The SPLC was right -- a real hate crime committed

At first, it looked like a classic "hate crime" scenario ripped from the pages of the SPLC playbook:

Hate crimes detectives are investigating a burglary at a Spanish-speaking church in Long Island’s Suffolk County after notes with anti-Hispanic comments were found on the altar.

Police say the notes were left Tuesday night at the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion in Patchogue.

The investigation of the break-in at the church on Railroad Avenue comes as a national civil rights organization released a report finding that Latino immigrants in Suffolk County say they are routinely harassed.

The report from the Southern Poverty Law Center was based in part on interviews with more than 70 Latino immigrants in recent months. It was released Wednesday.

And what a chilling report it was! Mark Potok slithered onto the scene to pump up outrage against "nativists" in a classic fearmongering piece entitled "Climate of Fear":

The number of hate groups in America has been rising, too, climbing more than 50% since 2000, mainly by exploiting the issue of undocumented non-white immigration.

No doubt who the perpetrator was -- that is, until the police made their arrest. Lo and behold, they had their hate criminal:

The investigation into hate-filled notes that were left on a Patchogue church altar and suspected at first of being an anti-Hispanic bias attack took a different turn Saturday with the arrest of a Hispanic man who once wanted to worship there. ...

Suffolk police defended charging Munguia Garcia with a hate crime.

"It was not a hate crime targeting ethnicity," said police spokesman Tim Motz. "It was a hate crime targeting religious practice."

In a statement to police, Munguia Garcia, of Norton Street, accused the Iglesia Evangelica Refugio de Salvacion of exerting undue pressure on churchgoers for cash - an accusation church leaders adamantly deny.

"I hate the church," Munguia Garcia wrote.

We all know how the SPLC hammers those who hate Christians. Any minute now, the SPLC will release a stern denunciation of Garcia for his hatred of the Church. Here it comes ... wait for it ...

PS -- Hey, here's a thought -- imagine the uproar the SPLC and its puppy dog media would've made if a white man had written those notes. Yet now, only silence. It's almost enough to make you suspect not only hypocrisy, but -- I hate to say it -- agenda-driven manipulation of the facts. Almost.