Catholic Church Viciously Vandalized: Police calling damage to California house of worship a hate crime

Magistrate Stands by 'Scum' Comment
YAHOO! NEWS: A magistrate who is facing disciplinary action after describing two teenage vandals as "absolute scum" has insisted he had used "appropriate" language.

The 16-year-old boys scribbled racist and sexually abusive graffiti on prayer books and bent a valuable cross out of shape in Blackburn Cathedral, Lancashire.

Sentencing the pair, who were caught after signing their names in the visitors' book, Austin Malloy, chairman of the bench, said: "Normal people would consider you absolute scum." >>> Press Association | Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Vandals Spray Paint Rio's Christ Statue
THE TELEGRAPH: Vandals have covered Rio de Janeiro's towering Christ the Redeemer statue with spray-painted graffiti, marring the world-famous monument in an act Rio's mayor called a "crime against the nation."

The vandalized Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. Photograph: The Telegraph
The vandals covered the head, arms and chest of the 130-foot statue, which looks out over Rio's dramatic vista of beaches and mountains, using scaffolding that had been erected to carry out maintenance work.

"Those criminals will pay for what they've done. They will go to jail," Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes was quoted as saying in Friday's O Globo newspaper. "Rio de Janeiro and Brazil do not deserve this." >>> | Friday, April 16, 2010

Bavière: la maison natale du pape vandalisée
TRIBUNE DE GENÈVE: ALLEMAGNE | Une inscription "obscène" a été découverte mardi matin sur la maison natale du pape Benoît XVI, dans le village bavarois de Marktl-am-Inn, a-t-on appris auprès de la police.

La maison natale du pape Benoît XVI, dans le village bavarois de Marktl-am-Inn, photographiée en 2007. Photo : Tribune de Genève

Les mots inscrits au-dessus de la porte d'entrée – "Fick euch selbst" (Allez vous faire en...), selon les photos – ont été effacés dans la matinée, à précisé un porte-parole de la police.

"On peut établir un lien" avec le scandale des abus sexuels qui secoue l'Eglise catholique, notamment en Allemagne, a-t-il ajouté.

L'inscription "de couleur bleue, au contenu injurieux" a été remarquée par un témoin vers 6H45 sur le mur au-dessus de la porte d'entrée de la maison natale du pape, précise un communiqué de la police.

Son auteur "a visiblement employé une bombe de laque et a tracé des lettres d'environ 30 centimètres de hauteur".

Le dommage sur la façade de la maison est estimé à environ 1500 euros, selon la police, qui a lancé un appel à témoins. "Entre-temps, un peintre a été chargé de masquer le texte", précise le communiqué.

Le pape Benoît XVI, né Joseph Ratzinger le 16 avril 1927 à Marktl-am-Inn, fêtera dans trois jours son 83ème anniversaire. Il est devenu pape il y a près de cinq ans, le 19 avril 2005. >>> AFP | Mardi 13 Avril 2010

CAIR Debates Hate Vandalism of Quran with Chris Hitchens

O'Reilly Supports Charges in Quran Vandalism Case (July 2007)

Sir Fred Goodwin* Attack: Bank Bosses Are Criminals Group Claims Responsibility
THE TELEGRAPH: A group calling itself Bank Bosses Are Criminals has claimed responsibility for vandalising the Edinburgh home of Sir Fred Goodwin, the disgraced former chief executive of RBS bank.

Sir Fred Goodwin’s house vandalised.
In an email sent to local newspapers, the group called for bank bosses to be jailed and warned: "This is just the beginning".

The attack saw the windows of Sir Fred's home, in Edinburgh's upmarket Morningside area, smashed, along with those of a dark-coloured Mercedes S600 saloon parked in the driveway.

Sir Fred is understood to be abroad and the attack is believed to have been reported to police by a member of his household staff at 4.35am on Wednesday morning.

Minutes afterwards, an email was sent by a woman using the name Moira McLeod and the address bankbossesarecriminals@mail.com.

The email read: "Fred Goodwins house in Edinburgh, was attacked this morning.

"We are angry that rich people, like him, are paying themselves a huge amount of money, and living in luxury, while ordinary people are made unemployed, destitute and homeless.

"This is a crime. Bank bosses should be jailed.

"This is just the beginning." >>> By Aislinn Simpson | Wednesday, March 25, 2009

TIMESONLINE:
Anti-capitalist Group Boasts of Attack on Sir Fred Goodwin's Home >>> Lindsay McIntosh in Edinburgh, Martin Waller, Nico Hines | Wednesday, March 25, 2009

*Sir Fred Goodwin was known as 'Fred the Shred' because of his ruthless cost-cutting.