People in same-sex relationships should face the same penalties as heroin users.

Just ask Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association (AFA), an ultraconservative religious right group. In a Jan. 29 response to an E-mail from a listener to his “Focal Point” radio program, Fischer suggests that “we impose the same sanctions on those who engage in homosexual behavior as we do on those who engage in intravenous drug abuse, since both pose the same kind of risk of contracting HIV/AIDS. If you believe that what drug abusers need is to go into an effective detox program, then we should likewise put active homosexuals through an effective reparative therapy program.”

Never mind that drug abuse is illegal, whereas the Supreme Court ruled in 2003 that states cannot ban private gay sex between consenting adults. ( continue to full post… )

Activists have persuaded two Washington D.C.-area hotels to cancel their bookings for a conference of the racist American Renaissance magazine, raising the ire of the gathering’s white nationalist organizer, Jared Taylor.

So displeased is Taylor that he’s been publicly sparring with the leader of Responsible for Equality and Liberty (R.E.A.L.), an all-volunteer human rights group that’s been campaigning against the American Renaissance conference. “You claim to be motivated by love and to be ‘uncompromising in the defense of universal human rights,’” Taylor wrote Jeffrey Imm in a recent letter posted on the American Renaissance website. “Yet, you have done your best to make it impossible for my publication, American Renaissance, to hold its bienniel [sic] conference.”

Scheduled this year for Feb. 19-21 in Herndon, Va., the jacket-and-tie affair has traditionally featured prominent racists as speakers, including far-right British National Party chairman Nick Griffin, former Klan lawyer Sam Dickson, eugenics advocate J. Philippe Rushton, and Taylor, a Yale graduate who wrote after Hurricane Katrina that “when blacks are left entirely to their own devices, Western Civilization — any kind of civilization — disappears.” Participants have included former Klan leader David Duke and an assortment of neo-Nazis. But the conference recognizes that not all who participate are high-profile white nationalists and gives attendees the option of using a pseudonym to conceal their identities.

The conference hasn’t been so adept at keeping its own true nature under wraps. In November, the Washington Dulles Marriott refused to host the event (which had been booked by Taylor’s New Century Foundation, parent of American Renaissance magazine) after R.E.A.L. founder Imm, who lives in the D.C. area, contacted the hotel with information about the group’s white nationalist ideology.  In January, the Westin Washington Dulles Hotel followed suit after they heard from Imm and other activists. Imm has also called other nearby hotels to let them know about American Renaissance, making it difficult for Taylor to find a conference venue. “Obviously, we hit a nerve,” Imm told Hatewatch. “I think he was counting on the ignorance of other hotels in the area.” ( continue to full post… )

Move over George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt and, especially, Abraham Lincoln. There’s a new set of national leaders for America’s currency: conspiracy-monger and syndicated radio host Alex Jones, ardent Federal Reserve opponent and conspiracy-obsessed documentarian G. Edward Griffin, and 2008 presidential candidate and End the Fed author Ron Paul.

While you won’t find ATMs spitting out cash adorned with these Patriot heroes, their images can be found on silver and gold coins for sale at websites such as Silver Source Northwest and Freedom Mint (part of RestoreTheRepublic.com). Echoing a common belief within the antigovernment “Patriot” movement, these sites assert that the coins (they call them “rounds”) will retain their value because they’re made from precious metals — unlike the paper money issued by the U.S. Federal Reserve that many Patriots view as worthless. “It is critical to you, your family, and your community that you protect your purchasing power from the continually devaluing dollar,” states the Silver Source Northwest website.

But be warned: To buy these coins, you’ll still need plenty of greenbacks, also known as U.S. Federal Reserve notes (FRNs, in the contemptuous language of many on the radical right). An Alex Jones silver piece sells for $50 on the Freedom Mint site (plus $5 shipping and handling). Given Jones’ achievements — which include waking “millions to the message that our Republic is falling prey to the will of the globalist world controllers,” according to the Freedom Mint — fans may want to spring for the gold piece, which costs $2,000 (plus $20 shipping and handling). A copper piece is available for $8. At Silver Source Northwest, proponents of “voluntary barter currency,” can purchase a variety of 1-ounce silver coins, including the Jefferson Davis Dixie Dollar ($24.61), the Talk Radio Patriot ($24.61), the Dick Cheney NeoCoin ($23.61) and the George Bush NeoCoin ($23.61).

Although the Freedom Mint coins are billed as “sound money,” buyers will likely be disappointed if they try to use them at their local retail store. And the tale of Bernard von NotHaus, creator of the “inflation proof” Liberty Dollar that’s purportedly backed by gold or silver, may also give them pause. In 2006, the U.S. Mint declared that circulating Liberty Dollars is a federal crime and raided the company’s Evansville, Ind., headquarters. In a case that’s still pending in federal court in North Carolina, Von NotHaus (whose other ventures include starting the Free Marijuana Church of Honolulu) and three associates were arrested last June on charges of fraud and conspiracy in connection with their scheme to sell the counterfeit coins for profit. As part of their release terms, a federal judge barred then from distributing the pieces. A note on Von NotHaus’s website informs readers that “the Liberty Dollar is closed and not taking any orders until the trial is over. … Thanks for your support to return value to America — one Liberty Dollar at a time.”

Public support for gun control has been steadily declining, the U.S. Supreme Court has issued a ruling that strengthens an individual’s right to own firearms and President Obama has said nothing to suggest he will take on gun-rights enthusiasts.

No matter.

Gun rights advocates, including some in the antigovernment “Patriot” movement for whom the specter of gun restrictions is a recurring theme, are planning to march in Washington, D.C., and some individual states on April 19.

Speakers scheduled for the “Second Amendment March” in D.C. include

• Stewart Rhodes, founder of Oath Keepers, a conspiracy-minded, antigovernment organization composed mostly of active-duty police and military officers and veterans;
• Richard Mack, a former Arizona sheriff who travels the country preaching about the evils of the federal government;
• Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, who advocated the formation of citizen militias in the United States in the early 1990s and addressed a three-day meeting of neo-Nazis and Christian Identity adherents in Colorado in 1992; and,
• Nicki Stallard, a transsexual gun rights activist who is active in Pink Pistols, a gay gun rights organization.

Gun rights supporters assumed the worst even before Obama was elected. The National Rifle Association initiated a membership drive dubbed, “Prepare for the Storm in 2008.” In the months before and immediately after Obama’s election, firearms and ammunition sales soared in anticipation of new gun restrictions. Those fears were reinforced a month after Obama took office, when Attorney General Eric Holder said the administration would try to reinstate the assault weapons ban that expired in 2004 during the Bush administration.

But the administration quickly backpedaled. Not only has the president made no effort to restrict gun ownership, he even signed legislation allowing guns in national parks and on Amtrak trains. (These provisions were amendments to larger, unrelated pieces of legislation that he supported.) The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which endorsed Obama in 2008, recently gave him a grade of “F” on every issue on which it scored him. ( continue to full post… )

Students at Cal State Long Beach are launching a campaign against a faculty member known for his anti-Semitic writings and, most recently, for his leadership of a white supremacist political party.

Aiming to force Kevin MacDonald’s departure from the university, student activists this week began urging their peers to boycott classes taught by the longtime psychology professor. “We feel that Professor MacDonald brings a very racist ideology into his teaching,” said Marylou Cabral, a senior art education major at Cal State Long Beach who’s helping spearhead the anti-MacDonald efforts. “We believe that his personal biases are going to affect his teaching no matter what he’s teaching, and we believe that he brings a political force to our campus that we need to counter. … He’s not just an individual with hateful beliefs. He’s someone who’s making an effort to organize and promote those beliefs, and we feel that’s dangerous.”

The impetus for mobilizing students was MacDonald’s new position as director of American Third Position (ATP), whose stated mission is “to represent the political interests of White Americans.” According to in-depth reporting by O.C. Weekly, ATP is partnering with Freedom 14, a local neo-Nazi group, to establish itself as a party dedicated to the deportation of non-whites. ATP’s chairman is hard-line racist William D. Johnson, a Los Angeles-based lawyer who once proposed repealing the 14th and 15th Amendments, which made freed slaves U.S. citizens, granted equal protection under the law, and prohibited race-based denial of voting rights. Instead, Johnson proposed the Pace Amendment, which would essentially allow only non-Hispanic whites to become U.S. citizens. The group is planning to run political candidates nationwide, and the Southern California branch has handed out hundreds of anti-immigrant fliers and other materials, according to ATP’s blog. ( continue to full post… )

The John Birch Society, whose conspiracy theories eventually became so fantastic that it faded into irrelevance, has edged back toward the mainstream – or at least the mainstream of conservative thought. It’s listed as one of 87 co-sponsors of next month’s annual Conservative Political Action Conference [CPAC] in Washington, D.C. The conference is “the year’s must-attend event for the Republican establishment,” says POLITICO.com. Speakers at the Feb. 18-20 conference include Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty – all potential GOP presidential candidates in 2012.

The fanatically anticommunist John Birch Society was founded in 1958 by Robert Welch, who declared that President Dwight Eisenhower was a “dedicated, conscious agent of the Communist conspiracy.” By 1961, when John F. Kennedy was president, the U.S. government was 50 to 70 percent communist controlled, Welch claimed. The Birchers have long maintained that the United Nations aims to establish a “one-world socialist government.” Today’s conspiracy zealots call it the New World Order.

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Some nativists are riled up about the Obama administration’s recent decision to give temporary refuge to undocumented Haitian immigrants.

Their anger comes after Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced on Jan. 15 that Haitians who were in the United States on the day of the earthquake may apply to stay here legally for 18 months. The government sometimes grants “temporary protected status” (TPS) to undocumented immigrants whose home country has suffered a trauma of such magnitude that they cannot immediately return. Even Mark Krikorian, executive director of the restrictionist Center for Immigration Studies, was quoted in The Washington Post as saying that he felt TPS was “totally justified in this case,” though he took issue with the renewals of TPS that often occur.

But others weren’t nearly so charitable. The white nationalist hate site Vdare.com featured a Jan. 21 column by Edwin Rubenstein titled “Haitian Immigrants Pretty Useless  — But Haiti Still Needs Them More Than We Do.” Rubenstein, an economic consultant and regular Vdare.com contributor, suggested that the administration’s decision was part of a “longstanding but little known Obama goal” to increase Haitian immigration. After unfavorably comparing Haitian immigrants to European immigrants and non-Hispanic American whites, he insisted that he only had Haiti’s best interests at heart. “What’s so generous about stealing the very few educated leaders that this pitiful country has been able to produce?” he concluded.
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It’s been a while since April Gaede’s teenage daughters appeared as the racist pop-singing duo Prussian Blue, but the former neo-Nazi stage mom is planning to keep busy with a new vocation: white-power matchmaker.

Eager to see white folks reproduce, Gaede is touting her services on Stormfront.org, the leading white supremacist Web forum. “I am willing to act as a go between, researcher, matchmaker, older sister and guide for any WNs [white nationalists] who are looking for a WN spouse,” she wrote earlier this month. “Only email me if you are serious about finding a spouse or long term partner.”

Gaede, who lives in Kalispell, Mont., is currently offering her expertise for free. “I have racial contacts throughout the US as well as the world,” she wrote in a follow-up posting. “I am planning to create a more secure and successful way for WNs to meet by creating a screening process, starting with a questionnaire. I feel that with my name recognition and my involvement in WNism I will be able to give confidence to the participants and help create a safe way for us to meet and create new families.”

Gaede, 43, even shared her own story of finding true love. “I was 37 with two children when my husband Mark [Harrington] and I met,” she wrote. “In any other circumstances we might have been an unlikely pair, a city boy who plays hockey and a country girl who trained horses. But because of our ideological similarities and our mutual concern about the future of our race we have much more in common than the average couple today.”

She didn’t have such good luck with her first husband, the father of the twin daughters she propelled to international stardom in white-power circles. At 20, Gaede married Kris Lingelser, whom she described as a pot-smoking Icelandic pole vaulter. Although he made for good “Aryan” breeding stock, she claims that their relationship turned violent; they were divorced in the mid-‘90s. Gaede has said her one regret is “the many years that I lost in which I could have produced four to six more children with that ideal eugenic quality that [Lynx and Lamb] possess.” ( continue to full post… )

Antigovernment “Patriots” are pledging support for a former Marine and self-described Oath Keeper who recently was charged with the rape of a child in Oklahoma and illegally having a grenade launcher. They say the man is being set up because of his own unorthodox and antigovernment views.

Stewart Rhodes, founder of the conspiracy-minded Oath Keepers group, denies that Charles Dyer actually was a member of his organization, or that he scrubbed all mentions of Dyer from his website after Dyer was arrested. Dyer has repeatedly and publicly represented himself as a member of the Oath Keepers.

Dyer, 29, of Marlow, was arrested last week for the alleged rape and forcible sodomy of a 7-year-old child. He is in federal custody and has a court hearing scheduled on Monday. During a search of his residence to collect DNA evidence, a grenade launcher was found that had been stolen from a Fort Irwin, Calif., military base in 2006. Dyer told an FBI agent that his best friend had given him the grenade launcher while Dyer was stationed in California with the Marine Corps, according to court records.

Dyer is a familiar face in the angry world of the Patriots, where he assumed the name of July4patriot. He has appeared in YouTube videos, railing against a repressive government and the much-feared, socialistic “New World Order.” In one, he wears a mask of a skeleton from the nose down. He says he was a sergeant in the Marines, and served in Iraq.

“Me, I’m going to use my training from the military and I suppose become one of those domestic terrorists that we’re so afraid of from the DHS [Department of Homeland Security] and their reports,” Dyer says in one video. “Ridiculous.” ( continue to full post… )

Pacifica Forum, the once-left-wing Eugene, Ore., discussion group now notorious for its expressions of extreme-right bigotry, has been moved out of the student union at the University of Oregon following widespread protests.

University officials announced at a student government meeting Wednesday night that, for the remainder of the 2009-10 school year, the forum will not be permitted to hold its weekly meetings at the Erb Memorial Union. Instead, the forum will meet in nearby Agate Hall, which is still on campus but not part of the student union.

Posting on a Facebook group dedicated to protesting Pacifica Forum, University of Oregon sophomore Charmaine Ng had one word in response to the decision: “Hoorah!”

Pacifica Forum’s new meeting place “will provide better security options for the campus, recognize the community rather than student nature of the Pacifica Forum, and provide a larger venue when necessary,” according to an E-mail sent yesterday from university administrators to faculty and staff. However, the long-running controversy surrounding Pacifica Forum isn’t over; students plan to continue protesting the group. And Charles Martinez, the university’s vice president for institutional equity and diversity, said the university is still responding to the situation. “These are initial steps that are being taken. This is not our solution to the dilemma and the policy issues to simply move Pacifica Forum from one place on campus to another.” For instance, the university is examining its policies and practices as they relate to use of campus space by outside groups, including the longtime perk that allows retired professors — such as Orval Etter, the 94-year-old founder of Pacifica Forum — to book campus space for free.

Pacifica Forum’s ouster from Erb Memorial Union comes after two major student-led protests of the group, including a loud gathering of at least 300 students during the forum’s planned debate last Friday on the symbolism of the swastika. In addition, the student senate debated a resolution on Wednesday night calling on Pacifica Forum to leave the student union. (The resolution was ultimately changed to assert that students wanted the group off campus altogether.) Also on Wednesday, members of the Eugene Anti-Hate Task Force and student leaders met with University of Oregon President Richard Lariviere and other top administrators to express their concerns about the group. Pacifica Forum has also received national media attention, including an article this week in Inside Higher Ed, an online journal. ( continue to full post… )