Where was Phelps?

We were braced for unpleasant company this morning. For some reason, the Westboro Baptist Church had announced their plans to picket outside Park Street Church this morning. I understand that we're only 100 yards from the Massachusetts State House, but there is no reason I'm aware of for them to single out Park Street among the churches of Massachusetts. That's neither here nor there - for whatever reason, they were expected outside our doors at 8:00 this morning, to be followed by visits to two other churches in downtown Boston.

They didn't show up.

It was there on their website - I checked it earlier in the week (though I'll never link to it). But on Wednesday, a jury awarded $11 million to the family of a slain US marine on the grounds that "the family's privacy had been invaded by a Kansas church whose members waved anti-gay signs at the funeral."

And I'm wondering - did that put a damper on their activities? Not only did they not show up in Massachusetts this morning where they had announced that they would be (or anywhere else, at least not that I can see), but the website itself is down this afternoon. Has the family of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder put this loathesome group out of business?

Probably not, but it would be wonderful if it had...