← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · Faust
Thread ID: 3900 | Posts: 24 | Started: 2002-12-08
2002-12-08 02:59 | User Profile
'Burning Bush' comment draws prison term Man plans to appeal
Friday, December 6, 2002 Posted: 2:59 PM EST (1959 GMT) Story Tools
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (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, Oregon 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."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
url: [url=http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/burning.bush.ap/index.html]http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/...h.ap/index.html[/url]
2002-12-09 04:17 | User Profile
This Story speeks to the Nature of the petty Thugs who run our Soviet America!
2002-12-09 05:34 | User Profile
The only differences between living under King George in the 1700s and under Dumdum Dubya the Dauphin in contemporary America:
1) Much higher taxes
2) More repression and control of populace
3) King George, who was crazy, didn't dance on Jewish marionette strings the way Dumdum, who's merely very stupid, does
2002-12-09 06:51 | User Profile
"The only differences between living under King George in the 1700s and under the Dumdum Dubya the Dauphin in contemporary America:
1) Much higher taxes
2) More repression and control of populace
3) King George, who was crazy, didn't dance on Jewish marionette strings the way Dumdum, who's merely very stupid, does"
What's really amazing, and infuriating, is that the colonists in 1776 revolted against measures that were far from oppressive by these current standards. I mean, what was it, a two cent hike in the tea tax that lead to a revolution then, and in America today, we all DAILY meekly swallow our pride along with restrictive and insane laws that people the government proclaims as patriots would have scoffed at and disobeyed as a matter of course. If Washington, Jefferson, et al., not to mention all those Minutemen, sturdy musket-toting farmers, and irrepresible, Injun-fighting frontiersmen, could come back and see us today, would they regret ever giving King George the heave ho?
2002-12-09 07:04 | User Profile
The government has a lot of nerve to waste taxpayer dollars prosecuting harmless people who make the wrong prophecies interpreted as being about the Simian Emperor.
Okay, I have a prophecy: someday, maybe even soon, someone will invent a device that will drill down to the core of the earth and cause a massive chain-reaction of an explosion that will quickly and utterly reduce the entire planet to tiny fragments. There will be no more United States, no more Israel, and some will swear they hear Osama bin Laden's joyous cries of victory during the last moments.
Gee, I wonder what that black sedan that just pulled up outside is doing here this late....
2002-12-09 07:23 | User Profile
**Humphreys said he got into a barroom discussion in nearby Watertown with a truck driver. **
The most damning sentence in the account. This entire 'national security threat' took place in a friggin' BAR??? A BAR?!?
Unbelievable. When do they start installing listening devices in post offices and DMV branches? Lots of anti-government rhetoric to be overheard, especially after an hour of standing on line waiting for clerks named T'Shinga and Kwang Moy to get off break.
And my advice to enterprising Al-Qaida sleeper agents here to kill us for our goodness is: when stopped at a DWI checkpoint on your way home from the titty-bar, always blow up the breathalyzer balloon while whistling "Hail To The Chief". Let's be careful out there, people.
2002-12-09 07:32 | User Profile
**The most damning sentence in the account. This entire 'national security threat' took place in a friggin' BAR??? A BAR?!? **
That's Operation TIPS for ya...a whole lotta busybodies turning in drunk barflies babbling about the government who pose no credible threat to anybody.
2002-12-10 00:34 | User Profile
**The most damning sentence in the account. This entire 'national security threat' took place in a friggin' BAR??? A BAR?!? **
Unbelievable.
2002-12-11 02:55 | User Profile
Our Soviet Government is run by petty thugs!
That's Operation TIPS for ya...a whole lotta busybodies turning in drunk barflies babbling about the government who pose no credible threat to anybody.
There have been a few case where I live of small children being taken to jail because of picture they drew.
Petty Thugs, That is who runs our government!
2005-05-30 06:53 | User Profile
:gunsmilie
2005-05-30 14:52 | User Profile
[QUOTE=NativeExile]What's really amazing, and infuriating, is that the colonists in 1776 revolted against measures that were far from oppressive by these current standards. I mean, what was it, a two cent hike in the tea tax that lead to a revolution then, and in America today, we all DAILY meekly swallow our pride along with restrictive and insane laws that people the government proclaims as patriots would have scoffed at and disobeyed as a matter of course.
While your fundamental point is sound, it should be noted that the modest tax increase on tea and other goods per se was not the real cause of the outrage. The slogan "No Taxation Without Representation" is the clue; they didn't object to paying the taxes to cover the costs of the recent British military defense of Colonial America during the Seven Years (or French & Indian, if you prefer) War, but rather they objected to being dictated to on the subject. If New England and the Carolinas were going to be paying taxes to London, then they wanted seats in the House of Commons in order to have some say on how their own tax monies were to be spent. That's more the sort of issue to inspire revolutionary fervor, as opposed to a modest series of commodities excise taxes.
[QUOTE=NativeExile]If Washington, Jefferson, et al., not to mention all those Minutemen, sturdy musket-toting farmers, and irrepresible, Injun-fighting frontiersmen, could come back and see us today, would they regret ever giving King George the heave ho?[/QUOTE]
Perhaps not after they'd gotten a gander at Blair and Howard....
2005-05-30 15:01 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]'Burning Bush' comment draws prison term Man plans to appeal
Friday, December 6, 2002 Posted: 2:59 PM EST (1959 GMT) Story Tools
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (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, Oregon 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."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
url: [url=http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/burning.bush.ap/index.html]http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/...h.ap/index.html[/url][/QUOTE]
You cannot go around threatening the president of the United States. Lets get real here!
2005-05-30 15:55 | User Profile
GAbi? are you still happy that your man Bush became the president once again?
On this day you must be very happy and proud of our dead soldiers who die in the name of "freedom" and the Zionists.
2005-05-30 17:37 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]'Burning Bush' comment draws prison term Man plans to appeal
Friday, December 6, 2002 Posted: 2:59 PM EST (1959 GMT) Story Tools
SIOUX FALLS, South Dakota (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, Oregon 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."
Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
url: [url=http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/burning.bush.ap/index.html]http://www.cnn.com/2002/ALLPOLITICS/12/06/...h.ap/index.html[/url][/QUOTE]
An off the cuff, joking remark made with friends at a bar lands somebody a 3 year prison term? Unbelievable and disgusting.
Only an idiot or liar with an agenda could take this seriously as a "threat." How many times does somebody say "I sure wish that so and so would drop dead" or "I wish I could kill so and so?" It's the kind of comment that people naturally make. Is everyone who says something of the sort put in jail for threatening murder?
2005-05-30 17:53 | User Profile
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. Like this is really a credible threat. As if someone would ever get a chance to do such a thing. :rolleyes:
Three years in prison for an obvious joke is an obscene mockery of justice.
2005-05-30 18:08 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Angler]Like this is really a credible threat. As if someone would ever get a chance to do such a thing. :rolleyes:
Three years in prison for an obvious joke is an obscene mockery of justice.[/QUOTE]
The authorities know this perfectly well, so it was done to set a precedent - i.e. don't even jokingly say things about our "Great Leader" that are routinely said about others.
2005-05-30 18:35 | User Profile
ââ¬ÅHumphreys 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.ââ¬Â
Did he ** say ** something about someone pouring flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it?
Why would the bartender - whom I am sure hears all kinds of rubbish from his customers - call the police if this guy was just fooling around? Donââ¬â¢t forget that Bush was coming to town the very next day. Think about itââ¬Â¦
2005-05-30 18:46 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Faust]'Burning Bush' comment draws prison term[/QUOTE]
We're talking about a government that panics and heads for the bunckers when a tiny Cessna comes near.
2005-05-30 19:16 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Gabrielle]Did he ** say ** something about someone pouring flammable liquid on Bush and lighting it? Yes. That is, he described a cartoonish action that would be impossible to do in real life to someone as heavily-guarded as Bush.
Why would the bartender - whom I am sure hears all kinds of rubbish from his customers - call the police if this guy was just fooling around? Donââ¬â¢t forget that Bush was coming to town the very next day. Think about itââ¬Â¦[/QUOTE]The bartender is probably a neocon Bushbot who didn't appreciate bad things being said about his hero.
If the customer had been talking about using a sniper rifle to take out the prez, then I could understand the bartender and the SS thinking a credible threat existed. But the customer was describing something that happens to Wile E. Coyote. There was never any real threat here. Like AY said, this is just setting an example to intimidate those who don't worship Bush as a god.
2005-05-31 15:32 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Angler]Yes. That is, he described a cartoonish action that would be impossible to do in real life to someone as heavily-guarded as Bush.[/QUOTE] Exactly. Not to mention the fact that it is a joke. A 'burning bush'. Get it? Like in the Bible. Tee-hee. It may not be the height of sophisticated political satire, but it is obviously a joke. By contrast, it would be no joke if he had been talking about using a sniper rifle, as Angler mentioned. For Gabrielle to pretend that she cannot tell the difference between this and a real threat to the President's life is simply disingenuous.
2005-05-31 16:04 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Quantrill]Exactly. Not to mention the fact that it is a joke. A 'burning bush'. Get it? Like in the Bible. Tee-hee. It may not be the height of sophisticated political satire, but it is obviously a joke. By contrast, it would be no joke if he had been talking about using a sniper rifle, as Angler mentioned. For Gabrielle to pretend that she cannot tell the difference between this and a real threat to the President's life is simply disingenuous.[/QUOTE]
You did not hear the evidence the jury heard. Do NOT make your mind until you have heard all the factsââ¬Â¦ thatââ¬â¢s all I am saying.
2005-06-01 00:39 | User Profile
Some jury actually convicted this guy!
2005-06-01 20:00 | User Profile
I'm having some difficulty accepting this story as completely accurate. It seems there [B][I]must[/I][/B] be more to it than this! Even here in the Peoples Republic of Amerika,we still retain some of the rights for which so many brave men have died.
2005-06-02 01:37 | User Profile
The one thing you have to realize these days is that the legal system uses the conspiracy laws to send people away. You can be an "accessory after the fact" and get sent to the pokey for even expressing approval of a crime.