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    Derange Wars: The Cliven Bundy Story

     

    There is a rancher out in Nevada named Cliven Bundy who has been using government land to graze his cattle. His family has been doing it for what seems like ages, always paying their grazing fees to the Federal government, but some 20 years ago the Feds told him he had to move his cattle off a section that was protected.  He quit paying his fees in protest but he didn't move his cattle.

    His Mormon family homesteaded that land way back near the end of the 19th century, long before there was such a thing as a damned protected turtle.  The rules obviously didn't apply to him.  It wasn't just our land, it was his land.  In Nevada.  And since Nevada is a state, states' rights apply and the federal government--come on!--has no actual authority.

    So what a surprise all these years later when he finds out that's not going to work.  In the eyes of the G-men he's a slacker, a scofflaw, damn near a criminal.  Those fools actually think he stiffed them, and all these years later they're finally making good on nearly 20 years worth of threats to confiscate his cattle and fine him big money (at last look about a million dollars, but hey. . .) for being a durned squatter.

    As if!

    But, dang!  They came and got his cattle!  So Rancher Bundy called in about a thousand of his militia pals (because states rights)  and held a stand-off.
     

    Cliven Bundy, Right, with Militia volunteers.  Photo:  Steve Marcus

     And. . .whoa dogies!. . .it worked!  The Feds actually brought his cattle back!  Ha!

    From Newsweek, April 23, 2014:

    On the weekend of April 12 to 13, over 1,000 anti-government militia groups and Bundy supporters converged on his ranch to defend him from the encroachment of federal agents and demand the return of his cattle. Around 10 a.m. Saturday, Bundy issued an ultimatum to the Clark County sheriff: He had one hour to disarm all federal agents on the property, return the cattle and remove the BLM from Bundy’s land.
     
    At 11:10 a.m., Bundy got on a megaphone and told his supporters to go get his cattle back. Local ranchers on horseback, militiamen in pickup trucks and others rode toward the corral where the cattle were being held. BLM agents, decked out in full riot gear, pointed guns at the anti-government group. The two sides jostled.
    With the situation nearing the boiling point, the BLM blinked.
    “For the anti-government patriot right, this is a major success,” said Ryan Lenz, an eyewitness to the standoff on the Bundy ranch and a writer and researcher with the Southern Poverty Law Center. “They stood against an armed, fanatical federal government and got them to back down—in their view.”

    Then Bundy called in the really big guns--the press--to let the world know that he won!  Yeehaw!  Did he talk about his Mormon family and how they settled that land?  Did he talk about how little anyone should care about the desert tortoise, the creature who started this war?  Did he talk about how mighty fine it was that the Feds actually backed down?  Maybe.  But what everybody jumped on was his lesson to us all about "the negro."  It came about, please note, in the presence of one reporter and one photographer.  But it hit the New York Times  and that's all she wrote:

    “I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

     “And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.” 

    And you thought he was all hat, no cattle.  The guy's deep.  (You're right, honey, it has nothing to do with the standoff at the ranch.  Your point?)

    But I'm not telling you anything you don't know already.  It's been all over the news.  You're probably wondering why I'm just now getting around to giving this story some attention?  Well, I'll tell you, no story is dead until it's actually buried.  Now it's not just Bundy’s Militia against the U.S. Gov’mint, it’s Bundy’s Militia vs. those other patriotic patriots, the Oathkeepers.

    In case you missed it, militia volunteers from all over the country have been out there guarding the ranch, setting up road checkpoints on public highways, acting like any self-respecting Second Amendment Rights folks, by God, should.  The Oathkeepers, seeing their chance to put their motto, "Guardians of the Republic" to use, joined up.  Before long, word spread that Eric Holder was getting ready to send out drones to settle this thing once and for all.  Bundy’s Bunch swore to stand their ground, but the Oathkeepers, in what might forever have been called a brilliant strategic move, ordered their troops to move the heck out of the “Kill Zone”.

    The Militia guys, true to their military nature (because, you know, a well-regulated militia) were outraged.  They used words like “cowardice” and “treason” and one guy thought they should all be shot in the back like any deserters on the battlefield.

    It's this kind of thing that keeps me on the edge of my seat. Who besides me is thinking movie script right now?  I’ve already got my title:  ©Derange Wars: The Cliven Bundy Story. 
     

    Chuck Norris, Western Guy


    I’m hoping to line up Chuck Norris to play Cliven.  He’s the only one I can think of who could play Bundy straight in a comedy.

     

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    Comments

    You seem a little fact-challenged on this matter- please read Article 1, Section 2 of the nevada constitution:

    The Constitution of the United States confers full power on the Federal Government to maintain and Perpetuate its existence, and whensoever any portion of the States, or people thereof attempt to secede from the Federal Union, or forcibly resist the Execution of its laws, the Federal Government may, by warrant of the Constitution, employ armed force in compelling obedience to its Authority.


    I think it's they who are fact-challenged.  I'm just the messenger.


    I wrote a little about the Oath Keepers in a previous blog.

    To actually see militia-men (although the intent is to send the women and children in first, hahahahahaha) tangling with each other is something to see.

    Secessionists do not always agree with each other. hahahahah

    Our President made a joke tonight about Cliven...

    Anytime someone begins a sentence with...

    LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT NEGROES....

    HAHAHAHAHAHA

    The bastard owes his country a million bucks for trespass, that is a legal term, and he does not recognize the United States Government.

    So if he does not recognize my government, is he not a traitor?

    And yet he calls a group of his own 'army' traitors for 'taking off'.

    Well if a certain group of militia are traitors, what treachery is describing?

    Treachery against his own traitorous aims?

    There have been a hundred posts about this fact on reputable blogs (are there any reputable blogs, really?) and no repub responds to this conundrum. hahahah

    There are other stories describing food stamp recipients as vermine and there are stories about IQ's and stories about Mexicans taking over our country....

    But damn!

    Jesse Helms is not dead.

    The KKK is not dead.

    The John Birchers are not dead.

    All we can do is respond.

    Thank you.

    What does it really mean to be born in the USA?

     

     

     


    Glad you wrote about it, too.  At this point all we can do is laugh at those jackasses.  And what's more fun than laughing at jackasses?  (Until they start shooting--then it's a whole other ballgame.  I seriously doubt that's really going to happen, even with all those photo-ops of gun-totin' camo--covered pretend soldiers.)


    Bundy's family did not live in the county until 1948 when they bought the property with water rights.  They didn't build until the early 50's.  He was born in 1946 in an other state. One of his grandmothers was born in the next county in 1909 and lived there only as a child. 

    He lives in his own fantasy.  

    His cows and ranch are not worth a shoot out.  The Feds will eventually win this one.   


    Thanks for the info, Momoe.  I agree that the Feds didn't see the worth in a big hoo-haw.  But the Bundy Boys saw it as a retreat and they're going to make the most of it.  In the end they won't win but they'll play it for all it's worth.

    This new twist with the battle between the Militia and the Oath-Keepers is pretty funny, though.  "West Side Story" Western style.


    I do find it heartening that the Feds weighed the principles at stake here and decided that the cattle and the money isn't worth violence.  Somewhere in all of this is a very smart decision maker who will likely never receive due praise for the lives he or she chose to save.  They'll get Bundy sooner or later.  If it were up to me, they'd just get a lien on his property and wait.  Let the fees and interest pile up and remind him he can't live forever. The government can seize assets from his estate when it goes to probate.


    The government can seize assets from his estate when it goes to probate.

    There ya go. I agree with Not Destor Anymore. The gumint's got all the time in the world. Bundy not so much.

    And the militias fighting with each other and calling each other names is hilarious. I mean, if you're gonna play at being a soldier, shoot, dammit!


    I think the federal government can go a step further (if they haven't already, I haven't really been paying attention) and levy fines on all of the militia known to be supporting Bundy. I'm pretty sure it's against the law to threaten the life of an officer of the United States.


    The ranch is in a family trust set up by Bundy's father, so the liens are against the trust. Bundy must be in charge of the trust for this to go on.  


    Maybe they should give the Federal land in dispute back to the Indians. cheeky


    Now you're talking crazy. Actually, it seems like a good idea, but I'd be afraid of what would happen to the Indians when they tried to claim it.


    Right?  If the standard is "this law didn't exist when my family started doing something," then we have a huge problem.  For one thing, all current Americans have issues and for another... all current Americans with such issues have just been kicked back to Europe by Native Americans.

    I am cool with moving to Europe.  


    That was a throwaway line, but if you want to take it seriously, then yeah, there'd be problems.

    The first of which would be having to change an entire culture's mindset  because as Indians see it (or used to see it), if you cannot carry it with you, you cannot own it. It is impossible to carry the land around with you in a possibles bag therefore nobody owns the land. So Indians can't kick anyone back to anywhere because Indians don't have the cultural author-i-tay.
    So, there's that for starters.


    Doesn't it depend on the tribe?


    Yes. It would probably be Utes or Shoshone in Nevada.


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