Backing Down on Cattle Rustlin’
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.
Great precedent! These militia nimrods have just been given an ego boost that is going to get them and others badly hurt or killed at some future event.
1*flout the law
2As ranches and herds of cattle go, 400 or so head is a pretty puny-sized herd. What is this Clive Bundy, a “gentleman rancher” — for show? If I were the BLM, my next step would be to hire a bunch of cowboy mercenaries, and rustle those cattle right into a meat processing plant. Proceeds to go to We the People in Nevada. And I’d still keep hounding the guy for being a deadbeat.
3It looked as if the officials were outnumbered and outgunned. Next time they may show up with tanks, copters and drones.
4I think these people thrive on the drama, the headlines and the adrenaline rush. It might be better to let the accounting types handle this. Put liens on everything and freeze bank accounts. There was a clause in the recently passed Farm Bill that said there was no statute of limitations on administrative fees and penalties. 21 years of compounding interest would add up to a tidy sum.
5I’m sure the fact of this old scofflaw happening to be a white guy with a big cowboy hat had nothing to do with all the “militia” guys turning up. Right? Yeah, right.
6These 2A morons are in my backyard, literally. Their stewardship of the range land is irresponsible, at best. These are the GOP takers. Destroy the land with overgrazing, forget the limited water supply. Ask any of these Bundys if they’ve ever availed themselves of the County Extension animal husbandry classes that are available. Spoiler alert, no. Their”alleged”love for the land and cattle is something I promise never to mention out of respect for Mama.
Ranching here has become an art form. Rule #1 don’t exceed the water supply, #2 don’t exceed the grazing capacity. But butt heads like Bundy are too comfortable are too comfortable in 1870 world and have no clue of the damage they do. They won’t get it, until their cattle die starved and without water.
Yet, they thoroughly miss the fact their the GOP “pals” have diverted their water to GOP golf courses. Grass in their desert, only slightly more stupid than lettuce and any Palin or Kardashian.
Moving on to evil, there are Charles and David Koch, Shel Adelson, any Cheney, Rumsfeld, All Bushes, except their dogs, and creep of the weird, Alberto Gonzalez. Then, the varied little punks on Wall Street who value trade over think.
7When I first saw this story on a national newscast, I was furious, and that fury has not abated. It simply is not right to do what this guy is doing, which, in essence, is stealing from all of us. Then those tea- partiers (!) an other right-wing nuts support the stupid, greedy low-lifer? I was also upset with the government for backing down, but then I realized that they may not have wanted another fiasco like the Waco mess some years ago. What they should have done was either kill the cattle or arrested the rancher — or perhaps both.
8Rumor has it there’s a lot more behind this story, particularly ALEC and the Koch brothers.
Seems Nevada passed a law claiming that its federally owned lands are its to administer. (This, needless to say, did not pass muster in federal court.)
However, if ’twere the case, then the Koch brothers could lease lots and lots of land cheap from the state, for fracking and mining. (Thus the legislation from ALEC.) Thus also the friendly media for a rancher clearly out of bounds — negotiating with the BLM would be more expensive than getting mineral rights from the state, where legislators are inexpensive.
9The old man’s son told one news source that he did not believe in the legitimacy of the Federal govt. but he did believe in the validity of the first and second amendments.
The irony escaped him.
10It gets even weirder. The law and fee that the right wing militia and tea party gang is going berzerk about was actually created by executive order by Saint Ronald Reagan. That and the father of 14 is running 900 head of cattle on public land of ours in a drought year. But since he dislikes “the gubbmint ”
11the other rubes are on his side. Methinks it was a good idea to avoid a shoot em up. But next time it will be swat and tanks and a trip to the pokey
Zee world, eet ees upside down.
12Yeah, I saw a quote that “federal troops do not belong in the sovereign state of Nevada.” Didn’t say where he thinks they do belong. I thought we settled that back in 1865.
I will continue to steam over this. Now these jackwagons have “won” and think they have the right to ignore any law they don’t like as long as they can wave their guns and get a bunch of like-minded yahoos to come wave their guns too. And not just wave– in photos, some of those guns were *aimed*, sniper-style, from the bridge by men with fingers right next to triggers.
Oh, the blessings of liberty! How about I bring a flock of sheep to graze this moron’s property and garden (if he has one) into bare dirt, and claim that he doesn’t have the right to stop me, and bring a bunch of armed loonies to back me up?
13Correct, Ralph Wiggam, eyesoars, and Dinah. The RWNJ hypocrisy would deny SNAP assistance to children, yet support these sorry sort of Paul Ryan takers who endanger the environment for generations, then literally endanger the ropers who were herding the cattle to safer grounds.
You called it Marge Wood, the range and water wars are getting a whole lot of ugly.
Expect no help from cable news, but we have the innertubes and Juanita Jean. Reach out, educate and bring the foes of the Koch crazies to the polls. We still have one vote each, if we vote in 2014 and 2016. If we sit it out, the result is obvious. Go BLUE, Texas and vote America, vote in every election as if your existence depended on it.
14And if you live in Tayuksis, remember that as the result of lots of primaries, the next Legislative session is due to be even more conservative, er, nutty. If you know anyone who is interested in running for office as a Democrat and he/she has any sense at all and has a bunch of oil (let’s be realistic here) and mineraL rights, get him/her to start RIGHT NOW campaigning for office two or three years from now. NOW. I’m glad I don’t have any cattle grazing on Federal range land. The Kochs’ imagination ranges free and wide. As my old roommate used to say, “They have the gall of a canal mule.”
15Oh, and if you live in Texas and you are interested in any major issues due to come up in the next session, there are hearings going on RIGHT NOW at the Capitol. Take yer writin’ pen and a bag of popcorn and head over there and sign up to speak up. Is water an issue? I sure hope so.
16It takes a half million acres of sage brush and sand to support one cow/calf unit. So your looking at 200 million acres of land this guy needs. (parts of this I made up). Actually 400 head of heiffers for the entire state of Nevada seems about right. Cull the excess for work as fill-ins at the Bunny Ranch each year and avoid paying those taxes as well. Sheep would work better for cowboys. Hey cookie,where’s that cute little sheep we been trailing alongside the chuckwagon? You had it for supper,what’sa matter,did I screw up the cookin’?
17I believe it is 100 acres of sorry grazing plus some supplemental feed for one cow plus calf. I could be wrong. And then there’s the water….
18Damn and blast the BLM. It’s OUR land, not that rancher’s land, and not only should his cattle be taken off, but that stupid illiterate bunch of militia need to get that confrontation they want with someone armed well beyond the teeth. I recommend Marines. Then arrest the SOBs for interfering with law officers, and if they’ve shot at someone (and they will–they’re bugf**k crazy) then they’ve just become terrorists as well as traitors. Deport them. Not rendition–I don’t believe in it, but dump them outside the border and let REAL Americans (the kind that pay taxes, obey the law, pay for use of federal lands, etc.) enjoy a little peace (not quiet–those yahoos will never stop whining about how they suffer and how “independent” they are.
None of them ever better show up on my doorstep. I would feel SO threatened and would have to stand my ground, poor little old gray-haired woman that I am. I believe a wallop with a cast-iron frying pan would get the job done.
Yes, I’m mad.
19My God, it’s *The Milagro Beanfield War* come to life! Only with some major role reversing. How very bizarre.
Because in Milagro, the State Police and the Forest Service were the bad guys (for the most part) and the armed citizens were the good guys (for the most part). The intimidatORs were the sympathetic ones (mostly), while the intimidatEEs were the corrupt ones (mostly). If you’ve never read the book, you really, really should! Though, serious warning: Mama would have a genuine case of the vapors at some of the language; if that doesn’t bother you, I highly *highly* recommend it.
20I’ve seen the headlines about this story but had not read about it until now.
Sound like the perfect right wing heroes…
21In defense of the BLM, they aren’t an armed agency. The anniversary of Waco is next week; there is speculation that these “citizens” are hoping for a confrontation then. After that fails to occur, they’ll probably start to wander off.
22I don’t believe this is the end of the story — counting on JJ to keep us apprised of the next installments.
23I bet these guys figure they’ve won when actually the far superior force backed off for fear of hurting them.
24I’m with Rubymay. Sometime over the next few days, watch a big contingent of federal marshals swoop down on these people’s homes with arrest warrants to cuff ’em without gunfights and put ’em in the pokey. No need for anybody to get hurt on either side, but there’s a huge need to prosecute, convict and punish these doofuses. While the court is at it, it will cause their weapons to be seized since these lawbreakers must be classified as armed and dangerous.
25Looks like 18 U.S.C. 115 will do nicely.
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R41574.pdf
26So next week hypothetically speaking, when representatives of a local Native American tribe come by and let Cliven Bundy know that they were on that piece of land long before there was a BLM, or a Cliven Bundy for that matter, who do you think Mr Bundy is gonna call for help? The couple of yahoos who let his cows out, or a little help from the modern version of the US Cavelry?
27Um, nothing else is going to happen on this for another decade at least.
Some backstory.
The Clark County Sheriff, who is not a bad guy, spent a week mediating between the Bundys and the BLM. I would far rather see our law enforcement folks mediating that swinging in with a SWAT team.
At any rate, they came to a deal wherein the BLM completely folded. It would undoubtedly be a major breach of that deal for the BLM to now go after the Bundys.
One of the Nevada environmental leaders who is really really close with the BLM, “gets the reason the BLM pulled the plug.” This guy is a paid staffer of a Nevada environmental organization, and I have been around him a great deal and completely trust his word.
Another factor is the largest newspaper in the state – the Las Vegas Review Journal. It is a hardcore libertarian rag. They have been covering this 100% from the “Bundy is an American hero” point of view. Major sheeshage.
28I’m totally livid over all this.
This man has been stealing grazing rights for years.
At least two federal judges have ordered it stopped. This millionaire freeloader continues to ignore federal law.
The cattle that were seized should be slaughtered, and the meat donated to homeless shelters, or the public schools.
My local paper is running a story this morning that is telling me that beef prices are the highest they have been since 1987. Just in time for folks to dust off the barbecue grill.
Domestic terrorism….. is domestic terrorism. The gun toting yahoos should end up at Gitmo.
Mr. Bundy should be in jail awaiting trial.
This is what causes folks to totally and completely lose faith in their federal government. It has for me any way.
Immigrants get deported, families get torn apart. People who use medicinal marijuana get arrested and end up in jail. People who demonstrate against state and local law, get herded into fenced enclosures, and end up in jail.
Wall Street thieves, and Nevada cattle ranchers thumb their nose at law….. and are coddled.
Either we are a nation of laws that apply to everyone, or we are a nation where guns rule.
The time is getting shorter and shorter to figure out…. which kind of country we are.
29My bet is that 1.) all of those militia members are already on an FBI hot list and 2.) if they ain’t, they will be. Note to those militia members: Yes, you did break the law along with old Cliven and the FBI can ram your door and have you in cuffs in a matter of seconds. When it comes to that little exercise, they have been ranked best in the world. So militia members, good luck and good bye!
30UmptyDump-that should do it unless a sympathetic wingnut judge allows him to plea down to jay walking.
31If all the gun toters, free rangers, and militia crazies would just postpone that next ammo purchase a couple of weeks, they could crowd source together and pay Bundy’s bill. Maybe even provide for a lawyer to negotiate a lower fee. Lets just call it a Shit-kicker starter campaign ©.
32Stand-by for some more fireworks, you don’t think this is the end of it do you?
33The Federal Court system is nothing to mess with when you’re some overweight, old pasty white man squatting on government lands!
We’ll see how many of his small-dicked cowboys hang around when the federal court starts arresting and prosecuting him to the fullest extent possible!
One last word on this, and I’m done with it.
Does anybody but me see the total irony….. in that this latest Right Wing Darling…. is nothing more than a total “Welfare King”?
Twenty plus years of government handouts, and 14 kids.
Has to be some kind of a record.
34Armed sedition against the United States of America. In the end, is there any legal reason not to hang them by the neck until dead, dead, dead?
35Looks like Bundy and his partners in crime have a case of Affluenza where laws don’t apply to them.
36It’s treason.. Arrest, try and imprison…. they are failed citizens.
37FWIW, I think the Feds have learned a few things from their experiences at Ruby Ridge and in Waco. There is more to this idiocy than meets the eye, and as Mr Snowden has been hollering, it’s a good reason for more transparent government. The Feds can slap liens and garnishments on people at a moments notice, y’all. They have the tools.
Of course, isn’t Nevada the place where Sharon Angle and Co. were suggesting doctor payments in chickens? Maybe that WAS an attempted garnishment?!
38I worked for the BLM for over 30 years, in Arizona. I was in charge of two livestock impoundments from people much like the Bundys. If this family has been there since 1877 they had many opportunities to buy the land from either the Federal government or the State. The State of Nevada sold their state land many years ago to make money. These ranchers didn’t want to pay taxes on land they owned because they could graze public lands for nothing. The Taylor Grazing Act of 1934 was passed to regulate grazing on “vacant” public lands. This law was passed at the request of the public land ranchers. The grazing fee started out at $0.05 per adult animal per month. It has now risen to $1.35 per month. Private land owners charge $16-20 dollars per month. These wing nuts have the idea that they can proclaim themselves patriots and only follow those laws they like.
The BLM did botch the impoundment and they should never have let the Bundys win. Over 18,000 ranchers on public land follow the regulations and pay their fees. The vast majority of them do a great job. It just takes a few idiots to give everyone a bad impression.
I believe the BLM erred in stopping the impoundment. They should have kept going until they had every damn cow. These lands belong to the American people, not the Bundys and they rely on BLM to manage them for all the people. Granted, the BLM is a bureaucracy and makes many mistakes but they are trying to manage the land for all Americans. A bunch of ignorant bigoted idiots shouldn’t be allowed to continue to graze our lands.
I read several right wing articles about the impoundment and saw that our ex-sheriff Richard Mack, an “Oathkeeper” was there stirring things up. He was a one term sheriff in our county. He later moved to Utah, went broke, came back to Graham County, AZ and sold used cars. We apparently didn’t appreciate his superior intellect, so he moved to Texas a couple of years ago, where you all will appreciate him. Don’t be fooled, he’s a scam artist and will be right at home in right winged conservative Texas. Your loss is our gain.
39Aggieland liz, parts of NV are as crazy as East Texas. As you mentioned, Sharron Angle, she was the whacko bird that chanted the meme about unemployment checks being a moocher system. Sue Lowden (and she’s back with asparagus running for LT Gov) was the chicken barter with doctors bird brain. It is a requirement for a woman to be crazy to be a Republican. NV women prove that theory, as we sure have some crazy women in the GOP. Lacking the sweet Texas drawl, our harpies are like nails on a chalkboard. Mute the TV, darlin,’ it’s going to be a long hot summer leading into November.
40Bundy will soon find out that “The pen is mightier than the sword!”
41@Rick. That was exactly my first thought. Send the Native Americans to impound those cows. They will have a good laugh when Bundy tells them that he has been using the land since 1877.
42I think being owned by a whacko like Bundy should be considered a presumptive positive for “Mad Cow” disease and the entire herd put down for the public good.
43Sometime back, I read that the
Supreme Court ruled (sometime in the 1830s) that the Indians in wherever, I think Georgia, that the Indians there occupied the land but did not own it. This enabled the government then to legally(?!) move them out of lands their where their ancestors had lived to benefit European-ancestry settlers. Maybe the government could use this ruling against his idea of his family occupying that land.
I have no Amerindian ancestry, but this sort of thing disgusts me over a century later.
44Take particular notice of the BLM’s statement. In no way did the BLM indicate that it was caving in permanently. What the BLM did imply was that it did not feel that it could impound the animals at the time without the risk of physical injury to the people involved in the dispute, including the BLM employees. The statement implies that federal employees felt threatened by the protesters. When the protesters’ threats impeded federal employees from carrying out their duties as prescribed by law, they violated 18 U.S.C. 115. The BLM and the courts have not washed their hands of this. Stay tuned.
45These Bundy folks make me furious. We ranch, too. In Texas, we pay taxes on the land we own and lease additional acres as needed for a damn sight more than the BLM is asking. He is competing in the livestock market with us and he isn’t operating fairly, under the law. Time to sell his place on the courthouse steps to pay his back taxes/fees/fines and turn it into a Tortoise Refuge.
46Gotta love that OLD WEST spirit…you know, when there was no law, you could kill any Injun you saw, cattle could graze wherever they wanted, and you n’ the boys could play cowboy songs at night on the GIT-ahr.
One of my favorite quotes ever (from a millionairess CEO in Houston, Texas…..watching a rodeo from her skybox at the Astrodome in the mid-90’s):
ME: And what’s the purpose of the Texas Rodeo Association? (she was president).
Lady Cowboy (in $10,000 Neiman Marcus boots): “Why, to preserve a way of life, Kary. To preserve a way of life.”
(I need another drink, please. Make that a double.) (her pool was in the shape of the state of Texas….I really, really loved that!)
47He doesn’t like the government but doesn’t mind stealing from it….
48I WOULD enjoy the spectacle of a bunch of rednecks showing up to defend blacks, native Americans or Hispanics doing something illegal. If I hold my breath, it should happen pretty soon.
49What would happen if they went in with herds of goats and denuded the adjacent area of grazable plants?
This guy is a DEADBEAT!
50