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KCTV News reports from Madison Wisconsin that a "bipartisan group of state lawmakers" in Wisconsin have brought forth a well-intentioned, but manifestly unconstitutional bill to make it a crime to protest within 500 feet of a funeral, wake, internment or memorial service for an hour before or after a ceremony. |
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The inspiration for this law is that members of Fred Phelps church have been protesting outside funerals of about 80 soldiers killed in Iraq, claiming, disgustingly, that "God is killing American soldiers because the US accepts homosexuality." |
While Phelps and his followers turn ones stomach, the first impulse, to restrict speech, is almost always wrong. Today we stop Phelps, tomorrow we stop anti-war protesters. The right answer when people like Phelps protest is to make room for them and then turn your back.
I assume this law will never see the light of day, because its Constitutional half-life is measured in minutes.
8:41:47 AM 
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