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Crook appearing on the Fox News Channel

Michael Crook (born February 1978^[1]), also known as Michael Vogel-Delaney^[2], is the webmaster of several controversial websites. Though first noted for his service as president of the 2 Unlimited Internet fanclub "Unlimited Too Fan Club,"^[3] Crook first gained public recognition in January 2005, when the media reported that he was offering to return the digital camera of Army Specialist Elwood Wrigley for a $1000 "finder's fee" after finding it at a football game;^[4] days later Crook received further attention after he was revealed to be the owner of the now-defunct "Forsake the Troops" website, which was created to express his hate for the US military. Image File history File links Stop_hand. ... To suggest a relevant news story for the main page, refer to the criteria then add your suggestion at the candidates page. ... Image File history File links MichaelCrookOnFoxNews. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... A webmaster (some women prefer webmistress) is a person responsible for designing, developing, marketing, or maintaining website(s). ... CD single cover of Here I Go 2 Unlimited was a Eurodance group formed in 1991. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The armed forces of the United States of America consist of the United States Army United States Navy United States Air Force United States Marine Corps United States Coast Guard Note: The United States Coast Guard has both military and law enforcement functions. ...

Personal life

Crook was born in Portland, Oregon^[1], and baptised as a Mormon. He was raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, but is rumored to have lived in many different areas. He graduated high school in 1997, from Oakcrest High School, in Mays Landing, New Jersey. After graduation, Crook enrolled in Atlantic Cape Community College, also in Mays Landing, as a broadcasting student. As of late 2005, he lived in the Syracuse, New York suburb of Liverpool.^[5] Nickname: City of Roses, Stumptown, Bridgetown Official website: http://www. ... Official language(s) None Capital Salem Largest city Portland Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 9th 255,026 km² 420 km 580 km 2. ... For other uses, see Mormon (disambiguation). ... Nickname: The Entertainment Capital of the World Official website: http://www. ... High school - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Oakcrest High School is a comprehensive four-year public high school in Hamilton Township, in Atlantic County, New Jersey. ... Mays Landing is a census-designated place located in Atlantic County, New Jersey. ... Official language(s) None defined, English de facto Capital Trenton Largest city Newark Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 47th 22,608 km² 110 km 240 km 14. ... Atlantic Cape Community College is an accredited, co-educational, two-year, public, community college located in Atlantic County, New Jersey. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Aerial View of Syracuse Syracuse is an American city in Central New York. ... Liverpool is a village located the town of Salina, New York in Onondaga County, New York, USA and is a northern suburb of Syracuse, New York. ...

Crook claims ties to the white nationalist organization Stormfront. He posts there under the moniker "silentmike"^[6], often seeking companionship or offering hosting services.^[7] Michael asserts that he is not a racist, but only "racially aware." Crook explains this view on his personal website, stating that "I believe each race has the right to existence. I simply prefer...to associate with people of my own racial background."^[8] White nationalism is the attempt to create racial identity groups which advance the social and economic interests of White or Caucasian people. ... The Stormfront White Nationalist Community is a prominent white nationalist / white pride / white supremacist Internet forum. ...

In regards to stories circulating that he didn't make it through military boot camp as a reason behind his views toward the military, Crook commented that "I never served in the military. I never even tried to join."^[9] He dismisses articles, letters and USENET posts concerning his enlistment as "forgeries".^{[citation needed]} However, a 1999 article credited to him in the Press of Atlantic City retells an unsuccessful attempt to join the military.^[10] This has not been confirmed or denied by the military. Usenet is a distributed Internet discussion system that evolved from a general purpose UUCP network of the same name. ...

Websites

According to his personal website, Crook owns 62 domain names as of the middle of April, 2006. He has, in the past, sold some of his domain names for varying amounts of money.

His most known project, "Forsake The Troops," was created to express his hate for the army. As well as "Forsake the Troops," Crook has created websites for other groups he felt ought to be forsaken, including the local police.

In addition to Crook's own domains, there are a number of anti-Crook websites, set up by detractors who disapprove of his political ideals, or feel that he has behaved like an Internet troll. One such website is named "Michael Crook Talks Out of His Ass". In Internet terminology, a troll is someone who comes into an established community such as an online discussion forum, and posts inflammatory, rude or offensive messages designed to annoy and antagonize the existing members or disrupt the flow of discussion (see Anonymous Internet posting). ...

forsakethetroops.info and successors

In January 2005, Crook created a mock organisation, which he named "Citizens Against the Troops". He produced a website for the group at forsakethetroops.info, where he posted articles belittling members of the US military. 2005 : January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December- → Deaths in January • 29 Ephraim Kishon • 25 Philip Johnson • 23 Johnny Carson • 22 Parveen Babi • 20 Jan Nowak-Jeziorański • 17 Virginia Mayo • 17 Zhao Ziyang • 15 Ruth Warrick • 14 Rudolph Moshammer Recent deaths Ongoing events • Tsunami relief...

The website attracted a great deal of acrimony, with Crook at one point declaring that he had been receiving somewhere between 75 and 100 death threats per day.^[3] Some speculated that it was only a hoax created to attract attention and spark outrage.^[11] As his infamy grew, he was invited to appear on several radio and television talk shows, including Hannity & Colmes.^[3] A death threat is a threat (often made anonymously) against a person threatening to kill them. ... A talk show (U.S.) or chat show (Brit. ... Hannity & Colmes Hannity & Colmes is an American television program on the Fox News cable television network featuring conservative host Sean Hannity and liberal host Alan Colmes. ...

His former website citizensagainstthetroops.org posted rants against the "lavish" pay, benefits, living quarters, retirement, medical care and burial benefits of United States service members. It also displayed photos of troops wounded or dead with comments referring to them as "scumbags".

Crook sold the original forsakethetroops.info domain name for, according to the buyer US$50^[12]; Crook, however, has claimed it was sold for $500^[13]. He then resurrected the content of the original site at a new location, opposethetroops.com. He also bought the domain theusasucks.info, which he had set up as a redirect to opposethetroops.com. Opposethetroops.com has now too been taken offline, and instead redirects to one of his latest projects. This article is about general United States currency. ...

On May 17, 2005, the foresakethetroops.info website bore a message explaining that Michael Crook had been beaten to death by two men, "thought to be members of the military".^[14] The story later turned out to have been a hoax.^[15] Crook denied faking his own death, protesting that his website had been the victim of an attack by hackers. He later also asserted that hackers had broken into his house, beaten him and changed his websites.^{[citation needed]} May 17 is the 137th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (138th in leap years). ... A hoax is an attempt to trick an audience into believing that something false is real. ... In computer security, hacker refers to a type of computer hacker who is involved in programming and computer insecurity and are able to exploits systems and/or gain unauthorized access through skills, tactics and detailed knowledge. ...

On 11/17/05 an Internet hacking group known as the g00ns manipulated Michael Crook out of access to several of his main sites [16]: opposthetroops.info, opposethetroops.com, forsakethepolice.info, and daniellebremen.info. Despite this, a section of Michael Crook's blog appears to still be dedicated to Breman. Furthermore, in April 2006, he brought online daniellebreman.com, which continues his mission of apparently exposing Breman and her situation.

On 12/18/05, Crook claimed on his website he was the sender of a death wish via a Christmas Card to a wounded United States Soldier Joshua Sparling, who was recovering at Walter Reed Army Hospital. As of 12/19/2005 Crook has denied in an email to another blogger he sent the card, "I did not have any part in that. However, I think that it is a humorous, harmless stunt, and whoever did do it is a blooming genius. I have no sympathy for the soldier." while still taking credit for it at his weblog. It has not been proven who actually sent the card, however, and it has not been proven that the e-mail with the alleged quote is legitimate. Joshua Sparling, (b. ... Walter Reed Army Medical Center is the U.S. Armys premier medical center on the east coast of the United States. ...

On the 30th of December 2005, the citizensagainstthetroops.org website was replaced with a disclaimer from SMIS Hosting, explaining that they consider the website "smut", and that it would remain down until the domain was transferred to its new owner. It asked for donations in support of the removal of the site. SMIS, however, is the pseudo-company started by Michael Crook. SMIS stands for Silent Mike Internet Service - Silent Mike being the online moniker used by Michael Crook.

The next day, the domain and SMIS message was replaced by the nepn.net site; Crooks claim that the domain was purchased for $2000.00, though this quickly refuted by the new owner, who had paypal receipt screenshots to prove that the actual purchase price was actually $20.

One of the domains Crook owned at one time was nodrunkdrivers.org. The domain name became the centre of some controversy when Crook posted a message to the website, saying: "It's sad that it's come to this, but nodrunkdrivers.org must be sold. The current asking price is $150,000 (USD). Unfortunately, if the domain is not sold by 11:59pm Eastern Time on October 1, 2005, an innocent kitten gets it. Unlike the similar request involving a bunny, this will happen. Don't let "it" happen to an innocent kitten."

As the deadline drew near, Crook revealed that "it" referred, not to killing a kitten (as his critics had suggested), but to giving the cat the domain name nodrunkdrivers.org. He has since explained that "the kitty says" the price of the domain has gone up to $200,000. It has since been sold.

On the 4th of January 2006, With the traffic generated by the domains citizensagainstthetroops.info, citizensagainstthetroops.org, forsakethefirefighters.info and forsakethepolice.org NEPN made its first donation to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund in the amount of $50.00 and a $50.00 donation to Operation Military Pride. NEPN says they will continue to donate to various police, fire and military organizations until these domains expire or no longer generate funds to do so.

On the 9th of January 2006, rumors spread that Michael Crook claimed that he had "thrown in the towel." Many felt that the exposure of conflicting statements, compounded by pressure from the McDonald's Corporation over his use of their logo^[17][18], was the cause, while others felt that it was another publicity stunt.^{[citation needed]} On 10 January 2006, the domains michaelcrook.com, michaelcrooktalks.com, and oneangryguywithawebpage.com were sold to Sugar Ray Dodge.com. There have been claims that the rest of his domain names were sold off for the sum of thirty-five dollars.^{[citation needed]} All the current owners of those particular domain names were detractors of his. McDonalds Corporation (NYSE: MCD) is the worlds largest chain of fast-food restaurants [1]. Although McDonalds did not invent the hamburger or fast food, its name has become nearly synonymous with both. ...

On April 12, 2006, Crook resumed control of the michaelcrook.com domain. He has thus far remained mute as to the details of that transaction.

Contrary to prior claims that he had "thrown in the towel", another anti-military website went online on April 13, 2006. Disown The Troops serves the same purpose as the previous sites; to express Crook's apparent disdain for the United States military, and its pay structure.

Perverted Truth

Perverted Truth, a website which opposes Perverted-Justice.com, went online on February 16, 2006. He claims that PJ "seeks to ruin men's lives through less than ethical means." Crook sold the site on April 17, 2006. Screenshot of the Perverted Justice website[1] Perverted-Justice. ...

Support Abortion

Another Crook project is Support Abortion, which went online March 3, 2006. The site asserts support for abortions, and plans to offer news, information, and resources to that effect.

Crimmigrants

Also in April, Crook brought online Crimmigrants.Com, which, according to the website, exists to "discuss and expose illegal immigrants". Crook insists on the website that racial attacks will not be tolerated. Illegal immigration is the act of moving to or settling in another country or region, temporarily or permanently, in violation of the law or without documents permitting an immigrant to settle in that country. ...

Notes

External links

• Official Website
• Disown The Troops
• Perverted Truth
• Support Abortion
• Crimmigrants
• Citizens Against the Troops
• Want to know more about Michael Crook
• Crook's Educational and Military History
• Citizens Against Michael Crook, The largest Anti-Michael Crook site!
• Euphoric Reality, a military blog that continues to cover Crook's activities.
• "Who is Michael Crook?", Syracuse Post-Standard, Hart Seely, 2005-08-01.
• Michael Crook Talks Out of His Ass, website critical of Crook
• silentmike.net, Crook's 2002 homepage archived by the Wayback Machine. Includes references to serving in the army.
• McoMike His weblog.