political violence).
blfsays
Oops! Correction to @86: The kukluxklan.bz domain does seem to belong to one of those factions. It’s registered to a POBox in ArizonaArkansas…
Fecking two-letter USA state abbreviations.
MrFiresays
@18:
Damn it, which side should we root for!?!?!?!
Mutually-assured destruction would be the only satisfying outcome for me. Not an atom left of either.
@46:
Fred Phelps was one of the good guys of the civil right movement in Kansas, back when that took some courage.
So the KKK do not like the Phelps clan. Big fucking deal. The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.
blfsays
The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.
Graeme Bird, who is a complete collection of nuts.
tsgsays
The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.
I think they should have a Battle Royale to the Ultimate Death ThingyTM to decide it once and for all.
Waltonsays
Re the whole debate about whether Phelps is racist: I suspect it’s futile to look for any kind of consistency or philosophical coherence in his public statements. From the online account by his estranged son, Nate Phelps, it seems that Fred Phelps is an unbalanced, abusive control freak. It looks to me like his religious nuttery, and vicious hatred of everyone who isn’t part of his crazy little sect, are just symptoms of his serious psychological problems.
He also seems to me to be a pathological attention-seeker. The amount of media coverage his protests receive, and the way he seems to tailor his public statements to be offensive to as many people as possible, support this view. In a way, the counter-protests and public condemnations are probably giving him what he wants: namely, attention. Given his Calvinist theology, he isn’t aiming to win converts, and he certainly isn’t going to be put off by the fact that everyone hates him. He believes he and his family are the predestined elect and the only two Christians, and he expects – and even wants – to be reviled by the secular world.
Waltonsays
and the only two Christians
…should have read “only true Christians”, of course. Typo cooties.
Naked Bunny with a Whipsays
KKK is split into numerous factions that disagree with each other
Guess they’re still Democrats. *rimshot*
scooterKPFTsays
Janine @ 92
The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.
Not really, no matter how you identify, the level of hate you receive from the Phelps Clan has little, if any, effect in the real world.
On the other hand, if you piss off your local KKK, you are more likely to have an actual problem. The Klan is associated with Aryan Brotherhood prison gangs, skinheads, some of the outlaw motorcycle gangs, and assorted other nasty elements that murder people for fun, profit, and ideological reasons.
I say we dig a whacking great pit, adorn with spikes and assorted sharp objects as interior decoration dictates, and {ahem} “invite” the Phelps Phunsters and the KKK to duke it out in a Battle Royale.
Last bigot standing gets a prize.
Ok the prize is being impaled on a splintery pole, but it’s still a prize dammit, don’t be ungrateful.
Louis
Moggiesays
#94:
I think they should have a Battle Royale to the Ultimate Death ThingyTM to decide it once and for all.
Dressed in Japanese school uniforms, of course.
strange gods before me ॐsays
And yeah,Phelps ain`t racist ,he hates everyone.
He is a white supremacist who hates black and Jewish people specifically. Read the thread.
jcmartz.myopenid.comsays
Maybe that tells you something about Westboro Baptist.
David Bsays
Since no-one else can find a good word for Phelps, I will try to provide some fairness and balance.
He has enough integrity to not just quote bible verses that are cherry picked to be nice.
He demonstrates the cultic nature of his own group, and, by extension, other similar groups.
He gives Christianity a bad name.
So he’s not all bad.
Apart from that he does seem to be a super shit, though.
I’ve come across the moving account of one of his sons who managed to escape the cult in a number of places, including here IIRC.
mmelliott01says
Sigh. I guess this is the wrong venue for a White Sale joke…
generallydissatisfied.myopenid.comsays
It’s truly a special day when the lowest of the low rejects the lowest of the lowest of the low. I’m smiling now.
tsgsays
Dressed in Japanese school uniforms, of course.
Well, there goes my favorite porn genre….
Standard curvesays
James (#49),
That is hilarious. I think I would have to do similar if I see them around. I’m thinking my sign would be, “The cake is a lie.”
Watchingthedeniers.wordpress.comsays
@ David B
It all makes sense, Phelps is actually a deep cover agent for liberal-secularism trying to discredit Christianity through his evil actions…
Seriously though, the kids brought up in that nut house must be damaged.
IslandBrewersays
RE: The comments about whether Phelps is/was a racist and/or was one of the good guys.
According to his estranged son Nate’s Website, if you read his entire speech, his father actually did seem to be racist, and his civil rights lawsuits were, at the time, a big source of revenue for him.
What I want to know is, Who among us had the courage to check out the KKK web page in the first place?
My surfing has taken me pretty far afield in the past, even to places I don’t want to admit having visited. But it has never occurred to me to search for the official website of the KKK LLC.
I’m glad to see the site is hosted in Belize, though. I’d hate it if they had a .edu or a .org domain.
So I guess the KKK LLC isn’t liable when one of their members burns a cross or lynches someone? How convi-i-i-ient.
MikeM
Naked Bunny with a Whipsays
I’m glad to see the site is hosted in Belize
It appears to be hosted in northern Arkansas.
I’d hate it if they had a .edu or a .org domain.
.edu domains are restricted to accredited postsecondary US schools, so pretty unlikely. .org is for noncommercial sites, though there are no rules about getting one of those. It would probably be appropriate for KKK LLC; however, I doubt the squatter that owns kukluxklan.org will part with it cheaply, same with the one that owns kkk.org. kkk.com is taken by a different faction, I guess.
DeusExNihilumsays
The klan probably don’t like WBC because Fred Phelps spent 20 years campaigning for the Civil Rights of African Americans.
Wow, this is even better than the GOP breaking up into the libertarians and the teabaggers.
Is there any hope these groups, all of whom I assume are heavily armed, will actually go to war with each other? I mean real war, with bullets and stuff?
You’d think a black president would bring all the righties together, but it seems to have fragmented them to such an extent that can’t possibly win an election anywhere, except Utah.
Sauceresssays
#31 Rabid Child
Any suggestions?
p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.
#81 o-p-e
I would see if there are some FSM followers at VT. They have staged a few counter protest, and you get pirates.
Yeah I found that link too, but it seems to be inactive. The most recent FSM and VT connection that I can find seems to be from a few days after the shooting in ’07.
pixelfishsays
While it’s somewhat amusing to see the KKK distancing themselves from the WBC, I feel the need to note that it really doesn’t push them up on the scale of humanity…as KnockGoats correctly points out, being hated by the KKK isn’t necessarily a badge of shame. The KKK is still vile, and the WBC, despite being hated by a hate group, is also still vile. It’s just that the bottom feeders are just as ready to turn on each other as they are on other much more decent human beings.
ambulocetaceansays
KOPD, Strange Gods, IslandBrewer,
Thanks for the links. I’ll have to read some of the longer ones later. It does seem clear, though, that Phelps has always been a total lunatic asshole.
atomjacksays
tsg@108: you’ll just have to settle for white cottom blouses and plaid wool skirts. That even works when they’re 27.
jidashdeesays
My image of this family was just shattered by the rationality of Nate Phelps.
The klan probably don’t like WBC because Fred Phelps spent 20 years campaigning for the Civil Rights of African Americans.
Ironically, bigots are a very diverse group.
Enkidusays
KOOKFIGHT!
tsgsays
tsg@108: you’ll just have to settle for white cottom blouses and plaid wool skirts. That even works when they’re 27.
With pigtails and patent leather shoes buffed to a shine….
Um, I’ll be right back. I won’t be long, I promise…
randydudeksays
Sigh. I guess this is the wrong venue for a White Sale joke…
I just haven’t gotten back to this thread in a good long while and had a lot of catching up to do. I LOLZed at your joke. Honest.
sandiseattlesays
They don’t deserve any respect. They are a bunch of idiots. WBC is so stupid they once protested at a funeral.
Steven Dunlapsays
Does this remind anyone else of that scene from The Life of Brian where they are talking about all the different anti-Roman resistance groups? Someone asks “Where’s the ‘Judean People’s Front?’ then someone says, “oh, look, he’s over there,” then they all stand up and shout at him “Splitter!”
Anyone else think of this?
Crewvysays
He is a white supremacist who hates black and Jewish people specifically. Read the thread.
Dear o dear, did`nt think I needed a sarcasm disclaimer on this thread.
Bride of Shrek OMsays
Seriously,
From my previous personal stoushes with them I can tell you Fred is bug fuck nuts but Shirley, the evil spawn, is on a whole ‘nother level. The woman is totally rabid, certifiably fucking insane. She is so totally into her father and her obsession runs with him runs at such a deep level I had to seriously question the nature of their relationship at one stage.
Both Fred and her have put the WBC equivalent of a Fatwah on me because it shat them off no end that when they were threatening to do the demo thing at Heath Ledger’s memorial in Aust ( they figure god hates him because he’s like an actor and all and did Brokeback Moutain)that I campaigned our Dept of Immigration to designate them as “unsuitable persons” for a tourist visa.
Fred is easy to argue with because, no matter what his past, he’s now hitting the senility button and goes nuclear easily. Shirley on the other hand is fucking scary. She’s intelligent, knows her law and is seriously articulate. She’s also a total fucking hypocrite that simultaneously preaches women are basically the shitstain of Adam and should be subjugated and beaten by men yet enjoys the privledges of a legal education and her own professional career herself. She goes apeshit of you ask her about her hypocrisy regarding her famous “god hates unwed mothers” sign and the fact her own first child was born prior to marriage.
Bitchclam.
Shplanesays
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Beautiful.
Waltonsays
BoS, you have a lot of courage, facing down these crazy people in person. I’ve never encountered them IRL (as I recall, they were specifically denied entry to the UK by the Home Office when they wanted to protest here).
Incidentally, did you get my email the other day?
vreejacksays
As far as I can tell, WBC is the closest you can get to true Evangelicalism. Which is actually one of the reasons I am no longer a Christian.
Enkidusays
Michael Moore vs Westboro Baptist Church
Well worth watching . . . ya gotta get to the “Sodomobile.”
cjdsays
This is my favorite Westboro Church story when they decided to protest outside of an “inner-city” high school in Nebraska. Good for these kids to step up to the plate:
November 22, 2008
Publication: Omaha World-Herald (NE)
“Members of a Kansas church that protests at the funerals of slain service members fled the right-of-way near Omaha’s Central High School on Friday because police said they could not protect them from hundreds of student counterprotesters.
Students threw hamburgers and bottles of lemonade and milk at several members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., students said after the protest.”
cjdsays
As a side note about these folks. Don’t EVER, EVER, EVER physically touch these folks. You can scream at them, argue with them, stick out your tongue, etc. They are all lawyers who are looking to sue, ie. how they make their money, at the drop of a hat.
cjd, i do not find that funny. The + quarter of a million dollars that the Phelphses use to pickett they mostlty get through court-cases. Probably the police (and thus the people) had to pay, because the family was denied their right to protest.
Let them protest. I do not know us-law, but look into it, do a counter protest, but such that they CANNOT claim anything.
Church of FSM has some nice material. Or seeing BoS’ experience search the bible for deathquotes of unwed mothers and such to irritate the bitchclam or on incest to get her and the arseknob.
And the Thank you cards sent to Fred, perfect touch.
@BoS
I’ve been looking for more information on the extended Phelps family and other members of WBC. For example, did you dig up the fact that Shirley’s firstborn was out of wedlock from behind a computer, or was there more effort put into it? My curiosity is purely morbid, or course.
Dragonesssays
Hello!
Our local atheist group attended the events on april 8 at both the capital building& the WVU one.
we had lovely signs.
non hurtful nor deameaning, only
encouraging & uplifting while we all smiled smiled SMILED!
We offered those not in our
group a number of different more “loving” & “upbeat signs” to replace those signs
we ran into “WV HATES WBC” or “WHY COME WHERE YOU ARE HATED?”
i felt that was not the message to send, though it was certainly represented.
the closer people got the measly two members of the WBC, the more fervent my concerns were about no one toughing them.
imnshDo, next time we get the opportunity to protest hate groups as well backed as the WBC is, i say we have a pig roast in their honour.
it surely will be fun & confuse the heck out of the WBC!!!
lololol
John Moralessays
Dragoness, your comment reads nicely as free verse. :)
Dragonesssays
O!
—> } : 8=} )<---
dragoness is surely blushing!
mikeesays
It’s said that some of the most strident homophobes are suppressing their own latent tendencies. Perhaps Fred got turned down by a guy in the past and this is his revenge. Perhaps Shirley knows and this is why she is so rabid??
Wow, you know you’re bottom of the barrel when even the Klan refuses to be associated with you.
Nice to see some standards. Even hatred is subject to the law of diminishing returns.
A Belize domain name? How very patriotic of them.
Considering the Klan is in favour of outlawing homosexuality, I have no idea why they dislike the Westboro Baptist Church. Maybe it’s their style?
You’d think the “God Hates Jews” signs would have swayed them.
I guess there weren’t enough “God Hates Niggers” signs.
Ouch. I can’t tell what’s worse, being accepted by the KKK or being rejected by them.
Kudos to the Klan for a change.
What’s their position on evolution, global warming and abortion?
Moggie #3,
Nice catch.
Oppose evolution and abortion, but vary regarding global warming.
Wow – it seems to be genuine. My guess is that they don’t want to be associated with the people picketing and harassing the relatives of soldiers killed on tour. However, I’d rather deal with the Phelps clan than the Klan.
Q. How do you know you’re a member of the Westboro Baptist Church?
A. When not even Jesus loves you.
Well, if you’re white and not even the Klu Klux Klan likes you, you must be a real asshole.
@Rachel Bronwyn: Probably what they do to soldiers and their families.
@#4
My guess is that the Klan considers their picketing of soldiers with signs saying “God Hates US Soldiers” to be a bit much – some of those soldiers are white after all.
Actually that’s pretty much how the Phelps clan fell out of favor with everyone. When they were just showing up to picket at the funerals of gay men, they had a number of tacit supporters. They didn’t become toxic until they started picketing soldiers too. (I think Phelps is doing it intentionally – it feeds the martyr complex of his church/family to have everyone hate them, and it keeps them unified against outsiders).
Oh my god, that’s one of the funniest stories I’ve heard in a long while. I’d love a bumper sticker of that, except of course, everyone would mistake me for a member of the Klan…
Lovely story though…
Doesn’t really work, for me – being despised and repudiated by the KKK is not a badge of shame! I sincerely hope they would despise and repudiate me and any political campaign I’ve been involved in. And we know kooks and kranks of different kinds frequently despise and repudiate each other.
Well, really, a group does have to maintain some standards.
When the worst imaginable bigots find someone even lower, – that is low!
In this case you can look at it as life forms where KKK would be at the bottom rung, but they have found some life form beneath them.
Most other is way above, of course. With a few exceptions, being on the same rung. No prize for guessing who, though there is quite a selection.
Really? Even too much for the Klan? What’s next, the Neo-Nazi movement tyring to distance themselves as well?
I guess we can expect the WBC to start picketing clan meetings with “God hates the KKK”.
Now that would be an interesting face off ;)
Damn it, which side should we root for!?!?!?!
Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!
I never thought I’d see Even Evil Has Standards applied to this aspect of real life. Wow!
So — basically what other Christians do, only moreso.
“Westboro Baptist Church. Tastes like regular Christianity, but with only half the shame!”
this
KKK LLC? WTF?
What, you need to incorporate to burn crosses now?
Just seems weird to me, is all.
“Oh, pleaseohpleaseohplease let the Phelpstards try to picket a Klan rally!”
Oh YES. PLEASE.
Man… this is so hilarious.
I think the KKK despises Westboro for its flagrant use of color in all of its signage. And, since they’re from KS, their kin probably fought on the wrong side of the Civil War.
I tell ya… we Phelps’, we get no respect… no respect at all…
I asked my old man if I could go ice-skating on the lake. He told me, “Wait til it gets warmer.”
When I was born the doctor came out to the waiting room and said to my father, “I’m very sorry. We did everything we could…but he pulled through.”
I come from a stupid family. During the Civil War my great uncle fought for the west!
My mother never breast fed me. She told me that she only liked me as a friend.
When I played in the sandbox the cat kept covering me up.
[/Dangerfield]
@jerthebarbarian #13:
I think Phelps would break the scales on the
“Advanced Bonewits Cult Danger Evaluation Frame” with the KKK not far behind.
Granted, Isaac Bonewits is something of a woo-meister himself, but his particular brand ranks very low on the danger scale. Be that as it may, his cult danger evaluation frame should be kept alongside Carl Sagans “Baloney Detection Kit” as a convenient reference.
You know who else gets no respect?
Animals that don’t dig oxygen.
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/04/scienceshot-animals-that-live-wi.html?rss=1
bbgunn071679: I’m pretty sure any member of the KKK would refer to that war as “The War of Northern Agression” or at least “The War between the States”. It’s never referred to as the Civil War by “proper” southerners.
Well, to be fair, Phelps did spend time as a civil rights lawyer back in the sixties, although as I understand, he did it just to bilk his customers.
The WBC is coming to Blacksburg, VA tomorrow to picket the April 16, 2007 shootings. These swine say that tragedy was the fault of the student’s promiscuity and general “un-Christian” behavior. As a grad from Virginia Tech who still lives in Blacksburg, I am conflicted as to how I should respond. I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions? Thanks.
p.s. The only organized counter-protests I have heard of are from religious organizations and I don’t feel like singing “Kumbaya” to these assholes.
Someone really needs to turn this into a de-motivational poster…
Since my days as a GLBT activist lawyer the Phelps clan have always had a truly special place in my heart. I have traded tirades with that old wanker and his shithead offspring so many times that I have always pledged that when the old fuck dies, I will again travel to the US and I will proudly and vocally stand at his funeral holding a placard that says “GOD FUCKING HATES FRED PHELPS”.
I’ve lost so much of my life arguing against that old arseknob and the bitchclam that is Shirley that it will be my very special pleasure to attend the service and pay my personal respects.
Rident,
Nice article, thanks for that.
I’d be interested in seeing an encounter between the Phelps clan and the Klan clan. I’m also picturing something like MTV’s Celebrity Death Match between Phelps and Duke. And one more thing. Perhaps this has been mentioned before, because I can’t imagine I’m the only person who thinks Phelps looks like this guy.
@ Rabid Child – I personally like the “God Dates Fags” sign from the Irish blasphemy art show, I think this is the same sign I saw in the video:
http://willstleger.wordpress.com/2009/05/26/god-dates-fags/
@ KOPD
Maybe they should go on Jerry Springer?
“When ignorant racists and deranged, homophobic religious nut bags clash!”
The thought of Phelps standing up on stage and taking off his shirt is disturbing to say the least.
No doubt they’d rumble on the set… And how would Jerry sign off on that show?
“You know, we can all learn a lesson from this. God hates idjits.”
cactusren @29: You are absolutely correct. I am not a proper southerner; nor do I have any desire to be proper or southerner. So I have a tough time using the confederate terminology.
@Rabid Child #31
I am particularly fond of the counter-protest fundraiser. Using the WBC presence as an incentive for a fundraiser to raise money for those they oppose.
I don’t know if there is a fund already set up for the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting or if other organizations will come to mind for the contributions.
@Watchingthedeniers
Let’s hope we don’t ever see them on Maury finding out which is the daddy.
No, you need to incorporate to protect your personal assets (like, your trailer home and your rusted Ford 150 pick-up) from civil lawsuits.
Good business decision by the KKK. They’re evil, not stupid. Well, maybe not stupid.
This is a religous dispute, Westboro is Calvinist, the Klan runs very heavily mainstream protestant and don’t like catholics or calvinists (they are usually less enthused about destroying the catholics than they are blacks and gays, but that one is in there). The Klan is offended that Phelps thinks only his bunch is God’s chosen, rather than white people (except for those race traitors, you know, what everyone else calls being decent human beings).
@ Steve and Voice of the Gods
Thanks for your suggestions. I like the fundraiser idea but it may be too late to organize (they will be at VT in 24 hrs). I also like the “God Dates Fags” sign and I might actually grow a pair to make one.
I don’t want to give them any more attention, but I also feel wrong to just let them trounce the memory of those who lost their lives. Any suggestions?
Find out where they will be protesting. Dig a deep hole where they’ll be standing. Make it big enough for all 20 of them. Cover with Palm leaves Wait. Laugh. Bury alive. Laugh some more.
Not that it would happen, but it makes my little black heart do a happy dance.
While IANAL, the business law attorneys I have worked with tell me that 99.9% of small businesses with liability protection, such as LLCs and S Corps, operate in such a way as to nullify their liability protection.
The Klucks, for example, transport LLC property in the personally owned rusted Ford pickup rather than in the (non-existent) LLC truck. And, wouldn’t you know it, they can’t produce a lease agreement between the LLC and the individual for the use of the truck.
So,they are both evil and stupid.
Fred Phelps was one of the good guys of the civil right movement in Kansas, back when that took some courage.
He went nuts later.
Another reason the Klan wouldn’t like Phelps is that he was instrumental in taking down the Jim Crow laws in Topeka. To the Klan, he’d be a “nigger lover.”
From Wiki:
Rabid Child @31
Here’s another option for dealing with the phelps. However, you’ll need some friends.
Not sure if this would be appropriate in the context of the VA Tech shootings, but remember in San Fransisco awhile back, when WBC showed up to picket the Twitter offices, people did a surrealist counter-protest. Signs that said things like:
“Build PRISONS on the MOON!”
“I have a sign!”
“God Never Gonna Give You Up”
“God Never Gonna Let You Down”
“God Never Gonna Run Around and Hurt You”
“God Hates Kittens”
“ME”
“I was promised donuts”
http://laughingsquid.com/san-franciscos-answer-to-westboro-baptist-church/
Most of you already know that God hates shrimp.
At the University of Rochester, student-led counter-protesters used bed sheets strung between long poles to surround and block the WBC’ers from public view. Since they kept their visual barricade at the proscribed distance, the Phelpseses were powerless to stop them. You’d have needed to be 12 feet tall to see the God Hates Fags signage.
No, you’re definitely not the only one. Google “fred phelps poltergeist”.
Did you have to provide a tvtropes link?
I’ll make it my number two priority when I get home later.
Or figs, a real classic (Mark 11:12-14).
Hmm, the URL seems to belong to a strange Japanese website.
@Moggie #3: According to Wikipedia, the “.bz” domain was and still is marketed as a “business” domain, predating the “.biz” domain. I suspect the KKK just didn’t want to pay a squatter for their domain name.
I’m glad it’s not just me. Every time I go there I end up in a geometric cascade of “ooh, what’s that?”
Wow. I never realised that Phelps used to be one of the good guys. So sad that he’s gone insane.
Just as long as nobody tells the KKK that racism isn’t necessarily a Christian value. Nobody should stand up for secular bigots.
KOPD @ 47
Yup,
those westboro maniacs have always been crazy but they used to direct their rage at more legitimate targets like racist assholes in Kansas, back in the day./
In defence of Phelps, at least he doesn’t hide his face behind a bed sheet. The KKK won’t even show their faces.
Anyone else down for prank calling the KKK?
amulocetacean,
He founded Westboro before getting his law degree and taking on civil rights issues, so it’s questionable if he was ever truly a “good guy” or if he’s just not completely evil. I think it’s just that racism doesn’t fit with his interpretation of the Bible.
The Westboro loons are in my home town today, Charleston, WV; they’re actually about 10 minutes from where I work. The WV Atheists are wanting to have a counter-demonstration about 30 minutes after the Westboro loons do their little number. Man, I despise those baptist fuckers, I wanted to go and hang with my own signs but I have to pick up the kids today, and I’m not bringing them anywhere near those nut jobs.
This KKK news release better not be a joke, because as we all know, God Hates Gags…
@#64: He hates puns too.
Moggie @#3:
I can only assume that after having kukluxklan.org rejected, they tried to get a .biz address, but all the spammers complained that the KKK would give .biz a bad name.
Presumably no one has told them that Belize is full of brown people.
If I understand URL’s correctly (and I’m not sure that I do), if the KKK’s domain .bz was a country code, shouldn’t it be followed by “.co” or some such? That is, someone earlier mentioned that “.bz” is actually “biz”, not Belize. And if so, is Belize country code really “.bz”? is Colombia’s “.co” ? So much confusion…
Westboro Baptist Church… Poe? It seems like something Andy Kaufman would have dreamed up.
@65: Indeed. Such transgressions come with steep punishments.
@67: It would appear bz is for Belize.
How often does the opportunity present itself to share this:
Just Found a Red Sock in the Laundry (While Washing My Ku Klux Klan Sheet)
Sorry people, I guess this is this is the new KKK.
@SteveM #67: This is the article I referred to.
Yeah, Fred Phelps isn’t a racist. He thinks all “fags and fag-sympathizers” are going to hell regardless of colour or creed! The only people not going to hell are the members of the Westboro Baptist Church. If the only people up in heaven are the Phelpses, I’ll take hell…
From Bride of Shrek: “Arseknob and the bitchclam”. Hey, two new words for my vocabulary! It takes a special kind of disgust to get words like that.
They’re Calvinists. They probably think some of their members are going to Hell, too.
If Phelps and the Klan ever do confront each other directly, I want to be there to sell firearms to both sides!
IMHO there is still hope for them. I’m sure they have not tried with Ratzinger. If he backed a legion of pedo priest I see no reason why he would not wholeheartedly embrace the Westboro dudes.
Re the statement (#47) that Phelps was instrumental in taking down “the Jim Crow laws in Topeka,” I have to wonder. I lived in Topeka in the pre-Phelps days (the 1930 in my name is my birth year) and while there was bigotry, some of which doubtless persists today, and policies that supported that bigotry, I at no time heard that they claimed any justification by law.
Two possible exceptions were the all-white status of the Gage Park swimming pool and, of course, Brown v. Board. Even that latter is misunderstood. If you believe that blacks were not allowed to attend school with whites you are only marginally correct. Grades K-6 were indeed segregated, but that policy did not extend to junior high or the (then) single high school. It was far more complicated.
Classes at the latter two levels were totally integrated, but in what puzzled me than as now, blacks and whites could compete on integrated football and track teams and, I believe, baseball. but not in basketball. (No interracial dribbling allowed?)
Now well over a half century later my memory may have been impaired by age, but I strongly suspect that any victories the virulently odious Phelps may have had in court were either against individuals, not the city, or were gained against governmental units in suburban areas, not the city of Topeka.
Ha.
Rabid,
I would see if there are some FSM followers at VT. They have staged a few counter protest, and you get pirates.
The Phelpses are so misunderstood.
Think of them as wanderin’ minstrels, just tryin’ to make a livin’.
This item from Ed Brayton, and the comments, provide links to more Phun Phelps Phacts.
You know, I’m thinking that what the next Phelps protest needs is drag queens. Is Sister Boom Boom booked?
Rabid Child,
WBC are adept at receiving media coverage, and they don’t require your help. The local media will be there, whether the counter-protest is large or small. So you don’t need to worry that your presence will contribute to any small victory for the WBC; they’ll get what they want, no matter what you do.
In my opinion, when the media can report that the counter-protest outnumbered the WBC by 50-to-1, this can make the best of a bad situation, by at least demonstrating a community’s solidarity and commitment to values of tolerance and freedom.
What is unfortunately usually missing from corporate media reporting, though, is any recognition that WBC are here only because they hate gay people. The media prefer to tell the story through an empty-headed us-vs-them narrative, as though Westboro Baptist Church is al Qaeda, and they hate America because, uh, they hate America.
Reality is that all other WBC targets are secondary to gay people. They hate America only because they hate gay people, and America is a place where people can live their lives freely, love who they love, gay or straight. Homophobia leads to hatred of America, and the WBC share a goal with all the other haters who would like to see gay Americans eliminated or forced back into the closet. I wish I could see that fact relayed in the corporate media from the mouth of a counter-protester.
Commonly at an anti-WBC counter-protest, even when not formally organized, there are a substantial number of young liberals who oppose the WBC on all counts. This happens even when the event is a good distance from any campus. Religious and pro-military groups may publicize their presence more effectively, but they will not be the only ones there. If you decide to go, you will not feel left out.
And remember, as Pierce’s link highlights, the WBC thrives on cash made from lawsuits.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, the current-era KKK is split into numerous factions that disagree with each other:
The kukluxklan.bz domain does seem to belong to one of those factions. It’s registered to a POBox in Arizona:
There’s also a kukluxklan.biz registered to someone in Michigan, a kukluxklan.com registered to someone in Shanghai, a kukluxklan.co.uk registered to someone in the UK, and someone seems to be squatting the kukluxklan.org domain. Assorted kkk.stuff domains are also registered, and again there seem to be a few squatters.
Oh look! the KKK has an online store. Is it too late for the big spring White Sale?
You’re a sucker.
Fred Phelps has always been a white supremacist, the Westboro Baptist Church always promoted racism against both Jewish and black people, and the Westboro Baptist Church still practices racism today.
Kudos to the Klan for trying to make their racism more palatable to the general public? This is no different from Stormfront’s policy of banning people for using the word “nigger.”
I wouldn’t put it past them after watching them picket Jerry Prevo’s church, which is on par with the Phelps Clan and has a KKK mindset minus the physical violence (he still commands plenty of intimidation and political violence).
Oops! Correction to @86: The kukluxklan.bz domain does seem to belong to one of those factions. It’s registered to a POBox in
ArizonaArkansas…Fecking two-letter USA state abbreviations.
@18:
Mutually-assured destruction would be the only satisfying outcome for me. Not an atom left of either.
@46:
Right around the time he was almost beating his kids to death.
So the KKK do not like the Phelps clan. Big fucking deal. The real question is this, which group hates the collection of people at this blog more, the KKK or the Phelps clan.
Graeme Bird, who is a complete collection of nuts.
I think they should have a Battle Royale to the Ultimate Death ThingyTM to decide it once and for all.
Re the whole debate about whether Phelps is racist: I suspect it’s futile to look for any kind of consistency or philosophical coherence in his public statements. From the online account by his estranged son, Nate Phelps, it seems that Fred Phelps is an unbalanced, abusive control freak. It looks to me like his religious nuttery, and vicious hatred of everyone who isn’t part of his crazy little sect, are just symptoms of his serious psychological problems.
He also seems to me to be a pathological attention-seeker. The amount of media coverage his protests receive, and the way he seems to tailor his public statements to be offensive to as many people as possible, support this view. In a way, the counter-protests and public condemnations are probably giving him what he wants: namely, attention. Given his Calvinist theology, he isn’t aiming to win converts, and he certainly isn’t going to be put off by the fact that everyone hates him. He believes he and his family are the predestined elect and the only two Christians, and he expects – and even wants – to be reviled by the secular world.
…should have read “only true Christians”, of course. Typo cooties.
Guess they’re still Democrats. *rimshot*
Janine @ 92
Not really, no matter how you identify, the level of hate you receive from the Phelps Clan has little, if any, effect in the real world.
On the other hand, if you piss off your local KKK, you are more likely to have an actual problem. The Klan is associated with Aryan Brotherhood prison gangs, skinheads, some of the outlaw motorcycle gangs, and assorted other nasty elements that murder people for fun, profit, and ideological reasons.
Only twue Chwistians know twue wuv.
Would the KKK even know where Belize is?
And yeah,Phelps ain`t racist ,he hates everyone.
I say we dig a whacking great pit, adorn with spikes and assorted sharp objects as interior decoration dictates, and {ahem} “invite” the Phelps Phunsters and the KKK to duke it out in a Battle Royale.
Last bigot standing gets a prize.
Ok the prize is being impaled on a splintery pole, but it’s still a prize dammit, don’t be ungrateful.
Louis
#94:
Dressed in Japanese school uniforms, of course.
He is a white supremacist who hates black and Jewish people specifically. Read the thread.
Maybe that tells you something about Westboro Baptist.
Since no-one else can find a good word for Phelps, I will try to provide some fairness and balance.
He has enough integrity to not just quote bible verses that are cherry picked to be nice.
He demonstrates the cultic nature of his own group, and, by extension, other similar groups.
He gives Christianity a bad name.
So he’s not all bad.
Apart from that he does seem to be a super shit, though.
I’ve come across the moving account of one of his sons who managed to escape the cult in a number of places, including here IIRC.
Sigh. I guess this is the wrong venue for a White Sale joke…
It’s truly a special day when the lowest of the low rejects the lowest of the lowest of the low. I’m smiling now.
Well, there goes my favorite porn genre….
James (#49),
That is hilarious. I think I would have to do similar if I see them around. I’m thinking my sign would be, “The cake is a lie.”
@ David B
It all makes sense, Phelps is actually a deep cover agent for liberal-secularism trying to discredit Christianity through his evil actions…
Seriously though, the kids brought up in that nut house must be damaged.
RE: The comments about whether Phelps is/was a racist and/or was one of the good guys.
According to his estranged son Nate’s Website, if you read his entire speech, his father actually did seem to be racist, and his civil rights lawsuits were, at the time, a big source of revenue for him.
Dammit, Shala, there goes my day!
LinkFAIL!
http://natephelps.com/10801.html
I can’t say what’s more hilarious, the News release or the comments on it :)
What I want to know is, Who among us had the courage to check out the KKK web page in the first place?
My surfing has taken me pretty far afield in the past, even to places I don’t want to admit having visited. But it has never occurred to me to search for the official website of the KKK LLC.
I’m glad to see the site is hosted in Belize, though. I’d hate it if they had a .edu or a .org domain.
So I guess the KKK LLC isn’t liable when one of their members burns a cross or lynches someone? How convi-i-i-ient.
MikeM
It appears to be hosted in northern Arkansas.
.edu domains are restricted to accredited postsecondary US schools, so pretty unlikely. .org is for noncommercial sites, though there are no rules about getting one of those. It would probably be appropriate for KKK LLC; however, I doubt the squatter that owns kukluxklan.org will part with it cheaply, same with the one that owns kkk.org. kkk.com is taken by a different faction, I guess.
The klan probably don’t like WBC because Fred Phelps spent 20 years campaigning for the Civil Rights of African Americans.
Wow, this is even better than the GOP breaking up into the libertarians and the teabaggers.
Is there any hope these groups, all of whom I assume are heavily armed, will actually go to war with each other? I mean real war, with bullets and stuff?
You’d think a black president would bring all the righties together, but it seems to have fragmented them to such an extent that can’t possibly win an election anywhere, except Utah.
#31 Rabid Child
#81 o-p-e
Like this recent one
usc pastafarians counter-protest of westboro baptist church demonstration
Virginia Tech Pastafarians do have a Facebook page but (to me….don’t use Facebook) it looks fairly inactive or perhaps it’s just a recent effort.
a href=”http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=12202088660″>Pastafarianism at Virginia Tech: Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
Remember the definition of a fanatic? “A person who unconsciously overcompensates for a secret doubt”. If Fred hates gays…
Arrrgh..HTML fail! Just copy/paste above link coz I want to try for another one from Laughing Squid
Signs signs
Thanks for all the suggestions.
@ Sauceress
Yeah I found that link too, but it seems to be inactive. The most recent FSM and VT connection that I can find seems to be from a few days after the shooting in ’07.
While it’s somewhat amusing to see the KKK distancing themselves from the WBC, I feel the need to note that it really doesn’t push them up on the scale of humanity…as KnockGoats correctly points out, being hated by the KKK isn’t necessarily a badge of shame. The KKK is still vile, and the WBC, despite being hated by a hate group, is also still vile. It’s just that the bottom feeders are just as ready to turn on each other as they are on other much more decent human beings.
KOPD, Strange Gods, IslandBrewer,
Thanks for the links. I’ll have to read some of the longer ones later. It does seem clear, though, that Phelps has always been a total lunatic asshole.
tsg@108: you’ll just have to settle for white cottom blouses and plaid wool skirts. That even works when they’re 27.
My image of this family was just shattered by the rationality of Nate Phelps.
Check out his recent interview on Canajun TV.
Ironically, bigots are a very diverse group.
KOOKFIGHT!
With pigtails and patent leather shoes buffed to a shine….
Um, I’ll be right back. I won’t be long, I promise…
I just haven’t gotten back to this thread in a good long while and had a lot of catching up to do. I LOLZed at your joke. Honest.
They don’t deserve any respect. They are a bunch of idiots. WBC is so stupid they once protested at a funeral.
Does this remind anyone else of that scene from The Life of Brian where they are talking about all the different anti-Roman resistance groups? Someone asks “Where’s the ‘Judean People’s Front?’ then someone says, “oh, look, he’s over there,” then they all stand up and shout at him “Splitter!”
Anyone else think of this?
Dear o dear, did`nt think I needed a sarcasm disclaimer on this thread.
Seriously,
From my previous personal stoushes with them I can tell you Fred is bug fuck nuts but Shirley, the evil spawn, is on a whole ‘nother level. The woman is totally rabid, certifiably fucking insane. She is so totally into her father and her obsession runs with him runs at such a deep level I had to seriously question the nature of their relationship at one stage.
Both Fred and her have put the WBC equivalent of a Fatwah on me because it shat them off no end that when they were threatening to do the demo thing at Heath Ledger’s memorial in Aust ( they figure god hates him because he’s like an actor and all and did Brokeback Moutain)that I campaigned our Dept of Immigration to designate them as “unsuitable persons” for a tourist visa.
Fred is easy to argue with because, no matter what his past, he’s now hitting the senility button and goes nuclear easily. Shirley on the other hand is fucking scary. She’s intelligent, knows her law and is seriously articulate. She’s also a total fucking hypocrite that simultaneously preaches women are basically the shitstain of Adam and should be subjugated and beaten by men yet enjoys the privledges of a legal education and her own professional career herself. She goes apeshit of you ask her about her hypocrisy regarding her famous “god hates unwed mothers” sign and the fact her own first child was born prior to marriage.
Bitchclam.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Beautiful.
BoS, you have a lot of courage, facing down these crazy people in person. I’ve never encountered them IRL (as I recall, they were specifically denied entry to the UK by the Home Office when they wanted to protest here).
Incidentally, did you get my email the other day?
As far as I can tell, WBC is the closest you can get to true Evangelicalism. Which is actually one of the reasons I am no longer a Christian.
Michael Moore vs Westboro Baptist Church
Well worth watching . . . ya gotta get to the “Sodomobile.”
This is my favorite Westboro Church story when they decided to protest outside of an “inner-city” high school in Nebraska. Good for these kids to step up to the plate:
November 22, 2008
Publication: Omaha World-Herald (NE)
“Members of a Kansas church that protests at the funerals of slain service members fled the right-of-way near Omaha’s Central High School on Friday because police said they could not protect them from hundreds of student counterprotesters.
Students threw hamburgers and bottles of lemonade and milk at several members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., students said after the protest.”
As a side note about these folks. Don’t EVER, EVER, EVER physically touch these folks. You can scream at them, argue with them, stick out your tongue, etc. They are all lawyers who are looking to sue, ie. how they make their money, at the drop of a hat.
Nate Phelps returns to Topeka;
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5332
cjd, i do not find that funny. The + quarter of a million dollars that the Phelphses use to pickett they mostlty get through court-cases. Probably the police (and thus the people) had to pay, because the family was denied their right to protest.
Let them protest. I do not know us-law, but look into it, do a counter protest, but such that they CANNOT claim anything.
Church of FSM has some nice material. Or seeing BoS’ experience search the bible for deathquotes of unwed mothers and such to irritate the bitchclam or on incest to get her and the arseknob.
(great insults bride!)
@ Rabid Child and anyone else that may find themselves near phelps and gang:
I personally think that these people did a wonderfully inventive and important thing. Should you ever want a way to act against the wbc, try this:
http://friendlyatheist.com/2010/03/29/using-westboro-baptist-church-as-a-fundraiser/
@fiddler
That’s awesome. “God hates the new Facebook”
And the Thank you cards sent to Fred, perfect touch.
@BoS
I’ve been looking for more information on the extended Phelps family and other members of WBC. For example, did you dig up the fact that Shirley’s firstborn was out of wedlock from behind a computer, or was there more effort put into it? My curiosity is purely morbid, or course.
Hello!
Our local atheist group attended the events on april 8 at both the capital building& the WVU one.
we had lovely signs.
non hurtful nor deameaning, only
encouraging & uplifting while we all smiled smiled SMILED!
We offered those not in our
group a number of different more “loving” & “upbeat signs” to replace those signs
we ran into “WV HATES WBC” or “WHY COME WHERE YOU ARE HATED?”
i felt that was not the message to send, though it was certainly represented.
the closer people got the measly two members of the WBC, the more fervent my concerns were about no one toughing them.
imnshDo, next time we get the opportunity to protest hate groups as well backed as the WBC is, i say we have a pig roast in their honour.
it surely will be fun & confuse the heck out of the WBC!!!
lololol
Dragoness, your comment reads nicely as free verse. :)
O!
—> } : 8=} )<--- dragoness is surely blushing!
It’s said that some of the most strident homophobes are suppressing their own latent tendencies. Perhaps Fred got turned down by a guy in the past and this is his revenge. Perhaps Shirley knows and this is why she is so rabid??