I know this is said again and again and again, every time the Westboro Baptist Church does something like this, but since these people are such unconscionable monsters we have to run through it again and again and again: Something has to be done to stop them. And don't give me the "They're allowed to protest at will because of our first amendment rights" argument. Everyone knows that speech is curbed, and it should be for these assholes. Like by taking away their right to protest near soldiers' funerals or, as they want to do this week, at the scene of where 20 school children were killed on Friday.

So, props today to the hacker group Anonymous, which took the news that the Westboro Baptist Church intends to protest in Newtown under the message of "God Sent the Shooter" and did something about it.

Via the Examiner:

"On Saturday, Dec. 15, Shirley Phelps-Roper announced that the Westboro Baptist Church would picket Sandy Hook Elementary School located in Newtown, Connecticut, with the following tweet: 'Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.' In response, Anonymous released the personal contact information of members of the Westboro Baptist Church, including the home address, email address and phone number of numerous church members."

Go through the list of church members here. It helpfully includes their phone numbers, in case you feel like trolling today.

Anonymous and members of Reddit are also publicizing a White House petition that would legally recognize the inbreds as a hate group. This would allow the government to more thoroughly restrict its movements, and to take away its still-intact (incredibly) tax exempt status.

From the petition:

This group has been recognized as a hate group by organizations, such as The Southern Poverty Law Center, and has repeatedly displayed the actions typical of hate groups.

Their actions have been directed at many groups, including homosexuals, military, Jewish people and even other Christians. They pose a threat to the welfare and treatment of others and will not improve without some form of imposed regulation.

Hopefully, the WBC won't be an issue this week.