United States News
See other United States News Articles
Title: Ozzie Osbourne Rips Phelps Clan for Appropriating His Song
Source:
edgeboston.com
URL Source: http://www.edgeboston.com/index.php ... ws&sc=&sc2=news&sc3=&id=111358
Published: Oct 8, 2010
Author: Kilian Melloy
Post Date: 2010-10-08 19:56:15 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 6414
Comments: 10
Ozzy Osbourne expressed his displeasure with an anti-gay church that demonstrates outside of the funerals of fallen U. S. soldiers after they picketed the funeral of a fellow musician, Ronnie James Dio. Osbourne and Dio had both belonged to the group Black Sabbath. The Westboro Baptist Church earned Osborne’s wrath anew after singing his song "Crazy Train" on the steps before the U.S, Supreme Court. The church has a case before the court, stemming from a street preaching action in which Westboro picketed the funeral of a U.S. servicemember killed in action in Iraq. The father of the fallen soldier, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, sued Westboro for "intentional infliction of emotional distress," and won a huge settlement against the church. But the case has been appealed to the Supreme Court--hence the church’s appearance on the court’s steps, where Westboro congregants substituted their own lyrics, singing, "You’re going straight to hell on your crazy train," reported E! on Oct. 7. Such musical appropriation is not new to Westboro. The church has created its own versions of other songs and posted videos at YouTube, such as a parody of David Bowie’s "Fame" that the group recast as "Shame." "I am sickened and disgusted by the use of ’Crazy Train’ to promote messages of hate and evil by a ’church,’ " Osbourne said. Towleroad reported on Oct. 8 that in June, Osbourne slammed the church for their picketing of Dio’s funeral. "I thought it was in such bad taste that those people had those banners about Ronnie James Dio," the rocker told radio program Rockline, going on to add, "They say that we’re the anti-christ. Well, what makes them any better?" Constitutional scholars doubt that the court will be able to rule against the church, which has asserted that its actions are protected under the First Amendment. But for sheer bite, Osbourne may have met his match: one prominent member of the church, Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Westboro leader Rev. Fred Phelps, has not waited for a verdict before launching a Westboro-style volley at the justices. "The make-up of this court is unique-six Catholics and three Jews," she said, reported Georgetown blog Vox Populi on Oct. 8. Phelps-Roper added that "priests rape children and the Jews killed Jesus." Kilian Melloy reviews media, conducts interviews, and writes commentary for EDGEBoston, where
Ozzy Osbourne
Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
#1. To: All (#0)
Wednesday, Oct. 6, 2010 In the late 1990s, Fred Phelps' Westboro Baptist Church posted a news release to its site announcing plans to picket the funeral of my father, Dick Snider. My Dad was a Topeka newspaper columnist for many years, writing 750-word takes three days a week on politics and local characters past and present, taking not a few pokes at the pompous and self-dealing. Phelps and his picketers were a Topeka staple for years before going national to spread their targets of hate and ending up as plaintiffs in Snyder v. Phelps. The Supreme Court will hear an appeal today from the father of Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder to reinstate a $5 million judgment won against the Phelps group after they picketed Matthew's funeral. Snyder was killed in Iraq. My father said Phelps started targeting him for columns that chided Topeka authorities for allowing the picketers to roam the city in placard-waving packs to harass "accused" homosexuals. A newspaper profile of Dick Snider when he turned 80 put it this way: "As a youngster in Oakwood, Okla., the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan burned a cross at the Snider family home, forcing one of the few Roman Catholic families in the small town to move elsewhere. Little wonder why Snider maintains little tolerance for fools and bigots." In that same profile, I was quoted in the family manner, welcoming the Phelps picket to my Dad's eventual funeral, saying that at least there would be a crowd at Mass. And there was. As we drove down Southwest Jackson in the funeral limousine in November 2004, there, on the grounds of the state capitol across from the church where my parents were married and my father would be eulogized by my son, stood a couple dozen people -- most with my Dad's photo stapled on fence posts and thrust into the air along with signs like "Fag Media Will Burn" and "Dick Snider Has Gone to Hell." I took it in my own way, imagining it was the same way my father would. I lingered outside and imagined him framing one of the signs and showing it off on the wall of his basement office. I wished I'd brought a camera. And I also lingered to make sure none of the family and friends crossed the street or remembered their trunks were stocked with shot and shell for pheasant season. Today, when the justices hear the case, Fred's daughter Margie will say the pickets are protected speech, backed by briefs from the ACLU and many others. And in an opposing brief, Walter Dellinger will have called the pickets by a label I relate to better: "emotional terrorism." Signs like "Thank God for Dead Soldiers" at funeral services are pure incitement. That's their point. People who polarize for their own advancement continually raise the dose of vitriol to test our tolerance, to maintain their visibility; from the language and images in culture to the use of "socialist" and "Nazi" in politics. In this atmosphere, it's the lines we draw that matter -- how we respond when hate incites us and even organizes us. A Supreme Court victory for the family of Lance Cpl. Snyder is not the latest beginning of the end for free speech. It may be just what we need to spotlight the marketers of polarization and say "enough." Steve Snider is the son of the late Dick Snider and an associate director at the National Education Association. http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/po_20101006_9203.php Everything Phelps touches turns to ruin. I predict that the SCOTUS will come down with a very narrow ruling against the Phelps clan that will seek to have it;s cake and eat it too. They will restore the damage award, and define the ruling as narrowly as possible to try to reduce any damage to the First Amendment as possible.
There are no replies to Comment # 1. End Trace Mode for Comment # 1.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestGUEST COLUMN Enough Of Phelps' 'Emotional Terrorism' by Steve Snider
Replies to Comment # 1.
[Home] [Headlines] [Latest Articles] [Latest Comments] [Post] [Mail] [Sign-in] [Setup] [Help] [Register]