Chicago Judge Joan Lefkow returned to her home last night to find both her husband and mother shot dead. The federal judge had previously been targeted in a Neo-Nazi murder plot.

Judge Lifkow was an obsessive fixation for white supremacist Matthew Hale; the self-proclaimed “Pontifex Maximus” head of a hate group once called “World Church of the Creator,” later renamed “The Creativity Movement.”

The name Hale first chose for his group already belonged to a benign church, which didn’t appreciate the confusion he caused, so they sued.

Judge Lefkow eventually ordered Hale not to use that name and to purge it from all his group’s literature and its Web site.

Hale hated her for that and plotted revenge.

But the plan hatched by the former “Pontifex” from East Peoria failed and he was found guilty for “solicitation of murder.” Hale is now locked up in jail within the loop of downtown Chicago pending sentencing.

Ironically though, Judge Lifkow actually had first sided with Hale, supporting his right to use the contested name.

However, a higher court forced the Chicago jurist to amend her ruling and she then meted out the required restrictions.

Nevertheless in the twisted mind of Mattew Hale Judge Lefkow became his hated enemy and the font of perceived “persecution.”

Hale considers himself a “political prisoner” and remains both a hero and martyr to many within the dark subculture often called the hate movement.

One Internet site the “Vanguard News Network” has posts of praise for “Dr. Hale” under the heading “White Revolution.” He is portrayed as the victim of “persecution” perpetrated by the “Devil Jew.”

Reportedly another Internet site described Judge Lifkow as “a white woman married to a Jew with three mixed-race grandchildren,” while yet another Web site made public her home address.

Hale once said, “Some people go out and hunt deer…I think it’s a hell of a lot more sporting to hunt a Jew.”

But Hale’s hunting days are over and it is unlikely that he was able to order the murders from his jail cell, where his contact with the outside world is closely monitored.

Instead, it appears likely that those sympathetic with Hale and inspired by his rhetoric of hate may have finally fulfilled his hope for revenge by murdering the judge’s husband and mother.

If so, this would not be the first time Hale has inspired murder.

Benjamin Smith, a follower inspired by Hale, went on a shooting spree in 1999 killing two and injuring nine before taking his own life. This occurred after an adverse court ruling, which effectively ended his hero’s effort to become a practicing lawyer in Illinois.

“I strongly suspect that the denial of my law license set him off,” Hale told CNN.

Are the Lefkow family murders, yet another example of someone “set…off” by Hales circumstances?

All this can be seen within the context of a purported “Racial Holy War” called “Rahowa” against so-called “ZOG,” which one Web site explains is “an acronym for Zionist Occupation Government.” A term used to describe “the assortment of traitors and Zionist lackeys who control most of the White nations on this planet.”

Just such paranoid delusions may have formed the basis and/or rationalization for the recent murders in Chicago.

The National Alliance sells marching music for “Rahowa” on CD. This was the brainchild of deceased Neo-Nazi leader William Pierce, author of the notorious “Turner Diaries,” which inspired Oklahoma bomber Timothy McVeigh.

McVeigh executed his plan for revenge on the second anniversary of the fiery end of the Waco Davidian compound, April 19, 1995.

Is it only a fluke that the Chicago killings yesterday occurred on February 28th, which is the 12th anniversary of the ill-fated BATF raid on that same cult compound?

Waco has been a battle cry for anti-government extremists for more than a decade.

The FBI is now investigating the Lefkow murders and as they already know it only takes one deranged true believer to create mayhem and commit murder.

Judge Lefkow is under the protection of federal marshals.

Note: Bart Ross, another disgruntled litigant who lost before Judge Lefkow, later confessed to the murders in a suicide note. His DNA matched that found at the crime scene. Ross had no known connection to a hate group or Matthew Hale.

Hate groups hope to exploit problems in Maine

Somalia once ravaged by war and famine was the focus of American intervention, first by President Bush Sr. and later by Bill Clinton. One result of that humanitarian effort was an influx of refugees searching for a better life in the United States.

Many Somalians eventually migrated to Lewiston, Maine and have apparently strained the social service network there.

Now hate groups such as the National Alliance and World Church of the Creator have descended upon Maine hoping to exploit whatever tensions exist, reports the Associated Press.

The National Alliance in particular seems desperate to prove itself viable as a purveyor of hate since the death of its founder William Pierce. The group littered Lewiston with handouts.

Matt Hale’s World Church of the Creator plans a rally in the town next month.

America once hosted the immigrant ancestors of these hate mongers, but they have little respect for that tradition, especially if those in need now are not white.

Ironically, the activities of such groups in Lewiston only serve to remind New Englanders about the ugliness of hate. Maybe in this sense the National Alliance serves some purpose.

The United States has always been a melting pot of people from different lands. Let’s hope the pot gets hot enough to one-day burn off the likes of Hale.

William Pierce the founder of the National Alliance has been dead three months, but his followers are managing to keep busy. In state after state they have doled out hate tracts on parked cars, doorways and porches.

This apparently organized effort has been reported across the United States in such places as West Virginia, Wyoming and Colorado.

Of course the peripatetic Neo-Nazis are doing their promotional effort anonymously, as local residents certainly do not appreciate it. The Alliance’s handouts often seem to be regarded as little more than annoying litter.

Their tracts tout such themes as “White History Month” and “Just say no to diversity.”

This recent flurry of activity seems to be a frantic attempt to prove there is still life after Pierce for the National Alliance. But Pierce’s posthumous legacy appears to only be fodder to fill up trashcans.

William Pierce, the leader of the National Alliance died last month. But the old Neo-Nazi would have been proud to know that his cult following continues to keep hate alive.

National Alliance members littered the streets of Charleston, South Carolina with handouts blaming the Jews and Israel for terrorist attacks on September 11th, according to the Daily Mail. It seems that scapegoating passes for patriotism amongst Pierce’s single-minded progeny.

And for young aspiring Nazis the Alliance has a “Youth Corps,” which offers “fun…for…white men and women” and instruction on how to “resist…race mixing.” But they probably don’t sing “Cumbaya” around the campfire.

Hate group leader William Pierce abandoned his family and promoted hate from an isolated compound for almost twenty years. Intensely focused upon communicating his message, he ironically lost touch his own children, reported the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

One of Pierce’s sons said, “His family was of no importance to him.”

Pierce accumulated a considerable estate including land and other assets, but left everything to the “National Alliance,” the hate group he founded. Ultimately, his followers became his only real family.

Pierce was once a college professor, but his career was the first casualty of his hatred, which later also consumed his family life. As a father he was a remote figure. It seems Pierce had little room in his heart for much more than his obsessive fixation with racial purity and Neo-Nazi anti-Semitism.

Pierce’s children completely rejected their father’s teachings.

Perhaps the most telling image of anyone, is most often the one held by his or her own family. Pierce may have fantasized about some supposed historical significance, but in the end his family will likely represent his most enduring legacy. Rather than the father of a movement, William Pierce seems to have been no father at all. A man devoid of the very moral authority he so often ranted about.

William Pierce leader of a White Supremacist group known as the “National Alliance” died late last month.

Pierce was the author of “The Turner Diaries” (1978), an anti-government rant that fictionalized his worldview. His book became an obsession and some say inspiration for executed murderer Timothy McVeigh, the man responsible for the Oklahoma bombing. The book describes a race war, which begins when its hero blows up a federal building with a truck bomb.

Pierce ran the National Alliance (1,500 reported members) from an isolated compound 150 miles from Charleston near Hillsboro, West Virginia. He bought the land cheap and it is rumored partly with stolen cash given to him by members of “The Order,” a hate group responsible for bank robberies and murder.

Pierce was most recently known for his foray into the music world, producing racist CDs for the youth market. He hoped to influence people through modern mediums and boasted that his goal was to become “the biggest distributor and producer of resistance music in the world.” He claimed his label “Resistance Records” was the “soundtrack for white revolution.”

Pierce died without an heir, but his fervent followers seem to think the National Alliance will go on without him. Bob DeMarais, the group’s business manager said Pierce left them with instructions. Karen Strom, editor of Pierce’s magazine and newsletter will continue in that role and produce its radio show, “American Dissident Voices.” She said, “We were lucky he had the foresight to build an organization that will survive and will continue to pursue the goals he set for it.” But Mark Potok, an expert on hate groups said the group would more likely “wither” without its charismatic leader.