Julia is asking bloggers to spread the word about a campaign to respond to the "Reverend" Fred Phelps, of Godhatesfags.com fame, who's decided that God hates America as a whole and is thus using His Divine Wrath to kill U.S. troops. Phelps is now picketing funerals of dead soldiers.

Julia wants us to know about an effort to raise money for the family of a recent Phelps target, Sergeant Christopher Taylor:

...All these ladies are asking for is a nickel, dime or quarter pledge per minute that Phelps protests Taylor's funeral....

If you wish to make a pledge, you can contact [Melissa] Yoannon at (706)366-0945. To e-mail your information, send it to sgt.taylorfund@hotmail.com.

If you wish to make a flat donation, you can do so by stopping by or sending it to any Charter Bank location. In Opelika, you can call (334)742-0266. The mailing address is:

Charter Bank
114 S. 7th Street
Opelika, AL 36801

Make your donation to the Sgt. Christopher Taylor Fund. There are two accounts, so you need to specify the one for which you wish to donate. One is set up for "wife and kids," and the other is just "kids."

Happy to spread the word....

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...but you know what? Enough already. I looked at the story Julia linked about the most recent Phelps protest, from a local TV news outlet via AP, and I see this:

Ten members of the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) of Topeka, Kansas, plan to picket for 30 minutes before Opskar's funeral in Moorhead on Tuesday, said Shirley Phelps-Roper, church attorney and daughter of church minister Fred Phelps.

Ten members?! We're paying attention to ten pathetic losers?

I think it's time to treat these Phelpsians the way TV baseball broadcasters treat idiots who run onto the field: no matter what, no coverage. The baseball morons used to get seen on TV; no more. Now the practice is to explain what's happening and then cut away. Yeah, moron, you're desperate for attention, but we ain't gonna help you.

That's how Fred Phelps and his crew should be approached from now on -- NO MORE NEWS STORIES. None. Zero. Zip. It's the same stunt, over and over and over; the soldiers are a new wrinkle, but who cares? It's not news anymore. Is it news when a sewer rat eats garbage? No -- that's what sewer rats do. And this is what Fred Phelps and his band of idiots do.

This isn't dirtected primarily at bloggers -- I'm saying this to AP and Reuters and big and small newspapers and local television news operations and TV networks. NO MORE COVERAGE, FRED. We don't care what you do -- we've been there, we've done that. You're fishwrap. You're old news.

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UPDATE: A commenter makes a reasonable point:

I feel like it would be better if the media paid MORE attention to the right-wing whackos, as long as they make clear that they are whackos and keep away from false "balance".

Unfortunately, I don't think that would ever happen in the case of Phelps -- the "liberal media," if it chose to give him a lot of coverage, would seek just that kind of "balance," pointing out that Christians and conservatives have denounced him. Yeah, if the left had a 24/7 message machine running that succeeded in painting the opposition as evil freaks, Phelps would be Exhibit A. But there's no such machine, so I say it's best to ignore the sonofabitch.