Oh Frabjous Day

God willing, Fred Phelps and his merry band are about to picket a group not cursed with large numbers of ninny-hammers preaching pacifism in the face of vast offensiveness.

Per Snopes and LawDog it seems that January 26th, the Westboro sorts will be picketing USMC Camp Lejeune. I quote from Snopes:

Westboro Baptist Church
(WBC Chronicles - Since 1955)
3701 SW 12th St. Topeka, Kansas 66604 785-273-0325 www.godhatesfags.com
Religious Opinion and Bible Commentary on Current Events
Saturday, January 12, 2008
NEWS RELEASE
WBC to picket Camp Lejeune.
God Hates the u.s. Marines.
The wonderful, spit-and-polish Marine is over
eight months pregnant and she says another
wonderful Marine raped her, and now on the
eve of his court martial where she is the star
witness against him, she turns up dead, and he
is a fugitive from justice. Wonderful. The few.
The proud. Based on our extensive experience
with Marines for over a decade, we can testify
that these are typical Marines.
WBC will picket the filthy, lawless Marine
Corps - at noon next Sat., Jan. 19 - at Camp
Lejeune, North Carolina; in religious protest
and warning: "Be not "'deceived; God is not
mocked." Gal. 6:7. God Hates Fags! & FagEnablers.
Ergo, God hates the Marines.
The Marine Corps is saturated with vile fags and dykes. It matters not
to them that they are violating the laws of God and man. Our leaders
know of the problem, but they refuse to fix it, due to pressure from
political leaders, because fags have enormous political influence - called
in Scripture "The power of the dog." Psa.22:20. And the phenomenon
is called by Tocqueville, "The worm in the American apple."
"Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind; it is abomination. "
Lev. 18:22.
"Let no man deceive you with vain words; for because of these things
cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. "
Eph.5:6.

I have great confidence in the iron discipline of the active-duty USMC. I also note, as have others, that the restraint of retired members of the USMC may be somewhat frayed by the presence of such vile excrement as Phelps and his band - the temptation to remove such excrement may well outweigh the cost of an encounter with the judicial system in the minds of some.

I don't know as I'd blame them, particularly if the rumor of a planned desecration of the Beirut Memorial is borne out.

I'm reminded of a teaching riddle I first ran across in an L. Neil Smith novel some years, attributed to (variously) the Lakota and Shoshone tribes "A thief is shot in the night, whose hand is on the bow? In all but the most technical sense, the hand on the bow is that of the thief who initiated the fateful situation.

Similarly, I can't summon much in the way of sympathy for those that would harass the Marines while surrounded by retired Marines subject only to civil law and not military discipline. The Marines, past and former, that I have met have largely been stellar examples of humanity possessed of ethics, intelligence, responsibility, and considered restraint far above that I find in the average person I run across. This may be all that saves Phelps and his miserable band.

I can't, however, force myself to hope for their well-being.