Aren't cemeteries private land?

And if yes, cannot the owners prevent those kooks from Kansas (why is it always Kansas) from shouting their filth at the graves of soldiers?

Phelps sends his cult members to Washburn law school, he knows exactly how far he can go and what protections he has.

That's why he is so arrogant.

Are the bikers still showing up to protect families from Phelps and his idiots?

I could really do without them. See my post below for why.

The Harley Honor Guard

A group of bikers swoops down on a graveside pest and becomes a symbol of respect for the military dead
By DAVID VAN BIEMA

Monday, May 1, 2006

An all too familiar dirge emanated from the bagpipes at Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, Calif., last week as the coffin of Army Sergeant Joseph Blanco, who died under enemy fire in Taji, Iraq, was borne past two rows of mourners holding American flags. Blanco's pallbearers wore neatly pressed military greens. But the onlookers were hardly regulation: outfitted in leather jackets, do-rags and multiple tattoos, with nicknames like Fugdaboutit and Fat Bob, wearing patches with legends like HEAVILY MEDICATED FOR YOUR PROTECTION, they had roared in earlier by the dozens on Harleys, Hondas and more Harleys, from as near as Palm Springs, Calif., and as far as Phoenix, Ariz., to take their places as honored guests of the bereaved--and as part of an eccentric but eloquent expression of national grief over sons and daughters who gave their lives in war.

They call themselves the Patriot Guard Riders, and in a culture in which a 24-hour news cycle and habitual political spin can make the most earnest public gesture seem tired or canned, they appear to be the real thing: a spontaneous mass movement. They formed as a response to the Rev. Fred Phelps, an attention-crazed fanatic based in Topeka, Kans., who has logged 15 years as a kind of paleo-fundamentalist, gay-baiting performance artist. Last spring Phelps grabbed the already troubling line, taken by preachers such as Pat Robertson, that disasters like 9/11 were God's punishment for American sins, and spun it past the boundary of the outrageous by having his followers crash military funerals with signs like GOD LOVES IEDS (improvised explosive devices) and scream to grieving parents that their children were in hell as divine punishment for what Phelps calls the nation's "enabling" and "harboring" of homosexuals.

After more than a dozen such episodes, five American Legion Riders from Kansas decided last August that they had had enough. At subsequent funerals, they gathered fellow bikers to form a human shield between Phelps' disciples and the bereaved, blocking the protesters' signs with flags and occasionally revving their engines to drown out the insults. Soon the riders outgrew the protesters. Phelps' church has only about 75 members, mostly his relatives. But the newly named Patriot Guard expanded exponentially and today claims 28,000 bikers and supporters. They attend every single military funeral for which the family gives permission. "We joined because of Fred Phelps, but now the whole focus is off Fred Phelps," says California state coordinator Cheryl Egan. "It's more about the troop who just gave his or her life."

More..

http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,1189333-0,00.html

Where were they when Phelps was harassing the families of hate crime victims at funerals?

Had only read about them being pigs at grave site services, which was why the Harley groups started up patrolling the funeral entourage to the grave site services.

They can't be everywhere. I am glad they started showing up. It publicized the shit Phelps was pulling and also illustrated that anybody can take a stand for what is fair and decent.

Arlington, for example, is just one -- albeit the most famous -- of the publically owned cemeteries for veterans

Towns sometimes own them too, and are paid by the Feds if they agree to cede a portion of their property for a "military area" of the facility. Churches sometimes own them, as well.

They go to the funeral homes and churches and stand on the sidewalk - which IS public space.