A World of Cheese, For your Pleasure

Matt Hale, leader of the World Church of the Creator, a leading American neo-Nazi group, has been convicted of soliciting the murder of a judge who decided that his hate group change their name due to copyright and safety concerns. The article gives you a glimpse, albeit a biased one, of what goes on in some of these hate-based groups. I love the following example of how stupid people form the ranks of these groups:

Things started to unravel four years ago for Hale when one of his key aides impregnated a 12-year old girl, the daughter of someone whom Hale recruited and was moving from Kentucky to Illinois. Then the judge reversed a decision to not force the WCOTC to change their name (the incidents are not related, they just happened at nearly the same time). Hale declared it "open season on all Jews".

The FBI responded by placing Tony Evola, an FBI mole, close to Hale. During their time together (for a while they were inseparable) conversations would often turn to killing enemies. After a while, it became obvious that he was being entrapped, but Hale never seemed to notice. I guess he was too far into his delusions about the "Jewish occupational government". The defense lawyers tried to suggest that it was the government that induced Hale to say and perhaps do these things. And this is where I have a problem.

In this case, it seems fairly simple: This is the leader of a hate group that promotes violence and murder, not to mention hate, hate with a side order of hate. He was looking for a way to get away with murder, and the government needed to show this. So they entrapped him. Just as they did my brother. Both were convicted of "intent". But there were no drugs in my brother's case, and there was no murder in Hale's. It is safe to say that without police interference, there would be no conviction of my brother, because he had no intention of looking for drugs to smuggle. They offered him a sweet deal, and he mistakenly took it. Hale, on the other hand, had been looking for a way to commit murder and other violent acts without getting caught, and he would have done so if he had gotten the right people involved. (I still don't quite understand how John Robin Sharpe can get away with writing erotic stories involving children and not get charged with possession of child porn just because no children were harmed. I don't understand how repeat sex offenders can stay out of jail, or get tiny sentences, when my brother gets five years and has to consider himself lucky.)

Did the government set Hale up? Yes, clearly. Was he dangerous? Absolutely. Did the police set up my brother? Yes, definitely. Was he dangerous. No. Not to anyone. Who should be in jail? Hale, not my brother. No matter how nice the jail cell is, my brother should not be in there.

But I realize that this is a very fine line to walk. It isn't easy nor obvious to say who erred in what when or where. But I think it is reasonable to nab a guy making threatening remarks and inciting hatred and violence. His group's credibility is gone now, even among idiots who take three tries to pass "the easiest test in the world".

Hale's sentencing is today.