SO WHAT DID GROUCHO REALLY SAY?
On Tuesday we were discussing the legend of how Groucho Marx supposedly threatened the life of Richard Nixon. MrMR pointed out that it was Abbie Hoffman not Groucho who said "The only dope worth shooting is Richard Nixon." Which left me in something of a quandary. What had Groucho said that had brought him to the attention of the FBI? Fortunately MrMR then came up with chapter and verse from Paul Krassner...
After our acid trip, I had only a couple of contacts with Groucho.The first concerned a rumor that he had said "I think the only hope this country has is Nixon's assassination.. I wanted to verify whether he had actually said that. "I deny everything", he joked, then admitting he had indeed said it over a luncheon interview with a now defunct magazine, Flash.
"Uh, sorry, Mr. Marx, you're under arrest for threatening the life of the president. I can't tell you how much I enjoyed A Night at the Opera. Here, now, if you'll just slip into these plastic handcuffs...."
I wrote to the San Francisco office of the U.S. Department of Justice, asking about the status of the case against Groucho, particularly in view of the indictment of Black Panther David Hilliard for using similar rhetoric.
For the full story...
http://www.sirbacon.org/4membersonly/groucho.htm

But if you think this was a fiasco of yesteryear, this story is hot of the presses. Seemingly the focus has switched from venerable comedians to schoolboys...
The Secret Service is investigating a seventh-grader who wrote a school essay that authorities say advocated violence against President Bush, talk show host Oprah Winfrey and others. The boy's homework assignment for English class was to write what he would do on a perfect day. In addition to the president and Winfrey, the boy wrote that violence should be directed at executives of Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart, police and school officials said. "His perfect day would be to see the destruction of these people," Schools Superintendent David Raiche said.
The Secret Service investigation is ongoing, but the essay may have been a "cry for help," said Thomas M. Powers, resident agent in charge in Providence. Threatening the president is a felony, he said. Authorities would not identify the boy or his teacher or release a copy of the essay. He was not arrested, police Detective Sgt. Fernando Araujo said. "It wasn't any detailed, minute-by-minute plan," Araujo said. "It didn't meet the criteria for a criminal charge."
The boy has been temporarily barred from school, but as a mental health rather than disciplinary precaution, Raiche said.