There's an article in the
Los Angeles Times Magazine (October 1, 2000 edition), written by Tamar Brott, entitled "
The Sea Monkeys and the White Supremacist"
Harold von Braunhut is the guy who invented the "
secret formula" that allows his packaged
hybrid brine shrimp to come to
life. Apparently, he and his wife are still the only ones who know the
secret.
Anyway, the gist of the article is that Mr. von Braunhut is connected with certain
extreme-right-wing white-racist hate-groups type of people. Among his many
inventions is a pen-sized weapon called the Kiyoga Agent M5, which telescopes into a
metal whip at a flick of the wrist. According to the article, "the M5 caused an
uproar in 1988 after it was revealed, in a fund-raising letter for the
Aryan Nations, that a portion of the sales proceeds was going to
Richard Butler, founder and leader of the organization."
The big kicker is, Harold von Braunhut is
Jewish!
Of course, this raised questions of whether or not the money from Sea Monkeys was also being funneled into the same cause.
Who woulda guessed?