BLM Retreats After Armed Cliven Bundy Supporters Stand Their Ground

Cliven Bundy, the sixty year-old rancher, along with hundreds of “armed” supporters, some  on horseback and wearing cowboy hats, successfully got the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to return his cattle, and retreated from the “open range” land earlier today.  The BLM claimed they did so to protect their employees and citizens from possible physical harm (a bloody shoot-out). If you ask me, they figured out that the individuals who showed up to back Bundy were not the average protester.  Among the crowd of around a hundred were armed militia (who have been training for this type of conflict for years). They were in for the long haul and if the shooting began, it could spark an uprising in other states.

Americans are angry with government; their constant lies, the spy program and the general intrusion on civil liberties. Now they want to forcibly take away private property and throw someone off their land? The group who stood up to Uncle Sam this week took action. Not by sending emails to their state reps — they actually “showed up.”

photo credit FOX 5 Vegas

If you are not familiar with what the fight between Bundy and BLM is all about, here is the back story and ABC news video link:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/nevada-cattle-rancher-wins-range-war-federal-government/story?id=23302610#.U0mBp_xdj8s.twitter

Bundy’s family has lived on the land since 1870 and he has been paying grazing fees to Clark County, Nevada for decades, long before BLM got into the picture. The BLM arrived in the mid 90s, claiming the right to do so because they were protecting the endangered desert tortoise.  It wasn’t long before they began systematically driving out neighboring  cattle ranchers.

Then they went after Bundy demanding he reduce his herd down to a level that would not sustain his ranch. Bundy owns the water and forage rights to this land. He paid for these rights. He built fences, established water ways, and constructed roads with his own money, with the approval of Nevada and BLM. When BLM started using his fees to run him off the land and harassing him, he had enough and stopped paying.

This week’s events got social media’s attention when the BLM showed up with helicopters, SWAT, and two-hundred other law enforcement officials to not only confiscate Bundy’s cattle, but to tell those protesting where they were allowed to protest. Law enforcement attempted to “herd” protesters (pun intended) to a small area  called “free speech” zones, where they could hold their signs and limited the amount of protesters to twenty-five.

 

God bless whomever’s idea it was to put cameras in cellphones because the video of law enforcement tazing protestors who refused to comply went viral on the Internet within minutes.

People who work the land aren’t like us “city folk.” They don’t have time to spend on social media; they work long hard hours and when push-comes-to-shove, they do  not back down. They stand their ground.

You won’t hear much national media coverage about it though, CNN is still rehashing theories of where Malaysia Flight 370 could be. They’ve been talking about it for nearly five weeks. You will read about it from online news sources though.

If the BLM is so concerned about the desert tortoise, what about the plight of the American wild horse?  The BLM is rounding up wild horses roaming federal lands and shipping them off to be slaughtered and turned into horse meat (a delicacy in Japan).  Are they more concerned about tortoises than horses?  If they are upset about Bundy not paying their share of his grazing fees, why aren’t they upset about the six billion dollars “misplaced” by the State Department that was paid to contractors around the world?

 

BLM’s story doesn’t sit right with me. In every instance when it comes to what our government tells us and what is the “real story,” it’s always about money. If the government tells you they are here to help you (or an endangered species) you’re screwed. If they say they are taking military action to save people from a vicious dictator in a foreign country, it’s not about saving lives, it’s about regime change and money for the military industrial complex. Ask any Iraq or Afghanistan citizen.  It’s never about that. It’s all about the Washington elite and their rich buddies.

Harry Reid’s name has been coming up in conversations about what could be the real reason behind the land grab.  Reid’s name has been linked to several stories about building solar panels in the southwestern Nevada desert. I am for alternative energy. I think we need more solar panels, along with wind energy. If that is the real reason, then why not come clean? There is no reason why everyone can’t come to a reasonable compromise and that includes giving the tortoise a safe place to live.

But our government doesn’t like to do things that way. The bureaucrats in Washington are used to pushing people around, especially those living in so-called third worlds (just calling them that makes me sick…who made America “god” and the rulers of the world? The only ones who still believe we are a super power are us.)

The good thing is times are changing. Americans are waking up and they are standing up to big government.  Americans said “no” when Obama wanted to “help out” Syrians. They are saying “no” to “free speech” zones.   They are saying “no” to the feds pushing Americans around with tazers.  This is still America and nobody tells us where and when, we are allowed to say what we think.

 

SOURCES:

http://danaloeschradio.com/the-real-story-of-the-bundy-ranch/

http://rt.com/usa/6-billion-contracts-state-department-493/

http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/news/57786997-78/horses-wild-blm-county.html.csp

 


About Inge

Cancer survivor. Healthy organic food coach. Public speaker. If you have a story you want told, contact me at iscott.orangejuiceblog@gmail.com/