Terry Jones, Quran-Burning Pastor, Hangs Barack Obama Effigy

[AtroposHeart]

The Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Fla., has hanged an effigy of President Barack Obama from a gallows on its front lawn, a move DWOC pastor Terry Jones said was in response to Obama's recent endorsement of same-sex marriage, as well as his stance on abortion and what Jones called his "appeasing of radical Islam."

According to the Broward-Palm Beach New Times, the U.S. Secret Service is currently investigating Jones in response to the display.

"The Secret Service is aware of this incident and will conduct appropriate follow-up," Secret Service spokesman Brian Leary told the paper's "The Pulp" blog.

The effigy is suspended from a makeshift gallows with a noose of yellow rope, has a doll in its right hand and a rainbow-colored gay pride flag in its left.

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In a telephone interview with The Huffington Post, Jones said the flag was meant to call attention to Obama's stance on same-sex marriage and that the baby doll is there because the president is "favorable toward abortion."

Jones also said that radical Islam is "the most dangerous threat to life and national security in America."

There is also an Uncle Sam dummy standing at the base of the gallows outside the DWOC. Jones told HuffPost that the Obama effigy had originally been positioned to be hanging Uncle Sam when the display went up two weeks ago, but that the church changed the display on Wednesday.

The words “Obama is Killing America†are printed on a trailer nearby.

The DWOC came under intense scrutiny in 2011 after Jones burned the a copy of the Quran, a move which sparked three days of violent rioting in Afghanistan that resulted in the deaths of at least 21 people, including seven U.N. workers.

In addition to its higher profile controversial moves, the Dove World Outreach Center has also been criticized for its internal rules, which The Smoking Gun has called "cult-like."

In the church's Academy Rulebook, written by Jone's wife and published in 2007, prospective ministers are directed to cut off most contact with family members.

This is not the first time that an effigy of the country's first black president has been hanged.

In March 2010, a teacher at a failing Rhode Island school hanged an effigy of Obama in his classroom. That same month, another dummy was found hanging on Main Street in the Georgia hometown of President Jimmy Carter.

In 2009, a Kentucky grand jury refused to indict two men who hanged an Obama effigy on the campus of the University of Kentucky. The men had been charged with burglary and disorderly conduct, the latter count associated with hanging the effigy. The lawyer for the two men said that the disorderly conduct charge violated his clients' rights under the First Amendment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/08/obama-effigy-hanged-outside-church_n_1581272.html?ref=gay-voices&ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009

[Swamptribe]

The putz found a way to get attention again.

[Gizmola]

I'm dancing a happy dance that the Secret Service in on it. The Secret Service is like Free Jinger: it never forgets!!!! You're on the radar, now, fuckwit, bask in the spotlight!!!

:dance:

[doggie]

the kind of attention he is getting is not going to be the kind he wants. The guy is a very stupid preacher.

[thoughtful]

Hey, Terry, Inigo Montoya would like to talk to you about the word "Christian."

[E Street Fan]

what Jones called his "appeasing of radical Islam"

Dickhead must be unaware that Obama is as unpopular with "radical Islam" as he is with fundie Christians. :roll:

[Elle]

I don't think the FBI needs to show up every time someone burns an effigy unless there's actual reason to think someone poses a threat (how many people burn effigies and then go try to kill the subject?), but at this point, this buy is just taking a page out of Westboro's book and doing what he thinks will offend the most people so he can get some attention.

[Gizmola]

I don't think the FBI needs to show up every time someone burns an effigy unless there's actual reason to think someone poses a threat (how many people burn effigies and then go try to kill the subject?), but at this point, this buy is just taking a page out of Westboro's book and doing what he thinks will offend the most people so he can get some attention.

All bets are off when it's the President. Seriously. You can burn an effigy of about anyone else but when you get to the President, they pay attention. I've always been very careful about what I say about the President (fyi, I like Obama). But I did not like Bush and I knew there were lines one did NOT cross when it comes to talking about the President.

[Childless]

Wait to go Obama! It can only be an honor to be on this guy's shit list. It means you stand for everything good in this country.

This idiot is just trying to get attention. That's all it's about. But, if he's going to make political statements like that, then his church should loose it's tax exempt status. If you aren't going to follow the rules, then you don't get the benefits.

[Koala]

What a bastard. Good god what's wrong with people!?

[Witsec7]

All bets are off when it's the President. Seriously. You can burn an effigy of about anyone else but when you get to the President, they pay attention. I've always been very careful about what I say about the President (fyi, I like Obama). But I did not like Bush and I knew there were lines one did NOT cross when it comes to talking about the President.

We lefties were very careful about talking about Bush and a lot of other stuff on line and in public places post 9/11. I got stuck dealing with a line of FBI agents because of the facilities I managed on campus, and it really kept me on my toes.

[ceg045]

Can't lie, as a lifelong Python fan, every time I hear this jackass' name, I think of this guy:

He's not the messiah; he's a very naughty boy.

[homeschoolmomma1]

Can that man go to jail for that? How much of that is that freedom of speech or more?

[apple1]

Can that man go to jail for that? How much of that is that freedom of speech or more?

I would think that he is being watched because he might have nutcase followers that he might incite to actually do harm. It seems to me that it is more than just a single act all by itself.

As for freedom of speech, I am all for it and do not minimize it, but (way way back in elementary school) I was always taught that excercising my own freedoms goes only so far that my exercise of freedoms doesn't stop someone else's exercise of their freedoms. Go figure.

[bananacat]

Hmm, he lynched an effigy of a black man. But if I call him racist, then I'll be accused of being the real bigot. :roll: Yeah, this is totes not racist at all.