On March 19, 2014, just before the stroke of midnight, the renowned fire and brimstone preacher, sometime civil rights attorney, and great granddaddy of all sign carriers, Reverend Fred Phelps, of Kansas, drew his final breath. He was only eighty-four years old. He started his career as an attorney; back in the day. He even won some battles for progressive and noble causes, such as litigation against Jim Crowe racists, who lurk all over Kansas. It is unclear exactly when Phelps became completely disillusioned with the cause of Light, and switched over to the dark side, but sources place this sometime in the early 1980's. It is rumored that Phelps noted that his grandchildren were not as safe playing outside as he wished them to be, and felt that Topeka had not lent an acceptable amount of support in the arena of cleaning up Gage Park, in Topeka, and policing the area more efficiently. It is easy to understand the desire to protect one's children, but to date, no one outside of Westboro Baptist Church has been able to find the correlation between protecting children from stranger danger and hate campaigns against minorities and picketing funerals. Readers in Marshall County, Kansas will be interested to note that Fred Phelps graduated from the same school that produced Laura Johnson-McNish; Washburn University.
Amusing but not surprising is the request from Westboro Baptist Church for privacy while they mourn! Considering the history of Westboro Baptist Church, that is certainly an interesting request. Christians all over Northeast Kansas tend to make similar requests, however. Anyone who is not a mainstream neo-nazi christian thug is considered fair game for everything from slander to violence, but when the tables are turned, Kansas Christians are never able to understand why the First Amendment applies to all American Citizens, not just white christians and government employees.
The video above is a riot.
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