Imagine

This is a real news story, concerning a real American terrorist group, fomenting the type of hatred that until 9/11/01 was responsible for the deadliest attack ever on American soil.

I'm shocked (though by now I shouldn't be) that more prominence is not being given to this story. These folks are dangerous, deluded, and easily fit into our culture. They are as dangerous as Al Qaeda and not for the least of reasons because they are here.

White supremacist Matt Hale was the self-proclaimed "Pontifex Maximus" of the World Church of the Creator, and while it's always been unclear how many followers he really had, Hale has never lacked for opportunities to spread his message of hate.

Even as he sits in prison — only allowed rare visits and conversations with his parents — Hale was in the news again Tuesday as police investigated the shooting deaths of the husband and mother of U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow.

Hale, 33, is to be sentenced next month for trying to arrange the murder of Judge Lefkow, who presided over a trademark case involving the name of his group. She found the bodies of her husband and mother in the basement of her home Monday night.

Authorities acknowledged the possibility that hate groups could be involved in the killings — Hale's gospel of "racial holy war" was linked to a follower's three-day shooting rampage targeting minorities in 1999.

...

Groups like Hale's have made great use of the Internet as a communication tool, and white supremacist discussion forums buzzed with the news Tuesday. Members debated whether the deaths were a good or bad thing for their movement.

One posting condemned the crime as something that could have "dire consequences" for white nationalists, while another said that those who oppress a body of people "can only expect the barrel of a gun in response."

Anther posting predicted a crackdown on the groups and advised members to destroy evidence on their computers and to hide guns, ammunition and hate literature. Several postings theorized the killing of the judge's relatives was the work of federal agents who want a severe sentence for Hale.

The Lefkows had been discussed on white nationalist Web sites before. Links from 2002 featured photos of Lefkow's husband and daughters, as well as excerpts from Michael Lefkow's biography found on the Web site for his law office. In one 2003 discussion, members talked about the case against Hale and posted the Lefkows' home address, noting with disbelief that the address was listed on the resume on Michael Lefkow's own Web site.

Now this story is obviously getting attention in Chicago where it is a front page story. Michael Lefkow was a well-known civil rights attorney in Chicago -- usually representing the side that a white supremacist would hate. His wife, a sitting Federal Judge was also a target because of her involvement in cases against Hale's bunch. In fact, Hale is in jail specifically because he threatened to kill her. Of course, any multiple murder involving a Federal Judge is going to be major news.

But I am frankly shocked at the level of non-reporting on the logical inference of the involvement of White Supremacists in this matter. Perhaps as the evidence comes forth supporting (or not supporting though I personally think that unlikely) their involvement more attention will be paid. However, we all know that once it is not breaking news, the prominence will dissipate exponentially.

Imagine if you will this news story and how prominently it would with one small change in facts, modified CNN:

Police seek help after judge's family slain
No 'definitive links' to white supremacist case


CHICAGO, Illinois (CNN) -- Law enforcement officials were tight-lipped Tuesday about what evidence they have been able to gather in the killings of a federal judge's mother and husband.

U.S. District Judge Joan Humphrey Lefkow came home Monday evening and found the bodies of her husband, Michael Lefkow, 64, and her mother, 89-year-old Donna Grace Humphrey in the basement.

Both had been shot, said Chicago Police Chief of Detectives James Molloy.

Autopsies are being carried out by the Cook County Medical Examiner.

Judge Lefkow, 61, was once targeted for death by a white supremacist an Al Qaeda leader, but officials said there was no clear link to Monday's killings.

"We're going to work extra hard to solve this murder," said Molloy. "We're going to put a lot of resources into it."

Those resources include the creation of a task force composed of FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and detectives pulled in from other precincts who are working in 12-hour shifts, said Hiram Grau, deputy superintendent of the Bureau of Investigative Services for the Chicago Police Department.

"But we also need the public's help," he told reporters. "This case will be solved based on the evidence and the information provided to us by the public."

The task force was initially made up of 26 people, but it's growing, he said.

He encouraged anyone "who has any information" to call a tip line at 312-744-8445.

In April 2004, white supremacist Matthew Hale Jordanian Expatriot Abdulla bin Imprisoned was found guilty on charges he tried to arrange for Judge Lefkow to be murdered.

The judge, presiding over a trademark infringement suit, had ordered Hale's Imprisoned's group to stop using the name World Church of the Creator Big Mosque of 'Murica Hatin', which belonged to another religious group with no ties to Hale Imprisoned.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 6.

After his conviction, the FBI sent an advisory to police agencies nationwide, warning about possible violence from Hale Al Qaeda sympathizers after an openly racist pro-Al Qaeda Web site posted the home address and phone number of an FBI informant who testified against him during the trial.

Law enforcement officials said the Web site misidentified the informant.

The U.S. Marshals Service assigned a protection detail to the judge, but it was "deemed not viable" after "a couple of weeks," a representative of the U.S. Marshals Service told reporters.

There was no protection detail guarding Lefkow on Monday.

The mission of the U.S. Marshals is in part to ensure the safety of federal judiciary in the nation's courthouses and, if necessary, outside them.

"We are confident that the killer or killers of these individuals will be found and brought to justice," said Assistant Director Marc Farmer of the U.S. Marshals' Judicial Security Division, in a written statement.

Should the killings be linked to Judge Lefkow's role as a jurist, "it will be the first time that family members of a United States judge have been murdered," he said.

The U.S. Marshals Service protects 2,000 federal judges and magistrates.

"It's far too early to draw any definitive links" to the Hale case, Molloy said. "It's also too soon to determine a motive."

Overnight, detectives and members of an evidence recovery team collected material and interviewed witnesses, he said.

The evidence will be examined at laboratories in Chicago and Washington, he said.

"We have a lot of physical evidence from the scene, but I'm not going to get into what type it is," he said.

I imagine such a news story, may even have pushed the Michael Jackson thing down from being the lede, unless he is accused of diddling one of Osama's kids.