Margie Phelps of the controversial Westboro Baptist Church says her members plan to be picketing at Steve Jobs funeral, but they may have run into a little problem. They might need to find it first.
Funeral arrangements for Jobs may not be released to the public, according to Politics and Computers, due to apparently legitimate fears that the event could turn into a media circus.
Phelps announced the Westboro group’s plans to protest through her iPhone. When people pointed out the irony in that on Twitter, she answered, “Irony is powerful way to publish. By iPhone iPad & iGrace Westboro warns you about hell!”
Jobs’ biological father John Jandali had no comment on the news of his son’s death yesterday. It is not known whether Jobs’ biological parents would be invited.
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Politics and Computers reported that when Jobs was born in San Francisco in 1955, his parents – Jandali and Joanne Schieble – gave him up for adoption. His adoptive parents, Paul and Clara Jobs, adopted the future Apple CEO, and Jobs has reportedly had little contact with Jandali.The Supreme Court ruled earlier this year that the Westboro Church was protected from lawsuits from its protests by the First Amendment. But the Wall Street Journal reports that an appeals court is divided about picket restrictions at a funeral service.
This week a ruling by the St. Louis-based 8th Circuit opposed restrictions in Manchester, Missouri, which limited protests to within 300 feet of a cemetery, funeral home or church, based on the right to free speech being more important.