The count is in, and the number of hate groups in the U.S. exploded to 926 in 2008, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s totally non-fearmongerishly titled “Year in Hate” issue of the Intelligence Report. And Texas can proudly boast the second-highest hate group count, at 66, right behind California’s 84.

From whence comes all this hate? According to the SPLC’s website, “The number of hate groups operating in the United States continued to rise in 2008 and has grown by 54 percent since 2000 — an increase fueled last year by immigration fears, a failing economy and the successful campaign of Barack Obama…” Which clearly means that if McCain won, there wouldn’t have been such a run on white sheets and pointy-pillow-case hoods. Damn that Obamamania!

Houston is home to a fair share of these groups, including the United White Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, the New Black Panther Party, the Gospel Broadcasting Association, and the generically monikered Aryan Nations. (Seriously, mein bruders, is that the best you could come up with?)

Hair Balls searched for these groups’ websites, only to find that many were defunct or mostly inactive, which makes us question the veracity of the SPLC’s count. But for those of you racist folk who aren’t sure which group best meets your particular brand of hate, we present the following:

Eagle Publications, Corpus Christi
As far as we can tell, these Holocaust-revisionists don’t have a
website, but they still may be active – and you can order a book at the
above site called Jewish Ritual Murder and a “documentary” titled Human
Sacrifice among the Fanatical Hasidic Jews and Other Cults from Ancient
Times to the Present. We’re not sure if you need to read the book
before you see the movie, but no doubt there will be those anti-Semitic
snobs who always say “oh, the book was superior – it got so much deeper
into how filthy those filthy Jews are.” You know the type.

Power of Prophecy, Austin

PoP is the ministry of some dude named Texe Marrs, who in addition to
adopting a questionable pseudonym (how do you pronounce that first
name, anyway? “Teeks”? “Texy”?), makes DVDs with titles like “Phallic
Architecture and Sex Monuments of the Illuminati.” Also, the current
newsletter includes an article titled “The Illuminati are Obsessed With
Sex.” He also sells a book-on-tape called “Sex Cults of the
Illuminati.” You can see where this is going.

Confederate Hammerskins, Dallas
Have you had trouble finding a racist St. Patrick’s Day celebration?
Well have no fear – the ol’ Hammerskins are sponsoring a big hateful
bash in Orlando, featuring the musical stylings of The Caucazoids, Kill
or Be Killed, and Bloodshot. Bonus: “All White Nationalist[s] Welcome.”
Bonus-Bonus: “Family Friendly”

White Boy Society, no city given
Do you like to dish out your hate while riding a Harley? Do you enjoy
hitting the road with your ol’ lady on the back, but hate having
“having black culture shoved down your throat”? Well, the White Boy
Society is probably the right hate group for you. These guys make bold
statements that you won’t find in the Jew-controlled media, like “No
more wars for Isreal!”[sic] And really, why should we be fighting for a
country whose name is so difficult to spell? Why can’t they be like the
USA, which has the common decency to be spelled phonetically? And don’t
even get the White Boys started on that goddamn Afganustann!

Blood and Honour, Richardson
Hair Balls thought we’d finally found a hate group with its online act
together: B&H claims worldwide chapters, and they have a bitchin’
logo with a skull and the Lone Star flag. But when you click on the
logo, you wind up on a wasteland-website with links to sites dealing
with cord blood banking and monitoring your glucose levels. Is Blood
and Honour the world’s first hate group to tackle both illegal
immigrants taking all the good jobs and the important of early diabetes
testing? These guys just might be the future of hate!

Contributor Craig Malisow covers crooks, quacks, animal abusers, elected officials, and other assorted people for the Houston Press.