Spring must be here. The Michigan Militia Field Day is being held today.

[Bozita]

Last Updated: April 09. 2011 5:07PM
Michigan Militia's family field day is more than just fun and games
Micki Steele / The Detroit News

Brighton — Members of the Michigan Militia, an 18-year-old all-volunteer armed force established to protect the rights of citizens, gathered today for a family picnic and an opportunity to openly carry their weapons.

Lee Miracle, organizer of today's Militia Field Day at Island Lake Park, sported a Glock 17, a semiautomatic pistol, in a holster on his right hip as he chatted with picnickers. It's every American's right to bear arms, Miracle said.

-snip-

Men dressed in camouflage uniforms and a few women laughed and talked as hot dogs and burgers sizzled on the grill. A few participants headed for the shooting range to begin practice drills and contests, including one for children. Other sessions included a water bottle toss and war cry competition.

Posters featuring the faces of militia members as "dangerous citizens" were displayed near the picnic shelter and spoofed ones used in "Red Dawn," a film remake partly shot in Detroit with a pending release date. In it, the enemy invaders were changed from Chinese to North Korean in post-production. Group spokesman Michael Lackomar said he believes the Chinese government and the U.S. State Department pressured producers to alter the movie and the move violates their First Amendment rights.

-snip-

more...

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110409/METRO/104090368/Michigan-Militia-s-family-field-day-is-more-than-just-fun-and-games#ixzz1J4AlBSpc

[Skip_In_Boulder]

1. Hot dog, Nascar can't be far behind. n/t

[sufrommich]

2. Other sessions included a water bottle toss and war cry competition

Isn't that adorable.

[MichiganVote]

3. :) Yeah, more guns on the streets too. The annual street shootings are acomin'

[brewens]

4. Why the heck would the Chinese need to invade? That would just be

like moving into a house you bought. That's probably what they changed to N. Korea.

[TheCowsCameHome]

5. The first acorns of the season have popped.

Nothing like a nice gathering of nuts on a spring day.

[Blue_In_AK]

6. You know, the people too radical for the Michigan militia

have moved to Alaska. Thanks a lot.

[Bozita]

7. Detroit's 59ers -- Alaska or bust! (gotta see the pic!)

This 1934 moving van was the lead vehicle in the Detroit-Alaska caravan, and lived up to its sign.


Detroit's 59ers -- Alaska or bust!
By Pat Zacharias / The Detroit News
March 5, 1998

Known as the 59ers, the travelers wanted to trade the rat race of city living for the challenges of pioneer life in the Alaskan wilderness.
The route taken by the caravan.

They planned to homestead the wild Alaskan land and carve out a new life while escaping the hardships in Detroit. These were regular folks raising families and trying to make ends meet in a Detroit where cars were not selling and the unemployment rate had jumped to 15 percent. The group included autoworkers, homemakers, pipefitters and machinists.

Alaska had just become the 49th state and was luring new inhabitants with the promise of a new life on homesteaded land for a $10 filing fee -- in effect free land to people who agreed to live on it for a certain length of time.

The hardy group set off in a caravan from the parking lot of a drive-in theater at Telegraph and West Chicago. Their odyssey captured the imagination of other Americans, who piled into house trailers, pickup trucks and cars to join them and seek their fame and fortune.

more...
http://apps.detnews.com/apps/history/index.php?id=69

[Blue_In_AK]

8. Oh, that's great. :)

The Michigan Militia dude I was speaking of is Norm Olson. He's a real peach. Here's an article about him. http://juneauempire.com/stories/112209/sta_527626651.shtml

NIKISKI - Norm Olson's genial tone belies his reputation as a radical militiaman, yet here he is, at 63, an affable grandfather explaining why Americans should arm themselves against their government.

Walking stick in hand, clad in military fatigues, he strolls a trail in the woods near his home, located on 22 acres near Nikiski, a small, unincorporated community with isolated roads and no local government. The nearest state trooper post is two towns away.

A fellow militiaman, armed with an assault rifle, walks along as Olson - a man whose conspiracy theories were so extreme that he was kicked out of the group he founded, the Michigan Militia, 15 years ago - discourses on the need for a paramilitary Alaska Citizens Militia.

He lays out his ideas about imminent economic collapse and social chaos incited by federal bailouts and other forms of intrusion by a tyrannical government.

<snip>

Friends of Joe Miller, no doubt.

[Bozita]

9. We gave you Olson and you sent us a passel of Palins.

You got the better of that deal.