Firsthand Report of Today's Minuteman Project Activities

I just got back from Tombstone - this is a firsthand report of the Minuteman Project

I arrived around 9am(which was on the schedule as registration). I wasn't sure where exactly to go because the information I had just said downtown Tombstone. Once there it was obvious where to go. The news trucks with their satellite dishes were everywhere. Media types with video and still cameras swarmed the streets. Reporters with their surgically attached notepads crowded the sidewalks.

MMP volunteers were in line outside the building. At one time there was probably one media person for every one volunteer. Soon the numbers of volunteers swelled and it was a target rich environment for the media.

It looked like a good bunch of people. I knew some of them but most were from out of town. We waited forever with no news about what the delay was. Finally, they opened the doors and let in about 5 at a time for registration.

I know the organizers of the event and I offered to help them any way I can if they needed. While I was waiting in line one of the grabbed me and said "Help." They needed help at the registration table in order to process all of the volunteers faster than they were already doing. I was ushered in (I didn't have a registration yet or ID badge, but there I was registering everyone else).

Once I was there we got things really moving. There was some sort of computer glitch that had wiped out some people's registration and they didn't have their badge and paperwork in the file. We had to direct them 3 blocks over to the Tombstone Tumbleweed office to wait in line there for a full registration.

I was joined the room by Linda Muller and Bay Buchanan of Tom Tancredo's Team America PAC. Bay was to speak later and Linda had set up a booth for people to join the organization, buy T-shirts and bumper stickers, and just plain receive information about the group.

Once signing everyone in I had about an hour before the speakers would start and we would receive our orientation. I went down to the Tumbleweed office and registered and waited for my ID card. While there I heard something going on back across town (its a small town and you can hear stuff going on a couple blocks away). I left to investigate.

I went back to the building being used to assemble the volunteers and saw nothing at first. Then I saw a bunch of college-aged kids with ACLU Legal Observer printed in red - in English and Spanish - on their T-shirts. I approached one of them and said that I wanted to report vigilantism. I said that the MMP was only coming to the border to observe and to report any illegal activity to the proper authorities. I then told them that the ACLU was coming to observe the observers and report any illegal activity. And, since the ACLU considers the MMP to be vigilantes then the ACLU legal observers are vigilantes too because they're doing the same exact thing. The guy wanted to argue with me and then decided not to because he wanted to join the group's leader who was being interviewed by the press.

Just then I heard a bunch of drums thumping, horns blowing, whistles blowing, and pots and pans being banged. I look up the street to see 30-40 protestors coming our way. I ran up the street to check them out and many were Mexican - some were in indian dress for some reason. There were also a bunch of skanky looking college-aged kids with various offensive slogans on signs and T-shirts. One was wearing an Earth First shirt. I saw several anarchy symbols and such. I joined the marchers as they headed to the building and chanted loudly "Viva La Migra!!" They didn't like that and I was frequently rewarded with a metal pot being placed next to my ear and banged loudly. Ouch!

The protestors set up directly in front of the hall. I tried to engage other MMP types in the "Viva La Migra!" chant, but apparently most don't know what it means and were confused.

Those in indian dress did some funky indian dances and such. Most protestors had ear plugs in their ears so that they would not be deafened by their racket.

It was about then that they started ushering the first group of people in to hear the speakers. I didn't have an ID yet - one of the organizers let me in to the foyer but I could not get into the auditorium without a badge. Luckily, since I'd been registering people I had noticed that the organizer who had let me in had a badge on and I had seen an additional badge in the stack. So, he had a duplicate badge. I went over and snagged the additional badge, he knew I was doing it and didn't mind. That got me past the bouncers at the auditorium doors.

The room was full and this was just the first group of volunteers to hear the speeches. They had to let us in in groups because the hall would not seat all of us.

The speakers included Jim Gilchrist, Bay Buchanan, Rep. Tom Tancredo, Chris Simcox, Frosty Wooldridge, and AZ Senator Russell Pearce. The speeches were electrifying, bringing the crowd to its feet many times. Also in attendance were some Republican members of the AZ State Legislature (next to whom I sat). There was Sen. Thayer Verschoor, Sen. Russell Pearce, Sen. Karen Johnson and Sen. Jack Harper. Also there was Rep. Andy Biggs, Rep. Trish Gore, and Rep. Chuck Gray. Former Rep. Randy Graf was also there. And, let me tell you having sat next to them, they were some of the most enthusiastic members of the crowd. A great bunch.

Most of the political speakers focused on our unsecured borders and the government's responsibility to protect it under Article IV, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution. President Bush's name was mud because of his support for amnesty and the name-calling he did last week (he called the MMP a bunch of "vigilantes" when he was playing grab ass with El Presidente Vincente Fox. The orientation consisted of Chris Simcox explaining that the whole world is watching and that no one is to do anything to bring discredit to the MMP. And that everyone should be law-abiding, respectful, professional, and keep an eye on the other volunteers to make sure that they're doing the same.

The rousing speeches ended and I found myself outside amid the din of the crazy protestors. I tried to carry on a conversation with someone right in front of the building rented for the MMP but it was impossible because of the noise. I grabbed one of the ACLU Legal Observers to file a complaint against the protestors and she laughed me off. I searched out another one and actually got him to write up a formal complaint. I explained that the MMP's freedom of speech and right to peaceable assembly were being infringed by the disrupting protestors. He wrote it all down and said he would see what they could do with my complaint. I urged several others to do the same thing - to file a complaint - and several did.

I was interviewed by several news reporters on camera and off. I was taped chanting "Viva La Migra!" to the protestors (which was akin to stirring a hornet's nest every time I did it).

At one time a German tourist came up and asked me if I was a "gunman". I had no idea what he was talking about. He finally explained that we were taking our guns to the border to shoot illegals. I told him that he was wrong. He then got in my face about a bunch of euro crap. He hated America (nice, then why was he paying to visit it?) and everything it stood for and did in the world. He brought up Iraq several times. I acted aghast that he was so upset that we liberated 26 million Iraqis. He whined about how we only care about ourselves. I explained that since he lived in Germany he should remember that if it was not for America he would still be living under Hitler's thumb today and that he should be respectful and grateful that we had the audacity to liberate Europe - to include Germany - from Hitler. I further explained that the entire world would be living under Nazi or Japanese dictators if it was not for America and that he better start showing us some respect. He said his grandfather had been a Nazi, etc. I wasn't getting anywhere with him so I left to check on my registration. There were still dozens of people milling around the Tumbleweed waiting for their registration to be complete, etc.

The press was still everywhere and I was interviewed and such everywhere I went. I met up with a reporter from the San Jose Mercury News and she asked me to arrange for her to see some of the trashed and devastated desert areas. She also wants to meet up with a rancher that has had problems with illegals and interview him and film the damage. I'm working on that for Sunday afternoon.

The protestors finally went home and I decided to call it a day. My daughter has a violin concert tonight and I hadn't even eaten lunch. Plus, I was pretty badly sunburned (ouch!).

I will be at the Naco rally tomorrow with my bullhorn, signs, and such. It should be great fun. If anyone plans to attend, please let me know.

we agree that the Great Wave 100 years ago was actually a good thing

Actually I don't. The "Great Wave" was actually a response to two things: the lack of Americans born after the Civil War because when you kill 500,000 mostly twenty-something males you pretty much kill off a significant fraction of the future generation. Back then families typically had 10 or more children. My Great-Great Grandfather, an Abolitionist who left North Carolina prior to the war due to his opposition to slavery, had 15 children - 7 in N.C. and 8 more on the plains of Iowa. His Confederate brothers at home - the ones that survived, since one was killed at Chancellorsville - also had 7 - 8 children, but Reconstruction made that hard (so some of the Confederates moved to former Free States to avoid the intimidation of Reconstruction governments).

So in general the U.S. population after the War was unnaturally truncated. Thus the "vacuum" that the Great Wave moved into.

But that number doesn't explain the entire Great Wave; it probably accounts for a deficit of no more than about 15 million in the 1890 - 1900 time frame (2.5 million deficit in about 1865-1875 time fram --> 15 million grandchildren not present, conservatively). The other driver was the introduction of European central banking and investment ideas in the 1880's-1890's which led to massive industrial build-ups in those years and the pre-war years of the teens. In other words, two causes: population deficit driven due to the war deaths and economic demand driven due to the technology, capital and resource drivers of the late 19th century.

As far as the "forty million" number I pulled it out of my head, because I believe we passed the 33 million mark in 2000 or so, and legal immigration is running at about 1 million a year, or more. So you want to quibble about that and call me an exaggerator? Fine. Go ahead. I'm off by maybe 10%. The numbers are stupendous, no matter how you look at it. And one thing is for certain: none of them had anything to do with the creation of or the building of the United States. They simply walked into the most advanced and wealthiest country on earth for free. THAT cannot be disputed.

And the illegals? You post 9 million with a straight face? Christ, there are AT LEAST 4 million in California alone. Been to L.A., Salinas, San Jose, Watsonville , or the entire Central Valley lately? No...you're in Panama, right? What would you know. The 20 million number is, between Texas, Florida, California, Illinois, New York, Georgia and North Carolina, maybe a tad high, but...not all that much. And here's one caveat when you're reading my count: I don't consider the "Anchor Babies" to be "Americans". Just because their parents decided to call their kids that in an attempt to gain what they cannot get in a legal way doesn't mean I have to respect it. Those children are, and should be, regarded as having their parents nationality. They have no right to assert that they have the same heritage, the same history, any commonality with my family or the people who actually did settle the United States. It's an outrage and an abomination.

So there you go.

You know, one more thing. I was going to waste another part of this lovely Santa Cruz morning looking at Census data to respond to you, but...your whole previous post is nothing but selective crap.

Crap point number one: you label my comments as "creative data generation", but even by your own admission I'm off maybe by 20% - and even that is out of date. My 10% number is probably close. That's "creative"?!

Crap point number two: you post a graph showing "Immigration % Population". But that is the most misleading graph of all: it shows yearly fraction of new immigrants as a per cent of total population, when the only rational fraction that anyone pays attention to is fraction of foreign born, which is a cumulative total, far higher in those years than the 1 - 2% coming each year. Nice try, Propagandist.

What a pant load. As a Rough Order of Magnitude, 35 - 40 million since 1965 is totally reasonable and regardless of whether it's the high or the low number, incredible in its size. And the illegal numbers? It's a crime wave that dwarfs anything in history. And no one knows its size - but it sure as hell isn't equal to just the numbers in metro L.A. and Metro Dallas.

Take your hatred of Americans and go elsewhere. Like, um, Panama.

Altavista is a fun translator! Idioms just stink through it. Ben Miranda is Horseradish tree Miranda.....

Hermosillo. March 30, - Civil employees of Security of Sonant will meet with their homologous ones of Arizona to evaluate the tense situation in the border by the presence of extremist groups that they try to restrain the entrance of undocumented migrantes. The governor Eduardo Bours Castelo, at the end of the act Center of Fast Opening of Companies assured that an alert status in the border between Arizona and Sonora does not exist, but said that much will be taken care of that are not violated the human rights of the Mexicans, because this could deteriorate the good relation that exists between the neighboring governments. Napolitano governor requests calm a group of Hispanic state legislators traveled to the Cochise county Friday, partly to confront what the volunteers do of the Pryecto Minuteman. The representing Horseradish tree Miranda said that the visit of the legislators is necessary to balance what this happening in the border with Sonant, with the intimidatory presence of groups of watchmen armed According to the Minuteman project, volunteers will patrol 48 miles of the border to avoid the crossing of undocumented people. Governor Janet Napolitano Wednesday, was urgent to residents and visitors to act with calm and to avoid confrontations. ` This people exerts its right protected by the first amendment, and if by law we cannot avoid the presence of armed watchmen, if we can exhort them to that they do not make functions of autoridad' But the governor, unlike the Border Patrol that reinforced the patrolling of the border with more than 500 elements, declined to send the personnel of the Department of Security, unless sheriff Larry Dever of the Cochise county, needs additional aid, that of course brindaremos' said Napolitano.

What you said in post 122 makes sense, although there's lots of things that make sense that don't happen and there's other things that do happen that don't make any sense at all.

I prefer to accept reality as it is and I try to make sense out of it when I get time. US census numbers over the past 200 years from here and here say the US population growth was able to take on civil war without missing a beat. Not that the Civil War wasn't horrific, but maybe the US was a lot tougher than most people realize. That's my guess.

There very well actually may be 100 million illegals in the US. Like I said in post 117, the Census Bureau is sometimes hard to quote with a straight face. I'm just looking for something better than personal anecdotes to go on.

I got no problem with you being where ever you are and doing what ever you're doing. IMHO the Minuteman Project is great. The idea that says only racists like controlling borders is a crock. My bet is that there's more than a few foreign born in the MMP. In fact out of 1,022 volunteers from all 50 states there's got to be at least a few that were born in Mexico even. Maybe as many Mexicans as what died defending the Alamo.

Translation via altavista:

Hermosillo. March 30, - Civil employees of Security of Sonant will meet with their homologous ones of Arizona to evaluate the tense situation in the border by the presence of extremist groups that they try to restrain the entrance of undocumented migrantes. The governor Eduardo Bours Castelo, at the end of the act Center of Fast Opening of Companies assured that an alert status in the border between Arizona and Sonora does not exist, but said that much will be taken care of that are not violated the human rights of the Mexicans, because this could deteriorate the good relation that exists between the neighboring governments. Napolitano governor requests calm a group of Hispanic state legislators traveled to the Cochise county Friday, partly to confront what the volunteers do of the Pryecto Minuteman. The representing Horseradish tree Miranda said that the visit of the legislators is necessary to balance what this happening in the border with Sonant, with the intimidatory presence of groups of watchmen armed According to the Minuteman project, volunteers will patrol 48 miles of the border to avoid the crossing of undocumented people. Governor Janet Napolitano Wednesday, was urgent to residents and visitors to act with calm and to avoid confrontations. ` This people exerts its right protected by the first amendment, and if by law we cannot avoid the presence of armed watchmen, if we can exhort them to that they do not make functions of autoridad' But the governor, unlike the Border Patrol that reinforced the patrolling of the border with more than 500 elements, declined to send the personnel of the Department of Security, unless sheriff Larry Dever of the Cochise county, needs additional aid, that of course brindaremos' said Napolitano.

Re you #100 -

" Most graduating engineers in the US are immigrants now. Why? "

Well, your theories might have some merit - but IMHO most of the blame for the intellectiual degradation of America belongs squarely with the government mandated socialist intoctrination system, otherwise know as "Public Schools", dominated by hardcore leftist unions and a powerful political lobby that neither party dares to mess with.
They've done a pretty good job dumbing down the American population, fostering lifelong dependance on a big, bloated, nanny - state.

Which is generally what socialism is all about, isn't it?

Fortunately, some Americans have been able to educate themselves and others, at least partially by means of the internet. But whether the American culture as it has been for the past 250 years or so will survive in any recognizable form in the future, only time will tell.

I have little doubt, however, that the ethnic majority of the Euro-American in this country is about over.
We can only hope that the civilazation of freedom and prosperity founded on our Constitutional Republic will continue to endure, despite it's many detractors... forigin and domestic.

Spiff, that was an incredible report, thanks for what you're doing for this country and thanks for taking the time to keep the rest of us informed.

Back at this end of the pipeline our battle has been with a small but vocal number of nay sayers who post the most outrageous slurs about the MMP, so I was hoping you could take just a moment and set the record straight.

"It looked like a good bunch of people. I knew some of them but most were from out of town...but there I was registering everyone else." --Spiff

Since you were actually registering the volunteers, perhaps you could tell us...

How many "vigilantes" did you see registering?
How many "skinheads" did you see registering?
How many "neo-Nazis" did you see registering?
How many "KKK" did you see registering?
How many "racists" did you see registering?
How many "criminal thugs" did you see registering?
How many "felons" did you see registering?
How many "fat old ex-supply sergeants" did you see registering?
How many "armed angry bumpkins" did you see registering?
How many "alcoholics in camouflage" did you see registering?
How many "ideologue drunkards" did you see registering?
How many "yahoos" did you see registering?
How many "mental defectives" did you see registering?
How many "cancers on America" did you see registering?
How many "moonshine patriots" did you see registering?
How many "Timothy McVeigh's" did you see registering?
How many "Lee Harvey Oswald's" did you see registering?

Yep, those things have really been said about the MMP, it's really that bad back here, so a bit of your first hand knowledge from the front lines would be immensely helpful.

Thanks again for your service.

--Boot Hill

The only "slow start" for the Minuteman Project was the delay in starting registration. I've seen literaly dozens of reports in papers and websites across the Internet which claim only 100 to 150 showed up. That is a complete lie. That you would believe the MSM on this issue is shocking.

The local paper estimates over 400 showed up on the first day of registration. Chris Simcox announced over 100 walk-ups alone - that is people who showed up who had not pre-registered. I personally registered well over 100. I saw this with my own eyes. Most media reports - the low estimates - are pure fabrications designed to discredit this worthy effort.

No one expected 1000 to show up the first day. Not the organizers, not the volunteers, and not the media. However, the biased media certainly planned to make a big deal out of the fact that 1000 weren't there on day one. 1000 people were NOT scheduled to be there on day one. Most people can only show up for a weekend or maybe a week at a time. Some come early, some will come later. The bottom line is that the effort has received over 1000 volunteer registrations and expects over 1000 people to participate over the month long period.

I just got back from the "We Support the Border Patrol" rallies in front of the Naco, AZ and Douglas, AZ Border Patrol stations and these events were awesome. Hundreds of people lined the road with their cars, flags, signs, and bodies. The media was out, but in far less force than yesterday. They expected sheet-wearing vigilantes and instead they saw a bunch of normal, patriotic Americans who were law-abiding, peaceful, and concerned about border security and our laws being enforced.

I had my bullhorn and lead the rally crowd in such chants as "Hey, Hey! Ho, Ho! Illegal Aliens have Got to Go!", "What do we want? Border Security! When do we want it? NOW!", "Article Four! Section Four! Borders Secure!", "Viva La Migra!", "Mr. Bush, Read our lips! Seal the Border NOW!" and others. We cheered for Border Patrol and expressed our support. Several gathered to serenade the Border Patrol Agents with a ditty I wrote "We love you Border Patrol, Oh yes we do...We love the Agents and all they do...When our borders are not secure, we're blue...Oh Border Patrol, we love you." Silly, but the ladies liked singing it to the agents.

Immigration can't stop, fact is the country needs immigrants to not just keep the country alive, but the soul of the country alive.

Back this platitude up if you would please.

History makes a strong case for the America that was.

By 1965, we had attained our independence, created a society more free than any other since the ancient Greeks, ended slavery, began meaningfully addressing civil rights for all, won two world wars, and created the wealthiest, most prosperous nation the world has ever seen.

Looks to me like our "soul" was darn good, especially when compared to most of the rest of the world.

Perhaps those countries could benefit from unbridled immigration. For us, it is just a reckless experience without any such need.

America was doing just fine, better than just fine, outstanding before this influx from the Third World.

Does the future look as bright now?

If you think so tell me in concrete terms how it can possibly look that way if the current trends continue.

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