MinuteBrains, Part II

Look at this LA Times article on the Minuteman Project, which captures some of the inanity of this enterprise, including the completely deluded Jim Gilchrist:

"Hey, we got a fresh pair of prints here," said Gilchrist, wearing a bright flowered shirt, a canteen and a hat with a feather poking out. "I think they lay up here during the day and walk at night." The patrol meandered around scrub oak, up and down hills, and over barbed wire. Sighting an immigrant began to take on the element of spotting a rare butterfly or obscure bird species. Plans to set up an outpost fizzled when Gilchrist got a call on the radio. His face tightened.

"According to our Minutemen intelligence network, which has been flawless, there is credible evidence that two dozen Mexican nationals have assembled for the sole purpose of causing an incident that would make us look bad," Gilchrist said gravely. "They want us to open fire or assault them. The threat is very real but I can't give you my sources, which are in Mexico."

If that's not the paranoid style of American politics, I don't know what is. Also, I don't think anyone in Mexico has to conspire to make you look bad. Here's one of the Minutemen's "successes":

Not far away, the Minutemen radios were filled with excited chatter about an illegal immigrant in the area. Gilchrist drove up to an outpost, flung open the car door and shouted, "Who saw the illegal aliens?" A tall Minuteman approached.

"There are no illegals, those are our people," he said. The "immigrant" was in fact 67-year-old Dave Gessner of Fort Wayne, Ind. "I was just answering the call of nature," he said sheepishly. "Guess I won't wander off anymore."

Sounds more like "Police Squad!" than the Green Berets. Also, there's a guy from Fountain Valley who brought his kids there ON SPRING BREAK:

Chris, a 45-year-old engineer from Fountain Valley, Calif., had tied a white handkerchief onto his glasses to deflect the stinging sand. He brought his wife, twin daughters and 15-year-old son here for spring break. "The way we have been portrayed as a bunch of yahoos and rednecks, no wonder people want to kill us," he said, declining to give his full name. "I came with my family because I thought it would be great for them to see the border situation up close."

I'd like at this time to thank my family for never bringing me to the US border for a holiday.