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Blogger pulled plug himself, he says

By ASJYLYN LODER
Published December 20, 2006

A Spring Hill blogger posted a farewell to his readers after his controversial posting - "...we need to kill all Muslim kids. Starting now." - led to the closing of his Web site late last week.

"It was fun. It was real. And for me, in the past couple of months it had not been 'real fun,' " wrote Vilmar Tavares, 54, the host of Right Wing Howler, on the remnant of his defunct Web site.

Tavares denied reports that his Web hosting company shut him down after complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim advocacy group that claimed credit for the shutdown. Tavares said he shut it down voluntarily because he was tired of blogging.

Host Gator Co., the Web host that carried Right Wing Howler, said Monday that Tavares volunteered to shut down after Host Gator Co. told him there had been "literally thousands" of complaints.

CAIR supporters swamped Host Gator Co. with e-mails, said company president Brent Oxley.

"It was overwhelming, their support," Oxley said.

Tavares did not return a call for comment Tuesday.

CAIR's Tampa chapter had been monitoring Tavares' blog after a spate of anti-Muslim comments by Hernando County officials sparked a political controversy in late October.

On Nov. 29, Tavares wrote, "After all, if Muslims are raising their ... rug rats to strap on bombs in order to kill us, it is logically correct to assume that in order to stop that from happening we need to kill all Muslim kids. Starting now."

His blog also included lewd insults against Muslims, along with pictures of the Koran, Islam's holy book, in a toilet and on fire.

Host Gator Co. forbids "Any material that, in our judgment, is obscene or threatening," according to the company's Web site.

Oxley said he called Tavares before reviewing the site. Tavares said he was thinking of quitting anyway. His cooperation helped, but Host Gator Co. would likely have shut down the site without his consent if it had to, Oxley said.

Oxley pointed to a case earlier this year, when the 4-year-old company, which recently moved from Boca Raton to Houston, shut down an anti-Semitic site.

"Any type of hate site, we're not going to tolerate," Oxley said.

After Right Wing Howler came down Thursday night, the company received new complaints - this time from freedom-of-speech proponents who wanted Tavares back on the Web.

"No matter what the response," Oxley said with a sigh, "we look like the bad guy either way."

Asjylyn Loder can be reached at aloder@sptimes.com or 352754-6127.

[Last modified December 20, 2006, 02:31:57]