Andrew Benson: “I am not a fan of political correctness”

During the summer when we wrote about a far-right and antisemitic Catholic organization's list of speakers at an upcoming event in Canada we noted that one of the speakers was American libertarian and frequent presidential candidate Ron Paul. We also noted in one photograph that standing beside Mr. Paul was an individual well known to our readers:

Andrew Benson, who had tried to ingratiate himself to Marxists before sliding into fascism, seemed to have shed another skin and had repackaged himself as a disciple of Ayn Rand as further indicated by his other photographs:

"Rub a bald Ludwig von Mises for luck?"

Ron Paul, a Neo-Fascist, and The Birchers Are Coming to Canada

A while back we began wondering where Andrew Benson ended up.

Our readers remember who Andrew Benson is, right?

Whenever one of the folks we've paid attention to in the past falls off our radar, we become a little curious to see where they've ended up. Sometimes they are in prison. Other times they've rejected racism and have tried to make themselves useful human beings. And in the case of Andrew Benson, a man who before he identified with racist boneheads had tried to ingratiate himself to radical Marxists, he tries to reinvent himself again.

So the one time communist, then fascist, is now a libertarian:

October Bits and Bites: Goudreau, Ontario Election, Ed Kennedy and Blood & Honour

We received a bit of fan mail regarding one of our recent article that dealt with the sentencing of two men involved in a mini hate crime spree in Edmonton earlier this year:

Great intel guys. Kyle wasn't even there that night. You think you're so fucking smart because you pulled the picture off of Kyle's facebook photos. Nice try, who's the bonehead now? 

Oh you! Of course you're right. At the time these boneheads were engaging in behavior that would end getting them sentenced to a lengthy stay in jail, McKee was (for not even the first time) a guest of the Canadian judicial system, at taxpayer's expense. The reason why the photo was used in the article is twofold:

Kitchener News Article on Kyle McKee Published Today

Ex-Kitchener resident at forefront of white nationalist movement  

By Josh Brown, Record staff
Fri May 20 2011   

Kyle McKee caused an uproar in Kitchener when he hung a Nazi flag outside his rented Kitchener home.

Six years later, and now based in Calgary, the 25-year-old skinhead has become one of Canada’s most active white supremacists, leading a group dubbed Blood and Honour.

“Kyle has become quite successful for becoming the main spokesperson, the leading light and the one leader,” said Jason Devine, a spokesperson for Anti-Racist Action Calgary.

Paulie Running in Federal Election in Calgary Southeast

Paulie, who earlier announced another run at public office, may just have jumped the shark on this one.

In August, Paulie and the Aryan Guard (soon to be re-named Blood & Honour) protested in front of Jason Kenney's constituency office:

Aftermath: Identifying Boneheads

So we've been looking at the photos that have been sent to us and that have been published by the media. So far we have been able to identify a few of the 16 (not 30m Natalie) boneheads who were present. They are, in no particular order:

• Natalie S.
• Michael "Puddles" Gaio
• Curtis Erickson
• Jonathan Besler

Reitmeier Arrested During March

Despite claiming that the members of WEB would not be appearing at the march we knew that they wouldn't be able to keep away. Here is Robert Reitmeier being taken into custody at city hall at around 9:40 am, before the anti-racist rally was to begin at that location:

We might guess that Benson, Martin, Brozny and other WEB were perhaps lurking around somewhere nearby as well.

Very Well Written and Researched "Globe" Story on Calgary WN Movement

Normally we would post the whole article, however it is quite extensive and detailed so we invite our readers to go directly to the source:

Calgary’s in-your-face neo-Nazis take to the streets

Full disclosure. ARC was in contact with Mr. Wingrove and provided some background information about the Movement in Calgary. We hope that we were at least a little bit helpful, but even if we weren't it is evident that Mr. Wingrove was able to provide the general public a great deal of insight into the racist movement in Calgary. Perhaps the one quibble we have with the article is with the labelling of some of the pictures. Two of the photos in the story seem to identify the subjects as Aryan Guard supporters, however they are in fact members of W.E.B. This however is pretty minor and doesn't take away from the article itself.

The article was timed to come out during the morning of the march on Saturday, which we guess is today (damn insomnia).

We have also included a link to the article in our selected bibliography on the left side of the blog.

W.E.B. Claims They Will Not Attend March 19 Rally

We aren't usually in the business of acting as a press release for bonehead gangs, and we really think our readers need to be skeptical about this for a variety of reasons, but we figured we would post this message which purports to be from Robert Reitmeier since it concerns W.E.B.'s participation in the bonehead rally on March 19.

W.E.B. Will not be attending any planned C-18/ATB event in Calgary this year. reasons are our own. Take from this what you like. From past experiences it has proven the media likes to use our pictures/videos in these events while labeling our members/associates under false names and incorrect affiliations.

-Rob

We take this with a grain of salt (for instance, it might not even be Reitmeier who wrote this message), though given the antipathy W.E.B. has towards any group in which Kyle McKee is a member, it shouldn't be unexpected that they would decide not to participate.

March 2011 Bits and Bites: The "Where Are They Now?" Edition

As we continue to creep up on March 19 when the planned bonehead rally may or may not occur (what, with McKee in jail and all) we thought we would take a moment to look back at one bonehead who had fallen off our radar for a while and another who we wish would fall into a hole.

That latter person is Richard Martin. Big, dumb, and ugly has managed to find his way to Calgary and is presumably living with his life partner Andrew Benson. That is until he inevitably screws up and ends up back behind bars himself.

Guess Who Is Out Of Jail Now

Hot on the heels of news that Kyle McKee had once again been jailed, we learned that another one of our favorite subjects had been released after serving his sentence:


Richard "Lurch" Martin, who plead guilty when the case went before the judge, was released a few days ago after serving 9 months for ethnic intimidation:

Update on Benson Drama and Paulie Paranoia

Well, maybe calling it paranoia might be a bit much, but we've certainly caught his attention. We'll deal with that in a moment. In the meantime, a quick update on Andrew Benson's status. Last we wrote about him he had started dating the young woman who was allegedly assaulted by three members of the Blood & Honour (Aryan Guard). Benson, once associated with that group, had subsequently moved on to the Aryan Guard's rival W.E.B. We had surmised that W.E.B. wouldn't be very pleased with Benson's new love interest based in part on their attitude towards the young woman in question as well as Micki (spurned by Benson) reaction to the new relationship. Seems we were correct, as Benson is now on the outs with W.E.B. as well as evidenced by the following wall post on Reitmeier's Facebook profile:

Blood & Honour (Aryan Guard) Members Allegedly Beat Teen Girl Unconscious: Interesting Development

On December 15, we reported an incident in which three members of Blood & Honour (Aryan Guard) beat up an 18 year old girl. Later that week, we provided a follow-up which included a picture of the injuries the young woman purported to sustain during the assault.

Well, looks like the young woman in question has decided that she is still going to run with violent neo-Nazis. In fact, she has started dating one:

How Well DO Boneheads Keep Their Secrets?

We in the Collective are constantly gathering information. Most of what we collect is never published, but is used to further our understanding of the Movement and the direction it is taking. Other times the information really defies categorization and we struggle with the best way to present that information.

This is one of those times.

What we're posting is the rest of the exchange on the Blood & Honour (C18) forum's Canadian section. It is a continuation of the pissing contest between Volksfront and the Hammerskin aligned Blood & Honour faction, and the faction aligned with Combat 18. The crux of the issue at hand here is how does so much information reach us here at ARC. Is it carelessness? Do boneheads themselves, willingly or not, supply us with information? In reality, it is sort of all of the above. But we'll let the discussion progress with very little commentary from us, at least less than we usually provide. We begin with the part where OdinPatrick takes sides in the Blood & Honour factionalism:

Richard Martin: Aryan Warrior /sarcasm

On September 16, Richard Martin and Shane Gill were sentenced to 9 and 6 months in jail respectively. Here's a reminder why they were sentenced to lengthy terms behind bars:

Earlier that month, on July 3, the woman had been sitting in her living room when she heard a man outside making gunshot noises. She looked out her front window and saw her neighbour, Martin, on the sidewalk making gestures with his hand as if he were shooting a gun at her house. 

Nine days later, the woman heard Martin and another man in the parking lot outside her bedroom window. They were loudly singing songs with racially offensive lyrics and yelling, "Go back to Africa."

The woman filed her first police report the next day. Two days later, as she and the 11-year-old girl were walking to the local variety store, they were confronted by Martin and Gill. Martin again made the gunshot noises and the sign of a gun in her direction. 

When the men began to spew their racial slurs, the woman and child turned and headed for home. The woman told police Gill was close behind them as they ran inside the house and locked the door. Gill then began to pound on her door. 

Once inside, the woman, the young girl and the child's mother moved to the middle of the home for fear that the men would break windows. After police arrived and took a second report, the two women took turns sitting guard on the porch through the night in case of further trouble.

And as a result of his profound bravery in intimidating two women and an 11 year old child, Martin's friends consider him to be a prisoner of war:

Oh, Richard Martin, You Are A Special Kind of Stupid: Part II

Remember the story about Richard Martin and another schmuk being arrested for ethnic intimidation?

Looks like Martin won't be moving to Calgary to join his friends Andrew Benson an Mike Gaio any time soon:

Racists going to jail for taunts
THE HAMILTON SPECTATOR
Barbara Brown, Wed Sep 15 2010 

A pair of hate-mongers will be sentenced Thursday for threatening behaviour and racially motivated harassment of a young black woman who lived on their street. 

Oh, Richard Martin, You Are A Special Kind of Stupid

When Andrew Benson moved to Calgary in July, his best friend and life partner Richard Martin didn't accompany him on the journey. It's not as if Martin wouldn't have made the trip if he could, but he was a bit preoccupied being in jail at the time. Still, he had an open invitation to move out to Calgary once he was released.

Looks like he might have to hold off a little longer on those plans:

Racial epithets lead to charges
John BurmanThe Hamilton Spectator(Aug 11, 2010) 

The woman called police when two men, who had been taunting her, arrived at her door. 

She'd seen them around her Westdale neighbourhood over a couple of weeks since the start of July -- two men she did not know yelling racial slurs at her. The last straw was July 16. The two men followed her home and pounded on her door. She called 911. 

Hamilton police identified two suspects in their investigation and last week arrested Shane Gill, 38, of no fixed address, at an address in St. Catharines. They also arrested Richard Martin, 23, of no fixed address, at the Hamilton- Wentworth detention centre where he was in custody on an unrelated matter. Both men have been charged with criminal harassment with hate/bias overtones. 

The two men appeared in Hamilton court Friday for bail hearings but were remanded until they can obtain counsel. 

Though both suspects were of no fixed address, they were apparently living in the woman's neighbourhood at the time of the alleged offences. Police will not identify the nature of the racial remarks or what ethnic community the woman identifies with. 

Police Sergeant Terri-Lynn Collings said the case is an alleged hate/bias crime that went beyond the kind of thing usually seen in Hamilton because there was repeated contact. 

The incident is relatively rare because it meets the criminal harassment test in that it caused someone to fear for their safety. 

Collings could not recall similar charges being laid in Hamilton in recent years. 

"We don't often see this," said Collings, adding that could be due to a number of factors including having enough evidence to lay such a charge and having a witness willing to take the case through the court process. 

Collings said Hamilton Police victims services and community relations staff will be assisting the complainant each step of the way. 

jburman@thespec.com

Of course Martin isn't a stranger to the readers of this blog. In March 2009 we posted an article pointing to Martin's involvement in the vandalizing of a Toronto store. Sadly, it doesn't appear that Martin was ever even questioned, much less charged, in that case. In addition to this, it also appears that Martin is aware of other acts of racist vandalism that had occurred in the Toronto area; he either knew of the individual or individuals involved or he was had actively participated in the act himself:


We've also used these pages to childishly make fun of Martin and his friends.

Over...

...and over again.

Oh dear! However did that picture of Martin with Paulie show up here? Well, we might as well leave it there. Considering whom else Paulie associates with, it just confirms what we all believe already about him.

Looky Who's In Calgary Now

Truth be told we've known about it for a while now, but we wanted to see if he actually made the trek out West.

Andrew Benson is now in Calgary, thus lowering the cumulative IQ of the city by 0.002. The IQ of the bonehead community, already low, drops 7.9 points.

A while back the Aryan Guard tried to encourage their fellow travelers to head to Alberta and bolster their ranks within the city. Those were heady times for the boneheads as they sought media attention, however Benson might be a bit disappointed by the state of affairs in the city now:


Now, we know what you're thinking. Where is Benson's sidekick and life partner Richard Martin? Surely he must have come with his little buddy? To be sure, he was, and is, invited by Benson, but there's that, whole being in jail thing that's getting in the way of travel plans:


Truly, the crème de la crème.

Kevin Goudreau Is Delusional Part 102,091,199,347,162,831

Sometimes you just have to laugh at the ineptitude of boneheads.

This coming weekend there's going to be a conference in Toronto: Marxism 2010. Now, being that there are really no communist members of the Collective (the closest some of us come to that ideology would be champagne socialists). So considering we don't really have a dog in that hunt, we were inclined not to provide any commentary.

Except that boneheads really don't like communists, so we knew that if we waited long enough one of our subjects in Toronto would make the discovery that the "reds" were coming to town, and hilarity would then ensue.

Known arsonist and snazzy dresser Richard "Lurch" Martin did not let us down:

We note the following:

1. People who might try to follow the link might have difficulty reaching their destination, as this idiot savant (minus the savant part) didn't quite spell "conference" right. Also, it should be ".ca" not ".com" Hey, chin up sport! You tried your best, but for future reference, we would like to introduce you to the handy "cut n' past" feature on your computer. Might save some embarrassment in the long run.

2. When the people whom Martin associate with try to, "smash reds" it usually involves following from a distance and well out of sight (or so they believe), perhaps shouting a few Nazi slogans before fleeing with their tails between their legs, and then declaring victory. Oh yes, those reds sure were smashed! Alternatively, they sit in puddles and smack themselves.

3. While they might try to prey on individuals, we really don't think too many will view these folks as much of a threat, especially when you see who they're hanging out with now. Try to figure out who we're talking about:

Oh sweet Mary Lou! It's Kevin Goudreau. Just when you think that Benson, Gaio and Martin couldn't sink any lower, they literally scrape the bottom of the barrel. In another picture below, Goudreau is hidden behind Gaio. Consider that to be foreshadowing your future relationship boys.

Andrew Benson Wants to Join the Army

A while ago, we noticed that Toronto bonehead Andrew Benson was keen on joining the Canadian Forces:

Naturally, we dismissed this as fantasy. After all, this is a man so lacking in body mass that he requires both a belt AND suspenders to secure his pants to the assemblage of bones otherwise known as his body. A meth habit (should he choose to partake in the drug) may get Benson through the trivialities of his depressing existence, but we’re pretty sure it won’t get him through basic training.

Nonetheless, we decided to humor him and pretend that we take seriously the delusional boastings of a 25 year old neo-Nazi so desperate for attention and validation that he hangs out with teenagers and posts pictures of his friends committing crimes on his Facebook profile. Trust us, he needs this. And the latest news from the wonderful world of Benson is that he has joined the National Socialist Movement Party.

Oh, and the Army. Unable to hide his elation, he reported both in the same breathless status update on Facebook. Unfortunately fellow bonehead Craig Flemming then had to go and be a Negative Nancy, pointing out that membership in a neo-Nazi hate group might be a problem for those P.C. thugs over at the Canadian Forces. Which Benson promptly ignored. We’d like to applaud him for his frankness, which will surely mean more to the military than his lack of character. The military doesn’t care if you belong to white supremacist organizations. Or if you’ve immortalized your white supremacy with racist tattoos. Or (as anyone who has seen Benson’s Facebook profile can attest to), if you continuously post pictures of you and your creepy friends giving Hitler salutes, wearing Nazi uniforms and doing drugs with minors in your apartment.

After all, it’s not like the military explicitly states its intolerance for “conduct that promotes, encourages or constitutes discrimination or harassment on the basis of race, national or ethnic origin, colour or religion.”

Or that such conduct “also includes belonging to or participating in the activities of a group or organization that a CF member knows, or ought to know, promotes such discrimination or harassment.”

So, Benson - if anyone tries to tell you that “racist attitudes are not compatible with military ethos and with effective military service” because such conduct “impairs military effectiveness by…creating an impression with the public of Canada and other nations, that the Canadian Forces cannot be relied upon to perform peacekeeping and other international commitments, or to provide assistance to Canadian authorities in handling internal disputes fairly and impartially, without regard to the race, national or ethnic origin, colour or religion of the parties involved” – well, you just don’t worry your tiny little head about it and keep on being the flamboyantly bigoted moron that we’re sure the Army will come to know and love. There’s absolutely no reason the military would refuse to admit a known racist to their organization. In fact, we pulled the following quote completely out of our ass:

Defence and the Canadian Forces must remain vigilant against racist behaviour because it is in flagrant opposition to basic human rights, which the Canadian Forces are called upon to defend. Again, in the context of the Canadian Forces, a modern and effective defence structure depends on teamwork, whereas racism undermines team cohesion and jeopardizes mission success. Finally, as harmony and unity are imperatives of the defence team, it is in the best interests of our operations to individually and collectively strive to eliminate racism within our organization.

We encourage you to continue to flaunt your racist extremism and above all keep on following your dreams. Because we know you’ve been dreaming about this since 2004:

We also know that before you ventured into the world of racist loserdom you were a rave kid and a self-proclaimed Trotskyist. We’re very curious as to the nature of the traumatic event that could explain your transformation from this:

into this:

Oh wait:

You hate your parents. That explains it. Disaffected kids will do anything to piss off mom and dad. And admittedly, we don’t know all the details of your upbringing or family life - we just wish we could say that you were a kid when you wrote that and not 20. We calculate that at the current rate of devolution by the time you hit 30 you’ll be turning tricks behind a dumpster in Vaughn and blaming it all on the ZOG. In the meantime, good luck in your pursuit of that “Army” career.