Free Republic

The Flames of Hate in Alabama By Jeff Jacoby, Globe Columnist | February 15, 2006 SUPPOSE THAT in 2005 unknown hoodlums had firebombed 10 gay bookstores and bars in San Francisco, reducing several of them to smoking rubble. It takes no effort to imagine the alarm that would have spread through the Bay Area's gay community or the manhunt that would have been launched to find the attackers. The blasts would have been described everywhere as ''hate crimes," editorial pages would have thundered with condemnation, and public officials would have vowed to crack down on crimes against gays with unprecedented...

The ATF now says all nine fires appear to be related. At each crime scene, the fire starter used things that were easy to catch fire in the church such as flowers or flags near the alter. "this is ugly criminal behavior," says ATF Agent Jim Cavanaugh. Investigators say they have new evidence and maybe even some witnesses. Cavanaugh says, "The things that we seem to consistently hear and seem to make sense to us is that we have two white males. We have had multiple reports of that and we have had multiple reports of SUVs." An ATF agent...

CENTREVILLE, Ala. -- ATF Resident Agent-in-Charge, Birmingham told an afternoon news conference Friday that the "ATF and FBI are putting all available assets" into the investigation of the suspected arson fires that damaged or destroyed five churches in Bibb County, Thursday night or early Friday. ATF agent David Hyche said investigators are "not ruling anything out" as far as the investigation goes. Hyche said that in his memory, he has not come across this many church fires together in the area. Investigation teams are currently in the state from Mississippi, Tennessee, and Louisiana and more team members are expected tomorrow....

November 14, 2004 — An arson threat was delivered to the Kentucky headquarters of America's Presbyterian Church. Now churches across the country are on high alert. Parishioners at Fourth Presbyterian Church in downtown Chicago are going to receive an unwelcome message today. The pastor will use his sermon to inform the congregation of a threat that was received by the Presbyterian headquarters in Louisville, Kentucky late Friday. The handwritten letter was delivered anonymously and had a Queens, New York postmark. The letter promised arson against Presbyterian churches nationwide in retaliation for their "anti-Israel and anti-Jewish attitudes." The threat had a...

Four boys arrested for church fires Johnson County teens are charged with arson By Lee Mueller EASTERN KENTUCKY BUREAU PAINTSVILLE - State and federal authorities arrested four Johnson County high school students late Wednesday night and charged them with arson in connection with the burning of three churches in February and March. The students, all 17-year-old boys, appeared in Johnson County juvenile court yesterday and were taken by the sheriff's department to a juvenile detention center in Breathitt County. All were charged with second-degree arson in connection with the fires, and criminal mischief and third-degree burglary in connection with the...

Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2003 00:42:57 EDT From: David Virtue Subject: FIRE SET IN ORTHODOX EPISCOPAL PARISH. POLICE SITE HATE CRIMES FIRE SET IN ORTHODOX EPISCOPAL PARISH. POLICE SITE HATE CRIMES A message from the Rev. Scott Wooten, vicar of the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Graham, Texas. Friends in Christ, On Tuesday, August 5th, late in the night, the Episcopal Church of the Holy Spirit in Graham Texas, located in the Diocese of Fort Worth, was vandalized, and a portion of it was set ablaze. The main church was littered with food from the kitchen and candle...

An editor working on ex-President Bill Clinton's memoirs has raised questions about the veracity of his account after reading the book's first draft. "Did you make half of that stuff up?" the editor asked, according to Clinton's own admission during a ceremony at his Little Rock presidential library on Friday. In little-noticed comments covered by the Associated Press, the ex-president revealed the unnamed editor's skepticism, saying, "When I first showed my editor the drafts of my memoirs, he said, 'Boy you've got a lot in here about Arkansas.' "And I said, 'Well read it before you cut it out.'" Then...

During the summer of 1996, Americans were deluged with thousands of newspaper, magazine and television reports that racists were torching black churches* throughout the South. This article traces the origins and events of what appears to have been a remarkably effective campaign of disinformation. *Since few churches have completely white or black memberships, references to 'white' or 'black' churches identify the predominant race of their members. The Activists In late March, The Center for Democratic Renewal (CDR) and the National Council of Churches (NCC) held a press conference to announce a huge increase in arsons against black churches. The Rev....