The world lost firebrand preacher Fred Phelps, pastor of the Westboro Baptist Church in Colorado that spent a better part of the 1990s through the present protesting soldier funerals, gay marriages and movie premieres with his weirdo 1950s style of Gospel.

Phelps first gained exposure by protesting Matthew Shepherd's funeral in Wyoming. Afterward, he frequently showed up at high-profile funerals, usually U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. His message was repeated but he mostly existed as a punchline.

Which is what struck me most of all. Phelps was like a cartoon character, someone so removed from reality and any trace of public respect that you almost think he was a fictional character, some comedian pretending to be a nutso fire and brimstone preacher. What, if anything, he ever accomplished besides literally preaching to his own choir is debatable.

Really, from this point on, he exists only as the answer to a trivia question. Kids 20 years from now will only hear about him second-hand when their parents say something to the effect of "Remember that one preacher who used to protest people's funerals all the time?"

Such is fate of all two-bit hatemongers, I suppose. Not sure where I was going with all this, just had to get it out of my system.