Arizona: Neo Nazis Patrol Border

Is it chickens or is it eggs? Is it that Governor Brewer's immigration extremism gives cover to Nazis. Or is it that Neo Nazis give cover to the ugliness that is SB 1070. Is it that Joe Apraio was thought to be as extreme as anyone could be, but people have emerged in Arizona who are even further beyond the Pale?

Is Arizona a Petry Dish from growing more and more virulent forms of extremism? You pick.

This from AP:

Minutemen groups, a surge in Border Patrol agents, and a tough new immigration law aren't enough for a reputed neo-Nazi who's now leading a militia in the Arizona desert.

Jason "J.T." Ready is taking matters into his own hands, declaring war on "narco-terrorists" and keeping an eye out for illegal immigrants....

But local law enforcement are nervous given that Ready's group is heavily armed and identifies with the National Socialist Movement, an organization that believes only non-Jewish, white heterosexuals should be American citizens and that everyone who isn't white should leave the country "peacefully or by force."...snip

But Ready, a 37-year-old ex-Marine, ,,, and his friends are outfitted with military fatigues, body armor and gas masks, and carry assault rifles. Ready takes offense at the term "neo-Nazi," but admits he identifies with the National Socialist Movement.

"These are explicit Nazis," said Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project. "These are people who wear swastikas on their sleeves."

And so, today, running around in the desert where it's dangerously hot are a bunch of heavily armed Nazis. And Sheriff Arpaio continues to humiliate immigrants while failing to prevent crime. And the Governor of Arizona continues to insist that SB1070 is not preempted. And not racist. And a waste of money.

Arizona is a hot, dry Petry Dish for growing extremism.

My revulsion overflows. I'm not advocating violence. I'm just noticing the strong, negative feelings all of these creeps evoke. I hope that the people of Arizona will find a way to be free of these demagogues.