PIPER, MICHAEL COLLINS.

PIPER, MICHAEL COLLINS.
(From The Dissenter’s Dictionary, 1999)

     One of the speakers invited to trustee [Steven] Frogue's ill-fated fall '97 forum on the Warren Commission, Piper, who works for the anti-Semitic The Spotlight, has written a book that alleges that JFK was assassinated by the CIA and the Israeli Mossad. The negative press and public reaction engendered by Piper's inclusion in the forum led Frogue to cancel the event. Soon, however, some of Piper's allies (readers of The Spotlight and other Liberty Lobby publications), spouting anti-Semitic remarks, showed up at board meetings to defend Frogue (e.g., in January '98).
     In March of '98, Piper emailed Marcia Milchiker, who had criticized him during the "Warren Commission" flap. He wrote: "by joining forces with the ADL in their insidious effort to silence me...you engaged in a Nazi-like activity...Well, Marcia, you are right in the same category as the Nazi stormtroopers...[W]hy are you so eager to defend Israel?...Yes, Orange County kids are old enough to fight and die for your beloved Israel, but not old enough or mature enough to read a book and make a judgment for themselves..."

     Piper eventually took a special interest in philosophy instructor Roy Bauer's newsletters. Also in March, he sent Bauer a note, calling him a "motherfucker" and stating, ominously, that "some of my Black Nationalist supporters in Southern California are watching your activities closely." Later that month, he sent a letter to the acting chancellor, stating, "Yes, indeed, my Black Nationalist friends are very disturbed at Roy Bauer and they have been monitoring his activities...I would add that I have no control over any Black Nationalists in California...."
     The following June, Piper showed up at a board meeting with a large entourage, including the avowed neo-Nazi Joe Fields, white separatist George Kadar (head of "Friends of Steven J. Frogue"), and explicit Holocaust denier James Scott. During "public comments," Bauer read Piper's “motherfucker” letter. Piper, focussing on the ADL and Bauer, turned in an unimpressive performance, in part owing to Irv "JDL" Rubin's heckling, which inspired Piper to remark, "if ever there was an argument in favor of anti-Semitism, it's this spokesman...for the Jewish community right here."
     As had been the case back in January, Frogue made no effort to repudiate the support he received from his odious supporters, though he did say that "Critics have erroneously linked my beliefs with those of Mr. Piper. Mr. Piper's book...offers a controversial new thesis on the facts of the JFK assassination."
     The 6/29/98 issue of The Spotlight reported the event. The article, by Jim Townsend, quotes Piper: "The trip here from Washington was worth it. It is very refreshing to be among patriots who are as concerned as I am about the systematic trashing of our rights and liberties by an alien pressure group, the ADL." Townsend, a resident of Fullerton, is the publisher of the National Educator, an anti-Semitic newspaper with links to Liberty Lobby. Issues offer such books as "The International Jew."
     When he learned of Bauer's First Amendment lawsuit against Chancellor Sampson in early '99, the publicity-hungry Piper noisily proclaimed his support of Bauer in The Spotlight. Since ’98, his desperate attempts to get the attention of the mainstream press have failed.
     Piper, it seems, has crawled back into the obscure hole that was his home before Mr. Frogue thrust him into the limelight.