MISINFORMATION AND SHODDY REPORTING CAN BE DETRIMENTAL IN MONTANA

I gotta tell ya, sometimes the media really amazes me at their lack of knowledge about these people and groups.

I applaud the efforts of the "Not In Our Town" group and encourage them to continue educating the community and fighting against the message sent by this and other extremist groups. However, we need to do more to raise the awareness and understanding of media personnel who are reporting their efforts and the movement of such groups.

Kyle Anderson, a mere child, is taking a stab at ressurecting the Creativity Movement in Montana. He apparently has adopted all of the creeds and credo's of the old WCOTC along with their books and paraphenalia and features himself as someone capable of filling the shoes of Matt Hale. He had his 15 minutes of fame a few weeks ago by being featured in an article in the Billings Gazette. Montana has long been a bastion for Creators - but there certainly isn't any thing "new" about Anderson's reported image.

So he wears a dress shirt and "blends" in - what the hell is so unusual about that? Matt Hale looked the part of the proverbial anemic nerd, didn't favor tattoos and had a law degree. He still spewed hate, attracted skinheads and felons, and ended up in prison.

As to the headquarters being in Illinois - the "headquarters" went to hell along with Mattie a few years back.

This organization spawned some of the most violent and malevolent criminals ever seen in the hate move movement, and like Travis McAdam said...the good people of Montana shouldn't consider dismissing the possibility of this group growing. Their efforts need to be met head on and nipped in the bud.

As to KULR-TV...they really could be a great help toward that end, if they would simply do a little research and engage in some accurate reporting.




Not In Our Town
KULR-TV
updated 5:55 p.m. CT, Fri., Jan. 30, 2009
The group, "Not In Our Town," called an emergency meeting for Thursday night to inform the community of recent white supremacist activity in Billings.

BILLINGS - The group, "Not In Our Town," called an emergency meeting for Thursday night to inform the community of recent white supremacist activity in Billings.

NIOT Director, Eran Thompson, says members of the Creativity Movement are organizing in Billings, passing out fliers and vandalizing property. The little known supremacist group began in the 1970's and had its hey-day in the 1990's.

While Thompson says while only about 7 people are suspected of activity in Billings, it's still a major concern. That's why they asked the Montana Human Rights Network to educate residents about the group.

"Don't just dismiss it and say if we ignore it, it will go away. We've seen communities try that in the past and it doesn't work. It is better to come to grips with it and really organize against it," says Travis McAdam with the Network.

McAdam says those involved are probably young teens. Another worry is that the group may be recruiting in middle schools and high schools. Some online sources list the Creativity Movement's headquarters as Illinois.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

HIBBLER SAYS WHITE PUSHED TOO FAR...

According to Judge Hibbler, Bill White crossed the line and volleyed his freedom of speech right out of the park. Using the internet to threaten and intimidate others may soon be something that people can no longer get away with.

The internet has long been considered the "Last Frontier" for freedoms by those who believe that our rights are being infringed upon by government and law-enforcement. However, recent concerns over the abuse of those rights have led to a closer look being taken by the powers that be.

While I believe that Bill White stepped over the proverbial line, I have to ask about others who continue to get away with much the same - i.e. Hal Turner. Turner continues to advocate violence against certain officials and personalities without so much as a nod in his direction by law-enforcement. Why is that, I wonder?


TO ORIGINAL SOURCE


Ruling clears way for neo-Nazi trial
A Chicago judge said William A. White's Web comments were not protected free speech.
By Laurence Hammack
981-3239

Related
Previous coverage
William White's legal issues, racist rants
A neo-Nazi leader known for pushing the boundaries of the First Amendment pushed too far when he advocated violence through his Web site, a federal judge in Chicago has ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge William Hibbler rejected William A. White's pre-trial argument that his online comments about a federal juror were protected free speech -- although that defense could be raised a second time at a jury trial set for March.

White, head of the Roanoke-based American National Socialist Workers Party, is in a Chicago jail on a charge of encouraging violence against the foreman of a jury that convicted a fellow white supremacist.

In a posting to his Web site that criticized the verdict, White listed the juror's name, address and telephone numbers. Although he made no direct threats, federal prosecutors say the post should be viewed in the larger context of overthrow.com, his former Web site where they say White encouraged racial attacks against dozens of people to an audience prone to both prejudice and violence.

Had White limited his remarks to criticism of the juror's role in the case, that would have been protected speech, Hibbler wrote in a brief opinion, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Chicago, denying a defense motion to dismiss the charge.

"When the defendant went further and listed personal contact information about [the juror] combined with other postings which advocated violence toward identified individuals ... he stepped beyond the protection of the First Amendment," Hibbler wrote.

Nishay Sanan, a Chicago attorney who represents White, said Wednesday that he can still make a free speech argument when the case goes to trial.

While the pre-trial motion had asked Hibbler to dismiss the charge on legal grounds, a jury could be asked to consider testimony and additional arguments before deciding the case, Sanan said.

Sanan and co-counsel Chris Shepherd had cited several U.S. Supreme Court cases in support of their argument that White's postings, however crass and incendiary, deserve First Amendment protection.

One case involved a member of the Ku Klux Klan who suggested during a cross burning that vengeance be taken against the government for suppressing the rights of whites. The Klansman was convicted under an Ohio law that made it illegal to advocate a crime as a means of political reform.

In reversing the man's conviction, the Supreme Court established a two-part standard for criminal incitement: The speech must be intended to incite imminent illegal actions, and it must be likely to produce such a result.

"The government has shown neither imminence nor likelihood, yet proceeds on an indictment of White in violation of his freedom of speech," his attorneys wrote in court filings.

Federal prosecutors responded that in making that determination that "the postings themselves cannot be viewed in a vacuum, but must be seen in the context of overthrow.com as a whole."

That argument has allowed the government, at least in pre-trial proceedings, to cite numerous inflammatory postings by White: his calls to lynch six teenagers charged with assault in a high-profile Louisiana case; his talk of a murderous rampage in Roanoke; his magazine cover that put President Obama in the crosshairs of an assassin's rifle.

Randall Samborn, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Chicago, declined to comment on Hibbler's ruling.

The judge's decision applies only to the charge White faces in Chicago, which carries a punishment of up to 10 years. Once that case is resolved, the 31-year-old will be returned to Roanoke to face additional indictments.

A grand jury in Roanoke has accused White of using his Web site and e-mail to threaten and harass targets across the country, including a banker, a newspaper columnist, a civil rights attorney and a small-town mayor.

White, a Roanoke landlord, has been called "possibly the loudest and most obnoxious neo-Nazi leader in America" by the Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based organization that monitors hate groups.

White supremacists have increasingly used the Internet to spread their message and recruit new members, said Brian Levin, director of the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University at San Bernardino.

Hibbler's decision is consistent with other court rulings that draw the line between online commentary and criminal activity, Levin said.

"If the Internet is viewed as the public square from a First Amendment perspective, that doesn't mean you can go to the public square and threaten people," Levin said. "I would even argue that the Internet makes it worse, because you're putting it out there to so many other people."

YOU MADE THIS POSSIBLE

TO ORIGINAL SOURCE

EXCERTS FROM OBAMA'S SPEECH IN PHILADELPHIA

"We are here today not simply to pay tribute to our first patriots but to take up the work that they began. The trials we face are very different now, but severe in their own right. Only a handful of times in our history has a generation been confronted with challenges so vast. An economy that is faltering. Two wars, one that needs to be ended responsibly, one that needs to be waged wisely. A planet that is warming from our unsustainable dependence on oil.

And yet while our problems may be new, what is required to overcome them is not. What is required is the same perseverance and idealism that our founders displayed. What is required is a new declaration of independence, not just in our nation, but in our own lives - from ideology and small thinking, prejudice and bigotry - an appeal not to our easy instincts but to our better angels.

That is the reason I launched my campaign for the presidency nearly two years ago. I did so in the belief that the most fundamental American ideal, that a better life is in store for all those willing to work for it, was slipping out of reach. That Washington was serving the interests of the few, not the many. And that our politics had grown too small for the scale of the challenges we faced.

But I also believed something else. I believed that our future is our choice, and that if we could just recognize ourselves in one another and bring everyone together - Democrats, Republicans, and Independents, north, south, east and west, black, white, Latino, Asian, and Native American, gay and straight, disabled and not - then not only would we restore hope and opportunity in places that yearned for both, but maybe, just maybe, we might perfect our union in the process.

This is what I believed, but you made this belief real. You proved once more that people who love this country can change it. And as I prepare to leave for Washington on a trip that you made possible, know that I will not be traveling alone. I will be taking with me some of the men and women I met along the way, Americans from every corner of this country, whose hopes and heartaches were the core of our cause; whose dreams and struggles have become my own.

Theirs are the voices I will carry with me every day in the White House. Theirs are the stories I will be thinking of when we deliver the changes you elected me to make.

We recognize that such enormous challenges will not be solved quickly. There will be false starts and setbacks, frustrations and disappointments. And we will be called to show patience even as we act with fierce urgency.

But we should never forget that we are the heirs of that first band of patriots, ordinary men and women who refused to give up when it all seemed so improbable; and who somehow believed that they had the power to make the world anew. That is the spirit that we must reclaim today.

For the American Revolution did not end when British guns fell silent. It was never something to be won only on a battlefield or fulfilled only in our founding documents. It was not simply a struggle to break free from empire and declare independence. The American Revolution was - and remains - an ongoing struggle 'in the minds and hearts of the people' to live up to our founding creed.

Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union.

Let's build a government that is responsible to the people, and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable.

Let's all of us do our part to rebuild this country.

Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning."

WHO IS HURT BY THIS?

Every year the controversy over same sex marriage and gay adoptions make headlines. With the gay marriage ban in California protests are being held nation wide. Below is a story that comes from the Burlington Post. This couple has been together for almost 18 years and are demonstrating a committment that is present in precious few heterosexual relationships - so what's the problem?

TO ORIGINAL STORY


Halton couple shares adoption success story
Same-sex partners adopt three siblings out of foster care
Melanie Cummings, Special To Burlington Post

Published on Jan 11, 2009
Yo Mustafa and Paul Groulx went from zero to three children in a matter of six months.

The adoptive parents’ days are now filled with the stuff of most attentive, loving parents: meals, laundry, chauffeuring, overseeing homework and chores amid feelings of worry, joy, frustration and laughter. And all of this is followed by a general weariness that comes from a full day of activity.

Their three boys, Adam, 13, and 11-year-old twins James and Matthew (not their real names) Groulx-Mustafa are absorbed in sports, arts, playing with friends and a myriad of other interests typical for their age.

For Yo and Paul, their previous life of dining out daily and free time outside of work spent relaxing or socializing has been replaced by kid-focused errands, parent-teacher interviews, soccer game schedules and daily dinner time chats at home.

In fact, friends and family were more worried that Yo and Paul would be unable to take on the role of parenting because of their extroverted ways, not because they are a same-sex couple raising children.

Both say that when they made their vows to each other in a Quaker-style commitment ceremony back on July 21, 1991 — two years after they had met — becoming parents was a mutual goal.

Four years ago that dream came true. Back in July 2003 the pair started their search by attending an Adoption Council of Ontario information evening. The council is a non-profit collective of the adoption community, such as children’s aid societies.

The two men had no preference for age or gender prior to their search, which is another way their story smashes the myths surrounding adoption in so many ways. Older children do need and want adoptive families and all types of people are eligible to adopt, from single adults to families with children, to same-sex couples.

Mustafa and Groulx’s only stipulations were to adopt within Canada.

“International adoption was wrong for us,” said Yo. And while each could adopt as a single dad, neither Paul nor Yo were keen on going that route either. They preferred to adopt as a duo.

When confronted with the breadth of the need at that information evening, “I was an emotional mess,” said Yo. Currently, there are more than 2,500 children legally available for adoption in Ontario. Left to search through a bevy of booths detailing heartwrenching stories of the province’s youngest citizens, Paul continued on and found the three brothers.

It was neglect that brought Adam, James and Matthew into the care of Children’s Aid. At the time, Adam was six years old and the twins 3-1/2. They were in foster care two years before they came to Paul and Yo’s attention.

To expedite the average two-year wait for the Halton CAS to do a home study for two years, the prospective parents hired a private practitioner footing the $2,000-$3,000 expense. Over six weeks the social worker interviewed the couple — four times together and each separately — probing Paul and Yo’s financial, medical and physical states. Each had to get a police background check done and provide adoption authorities with seven reference letters.

The pair also attended a three-day parenting workshop learning about setting limits, attachment and issues faced by children from institutional and foster homes. No matter how many workshops they attended, preparing for life with a three-dimensional child in the house was a different story, said Paul.

“It was an emotional roller coaster,” said Yo.

Nevertheless, the hard work paid off. Paul and Yo were given the nod for multiple adoptions. They sent their application for the three boys to Sudbury and one week later were on their way to the Northern Ontario city.

“We made a five-hour trip in record time,” said Yo of their shared excitement and anxiety about meeting the boys they had seen only in photos. The first meeting went well. Paul brought a photo album of their pets, nieces and nephews to give the boys a glimpse of the lives he and Yo had built together. While the twins James and Matthew were amenable to them, the eldest, Adam, expressed reservations. His questions of these two strangers were simple and direct. He asked Paul and Yo, ‘Are you gay?’, ‘Do you love each other?’ and ‘Who would be the stay-at-home parent?’ To the first two Paul and Yo replied with a firm, truthful and obviously convincing ‘Yes’. To the third question, Yo assured that he would design his work schedule around their school life, working only between 9 a. m. and 3 p. m. Adam gave his resounding approval by replying, ‘Cool’.

After that initial introduction, Paul and Yo were speechless and unable to sleep that night. “We were so emotionally, physically and mentally exhausted,” said Yo. They stayed the weekend, taking the kids to lunch and a movie, playing games and chatting. “It felt like the most natural arrangement. We loved it,” said Paul. By Sunday dinner even the foster mom had given her blessing to the adoption. “I cried all the way home,” said Yo.

Between March 19 and May 15 and on top of their demanding work weeks — Paul is a family lawyer and Yo is an actor/instructor — they dutifully drove up every weekend staying at the foster family’s home and eventually taking over the parenting role. Paul felt the chemistry. He could see the twins were starving for affection and he and Yo were both willing to fill their need. Adam, ever the worrier, warmed up to them eventually.

In short order Paul became ‘Dad’ and Yo ‘Baba’ — a nod to his Turkish culture — which means Dad. Friends organized a shower to celebrate their new arrivals.

Yo, Paul and the boys almost immediately outgrew their two-bedroom downtown Oakville apartment — where the appeal of shopping, restaurants and entertainment was quickly substituted with the suburban, family-friendly atmosphere of Milton. They moved four years ago from a two-bedroom apartment to a two-storey home.

These parents firmly stick by the self-imposed rule not to speak ill of the boys’ birth mom and encourage them to stay in touch with their natural sisters aged 19 and 18. “We have to think of things from the kids’ perspective,” said Paul.

“I’m so proud of all three boys,” said Yo. While eyebrows sometimes are raised upon discovering the boys have two dads, Adam, James and Matthew take it all in stride.

“Our lives together have never been about shocking people but about education and love,” said Paul.

BACK TO BUSINESS AT HAND

I need to thank all of you who have sent me inquiries into my well being since I have been away for awhile and assure you that I am fine.

Sometimes a break from the kind of work that I engage in is badly needed and sometimes life just gets in the way of other things. Both of those have been at play here and given the fact that the "movement" has fallen apart and that several of the key players are no longer part of the picture - it seemed like a good time to take care of other business. Now...I'm back.

To my critics and those wondering if I have "lost interest" or simply "gave up," I can only surmise that you are engaging in wishful thinking and tell you that won't ever happen. I have been engaged in some activities behind the scene while dealing with situations here on the homefront. Those activities have been very fruitful and have resulted in some in roads that you will be hearing about in the near future. So, to all you hopeful racists and hate mongers all that I have to say is - dream on.

After reading the comments here in an effort to catch up, it has become evident that not much has changed. Most of the articulate posters, on both sides of the coin, attempt to engage in sensible, well thought out discussion, while a bevy of inept and shallow individuals attempt to disrupt the exchanges. Such is the nature of the internet, I guess.

In the broader picture, the white supremacy movement has become stagnant - and is struggling for a breath of fresh air. There are only a couple of people on the horizon who have even a remote possibility of breathing new life into the shambles. Far right-wing racist groups such as the Council of Conservative Citizens are experiencing a moderate surge in interest and membership on the heels of the recent election. The evangelical and fundamentalist groups are in disarray and attempting to regroup. Hate crimes occur daily. On Tuesday, the first African-American will be sworn in as President of the United States. Our economy is in the toilet, unemployment is through the roof, the national debt is astronomical, and innocent people are being killed around the world. Consequently, we have a lot to talk about.

For now, however, I am inviting comments on the following story...

TO ORIGINAL SOURCE

Remember 3-year-old Adolf Hitler Campbell?

Watch VideoA simple request for a name on a three year old's birthday cake has caused a controversy because of the person who he is named after.



He’s the little boy whose name was the center of an international firestorm last December after a Greenwich, N.J., supermarket refused to write his name on a birthday cake. The store said it was inappropriate and refused to give an apology after the parents demanded one.

Adolf and his two sisters -- one-year-old JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell and 8-month-old Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell -- were removed from their parents’ home Tuesday night by the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, Holland Township police chief David Van Gilson told LehighValleyLive.com.

It is unclear why the children were removed from their parent’s home. Gilson said his department did not receive any reports of abuse or negligence.

Heath and Deborah Campbell, the children's parents, were scheduled to appear for an undisclosed hearing Tuesday, but it was postponed, according to the website.

Due to confidentiality laws, Kate Bernyk with the N.J. Division of Youth and Family Services would not comment or even acknowledge any involvement with the Campbells when NBC10’s Doug Shimell contacted them.

DYFS isn’t talking much about the Campbell’s situation, but the kids being taken away has nothing to do with the names and birthday cake issue in December, according to Sgt. John Harris, Holland Twp. Police in Milford, N.J.

Calls to the children’s parents were met with a message that the line had been temporarily disconnected.