About the protest bill...

I am disgusted that the funeral protest bill was blocked by .S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell, a conservative judge. I thought conservatives would have favored the idea. The last thing that grieving parents want is someone protesting the service of their son or daughter. Whether or not we supported initial action in Iraq, we must support the troops.

A federal judge in Frankfort has temporarily barred Kentucky from enforcing a law that bans protests at military and other funerals, saying it appears to go too far in limiting free speech.

U.S. District Judge Karen K. Caldwell issued the order yesterday, saying parts of the law passed by the General Assembly this year limit "substantially more speech than is necessary" by banning any demonstration within 300 feet of a funeral and restricting comments and protest signs.

The law is aimed at a group from a Kansas church that travels around the country picketing military funerals -- claiming that soldiers' deaths are God's retribution for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.[...]

Caldwell's order was greeted with dismay by state Rep. Mike Weaver, D-Elizabethtown, a retired Army colonel who sponsored the House version of the law. He said he did so after the protesters disrupted military funerals in Kentucky and elsewhere with what he considers "ugly and vicious tactics."

"The reason was to give grieving families an opportunity to grieve in private without being insulted," Weaver said.[...]

Attorney General Greg Stumbo, whose office is defending Kentucky's law, yesterday issued a statement saying he is considering an appeal of Caldwell's decision.

"Funerals are a time of sacred and solemn reflection which must be protected from aggressive disruption," he said.

I support this bill with all my heart.

Go get 'em, Col. Weaver and Atty. Gen. Stumbo.