CONTEXT

Here’s a story on the full context of those hideous Phelps protesters at a military funeral. The fallen hero wasn’t gay; but some on the far religious right believe that 9/11 was a legitimate rebuke to America’s toleration of homosexuality; and so they picket these funerals out of some kind of deranged fanaticism. I like this detail, though:

On the corner of a narrow street lined with Colonial-era buildings, the Kansas contingent tried shouting its anti-homosexual message at mourners who overflowed from the church. But every time demonstrators spoke out, the 14-man Boston Police Department bagpipe band broke into thunderous sound. “I thought that was cool,” said Day Newburg, 34, who stood outside the church with her husband, mother-in-law and 2-year-old daughter. “Those bagpipers drowned them right out.”

Best use of public funds in a long time. Small factoid: Phelps is a Democrat. But his loyalties are to the fringes of the religious right.