Hello, Iowa!   I'm an internets and blog veteran, but a new member here.  I thought I'd throw this topic out for my first diary at BH.  Hope everyone's having a great Monday. 

  

Minutemen in Iowa?  From The Gazette:

“American veterans reform? Anyone for helping the veterans? Minutemen?” he asked as people trickled into the arena.

[J. Michael] Haskins, director of the Johnson County chapter of the Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, was recruiting.

Although organizers say most Iowans have never heard of them, the controversial anti-immigration group has been active in the state for more than a year. Members say they are developing chapters in Iowa because the state and country have reached a crisis point in immigration enforcement.

To be honest, I didn't realize the Minutemen were active in Iowa. No, I'm not a fan, either. America's always had its share of fringe-militia types, but it seems the cowboy/clown poseurs have really stepped up their game since Bush took office.

It gets even better.  These guys are really just too much, I swear.

  

“We would put the Minuteman movement as a potentially violent fringe of the nativist movement in this country,” said Devin Burghart, who tracks anti-immigrant groups as director of the Chicago-based Center for New Community's Building Democracy Initiative.

The Minutemen Civil Defense Corps, founded by Chris Simcox in Arizona in 2005, became active in Iowa just more than a year ago and claims members in 49 counties, and 10 chapters in 11 counties to date.

But Haskins, of Iowa City, said people are living in a fairy tale if they don't think this country is in grave danger. “We are patriots,” he said. “The Paul Reveres of the 2000s. We're sounding the alarm.”

There you go – 'The Paul Reveres of the 2000s'… Give me a break. There are so many of these patriot wannabe groups around right now, you can't keep them straight. Move America Forward, Gathering of Eagles, Fistful of Cheetos… well, you get the idea.

[Haskins] picked up his spare handouts and a black leather portfolio and went to bluff his way into the media room so he could meet with Republican presidential candidates Sam Brownback and Mike Huckabee. The strategy had worked for him at Armstrong's Democratic forum the day before, he said: “You can't be an idiot and do what I do.”

At the door, he flashed a set of homemade and self-designated credentials he had slung around his neck and the young women at the registration table let him through.

Minutemen volunteers have to fill out an information sheet and attach proof of a concealed weapons permit, military clearance or $50 registration fee. Halverson, who said it was against the group's rules to disclose the number of volunteers in its ranks, said the fee covers the cost of a background check — he won't let in anyone who has a felony conviction.

Seriously, do you feel safer now?