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(Making a) Living off the Land
Author: BobR    Date: 04/16/2014 11:02:44

It seems like only yesterday (but was - in fact a years ago) when the Tea Baggers were screaming that they wanted the government to "keep your hands off my Medicare". It was such a jarring disconnect between the confused rhetoric and the reality of social safety net programs as to be comical. How could anyone not realize that Medicare is the very definition of government, and one of the single largest budgetary items we had? Where did they think the money came from for Medicare? Yes - from taxes, through the federal government, and then out to medical service providers.

The idea that nothing good comes of the federal government is a meme that feels good to the rebels, the libertarians, the nut job tea baggers, and all of the rest. Of course - they'll complain while they drive on roads, enjoy the protections of state and federal law enforcement, and - in many cases - feed their families with food stamps and welfare checks.

Or - in the case of a Nevada rancher - make use of hundreds of acres of federal land, and feel like he didn't have to pay anything to use it:
This conflict arises out of rancher Cliven Bundy’s many years of illegally grazing his cattle on federal lands. In 1998, a federal court ordered Bundy to cease grazing his livestock on an area of federal land known as the Bunkerville Allotment, and required him to pay the federal government $200 per day per head of cattle remaining on federal lands. Around the time it issued this order, the court also commented that “[t]he government has shown commendable restraint in allowing this trespass to continue for so long without impounding Bundy’s livestock.” Fifteen years later, Bundy continued to defy this court order.

Last October, the federal government returned to court and obtained a new order, providing that “Bundy shall remove his livestock from the former Bunkerville Allotment within 45 days of the date hereof, and that the United States is entitled to seize and remove to impound any of Bundy’s cattle that remain in trespass after 45 days of the date hereof.” A third federal court order issued the same year explains that Bundy did not simply refuse to stop trespassing on federal lands — he actually expanded the range of his trespassing. According to the third order, “Bundy’s cattle have moved beyond the boundaries of the Bunkerville Allotment and are now trespassing on a broad swath of additional federal land (the “New Trespass Lands”), including public lands within the Gold Butte area that are administered by the BLM, and National Park System land within the Overton Arm and Gold Butte areas of the Lake Mead National Recreation Area.” The third order also authorizes the federal government to “impound any of Bundy’s cattle that remain in trespass.”

Naturally - the rancher's plight and protests are making him a national hero to those who apparently think stealing from the government (that would be us - the taxpayers) is okay. This resulted in an armed standoff as these jackholes decided to go all militia and threaten the federal agents. Glenn Beck actually thinks some of these people are real wackos, which is a little scarey considering he likely doesn't think that about at this guy - a former sheriff calling for putting women on the front lines as targets:
A former Arizona sheriff who has taken the side of cattle ranchers in Nevada said this week that he would have allowed his own wife and daughters to be shot as human shields because it would look bad for the federal government on television.

In a statement to Fox News on Monday that was first flagged by Glenn Beck's The Blaze, former Sheriff Richard Mack talked about his strategy to put women on the front lines if a gunfight broke out between "rogue federal agents" and rancher Cliven Bundy, who reportedly owes the taxpayers more than $1 million for allowing his cattle to graze on government land.

"We were actually strategizing to put all the women up at the front," he recalled. "If they are going to start shooting, it's going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers."

Bundy must have heard this guy because he began calling on sheriffs to disarm the federal agents. He invokes the syntax of the perpetual anti-government protest, calling federal field agents "bureaucrats". This self-righteous selfish prick thinks that land is his to use as he pleases, even though he doesn't own it, doesn't pay taxes on it, and doesn't maintain it. Can you imagine what would happen if the federal government decided to lease the land for oil exploration?... or started auctioning off natural gas leases? How long do you think it would take for this anti-government rancher to run screaming to the government about protecting his cattle?

Government - keep your hands off of my grassland!

The selfish ungrateful ignorance of these people continues to confound me. Time to bring out the National Guard to let Bundy's guard dogs know that stealing is wrong, and then extract from him what he owes, or send him to jail. It's what they do with other criminals and tax cheats.
 

42 comments (Latest Comment: 04/16/2014 20:27:41 by Mondobubba)
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