If you get banned or the threads get deleted, contact me at my website, please.
U.S. Constitution Article 4 Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
Posted on 04/01/2005 4:15:53 PM PST by Spiff
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.
Well done, Mr. Spiff; I've been following some of the previous border threads, hoping that someone would be able to provide us with some front-line FReeper intel!
Apparently they will be using HAM radio, so if any of you have a license and can tune them in, that would be a great way to keep us posted, getting around any potential media "filters".
This report is pretty much consistant with what I expected - the circus atmosphere and cluster-fuddle logistical challenges. I'm glad that some Reps are with you, as that might give the Enforcers pause before overly hassling or abusing MMP participants, as I suspect some might want to.
Please keep the intel flow up as best you can, and if at all possible try to get some pictures of some of the loonie tune lefties - they can be rather entertaining!
Remember; this may be a wonderful opportunity for some "mission outreach" - both spiritual and ideological.
A lot of these kids really arent that stupid - they've probably just never been allowed contact with common sense or righteousness, and have been crammed full of socialist baloney from birth.
Please - try to show a little compassion & kindness, be open, and willing to engage in intelligent dialouge - not just infantile name-calling.
Remember "WWJD"?
It's been my experience that it often comes as a huge surprise to these folks when a dreaded "conservative" comes accross to them as a thinking, feeling, rational human being instead of what their stereotypes cause them to expect.
If you can get one or two of them aside from their cluster, invite them over for coffee, and show them that we're sorta human too, it just might go a long way towards making America a better place to be for all of us.
At least a little corner someplace.
UJ's $0.02, FWIW. Amen.
BTW - Caution all; we have at least one Troll on board this thread already - surely more to follow.
May God bless & protect all of our Minutemen (and women) along our Southern border!
If you provide me the names of the Aryan Nation members and skinheads that you somehow know, then I'll make sure that the organizers of the the MMP check it out and kick their butts out. I'm sure you've got that info as you so strongly stated that they were certainly there.
Now, from my experience, I saw no evidence that there were any Aryan Nations types there. The only racism I saw displayed was by the "La Raza" racists banging their pots and pans in the street. I saw no skinheads, no nazi regalia, no confederate flags (beyond state flags that bear elements similar to the confederate flag). I saw nothing that lead me to believe that anyone there was a member of the Aryan Nations or any other racist organization. The organizers have zero tolerance for that crap and would send anyone like that packing.
Get your facts straight or shut the hell up.
The local news is reporting the story A LOT and it is generally positive. They said 450 people are registered as of today and up to 2000 are expected.
Morning. There are TONS of media here. Hundreds of reporters. This morning. Jim Gilcrest had a press conference. He has a body guard. They don't call him that, JIm calls him his "identical twin brother" but it is clear what he is therefore. Sad when a veteren needs a body guard to secure his first amendment rights. Jim answered all the questions very well He is just the nicest man. A woman in the front said "why do you hate the Mexican people?" and he took her hand and looked her in the eyes and said "I don't hate the Mexican people."
The Protestors:
The protestors showed at about 1:00PM. The speeches and meetings started at the same time. I could not get into the speeches as I did not pre register and security was very tight. I was told there was room for 200 people each speech and that Tom Tancredo was great.Hopefully,someone will be able to report on it.
There were about 40 protestors. They were loud, the brought pots and pans and whistles and there were drums and they were doing American Indian dances. The media went crazy. Most of the MMP people were at the meetings or at the Tombstone Tumbleweed getting registered. So I took my "osama loves open borders" sign and stood right behind the protestors and then the media went berserk.
It was funny really, people sometimes thought the protestors were PRO Bin Laden and I was with them. Since there was just me and SO many of them, I gave tons on interviews. I don't like to speak, I am very shy but there was no one else there, so I had to do it.
The funny thing was the press acted so impressed that I would stand up alone with so many "hostiles." I told them I felt very safe, as there were three AZ officers behind. I said that there were a lot of people who support my point of view,but even if no one told me I was right, it was OK, because I know I am right.
I told one reporter a mother with a sign brought down a government in Argentina,and it turned out the reporter was from Argentina! LOL Never underestimate the power of a mother with a sign.
The reporters were nice but I am sure I will be misquoted and made to look stupid, but what are you going to do?
Later, they walked through the town in a parade and I brought up the rear! The MMP people busted out laughing and were clapping. It was just great
Most of the protestors were college age. I talked to several of them. Their general point was that immigration was really due to US companies economic polices and I told them we did not disagree with that. Still, pretty silly not blame the Mexican goverment.
One guy asked me if I knew Bush helped gett Osama's family out of the US after 9-1 and I said that was pretty old news. He asked me that I thought of that and I told him it sucks.I also told him most MMP are not Bush supporters. End of the one
A lady said she was from Germany, I think she was a tourist not a protester. She said signs like mine were the reason so many Germans hated the US. I resisted the urge to say that since my great uncle spent four years in Buchanwald I did not care what the Germans thought of me and asked her why. She said because the US backed Osama. My response was, "ah so? you think we should just TAKE terrorist attacks? you think 3000 Americans should die and we should take another hit over that. Nothing more from her.
The general arument was that that illegal aliens come here because US ecomic policies, the CIA and The Carlyle Group (?)
A girl smiled at me and asked if a knew Jesus was a migrant. Silly girl. I pointed out he never broke a law. She said he was convicted and pointed out he was innocent. Then she left.
I swear someone told them we were a bunch of red neck uneducated Bush kool aide drinkers and we would be astonished by these shocking relations!
LOL
bump!
BTTT with a HUGE THANK YOU!!!
BBL to read this account! I'm proud of y'all!!!
It was great to see you there holding that sign in front of those dirty, noisy idiots the whole time they were there. It got a lot of coverage from the press, I'm sure. They couldn't record the protestors without recording you.
Are you going to be down here the whole month? Are you going to the rally tomorrow? We'll have to meet up again.
Right. If it isn't easy enough, or cheap enough, or they get turned down, they just come anyway. It's no good to blame the illegals. It's up to us to stop them. They're like animals -- they're going to migrate to the greener pastures.
(donning flame suit)
Yep, and ignoring the rules. Of course they work for less. Because they get paid cash and they don't pay taxes. We can't compete with them and the "doing jobs Americans won't do" is a big (BIG) fat lie.
Thanks for that report, Spiff. Beats the heck out of reading another opus. Things probably settled down because of the papal deathwatch and the knowledge that none of it was going to be on TV.
Short, and easily pronounced.
Great report, 'gal! I'm proud of you, and hope to see you on the news reports tonight. Wish I could have been there.
Thank you for the report. Good luck to you all.
If you get banned or the threads get deleted, contact me at my website, please.
U.S. Constitution Article 4 Section 4:
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/nation/11290811.htm
Volunteers arrive in Arizona to back citizen patrols of border
BY MICHAEL MARTINEZ
Chicago Tribune
TOMBSTONE, Ariz. - (KRT) - Against a backdrop of mock Old West shootouts and vigilante justice icons, more than 100 volunteers arrived Friday to join or support citizen patrols of Arizona's border with Mexico, condemning the Bush administration for allowing an "invasion" of illegal immigrants.
Many participants, traveling from several states, said they would set up observation posts on the border starting Monday and throughout April to scout for illegal migrants and their smugglers, using cell phones to alert the Border Patrol. At least several volunteers were carrying sidearms Friday and indicated they would carry the weapons during their patrols, organized by the Minuteman Project, a recently formed group that opposes illegal immigration.
Organizers estimated Friday's turnout at 400 people, though a headcount showed only 100 to 150 at most, significantly below the 1,300 who had registered on the Minuteman Project's Web site. Organizers explained the discrepancy by saying scores of the participants shunned the national media coverage and opted to sit out the kickoff.
Still, Minuteman founder Jim Gilchrist, a retired accountant from Orange County, Calif., and several supporting Republican lawmakers found an energized core of volunteers who cheered in a frontier-era hall during speeches that denounced the "failed" border policies of President Bush.
Though Bush has characterized the volunteers as vigilantes, group leaders and lawmakers called them "patriots." But the Minuteman organizers reminded participants not to break the law while scouring the border area for illegal crossers. The group will also hold rallies this weekend on the border.
"You are American heroes," Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, told an assembly of about 100 volunteers, mostly white men age 40 and over. "You're not vigilantes."
Chris Simcox, owner of the Tombstone Tumbleweed newspaper and a chief Minuteman organizer, said the nation was watching.
"Hold the line, but hold your ideals up before your personal gratification," Simcox said. "It would be hypocritical of us to go out and break the laws that we're asking the government to enforce.
"The government unfortunately cannot allow us to succeed," he added, suggesting that he believed federal officials may stymie the citizen patrol effort.
While leaders and participants said they welcomed this week's federal announcement of additional Border Patrol agents and surveillance aircraft in Arizona, they said they believe the measures aren't enough and seemed to be a White House ploy to upstage their grass-roots movement.
The Minuteman registration drew a protest by about 35 advocates of human and migrant rights. They staged a raucous dance in the tradition of Mexican indigenous people outside the 19th-century Schieffelin Hall where the Minutemen were meeting, a block from the OK Corral tourist attraction. Accompanied by drummers, a man in a loincloth with long, gray hair led a dance line of five young Hispanic women in Aztec costumes and feathered headdresses.
"The solution is not the paramilitary groups. The solution is respect for human rights and finding another economic order that will eliminate poverty," said Arturo Mireles, 65, leader of the Danza Azteca Cuahutemoc group from Nogales, Ariz.
One volunteer wearing an American flag bandana over his head, Russ Dove, 48, of Tucson, a handyman who's also editor of a Web site urging immigration reform, said he was so "fed up" with massive illegal immigration and border violence that he couldn't bear to participate in the patrols. Instead, he was videotaping volunteers' testimonials Friday.
"Should a confrontation develop" between him and illegal migrants or smugglers, Dove said, "I'm afraid I'd respond in kind."
Minuteman volunteer Al Phillips, who was carrying a .357 revolver on his belt, said he would be armed while on patrols. Phillips, 54, of Maryville, Tenn., said he had no intention of using the gun.
"It's my right," said Phillips, who worked in the Michigan Department of Corrections for 27 years. "All the people making a big deal about this. It's nothing. The only time I'd take it out is if my life or another's person is in danger."
Participants sold patches stating "American Border Patrol. I survived the Minute Man Project 2005" and lapel tags saying "Undocumented Border Patrol Agent."
Lawrence Headrick, 73, a retired serviceman and college professor from Tunnel Hill, Ga., was selling the patches. "We need to close the border," he said, seated by his wife, Diane, 50.
Robin Hvidson of Upland, Calif., said she and 11 other persons caravanned from Southern California and were staying in a $5-a-night dorm on a Bible college campus just south of Tombstone. The overnight accommodations were arranged by the Minuteman Project, she said.
"I have an illegal labor-free lifestyle," said Hvidson, describing herself as a middle-aged mother. "I wash my own car. I do my own gardening. I eat only in restaurants that use American labor. And I tell any contractors who work in my house that they can employ only Americans."
---
Tsk tsk, I'm gonna tell the Mrs. you are cussin' again.
I don't know why this topic all of a sudden seems to be allowed to see the light of day now, after having been mysteriously suppressed for a while there...
But I'm sure glad it is!
Will look forward to getting caught up again in the Morning.
""La Migra" is what the illegals call the Border Patrol. "Viva la Migra" means "Long Live the Border Patrol..."
Ok, now I get it. That's funny!
Great reporting. Be careful out there.
Bump
Great job, Minutemen and Minutemoms! No matter else what happens in the next 30 days, I think they've accomplished their mission already: "It is a call to peacefully assemble at the Arizona-Mexico border to bring national awareness to the decades-long careless disregard of effective U.S. immigration law enforcement."
And I absolutely love the part about Spiff filing a complaint with the ACLU because the protestors were violating the MMP's rights. I love the irony!! And of course, the left will never get it...
I've been waiting all day for word on what's happening in AZ - thanks for posting this!
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