A Matter of the First Amendment v. Personal Privacy

I have been called as an "interested party," in a court hearing on May 29, 2008 at 9 a.m. with 54-B District Court Judge David Jordan. The case is The State of Michigan v. Jason Lee VanDyke, from 2000 (Visit these links to read all the court documents: http://www.geocities.com/yafwatch/FAX_CCC-Facebook_06MAY08.pdf
http://www.geocities.com/yafwatch/FAX_BriefInSupport_06MAY08-1.pdf). Mr. VanDyke, the "legal advisor" to Young Americans for Freedom Michigan State University and an attorney in Texas is asking the court to seal his criminal files from his arrest for domestic violence in Novemeber of 2000. During that arrest, police discovered Mr. VanDyke was in possession of a firearm on the MSU campus, and they also charged him with a safety violation.

Court records I obtained in May of last year, while waiting for the preliminary hearings for those arrested in the Chris Simcox protest, brought this information to light, and directly contradicted comments from Mr. VanDyke on his blog. On April 10, 2007, Mr. VanDyke wrote, "The real reason I was ultimately suspended from MSU was for having guns in the back of my truck (not my dormitory room) what happened to be the opening day of deer season." You will note that Mr. VanDyke in his blog post fails to mention that the guns -- his word not mine-- were found subsequent to his arrest on a domestic violence charge, on a warrant issued Nov. 14, 2000 according to the registrar of action I received from the court last May.

Two days after his arrest, arraignment and release on a $1,000 bond, Mr. VanDyke's bond was revoked and a bench warrant issued for his arrest by Judge David Jordan. The court's registrar of actions said the bond was revoked because "ADDL INFO WHICH HAS COME TO THE COURTS ATTN WHICH HAS MATERIALLY INCREASED THE RISK TO THE PUBLIC IF DEFT RELEASE W/O FURTHER BOND COND." (http://www.geocities.com/yafwatch/Van_Dyke_Records.pdf)

In a Facebook exchange with Mr. VanDyke, he explained the additional information on which the court based its decision to revoke his bond.

"Since it has bearing on this group, what came to the courts attention was nothing more than the number of guns I happened to own under my name. In addition those locked in my truck, I had several others and the court was disturbed by the number of guns that I owned. The other issue was my newspaper. Mr Nessia and my former roommate (whose name is unworthy of mention) were concerned I would use The Spartan Spectator to publicly attack their character following the incident. The court took that into consideration as well. Finally, some officer from MSU Police had investigated a break-in of my room several weeks prior to the incident. In my room they found some old copies of The Spartan Spectator including one where I named MEXA and Culturas de las Razas Unidas as "Liberals of the Month."

"CONTINUED. Also in my room during the investigation of the break-in they reported several books that I had in my possession (which were for a research paper-- although the court didn't believe it). Among the books reported as disturbing were The Turner Diaries (understabl), The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion (understandably), several books put out by the John Birch Society, and some army field manuals I kept from when I was in ROTC. They stated in court that I was a racist and the court used that as well (I considered suing those officers-- to best of my knowledge they no longer work for MSU-DPS). As to what I plead guilty to, I plead guilty to one count of "MSU Weapons"-a misdemeanor making it unlawful to possess firearms on MSU's Campus. All other charges were dismissed with prejudice. The MSU Weapons conviction was quashed in September of last year by order of the court. There you have it-- my side of the story. Any more questions?"

But what Mr. VanDyke carefully avoided discussing was that when he was arrested on the second warrant, he was in possession of a switchblade, according to his own brief filed in open court files at 54-B District Court as part of the attempt to seal the files.

This second arrest lead to the plea bargain, and the conviction.

So what does all this matter?

First, Mr. VanDyke is a public figure-- by virtue of his position as Legal Advisor for MSU YAF-- for the purposes of journalistic investigation. His criminal record goes to his credibility, and the way he discusses it, avoiding certain details, raises significant questions about his honesty and integrity. Both of which are valuable tools for any person reading journalistic coverage of the activities of both YAF and Mr. VanDyke. This information assists in allowing readers to make their own determinations about his ability to be honest-- thus to trust his writings and public statements.

Second, it was Mr. VanDyke who uttered the so-called fighting words at the Simcox event-- the now infamous work and soap comment. A comment, I might add, police video shows he said twice, not just the one time. Mr. VanDyke's criminal background, including his charges on domestic violence which were resolved not by a court adjudicating him not guilty, rather by a plea arrangement, go again to credibility, and public safety. He has been accused of violence in the past-- towards roommates, what would stop him from violently attacking strangers, many of whom he holds as less than human?

Third, Mr. VanDyke claims to be a proponent of the First Amendment. He has regularly endorsed the race baiting bigots who have appeared on behalf of YAF, and cited the protections of the First Amendment. But the First Amendment is not a one way ticket. It is a two way protection of conversation, which allows legitimate conversation about issues. If the court allows Mr. VanDyke to seal the records, the message will be one of censorship of one piece of information, and open season on another. The court is supposed to be neutral, and a ruling to seal these records would fail to do that. In fact, it would be an endorsement by the court that VanDyke's claims to be honest and have integrity are accurate, when in fact the very documents he seeks to hide from public view show the opposite. Mr. VanDyke is seeking to use the court to silence dissent and legitimate criticisms. When Mr. VanDyke talks about the right to have guns on campus, the public has a right to know he was convicted for having a weapon on campus. They also have a right to know that he was suspended from 2000 until the end of the 2005-2006 academic calendar year. Those pieces of information go to credibility and motivation.

And finally, Mr. VanDyke claims that by allowing these public records to be public, they are harming his reputation and professional credibility as an attorney in Texas. He argues in his court papers that this information is used only to politically attack him. But what Mr. VanDyke fails to disclose to the court is that he is not only involved in MSU-YAF, which has been listed as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center, and an extremist group by the Anti-Defamation League; but he is also a member of the invitation only Facebook group for the Council of Conservative Citizens, a rebirth of the former White Citizen's Council. The group is also listed as a hate group, and has a stridently white nationalist agenda. Certainly, if credibility is an issue, the association with groups like MSU-YAF and CofCC go to the very heart of this matter. The fact that MSU-YAF has brought more and more stridently racist individuals to Michigan to speak, and has been connected with racists who have been tied directly to violent white power rallies, shows that Mr. VanDyke's criminal record is germane to any discussion about the groups with which he is associated. If the court seals his files, it will send the message that violent racists can hide their criminal activity from the public and from public scrutiny. This does not allow the public to be fully engaged and informed when discussing strategic responses to racist appearances. Mr. VanDyke's criminal activity is key to allowing those who have an opposing view to know they are up against a group with a leader with a violent past. (http://www.geocities.com/yafwatch/Van_Dyke_Records.pdf)

Violence in the racist community has long been a tactic to suppress opposition. It is a form of terror, just as the violent words used by VanDyke and his MSU YAF friends are acts of terror meant to imply threats of violent response to opposition. Granted, they have not, as yet, moved to violence, but the criminal information contained in VanDyke's file show that he specifically is not above using violence to get his way. Shouldn't the public have a right to know that?

So what can you do to make sure this file stays open?

1. Write to Judge David Jordan and tell him that closing the file is a violation of the First Amendment's protections for journalists.
2. Show up at 54-B District Court on May 29th before the 9 AM hearing and show solidarity with me as I argue before Judge Jordan to keep the files open.
3. Write to as many people as possible and encourage them to show up and/or write to the Judge.

Click Images to Enlarge
















Read More about Van Dyke's case from a saved page from his blog ( http://www.geocities.com/yafwatch/The_Potatoe_Mike_Ramsey_Blog_Response.pdf )

The Same-Sex benefits ruling

While Kyle Bristow would like to change the subject from the denial of basic civil and human rights of LBGT and unmarried heterosexual couples which the Wednesday Supreme Court ruling represented, the fact remains the decision was wrong.

Wrong for Michigan, which is attempting to recreate its economy from a manufacturing based economy to a technology driven economy. Study after study, most famously the book by Richard Florida, show that countries, states and local governments all benefit when they encourage, recognize and provide equal pay and benefits for their employees, regardless of sexual orientation.

The ruling Wednesday told LBGT people they were not only not welcome in Michigan, but that if they were here they needed to be invisible. That has been the goal of Gary Glenn, head of the American Family Association and Bristow for years.

By making the LBGT community and its allies silent and invisible, Gary and Kyle can go along pretending like there are no people who are different from them. In the end, the goal has always been disempowerment of the LBGT community through false arguments and lies.

And let us not forget that the good Christian Gary Glenn LIED to the electorate during the Prop. 2 election by telling them the amendment had nothing to do with partner benefits, it was merely to define marriage as between one man and one woman. We now see the lies uncovered. And this is how Kyle and Gary and their ilke poison the discussion, through lies.

Michigan students among the top 100 conservative students

The conservative Phillips Foundation of Washington, D.C., has announced scholarships ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 for what they call the "Top 100 Conservative Students." The scholarship announcement lists 83 awards; 26 are renewals for winners in 2007, and the remaining 57 are new winners.

Michigan university students are well-represented on the list, with 10 scholarship winners from Michigan, including two renewals. Last year, the group funded seven students from Michigan.

A press release from the organization said "the Ronald Reagan College Leaders Scholarship Program (started in 1999) offers renewable and one-time scholarships to the 'Top 100' college undergraduates who demonstrate exceptional achievements as campus leader-activists against collegiate 'political correctness' and ideological conformity, and for freedom, American values, and Constitutional principles."

On the list of winners are notables such as Dennis Lennox II, the camera-toting conservative activist at Central Michigan University, and Kyle Bristow, the former head of Young Americans for Freedom of Michigan State University. Lennox received a scholarship of $5,000, while Bristow received his second scholarship of $2,500.

Under Bristow's leadership, YAF-MSU has been listed two years in a row by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group. SPLC is the nation's largest civil rights organization tracking what it deems hate groups, which range from the New Black Panthers to neo-Nazi and KKK groups. Its quarterly magazine, The Intelligence Report, is sent to more than 50,000 law enforcement officials around the world, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation. SPLC also provides training for law enforcement about identifying, tracking and addressing hate groups.

Jeff Hollingsworth, the Phillips Foundation's assistant secretary of the Board of Trustees, told Michigan Messenger in an interview that the Southern Poverty Law Center listing had no bearing on the group's decision to award Bristow money. "The Southern Poverty Law Center is a 'hate group' itself," he said.

Bristow has been associated with white supremacy leaders; he facilitated an April 12 appearance in Lansing by Canadian white supremacist Paul Fromm and attempted to bring American Renaissance leader Jared Taylor to Michigan State University's campus. Hollingsworth said he and other trustees have had conversations with Bristow about the people with whom he is seen.

"As a matter of fact I have spoken with Kyle, and they (trustees) have expressed concerns about his associations. We would not want him or anyone else in the program to associate with people with less than savory reputations," Hollingsworth said. "I have assurances from him about his willingness not to allow that to happen."

Asked if Bristow's recent comment on the SpartanSpectator that AIDS is not the problem, rather the solution, Hollingsworth was taken aback.

"If that is something he said, it might be our concern," the spokesman said. Then added, "It is not our right to muzzle anyone."

Asked if the Phillips Foundation agreed with Bristow's take on HIV, Hollingsworth said, "No, of course not."

When asked if the foundation might take action against Bristow, Hollingsworth said the organization could take action, depending on the response of trustees, which could include revoking Bristow's scholarship.

Hollingsworth abruptly ended the interview by saying, "Oh, I have heard about Michigan Messenger. I don't have anything else to say." He then hung up. Michigan Messenger was unable to ask additional questions about other scholarship winners.

Cross posted on MichiganMessenger.com

Beyond Terrorists: MI GOP's Support Anti-Semitism and White Supremacist Hate Groups

*Update* This post made the front page of DailyKos*

Saul Anuzis, the Chairman of the Michigan Republican Party, and on the shortlist to make RNC Chairman, has been caught up in the recent scandal involving Ali Jawad, an alleged Hezbollah supporter that was removed from the John McCain campaign.

Debbie Schlussel has called out Anuzis. She claims Anuzis reaches out to anyone willing to vote Republican.

And it's a trend Michigan Republican Chair Saul Anuzis shows no willingness to stop. . .

He would only answer that he would appeal to whomever will vote Republican.

I can't speak on the allegations against Mr. Jawad, but Anuzis has reached out to support anti-Semitic and white supremacist groups within Michigan.

Saul Anuzis has called the leader of the nation's first university recognized hate group "Exactly the type of kid we want."
The "kid" is question is Kyle Bristow, former Chairman of the Young Americans for Freedom, Michigan State University Chapter.



Bristow, picture from his Facebook profile

YAF was named a hate group in 2007 by the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights law firm located in Montgomery, Alabama. An in-depth report on the group and its activities was published in its Winter 2008 issue of Hatewatch, a periodical that is read by 60,000 law enforcement agents.

YAF, under the leadership of Kyle Bristow, has established hateful positions against African Americans, Episcopal Christians, Hindus, Homosexuals and Transgenders, Immigrants, Jews, Muslims, Native Americans, and Yankees .

Before Saul Anuzis put the weight of the Michigan Republican Party behind the organization, (which YAF still enjoys to this day), YAF had already established its radical right positions. In September 2006 YAF chapters at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan announced plans to host "Catch and Illegal Immigrant Day", and event in which people would play vigilante and captured someone marked as an illegal immigrant. Under pressure from Latino groups and the event being condemned by MSU president Lou Anna K. Simon, MSU-YAF canceled the event. The event was also condemned by ASMSU, the student government for Michigan State University.

As a result of "Catch an Illegal Immigrant Day" students in James Madison College recalled Kyle Bristow as their representative to ASMSU.


YAF's next event was to protest a human rights ordinance in Lansing, Michigan. The ordinance, the intent of which was to prohibit discrimination against LGBT people in employment and housing, was being considered by the City Council. YAF responded by holding a protest, bearing signs that said "Straight Power" and "End Faggotry".

On November 2006 YAF was one of the groups hosting Tom Tancredo, an notorious anti-immigrant Congressman from Colorado.

After the announcement by the Southern Poverty Law Center to list the MSU chapter of Young Americans for Freedom as a hate group, and Saul Anuzis throwing the support of the Michigan Republican Party behind them, the group continued to host more controversial and outright racist speakers on campus.

In April, 2007 they brought Minuteman Founder Chris Simcox to speak on campus. The event resulted in the removal of protesters from the room and the arrest of five individuals.

In September 2007 YAF brought Ryan Sorba, an anti-gay activist who presented a speech called "The Born Gay Hoax" which sought to disprove the theory held by most psychologists that homosexuality is an inborn trait and not an immoral choice. The evidence given was shoddy at best and would not likely stand up to academic rigor. Sorba claimed to be writing a book on the subject, despite having only a B.A. in psychology. He declined to give the name of the publisher, though a draft copy of the book has been posted online

October brought MSU-YAF's most controversial speaker to date. YAF invited Nick Griffin, a Holocaust Denier and racist, to speak on campus to speak about the dangers of Islamo-Fascism. The event brought out a call for an "entourage" on the racist and Neo-Nazi website Stormfront.org. The event was arranged by a skinhead who had set up other hate speeches at campus in Texas and South Carolina.


The event was jointly condemned by Jewish and Muslim students, as well the Director of Jewish Studies Ken Waltzer, and MSU Trustee member Faylene Owen.

Since YAF brought in Nick Griffin they have seen their fortunes turn.

They announced they would be hosting Indrek Wichman, an infamous anti-Muslim professor at Michigan State University, to speak at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan. After media inquiries were made the Holocaust Memorial Center canceled the speech, and the Jewish Institute of National Security Affairs, listed as a sponsor, denied knowledge of the event.

When they announced they were bringing in Jared Taylor, an advocate of scientific racism, they face opposition from the national Young Americans for Freedom. Under the threat of having it's charter revoked, MSU-YAF canceled the event.

Saul Anuzis has not pulled back his support of MSU-YAF or Kyle Bristow, even after the activities YAF has engaged in since he gave that support. This continued support for the hate group stands in contrast to the history of his family. Anuzis' parents and paternal grandparents were honored with the Righteous Among Nations award for helping save the life of Jews during the Holocaust. According to his bio on the Michigan Republican Party Website:

Anuzis is particularly proud of his family's history. He speaks with pride of the Righteous Among the Nations award his parents and paternal grandparents received from Israel's national Holocaust memorial, Yad Vashem, for helping three young girls escape from a Jewish ghetto and make their way from Lithuania to Estonia during World War II. One of those girls, now grown, nominated them for the award.

Since granting YAF his support, YAF has invited Holocaust Denier Nick Griffin (which was arranged by a anti-semitic skinhead), attempted to host an event at a Holocaust Memorial Center under false pretenses while falsely associating a pro-Israel group with that event, and said George W. Bush was "going crazy" for wearing a yarmulke during a visit to a Holocaust Memorial in Israel.

More recently, YAF has pushed their anti-Semitism further. On their blog they hosted a poll asking whether Islamofascism or Judeo-Bolshevism. The post was removed, but is still viewable in Google cache. Judeo-Bolshevism is a conspiracy theory alleging Jewish control of communist movements. The Southern Poverty Law Center addressed the post, and it's being linked to Kevin MacDonald, and anti-Semitic psychology professor from California.

Bristow wrote that perhaps MSU-YAF “should start a Judeo-Bolshevism Awareness Month,” and encouraged readers to click through a link to a video of a lecture by California State University-Long Beach professor of psychology Kevin MacDonald. MacDonald, who argues that Jews are impelled by genetic factors to undermine the majority populations of societies in which they live, is a favorite academic of neo-Nazis and anti-Semitic white nationalists. “Jews do not act in the best interest of society,” MacDonald is quoted as saying in journalist Jon Entine’s new book, Abraham’s Children. “We need to systematically put in place some controls, call it discrimination if you will, to restore parity with other groups.”

Despite this slew of anti-Semitic actions by YAF, Saul Anuzis has remained silent about YAF, and has not withdrawn his support for the group.


As a final note, in fairness to Senator McCain, Kyle Bristow is not a supporter of his and should not be directly linked to McCain. This photo from Bristow's Facebook profile pictures shows Bristow is not a McCain supporter.

SPLC Reports on YAF's Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theories

David Holthouse writes in the SPLC blog about YAF's "Judeo-Bolshevik" conspiracy.

Here is an excerpt

“Keep the following in mind when you vote,” Bristow wrote. “Judeo-Bolsheviks contributed two-thirds to three-quarters of the money for civil rights groups during the 1960s. … Despite representing only 2.5 percent of the population, Judeo-Bolsheviks provided over half of the funding of the Democratic party, and in the 2000 election, 80 percent of American Jews being Judeo-Bolsheviks voted for Al Gore.”

Bristow wrote that perhaps MSU-YAF “should start a Judeo-Bolshevism Awareness Month,” and encouraged readers to click through a link to a video of a lecture by California State University-Long Beach professor of psychology Kevin MacDonald. MacDonald, who argues that Jews are impelled by genetic factors to undermine the majority populations of societies in which they live, is a favorite academic of neo-Nazis and anti-Semitic white nationalists. “Jews do not act in the best interest of society,” MacDonald is quoted as saying in journalist Jon Entine’s new book, Abraham’s Children. “We need to systematically put in place some controls, call it discrimination if you will, to restore parity with other groups.”

Media Mouse Reponds to Bristow

Media Mouse has written an article responding to comments Bristow made regarding the accuracy of their earlier story about the former YAF Chair's involvement in planning the Paul Fromm event in Lansing.

In addition, Bristow went on to make erroneous claims about the relationship between himself and MSU College Republican Chair.

By the way, your articles on MichiganLiberal.com suck. I am surprised that the Daily Kos published your article about the “woes of the Michigan Republican Party,”. . .


Also, Ben Morlock has not banned me from College Republican meetings as you like to pretend. Why don’t you get a copy of this year’s yearbook and turn to page 20. A picture of Ben Morlock holding up a sign that reads “Fire Granholm” has part of a student organization’s name written on the bottom right corner of it. I won’t ruin the surprise as to which organization that is.

Bristow first false claims that it was reported he was banned. From the actual article

The ties between the two groups has caused the current executive board of MSU College Republicans to distant themselves from YAF. The new chair, Ben Morlock, took a harder stand that previous Chair Jeff Wiggins (who had formerly been a vice-Chair of YAF).

Morlock blocked YAF Chair Kyle Bristow from announcing YAF events during College Republican meetings, and has gone before the Board of Trustees to say the groups are not linked.

The report of Bristow being blocked from speaking comes from the Michigan Conservative Dossier, a pro-YAF blog that Bristow posts on.

Page 20 of the yearbook does show Morlock holding up an anti-Granholm sign.

The image was taken on October 2nd, during the first debate between Jennifer Granholm and Dick Devos. This was also after the Catch an Illegal immigrant Day but before YAF's "Straight Power" Protest, YAF's listing as a hate group, and other activities.

A more recent look would be August 27th, 2007 when Bristow was blocked from announcing YAF events at College Republican meetings.

Morlock also spoke at the Board of Trustees meeting, while other College Rpeublican leaders have had to try to reshape the group's image.

Speaking at an MSU Board of Trustees meeting last week, Ben Morlock, chairman of the MSU College Republicans, took pains to distance his group from the YAF.

He said Monday he hopes Bristow's resignation will mean campus controversies about free speech and hate speech will die down.

"I don't endorse everything Kyle does," Morlock said, but added that he believes "the university should understand that Kyle has the right ... to say, essentially, whatever he wishes to say."

MSU College Republican Vice-Chair Leo Madarang has been trying to reshape the image of the group, writing an article defending the notion that minorities could be Republicans and that College Republicans don''t discriminate and are not the same as YAF.

YAF Scrubs Anti-Semitic Conspiracy Theory Post

Young Americans for Freedom has again attempted to scrub an offensive Spartan Spectator post. This one is a continuation of YAF's anti-Semitic agenda.

The scrubbed post (currently available in Google cache) is for a poll asking whether "Islamofascism" is worse the "Judeo-Bolshevism". Judeo-Bolshevism is a conspiracy theory that accuses Jews of being behind the rise of communism and the Soviet Union.

(Click image to enlarge)


Kyle Bristow posted a video of an interview with Kevin MacDonald, a anti-Semitic professor from the University of California State University- Long Beach. The Southern Poverty Law Center has reported on McDonald.

Kevin MacDonald, a professor of psychology at California State University-Long Beach, is the man the radical right hopes will make anti-Semitism respectable. With a master's degree in evolutionary biology and a Ph.D. in biobehavioral sciences, MacDonald is the author of a trilogy of books, written between 1994 and 1998, that argue that Jews use a "group evolutionary strategy" to survive in the "host" societies where they are typically tiny minorities. The "strategy" involves backing democracy, equality, socialism and the like in order to weaken the dominant ethnic group — the idea being that that will keep Jews safer
. . .
In one of his books, MacDonald blames the deaths of "millions of people" on "the failure of Jewish assimilation into European societies." He has even suggested that colleges restrict Jewish admission and that Jews be heavily taxed to offset the Jews' "advantage ... of wealth."

In the video MacDonald claims that Jews helped launch the Communist revolution in Jewish interests, and that they infiltrated the Republican Party in order to protect Israel.

MacDonald has been condemned by his colleagues and removed from teaching a required courses for psychology majors. MacDonald has threatened to sue college departments criticizing his anti-Semitic work, going against the traditional system of peer review in academia.

A full write up of MacDonald can be found here. YAF-Watch's collected information on YAF's anti-Semitism can be found here.