It's General Conference in Salt Lake City and the Bullhorns are In Bloom

And the street "preachers" will be out in force to harrass Mormons attending the meetings. Here's a roundup of letters to the editor about them.

The city's mayor, a former ACLU attorney, has seen the political light and supported an ordinance restricting these protestors to keep them out of people's faces, and a federal judge has upheld it. These people make a practice of showing up and warning the throngs of LDS people that they're all going to hell, and various other insults to their religion. This is the real face of 'free speech' in this country, along with people carrying signs endorsing the 9/11 attacks, and trying to disrupt meetings of the G-8. Of course, people exercising their freedom of speech aren't content with simply speaking out. They want publicity, which usually only comes from clashes with the cops. Thanks, ACLU.

Update: The Deseret News reports that the restrictions helped avoid incidents like the one in October that led to a Mormon man being arrested for assault when he tangled with one of the "preachers" whose rudeness succeed in provoking him. There was also this:

During one two-hour stint, the street preachers also endured a chorus of "send in the clowns" as two men dressed in clown suits spent several hours fervently heckling the street preachers on a host of topics before leaving.

The persecution of Mormons has nearly always resulted from agitation by ministers of other Christian churches. You'd think that they would have figured out by now, that they only make themselves look like they had never read the Sermon on the Mount. Of course, the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should remember that Jesus taught, "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake," and not let the reviling get to you.