Replies

Well, I'll be kind and say there's good and bad in every crowd. Rainbows are dirty and smelly and kind of annoying, bu they do respect freedom more than most people and they live it. And they are proficient at living outdoors as opposed to getting fat in front of the tv or loafing at a mall.

I agree. My best friend and his wife are part of this movement (not specifically Rainbow warriors), generally thought of as modern "hippies". I hang around with them quite often, and also with many of their friends. I was best man at their wedding. They are both prolife, and religious. But they are very environmentalist and pro freedom. I enjoy hanging out with these folks. They are unpretentious, fun, freedom-loving free spirits. Granted there are some far left socialist kooks in their midst, but most of them are anti-big government, and my friend is downright conservative, or at least libertarian on many issues (gun rights for example, even though he doesn't own a gun).

OK, I'll join in. I actually went to three days of one of these gatherings in West Virginia (I think it was the only time, or at least the first time, they came East). I was covering it as a newspaper reporter. This was 20 years ago or so, so things could be somewhat different now.

I'm amused by the knee-jerk reactions here about the people who attend these. I found everything from way-out socialists to folks who would agree with most opinions on FR. They might be a little hairier and bathe a little less often (although there was lots of coed bathing going on when I was there), but most of them pretty much want the government out of their lives.

Some are definitely wacky by our standards, but most of them work regularly. A handful are bums. I met one guy who was a stockbroker in Chicago except during the two weeks of the gathering. When I met him he was sitting in front of his teepee wearing nothing but his corporate haircut.

Things may have changed, but when I was there, they had a whole committee to clean up as the gathering went along and after it was over. The grass and paths took a beating, but that's true when the Boy Scouts show up for a Jamboree. There were jerks and idiots and wackos, but overall it was a pretty nice group.