Beware the Minutemen

One of the most dangerous elements of the far right these days is the rise of a new isolationism among the Bubbas of the world. These people pushed "English Only" a few years ago. Now they are advacing an arguments against the "illegals." I find this all quite amusing. Amusing because the history of this country was written by so-called "illegals" and people who are different than these self-styled minutemen.

Members of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps were out patrolling the U.S.-Canadian border on Saturday but they were looking to keep a low profile.

Much more out in the open were the roughly three dozen protesters who turned out near the border station separating Derby Line from Stansted, Quebec, to voice their opposition to the Minutemen in a driving rain.

"We don't like the idea of the militia on our border," said one member of the Raging Grannies, a singing group comprising mostly elderly women from the Montpelier and Plainfield areas. The Grannies are a common feature at Vermont protests.

The protesters were there to criticize the Minutemen, a citizens' militia made up of members who believe the government isn't doing enough to defend the nation's borders.

One member of a group of Minutemen spotted later at a nearby shopping plaza said the group was there "to help protect our borders against illegal immigrants."