Watch: Joy Behar Hopes Fred Phelps Will Die Soon; WBC a No-Show at Elizabeth Taylor Funeral

Joy Behar speaks with Nate Phelps, the estranged son of Fred Phelps, who claims his father physically abuses the family, about the WBC's attacks on gays, and their plans to picket Elizabeth Taylor's funeral.

Says Behar: "There's a sickness to it. There's an obsessive quality to it that rings of mental illness to me."

Behar says she hopes the elder Phelps dies soon.

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Incidentally, the WBC was a no-show to Taylor's funeral, which was held yesterday at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale:

Glendale Police Department officials said the department was asked to assist in security for the three dozen to four dozen family members and friends expected to attend the service because of the proximity of an elementary school. No details were given to the media about who attended the service.

Scotland Beavers, 47, left work early after reading posts on Facebook that suggested anti-gay protesters might be picketing. "We need to get there and try to block them," he said.

They had umbrellas ready if protesters showed up, but they never materialized.

Taylor was laid to rest near her good friend Michael Jackson. 

Watch the Behar clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

Watch: Son of Westboro Baptist Church Pastor Fred Phelps Says Father Beat Wife and Kids 'So They Bled'

Nate Phelps, the estranged son of Westboro Baptist Church pastor Fred Phelps, appeared on Jane Velez Mitchell's show Issues to clarify statements he has made in the past about physical abuse of the family by his father.

Said Phelps: "He used his fists. He used his knees, he used his feet, and he used the handle of a mattock. He used that in such a way that it split the skin on the back of the kid's legs so they bled."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Supreme Court Rules 8-1 That Westboro Baptist Church Has Right to Picket Funerals of Soldiers

SCOTUS has ruled for Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church:

"The Supreme Court has ruled that the First Amendment protects fundamentalist church members who mount attention-getting, anti-gay protests outside military funerals. The court voted 8-1 Wednesday in favor of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan. The decision upheld an appeals court ruling that threw out a $5 million judgment to the father of a dead Marine who sued church members after they picketed his son's funeral."

Justice Samuel Alito was the lone dissenter, according to CBS News:

"Our profound national commitment to free and open debate is not a license for the vicious verbal assault that occurred in this case," Alito wrote in his dissent.

The case involved a Maryland man whose slain soldier son's (Marine Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder) funeral was targeted by Phelps and his Westboro Baptist Church picketers.

As you may remember, the man was awarded nearly $11 million in October 2007 in punitive damages, damages for emotional distress, and compensation. The WBC thumbed its collective nose at that judgment, which was later cut in half, and finally thrown out entirely by the U.S. Court of Appeals.

The Phelps clan believes God is killing soldiers because of the U.S.A.'s tolerance of homosexuality.

Watch: David Pakman Interviews Shirley Phelps-Roper

David Pakman interviews the Westboro Baptist Church's Shirley Phelps-Roper about the threats from hacker group Anonymous, which Anonymous said over the weekend were made up by the WBC.

Pam Spaulding notes that the conversation turned to claims made by her estranged brother Nate that the children of the Fred Phelps were abused, SPR lashes out:

"Phelps-Roper indicated that hitting children is part of 'teaching children exactly like their creator told them to do it,' causing Pakman to ask later in the interview whether police involvement was appropriate."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Anonymous Hacker Group Suggests Westboro Baptist Church Made Up Threat Claims for Publicity

The hacker group Anonymous has written a letter (written by more than 20 Anons, at the same time, and none of them were inbred family members. Unlike that other, shitty "Press Release") refuting claims it's going after Westboro Baptist Church, and accused the group of making up claims of an attack for their own publicity.

Read the letter posted on its website, AFTER THE JUMP...

Westboro Baptist Church Responds to Takedown Threat from Hacker Group Anonymous: 'Bring It!'

This week, the hacker group Anonymous, which has successfully disabled sites associated to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak  as well as sites like Visa in the name of Wikleaks founder Julian Assange, and the Church of Scientology, issued an ultimatum to the Topeka, Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church.

Said Anonymous in an open letter:

We, the collective super-consciousness known as ANONYMOUS - the Voice of Free Speech & the Advocate of the People - have long heard you issue your venomous statements of hatred, and we have witnessed your flagrant and absurd displays of inimitable bigotry and intolerant fanaticism. We have always regarded you and your ilk as an assembly of graceless sociopaths and maniacal chauvinists & religious zealots, however benign, who act out for the sake of attention & in the name of religion.

Being such aggressive proponents for the Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Information as we are, we have hitherto allowed you to continue preaching your benighted gospel of hatred and your theatrical exhibitions of, not only your fascist views, but your utter lack of Christ-like attributes.

They added:

ANONYMOUS cannot abide this behavior any longer. The time for us to be idle spectators in your inhumane treatment of fellow Man has reached its apex, and we shall now be moved to action. Thus, we give you a warning: Cease & desist your protest campaign in the year 2011, return to your homes in Kansas, & close your public Web sites. 

 Should you ignore this warning, you will meet with the vicious retaliatory arm of ANONYMOUS: We will target your public Websites, and the propaganda & detestable doctrine that you promote will be eradicated; the damage incurred will be irreversible, and neither your institution nor your congregation will ever be able to fully recover. It is in your best interest to comply now, while the option to do so is still being offered, because we will not relent until you cease the conduction & promotion of all your bigoted operations & doctrines.

The warning has been given. What happens from here shall be determined by you.

Read the full letter from Anonymous here.

Yesterday, the Westboro Baptist Church took up the gauntlet, telling Anonymous, "Bring It!"

Check out thei full flyer, AFTER THE JUMP...