Senate votes big expansion of federal hate crimes

WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday approved the most sweeping expansion of federal hate crimes law since Congress responded four decades ago to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.

The legislation, backed by President Barack Obama, would extend federal protections granted under the 1968 hate crimes law to cover those physically attacked because of their gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.

"This bill simply recognizes that there is a difference between assaulting someone to steal his money, or doing so because he is gay, or disabled, or Latino or Muslim," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

Voice vote passage came immediately after supporters cleared a 60-vote procedural hurdle imposed by Republicans trying to block consideration of the legislation. That vote was 63-28.

The hate crimes bill was offered as an amendment to a must-pass defense spending bill that the Senate is expected to finish some time next week. Several Republican amendments to the hate crimes legislation still could be considered on Monday, but Thursday's vote determined that it will be part of the defense bill when it passes.

The 1968 hate crimes act covers violence related to a person's race, color, religion or national origin. Federal involvement is confined to a narrow range of circumstances, such as when the victim is using a public facility or attending a public school, serving on a jury or participating in a government program.

The proposed legislation, in addition to expanding the categories covered, ends the "federally protected activities" requirement.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., now being treated for cancer and unable to be on hand for the debate, first proposed the bill in 1997. While coming close on several occasions, he has never been able to overcome opposition from those who contend it infringes on states' rights and First Amendment rights to free speech. Former President George W. Bush said he would veto the bill if it reached his desk.

This time, however, pro-bill Democrats control both houses of Congress and Obama is a strong supporter. Attorney General Eric Holder has urged Congress to give his department authority to prosecute cases of violence based on sexual orientation, gender or disability.

The measure still has a way to go. Obama has told Congress he will veto the defense bill if it includes more money for an F-22 fighter program he is trying to terminate. The House in April passed a similar hate crimes bill, but did it as independent legislation not tied to a larger bill.

The Senate bill, also sponsored by Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., only authorizes federal prosecutions of hate crimes when the state or local authorities are unwilling or unable to do so. It provides $5 million in grants to state and local law enforcement officials who have trouble meeting the costs of investigating and prosecuting these crimes.

Reid, D-Nev., recalled that Laramie, Wyo., was overwhelmed by the costs of pursuing the case against Matthew Shepard, the gay college student killed in 1998 whose name is attached to the bill. "When this bill becomes law, that will never happen again in Laramie, Wyo., or anyplace else in the country."

Supporters also emphasized that prosecutions under the bill can occur only when bodily injury is involved, and no minister or protester could be targeted for expressing opposition to homosexuality, even if their statements are followed by another person committing a violent action.

To emphasize the point, the Senate passed provisions restating that the bill does not prohibit constitutionally protected speech and that free speech is guaranteed unless it is intended to plan or prepare for an act of violence.

The Traditional Values Coalition had expressed concern in a letter to senators that a pastor could be prosecuted for "conspiracy to commit a hate crime" if a sermon resulted in a person acting aggressively against someone based on sexual orientation.

Another opponent, Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., said it was "patently offensive" that violence against one class of victims would be considered worse than violence against others. "We cannot have a colorblind society if we continue to write color-conscious laws," he said. "It violates all the principles of equal justice under the law." continues here

Race-hate pair lose US legal battle

TWO men behind an internet race-hate campaign who jumped bail and fled to the United States are to be sent back to Britain to face justice.
Simon Sheppard, 52, from Selby, and York University graduate Stephen Whittle, 42, claimed political asylum in California after being found guilty of publishing racially inflammatory written material on a website viewed by thousands of Far-Right supporters. 

But immigration judge Rosa Peters has thrown out their case after rejecting the pair's claims to be victims of "a three-year campaign of harassment by the governing British Labour Party". 

Lawyers in the UK had expected Sheppard and Whittle to lodge an appeal if the decision went against them, but it is now believed they have decided to return to Yorkshire to be sentenced. 

In a letter to supporters, published on the British People's Party website, the pair wrote: "We were thinking of appealing and sticking it out, but really this place is replete with people hanging on hoping for a miracle that's never going to happen, and we don't want to join them...Better we think to go back to England, face the music and get it over with." 

Sheppard, of Brook Street, Selby, and Whittle, of Avenham Lane, Preston, are believed to be the first UK citizens to be convicted of publishing racist material online. Continues here

Offensive anti-semitic film taken off Barnet council website

BARNET Council has been forced to remove a website promotional video which has been slammed as anti-semitic by Jewish councillors.

The council has been filming interviews with local residents talking about the borough for their new community website www.whereilive.org

One piece featured a female resident complaining that "Jewish people have got things" but "normal British people" had nothing in her area.

Residents and Lib Dem councillors in Child's Hill immediately complained to the Tory-run council, which subsequently removed it from the site. Jewish councillor Jack Cohen said it was something more likely to come from the BNP than from a council with responsibility for the largest Jewish population in the UK.

He said: "I don't know what the council thinks it was doing. This is the sort of subliminal latent BNP racism where a normal resident is talking and just drops in that Jewish people get things and us "normal" Brits don't get anything.

"This should have never gone out and someone should apologise. I am disappointed that [ruling] councillors are running away from it and not saying anything.

"The lack of control which allows this needs to be looked at and I think staff need to go on a course which would make them more aware of the resident population they serve. I am absolutely appalled."

The interviews appeared on the Barnet Council site and also the popular site youtube from Sunday September 28. It then took five days for the offending video to be removed.

The council sent out a statement after the row, saying it would review uploading procedures but it failed to apologise for any offence caused. A spokesman said: "The council is providing a platform for people to share their views and come together to shape and steer future council services.

"The council has an exemplary record in fighting anti-Semitism and the views posted by residents are their own.

"They do not represent the views of the council. Steps were in place to ensure that material that may be deemed offensive or sensitive to any community or religious group was not uploaded but in this instance a video was uploaded that caused offence. These procedures will be urgently reviewed before any further videos are posted. continues here

The limits of free speech

A fractional loss of liberty is a small price to pay compared to what can follow if the far right is shielded all the way into power

The recent electoral success of the far-right parties in Austria and the detention of the alleged Holocaust denier Gerald Töben in Britain together raise some awkward questions. How should liberal, democratic societies deal with those who espouse antisemitism and racism, who deny the systematic mass murder of the Jews by the Nazis, and who pour vitriol on Muslims and gay people?

Despite decades of "Holocaust education" and the building of Holocaust memorials, 29% of Austrian voters cast their ballot for the heirs and admirers of National Socialism. Although the Austrian government is a member of an intergovernmental taskforce dedicated to promoting memory of the Holocaust and its grim lessons worldwide, at home it cannot even convince its own population to stay away from the suit-wearing inheritors of Hitler's toxic ideology.

And notwithstanding the metastasisation of antisemitism on the web and state promotion of Holocaust denial, most openly and notoriously by Iran, there are many people in this country who denounce the process that will enable Germany to extradite and prosecute Töben. They argue that Britain has a reputation for freedom of speech and has long given asylum to those persecuted for their views. Britain, therefore, should be a haven for such as him even though his utterances are despicable.

Something is going wrong here. First, "Holocaust education" is bouncing off the far right. Although its advocates claimed that it would help to blunt racism in general and encourage acceptance of difference, it seems that to the target audience not all difference is the same. It has become common for extreme rightwingers to malign Islam or Gypsies, while at the same time averring philo-semitism. The new mayor of Rome is a case in point.

Second, liberal society's abhorrence of neo-Nazi ideology commingles with a frisson of pleasure, not to say envy, at their naughtiness, taboo-breaking, and defiance of conventional wisdom. At one extreme the defenders of what was once unacceptable come from the swollen ranks of those attracted to "counterknowledge", the internet bred and fed millions who believe anything generated by the "establishment" must be a half truth or a lie.

What links these two phenomena is the insidious claim that there is a "Holocaust industry" and that everything from historical research to raising "Holocaust awareness" is a ramp to benefit Jewish interests and Israel.

Then there are those who deplore Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism and homophobia who simultaneously defend the right of creative figures, and logically anyone else, to cause offence. It would be nice to call this a "principled" stand but it is precisely the lack of any aesthetic principle by which creativity can be judged that has reduced the benchmark of appreciation to breaking taboos and upsetting people.

These attitudes create a penumbra in which Töben and his ilk can operate with impunity. Or not. Because the German authorities see things differently and now have the legal mechanisms to act even if a person alleged to have broken their laws is on UK territory. Yet his case has triggered alarm calls here from those who argue that democracy and tolerance are robust enough not to need laws for their defence. But how would it look if the far right in the UK started taking 5 or 10 or 20% of the vote in local and national elections? If they took power at some level?

In countries with a memory of how fragile democracy can be, the fractional loss of liberty entailed in penalising the expression of neo-Nazi views or Holocaust denial seems a small price to pay compared to what can follow if the far right is shielded all the way into power. By contrast we in Britain tend to take the robustness of our democracy for granted. We forget that for much of the last century, democracy was a rare and vulnerable species of political culture, easily rendered extinct. The plight of democracy in most post-communist countries ought to be a reminder that not so much has changed in that respect.

With a global recession on the horizon, possibly bringing with it mass unemployment, homelessness, poverty, and cuts in government budgets for welfare, who would like to bank on democracy staying in robust good health? In a few years time, the extradition of Töben might look like a smart move if it sends a message to the far right in Austria, not to mention our own breed, that continues here

Above David Cesarani, he's not biased at all is he?

Cop forced to quit over BNP badge

A POLICEMAN has been forced to resign after wearing a British National Party badge at an England football match.

Stuart Janaway, 36, wore the badge while off duty at a game against Hungary at Old Trafford two years ago.

He had also worn it at a charity England versus `the rest of the world' celebrity match held a few days earlier at the same ground. 

An investigation began after Greater Manchester Police received information that Mr Janaway had items relating to the extreme right-wing party at his home. Badges were recovered after a search of his house and photographs showed him wearing them at the matches. A misconduct hearing into claims that Mr Janaway was wearing an `inappropriate' badge while off duty was held last week.

Following the hearing he was asked to resign and did so.

Mr Janaway, of Rixtonleys Drive, Irlam, had served in GMP for 14 years and worked as a Pc based at Longsight. He joined the police after first training to be a priest.

A police spokesman said there was no evidence that he was a member of the BNP.

Acting Assistant Chief Constable Terry Sweeney, head of the Professional Standards Branch, said: "The Chief Constable's Order of 2004 makes it clear officers are banned from being members of the BNP. This requirement extends into the private lives of officers. 

"All officers and staff are aware that non-compliance will likely result in dismissal. The officer failed to live up to the high standards we demand." 

One source said: "The swiftness with which this matter was dealt with indicates that GMP will not tolerate such breach of police regulations."  continues here

And you think we live in freedom?

Let us hinder the international congress of fascists together, say far-left, anti-free-speech thugs

International appeal for Cologne

Between the dates of 19.09 and 21.09.2008 the racists and fascists and jingoists are planning the international meetings "Anti-Islamic Congress". The organizers, the self named citizens initiative "pro Köln", who have already invited more than 1000 persons of any right wing- orientation to start with the classical Nazis and to end up with the neoFascists, present the objectives such as the islam´s criticism and spreading of xenophobia and intolerance to the other religions. 

Pro Köln is an extreme fascistoid organization, pursuing the right wing policy and unifying the groups like NeoNazis´Party the German League for Nation and Home etc. In the last time the representatives in Cologne do focus their attention to the project of the town’s municipality, the erection of the Mosque in Cologne-Ehrenfeld. The prominent representatives of the international right-wing scene have promised their participation; among others the members of the Austrian Party FPÖ, Belgian Vlaams Belang, rightwing extremists from Spain, Hungary and Italy. The expected highlights should be the speeches of Jean-Marie Le Pen and Nick Griffin from the British National Party, known as a denier of holocaust and the initiator of hate campaigns which for he had been already sentenced.

Pro Koln’s expectations are as follows:

 projected development of an international net and the co-operation,

 their own propaganda in order to address the maximum of the potential voters in the next local elections

We are not going to suffer and tolerate such activities of the "pro Köln"-Organization misused for the election campaign, therefore we wish that the realization of this so called congress should not take place in our town, even by your help and support.

Among others we are planning to create the blockade to the access ways to the banks of Rhine, in Köln-Deutz, where supposedly the congress should take place. The more people will be involved the better. Moreover, we are going to demonstrate our disagreement with the right-wing policy and our disgust to the similar actions by all the legal means.

Help us and participate in the mass blockades around the place of the congress.
Organisations

Hamburg Agenturschluss Köln AKKU - Antifaschistische Koordination Köln & Umgebung Alternative Lebenshilfe- Yasamevi (ALY) e.V. Antifa Bonn/Rhein-Sieg Antifa Cafe Köln Antifa KOK Düsseldorf & Neuss Antifaschistische Aktion Leverkusen [AALEV] Antifaschistisches Aktionsbündnis Nürnberg Attac Bonn Attac Jugendnetzwerk - „Noya - Network of Young Altermondialists" Attac Köln BezirksschülerInnenvertretung (BSV) Köln BezirksschülerInnenvertretung Rhein-Wupper Büchertisch-Projekt "Counter-Information" Bundesausschuss der Studentinnen und Studenten in der GEW Bundeswehr wegtreten! Bündnis "Kein Raum für Rassismus!" - Heinersdorf (Berlin) Dachverband der aktiven Fanclubs des 1. FC Köln e.V. Deutscher Freidenker-Verband (DFV) e.V Landesverband NRW Deutscher Freidenker-Verband (DFV) e.V. Ortsverband Köln DIDF- Jugend DIDF Köln "Die Linke" Bonn "Die Linke" im Kölner Rat "Die Linke" Landesverband NRW Die Stunksitzung DKP Gruppe Köln-Innenstadt DKP Kreis Köln FelS (Für eine linke Strömung) Berlin Flüchtlingsrat Leverkusen "Front deutscher Äpfel" NRW geblockt! Hit & Run Shows Hochschulgruppe Die Linke. SDS Initiative Bahnbogen Ehrenfeld e.V. Internationale Sozialisten Internationale Sozialistische Linke (ISL) Interventionistische Linke [IL] Jugend- Aktions- und Projektwerkstatt (JAPS) Jena Jugendclub Courage Köln e.V. Junge GEW Köln Junge Linke Köln Juso Hochschulgruppe an der Uni Köln Kampagne "Kein Bock auf pro Köln" KEAs e.V. - Kölner Erwerbslose in Aktion Kein Blut für Öl Kölner Friedensforum Kölner Netzwerk - Kein Mensch ist illegal Kreisverband Die Linke. Köln Kulturausbesserungswerk - Autonomes Zentrum für Kultur und Politik Kulturbunker Köln Mülheim.eV Kulturvereinigung Leverkusen kumm-erus-(Team) LandesschülerInnenvertretung NRW (LSV NRW) Linksjugend [’solid] - Köln Linksjugend [’solid] - NRW (Landesverband) Netzwerk Buntes Pulheim Netzwerk Linke Opposition North East Antifascists [NEA] Berlin queergestellt! Redaktion Neue Rheinische Zeitung Rheinisches JournalistInnenbüro Revolutionär Sozialistischer Bund / Vierte Internationale (RSB) SALZ - Köln SAV - Sozialistische Alternative Schüler gegen Rechts Köln SDAJ Köln SDAJ NRW Sozialistisches Forum Rheinland SSK Salierring Varnhagen Gesellschaft e. V., Köln Verband Deutscher Schriftsteller in ver.di (VS), Landesverband NRW Verband Deutscher Schriftstellerinnen und Schriftsteller in ver.di (VS), Bezirk Köln Verein EL-DE-Haus Köln Verein Streitkultur Köln VVN-BdA Kreisverband Düsseldorf VVN-BdA Kreisverband Köln VVN-BdA Landesverband NRW W.Erk-Theater Leverkusen Wohnen + Leben e.V Köln zosamme e.V. 
Individuals

Bahri Gülsen (Mitglied der Bezirksvertretung Innenstadt) Die Stunksitzung - Alternative Kölner Karnevalssitzung Heinrich Pachl, Kabarettist Jörg Frank (Mitglied im Rat der Stadt Köln, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) Jürgen Becker, Kabarettist Klaus der Geiger, Straßen- und Klassikmusiker Kirsten Reinhardt (Mitglied der Bezirksvertretung Ehrenfeld und Fraktionsvorsitzende Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) Dr. Martin Stankowski, Stadthistoriker, Journalist und Autor Özgür Demirel (Mitglied der Bezirksvertretung Kalk) Özlem Demirel (Mitglied im Rat der Stadt Köln) Peter Kleinert, Journalist Petra Wilke (Bezirksvertreterin und 1. stellvertretende Bezirksbürgermeisterin, BV 4, Fraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) Roland Schüler (Geschäftsführer Friedensbildungswerk Köln) Sevim Dagdelen (Mitglied des Bundestags „Die Linke", Integrations- und Migrationspolitische Sprecherin der Bundestagsfraktion „ Die Linke") Thies Gleiss (Mitglied im Bundesvorstand „Die Linke") Ulla Jelpke (Mitglied des Bundestags „Die Linke" and so on and so on continues here

Children as young as three should be reported for 'racism', Government-funded group claims

Toddlers should be taught about racism and singled out for criticism if they have racist attitudes, a Government-funded advisory group said yesterday. 

It told nursery teachers, playgroup leaders and childminders to record and report every racist incident involving children as young as three. 

These could include saying 'Yuk' about unfamiliar food.

Even babies should not be ignored in the hunt for racism because they can 'recognise different people in their lives', a new guide for nurseries and child care centres said.

The instructions for staff in charge of pre-school children in day care have been produced by the National Children's Bureau, which receives £12million a year, mostly through taxpayer-funded organisations. 

The NCB, which describes itself as 'an umbrella body for the children's sector', has long used its resources to campaign on controversial issues, for example in favour of a legal ban on smacking by parents. 

It also runs the Sex Education Forum, a campaign for more sex education in schools. 

The new 366-page guide, Young Children and Racial Justice, warned that 'racist incidents among children in early years settings-tend to be around name-calling-casual thoughtless comments, and peer group relationships'. 

It said such incidents could include children using words like 'blackie', 'Pakis', 'those people' or 'they smell'. 

Children might also 'react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying "yuk".' 

Nursery staff are told: 'No racist incident should be ignored. When there is a clear racist intent, it is necessary to be specific in condemning the action.' 

If children 'reveal negative attitudes the lack of censure may indicate to the child that there is nothing unacceptable about such attitudes'. 

Nurseries are encouraged to report as many racist incidents as possible to local councils. 

'Some people think that if a large number of racist incidents are reported, this will reflect badly on the institution,' it said. 'In fact, the opposite is the case.' 

The guidance said that anyone who disagrees is racist themselves. continues here

Are you awake yet, do you even care, it doesn’t seem you do, you continue on with your life whilst they destroy us, we are marked for extinction and unless we challenge it now they will win. Our children, or if we last that long, our grandchildren face an appalling future, a future where they are the minority, they the alien in their natural homelands, do you think for one second, that non-whites will exhibit the same degree of empathy, if not sheer capitulation, we have shown, do you think whites will be granted any concessions, the simple answer is no. We can see already the intolerance for the west these new-comers show, all it takes is for you to stand up and say enough, to show the leftists and their reprehensible backers that, they have had their day. To strive for something more than self, to try to heal this country, how in all conscious can you stand idly by, whilst they indoctrinate your own children, whilst they corrupt the innocent.

What ideology is it that requires such draconian enforcement, quite simply a wrong one, if multiculturalism was the benefit they tell you it is, why then the need for thought police, the need for laws, the need for anti-white-discrimination, why the need to besiege the minds of our most precious possession, our children, truly this is an evil ideology. Yet I stand amazed, amazed and appalled because you the people let them do it, you let them ride roughshod over your right to exist and your freedoms, you let them destroy western civilisation without a whimper, without even a cursory glance. You hold within you the power to change this, the power to alter and resist their evil plans, without you all of you who read this we cannot win, we simply cannot put right all the wrongs without a mandate from the people. We can talk a good fight, we can debate the issues but we cannot, simply cannot heal this nation and others, without a united effort, without you.

It should be the ultimate taboo the one thing that forces us to draw a line in the sand and shout no, no more, we simply refuse you, we will no longer bow down to your rubbish, to your garbage, to your filthy lies, leave our children alone. You have broken the family, lowered standards, attacked the unborn, pilloried white males, forced women into the workplace, taxed us for others, lied to us, made our society less caring and more violent, ruined everything but leave our children alone. The left should be running in fear, surrounded by the chaos of rage, harried back to whichever hellhole they came from, they should never again be permitted to preach their vile gospel, their evil philosophy and we, we survivors should begin anew to repair the damage they have caused. We should bring light back in, where once darkness flourished we should above all protect children, the rights of the child should be paramount to all after all they are our future.

Instead you won’t change, you won’t lift as much as a finger, you will remain so caught up with self that, you will sacrifice their future, hand them over on a plate, give their tomorrows, so you can have today. We are no longer what we were, we have been changed, altered, we have become monsters, caring for nothing but ourselves, we have thrown away our greatest strength, our unique altruism, a selflessness that enabled us to build the worlds only lasting society, the worlds foremost civilisation, but no longer. It is over, finished, we have succumb to savagery, we are a mere shadow of what we once were, evolution set in reverse, as the savage we admire shiny objects bedecked in gold, caring more for a label than for a child. We import dissimilar people to make up the numbers, as we kill our own in the womb; we banish our old, out of sight and presumably out of mind, to institutions to whither and simply die. We place minority over majority, lauding stupidity whilst deriding intellect, we admire violence, dishonesty and disrespect and teach our children these traits, and we are so unhappy that, many stagger bleary-eyed through life, high on drugs or alcohol or both. The law of the jungle has returned and all are prey, the flash of a knife and life is over, we creep around fearfully or find safety in a group, the power of the parent lies shattered and broken, a once valued antique. They have destroyed us, altered our very society, look around you for the better, do you prefer this, this incremental extinction, this erosion of good, this perversion, this malevolence.

Is it some sort of mind-numbing madness, some illusionists trick, do you not see, not hear, does anger not fuel your engine and sorrow not set your sail, do you not fence with reason and find yourself wanting. Do you contort as a gymnast avoiding all taboos, striving to comply with all they want, never realising that the exercise is over, the competition run and it is they that were wrong, they that have failed however, they won’t admit it, despotism is forever stubborn. Despotism, tyranny, can never be gently lathered away, never be sedately swept, it must be scrubbed until the flesh of society is red, until every vestige of filth is washed away. Yet although they have failed their lies still hold you true, the glue of madness binds your freedom and the bars of repression steal the future, it is coming, hold on tight, you may live to see the evil you permitted entrance, the demon you refused to contain. You may live to see the fear in your children’s eyes mixed with anger at your inaction; you may live to regret not fighting when chance came calling, when the merest glimmer of hope shone brightly.

If you can stand aside as they take your children, if you can watch unperturbed, perhaps you deserve your fate, perhaps I am wrong and there is nothing left to fight for. Perhaps the struggle is over and evil has the field, perhaps I should succumb as you have, caught in their web of lies, perhaps I should never again look to my fellows or strive for our children’s tomorrow. Perhaps the cow truly jumps over the moon, the yellow brick road truly leads to Oz and there is gold at the end of the rainbow, perhaps we are all equal and leftist philosophy is benign, perhaps tyranny doesn’t augment and money grows on trees, perhaps I can turn about and leave all I love to die, perhaps I am you. 14

CSULB professor's work seen as anti-Semitic, racist

The controversial literature and writings of a Cal State University Long Beach psychology professor have him up for discussion.

The CSULB psychology department is considering disassociating itself from the works of Kevin MacDonald and met yesterday to discuss the issue.

MacDonald's works have been publicized as neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology.

In 2006, the Southern Poverty Law Center sent representatives to CSULB to talk to students and faculty. Shortly after, they labeled MacDonald's three-part series as anti-Semitic...........Article conts (-)

Related Article below

Psychology department to issue statement on professor's controversial literature
Andrew Smith

Staff and faculty are worried that psychology professor Kevin MacDonald's work has anti-Semitic and racist overtones.

The Cal State Long Beach Psychology Department has recently initiated new plans to disassociate itself from controversial psychology professor Kevin MacDonald.

The department is currently considering publishing a statement to confirm its disassociation from MacDonald, with his research and writings on Judaism continuing to garner controversy and be used by publications considered to publicize neo-Nazi and white supremacist ideology.

MacDonald's three-part series in evolutionary psychology, "A People That Shall Dwell Alone," "Separation and Its Discontents" and "The Culture of Critique," was labelled as anti-Semitic and neo-Nazi propaganda in late 2006.

The labels came from the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), a civil rights organization based in Montgomery, Ala., that tracks hate groups. The organization sent a representative to CSULB to interview students and faculty members about MacDonald's work in November of 2006.

The recent developments within the psychology department to distance itself from MacDonald's work came after the department's advisory committee met to discuss his December forum presentation.

Questions were raised regarding the methodology and ethics of MacDonald's work, which included his trilogy of books as well as his entries in The Occidental Quarterly - which has been described as a "white nationalist" publication - and the online journal VDARE.com.

The three-part book series stimulated the most controversy through its discussion of the influence of Jewish political and social movements on American politics and culture during the 20th century, according to associate professor of anthropology Ron Loewe.

"MacDonald is trying to argue that Jews undermine the foundations of Western society by supporting radical ideologies and radical political movements," Loewe said.

MacDonald's work also allegedly discussed "how Jews facilitated the immigration of minorities from southern Europe, and destroyed the whiteness of America," according to Loewe.

On Tuesday MacDonald replied to a series of questions put to him by psychology professor Martin Fiebert that focused on the four main areas of racism: anti-Semitism, quality of "scholarship" and involvement with and support for extremist groups.

Fiebert's questions were finally answered after several psychology, history and political science department members sent numerous e-mails to MacDonald requesting that he respond to the inquiries about his research and teachings.

The questions posed to MacDonald revolved around his relationship with J. Philippe Rushton, a professor from the University of Western Ontario, Canada, who has been criticized for his claims that race determines an individual's abilities and behavior, and that blacks are intellectually inferior because of "smaller brains."

In an e-mail response sent to Loewe and other CSULB faculty about the questions, MacDonald said that his only referral to Rushton's work was in a graduate seminar that was not related to racial differences research, and that he would not focus any more of his efforts on the topic at CSULB. In the e-mail, MacDonald wrote, "I see the issue of race differences in intelligence and other traits as hopelessly politicised."

In another e-mail sent to the Daily Forty-Niner, MacDonald also wrote, "I promised not to teach about race differences in intelligence in order to be able to teach [Psychology] 361." He also wrote that he is "not happy" about the proposed dissociation of his work by the department.

MacDonald confirmed publishing his claims that the Jewish race was having a negative effect on Western civilization in "The Culture of Critique."

"Individuals who strongly identified as Jews have been the main motivating force behind several highly influential intellectual movements that have simultaneously subjected Western culture to radical criticism and allowed for the continuity of Jewish identification ... Collectively, these movements have called into question the fundamental moral, political, and economic foundations of Western society," MacDonald wrote in the e-mail sent to Loewe and CSULB faculty......article conts (-)

France's Le Pen gets suspended jail term for comments on Nazi occupation

A French court gave far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen a three-month suspended prison sentence on Friday and fined him 10,000 euros for saying that the Nazi occupation of France was "not particularly inhumane".

Le Pen was found guilty of "justification of war crimes" and "contesting crimes against humanity" in the trial which opened in December.

It centered around a comment Le Pen made in a 2005 interview with right-wing weekly magazine Rivarol, which angered the government, anti-racism organizations and Jewish groups.
The prosecution had requested that Le Pen be handed a five-month suspended sentence and fined 10,000 euros.

Le Pen has always denied any wrongdoing and did not attend the trial. His defense team argued that his remarks were not part of an interview but of a casual conversation.

"In France, at least, the German occupation was not particularly inhumane, although there were some blunders, inevitable in a country of 550,000 sq km," he was quoted as saying in the magazine......Article conts (-)