Bush Signs Funeral Anti-protest Law

President Bush signed the Respect for America’s Fallen Heroes Act on Memorial Day. The act bars protests within 300 feet of the entrance of national cemeteries and within 150 feet of roads leading to national cemeteries. The limitation is effective from one hour before until one hour after a funeral. Violators could be sentenced to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison. The new law is in response to a small church group from Topeka, Kan., that claims military combat deaths stem from God’s anger at the United States because it tolerates homosexuals. The group has carried signs in the vicinity of military funerals with wording such as, “Thank God for IEDs,” and “Thank God for dead soldiers.” More than a dozen states have passed similar legislation, or are considering it.