Fremont Minutemen will march and run
By Matt Artz
Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 1:45 pm in Fremont, minutemen.
Minuteman Charles Bartlett just called to say his group has decided to march in Fremont’s Fourth of July Parade.
He also said that at least two members of the Golden Gate Minutemen will run for City Council this year. Should be interesting.
The minutemen and their allies apparently have inched closer to gaining a majority of the Alameda County Republican Central Committee. The group’s write-in candidate in Livermore, Judy Fenta, has been elected, Bartlett said. None of the three write-in candidates backed by what Bartlett called “the country club Republicans” got enough votes, he said.
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July 2nd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Since this is Patty Hitchcock’s last year to handle the 4th of July Parade, maybe the Minutemen, or Minutewomen, should consider taking it on.
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:19 pm
Doug, that’s the best idea of the year!
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
MinuteMen,
you have much to celebrate and be proud of. This was a eye opening story and allowed a good long look at the Fremont city council. You will see me with my sign of support on Friday. March with your heads held high.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:19 pm
Are the Minutemen going to be allowed to hold their “Golden Gate Minutemen” banner while they march in the July 4th Parade? I heard that Patty Hitchcock and the Parade organizers are trying to regulate the Minutemen with their own special set of rules. Can you believe that they want the Minutemen to hold balloons instead of their official Minutemen banner? The Minutemen secure “Borders” not “balloons” Mrs. Hitchcock!
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Please contact me with your complaints or suggestions regarding the Fremont 4th of July Parade at:
hprincess67@aol.com
or at:
(510)376-7563
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
To Patty Hitchcock,
My suggestion: You find out from the Minutemen, not the International Socialists, nor (words removed) Jon Simmon, just what the Fremont Minutemen really stand for and who they are.
You (words removed) have shown a huge disregard for the first amendment of the US Constitution. Shame on you! You have no excuse for your discrimination against this patriot group and you OWE them a PUBLIC APOLOGY!
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm
Alice,,,chill out! Patty has made an effort to reach out and some of you are handling it in an ugly manner. Its time to put all the decisiveness aside.
Lets have another great Parade this year!
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Let’s all find a little peace, and work together too enjoy the parade. M Jones Minuteman
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Ooops. I should have posted…
Any precautions we had about ‘baloons’ vs. ‘banners’ has been resolved. WE have been accepted on equal footing with all the other organizations participating.
I think many of the differences between us and the parade committee have finally been cleared up. I am happy level heads prevailed.
We will be in the parade this year, help with some volunteer work to make it a success, and look forward for next year when we can have the proper time to put together the best float the Fremont parade has ever had in its history.
WE thank everyone for their willingness to do the right thing at the end of the day. We all had to suffer and sacrifice to get here, and none of it is unappreciated.
sincerely,
charles
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm
To Peace Pipe,
You are a PC fool! The only effort Patty made was to save her behind and that of the City from a huge lawsuit.
Speaking the truth is not ugly unless you are smoking something illegal in your peace pipe and think you are living in Nirvana.
All the decisiveness was CAUSED by Patty and the committee. It’s oh so typical for the perpertrators of injustice to call the wronged ugly.
You need to take a reality check Peace Pipe. And I assume you are going to be out there showing your support for the group who is most probably the most patriot in the entire parade.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:09 pm
hprincess,
instead of giving your personal contacts to this forum, I challenge you to address the situation to the interested few, online for everyone to read.
July 2nd, 2008 at 9:06 pm
So the Fremont police will help police the Minutemen at no extra cost. Where are the Fremont police when there is a crime being committed? Nowhere to be found. Ops I forgot our cops live in Tracy and Modesto so why should they give a hoot about policing our streets. Their kids don;t go to school here. What a joke? Whose stupid idea was to have this group of (words removed) parade? Let me ask all of you patriots this: who is doing your landscaping, cleaning your house? The Minutemen right? Just like the Minutemen are sending their sons and daughters to Iraq
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:13 am
No, latina woman, I am working poor. I do my own car repairs, dont’ eat out, and cut my own grass. Thank you. If you go out of state, you don’t see foreigners picking food or serving food. Americans still do it themselves. Moreover, Americans did it before, so why do we need slave labor? We’re against this. Are you???
The Minutemen are a working class organization. We have both trades people and military families in our organization. In fact, many of our seniors our proud veterans and have already served.
What amazes me is how the Leftwing, ethnic nationalists (like yourself) want the same thing big business wants–open borders! Don’t you have a clue? Big business is against national borders because it wants the free flow of commodities and labor into the country. Foreign labor is being used to hurt the American worker and his family. That’s the problem, and the Left doesn’t want to realistically address this problem. Instead they just run around and call everyone ‘racists’. Totally pathetic….
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:34 am
Charles said: ” WE have been accepted on equal footing with all the other organizations participating. ”
I HIGHLY doubt that ALL disabled and elderly members feel this way since the float (ride) they were to ride on is NOT ALLOWED because of “space reasons”.
Would that space be the same space as what the walkers would be taking up while they are marching?
Did ANYONE on the Parade committee take Math, Algebra & Geometry?
I still say SHAME ON FREMONT!
July 3rd, 2008 at 10:55 am
Jeff, I always thought of big business, i.e., oil companies, etc., as being the Conservative Right not aligned with the Left. Now I’m confused.
The question that keeps ruminating in my mind, are “Americans” losing more jobs inside our country or outside our country? How many jobs have been lost to the outsourcing of jobs? And that leads to the question, is it the Left or the Right who is outsourcing? More confusion.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:34 pm
Hello Doug,
Not sure if I know all the answers to your questions, but generally speaking big business loves big government. Big government often reduces the risks of a free market, namely by providing earmark subsidies, centralizing and regulating credit, providing tax shelters, and regulating labor disputes. These actually all work in favor of big business, and big business has definate interests in what goes on politically. With respect to cheap, illegal labor we know poultry, hotel, and agricultural industries are some of the biggest advocataes of open borders, pushing aggressively for such.
It’s conventional wisdom to view big government and big business as enemies, but the reality is quite different. Centralization in both the business world (mergers) and state bureacracies actually favor elites by letting them create venues which have less accountability and more concentrated power so that they might generally monopolize policy making.
I suggest a book called “The Big Rip Off” which gives many concrete examples of the collusion I suggest.
As far as the job question. I think it impacts industries very differently. In our Minutemen organization we have a lot of struggle construction workers and even contractors who either have not seen a wage increase in the last 20 years or they just can’t compete against other contractors who do not pay insurance, healthcare, or abide by the rules. It’s becomes a downward spiral where the blue collar jobs that were once decent paying have less adn less to offer. What I think has happened in this country jobwise is more a ’shift’ in the type of work that is out there. Not sure if actually less jobs, but I’d say a ’shift’. There is generally a bigger gap between skilled and unskilled work, pay in unskilled areas has not kept apace with skilled, yet prices have gone up.
A lot of this is relative too. It depends on which side of the economic ladder you view these changes. If your father did well as a carpenter 30 years ago but you are treading water, you feel declassed. If you are an illegal, you probably see a chance to make a lot more money than if stuck in a country like Mexico. Americans are use to saving money and owning homes. Mexicans might like that, but they can always go back home and be much better off there with the wages they’ve earned. It’s partly situational.
The reality is there is a leveling process occuring between southern and north american nations, and this will actually help facilitate merging of their economies, and later down the road their political systems. The end result will be something more like the EU– bigger government, bigger business, and you and I will have less say in the political matters of our country.
July 3rd, 2008 at 12:43 pm
One more example w/ respect to illegal labor and business:
For the employers they can have tax payers pick up the bill for healthcare, housing, and other necessities which cheap/slave labor needs to survive. This is a form of wealth redistribution that takes money from joe citizen and sticks it into the pocket (indirectly) of the meat, hotel, restuaraunt, and agricultural industries.
Another component often missed is illegal labor in white collar jobs. I’ve known Silicon Valley executives who use illegal labor as part of their business plan when it comes to assembly and backend production. I also knew an executive who was paying illegal software designers $12/hr. So this is another dimension.
Anyway, big business has an interest in promoting open borders simply because it drives down the costs of labor. This doesn’t necessarily translate to immediate loss of jobs, but it changes the renumeration in our work.
Now critics might bring up greater humanitarian concerns. What I found amazing about such concerns is these same people seem to have no sympathy for the degradation of US labor and pay scales. They seem rather indifferent. It’s usually poor people who want labor protected, and it’s usually the rich, well-heeled Berkeley hills or Palo Alto professors who want open borders. This is something I’ve noticed. Some of the most liberal people are indeed very wealthy and their progressive politics is just a flipside of big business conservatism.
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:07 pm
To the moderator of this blog comments section: I’m wondering why you deleted my calling Jon Simon a bigot yet you allowed Jon Simon to call the Minutemen bigots on more than one occassion!
What’s up with that? It makes me wonder if you are not allowing other entire comment entries to be posted.
I think we smell a double standard here…….
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Hi Alice,
I fight hard to make sure there is very little censoring on the blog, and everybody is usually really good about keeping things PG. One rule, though, is no personal attacks against a regular person. You can rip Bob Wasserman, Steve Cho or me all you want and it’ll go online. You can also criticize Patty for her work with parade, but I thought the “disgrace” remark was over the line. It’s hard for me to monitor all these comments, so you’ll probably find similar examples that didn’t get deleted or edited. I can’t say I’m totally consistent, but I do think I’m fair. Just today, I removed a few words from one post that compared the minutemen to a certain party that came to power in Germany 76 years ago. I thought that was a low blow.
July 3rd, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Matt, it’s called Godwin’s law
…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin’s_law
July 3rd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Go Latino Lady
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
Mike on blog site 8 is not to be confused with the Mike on 11. M Jones
July 3rd, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Matt Artz Says:
July 3rd, 2008 at 2:30 pm
“Hi Alice,…
Just today, I removed a few words from one post that compared … to a certain party that came to power in Germany 76 years ago.”
Nice touch, Matt, but NOT Subtle ENOUGH!
Perhaps one could see where some people may find a Commentator/Moderator editing, removing and changing their words or posts to be VERY similar to tactics used, in general, by said Group!
“Hate Speech” IS NOT words you hate to hear!
As victims of REAL Hate speech and a real HATE Crime, we should know!
July 4th, 2008 at 8:43 am
Hey, where’d my comment go? (Maybe I didn’t hit the submit button) Wanted to refer Matt to Godwin’s Law: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin’s_law
July 4th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
Parade News Update!
The Minutemen were warmly welcomed at this year’s 4th of July Parade!
It was nice to see all of the people claping and waving to the Minutemen! There sure was a nice turn-out of Fremont residents.
See ya next year Minutemen, great job today! Happy 4th of July!
July 4th, 2008 at 4:51 pm
I thought it was interesting that they were the one group that had a police escort - there was a motorcycle cop trailing them on the other side of the boulevard, and police following them. Where I was sitting I would say they were more ignored than anything else. Seemed a bit of a motley crew - wouldn’t have known who they were or what they were about without this blog.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Buzz-off Queenbee! I was walking with the Minutemen in the Parade, in support of them and their cause to help secure America’s borders. Your comment regarding the “police escort” and cops trailing us is a bit misleading to our readers/viewers.
I’d say, there were quite a few cops there today. It would have been hard to say that any of the officers were there for any particular group. The Minutemen were not offered any special-police-protection while marching in the Parade. We did have 2 or 3 Marxists counter-protesters show-up advocating “amnesty” and “open-borders,” (with more signs than people I might add) exercising constitutional rights that they would not be able to enjoy in their preferred Socialist form of government. Maybe, you noticed the police single-out a counter-protester because of the disruption that he caused when he maneuvered carelessly through the crowd waving a Che Guevara sign and yelling, “WORKER’S RIGHTS!” I considered it more like entertainment than anything else, since it was the only instance along the Parade route.
I support the counter-protester’s right to assemble, but remember, it must be peaceful to be lawful. Screaming, “WORKER’S RIGHTS” in the ears of people just trying to enjoy the Parade would get old real fast if I was on the sidelines with my family. The Che signs were somewhat “distasteful” on the 4th of July too, but that’s just my personal position.
The Minutemen were a class act today! Thanks for the good time and the great conversation. I enjoyed meeting the new friends that I made today and seeing some old ones too. Some real good people I’ll say! More power to them!
July 4th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Wow, didn’t say they weren’t a class act or that their presence wasn’t appreciated in places. Just reported that they were the only group to have an obvious police escort on 3 sides of them, and where I was sitting, there was no warm welcome. I’m happy if they received some better response elsewhere. So, chill baby & enjoy the 4th! None of what I wrote was misleading - just adding some observation to a quiet posting.
July 4th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
Some of these posts remind me of the classic Dr Phil question: Do you want to be right or do you want to be happy? In this case I would ask, do you want to be “right” or do you want others to see your point of view. Look of winsome or irenic, people. There are many on here who don’t know a lot about this group. Here’s your chance to have a voice (voice does not equal yell).
July 4th, 2008 at 7:30 pm
Walter - I’m curious where you were sitting - maybe because of the ‘activity’ you mentioned, a few more cops joined their retinue after that (which you then wouldn’t have noticed). Now that you mention it, I did see a couple Che Guerva t-shirted people skirting along behind the watchers. They weren’t making any noise at our part of the route. Okay, I’m done posting for now
July 4th, 2008 at 10:03 pm
The Minutemen were warmly received by Fremont, as they were last year. It’s a shame they were not given enough time to make the “float” they had planned on in addition to others in the group having made alternate plans and were unable to change them two days before the parade. Watch for that Float and many many more Minutemen and friends in next year’s parade.
BTW, here’s a couple other activities (listed on the Indy Bay website) that the Che Guerva t-shirted socialists took part in: 4th Annual Old Time American Flag Burn
Seabright Beach, Santa Cruz
8-10 pm
Anti- July 4th Celebration
Revolution Books, Berkeley
6-8:30 pm
Happy Birthday America.
July 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Although I missed the parade, I did read about the 2 ‘protestors’ in this morning’s paper.
After reading the paper, I did my usual morning walk and decided to pass fremont Blvd, and found the flyers they were handing out. I guess once given people were handed them, they threw them on the ground. Anyway, the flyer I found was an advertizement by the “Party for Socialism and Liberation”. Just google it (PSL). Its title read “Full rights for all immigrants”.
Evidently, the PSL is not only paying for the indybay forum (which other revolutionary groups beside Riva use), but it was some partisans of Gloria Riva’s group in San Francisco (PSL branch) that did this. Gloria Riva is an old time leftist hack here in the Bay area. So I would think calling these ‘protestors’ marxists is not red baiting, but true in fact.
I am sure the crowds enjoyed the 4th adn paid very little attention to the protestors, especially when they handed out this kind of flyer. Even for Marxisst analysist it was pretty crudy.
July 5th, 2008 at 9:15 am
I also think we should thank the Argus and Patty Hitchcock. This could have been an ugly fight, but Patty had the heart to reconcile, and we did. Thank you Patty!
We look forward to a 3rd year in the Parade, and this time we’ll have a wonderful float to contribute. If there’s anything we can do to help make the Parade better or even volunteer on the Parade committee, we will be happy to do it!
July 5th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Disabled Minutemen STILL DID NOT GET to Participate because a ride/float WAS NOT ALLOWED!
NO amount of brown nosing can change that!
July 5th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
LatinoLady: Your comments are really getting old. I really have to laugh, It is amazing to me that people call the Minutemen a hate group.
The research that I have done on this group shows no grounds of any type of hate against any one group of person.
If you really want to see what hate groups are, just go to a KKK website or talk to a Nazi Party group. Those people are just plain NUTS!
One more thing in the state of Illinois we have people doing those jobs you have listed, so lets get off the poor hispanic working to hard propaganda. Nobody is buying it anymore.