Say It Ain't So Already

BREAKING: Bill O’Reilly Does Something Good

March 31, 2010 at 3:55 PM Leave a comment

I’ve been following this case recently and I am so glad someone — even if it’s Bill O’Reilly — came to this family’s aid:

No. 1 cable news host Bill O’Reilly said Tuesday that he will personally write a check to cover $16,500 in legal costs for the father of a fallen U.S. Marine who sued the members of a church who picketed his son’s funeral.

According to news reports, the members of the Westboro Baptist Church, located in Topeka, Kan., believe that God is punishing the United States because of its acceptance of gay people. The church garners attention for its views by protesting high-profile funerals.

On March 3, 2006, Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder died in a non-combat related vehicle accident in Al Anbar province in Iraq.

“He was a hero and he was the love of my life,” said Albert Snyder, Matthew’s grieving father.

During the wake that was held after his son’s funeral, family members turned on the television to view coverage of the massive procession involving over 1,500 persons. They saw the church members waving signs and protesting the funeral.

“I just stood there in shock,” Albert Snyder told O’Reilly in November 2007.

“I couldn’t believe that somebody would do that to somebody else. I mean, I didn’t know what to say.

“Finally, somebody yelled, ‘Turn off the television.’ But I just stood there in shock. I can’t believe there’s somebody that would actually do that to soldiers.”

Albert Snyder filed a federal lawsuit against the church, and a jury awarded him nearly $11 million dollars for invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress. But the U.S. Court of Appeals overturned the verdict on the grounds that the church’s First Amendment right to free expression must be protected.

Adding insult to injury, the court also ruled that Snyder would have to pay $16,500 to church members, to defray what they spent to defend themselves in court.

Then again, God am I cynical, maybe this is Bill’s way of giving to the Phelps family while avoiding a political backlash.

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