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Iowa lawmaker: Westboro pickets are ‘domestic terrorists’
James Q. Lynch
Dec. 9, 2014 10:09 am, Updated: Dec. 9, 2014 6:50 pm
CEDAR RAPIDS - An Eastern Iowa lawmaker is getting 'insane amounts” of support for his effort to ban protests that involve desecrating the American flag at funerals of fallen soldiers.
'I'd say 99 percent are positive and then there is a fringe 1 percent who have ridiculous reasons for opposing my efforts,” said Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, R-Wilton.
In the wake of a federal-court decision in favor of Westboro Baptist Church members who have demonstrated at soldiers' funeral by wearing, walking on, and spitting on the flag while shouting gay slurs, Kaufmann is proposing legislation to curb protests.
Speaking on Fox and Friends Tuesday morning, Kaufmann called the demonstrators 'verbal domestic terrorists.” He wants a ban on such demonstrations or to limit their proximity to funerals and burials.
He's on a fool's errand, according to Fred Phelps Jr., an elder in the Topeka, Kansas, based church.
'Come on, this is a no-brainer really,” he said. 'I've been a practicing lawyer now for almost 40 years and there are some things that are pretty clearly established.”
His advice to Kaufmann, who he called a 'high-school graduate masquerading as a legislator,” is to grow up.
'These whiny, crybaby legislators are truly amazing,” Phelps said. 'They take an oath and just cavalierly cast aside the law. The law means nothing. That's another sign of a nation that God has abandoned. They're lawless.”
However, Kaufmann, who referred to Phelps as a 'wannabe cult leader,” believes there is judicial precedent for limitations on protest 'when it is purposely intended to elicit violence.”
While Kaufmann is formulating legislation, Phelps promised that the Westboro Baptist Church members will demonstrate in Iowa communities, including Kaufmann's hometown of Wilton, to 'remind (lawmakers) there's a very sound, solid reason we do this.”
The United States has 'completely, wholesale rejected the standards of God,” he said.
'This country now represents, stands for around the world, same-sex marriage, killing the babies and traveling the world killing people under the guise of military actions,” he said, adding a reference to the torture report released by a U.S. Senate committee Tuesday.
Kaufmann, who doesn't see the issue as partisan, is confident of winning approval in the House where the GOP will have a 57-43 majority. Incoming Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Steve Sodders, D-State Center, committed to nothing more than looking at anything the House sends him.
'It's a hot-button issue,” said Sodders, who has had a few calls from veterans. 'It's a tough issue and an important issue to veterans and their families because they don't want to have a group like that disrupting funerals.”
If the legislation gets debated, Phelps said church members will be there.
'We will do whatever they allow us to do” to speak out against the legislation, he said. 'We also will be on the streets outside.”
And if lawmakers 'are stupid enough to try to circumvent Constitution yet again, we'll be back in court.”