PROTESTING FALLEN MARINES FUNERAL 

This story has a lot of you enraged. Here is the deal. A man by the name of Fred Phelps is the founder of a homophobic cult in Topeka, Kansas. Phelps also happens to be a disbarred lawyer. He likes to lead his cult around the country holding anti-gay protests and generally stirring things up. In 2006, Fred Phelps decides that he and his cult followers were going to show up to protest the funeral of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The father of the fallen Marine, Albert Snyder, sued the Phelps and the cult claiming invasion of privacy and emotional distress. A federal jury ruled in his favor, awarding him $5 million in damages. So Fred Phelps appealed the case, and the verdict was reversed. The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals said that the protests were protected under the First Amendment. After an appeal the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear this case in the next session which begins in October.

In the meantime, the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered Albert Snyder to pay the appeals fees for Fred Phelps his cult of crazies in the amount of $16,510. We have yet to find out details as to why the court made this decision, but Snyder says that he is not paying the fees. As it turns out, he won't have to. Last night Bill O'Reilly featured this story on his show and said that he would pay those fees if the Supreme Court didn't straighten things out. Good for Bill.