Even though I realize this is going to disappear off the blog roll before sunrise because I don't know how to game the system, I'm gonna put it up anyhow.

Apparently, the townhall meeting in Standish, MI about the transferring of Gitmo detainees to a soon-to-be-closed facility there garnered some high profile attention (WaPo, ABC World News Tonight, Fox News) and I am going to borrow heavily from the write-up in the Washington Post.  Well, maybe I won't borrow heavily, but instead will suggest reading the article itself.  It's good and pretty thorough.

After sifting through the interwebs for a good part of the day, it looks like my suspicion about this meeting being more about politics than resolving genuine concerns of the locals wasn't too far off the mark. As for the fear-mongering I mentioned at the bottom of my previous post,  below are some examples of what you would have been treated to had you been in attendance.

First of all, the meeting was arranged by a man named Dave Munson with assistance from a group called ACT! for America.  Loonwatch.com (hahaha...loonwatch...hahahaha  That name tickles me.) Anyway, they have some fun with 'em here. You can read from Dave Munson himself here.

The panel of invited speakers included:

Pete Hoekstra --  Link here. (Oh, yeah...he's got it all over his little dot gov page already.)

Debra Burlingame -- founder of 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America  
Her money quote:

"These detainees aren't like ordinary criminals. Those hardened criminals [in the Standish prison] do not have global jihadi networks," said Burlingame, whose brother was a pilot on the flight that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. She predicted that detainees would assault and throw bodily fluids at guards, plan attacks on tourists and attract suicide bombers to local gatherings. "What you do here, make no mistake, they are watching in Washington," Burlingame said. "And if we can kill it here, maybe we can kill it everywhere and keep Guantanamo open." 

(Geeze, and I thought I was a gasbag.)

David Littman -- Mackinaw Center for Public Policy  ( This is a Libertarian think tank and will most likely be bankrolling Hoekstra's bid for Governor as they did for the last Republican candidate, Dick DeVos. who is now on their board.)  Apparently, he didn't say much.  Then again, he doesn't have to...he's the money man.  Maybe he let that do the talkin' for him.

Tom Kerrins -- Michigan Corrections Organization (and probably the only one not there for a photo op)  But, he did get off a fabulous scare-em-while-you-got-em quote:

"They [the Gitmo detainees] are enemy combatants," said Tom Kerrins, chief steward for the union representing prison workers at Standish Maximum Correctional Facility. "They want to kill you, they want to kill me, they want to kill our families."

(So, the prison workers do have union representation, but if I was this Kerrins fella, I'd be working harder to find retraining for the guards able to meet federal requirements and seeing where I could put the ones that don't back into the system instead of scaring the shit out of citizens at the meeting.  But then, that's just me.)

Jim Barcia -- Michigan state Sen.(D-Bay City)  (At least he's from the area.) (And sane.)  Finally, Barcia gives the quote that totally grinds my ass, not because of who said it, but because once again, the loudmouth yellers that deny everyone's right to know at these townhall meetings have snuffed out the other voices that should be able to present their views also.

Barcia said federal officials who toured the prison Aug. 13 indicated they would not send detainees to Standish in the face of intense local opposition. He said legislators and locals who are open to the idea skipped the town hall because "they probably thought they'd be subject to the same behavior we've seen at many town hall meetings about health-care reform."

"they probably thought they'd be subject to the same behavior we've seen at many town hall meetings about health-care reform"

Doesn't that just piss you off? 
It did me.
More to come cuz I ain't done yet.
I want to address the genuine concerns of the locals, pro and con, without them having been whipped up by the politicians and other fear mongers.  The real people.  Might take a day or two.  Maybe three.