Continental Airlines Flight # 3407 left Newark, New Jersey heading for Buffalo, New York on the evening of February 12, 2009. Less than an hour later, the plane, carrying 45 passengers and a crew of 4 crashed into a private home, just short of its destination, in the Buffalo suburb of Clarence Center. All aboard Flight 3407 and one of the 3 residents of the home perished that night.
On Sunday, February 22, a memorial service was held for one of the victims of the crash, international human rights advocate, Alison Des Forges.
Seeking to make himself & his hateful Old Time Religion appear relevant & never passing up a chance to remind the world how much God hates a world that just doesn't hate gay people quite enough for the “good” reverend’s liking, Fred Phelps & his Westboro Baptist Church, seeking to strike while the attention iron was hot, posted the ugly intentions of their dark hearts on their infamous website, godhatesfags.com:
“God, in his longsuffering mercy, spared the lives of those in the plane that crashed into the river at New York City. Rather than take the incident as another warning from God to repent of their manifold and filthy sins of the flesh—(i.e., sodomy, fornication, divorce, adultery, etc.)—Americans went right on sinning against God. Is there any wonder that, GOD HATES AMERICA? Nor is there any wonder that God, this time, did NOT spare the lives of those in Flight 3407.”
When word spread that Phelps & family were planning on protesting at Alison Des Forges’s funeral, the residents of Clarence Center came to the conclusion that simply trying to ignore ignorance & hate were not enough.
An article on Artvoice, a local newspaper’s website reports that a local gay rights group, OUTspoken for Equality decided to fight fire with love.
According to the article, local OUTspoken members ”…organized a silent vigil, wearing angel costumes fashioned from white PVC pipes and white cloth. University of Buffalo students held white banners. Together they formed a white wall in the hopes of warding mourners attending the memorial service from intimidation by Phelps’ group.”
Nearly two-hundred of these angels stood out in the cold and in the nearly 20 MPH wind to shield the mourners from what wound up being 3 WBC protestors.
Before the service, a spokesman for this modern-day band of angels explained that the motivation for their action was quite simple:
“We’re not here to address Phelps. We’re not a counter-protest. We’re not here to outshout them. We’re here to stand in solidarity with the families of Flight 3407. We’re here to protect their right to grieve. The people of Buffalo won’t stand for this type of harassment especially from people not even from this community”.
After all these years, it still amazes me what evil continues to be done in God’s name, and how far evil will go to make its ugly voice heard.
All I can say is, Thank God for Angels!
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Justice For The Clarence Center 50 – FIRE FAA’s Lynne Osmus and Hank Krakowski
Photos and biographies of the aircrash victims, links, and the full text of this message, can be found at:
http://indictsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/02/justice-for-clarence-50.html
America continues to learn that the victims of the Clarence Center aviation disaster were great people.
But one example:
The late “Dawn Monachino of Clarence typically drove 10 hours round-trip to Pennsylvania, every two weeks, to be with her mother, who has Alzheimer’s disease”.
http://www.buffalonews.com/516/story/581786.html
Dawn was a hero. So were her fellow passengers. They died to make our air travel safer. But they should not have been taken from us.
Quiet Rockland extends thoughts, sympathies, and prayers to families and friends of the victims of the horrible airplane crash which occurred near Buffalo, New York in the nearby hamlet of Clarence Center, Continental (Connections) Flight #3407, on Friday, February 13, 2009. The crash of Flight #3407 was but part of the legacy of harmful malfeasance rendered to us by now-exited failed Acting FAA Administrator Robert Allan (“Bobby”) Sturgell, now-exited failed FAA “Safety Officer” Nicholas Sabatini - and still-in-office FAA COO Hank Krakowski and Acting FAA Administrator Lynne A. (Dobler) Osmus.
The victims of the Flight #3407 crash were kind and decent people, with hopes and dreams. None of them deserved to die at the hands of malicious bureaucrats. We again call upon the President, USDOT Secretary LaHood, and Congress, to immediately remove Lynne Osmus and Hank Krakowski from FAA and from all other government work, permanently. We again call upon President, USDOT Secretary LaHood, and Congress, to now give FAA the top-to-bottom clean-out of other FAA personnel recommended by Congressman Oberstar last year, before Flight #3407 ever happened. If the clean-out of FAA had happened already, the crash of Flight #3407 may not have happened. Finally, we want a Congressional investigation into the circumstances of the timing of the hasty departure announcement by NTSB Member Steven R. Chealander, which announcement occurred but a week after he commenced work on the February 13 Flight #3407 crash. We want answers. We want justice. We want a new FAA.
Photos and biographies of the Clarence Center crash victims, and the full text of this message, can be found at:
http://indictsturgell.blogspot.com/2009/02/justice-for-clarence-50.html
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