I only heard about the standoff from listening to Bobby Mac on the radio during my drivetime. Not a peep out of my local ABC affilliate. Could it be that the media is silent since this is an election year and this might look bad for emperor Obama? With all the inane drivel that is reported one might think a standoff between a rancher and the BLM would be worth some air time, especially since several militia groups showed up in support of rancher Bundy.
I agree there is an unusual quiet on all the new stations regarding this topic. Could it be selective censorship? Please tell me we have not sunk to this new low.....
No one hurt. This rancher is no hero. These are public lands. Over 16,000 other ranchers pay to use them for cattle. He owes over $1,000,000 in back rent. He lost in court. He is trying to claim that he owns the property, but he never has owned it. The government just decided that it was not worth someone getting hurt. The rancher is just a common thief. Some are trying to make him a folk hero. It would be like someone turning cattle loose in a city park and then claiming ownership of the park.
Standoff in the desert: Last rancher in south Nevada takes on 200 armed federal agents and snipers trying to confiscate cattle from his ancestral land in constitutional dispute over a rare TORTOISE
Cliven Bundy is appealing for help to stop the Federal Bureau of Land Management and the FBi from removing his 900 or so cattle
He claims his family have owned 600,000 acres of Gold Butte since 1870
The federal government claims that the cattle are trespassing on arid and fragile habitat of the endangered desert tortoise (emphasis mine)
Heavily armed federal officers equipped with 9 helicopters and backed up with snipers have descended on the land
They have removed hundreds of the cattle in the past two weeks
The federal authorities say that Bundy has refused to pay for grazing rights for 20-years
Bundy has said the land is his and his constitutional rights are being trampled on
Maybe it's time to repeat my comment due to certain ad hominium comments.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddie_T
I only heard about the standoff from listening to Bobby Mac on the radio during my drivetime. Not a peep out of my local ABC affilliate. Could it be that the media is silent since this is an election year and this might look bad for emperor Obama? With all the inane drivel that is reported one might think a standoff between a rancher and the BLM would be worth some air time, especially since several militia groups showed up in support of rancher Bundy.
I restated my original comment as the thread was getting off base trending toward who was right or wrong rather than addressing my original comment.
This whole situation is both interesting and newsworthy and not nearly as simple as Sam might believe. The government is of course right by definition since it makes the laws. Once a government is given the right to exist it can own land and manage the use thereof with impunity. It will grow and continue to do these things whether morally right or not until it oversteps and the citizens revolt. After a revolt the process merely begins again from a new start point. At the present the government has far exceded the situation presented by King George and his minions.
There are some that think the government pushed for this standoff to learn how the various militia groups might respond (or not), how they communicated, how many showed up and how organized they appeared to be. After that data was gathered the government simply backed off, mission accomplished.
Whether or not this is true doesn't matter, the outcome is the same. At this point it is much like an army armored division sand table exercise and both sides are evaluating the results and planning for the future, which should concern us all.