Idaho's funeral picketing law too late for planned protest

[Barrett808]

Source: Associated Press

POCATELLO -- A Kansas-based church group known for protesting at the funerals of soldiers killed in combat says it plans to picket an eastern Idaho soldier's funeral Saturday.

The protest in Pocatello will be about a month before an Idaho law designed to prevent such protests goes into effect.

Members of the Topeka-based Westboro Baptist Church have picketed burials around the United States.

They say the deaths are God's punishment for a nation harboring homosexuals.

The church faxed its intentions to the Pocatello Police Department yesterday.

Read more: http://www.ktvb.com/news/localnews/stories/ktvbn-may1707-funeral_protest.7b352e58.html

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Wonder if the people of Pocatello

can put up No Trespassing signs and keep the Phelps gang off their property? That worked at one town--the Phelps gang wound up in a small ditch.

I would love to see that happen again--Phelps in a ditch. And then someone decides to wash their car and sends a whole bunch of dirty water down the ditch.....

[LiberalFighter]

2. Why didn't they make the law effective sooner?

[TechBear_Seattle]

5. Because it is the law

Most state constitutions have provisions saying that, under normal circumstances, a law will go in to effect some time period after it is signed. In Washington, most new laws do not go into effect until three months after the bill is signed. The exceptions are bills passed by both houses as immediately necessary "emergency legislation" and certain budget bills.

The idea behind the delays is A) to give sufficient time for the new law to be promulgated before it becomes active and thus eliminate the excuse "I didn't know it was illegal" and B) to allow voters the opportunity to hold a referendum on the legislation. (In Washington, emergency legislation is exempt from referendum.)

Edit: fixed window of time between signature and effectiveness.

[LiberalFighter]

3. When will one of their own die?

Will they say they died because it is God's punishment?

[noel adamson]

4. Our punishment for harboring insane fundamentalists of Phelps' nature

"They say the deaths are God's punishment for a nation harboring homosexuals." It is people like Phelps, Pat Robertson and the recently descended Jerry Falwell that are directly responsible for the deaths in Iraq and elsewhere. Without their support and the support of their followers it is unlikely that the current invasion and occupation of Iraq, the unholy alliance with Bin Laden, Ahmed Shah Massoud and the other "freedom fighters" in 1980s Afghanistan in their fight against the "Godless commies" etc. or other state sponsored terrorism would have been initiated. It seems that behind every right wing coup, death squad or oppressive regime there is a militant right wing fundamentalist group.

[Freddie Stubbs]

6. I am really quite surprised that someone hasn't started beating on these people

I suspect that I would be difficult to find a jury which would convict.

[Honeycombe8]

7. Horrible people. nt

[tchunter]

8. isn't there a group of motorcycle riding veterans who go to these funerals to try to shield

the family of the soldier from the protests? Its amazing how these church groups can overlook such bible passages like "judge not lest thee be judged" or "what you do unto the least of these my brethren, you do unto me" and focus on archaic interpretations of entirely irrelevant passages.






Found the link: the group of veterans are the Patriot Guard, don't know much about the group except for what i already posted but you gotta respect what they are trying to do.

www.patriotguard.org

[nykym]

9. I had no idea such a group existed

I salute them and their efforts (the Patriot Guard) not the fringe wack jobs who plan the protest. Any way I went to the Patriot Guard website and passed the info of the church's intention along to them. So hopefully they will lend some support to the family of Sergeant Blake C. Stephens.

[DinahMoeHum]

10. Patriot Guard Riders mission details in Pocatello below. . .

http://www.patriotguard.org/Forums/tabid/61/postid/516351/view/topic/Default.aspx

:patriot:

[BonnieJW]

11. God bless them.

The * administration won't do anything for our troops, even the fallen ones. God bless these people for taking care of each other.