First Door on the Left

Though it is doubtful that he will ever be able to collect, it is good that this man won…

Jury Awards Father $11M in Funeral Case

BALTIMORE (AP) – A grieving father won a nearly $11 million verdict Wednesday against a fundamentalist Kansas church that pickets military funerals out of a belief that the war in Iraq is a punishment for the nation’s tolerance of homosexuality.

Albert Snyder of York, Pa., sued the Westboro Baptist Church for unspecified damages after members demonstrated at the March 2006 funeral of his son, Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, who was killed in Iraq.

The jury first awarded $2.9 million in compensatory damages. It returned in the afternoon with its decision to award $6 million in punitive damages for invasion of privacy and $2 million for causing emotional distress.

Snyder’s attorney, Craig Trebilcock, had urged jurors to determine an amount “that says don’t do this in Maryland again. Do not bring your circus of hate to Maryland again.”

Church members routinely picket funerals of military personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, carrying signs such as “Thank God for dead soldiers” and “God hates fags.”

George W. Bush is losing another of his Texas buddies…

Hughes, Loyal Bush Adviser, Leaving State Dept.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 31 — Karen P. Hughes, one of the few remaining members of President Bush’s circle of longtime Texas advisers, said today that she will return to private life, stepping down as the head of public diplomacy at the State Department sometime in December.

Karen P. Hughes and George W. Bush in picture taken at the 2004 Republican National Convention.

In honor of Halloween, a special Wednesday night edition of Friday Night Cartoons…