Absoluetly disgusting...

[Tricky]

Unfortunately it's tolerated by neo christians who picket dead soldier's funerals...in america...so yeah... and without playing devil's advocate too much - none of us (incl protesters) really know what's happening down there, and to blanket every one of "our boys" as a morally upstanding and good person is a bit blindsided. Thats true,there are definitely some bad eggs in the forces,but its equally wrong to blanket them all as baby killing rapist murderers!these muslim fanatics have never cared much for facts when it comes to spewing anti-western bile though...

[MinionZombie]

Amazing really - these bad eggs of the Muslim world (they give the Muslim people a bad and undeserved name) preach hate (which can't really be called "free speech", at the very least it stretches the term to the absolute limits) about Britain - decrying this nation ... IN WHICH THEY LIVE ... and if they hate it so much, WHY do they STAY HERE? Just to cause trouble most likely - and possibly other things, such as taking up places in our universities, or claiming benefits. Hypocrisy of the highest order, quite honestly. Indeed, there are some soldiers who are just bad people who should never have been allowed to become soldiers, and that tiny minority provide ammunition for this other minority-of-a-minority to preach hate. A good outcome however, is the increased resolve of those welcoming the troops home to put even more effort into the celebrations - and indeed, any good soldier will just have their resolve strengthened in fighting scumbags like these.

[Mike70]

Unfortunately it's tolerated by neo christians who picket dead soldier's funerals...in america...so yeah... actually many states have recently passed laws either banning demonstrations at funerals or requiring them to stay 500ft or more away from a funeral or memorial service. i have wondered for many years why the westboro baptist church (the morons responsible) are able to get away with what they do under the first amendment. their protests seem to meet the criteria laid out for unprotected speech in chaplinsky v. new hampshire (1942) and cincinnati v. karlan (1974) in chaplinsky the court decided that: There are certain well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech, the prevention and punishment of which have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem. These include the lewd and obscene, the profane, the libelous, and the insulting or "fighting" words those which by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace. It has been well observed that such utterances are no essential part of any exposition of ideas, and are of such slight social value as a step to truth that any benefit that may be derived from them is clearly outweighed by the social interest in order and morality. this was streamlined and made clearer in gooding v. wilson (1972) and lewis v. new orleans (1974) and even further clarified in cincinnati v. karlan (1974) where the Ohio supreme court, acting under remand by the US supreme court, decided: Persons may not be punished for speaking boisterous, rude or insulting words, even with the intent to annoy another, unless the words by their very utterance inflict injury or are likely to provoke the average person to an immediate retaliatory breach of the peace. now if what those fools are doing isn't going to inflict injury on a grieving family or provoke a reasonable person to commit a breach of the peace (which has in fact happened several times), i'm the czar of all the russia's. anyhoo, like i posted above the family of a marine killed in action recently won a $5 million judgment against the people who organize these abominations and a federal lien has been place on their property. they won't be able to escape this verdict by declaring bankruptcy either because punitive damages cannot be discharged by bankruptcy.

[SRP76]

And just what have these jerkoffs done to earn any "right"? Spend 8 hours jockeying a fucking cash register at the 7-Eleven, then go home and slap their wives around? Fuck them. Just a bunch of worthless nobodies trying to attack the ones who actually have the balls to put their lives on the line.

[Yojimbo]

Just like someone mentioned that there are bad eggs in the US forces that make everyone else look bad, there are also the same in the Muslim world as well. I have heard similar anti-war rhetoric from those who call themselves "liberals" who are US citizens. I think it is important that we all remember that it is not Muslims, per se, that are the problem, but bad eggs in general.

[blind2d]

You know what they say about one rotten apple... Humanity in general suffers from this disease. An answer may never be found, but we should never stop looking for one. - Noodle Er, yeah... what she said. - Me

[Chic Freak]

And just what have these jerkoffs done to earn any "right"? Spend 8 hours jockeying a fucking cash register at the 7-Eleven, then go home and slap their wives around? What? You know these people personally? :s

[Yojimbo]

Back during world war 2 it did not even take a few bad eggs to get the country so riled up against Japanese Americans that they rounded all of them up on the west coast and stuck them in concentration camps. I felt creepy shades of that sort of rhetoric right after 9/11 and even to this day. But that being said, I find it terrible that good folks like Mike have gone out to serve their country and risk their lives away from their families, and then get disrespected just because some errant retard who also happened to be a soldier misbehaved.

[Mike70]

But that being said, I find it terrible that good folks like Mike have gone out to serve their country and risk their lives away from their families, and then get disrespected just because some errant retard who also happened to be a soldier misbehaved. no jimbo, i've never personally been sniped at by anyone because i am a vet. it just really pisses me off when i see or hear of it happening. i'll have to read back through my posts in this thread and make sure i didn't give that impression.

[Yojimbo]

no jimbo, i've never personally been sniped at by anyone because i am a vet. it just really pisses me off when i see or hear of it happening. i'll have to read back through my posts in this thread and make sure i didn't give that impression. Sorry, brother, did not mean to imply that you had personally been trashed for being a vet, and you did not write anything in this thread that let me to believe any such thing. Let me clarify that I meant that I find it totally unacceptable that veterans of any kind - including yourself - who have honorably served their country should be on the receiving end of any sort of disrespect. Now, I realize that there are those out there who protest war of any kind, and there are those out there that simply hated Bush and therefore would protest and villify anything that he was associated with. And I realize that there are those who protest just for the sake of protesting (like those who consider themselves anarchists) just because they feel that doing so is hip or fun. But to screw with anyone simply because they chose to serve their country is, as far as I am concerned, bullshit. Go ahead and protest the war, but for chrissakes please support the troops. I saw in the newspaper the other day ago that some latino gangmembers shot at some other latino gangmembers. Do I therefore villify all latinos? Or how about the story of Octomom? Do I therefore think all women are lazy and unbalanced and in serious need of an IUD? Along these lines, servicemen and women should not be categorically hated because of the alleged acts of some unbalanced few.

[SRP76]

What? You know these people personally? :s Not this particular set of fuckheads, but I've been associated with several that fit that description. Many times, my college-age friends go off on "the babykiller rants" (as I call them), and it pisses me off. I ask them, "hey, while I was serving, risking my ass, just what the fuck were you doing that was so great?". There's never a real response, since they don't have a leg to stand on. Most of them have never done a single thing to help anyone other than themselves, and would sooner hide under the nearest rock than face any kind of risk.

[Chic Freak]

Not this particular set of fuckheads, but I've been associated with several that fit that description. Many times, my college-age friends go off on "the babykiller rants" (as I call them), and it pisses me off. I ask them, "hey, while I was serving, risking my ass, just what the fuck were you doing that was so great?". There's never a real response, since they don't have a leg to stand on. Most of them have never done a single thing to help anyone other than themselves, and would sooner hide under the nearest rock than face any kind of risk. Fair enough! I would poo myself in a danger situation, so respect to you.

[Yojimbo]

Fair enough! I would poo myself in a danger situation, so respect to you. I second that. Vets like SRP and Mike have my highest respect because they risked themselves for the common good.

[MinionZombie]

I second that. Vets like SRP and Mike have my highest respect because they risked themselves for the common good. Indeed, it's not a job I'd wanna do either. It really makes you wonder how all those men coped during WW2 - just ordinary guys, many younger than I am now (and I'm far from old in any sense of the word) and they were shipped off abroad for years on end, not sure if they'd be coming back. Absolutely unfathomable - and likewise these days, even though it's now only those who choose to become soldiers marching off "over there", it's still an amazing amount of bravery to be heading off into that sort of shit, it really is. Like when watching the Sky 1 series "Ross Kemp In Afghanistan/Return to Afghanistan" - just seeing what our boys do over there is incredible. The constant danger, being bound by the rules of engagement and the enemy using it against them, being surrounded by the enemy, running low on ammo and still battling off a determined enemy in horrid conditions - it defies belief almost - so, indeed, massive respect to those who go "out there" when asked, and choose to be a solider in the first place. They're better men than me.

[Yojimbo]

They're better men than me. I'll second that too, much better than me as well. Wish I had the guts and the compassion that the men and women of both the US and British armed forces have. (I would have said "balls and compassion" but I want to be fair to our female soldiers! )