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Hate missionary Fred Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church followers have issued a statement saying they “thank god for” alleged shooter Jared Lee Loughner and will picket the funerals of those killed in the Saturday attack on Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’ constituent meeting in Northwest Tucson.

"Thank god for the violent shooter, one of your soldier heroes in Tucson," Phelps said in a video posted on Youtube (see sidebar).

"However many our dead, Westboro Baptist Church will picket their funerals," Phelps said.

The Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church and their leader Phelps are noted for inflammatory anti-gay protests at the funerals of U.S. military personnel around the country.

The group is noted for its slogan, "God hates fags."

In the group 2005 threatened to picket a Rincon High School production of "The Laramie Project," a play about the murder of 21-year-old student Matthew Shepard, who was tortured and murdered in 1998, allegedly because of his homosexuality.

Phelps and his followers never turned up at Rincon High School, but in a posting on the group’s website shortly after Saturday’s attack on Giffords’ meeting, wrote “THANK GOD FOR THE SHOOTER-6 DEAD! WBC WILL PICKET THEIR FUNERALS.”

The statement added: "God appointed this rod for your sins God sent the shooter!" and “WBC prays for your destruction … Your doom is upon you!”

The group issued a second press release Sunday with an attack on the youngest victim, 9-year-old Christina Taylor Greene.

It references Greene's birthdate, Sept. 11, 2001, and the 9/11 terrorist attacks, saying "God mercifully gave this nation a fair warning on 9/11 - but you despise His mercies, so you get no more mercy - man, woman or child. That how God the Avenger rolls!"

In response to the group’s actions, a number of states have passed legislation forbidding protests within a certain distance of a funeral. In 2006, President George W. Bush signed into law the Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act, prohibiting protests within 300 feet of the entrance of any cemetery under control of the National Cemetery Administration.

Also in 2006, the family of slain Marine Lance Corporal Matthew A. Snyder sued the Westboro Baptist Church and Phelps for defamation, invasion of privacy, and intentional infliction of emotional distress after the group had picked Snyder’s funeral.

While a federal jury found Phelps and the WBC liable for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress and awarded the Snyders a total of $10.9 million, the award was later reduced, and the verdict itself later overturned by a federal appeals court.

In March 2010 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case, and arguments were presented in October. A ruling is pending.

Roberto De Vido writes cartoons and comics about politics, sports (and life) from a small fishing and farming village an hour southwest of Tokyo.

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