[bg]

Boy, what is wrong with this guy.
http://www.news-press.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050605/OPINION/506050420/1075

[DelayedReaction]

I don't know, he hit some pretty decent points. The gist I got was that he was angry about the fact that we even needed citizen patrols. Although he got a few jabs in there about the MMP (I loved the utterly unnecessary allegation about racist groups being a part of the project), he brought up a damn good point that many people have been discussing here. It is a disgrace that citizens should feel that the borders need to be patrolled when we have the national guard and Border Patrol to do the job.

Why doesn't President Bush see this?

[ssteven1]

I thought it was a generally good article. It is a shame that citizens should have to patrol the borders. It should be done by the border patrol which should have the needed personel. However using his analogy of volunteer police. I would be glad somebody showed up even if it is a volunteer. Also the racist statement seems out of place almost like it was added later.

The article is worth reading if for nothing else the writer has a unique view on the second Amendment. HIS VIEW OF THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS THE RIGHT TO FORM CITIZEN MILITIA'S THAT ARE UNCONNECTED TO THE GOVERMENT, AND WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS AS GIVEN TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. Kind of like freedom of speech includes the goverment being unable to ban the production of the printing press. Intresting point of view.

[2nd Amendment]

Yeah, great article...

It might be just coincidence, but law-enforcement sources have for years considered Idaho and Michigan two of the most active areas for right-wing militia groups in the United States. Minuteman Project organizers repeatedly have denied any such sympathies with those often-racist, white-supremacist cells.

Attach the Minutmen to the militias, then slander the militias with the usual unfounded leftist attacks thereby marginalizing the Minutemen.

Great article.

[jefnvk]

Try owning a large number of guns in Michigan, You know how many Michigan Militia comments I get?

As far as partolling Michigan, I don't think that is going to do much good, unless they are out in boats.

But yeah, citizens shouldn't have to patrol the border.

[Standing Wolf]

Despite billions having been spent on airport security, satellite surveillance, chemical-warfare training for county sheriffs, jet-fighter crews on 24-hour scramble duty, intensified Coast Guard patrols, a global no-fly anti-terrorist computer list and greater scrutiny of crop-duster schedules, thousand of miles of U.S. border still goes unguarded.

There already are an estimated 10 million illegal immigrants in the United States. Most officials agree that more get through than are stopped, and 500,000 were arrested in Arizona last year alone.
Soccer coaches, insurance agents and pharmaceutical salesmen shouldn't be America's first line of defense. It's a disgrace that lies right at the doorsteps of Congress and the White House.

Actually, we all are America's first line of defense, but it's worse than a disgrace that our federal tax dollars are being shipped overseas by the billion while our nation's borders become the world's laughingstock.

[peacefuljeffrey]

Try owning a large number of guns in Michigan, You know how many Michigan Militia comments I get?

That's when it's time to say, "You know, I'd love to have an honest and intelligent discussion with you about the guns I own and why I do, but that's not gonna happen when all you seem to want to do is make quips and engage in juvenile stereotypes. Talk to me when you have an understanding of the subject and can conduct an adult, rational discourse."

It's time to let such people know that we won't even entertain their nonsense until they're really ready to sit down and get stuff straight.


-Jeffrey

[MikeIsaj]

I do agree that a key responsibility of government is protecting the borders and that priority should be just behind Defense and ahead of everything else. What I don't understand is what's wrong with private citizens taking an ownership interest in this country and picking up a gun to defend it? I get so tired of the masses moaning that the government isn't doing enough to protect them and then criticizing those that choose to do something about it, other than whine. Everyone in this forum would not hesitate to defend their family and property against aggression. We would not demand that the government do it while we sat on our behinds. We would pick up a gun and call the police. It's the same concept on a larger scale.

I think it's great that the illegal immigrant trade now has to concern themselves with every person it meets, not just the Border Patrol. The bad guys have free run of a society only when decent people sit by and do nothing. We the people have been lulled into submission by a government that promises more protection than it can possibly give. We have been subdued by repeated attacks on individual initiative, discouraged from doing our duty in defending ourselves. We are encouraged to look the other way, mind our own business, let the officials take care of things and keep in our place. We have been led to believe that problems are so overwhelming that we simple folk couldn't possibly understand them and fix them. Big government can take care of us much better than we could ourselves.

The result is a public that feels helpless and is outraged that some stand-up people are out defending this country without government permission. The minutemen make the blissninnies look like the cowards that they are.

[Standing Wolf]

It's time to let such people know that we won't even entertain their nonsense until they're really ready to sit down and get stuff straight.

Yep. Well said.