Tuesday, April 8, 2014

So, while we're all focused on CT, maybe this is how the next civil war starts.

Feds move in on Nevada rancher's herd over illegal grazing
So, in the words of an approving tree-hugger, the violence of the federal leviathan is going to come down on this rancher because his cows are "competing with tortoises for food."
Herschel Smith's take: Bureau Of Land Management Deploys Snipers Because Of People Taking Video

20 comments:

Vegas Dave said...

An interesting and complicated issue Mike. The Rancher has refused to pay grazing fees to the govt (i.e me and you) for over a dozen years.

And its not his land, it belongs to everyone. So at the very least, if he wants to use our land, he should pay for it.

Anonymous said...

Here is presented a problem with "government" owning land. Is not "public land" for ALL to use? But then, isn't it wrong for some to profit without paying a royalty of some sort? Should the grazing just be open for other herds as well? It seems to me that with all the debt government has accrued the obvious solution here is to sell off the land because it not only kills the debt but also puts the land in private hands making this problem solved.

I look at it through this lens. While I am totally against the overall drug war, I do see the point in taking out gorilla farmers from across the border when they stake out farm ground on federal lands. It simply isn't their ground to farm. What they are farming is irrelevant.

The whole turtle thing is foolishness.

I am reminded of the mindless idiocy of a Texas example. On one side of a access road the prairie dogs are protected as food source for ferrets but on the other side they are considered nuisance animals. Govt funds both protection efforts AND removal efforts!

I can only come back to government ownership as the problem.

SWIFT said...

I have long stated that the BLM is every bit as evil and dictatorial as the FBI and ATF. This thing in Nevada is all about U.N. Agenda 21. And, who the hell are they to establish "free speech zones"? Show me that Authority, anywhere in the Constitution. They can't and neither can anyone else. This old shit, of Federal Agencies assuming power that was never given them, is what is promoting/encouraging the police state. If a civil war starts today, it is two decades overdue. You all KNOW that a war is coming. On this forum alone, we've seen example after example of those putting their faith in the so-called judicial system and getting buggered in the butt. It doesn't work. It is either war, or enslavement.

Anonymous said...

Vegas Dave....then shouldn't you have to "pay" to recreate on it as well? You may not be using the land for profit, but you're still using OUR land.

The BLM is a corrupt bureaucratic entity (I just repeated myself) and anyone who has had dealings with them will see how completely authoritarian and collectivist they are.

Their real goal is to "manage" the land by closure. BLM is full of "greenies" who want people locked out of public lands and locked into cities for the good of Mother Earth.

There is no such thing as a "First Amendment Area"....and this aggression should not stand.

I wonder how the snipers would feel if a militia group surrounded their positions and watched them through scopes?

Anonymous said...

The Feds changed the grazing rules on him in 1993 (sound familiar?). His family has been ranching on this land since the late 1800's, now they want to take away their way way of life to "save the desert tortoise ". Snipers trained on people whom violate "free speech zones?". What happened to no more Waco's? Where are the Oath Keepers? Why isn't big mouth Alex Jones there with his bullhorn? Why, because the crap is going to get real in NV, and people will die. These ranchers have had enough of the Feds changing the rules and their lives. The line in the sand has been drawn. This is Obama's Waco.

Anonymous said...

Vegas Dave is a prime example of why when the next Waco or Ruby Ridge happens, many will sit around with our thumbs in our posterior.

The media will make up a story....the "law abiding" citizen will excuse the government over-reach (in this case, a man whose family has been grazing this same land since 1887 BEFORE the BLM even existed) and things will continue on as they have for years.

Where's the outrage of having abridged the son's right to free speech? Where's the outrage over the audacity to set up a so-called "1st Amendment Area"? I thought the 1st A was incorporated...oh, that's right, not in today's Amerika.

I wonder if there will be much in the way of outrage when this family gets slaughtered b/c they failed to give additional funds (beyond their bloated federal taxes) to feed a cow.

Anonymous said...

Where are the three percenters ? Where are those who made vows in safety? I remember brave heart "all men die, few men really live"

Anonymous said...

BLM; snipers work both ways, ya know. Just sayin.

FedUp said...

Forget the 1A, we've got a Due Process right to record agents of government doing government business in public and in private:

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2043907

Anonymous said...

Sole remaining rancher where there used to be 52 - that pretty much tells the tale of bureaucratic over reach - 'nuff said.

WarriorClass III said...

The fact is that this is Federal government tyranny, theft of both land and property and infringement of our rights. The Federal government never paid for this land, it just said it owned it since no one had direct title and many ranchers used it before the rest were run off by the government. Now they are stealing the man's cattle, denying your right of free speech and protest, and have snipers there to shoot anyone that tries to stop them. When are you going to wake up Vegas Dave? When they come for your property and your rights?

MissAnthropy said...

The most intolerable part about it is this notion of a "1st Amendment zone". The Bill of Rights are fundamental restrictions on the power of the government, and it's not the government's prerogative to decide they only apply in some little demarcated zone.

Yet that's exactly what happens all over the place now. Areas within 100 miles of a border or coast are suddenly "4th Amendment exclusion zones"? A guy can be arrested distributing Constitutions on a college campus because he's outside of the "1st Amendment zone"?

Pardon my French, but just WTF is this intolerable, infuriating bullshit of a "zone"? Why are we allowing this? The Founders' generation would have been lopping people's heads off over this sort of thing, just on mere principle!

Shawn McEwen said...

“No drop of human blood is worth spilling over any cow,” Gillespie said.

Tell that to the guy who is having his livelihood taken away by some granola groping idiot with a "title" pinned on his chest. To the rancher it's either fight or starve. Gillespie needs to grow some balls and stop politicking.

The BLM and Forest Service are the rural equivalent of ATF and DHS. I know this for a fact as I worked with BLM and for the FS as a fire fighter for over a decade before my disgust led me to greener pastures. That being said, some of the things these people do in the name of the "law" is nothing short of criminal, and the Endangered Species Act is their weapon of choice. They claim that cattle are competing with the endangered "whatever", and then swoop in to take care of the situation. Bullshit. They created the situation of necessary competition for grazing due to their failed fire suppression policies for well over 80 years! Fire renews vegetation. Why do you think the Indians used to ride through countryside lighting fires at will? Because it was a simple way to maintain the land and keep it productive. Fire releases nutrients, otherwise trapped in vegetation, back into the soil. The same vegetation (the roots don't die unless the fire burns too hot) then uses those nutrients for the following season's growth cycle. Fire also travels slowly, and is not catastrophic when left to burn of it's own accord every season. By suppressing fire artificially the land is left to overgrow season after season, until so much overgrowth exists that a wildfire devastates and sterilizes the soil, making seasonal regeneration all but impossible. Add to that the effects of erosion of topsoil during the following wet season, and you've got trouble.

So the BLM and Forest Service (and yes, the Parkies too) created this situation by suppressing wildfires... and now they need more manpower to "fix it". Sound familiar?

Anyway, that's my 2 cents worth.
~Shawn

Anonymous said...

BLM; snipers work both ways, ya know. Just sayin.

1NCCCH said...

US Constitution, Article I, Section 9: "To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings;"

I see NOTHING in the Constitution that sanctions plenary Federal authority over land within and belonging to the individual States, except as narrowly specified by Section 9. Federal control exercised over private property is equally onerous. All Federal ownership (and use/access control under threat of force, fines, or arrest equals ownership) of land not delineated in Section 9 is illegal. This would include also any Federal authority over land not purchased from a particular State or private owner, including that seized under eminent domain, which is nothing more than sanctioned theft. I do not consider coerced surrender of land to be lawful purchase. And don’t cite “other needful Buildings” as the catch-all. All the BLM controlled land I’ve ever seen was open range, with only incidental structures, and those few and far between.

A cowardly Congress attempts to distance itself from the spall by empowering regulatory bureaucracies to do their dirty work, including BATFE, EPA, the Army Corps of Engineers, Nat’l Park Service, Dept. of Education, etc. Not satisfied with having turned the “Seat of the Government of the United States” into a cesspool, they are determined to ruin the rest of the country too.

Anonymous said...

If you really care about these people's plight, please check out their Youtube channel which chronicles their fight. "Cliven 'n Carol Bundy" is the name of their Youtube channel.

BTW, they estimate the .gov has spent over 1 million dollars to steal their 800 head of cattle. The Feds bought all new equipment for the roundup and rustling.

Anonymous said...

BLM snipers..... Can you say counter snipers???

Anonymous said...

I wish I could post the picture of the two donut eating, "snipers" laying prone on the top of the ridge overlooking the highway. At the right angle you could pick them both off with a single shot. My guess is they have a couple drones keeping an eye on the whole situation. The State of Nevada is doing NOTHING to help this family or stand up for States rights. Eunuch politicians, truly worthless.

Anonymous said...

My good friend will be there tomorrow a man of conviction and not talk please nevadans stand with him

Anonymous said...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/25/government-plans-to-euthanize-hundreds-of-desert-tortoises-after-budget-cuts-to-refuge/

"A combination of federal budget austerity and the dramatic decline of the Nevada housing market may claim some unlikely victims: desert tortoises.

The Desert Tortoise Conservation Center — a 23-year-old federal refuge in Las Vegas for the threatened species — has collected only $290,000 from its primary funding source of local developer fees over the last 11 months, the AP reports. The center can’t count on the Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or Nevada Department of Wildlife to make up the shortfall on the center’s $1 million annual operating budget because of federal and state budget constraints.

The result? Center administrators are planning to close the 220-acre facility in 2014 and euthanize about half of the 1400 tortoises under their protection, the AP reports"

If you can't tax it, then just kill it. You really can't make this stuff up.

Shane