TODAY'S TMJ4 Exclusive: President Obama Burned in Effigy at Bar in West Allis

[RamboLiberal]

Source: TMJ4

WEST ALLIS - A bar owner could be in serious trouble with the federal government. He was videotaped burning a statue of President Obama.

And the whole thing was video taped. Click Here to watch raw video of the incident.

So far, the bar owner hasn't explained why a bar tender torched the statue of the President a cheering crowd.

People in West Allis were shouting and laughing as a bar tender torched the statue for the crowd. Flames tore through the statue with what looks like duct tape wrapped around it's neck.

West Allis police say the Secret Service is also investigating. The Secret Service investigates any possible threats against the president.


Read more: http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/94313854.html

---

Besides the Secret Service IMHO the Fire Dept also ought to come down hard on this doofus!

[rfranklin]

1. There is a guy in jail because he joked about a "burning bush"

Let's see if they apply the law in this case.

[RamboLiberal]

2. Maybe someone ought to send this to the Fed Attorney

and the doofus bartender.

What started out as a short trip through South Dakota has turned into an extended stay for a Portland man who learned earlier this month that he would be spending three years in prison for threatening the president.

The bizarre tale of Richard Humphreys began in the early hours of March 9, 2001, in a Watertown, S.D., bar. During a lively chat with a truck driver, the former Portland cabbie--who calls himself The Prophet Israel Humphreys--cracked a joke that didn't get the laughs he had anticipated.

"I said that God might speak to the world through a burning Bush," Humphreys, 50, later testified in federal court. "I thought it was funny. It was prophetizing."

Knowing President George W. Bush was scheduled to visit nearby Sioux Falls the next day, a bartender reported Humphreys' comment to local police, claiming that Humphreys alluded to the possibility of someone pouring a flammable liquid on the president and lighting it. Local police took Humphreys into custody at his Sioux Falls motel just hours before Bush arrived

http://wweek.com/editorial/2908/3491/

[Wednesdays]

9. And that was BEFORE the post-9/11 paranoia!

And "Homeland Security" and all. Wow.

[bowens43]

12. I don't have a problem with this.

It's no different then burning a flag....it's a form of protest.

[TorchTheWitch]

20. neither do I

Although I always thought burning the likeness of a person in effigy is kind of creepy, I also recognize it as a form of protest and don't have a problem with it. If this was an effigy of Bush when he was pres everyone here would be applauding... and mocking Freepers for freaking out about it.

[BumRushDaShow]

3. KKK rises again. n/t

[Jefferson23]

4. More than a " few token" wacko racists out there:

Still Crazier in Alabama

By Scott Horton
May 19, 1:57 PM, 2010


Political ads from Alabama have been getting national attention in recent days. Some of their features: violent language, brandishing of firearms, criminalization of adversaries. A good example is this ad by a candidate seeking election as state agriculture commissioner, which has the feel of a trailer for a violent Western:

Watch video at link.


But for sheer craziness, this report is hard to top:

An Alabama math teacher used the assassination of President Barack Obama as a way to teach angles to his geometry students. Secret Service officials questioned the Corner High School teacher after someone alerted them about the class session. The teacher was not taken into custody or charged with a crime. Corner is a community in extreme northwest Jefferson County, about 20 miles from Birmingham.

The high school’s principal insists that the teacher will not be fired. However, the Birmingham News reported today that after being visited for questioning by Secret Service agents, he was placed on leave.


http://www.harpers.org/archive/2010/05/hbc-90007076

[SoapBox]

It was in Wisconsin...

...just in case others, like myself don't know where West Allis is...

[CLANG]

5. West Allis is TEABAGGER country in Wisconsin

[Name removed]

16. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MilesColtrane]

6. That's got to be against the fire code.

They should be busted for that, alone.

[47of74]

19. I think the bar should lose its liquor license

[Scuba]

7. There's plenty of ignorant racists here in the Badger State....

...but plenty of enlightened folks too. Please don't use too broad a brush.

[greiner3]

10. Here in OH you might use that big brush;

At least anything south of I-70.

[Unca Jim]

8. Asking for trouble here...

but why can't someone burn a plastic bust of the president? Worse was done to Bush in effigy, and I didn't want to see anyone involved with that get in any trouble.

Obviously, it's different when you make an active threat. This is just an expression of disapproval; it doesn't really worry me much.

[Wednesdays]

11. Worse was done to * in effigy? In this country?

Got a link to that? :shrug:

[lmb421]

18. Yep.... here it is....

Kids in DC burning Bush in effigy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HINhfkQAz1g

[rasputin1952]

14. I'm not positive about this...

but i can't recall bush being burned in effigy in the US.

In any case, this appears to be a coordinated effort in burning an effigy of a president.

In any case, I am reminded of Oliver Wendell Holmes' famous remark, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. <...> The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."

With an actual fire being set, intentionally, things could perk up a bit.

[lmb421]

17. Bush Burning

Here's the link. Kids in DC burning Bush in effigy...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HINhfkQAz1g

[boomerbust]

13. And cheerleader

Charley Sykes gives his blessing.

[lmb421]

15. President Obama Burned in Effigy at Bar in West Allis

Why all the outrage? Do you know how many times Bush was burned in effigy? No one actually harmed him. And this certainly has NOTHING TO DO WITH RACISM! Duh! It is political protest. As long as no threats are made or plans to act on threats are carried out, why the big brouhaha???