A Muslim, a Baptist, and a Catholic walk into a bar

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.thespeciousreport.com/2002_burningbush.html

The "Burning Bush" Joke That Will Land You in Prison

{On Friday, December 6th, 2002, Richard Humphreys of Portland, Oregon was sentenced to 37 months in prison for "threatening to kill or harm the President" after telling a joke during a bar room discussion. Here is that joke.}

A Muslim, a Baptist, and a Catholic walk into a bar.

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I don't think the joke at this link is really the joke that Richard Humphreys told but it is good and worth clicking on and reading. But Richard Humphreys really did go to prison for telling a joke about a "Burning Bush", in a bar back in 2002. Really.

[FSogol]

1. Hence my disclaimer:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=2115594&mesg_id=2115746

[NNN0LHI]

2. This isn't always about you dammit!

:)

What did you think of the joke at the link? Pretty good wasn't it?

Don

[FSogol]

3. Yeah, ok. Not Bush related, but I like this one (from Conan O'Brien) better.

Michele Bachmann was in the news the other day,

She said the country would have a lot of jobs if they followed North Dakota & deregulated the oil companies.

Of course, she's right.

That would create a lot of jobs.

Unfortunately, the new jobs would all involve washing oil off of ducks.

[Matariki]

4. It's a funny 'cuz it's true kind of joke

The bit about him getting jail time for telling it is, of course, a bit more complicated than that.


Richard Humphreys, a self-proclaimed prophet from Oregon who is described in media reports as “delusional,” is arrested in Watertown, South Dakota, for making a joke about a “burning bush.” Humphreys, who sometimes calls himself “Israel Humphreys,” gets into a barroom discussion with a truck driver; the bartender overhears the conversation and alerts the police, telling them that Humphreys discussed a “burning Bush” and the possibility of someone pouring flammable liquid on President Bush and lighting it. Bush is slated to visit Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the day after Humphreys’s barroom conversation.

Humphreys is charged with threatening to kill or harm the president. During his trial, Humphreys will explain: “I said God might speak to the world through a ‘burning Bush.’ I had said that before and I thought it was funny. It was prophetizing.”

The court will learn that Humphreys had made similar statements in Internet chat rooms, including the following: “If you hear that a man runs up and throws gasoline and a match to Bush you will know that God did speak through the burning Bush.” He has also sent similar statements to the Bush White House via fax machines, and during the Clinton administration expressed the desire that President Clinton and his wife Hillary Clinton would commit suicide.

Humphreys will be convicted and sentenced to 37 months in prison. He will appeal his conviction, saying his comment is a prophecy protected under his right to free speech. His appeal is denied, but the appellate court will find that he suffers from a bipolar disorder and order that he serve his sentence in a federal medical center. “Hopefully, medication over a significant period of years will result in his being able to live outside the prison confines, free of delusions and the type of behavior he exhibited here,” the court will rule.


http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=richard_humphreys_1