Not in Port Orchard you don’t.

The big news around these parts today was a visit from the lunatics from the Westboro Baptist Church to harass the grieving family of SFC Johnny Walls. If these sleazy carpet baggers thought they could come into our town and subject the family of a fallen soldier to their vile hate with impunity they got a surprise today.

I started out at the local WalMart, buying a 4×5 flag to wave, everyone there seemed to know where I was headed and kept asking if I was going to the protest — My reply was “I’m not protesting anything, I’m there to support the family”. I arrived at the corner of Lund Ave and Bethel road at about 1pm. There were already about 100 people on 2 of the corners. The lunatics were over on the opposite corner, totally surrounded by supporters and Kitsap County Deputies.

The size of the crowd quickly swelled with people carrying signs, banners and flags. I estimated that the number of people was at least 300. They were surrounded by people with signs that said things like “Social Parasite”, “We are here for SFC Walls, You are here for yourselves” and “Thank God for SFC Walls”. I think it got to be too much for them to handle, they tried to move off down the road, and then the cops escorted them across the street and back to their cars. A good thing, because one of them was dragging an American Flag though the dirt which didn’t go over too well with a passerby at the Rite Aid — the deputies prevented him from causing a scene as far as I could tell.

As they were leaving the Patriot Guard Riders made a pass through on their way to the SFC Walls’ funeral.

I prefer to think of this as a support rally for SFC Johnny Walls and his family. I was there to show the screwballs that they are vastly out numbered by people who support our troops and their families and to show the family that the community supports them and thanks them for making the ultimate sacrifice — the loss of a son. I hope that our presence there gave some solace to his family in their time of grief.

Pictures can be seen at the LibertyNews Gallery and a couple of short videos on the LibertyNews YouTube page.

Keith Henson, an outspoken critic of Scientology, has reportedly been arrested for jokingly referring to ‘Tom Cruise Missiles’ in a USENET discussion several years ago. Bloggers are just starting to pick up on the news, with postings asymptotia, freekeithhenson, Instapundit, MondoGlobo and Weblogsky.

Looks like another example of the so called Church of Scientology throwing their weighty lawyers at a problem. Their insistence on secrecy and censorship doesn’t lend much credibility to their religious claims.