new Wisc. law keeps Phelps-ites away from funeral..

[MnFats]

...i still, however, have concerns about damage to first amendment rights.
....but on the other hand it's nice to see the Phelps hate brigage take one on the chin...

www.wsaw.com


snippet:

A group that pickets funerals of U.S. troops killed in Iraq stayed away from this week's service in Superior for a Wisconsin Marine.
A group member says they were warned that protesters would face action under a new state law that restricts those activities.
21-year-old Lance Corporal Adam VanAlstine of Superior was killed by a roadside bomb in Ramadi February 25.
More than 700 people, including Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton, gathered Monday (March 6, 2006) night to pay their respects to him at the Superior High School gym -- the same place where his graduation ceremony was held in 2003.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Phelps is an annoyance today.

A major restriction on the 1st Amendment is a threat forever. Especially in the current atmosphere, I hate to see Dems passing restrictive legislation of this sort. But then, Doyle has a deeply-ingrained tendency to think like a prosecutor, and that is a group who, as a whole, have less respect for individual rights than for "law & order."

[rodeodance]

2. it keeps them at a distance, which I am glad to see

[DinahMoeHum]

3. There IS an alternative to new laws . .the "Patriot Guard Riders"

www.patriotguard.org

:smoke:

[Webster Green]

4. I don't like the laws against protests......slippery slope...

Cops, and media should just stay away.

If there are no cops or media at these funerals, perhaps the Phelps clan would get the ass-kicking that they richly deserve.

[China_cat]

5. Does the first amendment

really grant the right to harassment? Stalking? Laws have been passed to keep groups from blockading abortion clinics and even our government has come up with 'free speech zones' (which are the worst kind of trampling on free speech). Unions are told where their members can picket, at what times and how many people can be on the picket line at any one time.

So why not stop Phelps from making a horrible event even worse?

[zbdent]

6. What will be fun is to watch the righties try to tie

Phelps and inbreeds to lefties . . . despite the fact that these inbreds are extreme righties . . .

Unfortunately, the media will allow the tying to lefties to succeed . . .

[Radio_Guy]

7. Oh Phelps is a rightie alrightie

He hates the troops, he hates homosexuals, and tries to shove his religion down people's throats. That is right wing if there ever was one.