Pretty clever, though I think perhaps too clever for them. Their doublethink won't allow them to get the message.

Though turning pranks of this kind into media events would allow the rest of the populace to get the message and resist their... blandishments... even more effectually.

I can't be a pacifist: I concluded a long time ago that that philosophy is distinguished by its remarkable unsustainability. When under lethal attack, either the pacifist or the pacifism must die. No other philosophy of life has that liability. Peaceableness, on the other hand, is both good and sustainable; I respect it and try to practice it. I'm not going to make peace and human life the highest thing in my value system -- not when I can place human goodness over these as an even better thing.

I leave to your imagination (and mine) to fill in the outlines of the statement that there are worse things out there than even war.

Being a pacifist does not preclude self defense. But, only as a last resort.
Treat others exactly how you want to be treated in the same situation.

Leonard Pitts hits Phred nail squarely on the head

the dude is so obviously a self-loathing latent -- ignore all irrelevant behaviour.

That is what I call peaceableness, then -- not full-on pacifism.

It's good in civil situations -- in warfare, contrariwise, you're trying to get the other guys tired of fighting, or too exhausted in materiel or spirit to continue it.

Thanks for this post. I've been trying to find any viable, credible information in print or online that verifies this allegation. I really want to know whether or not this is true or if it's just rumor. If it is, I will definitely stop shopping there. The Phelps clan protested the funeral of my best friend of 10 years who died in Iraq, and I must say my feelings against them are extremely personal. I do know, regarding Hobby Lobby, that its founder and CEO is David Green, who is a member of Assemblies of God and donates & contributes lots of money to them.

http://www.hobbylobby.com/our_compan...any.cfm?page=2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobby_Lobby

Many of the organizations there are affiliated or run by Assemblies of God. Although I definitely do not align myself with the beliefs and practices of this church, this affiliation is less important to me than the alleged Phelps affiliation. In another rumor, I have heard that the Phelps' family lawfirm, Phelps Chartered, is Hobby Lobby's attorney on retainer. So I'm not sure what's true, if any of it.

Can anyone provide some sort of credible citations confirming that Hobby Lobby is indeed associated with the Phelps family or the Westboro Baptist Church? Thanks!

On a related issue, I am a member of this organization:

http://www.patriotguard.org/OurHisto...5/Default.aspx

Welcome to the Cellar, Claud, nice to have you on board:)

I can't imagine how difficult it must be for people when the funerals of their loved ones are disrupted in this disgusting and callous way. To intrude on something so private, so individual, is utterly shameful. We only get to bury our dead once and how it's done can have a profound impact upon the grieving process.

I don't know how practical it wold be, and am very uncomfortable about anything which could potentially limit general rights to protest, but i think there's an argument to be had for wide exclusion zones around cemetaries and crematoriums. Nobody, regardless of the circumstances of their loved one's death should have to experience that.

Fred Phelps is a useless piece of human trash, parading about the image of crucified savior for his own immoral and incontrovertably sick purposes. Fred and his acolytes should fall into the nearest crack in the Earth that leads directly to the fires of Hell, their ultimate undeniable destination.

If Jesus came back to Earth, Fred and his clan would be first ones he would walk up to and smack across the gobs.