WP: On Patrol in Vermont, Minutemen Are the Outsiders

[DeepModem Mom]

On Patrol in Vt., Minutemen Are the Outsiders
Along the Border, Group Targets Illegal Immigrants
By David A. Fahrenthold
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 31, 2005; Page A02


....the Minutemen have come to Vermont.

They began scouting out potential sites several weeks ago, poking around this hamlet with a downtown almost directly on the border. It was in Derby Line that they had their first problem with the elusive border. On one scouting expedition, member Bob Casimiro said they became, for a moment, illegal visitors in Canada.

Then came their first official patrol two weekends ago, which was dogged by protesters who assembled downtown and shouted slogans such as "Take your hate out of our state." The Minutemen had to patrol a bike path away from town, and then -- as the Boston Globe reported -- got lost and had to ask a local for directions.

Over the weekend, the Minutemen decided to find a spot and stay put. They set up lawn chairs and looked out across a field at the trees. On Saturday afternoon, after several hours of watching, they had seen nobody and nothing suspicious....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/30/AR2005103000822.html

[C_U_L8R]

1. If these idiots want to play army

then they should enlist.

(but my hunch is that they are either too fat or too yellow)

[More Than A Feeling]

2. Rubes

"HA-HA!"

[sweetheart]

3. But minutemen *ARE* the outsiders

Inconcionable the nuclear arsenal of minute men plotted about the land
based nuclear silos. They are not insiders, i hope. I hope they are
the most alien thing on earth, something put away FOREVER, a very ugly
thing that is thick in the air of 100 years of human history. I hope
that will to be so hateful, so murderous. I hope people scrape that
off, and the fear that charges it.

But your post brings to mind a vision of 100's of thousands of nuclear
missiles waiting earnestly to leap out of their silos, weapons cradles
and drop points. And as they all fly away, representing the last quiff
of human race intelligence extinguished.

"Oh, and it will rain fire and brimstone from the sky, and thou shall
make it so..." (*)

[SpiralHawk]

4. That's Abenaki territory

Honor the Jay Treaty Wampum Belt !

Rallying Cry for all of North America !

[beam me up scottie]

5. BWAHAHAHA! They got lost!!!

:spray:

Even the Minutemen concede that their welcome hasn't been particularly warm. During their first patrol weekend, Buck said he found a note with a native Vermonter's derogatory term for outsiders -- indicating that someone thought they were already on the wrong side of a border.

"Flatlander, go home," Buck said the note read."

:rofl:

I love my home state.
I miss my home state.:-(

[DrZeeLit]

14. Oh, I love Vermont, too. I'll keep things "warm" for you!

I'm not a native, and LOVE living here as I have been for five years.
Such a wonderful, open-minded, inspiring place.

I'm sure those yahoos will not find any welcome.
No matter the party affiliation, Vermonters are not happy with nutjobs.

And what's more interesting...who really gives a chipmunk's fanny about anybody coming over the border from Canada? Huh? Duh!

I'm a CA native and... I did a spit-take with my maple syrup when I read that piece.
Yeah, rampant illegals here. Rampant.

[beam me up scottie]

18. Thank you. I'm thrilled that you love Vermont.

It's hard for outsiders to understand why it is so special.

And you're right about Vermonters not liking nutjobs.

Before Gov. Dean signed the Civil Union bill into law, we were inundated with frothing-at-the-mouth religious zealots, including the worst of their lot, Randall Terry.

Instead of finding support from the citizens who were against Civil Unions, they got the cold shoulder.

The mouth breathers couldn't figure it out.
They finally had to pack up and go home.:evilgrin:

Keep warm and enjoy those northern lights- I miss them so.

[Sequoia]

30. 3 good things I know about Vermont:

1) Maple Syrup

2) Autumn landscapes

3) Ben & Jerry's

Never been there though.

[beam me up scottie]

32. Those are definitely in the top ten!

Don't forget Howard Dean, Bernie Sanders, Jim Jeffords, Pat Leahy, Civil Unions, Morgan horses and Phish.

Uh oh, better make it fifteen; I left out skiing, Lake Champlain, no billboards, and health and dental care for all children under 18.

The rest of the country could learn a lot from Vermont.

You'll have to visit, it's awesome.

[DrZeeLit]

47. And a few other Vermont milestones:

* The only state capital with NO MacDonalds.
* Vermont freed the slaves in 1777.
* Vermont declared war on Germany BEFORE the US Congress did.

My mom couldn't believe all the pumpkins and decorations (like LOTS of pumpkins) unchained to businesses and homes. Hard to explain that it is RARE for anything like this to be stolen.

I'll also add: NO TRAFFIC (compared to my former life in San Diego, CA), no smog, and not a lot of rage at all...

I live a different lifestyle now, not 24/7 movment -- mellow, slower, and less intense. I have time for art and reading and breathing. When I visit in San Diego, I can't handle all the frazzle -- especially (and this is odd) the zillion lights when I drive at night. And the cars going 80 mph with no space between. I guess I'm a wimp now... lol.

And this has to be the most political place I've ever lived in the US, but... the discourse is so civil.

Yes, it's a great place.... like a secret place that I wouldn't want to see change. And my husband has had a home here for 35 years, so even though I'm "new," we didn't change the landscape by moving here.

[beam me up scottie]

51. It is a different world.

Vermonters never let anyone from the federal government push them around.

Do you know the story of Fred Tuttle?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Tuttle

http://www.salon.com/media/1998/08/06media.html

[Sequoia]

49. Of course! Howard Dean and those Morgan Horses.

I bet it's beautiful over there now. Can I come over for flap jacks?!

Say, isn't Paul Bunyan from that area?

[beam me up scottie]

50. Unfortunately, no.

I wish I could have you over, but I'm hundreds and hundreds of miles away from my home.

I hope to move back sometime next year, if I can save enough money.

I swear I'll never leave Vermont again unless it's to move out of the country.

I think Paul Bunyan is from Minnesota.

[Sequoia]

59. Well, thanks anyway, I'm over in Californiaye

But in the wrong part. Gotta move south again someday, these rainy winters just bum me out to the max.

So PB is NOT from Vermont! Now I know. Gracias.

[wicket]

54. My family makes maple syrup

I try to get up to Vermont for sugaring season every year :)

[tanyev]

6. In Sinclair Lewis's book It Can't Happen Here the Minutemen

was the name of the private militia which guarded the Canadian border, in order to prevent Americans from escaping.

[Sequoia]

31. Never heard of that, thanks. I will have to check the library.

[tanyev]

56. Definitely check it out.

It was written in the 30s and mentioned how sauerkraut was renamed "Liberty Cabbage". Sound familiar? In one sense it was chilling to read, but on another level it was reassuring. Yes, the book is fiction, but conditions in the country disturbed Lewis enough to write such a book back then and still the country managed to weather those storms.

[Sequoia]

60. Thanks. Yuck, liberty cabbage.

[devilgrrl]

46. That's the first thing I thought of when I saw the headline.

That book is frighteningly prophetic

[wtbymark]

7. "Flatlander, go home" hahaha, I love it n/t

[hansberrym]

8. Maybe the Neocons are the good guys. eh?

Whatever one thinks of the so-called Minutemen, having ten or twenty million illegal alien residents is not a healthy thing for a nation. However it will make the Neocon goal of Integration a whole lot easier to carry out.


"A preliminary report by the leaders of that task force, who are former U.S., Mexican and Canadian officials, last week recommended building a North American economic and security community by 2010, and proposed a common external tariff and an outer security perimeter. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7257834/


If you think subverting our nation's independence by melding the US, Canada, and Mexico into an EU-like superstate is a good idea, then maybe you should consider voting Republican.



"Today, we need a nation of Minutemen, citizens who are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as the basic purpose of their daily life and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice for that freedom."
-John F. Kennedy

[beam me up scottie]

9. Ah, the Minute Men apologists finally showed up.

Singing the anti-immigration song.

Since you have so much in common, why don't you join them?

[Kolesar]

15. The GOPukes win both ways with the immigration issue

1) The wealthy get cheap labor to do their landscaping and clean their hotels, minimizing costs and driving profit at "the bottom line".

2) The xenophobes get an issue to get insanely mad about, causing them to vote with the gop, whose leaders are on the take from those who fund their campaigns, which points us back to the gops I cited in number 1. The gop will never legislate for immigration control, and the democrats won't either.

I think it's all terrible policy. Are we supposed to accept having three million immigrants, most undocumented, every year? Our population increase by 18% or 35,000,000 in the 1990s. I don't want 400 million neighbors.

[beam me up scottie]

21. Sorry, you won't get much support for anti-immigration policies from

the child of an immigrant.

[hansberrym]

16. How surprising, another knee jerk response. The Neocons are

winning because there are so many people on the left unwittingly
(or perhaps wittingly) doing their dirty work for them.

The Neocons do not have to defend their open border/cheap labor policy because so many on the left are more than happy to smear anyone who opposes that particular agenda.

Why are the Labor unions getting trampled? Because Bush has a policy of "matching willing workers with employers". So I guess the broad minded response would be that it is just too f?%#$ bad if you are the one whose job is being matched up with a more willing worker (from a cheaper labor pool).


So what if everyone of the Minutemen is a wacko, they have a single issue agenda which is stopping, or at least bringing a spotlight to the issue of, illegal immigration. So unless one thinks illegal immigration is a good thing, why look a gift horse in the mouth?

Wouldn't it be much better to use the Minutemen as a wedge againt the Neocons, rather than help the Neocons by smearing their opposition?

[beam me up scottie]

19. How predictable that anyone who is anti-bigot is automatically labeled

"pro" illegal immigration by the I've-got-mine crowd.

[hansberrym]

23. That's a little thin-skinned considering how freely

you have been casting aspersions. For all I know you may be entirely neutral on the subject of illegal immigration.


But do you have any suggestions for beating the Neocons -or are you content with knee jerk responses ?

[beam me up scottie]

24. I suggest you don't compare these Bubbas with the Minute Men Kennedy was

referring to.

I'd also suggest not championing their cause, because it has more to do with inbred bigotry than immigration policies.

But if you don't value the votes of brown people, feel free to ignore my advice.

[hansberrym]

34. If the Neocons are succesful, the bigotry, or lack there of, of the

Minutemen will be the least of our worries.

A fear of losing votes in the short run is a piss poor excuse for doing nothing on the illegal immigration issue. Especially since the endgame of the Neocons is to subvert the very government that we are voting to maintain.

[beam me up scottie]

36. Oh brother.

Sorry, your suggestion that we crawl in bed with bigots in order to make the neocons look bad smacks of intolerance of and apathy towards immigrants.

It's a modern day witch hunt sponsored by the reich wing.

Just because they don't wear pointy hats and white sheets anymore doesn't mean they should be considered an ally.

[hansberrym]

42. Funny -that's just about what Bush says.

http://washingtontimes.com/national/20050324-122200-6209r.htm

[beam me up scottie]

45. No, that's not exactly true.

He didn't support militias guarding our borders but that hardly puts me in his camp, now does it?

Could you be more disingenuous or is that the best you've got?

I'm not surprised you have to resort to using grade school tactics when trying to defend your justification for supporting Bigots With Borders.

[hansberrym]

52. Bush does not merely "not support" the Minutemen, he denounces

them. That would put you at least on the same page of the playbook.


Maybe you might have heard this in grade school, rock throwing and glass houses do not go well together. A review of your posts thus far shows that you do little else but throw rocks and make snide comments. Your last post would make MaCarthy blush with embarrassment at the shear hypocrisy, considering your earlier posts.


post 9.
Ah, the Minute Men apologists finally showed up
Singing the anti-immigration song.
Since you have so much in common, why don't you join them?

Let's review the logical flaws in your arguments: name calling, guilt by association, and a non-seguitor thrown in(anti illegal immigration is supposed evidence of anti-immigrantion in general)


post 19.
How predictable that anyone who is anti-bigot is automatically labeled "pro" illegal immigration by the I've-got-mine crowd.

More name calling



post 24
But if you don't value the votes of brown people, feel free to ignore my advice.

race baiting

[beam me up scottie]

53. I recognize this spiel from the last time this issue came up on DU.

If you want to compare politics, using the Minute Men as an excuse for pushing anti-immigration is what the freepers were and are still doing.

Nobody argues that the system needs to be fixed.

But only bigots would suggest allowing the Minute Men the freedom to push their agenda of intolerance and hatred of Mexicans and other non-white minority immigrants as a solution.

Go peddle it somewhere else, you're stinking up the place.

[hansberrym]

55. Senator ...have you no shame?

[beam me up scottie]

58. Shame? How about taking a look at what you're supporting:

And here's a link to others who feel the same way you do:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1375432/posts

[hansberrym]

62. Yes, just plain shameless. Good night and good luck

If you were going to keep trying the guilt by association ploy, you might have at least used something from the Minutemen to complain about. At least that would have made some sense and been slightly intellectually honest.

But pulling the guilt by association routine and then posting something that is not even from the Minutemen is beyond the pale.


Good night and good luck

[beam me up scottie]

64. It came from Boing Boing's photos of Minute Men on the Mexican border.

Are you actually suggesting that those Boss Hogs in camo wear are above that sort of thing?

Right.

Of course you are.

[Village Idiot]

11. If ANY of these ridiculous fucktards finds his way...

across the border anywhere NEAR my little piece of heaven, he'd better be wearing a flak jacket.

And a helmet.

What a batch or retards...bashing around the bush in the middle of deer season...recipe for destruction.

[beam me up scottie]

13. Yes, it would be tragic if an accident were to happen...

:cry:

[leesa]

27. Tiny, tiny percentage are illegal immigrants. THEY are not the problem

Why don't you focus on the REAL problem which is the corporations HIRING illegals so they can pay dirt wages. Why don't you focus on these corporations sending your jobs away so they can pay dirt wages in third world countries?

They used this same con job to make you hate blacks...."Oh they're stealing your jobs and raping your wimmen folk". You would have fallen for it then as well.

[beam me up scottie]

28. ~

:thumbsup:

[hansberrym]

40. When the Neocons get their way, there will be no distinction

between legal and illegal in North America. Corporations will hire the cheapest labor available from the US/Mexico/Canada.

The reason that Corporations are not being fined right nowfor hiring illegals is that the Neocons want it that way. The same people who support this policy support the merging of the US with Mexico and Canada. (Thankfully those "racists" up north aren't too keen on the idea either)

If your knee could stop jerking for just a minute, maybe you might be able to take a step back and look at the big picture. The Neocons don't care about race except as a wedge issue. They say that anyone who opposes the open borders policy (which is really a cheap labor policy)is a racist. Funny that you say the same thing.


Do you think the US should merge with Canada&Mexico and form an
EU-like superstate?

Do you think the US should continue to look the other way as somewhere between 10 and 20 million illegal immigrants work and reside in this country?

I think the gov ought to re-establish the policy of fining employers who hire illegals, this would cause the issue to go away for the most part and the fines would be a source of revenue.

[MarsThe Cat]

10. those damn canadian snowbacks...

sneaking down here to take our jobs, and just sending most of their pay back to canada...SOMETHING had to be done.

[beam me up scottie]

12. Why those dirty, rotten, low down, evil frogs!

Them and their dang skunky Canadian brew, sucking up the profits of hardworking Milwaukeeans...

:rofl:

[TygrBright]

17. Yeah, HOW COME the gubmint isn't...

...spending our tax money on this SERIOUS problem?

>>"Our little group of three, four, five, 10, people here on this beautiful day are not going to protect the Canadian border," he said. In total, there were 13 patrolling the border. Instead, he said, the protest was about public relations, drawing attention to the federal government's failure. "How come Washington isn't handling this?"<<

I mean, rogue Canuck illegals.... it's a nightmare, I tell ya-- a nightmare! People coming from Canada to get all the fabulous benefits of our wonderful freedom and robust economy and peerless public services instead of...

Oh, wait...

Nevermind.

Huh?

confusedly,
Bright

[Kralizec]

20. These guys are such fools it makes me laugh!! (eom)

[donsu]

22. they should know that you can live in Vt. for yrs. and still be the

outsider. they don't friendly up easy.

LOL

[funflower]

25. Why would anyone who is blessed with Canadian citizenship want to sneak

across the border? :shrug:

[MarsThe Cat]

33. they're not looking for Canadians- just REALLY sneaky Mexicans.

nt

[tanyev]

57. Yeah, because those destitute Mexicans who want to find work here

are SO sneaky that they will buy plane tickets to Canada and then try to sneak in to the U.S.! Yeah, that's it, heck, they probably fly first class, that's how sneaky they are.

(Sarcasm not directed at you, MTC, but at the dimbulb Minutemen.)

[leesa]

26. Why are these guys harassing Vermont? Is it the last place the

cowards are likely to run into an illegal alien? Is it to do a little deer and moose hunting between shooting immigrants?

[beam me up scottie]

29. I would love to see them caught and arrested

on the Canadian side of the border.

I doubt their border patrol likes them any more than ours does.

[Jim Stark]

35. Dangerous idiots

While these idiots make me laugh, I think they do represent a serious danger that we shouldn't ignore.

[beam me up scottie]

37. Danger from what?

Bubbas or brown people?

[Jim Stark]

38. Dangerous because

They are being portrayed in the media as more and more mainstream rather than the extremist bigot's that they are.
IMHO

[beam me up scottie]

39. I agree.

The first pictures of them from the Mexico border accurately portrayed them, IMO.

Fat militia wanna-be types hunting poor people with guns and pickup trucks.

Oh, welcome to DU!
:hi:

[Jim Stark]

41. Thanks!

I feel like I'm finally home with family here, slightly dysfuntional but less so than my own!

[beam me up scottie]

44. Glad to hear it.

Some of us are a bit touchy about this issue because of the infamous Minute Men flame wars on DU a few months back.

It's horrible to see people you liked and respected suddenly turn into racists who believe that invading armies of brown skinned people are going to steal their jobs, homes and women.

[MisterP]

61. one news report even called them AGENTS!!!

and the BP offered them recognition, but it was withdrawn after people began, understandably, freaking out

[0rganism]

43. Now I've got no reason to doubt their sincerity...

...but if they accidentally wander into Canada, I'm gonna laugh.

[UTUSN]

48. BWAHAHAHAAHH! Why Don't They Just Give Up Their Pretense

of being "equal" (on both borders) and just stick to their racism on the Southern border. That's who they really are.


GREAT GOING, VERMONT!!!!! Great Slogan: "Take your hate out of our state!"

[smiley_glad_hands]

63. Oddly this is a good thing.

I think that they can do less damage in vermont.

[tanyev]

65. Hopefully they'll be really vigilant in January and February.