Well Bob, the trick is to live even further north for a while. I lived up in Hancock for a few years (350+ inches of snow and CCCCOOOLLLDDD). Now it seems like I'm living in the tropics ..... ;) kinda ......

My former residence was in Roachester New York. Over 100 inches annual snowfall with lots of thaw/freeze, coating roads and driveways with stuff like 0 coefficient of friction and hard as concrete and could last for months.. Such fun when the plows left two feet of this in the end of the driveway at 6 in the morning......

I get cold just thinking about snow...Brrrrr...

Ian..NO WIFE, Shoes...off the rack Cole & Hahn, Bally, Bruno Maglia, Red Wing, & Merill. Nike for Golf.

I bin out to Decker..Home of the Michigan Militia, I even bin out to the farm and talked to James Nichols for a bit, at the time I knew more than Baba Walters, Geraldo Rivera or Teddy Kopel. I'm even sure the Fbeeeye taped my conversation with him. That was the hottest place in America at the time.

And that's something to be proud of? Those are horrible people...

Nope never said I was, what Mcvay and T Nichols did was beyond what words can describe. I opened a real can of worms here. Which goes right to the heart of divisivness between voters for GW and the Democrats. My short conversation with James Nichols was a trip into the heart of American paranoia, and if I had to do it again I probably wouldn't do it.

Putting that conversation completely aside, I walked away from my visit to Michigan with an understanding of just how much people in middle America disliked the Federal Govt. Something that people living in So CA (I include myself on that list) or Liberal MA just don't have any understanding of. We're not just talking about some under educated red-necks here either, but an attorney and the daughter of a Michigan Judge, that were my realtives neighbors on the lake. Thats what surprised me. So when you say "horrible people" you better understand they are Americans just like you are. Thats the thing you have to come to grips with.

And you happened to stumble upon the Nichols farm ...... how????? And why?????? Door-to-door fertilizer sales?????

Excuse me Sir tabs. I lived in Michigan for a time as well as seven other states in this Union( Texas, Arizona, N. Carolina, Maine, Alaska, Connecticut and Massachusetts) so know who you are lecturing before you accuse people of "not having an understanding". I worked with a bunch of people who were in the Michgan Milita( I am a machinist by trade so I work with a broad sector of the population). Those who I met were a pathalogical mess. I went to one of their meetings since I have an open mind and like to listen to what anyone has to say. What I heard was shocking. These people believed that the stickers on the backs of roadsigns were there to guide NATO troops to there bases. They were preparing for a NATO invasion, talk about paranoia! Then, as I was being driven home by one of the members, he told me that he kept his fully Auto rifle loaded with two clips duct taped together. He said he was going to use the first clip to defend his house and the second to kill his family so "they" wouldn't take them prisoner. What kind Militia is this where they say it's OK to kill your family( yes, the leader said this was an acceptable course of action). What I came away with was a bunch of people who hated foreigners and yet, they all were proud of their POS SKS rifles which are made in China( none of them could hit the side of a barn door with them either which was a big relief for me, I showed up with my Ruger and showed them what a good marksman is). I found it funny listening to them spew their hate of America and yet, when I asked them why they don't go back to where they came form, none of them wanted to go. Now I happen to be 1/2 Native American so it would be easy for me to have a pretty big beef with this country, yet I choose to pick my battles and work with whatever system we have here to try and fix things. We created a system in this country where we can VOTE, yet non of these folks did. That is the beauty of this country, if you don't like something, get off your ass and do something about it, don't just sit there and complain.

I consider myself a very lucky person to live in this country, I have been homeless before( through no fault of mine) and I managed to work hard and prove myself. I don't have a colledge degree but I have worked very hard through my life so far and now I own a home, two Porsches and have a wonderful family. Anyone who can knock this country with so much hate doesn't deserve to live here.

JA

JPachard - I applaud you for pulling yourself out of your situation.

This Militia (which I don't think Tabs was truly speaking highly of) interests me in that you say you're 1/2 Native American but went to one of their meetings. How were you able to get into one of those meetings given that 1/2 Native would give me the impression you have some indigenous features? From what little I know, these militias have traditionally been made up of caucasians, right? Or is there now a broader cross-section of people within them?

Thanks.

dd74, I am part Iroquois. Due to the fact that this tribe was one of the first to have trade with the French, our features are not as prominent due to mixing it up with the French. I will try to find some photos I have and scan them of my ancestors. You would be quite surprised..Also, the Iroquois had the first constitution in America!! Whohoo!! We're actually pretty civilized :-)..


JA

Cool. I have Blackfoot somewhere deep down in me and have also mixed it up with a few Frenchies somewhere in history.

A girl I work with is a third Seminole, gorgeous, but damn mean, too! I wonder why that is.

Anyway, what about the militia?

My apology jpachard...what you describe is the absolute heart of American paranoia. I have heard bits and pieces of that kind of rhetoric over the years. I don't have an answer for it?

I went to visit my cousins who had a cottage on Lake Huron in Port Sanilliac. They would put me up in the Bed & Breakfast, because they didn't have room in the cottage. The owners son ran the B&B and we got to be friends. He said that he heard that the Decker Bar was selling hats that said "I got bombed at the Decker Bar." I said people go to Disneyland and get tee shirts, I go to Michigan so I'll get one of those hats as a souvenir. We went out to Decker, and if you blink you miss the the place. We found the bar, which is a cinder block building. We went in and asked the Barkeeper if they had hats and she said no. She told us she was on CNN clip that was shown in N Carolina. There were a couple of guys in the bar that said that the bombing was a put up job by the Federal govt. and that they would honk their horns in the mornining to wake up the FBI agents who were parked behind a billboard. The Bartender said, "Why don't you go out to the farm, James is selling tee shirts." So we said why not, so we went out to the farm which is on 24 mile road and Van Dyke. We drove up, a couple of guys were working on a large piece of farm machinery. We asked if this was the place, and they called out, "Hey james a coupla guys are here to buy tee shirts." Before we could get into the house James N asked us 3 times "Are you Feds" We got to talking a bit, he said that the FBI manipulated evidence and that his brother was innocent, that he had to sneak down to Oklahoma to visit his brother. That the FBI spent 7K a day surveilling him, and something about Drivers Licenses were an intrusion of peoples civil liberty? He said that he was selling tee shirts to pay off his legal bills, and that he was surprised so many people in the area supported him by buying one. After we left, for 2 days I was completely paranoid, looking over my shoulder. James Nichols was in jail for 30 days while the govt investigated his involvement in the bombing, finially they had to let him go. I really believe that his house was bugged, and everybody who went there got checked out. That farm was the hottest place in America. My impression of James N was that his eyes were burning and that he was definately bent. I doubt that I would do it again simply because I don't need the agravation over something so stupid.

Well, before anyone thinks that Michiganians are all Fed-hating militia members, think again. I've lived here all my life and never even HEARD of the Michigan Militia til Oklahoma ..... like any other little cult, this is a very very small group of disillusioned people - mostly out in the rural farmlands.

BTW: Decker is actually 30-40 miles north of 24 Mile Rd. - it's up near M46. At 24 Mile there is nothing but new subdivisions full of yuppies and plastic palaces ......

Right on Curt, I guess this was going to be my point in the end. I have met the nicest people in every part of this country. It really bothers me that these people( Militia Types) can give out such a bad name. I travelled across this country looking for work and what I brought away from these experiences is that there are good people everywhere. I never stereotype a region because this is what starts alot of this crap to begin with. I believe that if Americans travelled within their own country more we would be a much stronger nation. I know this is a simplistic view of things but I don't type very well :-)...

Cheers, James

I always did wonder what the little stickers on the back of the road signs were for though ........ :D

My realtives neighbors have nothing to do with the Michigan Militia. Yet their viewpoint on the Federal government surprised me. It was nowhere as extreme as the once described by JPA though. That I have to agree is whacked. Of course after my visit to the farm I did notice a black helicopter following me. Also when I got back to CA I did have a visit from a BATF agent.....but that was a routine visit for renewing my FFL.

Ceger your right about it being 46 mile RD...for some reason I had 24 on the brain...maybe it's the brainwashing I received from the rays emanating from the black helicopters that circle my house at night.