Drudge: Secret Service Plans to Question Eminem

[rumguy]

snip

The Secret Service is planning to conduct an interview with rapper EMINEM, government sources tell the DRUDGE REPORT, after a new song by the artist appeared on the Internet -- a song that wished the "president dead!"

MORE

"We take all matters involving comments made about the death of a sitting president very seriously," a well-placed government source directly involved in the matter said this weekend. "This matter will be investigated fully, and I expect Mr. Mathers will be interviewed directly."

http://www.drudgereport.com/mattmm.htm

[lcordero]

1. .................................

:eyes:

[sweetheart]

2. M&M is a noteworthy artist

More power to him... vuck the SS.

[Alex146]

3. ha ha

Good luck shuting him up.

[arewethereyet]

6. they have no sense of humor about that

they can easily convince him to back off. you have no idea the resources that they can bring to bear.

[alcuno]

41. Have you seen the lyrics?

They mention no one by name and don't even say the president of what.

[Lefta Dissenter]

4. OK, now that's just hilarious. (eom)

[in_cog_ni_to]

5. Give me a fucking break!

For crying out loud! IT'S A SONG! I'm sure Marshall will be interviewed diectly. :eyes: I can't wait until these people are not in charge of this country anymore! Welp! Guess I'll go out and buy the Eminem CD. What's the name of it? Nevermind.

Spokesman for the record label...an unfinished song that was either lost or stolen, and there was no determination when, where, how or if it was going to be used."

This won't go anywhere. They're just pushing their weight around BECAUSE THEY CAN!!! :grr:

[arewethereyet]

7. they did similar things when Clinton was prez

this is no joke

[rumguy]

8. wasn't there a song called I killed George Bush, during the first Bush

presidency? Whatever happened with that I wonder, that's much more direct than this Eminem lyric, which doesn't even mention Bush by name. Although Em has taken lyrical shots at Bush in other songs...

[arewethereyet]

9. I think you're right

and that person ceased to be in the music biz. that had more to do with the label than the artist though. like I aid, they can bring many weapons to bear.

[Serenades]

39. I remember

I remember a song called "I Shot Reagan" but on the outside of the CD (tape) it was called "I Shot the Devil."

[piece sine]

47. Should the Secret Service treat President Dean differently?

"These people" who you don't want "in charge any more" don't change. The Secret Service protects the president. I expect them to protect President Dean. They so not suffer fools gladly and only fools threaten the President in public.

[Ksec]

10. Jackbooted Gestapo. unbelievable nt

[ecstatic]

11. Bad week for eminem

Someone really has it out for him. They dug up a tape from when he was a teenager that has him saying negative things about black women. Some people are planning a boycott against him too.

[sleipnir]

14. I love your Sig Line!

[ecstatic]

18. thanks! nt

[arewethereyet]

15. gee I wonder if...

...that other tape came out BECAUSE of the Bush thing ? It would be a nice way to get his attention wouldn't it ?

That boy is quickly finding out who he is dealing with...

[ecstatic]

17. LOL, hilarious!

Whoever it was, they went through A LOT of effort to dig that old gem up.

[arewethereyet]

27. thats what they do 24/7/265

no shit

[Wonk]

42. Which hundred days do they take off? (j/k)

I'll assume that was just a typo on your part :-)

[wtmusic]

12. Don't know you can consider wishing someone dead a threat

:eyes:

[arewethereyet]

32. if that someone is under the care of the SS, it is a threat

and thats not just the prez and VP, its also (and I'm trying to remember here) NSA, chief justice, top two dogs in the house and senate and a few others as dictated by current events. probably more that I can't recall now.

[Lefty48197]

13. I think the Secret Service created a Wayne LaPierre file

when he said the NRA was going to "clean Bill Clinton's clock".

[Djinn]

16. In that case - better interview me too

Because I have on several occasions wished the evil election stealing, war mongering lying arsehole dead prefereably after some painful and long winded torture...should I pack my bags for Guantanamo now??

John Ashcroft would want to have a hell of a lot of inspectors ready if he plans to interview all the people who wish harm to bush & co

[ecstatic]

22. watch it, i read an article on Yahoo about a man getting 37 years

prison time for making a comment about a "Burning Bush" while at some bar.

On edit: Make that 37 months! hehee

[in_cog_ni_to]

43. I also read a story here on DU

about a young lady who had an online journal she posted on. One of the entries said she wished "you know who was dead". She showed it to a RW co-worker at work and the wench reported her to the secret service. They were on the lady's doorstep the next day and questioned her for 3 hours.

[tom_paine]

19. Well, if your write a song wishing the Resident dead you should probably

expect to at least be questioned.

I actually don't disagree with that. Though where you draw the line, which in other cases I think the Busheviks have overstepped, is the real question.

Just not in this case.

[Gman]

20. Specifically, the lyrics DO NOT wish the president dead

that's just the spin on them.

and, as always, some freeper called the SS and reported him and the SS has to at least interview him.

[creativelcro]

21. Well it would not be the first time. READ THIS:

In These Times

March 3, 2003

SECTION: THE FIRST STONE; Pg. 10

LENGTH: 1140 words

BYLINE: By Joel Bleifuss

BODY:

Incendiary Speech

Last December, Richard Humphreys of Portland, Oregon, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for threatening to harm or kill President Bush. A bartender in Watertown, South Dakota reported Humphreys to the police after he overheard him talking to a truck driver about a "burning Bush" and the possibility that someone might douse the president with flammable liquid and light it. In his defense, Humphreys testified: "I said, 'God might speak to the world through a burning Bush.' I had said that before, and I thought it was funny."

Same thing:
12/2002: Man jailed for Bush remark
By: Staff
Associated Press Date: 12/06/2002

Printer Friendly Version

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."


Original Link: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Law/2002/12/06/6691-ap.html


© Copyright 2002 Associated Press

[rumguy]

23. I find that story hard to believe...but I guess it did happen

I just can't believe they would imprison someone for a JOKE! It was so obviously a joke...not even close to a real threat.

[creativelcro]

25. Same here... I'm trying to find out more about it....

They MUST have found some evidence of a plot. Otherwise it is really alarming...

[rumguy]

26. yes, there must have been something more...logically

However, if it is true, it is very scary...get back to us if you find anything on the story. I always dismissed it as an internet rumor.

[creativelcro]

28. MORE...

No Laughing Matter
"Joke" about a "burning Bush" lands Portland cabbie in Dakota pokey.
by TAYLOR CLARK
published: 12/24/2002
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.

Unfortunately for Humphreys, the humor was lost on U.S. Attorney Michael Ridgeway. "It wasn't a joke," Ridgeway told the federal jury a year and a half later. "It wasn't funny. Simply put, it was a threat." As evidence, Ridgeway pointed to a transcript from an Internet chat room where Humphreys wrote, "now going to ask Bush for justice, and if I don't get it don't be surprised to see a burning Bush."

The jury agreed with Ridgeway, convicting Humphreys in September 2002 of making threats against the president, a federal offense punishable by up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. On Dec. 6, Humphreys was sentenced to 37 months in prison. He plans to appeal.

Humphreys' conviction is the climax of a series of increasingly dramatic run-ins with the law. In the 10 months leading up to his South Dakota arrest, Humphreys was the subject of 14 Portland police reports, with charges against him ranging from harassment to disturbing the peace to stealing a dog.

One Portland police report, which describes an
altercation between Humphreys and former employer Broadway Cab Co. regarding Humphreys' refusal to return his cab, included a letter in which Humphreys threatened general manager Raye Miles with divine punishment for interfering with a prophet. "You would do wise to leave me alone and listen well to me if you value your skin and your soul," he wrote.

"He was high-strung, very intense and intimidating," says Miles of the 6-foot-6-inch, 250-pound ex-cabbie. "He had a tremendous presence. You rarely meet someone that powerful."

The Rev. Kelly Cohoe told police that Humphreys has been a consistent problem at St. John's Free Methodist Church since he went through a divorce 20 years ago. Over the ensuing years, Humphreys, who was born on Christmas Day in 1951, has strayed further from reality, asserting ever more fervently that he is a prophet of Israel, Cohoe said in a 2001 report.

Despite temporarily being deemed mentally unfit to stand trial, Humphreys acted as his own attorney in Sioux Falls, with occasional assistance from a public defender. In presenting his case, Humphreys read long biblical passages and described the past nine years of his life in detail. After his narrative exceeded 45 minutes, Ridgeway and Judge Lawrence Piersol coaxed him into resting his case.

At his sentencing hearing, Humphreys warned Piersol that South Dakota's drought will worsen if "you mistreat a prophet."

At his Dec. 6 sentencing, Humphreys vowed not to cooperate with the psychiatric treatment and medication mandated in his sentence, promising Piersol that they would meet again. "Neither one of us want that," answered Piersol.

http://www.wweek.com/flatfiles/printstory.lasso?autonumb=3491

[rumguy]

29. Interesting

I guess if he posted something similar in a chatroom it makes a little more sense to me...but still have reservations.

[creativelcro]

30. Sounds like he is nuts... I can see why they may believe

he could have done something "crazy", even trying to harm the prez... but then why prison ?...

[creativelcro]

44. MORE INFO HERE....

http://www.diggers.org/freecitynews/_disc1/00000039.htm

Connecticut Law Tribune

September 16, 2002

Forget The Biblical Allusions; Crucified For Crazy Talk

By Norm Pattis

I don't know which is more frightening: The fact that a South Dakota man was convicted of the crime of threatening the president by talking about a "burning bush," or that federal prosecutors pursued the charges.

It took a federal jury in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, little more than an hour to find Richard Humphreys guilty of threatening to kill or harm the president. What did he do to face five years of federal time and a hefty fine?

Humphreys, who calls himself Israel, views himself as a latter-day prophet cut from an Old Testament mold. It seems Israel was spreading the word one March day in Sioux Falls. "Don't be surprised if you see George Bush on TV and someone runs by and throws something on him and lights a match," Israel sneered. God had once before spoken through a burning bush, he noted. It turns out that quasi-President George W. Bush was scheduled to be in Sioux Falls the very next day. After stewing about Israel's comments for the better part of a day, a bartender called federal authorities. Call it a time-delayed hue and cry.

In moved a federal SWAT team, and Humphreys was taken into custody. He was initially charged with larceny when law-enforcement officers serendipitously learned that he had bounced a check at a local hotel. A search of his truck revealed a note, presumably written to himself, that did, indeed, sound threatening.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[rumguy]

45. It does sound like the guy was trouble

What was he doing in Souix Falls anyway, before a Bush visit? That's a long trip from San Fran.

[Ksec]

24. wishing and attempting to kill or

threatening to kill are not the same. I wish he were dead is way less than Im gonna kill or I wish someone would kill.

Kill murder execute -all bad, wishing someone were dead isnt against the rules.

[Kelvin Mace]

31. This is simply Gestapo intimidation

Any person with an ounce of sense can tell an actual threat versus no threat. They do this so they can prance around and flash their badges and show everyone how big they are.

Bullies intoxicated with their own sense of self-importance.

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org
Distrusting the Government Since 1984

[arewethereyet]

33. would anyone take John Hinckley seriously ?

just a flake with a thing for Jodie Foster but he did get close and pulled the trigger.

its harder than you think my friend.

[Bronco69]

34. Remember when Jesse Helms said

"If Bill Clinton comes to North Carolina he better bring some body guards"? He was investigated for that.

[arewethereyet]

35. Jesse was not the concern and body guards go everywhere

well, not in the oval office or the little president's room off the oval office

[rumguy]

36. Really? They investigated Helms?

At least he mentioned Clinton by name...to me that makes it more significant.

[Bronco69]

37. Yes, I remember it being a big deal in the media.

They were wondering why he would say such a thing especially since the SS is with the president all the time.

[arewethereyet]

38. geez, who can figure out half the things that came out his mouth

a real "character"

[alcuno]

40. Eminem will just mess with their heads. I'd love to listen to that

interview. The "song" doesn't say the POTUS or if it is, which one? He could say it's the president of the local PTA.

[UTUSN]

46. "Controversy Sells" - So, Whu-huppened?

Did Ememineninem turned Sludge down for somethin' or other?