A Nevada rancher has been grazing his cattle for 21 years on land the government owns without paying for it.  Other ranchers pay but this guy thinks he’s real special.  He hates the government but loves our land.

He was under a court order to pay up, almost one million dollars. Cliven Bundy is 68 years old and the father of 14 children.  His theory is that his family used that land before there was a Bureau of Land Management for he’s entitled to graze his cattle there.  Note that his family didn’t own the land, we do and always have, but they used it.

Come to find out, Cliven says he think he only owes $300,000 but he has shown no interest in parting with that either.

Since 16,000 ranchers play by the rules and pay to graze federal lands, it just doesn’t seem fair that Cliven doesn’t have to follow the rules.  Republicans are all about following the rules, right?

Here’s where the story gets odd.

After spending a week whisking away nearly 400 cattle they said were illegally grazing on federal land in the Nevada desert, officials facing a battalion of protesters with horses and guns decided to free those cattle in a stunning reversal Saturday afternoon.

A line of cattle calmly filtered out of a federal holding area at about 3 p.m. as protesters and law enforcement watched from alongside Interstate 15 near the Nevada-Arizona state line.

“Due to escalating tensions, the cattle have been released from the enclosures in order to avoid violence and help restore order,” the U.S. Bureau of Land Management said in a short statement.

And what caused them to leave?  Well, this guy

And several more like him …

A militia came out to keep the Bureau of Land Management from removing the illegal cattle.  They are there to defend this guy’s right to violate the law.

So, fearing a shoot out, the BLM backed down and released the 400 head of cattle it was holding.  Cliven gets to continue to flaunt the law.

Hummm ….

So here’s an idea.  I’m a yellow dog Democrat and I believe in a sane immigration policy. Since taking office, the Obama Administration has deported over 2,000,000 people in an aggressive policy.

What if a bunch of Hispanics were to arm themselves and stand at the detention facility demanding the release of people “not following the rules.”  Do you think INS would quietly back down and release them to keep the peace?

I don’t think so.

Thanks to Stan for the heads up.