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Lawyer Finds Swastika

Champion of religious freedom in military
discovers Nazi symbol on his home

Tuesday June 17, 2008

By T.J. Wilham
Journal Staff Writer

"This one cuts the deepest."

photo of swastika and cross vandalism

A photo of the hateful vandalism
committed at Mikey Weinstein's home

Attorney Mikey Weinstein, who has had his windows shot at and feces thrown in his yard, found a swastika on the front of his house over the weekend.

"It's a horrible feeling of humiliation, embarrassment and rage," Weinstein said. "This one cuts the deepest. Whether you are Jewish or Christian, you don't want a swastika on your house."

Weinstein, a Jewish attorney and former counsel to President Ronald Reagan, made headlines in 2005 when he filed suit against the Air Force, claiming it imposed evangelical Christianity on academy cadets in violation of their constitutional rights.

The suit was dismissed because the plaintiffs were no longer cadets.

A group founded by Weinstein, the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, filed a new suit in March that claimed the entire military is violating the religious liberties of servicemen and women.

Weinstein and his two sons are graduates of the Air Force Academy.

Weinstein was alerted to the swastika after two of his German shepherds started barking Saturday. He said he saw a dark car backing out of his driveway and found the swastika and a cross on the stucco next to his front door.

The symbols were the size of a kitchen plate and looked like they had been written with magic marker.

"These people are cowards," said Weinstein, whose story has been publicized on national talk shows and in newspapers across the country.

It is also featured in a recently released documentary, "Constantine's Sword," by Oscar-nominated documentarian Oren Jacoby.

The film's Web site says it "focuses on Christian anti-semitism as the model for all religious hatred, exposing the cross as a symbol of a long history of violence against Jews."

The film is to open in Albuquerque on July 18.

Weinstein said he and his family started noticing unusual behavior at their home on Thursday.

They saw a car pulling out of their driveway one evening. Someone had turned off the fountain to their pond, killing one of their fish.

Sheriff's officials said they plan to notify the New Mexico Gang and Terrorism Task Force and do periodic checks at Weinstein's home.

"The swastika escalates things in my mind," said Rabbi Arthur Flicker of Congregation B'nai Israel. "It symbolizes horrific racism and violence that our fathers and grandfathers fought to destroy."


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