Border guards to turn away Westboro Baptist church

[vinny_121_ND]

Border guards to turn away church group aiming to picket bus victim's funeral


Canadian border guards are under orders to prevent members of a fundamentalist American church from crossing into Canada to protest at the funeral Saturday of a Winnipeg man brutally killed on a Greyhound bus last week.


Westboro Baptist Church, a controversial Kansas-based sect, intends to picket the funeral of 22-year-old Tim McLean to tell Canadians his slaying on July 30 was God's response to Canadian policies enabling abortion, homo******ity and adultery.


"God is punishing Canada for passing laws against WBC — by exposing Canadians as cannibals and highway decapitaters," the church says in a news release on its website, which refers to McLean as "The Headless Canadian."


Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office sent an alert to border patrol to "look out" for people with signs and pamphlets consistent with the messages that the church promotes and to keep them out of the country, Winnipeg MP Pat Martin told CBC News on Friday.
"Entering Canada by a U.S. citizen isn't an absolute right, and if you're coming here only to disrupt the social order and to promote what we consider to be bordering on hate crimes or hate language, they shouldn't come into Canada," Martin said.


"We're not going to allow these people to compound the tragedy of the McLean family loss, and Canadians simply won't tolerate these lunatics disrupting what should be a respectful service."
Freedom of speech is not absolute, Martin said.


"Your freedom to swing your arm in the air ends when it touches the end of my nose," he said. "What these people were going to do was hurtful, harmful and disruptive to the peace, order and good government that we guarantee to our citizens, so they have no place in this country."


A counter-protest against the church's picket plans was launched on the social networking site Facebook on Thursday. More than 500 people have since joined the group; postings indicate they plan to form a "human wall" around the family to shield them from the church protest, if it takes place.


The Westboro Baptist Church and its founder, Pastor Fred Phelps, gained infamy by protesting gay-pride rallies and the funerals of people who have died from AIDS-related illnesses.


In recent years, church members have also picketed the funerals of American soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, claiming the deaths are also God's punishment for the country's tolerance for homo******ity.




http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/08/08/westboro-protest.html?ref=rs

Frankly, I'm angered of the lack of respect for Tim McLean and his family and friends by this westboro group. So much anger that the tactical team had to be called because of all the death threats to them if they came.

http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/1247/death-threats-and-violence-shadow-tim-mcleans-funeral/

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/manitoba/story/2008/08/08/westboro-protest.html?ref=rs

Frankly, I'm angered of the lack of respect for Tim McLean and his family and friends by this westboro group. So much anger that the tactical team had to be called because of all the death threats to them if they came.

http://www.chrisd.ca/blog/1247/death-threats-and-violence-shadow-tim-mcleans-funeral/

It's not your place to ridicule other people's religious beliefs. That's a bannable offence here, Mister.

[Pete031]

I'll be the first to be banned then if I can't denounce the WBC. We are not talking about a broad religion, we are talking about a misconstrewed tangent of a religious belief.

These people are the scum of humanity.

[packetloss]

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

Not sure if anyone saw this....but a win....




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, homo******ity 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 homo******s 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.

Winnipeg Free Press

[Fade]

It is disgusting to me, that anyone would use Tim McLean's death to advance an agenda.

[Polygon]

Those people really are bastards, glad they were stopped though, even if they will try to sneak in.

[<Gypsum Fantastic>]

I'll be the first to be banned then if I can't denounce the WBC. We are not talking about a broad religion, we are talking about a misconstrewed tangent of a religious belief.

These people are the scum of humanity.

I'm with you 100% A complete bunch of scumbags who have twisted religion to suit their own personal agenda. Probably the sort of people who believe demonic posession justifies the actions of the psychopathic murderer who killed this innocent guy. Nutters.

[Dispatcher]

You Canadians should do the smart thing; Let them in, and, well you know.

Rubber hose, barbed wire and a stapler.

[vinny_121_ND]

We've seen what this group has done at military funerals and we're not going to accept any of that. Canadians are very nice people, very tolerant, but when something this insulting happens, we're going to express our feelings without any political correctness.

[Tunasa]

Can we send them to secret CIA prison somewhere.......

[Fargin]

WBC can goto hell.

[Polygon]

WBC can goto hell.

I'm sure they would, I'm not religious, but I doubt "God" would approve.

[Bescht]

Maybe authorities should give the family of this guy the right to shoot at those bastards if they show up...

[LoboCanada]

I'll be the first to be banned then if I can't denounce the WBC. We are not talking about a broad religion, we are talking about a misconstrewed tangent of a religious belief.

These people are the scum of humanity.

X2. Border Guards have guns right?

[LongShot]

Bunch o' wackjob scum bags....

[El Diablo Rojo]

Wackoscumbagjobs indeed.

[Fade]

Fringe Christian group sneaks across border to disrupt bus victim's funeral
Mike McIntyre, Winnipeg Free Press

Members of a U.S. fringe group crossed the border into Canada overnight and are hiding somewhere in Manitoba, preparing to picket Tim McLean Jr.'s funeral, the Winnipeg man murdered and decapitated on a Greyhound bus last week, the group's spokesperson claimed Friday.

Canadian border authorities had stopped a separate group from entering Thursday, but Westboro Baptist Church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper said a second group managed to sneak through by sending identifying items separately by courier.

"They were looking for leaflets, which we don't do, and signs, which we do, but we have Federal Express," said Ms. Phelps-Roper. "Our guys are safely tucked away."
Story continued.... (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=710385)

Jerks.

[armchairpundit]

Can it really be called a church if all the members are of the same extended family ?

[helomech]

Story continued.... (http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=710385)

Jerks.

Send out the dogs,it's meal time

[Fade]

It would be a shame if they resisted and got tased.

[Cedan]

If I was the father of this poor guy, I would wait for them and probably end up with some jail time. But it would be worth it.

[Parx400]

This group is a US problem. We have freedom of speech and have to deal with them. Canada has every right to not let them in. If they sneak in arest them on site and throw them out. Please feel free to kick thier asses durring the arrest.

[Cstafford]

make them leave over the Niagara falls

[toowoozy]

Ah lets just let them all in, show them some Canadian hospitality and tolerance..........and then take them to the rink, put some skates on them and show them how we like to have fun. Gee it's been awhile since I put tinfoil on beneath my tape when I taped up my knuckles.

[vinny_121_ND]

Ah lets just let them all in, show them some Canadian hospitality and tolerance..........and then take them to the rink, put some skates on them and show them how we like to have fun. Gee it's been awhile since I put tinfoil on beneath my tape when I taped up my knuckles.

and play full contact hockey.

[packetloss]

They just admitted to sneaking into the country. Lets hope they get arrested while picketing for being illegals.

[MaDuce]

by exposing Canadians as cannibals

Quoted for truth.

Phelps is just an attention whore who uses all this kooky BS as a device to draw attention to himself best course of action would be to ignore him and his kin.

[vinny_121_ND]

They just admitted to sneaking into the country. Lets hope they get arrested while picketing for being illegals.

This is going to get bad. The gloves are coming off if they see one sign of god hates fags.

I don't even know how americans put up with their ignorance and disrespectful attitude at military funerals.

[packetloss]

This is going to get bad. The gloves are coming off if they see one sign of god hates fags.

I don't even know how americans put up with their ignorance and disrespectful attitude at military funerals.

The Patriot Riders temper them a lot. God its amazing to search youtube for movies about them.

[Ought Six]

It is amazing to me that no one has killed Fred Phelps yet.

[brainplay]

So let me get this straight... They are going to picket the funeral of someone who was murdered brutally, who had nothing to do with politics, and who might have even been against the same things this group is protesting against? They're claiming that the psycho nutjob who did the deed was god's tool?

Sorry..but wtf? Thats Canada not the middle east. That doesn't fly there or in the US.

[LazerLordz]

These nutjobs ought to be arrested for sedition. Back here, Internal Security would be happy to share with them some alternative points of view.

[Johnny_H02]

Ironically enough, I remember reading a quote by a NDP Mp or something saying that if WBC made it into Canada there could be a Melee as a result and they would be shown some "Northern Hospitality" lol.
Who ever that NDP guy is he seems to be a might bit dare I say Hawkish for his chosen party.

I think it was on Canoe.ca or something.

[Col.O'neill]

X2. Border Guards have guns right?


Yup Canadian border guards are issued the new beretta px4 storm pistol.

[martinexsquaddie]

oh well if the cananuks don't get them could always inform the fbi dangerous terrorists are trying to cross into the states and send them to gitmo.
its win win
normal people get a break from these whackos
terrorists get some more cruel punishment by being housed next to them.
if you were particularly evil you'd leave some spoons lieing around so the islamists could kill phelps and co.
then you got evidence there evil they just murdered some "christians"

[PeterG]

It is amazing to me that no one has killed Fred Phelps yet.

He is probably a bit disappointed himself, that people don't try! In a sick, twisted way, he would probably die happy - convinced of his own martyrdom and eternal glory in heaven....

[kerfuffled]

I'll be the first to be banned then if I can't denounce the WBC. We are not talking about a broad religion, we are talking about a misconstrewed tangent of a religious belief.

These people are the scum of humanity.
Ditto that. These douchenozzles are just as kooky as alqaeda or any other religious nutjobs.

[BugHunt]

Let then in but remeber you Canadians have ALOT of open wilderness and spades *wink wink* ;)

[loganinkosovo]

Can we send them to secret CIA prison somewhere.......

The one in Moose jaw or the one outside of Winnipeg?

:)

[loganinkosovo]

The scummiest thing about these bastards is that they only send women and children to protest knowing that those they protest will not hit women and children.

[IraGlacialis]

I don't even know how americans put up with their ignorance and disrespectful attitude at military funerals.
We don't, but we can't really do anything about it. :-(
The 1st Amendment protects them and they know it. Much of the family, including Fred himself, has law degrees, so they can twist the system to their own purpose.

So let me get this straight... They are going to picket the funeral of someone who was murdered brutally, who had nothing to do with politics, and who might have even been against the same things this group is protesting against? They're claiming that the psycho nutjob who did the deed was god's tool?
Yep.
Besides the usual soldiers' funerals, they picketed (or at least planned on picketing) WTC Ground Zero, Columbia disaster memorial, Amish school girls' funeral, Virginia Tech, among other major tragic events. They also celebrated over the Christmas earthquake/tsunami.

[vinny_121_ND]

The funeral went on without wbc showing up. They're smart enough to read cbc and facebook comments to not cause trouble. All of Canada (of all religious and ethnic backgrounds) is united against this group, sent them a strong message to back off and give the family and friends some privacy.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/08/09/mclean-funeral.html

[miguelencanarias]

The scummiest thing about these bastards is that they only send women and children to protest knowing that those they protest will not hit women and children.I think that in this case we can all make an exemption. Let's not get carried away by our chivalry: nothing helps more the education of children (particularly the inbreds of WBC) than a thoroughly and timely beating. As for the women, we can always argue that we are firm believers in equality and we are only doing what we would do if they were men.