Canadian Maniac Decapitates Fellow Passenger

[Asher]

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080807/funeral_protest_080807/20080807?hub=TopStories

'Hated' church group to protest Tim McLean funeral

Updated Thu. Aug. 7 2008 11:30 AM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

A church group described in a British documentary as "the most hated family in America" says it will head to Canada this weekend to protest Tim McLean's funeral.

The daughter of the founder of the Westboro Baptist Church, based in Topeka, Ka., told CTV.ca she and several other church members will go to Winnipeg on Saturday to demonstrate against what she described as McLean's "filthy way of life." Shirley Phelps-Roper said his life was emblematic of Canada's moral decay.

"God handed us a gift," Phelps-Roper said in a phone interview on Thursday.

She said McLean deserved his death by beheading on a Greyhound Bus last week.

"(His death was) supremely unemotional. You got God shaking in rage. There is no emotional component ... He was a rebel against God. He was taught to be a rebel by his parents. He came from a rebel country ... They brought this wrath upon his head. And it sucks to be him and it sucks to be them," Phelps-Roper said.

She said his brutal murder was a sign from God.

"You gotta connect the dots, people ... from your idols to your filthy way of life," she said.

"Here's what I know. He is dead and God does not do that to people that serve in his truth."

Phelps-Roper described McLean -- who she had never met -- in an insulting, insensitive and graphic manner. Her crudest descriptions of the 22-year-old are not printed.

"I haven't met him personally, but he has nothing going on," she said dismissively.

"(His life) was all about him. Blah, blah, blah ... He was a rebel ... I don't need to know anything else ... I don't need to know the minutia. Everything you need to know is right there."

The Westboro Baptist church has gained notoriety in recent years for setting up protest pickets at the funerals of U.S. soldiers who died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Church members claim the deaths are part of God's wrath against Americans for turning their back on his teachings. They have repeatedly called the U.S. a "***" nation, a phrase Phelps-Roper used repeatedly to describe Canada.

Phelps-Roper said she does not mind that her family is reviled by the majority of Americans. She claimed she rejoices when people say they despise and hate her family.

"I say, 'cha ching.' That goes in our bank. God gives us tokens of his love," she said.

Phelps-Roper said members of the Westboro Baptist Church, which numbers about "70 souls," is comprised mainly of a single extended family.

McLean was killed on July 30 after being stabbed repeatedly on a Greyhound bus by a complete stranger. He was then beheaded.

Vince Li, 40, has been charged with second-degree murder. A psychiatric evaluation has been ordered for Li.

[DirtyMartini]

jesus tapdancing christ, I didn't think this story could get more disturbingly depressing

[Nostromo]

Its that kind of people who make me gradually lose faith in humanity.

[Traianvs]

Just pop one in the head of one of those Westboro-Baptist nutcases. If they die a miserable death, that means they lead filthy lives as well.

/end sect

[BlackCat]

Asher, you have this city where polar bears are roaming the streets - why not invite them to that place ?

Accidents do happen

[Asher]

Originally posted by BlackCat
Asher, you have this city where polar bears are roaming the streets - why not invite them to that place ?

Accidents do happen

Churchill, Manitoba...world famous!

[BlackCat]

Originally posted by Asher

Churchill, Manitoba...world famous!

Yep, that is it. Now we just need a reason why they need to take a walk. A gay killed by a bear and having them demonstrate at his funeral could be the solution - all we need is a volounteer

[notyoueither]

I wonder if they'll get across the border.

With any luck they'll mouth off to customs personnel and get detained.

[Asher]

Yep

http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=707624

Controversial U.S. church group stopped at border

Paul Gackle, Winnipeg Free Press Published: Thursday, August 07, 2008

WINNIPEG -- Residents rallied Thursday to protect the family of a young man murdered on a Greyhound bus last week from a posse of radical religious protesters planning to portray Tim McLean's death as God's wrath.

Earlier this week, the Westboro Baptist Church - an organization branded as a hate group and infamous for protesting the funerals of slain U.S. soldiers - announced they would picket Mr. McLean's funeral to let Canadians know that his decapitation was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homosexuality and adultery.

But Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of church's founder, Fred Phelps, said a small group of protesters was stopped at the Canada-U.S. border on Thursday afternoon.

"They won't let us in, but we have a group that will cross in another spot," she said. "They'll have to strip search everyone who crosses that border or they won't know who we are. They'll have to see the WBC (Westboro Baptist Church) tattoo on our butts."

The resistance to the planned funeral protest started on Facebook yesterday morning when Jim Cotton, a resident of Winnipeg Beach, launched a page asking city residents to help protect Mr. McLean's funeral.

"We want to protect the family so they don't come out of the church service and see people shouting obscenities," said Mr. Cotton. "I've never met the McLean family. I've just been moved by the whole story."

Mr. Cotton was outraged and asked Winnipeg Facebookers to circle around the seven picketers tomorrow and pray for Mr. McLean's family.

By mid-afternoon Thursday, Mr. Cotton's page had over 100 friends. Rodney Taylor, an Ottawa resident, found the page and pitched in.

Mr. Taylor phoned the Prime Minister's Office, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office and border services, asking them to keep the Westboro group out of the country. He also created his own Facebook page urging other offended Canadians to follow his lead.

"These people are callous, vicious and shouldn't be let into our country," he said. "We have freedom of speech, but they are inciting hate."

Mr. Taylor's plan worked. Winnipeg NDP MP Pat Martin said his office was flooded with phone calls yesterday from angry Winnipeggers.

"These people [from Westboro] are almost as crazy as the murderer," he said. "If they are here to disrupt the social order, that constitutes grounds to deny them entry. There is no redeeming virtue in the message they are bringing."

According to Mr. Martin, Mr. Day's office sent an alert to border patrol to "look out" for people with signs and pamphlets that fit the hateful messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country.

"In the opinion of his office, coming up here with the message they're articulating constitutes hate speech," said Mr. Martin.

Members of the Kansas-based fundamentalist sect were already planning to picket in Canada prior to last week's bus slaying. The group was scheduled to protest in Toronto Thursday night at the opening of playwright Alistair Newton's "The Pastor Phelps Project: a fundamentalist cabaret", which satirizes their leader's fervent anti-gay stance.

Members have also been planning to picket outside a performance of "The Laramie Project" - a play based on the real life murders of two homosexuals in the United States - in Red Deer, Alta., Friday night. Residents of Red Deer have been planning their own counter-protest.

In 1999, the Canadian government said it was powerless to prevent Mr. Phelps from entering the country when he was planning a protest in Ottawa over a Supreme Court ruling extending rights to gays and lesbians.

At that time, the government said the minister could only make exceptions at the border to grant people entry who might otherwise be denied, not deny people entry who would normally be admitted.

Mr. Phelps, however, was a no-show at the protest because he feared for his safety after a pro-gay rights group planned a counter-protest.

The Winnipeg Police Service said they were not planning to block the funeral protest if the group successfully crossed the border, but they were prepared to be on hand if necessary.

[Asher]

600 people attended the funeral today, and there were no protesters.

A spokesman for the Phelps family said they got the protesters "the heck out of that country" out of fear for their safety. Damn straight. In Canada, we don't put up with that ****.