JOIN THE MINUTEMAN PATROL!

There are some nutty, racist bigots organizing what is little more than a modern-day Ku Klux Klan along the Arizona border. Who will join a force to confront them in the desert?

According to this story, there are already 10,000 border patrol agents stealing our precious tax dollars to harass poor people trying to cross an invisible line in the sand. Yet a group of civilians (no doubt mostly white men) calling themselves the Minutemen are organizing in the hundreds to patrol the border on their own - a vigilante group of nationalists who are angry about ....

• All the jobs the Mexicans, Central and South Americans are taking from them? No, their presence and hard work improves American productivity immensely and adds millions to our economy.

• The "crime, property damage and trash dumping caused by the border crossings?" It's the desert, there isn't enough crime and garbage to attract hundreds to this desolate area to play army. Hey the Mission in San Francisco is full of garbage. Come clean it up please.

• The recent intelligence that shows that "al-Qaida terrorists are likely to enter the country through the Mexico border?" Is this the same "intelligence" the U.S. government is getting by torturing Muslims and Arabs in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan? If so, I simply don't trust it - people will say anything when they think your going to fire the pistol you just stuck in their mouth. The notion that Al Qaida cells are going to cross into Arizona and wait for their orders from Osama is just an American fantasy anyway.

Most likely they are mad because they keep seeing so many brown people, with different cultures and a different language in their towns. This is threatening, and they make for an easy target. Treat the brown people like dogs, and it makes them feel a whole lot better about their lives, and what little they've accomplished.

They are simply a bunch of xenophobic nut-cases, and I propose creating a cross-border militant organization of our own. Who needs the border patrol? Join the Minuteman Patrol!

Admittedly I'm too far from the Arizona border to deal with these crazies personally, but I can provide technical support and media outreach. If we raise enough money, I can get a West Coast force out there. Individuals can sign up for a month of duty. It would be a hell of a way to spend Spring Break. We can use pepper spray and tazers. It will be great.