Posted on 11/28/2001 3:32:15 AM PST by kattracks
(CNSNews.com) - Family groups Tuesday called on law enforcement officials to take swift action against an Internet web site operator who is advocating "a horrible death by any means" for people opposed to homosexual activism.
In addition to the offensive web site content, the operator has a history of violent behavior, they said.
B. Allen Ross, a homosexual rights activist who runs usqueers.com, attacked a Baptist minister in San Diego in June in protest against the Southern Baptist Convention's stances against homosexual behavior.
Brandishing a broken bottle, Ross entered the church's fellowship hall and confronted David Powell, minister of maintenance and media with the First Southern Baptist Church in San Diego. Ross forced Powell to contact a local TV station, Powell told CNSNews.com on Tuesday.
Ross was incensed by media reports about the Baptist convention in New Orleans. He also complained that there were too many Christians in government, Powell said.
After establishing contact with a local TV station, Powell used his cell phone to leave a message with colleagues, who alerted police. Officers stormed the office and shot Ross with "beanbag" ammunition after he refused to drop the broken bottle.
Police charged Ross with burglary, assault with a deadly weapon, and kidnapping. In a plea bargain in October, Ross pled guilty to kidnapping. Sentencing was set for January 7. Ross faces a maximum of eight years imprisonment, a spokeswoman for the San Diego County district attorney's office said.
Meanwhile, Douglas Hagmann, a private investigator who specializes in cyber crime, is calling on Ross' Internet service provider to examine whether Ross' inflammatory content violates the terms of his service contract.
"And if they are, then I'm requesting formally that they close the site," he said.
The web site indeed violates state and federal law for advocating the murder of specific individuals, including former President Ronald Reagan, First Amendment attorney John B. Thompson said.
"Ronald Reagan, ex-president, deserves to experience a horrible death soon, and is getting what he deserves" (Alzheimer's), the site says.
Other "het[erosexual] supremacists" who "deserve" a "horrible death" include Sens. Jesse Helms and Strom Thurmond, Pat Robertson, Beverly LaHaye of Concerned Women for America, Peter LaBarbera, Gary Bauer, Paul Weyrich, Rev. Lou Sheldon and James Dobson, the site says.
The site also solicits information on its targets, including home address, home phone, office address, office phone, studio address, church address, girlfriend's/boyfriend's address, favorite hangouts, family members, details about automobiles - "just about anything which could be useful in spotting these dangerous het[erosexual] supremacists when they are wandering around loose."
"I look at [Ross] almost in the same fashion as I would look at a bin Laden type of guy," Hagmann said. "He's not going to do the dirty work himself, but he certainly wouldn't mind if he recruited others to do that kind of thing, and therein lies the serious nature of it."
Calls to Aplus.net Internet Services in San Diego, the Internet service provider of usqueers.com, were not returned.
Responding to increased media and law enforcement interest, Ross said he made changes to his site, specifically strengthening the language in a "disclaimer" to incite violence.
"usQueers.com does not authorize, ratify, or directly or indirectly threaten or encourage acts of violence toward the people or organizations on this list. Our sincere wishes - that these viciously anti-Queer crusaders die soon - stop at wishes. Wishes have no power," the "disclaimer" reads.
But people on the target list were not appeased. "The main concern we have about the site is not necessarily that the owner intends to follow through with any of that," said Buddy Smith, assistant to the president at the American Family Association in Tupelo, Miss.
"However, we know that unfortunately there are a lot of weak-minded people in our culture today and the concern we have, and it is a legal concern, is that a web site that is wishing for the death of our president, vice president and other political and pro-family leaders around the country is all it takes to plant an idea in someone's mind that they might actually follow through on," he said.
Smith said Ross' site was similar to one owned by Fred Phelps, who hosts a site he calls "godhatesfags." "He does that in the name of Christianity and the church and we think that's wrong as well, and that he shouldn't be allowed to do that," Smith said.
After all, it's not much of a stretch to see that Free Republic could be considered a "hate web" by the leftists who oppose it.
Under a Gore administration, I have no doubts they could justify shutting down FR, and defend it along the lines, that after all, "its for the children."
Weasel-words at the end of the page do not magically negate everything said above them.
It's still speech.
As far as I'm concerned, anyone can "advocate" any damn thing he wants in this country, no matter how twisted and wrong. His rights end at my property line (or my nose, as my mother used to put it).
Really? I think all stupid people ought to be killed, for the benefit of the species.
Now come get me.
Then charge him under established law, like threatening or assault.
Don't encourage the control freaks with their trojan-horse "hate-laws".
I guess you haven't been to a "pro-choice" rally recently.
In your case, the benefit of the species begins with your computer's keyboard actuation unit...so do the species a favor and lead by example.
The "only kidding" part DOES NOT make everything better. But go ahead and try this experiment. I'd be anxious to know if you'll still be able to post on FR in your prison.
Maybe pictures of the homosexuals who belong to this group should be distributed on the Net so that they will be instantly recognised.
it sure will make church services a lot more exciting and Noisy!
A curious turn of phrase for murder. I suppose you refer to the events of September 11th, 2001 as "an unexpected tragedy."
Yeah, those Numbergfiles were great. You're just the example I was looking for.
Some people claim that the site is a hoax. It's not since it gives all of that explicit information on how to locate the targets. The hoax thing is the defense strategy. A hoax site would have funny, made up names and addresses.
Agreed!
"Unexpected tragedies?" Murder? Oh, I suppose the victims didn't expect a bullet or so to various parts of their bodies, but the perp certainly knew what he was doing when he shot them.
And the Nuremburg files are on line. If you'd do a freep search, you'd see that Neal Horsley, webmaster of the Nuremburg Files (you can do your own google.com search to find the website, but I suspect you already have the url) received a visit from Clayton Waagner, one of the US Marshal's Top 15 Most Wanted AND on the FBI's Most Wanted, taking credit for sending the fake anthrax threats to abortion clinics and Planned Parenthood post 9/11. Waagner, you may recall, escaped from a jail in Clinton, Illinois earlier this year, after being convicted of a number of federal charges. Since his escape, he's accused of robbing at least one bank in Pennsylvania and kidnapping a man in Mississippi and stole his car. In an interview with Dennis Roddy of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Waagner told Roddy that it was his intention to kill abortion clinic workers. Waagner told Horsley in his recent visit that he was going to kill 42 abortion clinic workers unless they gave Horsley proof that they were no longer working for abortion clinics and gave them some convoluted code to give Horsley. This was also posted on Freerepublic.
Innocent and informative website? Sure, if your Clayton Waagner working up his hit list. Horsley and Waagner do a disservice to the pro-life movement.
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