Cities still stripping Hitler of honorary citizenship (Germany)

The North Rhine-Westphalian city of Dülmen struck Adolf Hitler from its list of honorary citizens on Thursday. But the Nazi dictator still retains similar recognition in towns across Germany, experts say.

After two previous attempts failed, the Dülmen city council plans to remove Hitler, the town’s fifth honorary citizen, from the list posthumously – a move historians say is long overdue.

On April 6, 1933 city officials voted unanimously to honour the Nazi leader.

Centre-left Social Democratic council group leader Waltraud Bednarz wrote in her September proposal to remove Hitler from the list that the action was not necessary, but “more that appropriate.”

Honorary citizens lose their title at death, but Bednarz argued that the names of other former recipients of the title should not be tarnished by association.

“We don’t want to put the others in a row with Hitler and want to finally remove this honorary citizenship,” she said.

The town is not alone in expunging the embarrassing detail from their records.

Historians estimate that Hitler was named an honorary citizen of about 4,000 German communities before his death, but there are no official figures on how many towns and cities have actually rescinded the title.

This is due to the fact that many official records were destroyed during World War II, said historian Thomas Schaarschmidt from the Potsdam centre for historic research (ZZF).

But even in the cities where records survived, it took decades for them to countermand the honour, he said.

Hitler wasn’t taken off Düsseldorf’s list until 2000. And in Bad Doberan, where the 2007 G8 summit was held at Heiligendamm, officials didn’t get around it until shortly before the event began. The city of Gladbeck near Münster just took care of it last week.

“Most of the cancellations go back to the 1990s,” Schaarschmidt explained, though some cities, such as Emmerich, did have war criminals removed as early as 1946.

“But there were decisions to leave Hitler on the lists for historical reasons,” Schaarschmidt added, explaining that some cities wanted a record of how they had been mired in Nazi politics.

But Dülmen’s move is long overdue, he said, calling it an important “symbolic act.”

The Local Germany

14 alleged white supremacists arrested in OC (USA)

ABC Local

POLAND SWEARS IN NIGERIAN GODSON AS FIRST BLACK MP

John Abraham Godson, a Polish citizen born and raised in Nigeria, has been sworn in as the first black member of Poland's parliament. Mr Godson had served as a councillor in the city of Lodz before taking up a parliamentary seat, vacated by a party colleague after local elections. His entry into parliament has created a media stir in the mainly white country. He came to Poland in the 1990s, opening an English-language school and working as a pastor in a Protestant church. He has since married a Polish woman and the couple have four children.

Beaten up twice
A member of the centre-right Civic Platform party, he was appointed to the seat vacated by party colleague Hanna Zdanowskaafter after she became mayor of Lodz. It is still quite rare to see black people even in the Polish capital Warsaw, Poland's most cosmopolitan city, the BBC's Adam Easton reports. Racism is still a problem in Poland, where it is not uncommon for well-educated people to make racist jokes, our correspondent says. Mr Godson was beaten up twice in the early 1990s but he says attitudes to black people in Poland are changing for the better, particularly since the country joined the EU six years ago. Speaking earlier to Polish radio, Mr Godson said: "I am from Lodz, I will live here, I want to die here and I want to be buried here."

BBC News

Neo-Nazi spared death penalty in 2006 murder (USA)

Convicted killer John Ditullio Jr. returned to court today to learn his sentence.

He dressed in black and refused to allow the application of makeup to cover his offensive tattoos, something that was done each day during his trial.

"I wanted the jury to see me ," he said.

Despite seeing the swastika and the expletive tattooed on Ditullio's neck, the panel of six men and six women deliberated for only about 30 minutes before sparing him a death sentence.

Instead, they recommended he serve life in prison for the 2006 murder of 17-year-old Kristofer King. Pasco Circuit Judge Michael Andrews accepted the sentence, adding a concurrent 15 years behind bars for the attempted murder of Patricia Wells.

King and Wells were attacked inside Wells' Teak Street mobile home. Wells was severely cut on her hands, arms and face but escaped. King, a friend of Wells' son, died of stab wounds to his head.

Assistant State Attorney Mike Halkitis contended the crime was motivated by Ditullio's white supremacist beliefs and his association with a neo-Nazi group that congregated at a mobile home next door to Wells.

Halkitis said Wells was attacked because she was friends with a black man and King because he was gay.

The eight-day retrial ended Wednesday with the jury finding Ditullio guilty of first-degree murder and attempted second-degree murder. Ditullio's first trial a year ago ended in a hung jury, with the panel leaning 10-2 toward acquittal.

Ditullio, 24, didn't seem all that bent on avoiding a death penalty. Aside from revealing his tattoos, he didn't allow his attorneys to present evidence of his tough upbringing and mental illness, evidence typically used to help defendants avoid death sentences.

Ditullio also seemed to take a casual attitude when he addressed the jury.

"I'm not going to beg you people for my life or my death," he said. "Do what you do, OK? Life in Florida is death in Florida. But the people that just sat up here and testified that they love me and that they want to be part of my life, that's who I ask you to render your verdict on. Not me."

Ditullio's grandmother, Edith Ditullio, and sister, Cynthia Lewandowski, told the jury they loved him and would continue a relationship with him if he went to prison for life.

Morris Standifer and Adam Jones, convicted felons serving lengthy prison terms, testified Ditullio was their friend when they were in the Land O' Lakes Jail.

Their friendships came despite the fact they are black and Ditullio belonged to a neo-Nazi group.

"I've never heard no racial comments come out of his mouth, ever," Jones said.

Defense attorney Danny Hernandez said jurors should spare his client because he was only 20 at the time of the crime and had no prior felony convictions.

The attack happened just after midnight on March 23, 2006, when a man wearing a gas mask barged into Wells' trailer. He slashed Wells and stabbed King, who was there using a computer.

At trial, defense attorney Bjorn Brunvand argued that Shawn Plott, another member of the neo-Nazi group, committed the stabbings.

Brunvand pointed to Wells' description of her attacker as having blond hair: Plott has blond hair; Ditullio has dark brown hair.

Brunvand also argued that Wells varied on the attacker's height.

Wells' blood was found on the left boot Ditullio was wearing that night. The defense argued that blood taken from the boot should be disregarded because it became contaminated during testing.

But testimony indicated the sample that contained Wells' DNA was not contaminated.

King's mother, Charlene Bricken, wasn't swayed by the defense case. She addressed Ditullio before he was sentenced.

"You know, John, you talked so much about being young and how influenced you were," Bricken said. "But what about Kris, who was 17 years old and 20 days? What chance did he have? And why did you have the right to take his life, or anybody's?

Tampa Bay Online

Commission fights ruling in white supremacist case (Canada)

The Canadian Human Rights Commission is appealing a Federal Court ruling that a white supremacist who posted hate propaganda on the Internet was not in contempt of the court.

The commission says the judge erred in determining that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal did not make it sufficiently clear that Terry Tremaine was ordered to remove hateful material from a website.

Federal Court Judge Sean Harrington's ruling on Nov. 29 noted that Tremaine has a particular hatred for blacks, First Nations people and Jews.

Tremaine argued that the tribunal failed to immediately notify him that a February 2007 order for him to stop communicating his racist views on the Internet had been registered with the court, and Harrington agreed.

The human rights commission did prove that Tremaine deliberately flaunted that order.

The former University of Saskatchewan math lecturer has been charged criminally in that province for disseminating hate propaganda.

CTV News

Extremist Group Urges Boycott Of Thor Over Casting Of Idris Elba

A white supremacist group has joined in a boycott of Thor because the Marvel Studios film cast a black actor  as the Norse god Heimdall, the sentry of Asgard.

The Missouri-based Council of Conservative Citizens, labeled as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, writes that Marvel has “[declared] war on North mythology” by giving the pantheon “an insulting multi-cultural make-over” in the form of Idris Elba, the English actor known for his roles in The Wire, The Losers and The Office.

“It’s not enough that Marvel attacks conservatives values,” the post states, “now mythological Gods must be re-invented with black skin.” It directs visitors to Boycott Thor, whose subhead reads, “Keep social engineering out of European mythology.” It’s unclear whether the Council of Conservative Citizens is actually involved with the site, or simply subscribes to the ideology.

“It well known that Marvel is a company that advocates for left-wing ideologies and causes,” the boycott site insists. “Marvel front man Stan ‘Lee’ Lieber boasts of being a major financier of left-wing political candidates. Marvel has viciously attacked the TEA Party movement, conservatives, and European heritage. Now they have taken it one further, casting a black man as a Norse deity in their new movie Thor. Marvel has now inserted social engineering into European mythology.”

In an apparent attempt to strengthen its case against Marvel, the site also points to the Black Panther, which it describes as “explicit pro-black and the comics are viciously anti-white.”

So far, 133 people have “liked” Boycott Thor on Facebook. The handful of comments on the site are pretty much what you’d expect, with one person calling Thor “whiteaphobic crap,” and another characterizing Elba’s casting as “Just another way to keep rapping the club over the heads of good white people, everywhere.”

Elba waved off early criticisms, telling TV Times back in April, “Hang about, Thor’s mythical, right? Thor has a hammer that flies to him when he clicks his fingers. That’s OK, but the color of my skin is wrong? I was cast in Thor and I’m cast as a Nordic god. If you know anything about the Nords, they don’t look like me but there you go. I think that’s a sign of the times for the future. I think we will see multi-level casting. I think we will see that, and I think that’s good.”

SpinOffOnline

GERMANY APPLIES ANTI-NAZI LAWS IN CRACKDOWN ON SALAFI ISLAMIC GROUPS

German authorities hardened a crackdown on Islamic groups yesterday, raiding homes and schools that reportedly belong to adherents of fundamentalist Salafi Islam. German officials said the preemptive raids, conducted under German anti-Nazi laws of association, were aimed at uncovering unconstitutional or separatist acts and not part of an international terror hunt. The raids targeted the Islamic Cultural Center of Bremen, on the North Sea, along with a group calling itself Invitation to Paradise in two small northwest German cities. Invitation to Paradise's leader has called for sharia, or Islamic law, to prevail one day but has specifically opposed using violence to impose it. While some experts say police overreacted in conducting the raids, German officials have come under great pressure from local media and citizen groups to respond to some Muslim organizations that appear to resist joining mainstream German society. “These groups are a problem for integration, even maybe for radicalization, though not necessarily for violent jihad. They are very orthodox and like to be separate but are not preaching but usually condemning violence,” says Alexander Ritzmann, a former Berlin member of parliament now with the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels. “The problem is that some jihadis in Germany from before identified themselves as Salafi.”

Germany has been on high alert for possible terror attacks since mid-November. The Reichstag parliament building was partially closed to tourists for two weeks following a phone call from a disaffected South Asian jihadist who warned that Islamic militant groups were planning to attack high-profile targets in the nation. Authorities said yesterday's raids were unrelated to the phone warning. The German Interior Ministry said it was investigating efforts by radicals to overthrow the government on theological Islamic grounds. In a statement issued Tuesday, the ministry said that, “For a well-fortified democracy, it is necessary and demanded, without waiting for the jihad to occur in the form of armed struggle, to take action against anti-constitutional organizations.” A leader of Invitation to Paradise, Pierre Vogel, has been a lightening rod in Germany for some time now. He's a German convert to Islam who appears on numerous TV shows to defend the concept of sharia.

Mr. Ritzmann, the former German parliamentarian, argues that the zeal of the German police should be more in line with the goals of German intelligence, which may be uneasy with high-profile raids that are designed to placate political pressure. “The police may make some of the popular leaders into martyrs if the state is now going after them," he says. "It means inside the mosque that everything the Islamic leaders say to them about not being accepted in German society appears to be true.” After a car bomb in Stockholm carried out by a disaffected Islamist from Iraq named Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, several German politicians called for tighter visa restrictions. After yesterday’s raids, other officials called for a quick and total ban on radical Islamic groups. German police say the raids were unrelated to the Stockholm incident.

CSMonitor

Sweden's far-right seizes on terrorist attack

The botched terrorist bombing in central Stockholm last weekend is being seized upon by Sweden's extreme right as an example of the dangers that multiculturalism and open immigration can have on the country.

The attack, which caused little damage, leaving only the perpetrator dead and two others with minor injuries, is now serving as political fodder for right-wing groups already hostile toward immigration and foreign cultures. The right is pointing to the bomber as a clear example of why Sweden should stop accepting more immigrants and promoting a multicultural society.

The National Democrats, a small, far-right party with a handful of seats on local government councils, have planned a rally on Sunday in Stockholm against multiculturalism and terrorism. The party said it had warned of terrorists coming to Sweden in the past, only to have the warnings fall on deaf ears.

“The bombings in Stockholm were not a coincidence but part of a frightening development that will affect us all,” read a statement posted on the group’s website. “The biggest tragedy with this first terrorist attack in central Stockholm is that it’s an indication of what is about to happen to our once-safe Swedish nation.”

Though terrorist attacks are nothing new to Europe, Sweden has long prided itself on remaining free from such violence while fielding troops abroad and hosting a growing Muslim population at home.

Omar Mustafa, president of the Islamic League in Sweden, said he fears the Saturday evening attack could undo the years of progress made by Muslims living in Sweden.

“We will lose the most after this attack,” he said. “This will not help the level of Islamophobia.”

The far right has seized upon the suicide bomber’s Middle Eastern roots and calls for violent jihad. The man, identified as 28-year-old Iraqi-born Swede Taimour Abdulwahab al-Abdaly, directed his ire toward Sweden’s military presence in Afghanistan and Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who drew an image of the prophet Muhammad’s head on a dog’s body in 2007.

In an emailed audio messages sent to Sweden’s national news agency and recorded in Arabic, English and Swedish, al-Abdaly also called upon the “hidden mujahedeen in Europe and, especially, in Sweden” to carry out more attacks.

“It’s now the time to strike even if you only have a knife to strike with,” he said, “and I do know that you have more than that.”

A larger and more-established political party entered the fray when William Petzall, a parliamentarian for the populist, anti-immigration Sweden Democrats party, wrote on his Twitter account, “I hate to say it but what did we tell you?”

Petzall’s comments were echoed by Alexandra Brunell, secretary to the Sweden Democrats’ party leader Jimmie Akesson, who wrote Saturday night on her Twitter account, “Is it now that we can say we told you so?” She later backtracked, however, apologizing for the remark and its tone.

Speaking with the Swedish daily newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, Akesson made it clear the Sweden Democrats would take up the issue in parliament. The party has long demanded halting the country’s flow of immigrants.

“Now we see an opening to get a debate and start taking this threat seriously,” Akesson told the newspaper.

The Sweden Democrats stunned the political establishment in September when the party garnered enough votes to enter parliament for the first time. Since the election, the group’s popularity has even slightly increased, according to a Dec. 8 opinion poll by the country's main statistics office, Statistics Sweden.

Observers said it is unsurprising that the Sweden Democrats would utilize the bombing for political gains. Given its past objection to the rise of Islam in Sweden, the party can now use the attack as a rallying point for its faithful and as a means to possibly recruit more into the fold.

“It’s a process of scapegoating. You have one person that represents a very radical interpretation of Islam. Then what the Sweden Democrats are trying to do is extrapolate that to all of Islam," said Cristian Norocel, a researcher at Stockholm University and Finland's University of Helsinki. "This plays on their line of reasoning.”

As for whether or not the Swedish electorate will listen to the far right's arguments, Norocel said that remains to be seen. Sweden has a moderate political tradition, and the country's mainstream political parties called for calm following the explosions while Sweden's Muslim associations condemned the bomber's actions and beliefs.

"This moment of pondering can be easily hijacked by Sweden Democrats," Norocel said, adding that the media must also be careful not to overhype the incident with excessive coverage.

Mustafa, of the Islam association, said Sweden needed to promote an open dialogue rather than the recriminations offered by far-right parties in order to prevent future attacks.

“I think Swedes will not fall into this trap,” he said.

Global Post

SECOND CASE OF ANTI-SEMITIC VANDALISM IN LATVIA IN A WEEK

Police in Latvia were investigating Monday after a second incident of anti-Semitic vandalism in less than a week. A memorial to Zanis Lipke, a Latvian credited with saving more than 50 Jews from death during World War II, was daubed with paint in the early hours of Monday morning, police said. The memorial was quickly cleaned up by municipal authorities.

The incident came just days after 89 tombstones in the Jewish Cemetery in Riga were daubed with swastikas by vandals. Latvian Foreign Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis was quick to condemn the latest incident, saying 'recurrent acts of vandalism' were unacceptable. Lipke, who died in 1987, was awarded the title of Righteous Among the Nations by the Holocaust memorial organization Yad Vashem. Nearly all of Riga's Jews were murdered during World War II by occupying Nazi forces assisted by local volunteers. Several Jewish organizations, including the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, have warned about high levels of anti-Semitism in the Baltic states.

The issue is put into sharp focus every year in Latvia on March 16, when an unofficial parade takes place in the Latvian capital commemorating members of the Latvian Waffen-SS. Of around 60,000 Jews in Latvia at the start of WWII, only 3,500 survived.

DPA

BNP leader Nick Griffin to stand in Oldham East byelection (UK)

Far-right figurehead is latest candidate to confirm bid for seat left empty following Phil Woolas court case.

Nick Griffin, the leader of the British National party, will contest the Oldham East and Saddleworth byelection, the far-right party confirmed today.

Griffin, who currently serves as MEP for the North West, is the latest candidate to confirm his bid to enter the race for the seat left empty by Labour's Phil Woolas.

Judges ordered a rerun of the constituency election after ruling last month at a specially convened court that Woolas had lied to win his seat in May by 103 votes, exploiting racial tensions in order to defeat Liberal Democrat Elwyn Watkins.

Watkins took Woolas to court under the rarely used section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983, claiming that the outcome was influenced by Labour leaflets making false allegations in an effort to sway the white vote in the constituency by wrongly accusing Watkins of wooing Islamist extremists and of not condemning threats of violence.

Woolas was stripped of his seat and banned from standing for election for three years, in the first such judgment for 99 years. He was subsequently expelled by the Labour party and earlier this month failed in an appeal at the high court against the decision.

The Labour party is expected to move a writ in the new year confirming the byelection date. Oldham East is a three-way marginal and the election will see the Lib Dems and Conservatives fighting against each other at the polls for the first time since going into coalition together in May.

The Conservatives today announced that Kashif Ali, who came third in the constituency at the May 2010 election, will stand again.

At the weekend Labour selected Debbie Abrahams, while Watkins will stand again for the Lib Dems.

Griffin's decision to stand comes after a humiliating showing for his party at the general election, when the BNP failed to win a single parliamentary seat at the general election, despite fielding more than 300 candidates.

The BNP leader stood in Barking, where he came third after polling just 4,916 votes despite a sustained campaign in the constituency.

BNP candidate Alwyn Stott came fourth in Oldham East at the general election, with 5.7% of the vote.

The decision by the BNP to field its leader in the race comes on the day that the party came under the spotlight for breaking electoral law in 2008 by "failing to keep accounting records sufficient to explain, with reasonable accuracy, the financial position of the party at the time".

The Electoral Commission said the party was guilty of a "clear failure" to keep accurate financial records for 2008, adding that it was "frustrating" that it could not impose a penalty on the party because the law at the time did not allow it.

The Guardian

Street attack racist yob jailed (UK)

A thug daubed racist graffiti on the home of an African woman before attacking her in the street and knocking her unconscious, a court heard.

Adam Moran, 22, was jailed for 23 months for the attack on his 41-year old victim after she went to look at the abuse – including a death threat – he'd sprayed on her garage door and wheelie bin.

Moran then turned violent on another neighbour after she came out to try and stop the attack.

Alisha Kaye, prosecuting, told Leeds Crown Court the victim had reported problems with youths in the period leading up to the incident in Pontefract on August 8.

Moran wrote messages on her property which read "Tell us to get off again and I will kill you" as well as racist insults before signing his nickname 'Jackass'.

The woman, originally from Zambia, came out of her home.

As she went to take photographs of the damage Moran then hurled vile insults at her including: "You are my slave. You used to shine my shoes. Why don't you go back to your own country?!"

He then grabbed her by the hair before punching, kicking and kneeing her while constantly shouting abuse, the court was told.

A neighbour saw what was happening and ran over to try to help but Moran then swung a punch at her.

His first victim spent two days in hospital with head, back and leg injuries.

Moran later told police his nickname was Jackass but denied the damage.

He claimed he attacked the woman after she dug her nails into him when he went to confront her.

Moran, of Thomas Hill House, Horsefair, Pontefract, pleaded guilty to racially aggravated assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and two offences of racially aggravated damage.

He has previous convictions including burglary, robbery and assaulting a police officer.

Richard Canning, mitigating, said: "He acknowledges that his behaviour was quite frankly appalling and he is very ashamed of it."

Jailing him, Recorder David Hatton said: "These were serious offences, fully motivated by your approach to this woman's background and race."

Yorkshire Evening Post

Polish Neo-Nazi web site editors get prison sentences

A District Court in the western city of Wroclaw has sentenced three editors of the neo-Nazi Redwatch web site for propagating racism.

Mariusz T. from the southern city of Bielsko-Biala, Andrzej P. from the coastal city of Swinoujscie and Bartosz B. from the northern town of Slupsk were sentenced to up to one and half year in prison for promoting a totalitarian regime in Poland and encouraging hatred towards people of different ethnic origin, nationality, race and religion.

The Polish Redwatch site included a so-called “death list” containing personal data of people who ‘supported’ homosexuality. In July 2006, Polish police shut down the website after a political activist whose name was on the list was stabbed.

The Redwatch web site belongs to a British fascist organization “Blood and Honour”, which has branches in Germany, the Netherlands and Poland.

 Redwatch publishes photographs and personal information of left-wing, anarchist, anti-fascist, gay and feminist activists. It also popularizes racial hatred and incites violence against people called “enemies of the race”.

The News PL

LEADER OF AUSTRIAN FAR RIGHT WANTS TO MEET MEMBERS OF US TEA PARTY MOVEMENT

The head of Austria's far right Freedom Party says he wants to meet with representatives of the ultraconservative U.S. tea party movement. Heinz-Christian Strache described the movement as "highly interesting" and claims his party has received and will accept invitations from the United States. Strache made the comments in an interview with Austria's Die Presse newspaper published Sunday. Spokesman Karl Heinz Gruensteidl confirmed the remarks but declined to provide more details. The anti-immigration Freedom Party is the third largest political force in Austria's parliament and recently saw a surge in support in local elections in Vienna, the country's capital, following a campaign laced with anti-Islamic rhetoric.


Associated Press

Two men charged over sick poppy-burning rally (UK)

Two men accused of burning poppies during the Armistice Day silence have been charged with a public order offence.

Mohammed Haque, 30, and Amdadur Choudhury, 26, were arrested at a rally by the extremist group Muslims Against Crusades in Kensington, West London, on November 11.

They allegedly burned a model poppy and chanted “British soldiers burn in hell” during the two-minute silence.

The founder of the far-right English Defence League, Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, 27, was also arrested as his group staged a counter protest.

Haque and Choudhury will appear at City of ­Westminster magistrates court next Wednesday.

The Mirror

Neo-Nazi admits being racist, denies stabbing neighbors (USA)

John Ditullio admitted he hated black people and cops. He admitted he lived with a group of neo-Nazis, men he admired like they were his brothers, who believed in the supremacy of the white race. He admitted they abused prescription drugs and drank whiskey and kept illegal guns. He admitted harassing the neighbors next door with racial slurs.

But he denied killing anyone.

"I'm guilty of being an a------," he said Monday, "but not of murder."

Ditullio, 24, is accused in a 2006 double stabbing that injured a woman and left a teenager dead. He went to trial last year on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder, but the jury, leaning toward acquittal, ended up deadlocked.

He took the stand in his own defense then and again Monday, calmly answering questions, never losing his temper and revealing much about his mentality at the time.

Ditullio said he was working as a tattoo apprentice in New Port Richey when a friend introduced him to the American Nazi group living in a mobile home on Teak Street.

"He suggested there would be some tattoo work I could make some money on," he said.

But he quickly formed stronger ties.

"I was blown away, man. I get to this place. It's like a 19-year-old's dream. Everybody was drinking. There was guns everywhere. I was blown away by the theatrics," he said.

"You viewed this group as a family?" one of his attorneys, J. Jervis Wise, asked him.

"As a brotherhood, as a family, absolutely," Ditullio said.

He felt a particular bond with Brian Buckley, the group's president, who is now serving a prison sentence for burglary.

"I was just overwhelmed with finding a father figure in my life," Ditullio said.

He soon became a prospect, vying for full membership. That meant he had to follow orders, wear a uniform, perform manual labor and submit to hazing.

He also took part in harassing the neighbors next door: a woman named Patricia Wells, who lived there with her son, Brandon Wininger, who was gay. Kristofer King, a friend of Wininger, often stayed over.

Ditullio said he didn't harbor any particular malice toward gay people, but he admitted shouting slurs at Wininger.

On March 22, authorities say, Ditullio put on a gas mask and barged into Wells' house, stabbing her in the face and hands as she ran to a bedroom where King was using the computer. Then he turned on King, 17, who died of his stab wounds.

But Ditullio testified that he never left the neo-Nazi house that night after the group had forced a familiar hazing ritual on him: lacing his drink with Xanax, then taunting to him to stay awake.

He said he was starting to pass out on the couch when Shawn Plott, another group member, tossed the gas mask at him and told him to hang it up.

"He had the look on his face like when an animal sees a human for the first time," Ditullio said. "He was shaken."

Ditullio said Plott was wearing khaki pants and a white T-shirt — the same clothes Wells described her attacker as wearing. She also said the attacker had no tattoos on his arms, and Ditullio's lawyer had him show the jury the tattoos that cover both of his arms.

Ditullio was soon alone in the compound, thinking another hazing was unfolding. They called it "code red" and his challenge was to stay inside with guns, make sure they were loaded and guard the compound.

He had no idea, he said, what had happened next door.

In and out of sleep, he said the next thing he knew, there were deputies everywhere, surrounding the compound.

With the neo-Nazi group, he learned about events like Ruby Ridge and Waco, when government agents targeted separatist groups. He thought that's what was happening to him.

He took more Xanax and went to sleep. And sometime during the night he wrote a missive declaring he was ready to die for his race.

"I see that it's not okay for me to go over to their house and exterminate them, but it's okay for the pigs to come in here and shoot me," he wrote.

Ditullio, who said he didn't remember writing the note but acknowledged it was his, said he was referring only to the police — not the stabbing victims.

Prosecutors have called two DNA analysts who said they found blood on Ditullio's boot containing Wells' DNA.

Jury members, who were allowed to write down their own questions for Ditullio, zeroed in on that issue.

How could her blood have gotten on his boot? one of them asked.

Ditullio answered that when he was arrested the day after the stabbing, officers walked him through the crime scene.

"Blood was everywhere," he said.

TampaBay.com

Councillor accuses party of racism in resignation letter (UK)

A Rochdale Councillor who today (Monday 13 December 2010) resigned from the Liberal Democrats has made racist allegations against the party.

Councillor Mohammad Sharif has resigned from the party because issues he raised with the acting leader of the party, Councillor Dale Mulgrew, have not been resolved.

Below, is Councillor Sharif’s letter of resignation. The letter lists what Councillor Sharif said are his 'five reasons' for resigning.

Dear Councillor Mulgrew

In our meeting on Monday 22 November 2010, I raised five issues with you namely:

1. What are you offering to local BME community?

2. When one third of councillors in the group is unhappy with the group leadership, then the honourable thing is to resign. When are you resigning?

3. The Lib-Dem group hasn’t accepted Shah as one of your Councillors. Lib-Dem does not have equality and diversity policy at all, what are you going to do about?

4. Vetting process must be changed, because it is unfair process.

5. There are five Councillor in your group who are racist would you name them or shall I?

Since the meeting you have not responded to me nor have you have addressed those issues.

Therefore I would not be part of the group which has racist elements, and now I am resigning from LIB-DEM party, but I will continue as a Milkstone and Deeplish ward Councillor.

Yours Sincerely,

Councillor Sharif

When asked to expand on his reasons for resigning, Councillor Sharif told Rochdale Online, “The letter is very clear.”

Speaking about the letter, Councillor Dale Mulgrew said: “Clearly there are serious allegations about racism that Councillor Sharif makes in this letter.

“The Liberal Democrats refute all allegations of racism. We have demonstrated over the years that we are committed to diversity and equality. This has led to the current Mayor of Rochdale being an Asian Councillor and he is an excellent ambassador for community cohesion."

Rochdale On-Line

Nazi salute allegation over First Lady (Germany)

Germany's First Lady Bettina Wulff has been reported to police for making what looks suspiciously like the banned Heil Hitler! salute on the steps of the presidential palace in Berlin.

Police are obliged to investigate the complaint against the wife of president Christian Wulff - even though it has been made by a neo-Nazi.

Franc Rennicke, a member of the far right NPD party who made an unsuccessful bid to become president himself earlier this year, sent the photo to prosecutors.

It shows 45-year-old Mrs. Wulff with her right hand rigidly raised in what looks like the banned salute although aides say the camera has just caught her wave at the ``wrong angle.´´

“For decades the so-called German greeting has been outlawed and thousands of people have been taken to court for making it,“ wrote Rennicke. “The photo of her outside Scholss Bellvue in Berlin clearly
shows her making this banned gesture".

German Herald

Anti-Muslim US preacher Terry Jones could be banned from UK

Home secretary Theresa May under pressure to close borders to Florida pastor who threatened to burn Qur'an

The American preacher who planned a mass burning of the Qur'an on the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks could be banned from entering Britain under incitement and national security laws.

Terry Jones, a pentecostal preacher, is to address the far-right group, the English Defence League (EDL), about "the evils of Islam" at a rally in Luton in February.

Theresa May, the home secretary, is under intense pressure to ban Jones and said she was "actively looking" at the case. She said Jones had "been on her radar for a few months" and, as home secretary, she could ban his entry if he was a threat to national security.

A statement on Jones's website said: "During the protest, Dr Terry Jones will speak against the evils and destructiveness of Islam in support of the continued fight against the Islamification of England and Europe." The EDL said it was "proud to announce" that Jones would be attending its "biggest demonstration to date".

The anti-racism movement Hope Not Hate launched a petition to ban Jones as "a preacher of hate". Nick Lowles, editor of Searchlight magazine, and the campaign's co-ordinator, said: "[His] presence in Luton will be incendiary and highly dangerous. He will attract and encourage thousands of English Defence League supporters to take to the streets of Luton.

"Like the EDL, Pastor Jones indiscriminately targets all Muslims and their actions can only lead to increased tensions and racism in our communities." During its last march in Luton, 250 EDL supporters rampaged through an Asian area, attacking people and damaging property. On Saturday, 500 marched in Peterborough, leading to 11 arrests. "The EDL march in February has the potential to be far worse," Lowles said. "Only extremists will benefit from his visit and, as we know, extremism breeds hatred and hatred breeds violence. Pastor Jones, a preacher of hate, must be stopped from entering the UK."

Jones's stunt – he called it international burn-a-Qur'an day, on 11 September – caused widespread alarm as he enacted a countdown. He then issued a two-hour deadline, on television, to Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam linked to the proposal to build an Islamic cultural centre near Ground Zero, the site of the 9/11 attacks.

Barack Obama warned Jones that his actions would boost al-Qaida and put US citizens and soldiers at risk. The president's intervention is believed to have persuaded the head of the Dove World Outreach Centre church in Gainesville, Florida, to call off the stunt with just a day to spare.

Jones was also denounced by leaders of the Christian Community of Cologne, a church he founded in Germany in the 1980s and which subsequently dismissed him from the board after allegations he mistreated followers.

The home secretary has the power to exclude or deport Jones if his presence in the UK could threaten national security, public order or the safety of citizens, or if she believes his views glorify terrorism, promote violence or encourage other serious crime.

In June she banned Zakir Naik – a preacher who claimed that "every Muslim should be a terrorist" – from entering the UK.

However, any eventual decision by May could be reversed. Last year, the ban imposed by the Home Office on the Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders was overturned at an immigration tribunal.

The Guardian

President Nixon's racist views recorded (USA)

US president Richard Nixon blasted Jews as "obnoxious" and also made disparaging remarks about other groups, according to newly released released White House audio tapes.

Then national security adviser Henry Kissinger, who is Jewish himself, also said it was no concern of the US if Soviet Jews were gassed, in conversations barely a year before Nixon was forced to quit over the Watergate scandal.

"The Jews have certain traits," Nixon said in a conversation with an adviser in February 1973, which was among 265 hours of recordings released by the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in California.

"The Irish have certain ... for example, the Irish can't drink. What you always have to remember with the Irish is they get mean. Virtually every Irish I've known gets mean when he drinks.

"The Italians, of course, those people of course don't have their heads screwed on tight.
"They are wonderful people, but ... " he said before trailing off, in conversations highlighted by the New York Times on Saturday.

Kissinger dismissed calls for Washington to press Soviet authorities to allow Jews to emigrate to escape persecution.

"If they put Jews into gas chambers in the Soviet Union, it is not an American concern. Maybe a humanitarian concern."

"I know," Nixon responded. "We can't blow up the world because of it."

Nixon also suggested that many Jews were "deserters" for having moved to Canada to avoid being drafted for the Vietnam war.

"I didn't notice many Jewish names coming back from Vietnam."

"The deserters," he said.

Herald Sun

11 ARRESTS AT EDL'S PETERBOROUGH DEMONSTRATION (uk)

Supporters of the far right group, which opposes what it describes as the rise of militant Islam, have been involved in violent confrontations with anti-fascist campaigners at events across England in recent months. There were fears of a repeat today, prompting a large-scale police operation to keep the EDL protest and a counter-demonstration organised by the Peterborough Trades Union Council apart. Around 1,000 EDL supporters gathered at a site close to Peterborough United Football Club's ground to hear a speech by the group's founder Tommy Robinson, who is also known as Stephen Lennon. A large police presence as they dispersed helped to nullify the threat of large-scale disorder, but there were a small number of minor skirmishes. Two people were arrested for possessing an offensive weapon, two on suspicion of assaulting police officers, two for affray and a further five for minor public order offences. Superintendent Paul Fullwood of Cambridgeshire Police said the operation to protect the public, which involved more than 1,000 officers, had been a great success. 'Peterborough stood firm and the city should be proud of the way it has responded to today's events,' he said. 'There were some issues of disorder dealt with promptly and professionally to achieve a peaceful outcome. Some arrests have been made, but both protests have been generally peaceful.'

Metro