"Scumbags"

No doubt you've heard of the Supremes' ruling today in the Westboro Baptist case. WB is that group of scumbags who protest homosexuality, often targeting military funerals with hateful signs, words, etc. Which of us, were the funeral of one of our loved ones, wouldn't want to do some serious damage to the faces of these scumbags?



Anyway, the Supreme were right, maybe. Purportedly, CJ John Roberts wrote, "Bags of scum have free speech rights, too." He's right, of course. The First Amendment is there to protect ideas we hate. It's easy to allow ideas with which we agree or are only minorly offensive. The real test of our beliefs in freedom of speech come in instances involving, well, scumbags.



The Supremes were right, maybe. Maybe? Why, then, are there still laws against "hate speech" and "hate crimes?" If what these WB scumbags are doing isn't hate, what is? Or do we prohibit such "hate speech" and "hate crimes" against certain select groups? More about asking uncomfortable questions in a minute.



Now, can someone come up with legal methods to combat these scumbags, short of punching them in their mouths? How about a little community pressure? What about protests and yelling and signs outside their "church" and their homes? What about refusing to do business with stores and companies who employe members of WB? I certainly would avoid any store that hired one of these scumbags. How about you?



Let them have all the free speech they want. But, in return for expressing themselves, let them also feel the weight of community pressures.



I'm not a big fan of Froma Harrup. I find most of her columns to be fluff. She describes herself today as a bit liberal. I would have said more than that, but.... Today's column might just get herself in trouble with the left. She said the left is locked in a time warp, unable to ask questions that deal with reality. A recent article in Nation took the US to task for the gap between the rich and the poor. It cited a number of poor folks and their plights. One of the poor is a black woman in NYC, a single mother, raising three kids. FH wants to know the answers to some questions before indicting our system, that supposedly created this imbalance between the wealthy and the poor. One is, in this woman's case, where is/are the father/s of these three kids? Do they pay to raise these kids? Have they fled, having nothing to do with them, esp no economic contributions? Another she takes to task, about a woman who is "locked" into poverty because of a lack of education. Of course, the question that immediately rises is, "Why doesn't she have an education?" Certainly, if she was or had been concerned, educational opportunities abound for her. Why didn't she take advantage of them? Why isn't she back in some school or training facility now? And, irony of ironies, the Nation favors illegal immigration, while decrying poverty. But study after study shows that illegal immigration keeps native undereducated people in abject poverty, at minimum wage jobs. So....



It's hard to care about the NFL squabble. The owners are mostly filthy rich looking to get even richer. The players make more money in a year than I have over the course of my life. The owners are, I guess, risking their money. I don't know if that's a point of sympathy, but it is their money. One guy on the radio tried to evoke some support for the players by citing that specious argument that the players have short careers, only about 3-5 years. Granted, 3-5 years, esp compared to other professional sports, seems short indeed. But, in those 3-5 years, those players make more money than 90% or more of the rest of us do in our entire lives. And, if they are worried about future disabilities, then don't play. They've already been given free college educations. They can't find jobs like the rest of us????? A pox on both the owners' and the players' houses. Cancel the season; I don't care. I'll still do what I normally do on autumn Sun afternoons: go for long bike rides, esp with Bopper; go apple- or pumpkin picking with my grandkids, take long walks. One thing I rarely do on autumn Sun afternoons is watch NFL games.



Who won the Super Bowl again?????