Chapter I


A present to me from Ed ....

Well ... Here I am at almost my 2-month mark in living in The Great Northwest.... Or "No Man's Land" as I like to affectionately refer to it. I have been writing a "sorta', kinda'" monthly update on my adventures up here in God's Country and will continue to do so. A select few will receive that.... Not that they asked for it or even care, but they'll get it anyway!

(By the way.... if you'd like to be on that list, email me at lacasuck@hotmail.com)

But that's NOT what this page is going to be about. It is.... going to be another rant (What else, eh?) and I'm SURE to receive a lot of flack over this one too. Eh.... So what else is new, right?

But to get into this, you need a little history first.
About a year or two ago I received an email from a Mr. Edgar Steele. It was a very positive response to this website. I got a very nice pat on the back from him which was and is appreciated. He went on to say how he lived in Idaho ... How he felt the same way about Los Angeles and California.... How he moved away to Idaho and that it was the best thing he had ever done for his wife and 3 kids. And we went on for a while exchanging emails back and forth from time to time.
Well, after a while I learned he was a lawyer. And not your typical run-of-the-mill type of lawyer either. I'm still not sure if he makes a habit of taking on controversial cases, but up here, boy o' boy he took on a "biggie"! And that was the libel case against Richard Butler and the Aryan Nations during the summer/fall of 2000. Taking on this case has made him a hero to some and Satan to others. It also brought him his first defeat as a trial lawyer. Oh well.... Can't win them all I guess.

Anyway, near the end of the trial is where I stepped in. And I don't mean that as I had anything to do with the trial or the Aryan Nations ... I don't and didn't, I just mean that's when I moved up here. Ed had always told me that when I finally get up here to let him know and we'd go out for a couple of beers and meet the "guys".
So after the trial was over and I figured he had some extra time on his hands I wrote to him and said any time for those beers is fine with me. He invited my family and I over for a BBQ one weekend, but we couldn't make it. Well, it just so happened that the next weekend (Oct. 28th) was to be the Aryan Nations "parade" down Sherman St. in downtown Coeur d'Alene. He was going to go to be a casual observer, take a few pictures, and talk with the press. He asked if I'd like to come along...
I said "eh.... What the hell, ya know? Sure! If nothing else it would be some unusual entertainment".

I got to Ed's house about 9 o'clock that Saturday morning. A very impressive spread I must say! I've never been to anyone's house that actually has a real live working CANNON ... that is pointed right at the front gate where you drive in! Hahaha! VERY cool indeed! I could tell I was going to like this guy!
I met his wife Cyndi, we sat and had coffee,and soon we were on our way. On the way there, we stopped and picked up his buddy Dave. A very nice soft spoken and amicable fellow. He has a nice spread where there is about any kind of farm critter you could imagine on it. And then some! So we all climbed into Ed's car and were on our way... On the way we talked of many things... of cabbages and kings...

When we got there, we had to park a little ways away from where the parade was going to start. Ed explained to me that he had made a few enemies and it was best that they didn't know what car was his.
The first thing that struck me was down the street, one block away from the parade were busloads of cops in full-on riot gear. Shields... face masks... helmets... the whole nine yards. I then looked over to where the parade was going to start and there were maybe about two dozen people who were actually going to be "in" the parade. I thought, "What the hell did they think was going to happen here? What are they afraid of? There's like 10 cops for every person in the parade". Man, talk about your over-kill...

The parade begins....

At least that IDIOT loudmouth Irv Ruben wasn't there stirring shit up...
Ed was a pretty popular fellow... Everybody knew and wanted to talk to him. The place was just crawling with reporters and news cameras. Most people were pretty friendly to Ed... There were a few who weren't. I can only assume that some people feel that they should be able to pick and choose who gets legal representation when they are being sued for 6+ million dollars. OH well... if you don't get a few people pissed off at you, I guess your not doing your job right.

There was the usual smattering of protesters milling about wearing their sandwichboard signs... throwing insults at the marchers in the parade. There were also shaven-headed guys in fatigues with swastika armbands on....

Me (in the Packers hat) standing among protestors...


And all the other nuts who were on their soapboxes trumpeting their own personal causes. Down the street was some preacher singing "Jesus loves the little chiiiiiiiiildren! ..... All little children of the wooooooooorld!" with his little church choir around him.... Some white couple dressed up like they thought they were black, pushing around a baby carriage that had a ghetto-blaster in it blaring out some God-awful reggae crap. But mostly just regular folk.... Which turned out to be a bigger surprise to me later on...

So the parade begins. Richard Butler is in front riding in a convertible, with about maybe 30 people behind him all carrying flags of different countries. Some guys had plywood shields that looked like the Aryan Nations Coat of Arms. Everyone in the parade had big smiles on their faces. Butler was screaming something out of a bullhorn, but I really couldn't tell what he was saying. Then came the streetsweepers behind them. "What the hell was THIS?" I thought... It turns out some governmental hack wanted to make a political statement ... Something along the line of "We will sweep the filth from these nazi's right out of town" kinda' thing. I had a pretty good chuckle out of that one.
Anyway, the parade slowly proceeded down the street. About half the people lined up on either side of the street stayed put and either cheered or jeered. The other half was trotting down the street trying to keep up with the parade. Reporters and news cameras bouncing along beside them. One block over was the army of cops pacing the parade... ready to jump in at a moment's notice. The funny thing was.... The cops looked more like the jack-booted nazi thugs than the people they were ready to pounce on.
Now here's what surprised the hell out of me... There were quite a few people there. Way more than what was "reported". Now... the Protestors.... You knew who they were. The neo-nazi people... you knew who they were too. But the "regular" folk... that was the surprise. There were SO many people who stood by silently but when Butler drove by... they raised their arms in a nazi salute. I got the feeling that most of the people there were... if not vocally, silent supporters of Butler and his ideals. I can't say for sure, but I think that most of the people up there realize that this area... their state, county, city and streets.... is the last stronghold to what they hold near and dear to their hearts.
It was strange to see this drop-dead beautiful super-model quality blonde "mom" standing with her kids on the corner and giving a nazi salute with a tear running down her cheek. There were scores of people there that looked like Mr. & Mrs. Middle America... all in obvious support of, maybe not Butler and his ideals, but the idea that one should be able to choose their surroundings, who they choose to live by, be able to voice their opinion and ideals without fear of prosecution and persecution by a handful of fucking self appointed do-gooders, who in my opinion are far more dangerous than those they rail against.

I kept thinking to myself ... We have' Black History Month'.... Everyone says "Hooray for us!" and they take turns patting each other on the back and sit there dripping in smugness at how PC they are. Then they have 'Latino Heritage Month' or 'week' or whatever the fuck it is... And everyone jumps up and down and cheers and proclaims how enlightened they all are by celebrating all the wonderful things the 'Latino Culture' has brought us. So wonderful in fact that many believe we should just throw the border wide opens and let this obviously better culture take over the nation.
Ooooooo.... But let the Evil White Man celebrate being an Aryan... and the whole fucking world comes unglued and unhinged. If one is to proclaim they are proud of being white... you are instantly vilified as being at least a dozen things that would earn you an easy one-way ticket to hell. And people wonder what the fuck is wrong with this country.

But after all was said and done, nothing happened. No fist fights. No head bashing. No gunfire. No nothing. I'm sure all the 'riot' cops were gravely disappointed. As well as all the protestors. They didn't get their chance to scream "See! SEE!! They're violent!!"

Well, after all that, there was supposed to be a press conference at the Coeur d'Alene Inn. Which didn't happen because 'management' caved in to the PC pressure and refused entrance to Butler. Guess they didn't want to be tagged as "Concentration Camp Inn" or something. They do however make pretty good Long Island Ice Teas there though....

So it was decided that the press conference would be held at the now defunct Aryan Nations compound. I headed off with Ed and Dave and we were the first to arrive. I got a chance to mill around the property and take in the sights. The first thing I noticed was really how small the place seemed to be. 20 acres up here is no big shakes. We drove up the driveway through a guard gate with an arm that came down like at a railroad crossing. There were several signs instructing you as to where you were and conditions for entry.

Me in front of the Aryan Nations compound entrance...


Once inside, I could see that the place was fairly nice and until recently well kept.

The first building I went into was the church. You walked into a meeting room that was adorned with posters of Hitler, nazi flags, Coats or Arms, LOTS of printed propaganda, and odd curios. To the right was the Church, where Butler would give his press conference and last sermon. It looked like any other small town church with the exception of the walls being decorated with swastikas and other nazi symbols. It felt VERY weird and erie standing in this cold dark room. Behind the pulpit someone had thrown a rock through the stained glass window which had been etched with the Aryan Nations symbol.

I went back outside and walked around. Behind the church was about a 40 foot 'guard tower'.... Just like a concentration camp. I had no idea why they needed or wanted this, but it certainly did give a certain feel to the place. Around the corner was a huge barn-like building where the entire metal rooftop had been painted like a nazi flag. Hmmmmm.... interesting.
Near that was what I assumed were a couple of small dorms for the 'troops'. There was also a full on machine shop, a laundry room, several bathrooms, some sort of utility room, a huge kitchen, and a small house, which I assumed, was Butler's.

Anyway, the press finally came and we all shuffled into the church for the press conference. It was really nothing to speak of ... the usual platitudes batted about. Pretty much what everyone expected to hear I suppose. Then there was the sermon. It sounded like a mild Adolf Hitler with a preacher's collar on. A bizarre mix of Christianity and Nazism. And when it was all over, the 'followers' all clicked heels, shot their arms out stiff as boards in a nazi salute, and shouted "Heil Butler!!". That.... was kinda' creepy.

Butler gives last sermon in his church...


I went back outside while all the others were still milling about. I started to think about things. I came to the conclusion that in this PC world today that everything a man has ever worked for can be taken away from him because of the things he thinks or says. Freedom of speech is going down for the third time in this country. True, Richard Butler may be a radical to some... Viewed as dangerous by some.... Even considered a criminal by many. But so were the likes of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Nathan Hale, John Hancock, etc, etc. They too were considered dangerous and radical criminals by the 'King' at one time in the history of this great nation.
A once famous patriot said "I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it". Not so anymore. Now it's "You better say what this small minority of politically correct people want to hear, or you'll lose everything you have and be hated and run out of town". It's sad for me to think that my boys will have to grow up in a country that if this trend continues won't be any more 'free' than what a bunch of radical bleeding-heart freaks will allow.

There is something seriously wrong with this country when you are painted as Satan himself if you let it be know that you choose to live your life the way you want. I threw away everything I had to move up here because I wanted a better life for my wife, kids and myself. I didn't want to live in a hot, smoggy city that is turning into a 3rd world nation. I didn't want to live in a place where I was told I had Goddamn better WELL, accept that lowlife dregs, illegal aliens, homos, etc, are just as good as I am, and that if I don't embrace them and accept their ways that I'm a bigot and a racist. If I want to live around nothing but WASP's, then WHAT THE FUCK IS IT TO ANYBODY BUT ME??!! Hmmmmm? If you want to live next to a bunch of yammer-jammer welfare dregs that's your business. But don't fucking tell me that I have to, or if I don't, there is something wrong with ME. You can live your life the way you want and I'll live mine the way I want, and think and do what I want. This country is big enough for us all. You stay in your part and I'll stay in mine. You mind your business and I'll mind mine. That's..... the American way.