WOOT!! Lien on Westboro Church and Law Offices!!

[Sibling Chatty]

BOUT DAMN TIME!!!

http://cjonline.com/stories/040408/loc_264906171.shtml

Published Friday, April 04, 2008

A federal judge in Maryland on Thursday ordered liens on the Westboro Baptist Church building and the Phelps-Chartered Law office.

If the case presided over by U.S. District Court Judge Richard D. Bennett is upheld by an appeals court, the church, at 3701 S.W. 12th, and the office building, at 1414 S.W. Topeka Blvd., could be obtained by the court and sold, with the proceeds being applied toward $5 million in damages Bennett imposed on church members for picketing a military funeral.

A lien is a legal hold on property, making it collateral against money owed to a person or entity. It can keep the owner from selling the property or transferring title to the property.

The $5 million penalty is the result of a lawsuit filed against three of the church's principals by Albert Snyder, the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, whose funeral was picketed by church members.

[pieces o nine]

temporal justice / schadenfreude party

[Bluenose]

temporal justice / schadenfreude party

Yeah, get's my vote.

[Scriblerus the Philosophe]

And all the various other excited icons (I really ought to just pick the most insulting ones. Which will be our icon babes, mostly).
This is most pleasing news. I love it when justice is dished out properly.

[Bob in a quantum-state-of-faith]

Swah-eeet!

[Lindorm]

Lovely news indeed! Why not celebrate by making this the "Kiss all your same-sex friends day"? 

Now, if we only could do likewise with some of our nutcases over here...

[Aphos]

Yipee!!!



 

[Opsa]

Maybe there's hope for balancing this old world, after all. I hope these people learn some respect.

[Darlica]

I doubt that, I could put good money on that the will try to collect some martyrdom points from this...

But it is indeed good news!

[pieces o nine]

I put on gloves, held my breath, and went to the WBC site to see how they would spin this.
(I'm not providing a link because, really  kids...)

Church says Judge's Decision Doesn't Mean Anything
...
Church member Shirley Phelps-Roper says the decision is merely paperwork and won't change anything about the way the church operates. She says it's merely a lein on the property while the appeal works its way through the courts. The only problems would arise, she says, is the church wanted to sell the property.

That's a remarkable lack of bluster from this group.   
FWIW: hmmmm, I don't see a dotcom for 'God hates Maine'...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Lovely news indeed! Why not celebrate by making this the "Kiss all your same-sex friends day"?

Good suggestion! I'll pass it on to the pagan meetup tonight.

[Lindorm]

And in a lovely coincidence, it was announced yesterday here in Sweden that the "Maranata" group, a norwegian-swedish church of born-again, bible-thumping, god-hates-fags-fundies (albeit not of the same caliber as Phelps) have had their home schooling licence revoked.

They, like several other groups, had a licences to start a "free school" -run their own school and school their own children. This is perfectly legal in Sweden, provided that you adhere to the national core curriculum of subject, have your school open to all applicants, and follow the national school charter of non-discrimination etc.

Unfortunately, they failed grandiosely on all accounts, and their accounts were somewhat disarrayed too. Likewise, the school board inspectors were not impressed by Maranata's claim that corporal punishment of infants was a beatuy in the sight of the Lord.

So, licence to teach revoked immideately and not much hope of an appeal, and their school will be closed as soon as new schools can be found to place the students in. The Crown Prosecutor will look into the case and see if there are grounds to open legal proceedings towards the teachers for suspected child abuse, after their admittance of using corporal punishment.

Schadenfreude isn't exactly kind, but it's hard to resist sometimes...