The Subway Canaries

A P. S. to this article – The Pondering American has been researching William Greene (who is promoting Simcox) and Right March.  After you read the piece about Simcox, you need to read his.  It puts things into perspective and shows us how badly we are being scammed.

The Pink Flamingo has been covering Chris Simcox and the misc. minutemen,et al…for some time. The Simcox-Keyes Scam; and the Minuteman Feeding Frenzy.

Once upon a time Simcox was something of a ‘joke’. “…The Rev. Robert Carney is a former St. Louis resident who left town to enter the priesthood at 43. For years, he served in parishes along the Arizona border. Today, he runs a binational, interfaith group to promote understanding about the reasons migrants make the illegal trek. Some of the armed groups are more worrisome to him than others. “I don’t think we’re overly concerned with Chris Simcox. He is not recognized by any of the other vigilante groups. They kind of laugh at him, really. But there are others who are very dangerous people that we’ve been concerned about from the beginning,” he said. Carney said Ranch Rescue didn’t have great numbers. “But we have people who have gone in to see their weaponry and have been frightened by what they saw there...”

“I dare the president of the United States to arrest Americans who are protecting their own country,” Simcox said, in comments carried by the Washington Times earlier this year. “We will no longer tolerate the ineptness of the government in dealing with these criminals and drug dealers. It is a monumental disgrace that our government is letting the American people down, turning us into the expendable casualties of the war on terrorism.” Salon article by Max Blumenthal.

The ego Simcox nurishes is revealed in this press release from the new defunct Civil Homeland Defense organizatoin. A message from Simcox to the world.  “From: Chris Simcox — Civil Homeland Defense 

CHD received information yesterday morning (Tuesday) that most field Border Patrol agents were being called in to increase security at the port of entry stations. CHD members held an emergency meeting and have decided to fill in for the government and help our friends, neighbors and countrymen, again. Yesterday, I spoke with a Mexican news agency and issued a warning that all illegal entrants attempting to breach our border during a time of war in which National Security is at a critical level would be ignorant and unwise. I stated that all illegal entries would be treated as enemies of the state and will be detained and held in contempt of invading the United States of America.

I have sent this message to Governor Napolitano and to Border Patrol’s Tucson sector headquarters and alerted supervisors that once we enter war with Iraq, CHD will deter, detain and apprehend anyone who attempts to flee a CHD citizen volunteer. All illegal invaders will be detained until Border Patrol agents arrive to transport them back across the border. We will humanely supply them with water, food, blankets and medical attention to the best of our abilities.

Since our government officials have basically notified the world that the border fence is not being patrolled, it is now more important than ever for citizens to rise to the occasion and fill a void in National security.

CHD volunteers will now patrol the border with over 100 fully armed Citizens who consider themselves members of the unorganized state militia; we have the legal right and moral obligation as per our Arizona State Constitution and Federal Constitution and our respect for American citizens.

Our intent is to send a strong message to the world that we will stand defiant to invaders and protect the borders of our country.

A message to the world: Do not attempt to cross the border illegally; you will be considered an enemy of the state; if aggressors attempt to forcefully enter our country they will be repelled with force if necessary!

Chris Simcox
Civil Homeland Defense“

Here is the story that started it all.

This expose gives me no pleasure.  I met Chris several years ago, not long after he took over the helm of the Tombstone Tumbleweed.  He gave my friends and I a break when we needed one.  I appreciate that very much, so when Chris began working on the illegal immigration problems, I paid attention.  I knew the guy, and from my experience found him to be upfront about things.  It bothered me when he began to associate with Jim Gilchrist.  I saw Chris as being manipulated by Gilchrist who immediately came across to me as a snake-oil salesman.  The addition of Gilchrist into the movement brought this disturbing underbelly of ‘hate’.  For several years now I’ve thought something was wrong, but could never put my finger on it.  I watched as Chris appeared to change.  When he and Gilchrist appeared to ’split’ I breathed a sigh of relief ant thought maybe things will be okay.  Unfortunately they are not. 

The problem is, now, I don’t know what the truth is. I know the attitudes of mutual acquaintances.  Some are quite candid, others have been assimilated.  Others handle the issue with kid gloves.  One has told me of the threats he received when he began questioning the whole ‘minuteman thing’.  Another has made several comments about associates of associates.  There is something that seriously bothers me.  I have noticed when I bring the subject up, people change the subject or refuse to answer, or laugh it away as a bunch of crack-pots.  But, deep down, I pick up this aura of fear, not of illegals but of the whole minuteman movement and their associates. 

In the past I have been criticized for what some assume is my jumping to conclusions about the minutemen, their associates, white supremacists, neo-nazis, and other anti-immigration groups.  I wish I were jumping to conclusions.  I wish I could rely on well-researched material from ‘trusted’ conservative sources, but unfortunately many if almost all of these sources have been assimilated.  They are refusing to delve into the issue.  I don’t know if it is because they honestly believe these people are telling the truth or are downright ignoring the questionable associations because they don’t want to admit they exist.  It is possible these people have good intentions, but hell is paved with good intentions. 

Or, and this is the part of it that terrifies me – these people support these questionable sources because they believe in exactly what these sources do, say, and believe.  Lord help us all if this is the case. 

But then, again, a libertarian blogger contacted me about two months ago.  He told me the problem is conservatives are ignoring what The Pink Flamingo was exposing because it is highly embarrassing to them because they’ve been ‘connected’.  Liberals are ignoring it because they are enjoying the predicament the conservatives find themselves in right now.  If this is the case, then conservatives are just as intellectually dishonest as liberals and we’ve all been sold a false bill of goods.

Simcox answers critics, “….There have also been many questions asked as to how I make a living. I am not salaried by MCDC—otherwise, it is no one’s business. I have never felt the need to publicly defend my integrity—above all else: to thine own self be true.

However, in light of the circumstances of malicious attacks, I will, this one last time, reveal personal information to answer the critics.

The hours of toil and sacrifice necessary to run this national organization has taken a toll on my personal life and has led to my shutting down my newspaper—The Tombstone Tumbleweed. My present source of income has been the honorariums and fees received from organizations who request me for speaking engagements. I have also received money from selling my life story for a movie that will soon go into production. Even with those combined sources of income, I have made just enough to keep my head above water. The remainder of my living expenses is covered by my devoted and dedicated wife, who shares my passion for the MCDC mission.

I do foresee a need come the new year for me to request a modest salary to maintain my role as president of MCDC. If the board and national directors do not agree then it will be necessary for me to leave the organization and return to teaching—or I may need to go get a job at Wal-Mart or Home Depot!…”

Todd Hartley’s PHnews comments:  “There have been a lot of rumors floating around the internet about Minutemen founder Chris Simcox raising enormous amounts of money for a costly Israeli-style border wall but only putting up inexpensive range fencing.

So, I decided to call Chris and get his version of the ABC 15 News report and his thoughts on the American Patrol questioning if the, “Border fence project is a scam?”

If you have yet to see the ABC 15 investigation on Chris Simcox, I recommend you click on this video link before listening to his interview with me.

VIDEO: Watch The ABC 15 Investigation About Chris Simcox & Where Donations Are Going!

READ: American Patrol’s Claim!

As always I look forward to hearing your feedback.

Thank you for your continued support.

Todd Hartley

AUDIO: Simcox Claims ABC 15 Edited Different Responses To His Answers!

AUDIO: Simcox Responds To American Patrol’s Claims of Fraud!“

So just who is Chris Simcox?  The problem with dealing with any ‘normal person who has done nothing to warrent public attention over the years is the difficult time obtaining information about them.  For Simcox, we must rely on ‘opposing’ sources.  The one most often quoted is from the SPLC by Susy Buchanan and David Holthouse.

Threats, Anger and Paranoia
The truth is more complex and troubling. Court records obtained by the Center’s Intelligence Project show Simcox’s second ex-wife, Kim Dunbar, filed an emergency appeal in September 2001 to obtain full custody of their teenage son because she feared that Simcox had suffered a mental breakdown and was dangerous.

Dunbar declined to be interviewed for this article, but her sworn affidavits speak for themselves. In one, Dunbar testified that throughout their 10-year marriage, Simcox was prone to sudden, violent rages.

“He once took a knife from the kitchen and threatened to kill himself,” she testified. “When he was angry, he broke furniture, car windows, he banged his head against the wall repeatedly and punched things.”

Dunbar said that when their son was 4 years old, Simcox slapped him so hard that a mark remained on his face for two days. Another time, she testified, she grabbed her young son in her arms and jumped out a window because Simcox was throwing furniture at them.

After such episodes, she said, Simcox would become despondent. “He would stare at walls, mumbling to himself.” In the affidavits, Dunbar said she repeatedly pressured Simcox to seek professional help and even tried to have him hospitalized. But he persistently refused treatment.

“Eventually,” she said, “the only thing I could do was file for divorce.”

Simcox and Dunbar initially shared custody of their son. There was no legal dispute until shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, when Dunbar suddenly filed a flurry of emergency appeals.

“While Chris has always been prone to strong opinions and ranting behavior, this last episode has gone even farther,” she told the court. “I am convinced he has had some kind of mental lapse and I am now, more than ever, afraid for my son to be in Chris’ care.”

Dunbar grew frightened after Simcox left her a series of bizarre voicemail messages beginning that Sept. 13, in which he went on angry diatribes about the Constitution, patriotism, and impending nuclear attacks on Los Angles, and talked about training their 15-year-old son in the use of firearms. “

“…Wyatt Earp vs. the Chinese
The court ruled in Dunbar’s favor, ending the joint custody arrangement and awarding Dunbar sole custody of their son.

Simcox has said that after leaving Los Angeles he tried to become a Border Patrol agent but was rejected for being too old. After settling in Tombstone, he worked for a while as a gunfight-show actor before purchasing the local newspaper, The Tombstone Tumbleweed.

Simcox initially told followers he had drained his son’s college fund to pay for the paper, but later switched to claiming he had emptied his own retirement account. Simcox used the paper to rail against illegal immigration and to recruit volunteers for Civil Homeland Defense, the outfit he founded in 2002 and described in the Tumbleweed as a “committee of vigilantes.”

In January 2003, while on patrol with Civil Homeland Defense, Simcox was arrested by federal park rangers for illegally carrying a .45-caliber semi-automatic handgun in a national park. Also in Simcox’s possession at the time of that arrest, according to police records, were a document entitled “Mission Plan,” a police scanner, two walkie-talkies, and a toy figure of Wyatt Earp on horseback.

Two months later, in a speech to the California Coalition on Immigration Reform, a hate group whose leader, Barbara Coe, routinely refers to Mexicans as “savages,” Simcox offered a dire warning to his audience.

“Take heed of our weapons because we’re going to defend our borders by any means necessary,” he said. “There’s something very fishy going on at the border. The Mexican army is driving American vehicles — but carrying Chinese weapons. I have personally seen what I can only believe to be Chinese troops.”

Of illegal immigrants, Simcox added: “They’re trashing their neighborhoods, refusing to assimilate, standing on street corners, jeering at little girls walking on their way to school.”

Simcox’s big mouth and swaggering manner inspired Tombstone locals and the numerous Simcox detractors within the Minuteman movement to nickname him “The Little Prince.”

Wherever he goes, Simcox seems to establish a reputation for arrogance. After failing as a would-be actor in Los Angeles, he took a job in 1990 teaching at a prestigious private academy, Wildwood School.

In interviews with the Intelligence Report, two of Simcox’s former teaching colleagues at the school describe him as an instructor who was exceptionally popular with students and parents but isolated himself from his fellow teachers with his condescending attitude.

“He always stayed up on the latest trends in childhood development and teaching methods, and he was always talking about himself like he was God’s gift to teaching,” said one teacher who taught at Wildwood at the same time as Simcox.

“He had this real holier-than-thou attitude, like he was so far above the other teachers they should be grateful he was even discussing his methods with them. He was insulting.”

‘A Drastic, Dangerous Guy’
There’s one trend that Simcox seems oblivious to — the growing involvement of racists in the border vigilante movement. Despite the fact that white supremacist groups openly recruit for Minuteman patrols and that a handful of neo-Nazis from the National Alliance and Aryan Nations did sign up for the Minuteman Project in April, Simcox refuses to acknowledge that vigilante border patrols are potentially a magnet for violent racists….”

And this one botheres me more than all the charges of white supremicists, etc.  “…That’s a strange rhetorical device given the accusations leveled at Simcox in the summer of 1998, when his 14-year-old daughter from his first marriage — prior to his union with Dunbar — came to live with him in Los Angeles.

In separate interviews with the Intelligence Report, two of Simcox’s former colleagues at Wildwood and his first ex-wife gave the same account. They said that Simcox helped his daughter get a job babysitting for a Wildwood School employee and that one night, Simcox’s daughter showed up unexpectedly at her employer’s house, visibly upset, alleging that her father had just attempted to sexually molest her.

“He tried to molest our daughter when he was intoxicated,” said Deborah Crews, Simcox’s first ex-wife and the girl’s mother. “When she ran out, he tried to say he was just giving her a leg massage and she got the wrong idea.”

Contacted by the Report, Simcox refused to answer four direct questions about the molestation allegations. “I would never answer those questions to you. You can’t ask those questions,” he said. “You’re on a witch hunt and you’re trying to discredit our movement, which is to secure the borders. … My personal life has nothing to do with anything that goes on here.”

No charges were filed against Simcox, but Crews said she and her daughter immediately broke off all contact with him.

“He’s a drastic, chaotic, very dangerous guy,” said Crews. “I’m surprised he hasn’t shot anybody yet. I see him on TV and I have to turn if off, because it makes me sick to see him getting all this attention.”

Simcox, now 44, recently married for a third time. He met his new wife, 25-year-old documentary filmmaker Alena Lyras when she traveled to Tombstone in April along with hundreds of other journalists to interview Simcox during the Minuteman Project. Simcox organized the massively hyped, month-long vigilante action with current Orange County, Calif., congressional candidate Jim Gilchrist, for whom Simcox says he has been stumping as a paid spokesman.

Simcox and Lyras were married in late August in Maricopa County, Ariz. Simcox sold The Tumbleweed in September and moved in with Lyras at her home in Phoenix. During the “America First” summit, Simcox said that Lyras is “useful to our movement, because she’s young enough that she’s been infiltrating the ACLU and other open borders groups and filming their meetings and protests…”  Now, remember what was reported above, the way Simcox HAD to get rid of the Tumbleweed?  Does this sound like the statement…”...The hours of toil and sacrifice necessary to run this national organization has taken a toll on my personal life and has led to my shutting down my newspaper—The Tombstone Tumbleweed…”  It isn’t quite the same, is it?

Now, check out the Max Bloumenthol version of the story.  “…Simcox, the Tumbleweed’s editor and owner, is in his element. After a failed marriage in Los Angeles, a stint of unemployment, the shock of Sept. 11, and three months camped out in the Arizona desert, he arrived here last year and has fashioned for himself a new life as the poster boy for the American anti-immigrant movement. He bought the newspaper in August; by October, he had clearly stamped it with his own personality. “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!” declared the Tumbleweed’s front page that month. “A PUBLIC CALL TO ARMS! CITIZENS BORDER PATROL MILITIA NOW FORMING!”

Within a month, Simcox claims, an untold number of Tombstone residents and others signed up to join his militia, called Civil Homeland Defense. Militia rules mandate that each member carry a pistol, for which a background check is required, and he or she must also wear a baseball cap emblazoned with an American flag. The group patrols along the Cochise County chaparral between Tombstone and Mexico, searching for people who look like illegal immigrants. When suspected illegals are caught, Simcox says, they are “humanely” placed under citizen’s arrest and turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol.

There are those in Tombstone who say that the 41-year-old former teacher is an eccentric, an egomaniac and a threat to the local tourism industry. While Simcox says his militia has 600 members, others here say the number is far smaller. “Chris can only get a three-man patrol going,” says Jeff, a bartender at the Crystal Bar on Main Street. “Basically, the kind of people who want to join his group can’t even pass a background check….”

The article continues, bring out the dirty little secret anti-immigration sourced deny…”…In Cochise County alone, self-styled vigilante groups in recent years have harassed and detained hundreds, perhaps thousands, of migrants suspected of entering the country illegally. They claim they are only enforcing U.S. laws too often ignored by law enforcement officials. But human rights advocates are worried about a climate here and through much of southern Arizona that seems increasingly primed for violence.

In 2000 Miguel Angel Palafox, a 20-year-old migrant, was shot in the neck by two horsemen dressed in black who attacked him near the border town of Sasabe, about 50 miles east of Cochise County. Palafox crawled back to Mexico with a T-shirt wrapped around his wound and lived to tell the tale, though the riders remain unknown.

Last October, in the small town of Red Rock, between Tucson and Phoenix, two undocumented immigrants were found shot to death by a roadside. Manuel Ortega, a spokesman for the Mexican Consulate in Tucson, says the two victims were part of a group of 12 migrants resting around a pond south of the town. While most of the group slumbered, one of the migrants told the consulate staff, two masked men dressed in camouflage and armed with machine guns appeared from the woods, firing upon the group and killing the two before the others scattered. The Pinal County sheriff’s office is treating the killings as a dispute between rival people smugglers, or coyotes, but Ortega says his office has never seen a killing like that involving coyotes.

As co-director of the Tucson human rights group Derechos Humanos, attorney Isabel Garcia has campaigned to bring anti-immigrant vigilantes and brutal coyotes to justice for more than 25 years, and she sees good reason to question the focus of the sheriff’s investigation of the Red Rock murders. “It seems highly unlikely that coyotes would use camouflage clothes and highly unlikely that they would kill people who would bring in more money,” she said. “We’ve never seen that.”

No one has suggested that Simcox’s group is involved in the deadly violence. But critics say he is the embodiment of a troubling climate of intolerance and impatience that poses a vivid threat to Mexicans and other illegal migrants near the border. Local officials have condemned the vigilante activity. U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva of Tucson, a Democrat, has called for an investigation of the growing militia movement there…”

“…Were the Red Rock murders were committed by vigilantes? That’s “just speculation,” Ray replied. But don’t Simcox, Barnett and Spencer raise the risk of anti-immigrant violence when they act independent of the law to mete out justice? “The onus is simply on the federal government to regain control of the borders,” Ray said. “If they fail to do that and it goes on year after year, what we’re going to see is increasing numbers of citizens speaking out against out-of-control immigration and defending their property….”

The article continues, with information about the misc. anti-immigration groups, their connection to Tancredo and to Tanton.  What does Simcox think?  “…At the mention of Tancredo’s name, Chris Simcox leaps from his chair and yelps: “That’s my leader! I’d vote for him for president tomorrow!“

What is true and what isn’t? 

Are we dealing with a bunch of very nasty people or are we dealing with patriots – or a mix?

LA Times profile of Simcox.

Let’s face it, we’re dealing with individuals who are not firing on all thrusters.  Are they unbalanced or just ego driven?  I’m not a psychologist, so don’t ask me.  But I do know a loose screw when I see one.

What about the Simcox fence scam?  This is what the TXminuteman bunch has to say about it – and it is not good.  The word “Scam” is used.

From an earlier Subway Canaries Posting:

From yesterday’s Pink Flamingo: For weeks I have been telling you not all was sweetness and light when it came to Chris Simcox, Minuteman Civil Defense Corps  and all that money he is collecting.  First, how many people know it is not a non-profit organization and their money is not tax-deductable?  And where is it all going?  They are raising hundreds of thousands of dollars and accounting for none of it.  How about no honor among thieves.  Thanks to the Pondering American for this breaking news!  I’ve been telling you Simcox and the funds raised for his projects weren’t quite above reproach.  Now there is proof.  Wonder how the anti-immigration puppets are going to handle it?  Greene has helped to promote this scam.

The Texas Minuteman bunch is after Simcox.

Check out the Lucy Lawless email snagged by the SPLC.  She is directly involved with the minutemen.  She is directly involved with several neo-nazis.  What more information do you need?

You need to read this PDF from the minuteman bunch in TX to understand what is going on here.  S C A M   I believe for the past month or so I’ve been saying some of the Minuteman links doing add up.  This thing is an entangled mess.  I just feel sorry for the poor man who borrowed $120,000 to help these people.  Where the heck is the IRS when you need them?  This is the day by day staff work of Simcox and Hair.

Over at Clown Posse they are doing some kind of work on the whole Minuteman Mess.  There is so much – you just need to take the time to go through it.

“Checking the Arizona Secretary of State and Arizona Corporate Commission, I’ve come up with two organizations that link to Simcox.
10605857 — Civil Homeland Defense Corp. Dissolved by the state of Arizona in February 2005 for failure to file their annual report.

You will want to read the profile of Simcox from Orcinus.  It is fascinating.  “You have to admire, in a way, people who can pull off a human-chameleon act, at least convincingly. People like Minuteman leader Chris Simcox.I drove up to Bellingham on Thursday to watch Simcox testify during the Washington Human Rights Commission hearing. For most of the night, Simcox and the Minutemen were under steady rhetorical barrage from local human-rights and Latino activists. At times, the rhetoric became overblown hyperbole; but much of it was deadly accurate. Bottom line…”…Simcox seems to be claiming that Lawless was only involved in the Minuteman Project for two months (and it would be interesting to find out further what “background” led them to dismiss her, since none of this activity occurred until recently) — which may actually be the case, though this overlooks her activities in Texas, which may or may not have been as a Minuteman representative. However, I asked him specifically about the (pre-Minuteman) Tombstone Militia involvement, and he was again adamant that she was only on board for “two months” — a claim the record clearly demonstrates is false.

Which tells you a lot about Chris Simcox’s makeover. The new, squeaky-clean Chris Simcox created by PR coaches may look and sound like a middle-of-the-road civic activist. But he is also a practiced liar. And anyone who believes a word he says should have their heads examined.”