HOTO THOTOM

I guess I have to go to the wiki after all.  It took more than the usual fifteen seconds but I found something on something called lectlaw.com:

Robert Welch, on March 22, 1961, formally requested the California Senate Factfinding Subcommittee on un-American Activities to conduct its own investigation.

One wonders about the validity of an investigation that is requested by investigee.  One might further wonder that the investigation was from a committee on Un-American Activities, given the history of HUAC, but then again I still wonder what anybody thought that the John Birch Society was doing that was illegal. 

I did come across some accusations that the John Birch Society was fascist and racist, which was probably true to the extent that more racists and fascists would be attracted to the John Birch Society than would be to the Republican or Democratic parties.  But even if that were so, it's not illegal to be a fascist or racist.

Just what did the John Birch Society ever do?  I think it might have given comfort and aid to the McCarthyites, but I am not sure of that.  I don't think they ever backed any political candidate, i don't know if they even had any demonstrations.  Certainly we wouldn't expect Beagles to join an organization whose members made spectacles of themselves.

There was that secrecy thing.  Commies were certainly secretive, so I guess the Birchers railing against them only deserved to have the same accusation against them.  But how secretive were they if Beagles could penetrate right to the core of the Hat On Top Of The Hat On Top Of Michigan (HOTOTHOTOM, has a ring to it don't you think?  More on that later)?  Truth be told I don't recall any secrets ever coming out of the Birch Society as they often do in other secretive organizations over the fullness of time when people want to settle grudges with their former friends before they kick the bucket.

HOTO THOTOM.  I like it better with that space between.  The way I see it the first hat goes from Traverse City to Tawas City, kind of a beret perched jauntily on the back of the head of MICH.  Then on top of that I see a thin hat, the kind that sports car drivers used to wear, going from Petosky to Alpena.  Maybe the upper peninsula is the arm of the sports car driver waving to some guy he passed driving the same kind of car.  But I don't want to get silly over this.