hobya
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/31/99
Posts: 5688
Loc: Sonova Beach
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-Man who talked of 'burning Bush' before presidential visit sentenced to 37 months
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A man who made a remark about a "burning Bush" during the president's March 2001 trip to Sioux Falls was sentenced Friday to 37 months in prison.
Richard Humphreys of Portland, Ore., was convicted in September of threatening to kill or harm the president and said he plans to appeal. He has said the comment was a prophecy protected under his right to free speech.
Humphreys said he got into a barroom discussion in nearby Watertown with a truck driver. A bartender who overheard the conversation realized the president was to visit Sioux Falls the next day and told police Humphreys talked about a "burning Bush" and the possibility of someone pouring a flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it.
"I said God might speak to the world through a burning Bush," Humphreys testified during his trial. "I had said that before and I thought it was funny."
©2002 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.-
The way I see it this guy was guilty of poor taste in humor at most. I often heard much worse said about Clinton.
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We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
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Jay in P.A.
self-absorbed hack
Reged: 12/30/99
Posts: 9928
Loc: o
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At work one day, we had one of our drivers become disgruntled toward the dispatcher and make a comment about how maybe he ought to just go home and get his gun and come back and "clean house".
What do you think? Just exercising his freedom of speech by making a bad joke, or making a clear threat?
A neighbor (well-known to the police) down the road from us got into a heated discussion with our next-door-neighbor over his dissatisfaction over a newly installed gate across the road that wasn't locked but did require the people to get out of their vehicles to open it before driving through on our private road to take their kids to school which was within very easy walking distance through a (comparatively) very safe neighborhood. Within this heated discussion, he remarked about how terrible it would be if our next-door-neighbor's house were to burn down with the family inside. What do you think? Just kidding or making a clear threat?
That would-be arsonist did have a restraining order slapped on him for that, by the way. That poor oppressed soul.
Do you really think it was okay to wait and see if the sh*t-talker was just making a funny about the president, hobya? He could just as easily have been serious. Would you be so magnanimous if the guy was making such nasty remarks about a member of your family?
I'm gonna take a wild guess and say no.
Yeah, the Feds did make an example of the guy. I guess he shouldn't have broken the law. Most of the rest of us manage that small task without too much problem. Why should he be exempt?
I'm perfectly fine with them tossing his butt in jail. If he's good and keeps his disgruntled yapper shut during his stay in prison, maybe they'll let him out early.
But in the meantime, let's not coddle those types. Part of why the world is in such a mess is because of people coddling the wrong people and thus making them worse. This sparing of the rod crap has to stop somewhere.
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Jay is ALWAYS ready!
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hobya
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/31/99
Posts: 5688
Loc: Sonova Beach
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I do not see this situation the same as the ones you talked about at all Jay. This was an idiot making a crude joke in a bar. As I recall Bush himself made a remark about how he would not mind if someone put a bullet in Saddams head. If the guy had said something like that about the president I would agree with you.
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We have it in our power to begin the world over again.
Thomas Paine, Common Sense, 1776
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nastypacker
old hand
Reged: 09/22/01
Posts: 1050
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Hobya, c'mon...the guy in the bar ain't that stoopid.
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"The really rich people figure out how to dodge taxes anyway." George W. Bush 8-9-04
"Why don't they get new jobs if they're unhappy -- or go on Prozac?" Susan Sheybani, Bush campaign.
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The Herminator
journeyman
Reged: 11/17/02
Posts: 90
Loc: tacoma
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![[Lol up]](graemlins/lolup.gif)
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I noticed when you git to dis-likin' someone, they ain't around fer long neither. Chief George to the Outlaw Josey Wales. ![[M16]]( "src=graemlins/m16.gif")
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Jay in P.A.
self-absorbed hack
Reged: 12/30/99
Posts: 9928
Loc: o
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Hobya, you don't want to see the situation as being the same as those I described because of your obvious loathing (not undeserved) of Dubya. But want to or not, it is the same kind of thing.
How many examples of people "going postal" do you have hear about on the evening news in order to accept the reality that some of these "idiots" follow through on their threatening remarks (or "jokes" as you prefer to call them)?
You genuinely think that someone talking about the possibility of the president being dowsed with flammable liquid and set on fire is the same as someone saying they wouldn't mind if Saddam took a bullet to the braincase? No, it ain't so.
You can say "I wish the president would get shot in the head!" in this country without being arrested,---hell, NP probably says it every night preceded by "Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight..." Wishing for that aloud isn't illegal. It's when you start verbally working out the logistics (i.e. "...someone pouring a flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it.") that you get in trouble with the law. The law doesn't have the luxury of shrugging off such "jokes" like you do, they have to take them seriously. And if this idiot serves as an example to the rest of the idiots out there to mind how they wish for something, fine.
And you dodged my question, by the way. I'll re-word it slightly if that would help. All it needs is a simple "yes" or "no" answer,---would you still shrug off such a comment as just a stupid joke if it had been aimed at someone close to you?
C'mon, just answer truthfully.
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Jay is ALWAYS ready!
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Jeff R
addict
Reged: 09/06/02
Posts: 554
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The guy was from Portland. I wonder what he was doing in SD the day before the president was supposed to visit there? If he didn't have a good reason for being there it seems like detaining him until the president had come and gone would have been a reasonable thing to do. But unless they had evidence that he actually had taken steps to carry out an asassination attempt, he should have been released and not prosecuted.
Just my opinion.
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Darrell
Jeremy's dad
Reged: 12/30/99
Posts: 2221
Loc: me up & throw away the key
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Jeff R: That seems so obvious to me. Why isn't it to everyone else?!
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Master of the obvious (usually).
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karen from capitol hill
enthusiast
Reged: 03/20/00
Posts: 381
Loc: Uranus
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I wonder if Trent Lott's mother went to jail for the death threat she gave many years ago to the editor of a paper which was recommending integration. If anyone is curious about the statement they can read the rundown of the interview or hear the audio Here
kfch
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Kfch
Duct tape is like the force. It has a light side, and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
http://www.conceptualguerilla.com/
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Jay in P.A.
self-absorbed hack
Reged: 12/30/99
Posts: 9928
Loc: o
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Her letter was quoted in the article to read: "...you are truly an integrationist and I hope you not only get a hole through your office door but through your stupid head."
If she would have left the "...I hope..." part out and re-worded it slightly, then maybe it could have been interpreted as a death threat, but I'm afraid all you've got there is a death wish. Those aren't illegal, not then and not now.
Ol' Trent came from good stock though, didn't he? ![[Roll Eyes]](images/icons/rolleyes.gif) When he meets his reward, I'd like to see him laid to rest between a couple of upstanding black Americans who contributed something significant to the improvement of the country. Not because Lott would be worthy of being there, but rather just because it'd really piss him off.
Of course, we'd tell him the plan right before he checked out.
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Jay is ALWAYS ready!
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