ACCEPTABLE AND NOT ACCEPTABLE PROTESTS

Why is this acceptable according to the Supreme Court?

And yet, according to Mayor Bloomberg and other politicians and law enforcement people this is not:

“The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a grieving father's pain over mocking protests at his Marine son's funeral must yield to First Amendment protections for free speech. All but one justice sided with a fundamentalist church that has stirred outrage with raucous demonstrations contending God is punishing the military for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

The 8-1 decision in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., was the latest in a line of court rulings that, as Chief Justice John Roberts said in his opinion for the court, protects "even hurtful speech on public issues to ensure that we do not stifle public debate."

The decision ended a lawsuit by Albert Snyder, who sued church members for the emotional pain they caused by showing up at his son Matthew's funeral. As they have at hundreds of other funerals, the Westboro members held signs with provocative messages, including "Thank God for dead soldiers," `'You're Going to Hell," `'God Hates the USA/Thank God for 9/11," and one that combined the U.S. Marine Corps motto, Semper Fi, with a slur against gay men.

Justice Samuel Alito, the lone dissenter, said Snyder wanted only to "bury his son in peace." Instead, Alito said, the protesters "brutally attacked" Matthew Snyder to attract public attention. "Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," he said.

The ruling, though, was in line with many earlier court decisions that said the First Amendment exists to protect robust debate on public issues and free expression, no matter how distasteful. A year ago, the justices struck down a federal ban on videos that show graphic violence against animals. In 1988, the court unanimously overturned a verdict for the Rev. Jerry Falwell in his libel lawsuit against Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt over a raunchy parody ad.”

Ironically, the police in many of these cities are tearing down the tents, confiscating generators and driving out the protesters. The tents and generators are a safeguard against hypothermia so that the excuse of “protecting and concern for the safety of the demonstrators” is all bullshit since they are doing everything possible to make them uncomfortable, sick and even injuring them so they abandon the protests.

IT AIN’T GONNA HAPPEN!

You can pepper spray away, arrest, beat up and abuse the protestors but you will never drown out their cries for freedom and income disparity…you will not be able to kill the idea. Sooner or later these mayors and law enforcement officials will realize that you can't arrest and throw 60-70% of the population in jail.

SOURCES: http://blog.wepay.com/2011/10/17/wepay-and-occupy-wall-street/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/02/westboro-baptist-church-w_n_830209.html