Monday, February 20, 2006

CHRIS SIMCOX FEATURED SPEAKER AT JOHN BIRCH
SOCIETY COUNCIL GATHERING

The Arizona Minuteman comes to Costa Mesa
seeking new recruits for April border patrol

By DUANE J. ROBERTS
duaneroberts92804@yahoo.com

COSTA MESA, CA -- Chris Simcox, founder of
"Civil Homeland Defense," a border vigilante
group that brought together several ranchers
and retired military personnel in Cochise
County, Arizona to carry out numerous armed
patrols along the U.S./Mexico border, was a
featured speaker at a recent John Birch Society
Council meeting, which took place last Saturday
afternoon at the Hilton Hotel in the City of
Costa Mesa.

Simcox, 44, is a former kindergarten
teacher from Los Angeles who moved to Arizona
in 2002 shortly after he claims to have
seen "lines and lines of people" crossing the
border while on a backpacking expedition in that
state. After a brief stint as a gun-fighter
actor, Simcox bought The Tombstone Tumbleweed,
a weekly newspaper he's used as a bully pulpit
to rally against "illegal immigration" and
advocate for tougher "border security"
measures.

During Simcox's speech before the all-white,
middle-aged crowd of roughly sixty John Birch
Society members, he claimed that "Civil
Homeland Defense" has helped U.S. border patrol
agents apprehend more than 6,000 people
attempting to enter the United States from
Mexico. Simcox says that on some his patrols,
he's encountered people from "Poland, Russia,
China, Korea," "twenty five Haitian immigrants,"
and "two couples from Switzerland" who
paid $15,000 to a "coyote" that promised to
smuggle them in.

"The slave trade is alive and well in the USA,"
Simcox commented, alleging to have witnessed
firsthand "lines of people" by the "hundreds"
crossing into Arizona under the cover of darkness
with the assistance of "coyotes." Simcox also said
he's videotaped the Mexican military making repeated
"incursions" onto U.S. territory. He alleged that
most of these soldiers were on the payroll of "drug
dealers."

Since starting "Civil Homeland Defense" back in
2003, Simcox told the crowd that "just about every
wacko in the world" has called him, including
people wanting to "hunt Mexicans," and "two
gay priests" from Northern California who offered
to perform an "exorcism" with members of his
group along the U.S./Mexico border to "cleanse"
the area of all the "evil" it contained.

Simcox talked about his association with Jim
Gilchrist, the retired CPA from Aliso Viejo,
California who founded what is now known as
the "Minuteman Project." Simcox said he got a
call one day from Gilchrist who spoke to him
at length about the idea of establishing a
"civilian border watch," with people equipped
with cellphones and binoculars. That motivated
him to invite Gilchrist out to Arizona to give him a
personal tour of the border area and hear out
all the details of his proposal.

His budding friendship with Gilchrist, Simcox
said, eventually led to both of them to conduct
a joint operation last year where "350
people," including senior citizens, sat in
everything from "lawnchairs" to "wheelchairs,"
staking out positions along the U.S./Mexico
border to watch for border crossers. "We shut
down a twenty three mile section of the
border," he boasted.

Blasting President George W. Bush for being
weak on "homeland security," Simcox demanded
that National Guard and U.S. military troops
be placed in "civic observation posts" all along
the U.S./Mexico border. "I don't care if it
offends the government of Mexico or the people
of Mexico," Simcox told the approving crowd.
"I don't care about the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo! Your country got beat! Our army got
what it wanted! And that's history! You follow
by our rules now!"

Simcox urged people in the room to contact
all of their elected representatives and tell
them to oppose any "guest worker" or
amnesty bills going through the U.S.
Congress, saying they only benefit the
interests of big corporations.

In closing remarks, Simcox said beginning
in April, thousands of volunteers from Texas,
New Mexico, Arizona, California, and elsewhere
will once again be heading to the U.S./Mexico
border to man observation posts or actively patrol
an 800 mile stretch of land. The "Minuteman
Civil Defense Corps.," a new group that was
founded by Simcox last year, is "6,600 members
strong" and is rapidly growing, he claimed.
He urged everybody in attendance to sign up.
"In the spirit of civil defense, please join," were his
last words.

After the crowd gave Simcox a standing ovation,
Arthur Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of
the John Birch Society, and a member of its
"inner council" profusely thanked him for
all the work he has done in "protecting
our borders." Thompson then handed
him a special gift: a miniature metal replica
of an American Minuteman that fought against
the British army in 1776.

===========

ADDITIONAL CREDIT FOR THIS ARTICLE:

Naui Huitzilopochtli, who also attended Simcox's
speech, took all the photographs used for this
article.

Credit for all the photographs used in this article goes to Naui Huitzilopochtli.

Photo shot by Naui Huitzilopochtli from inside lobby of Costa Mesa Hilton on Saturday, February 18, 2006.

Hey looks like Naui went there afterall. I wonder who that lady in red is. Mary Lewis? Probably not. Oh well.

It would be funny if I went there and spoke to Simcox and was like "hey dude, remember me? dude, I found out about at least two white nationalists in Gilchrist's campaign(which is true, as well all know). You may want to ask him about that."

Or maybe he's already been spoken to about me and basically told to think that I'm a liar or "Green Party spy" or whatever.

Good for Chris!!!
Where do I sign to become a Minuteman????
oops I already am!! LOL

on the over comment.

"I don't care if it offends the government of Mexico or the people of Mexico,"
Neither do I!!!!
Tough crap if the do not like it.
Go to Mexico and protest FOX and his corrupt so-calld government!!!

This Oc person supports The Minutemen!!!!

It's not just the United States that's seeing a rise in neo-Nazism and race hate. I read a coverage report of just this level of Nazism in Itaily, directed toward Muslims.

I believe that this growiung motivation to express one's racist hatred and neo-Nazi ideologies is the result of the racists having one of their own in the White House. I believe it makes them feel emboldened.

My opinions only and only my opinions.

Gerry there's a criminal within your ranks. can u explain the past of Chris Simcox. from the website i provided, if your a law abidding citizen you will do something. i will doubt it if your going to do anything right gerry.

Call it like it is: The Minute Klan.

I cringe to think of Chris getting a standing ovation after a John Birch Society speech. I have happier memories, before his "psychic break", of him teaching values of love and understanding to my daughter and her fellow classmates in kindergarten. Although his former students still carry the good foundations he inspired in them, they have also learned the unpleasant lesson that the person they counted on so much can become the opposite of the one they knew.

Circle the wagons!!!
John Earl and Duane Roberts come to Costa Mesa City Council Meeting!!!

He's a meglomaniacal, violent, child-beating, maybe child molesting, convicted criminal (for taking a .45 on public land). His "friends"--the Minutemen--call him "The Little Prince." A wannabe actor who got no further than "re-enacting," every sophomore acting student's dream job.

Check it out:
http://www.splcenter.org/news/item.jsp?pid=167
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/immigration/simcox-guilty.htm