This will come as no surprise, but Aliso Viejo's Jim Gilchrist, founder of the Minutemen (not the immortal patriotic heroes of Lexington and Concord– Jim's are the flabby guys who have figured out how to combine xenophobia and birdwatching by scanning the horizon for Mexicans instead of great blue herons) is engaged in wishful thinking again. I'm not referring to his plans for a “multistate civilian border patrols” reported in this morning's Register. No, I'm referring to something else he told the Reg.
Gilchrist sees the pro-immigrant protests of the past week as a direct threat on U.S. sovereignty.
“I don't want to sound paranoid, but when you see hundreds of thousands of people rallying around a foreign flag … it's the next thing to foreign insurrection,” he said.
I don't want to sound paranoid, he says before going on to say something that reeks of paranoia– cute, but definitely wishful thinking on Jim's part.
Of course, Jim has some experience with rallies where some of the participants are displaying symbols from other countries, as these photos from last month's Minuteman rally in Washington D.C. show.
Meanwhile, over on his Golden State blog, LA Times business columnist Michael Hiltzik has some interesting observations on the “paranoia and insecurity” underlying one of the more innocuous seeming parts of immigration bill passed by the Senate judiciary committee this week.
