Sounds like the makings of a new faux conspiracy from the right. Problem is, this is a 20-year old legal battle that started long before Rory was even in politics, AND was already decided by two Federal judges before he was ever working for the Chinese. Regardless of what Harry Reid and his son have planned for the land, the fact still remains that it is still Federal land and the rancher has no right to it if he isn’t going to pay to use it.
Edited to add: Here is a link of sorts.
He has descendants who would then have a legal claim to at least the use of land, as they would be able to prove past precedent. Not a good legal or precedent-setting move by the BLM, there.
No, to the desert tortoise, of which there are likely fewer than 100,000 left alive on the planet, the area is much used and has tremendous value.
Which would be punishing his heirs, who have done nothing to deserve that punishment.
See above; he has descendants.
And none of them had a problem with paying their grazing rights fees, apparently, just as Mr. Bundy paid them until he decided in 1993 that he wasn’t going to anymore. Fuck him. Fucking thief and a mooch to boot.
A quick googling finds a whole bunch of cites regarding this. Without even clicking on them, and just from looking at the page of cites from google, a lot look like far-right-nutcase-conspiracy stories. I see web sites with names like “Liberty News Online”, infowars, breitbart, thenewamerican, godfatherpolitics, etc.
And headlines like:
[ul][li] BUSTED: Bundy Ranch Siege REALLY About Harry Reid Backed …[/li][li] BOMBSHELL REPORT: Sen. Harry Reid Behind BLM Land Grab of …[/li][li] ALLEGATIONS SURFACE THAT SENATOR HARRY REID (D-NV) IS BEHIND THE BLM LAND GRAB OF BUNDY … (ETA: This appears to be the same article that Club 33 linked to, a few posts above.)[/li][li] Harry Reid Bolsters Son’s Interests in Chinese Solar Plant Deal[/ul][/li]Okay, here’s a story that could have a bit of credibility:
U.S. Senator Reid, son combine for China firm’s desert plant, Reuters, Aug. 31, 2012 – It’s from a reputable news agency, and a year-and-a-half old, so not tied to the current situation.
Thanks, Senegoid. If that’s the best that these people can do, they are ultimately doomed. Let’s just hope that they don’t take the rest of us down as they fall.
Please note, from that linked story about the Reids:
Cliven Bundy lives in Bunkerville. His cattle graze on what is known as the Gold Butte area. Bunkerville is about 81 miles north of Las Vegas.
So: buncha bullshit.
Hogwash!
I was trying to stay out of this discussion, but this one kinda riled me.
Beatrice, Monsanto, and friends are the main reason “we’re losing this way of life.” The basic fact is that mass-production of food has been improving since native Americans taught European “guests” how to bury a dead fish with the corn seeds. Fertilizers and chemical soil enhancements became big business and livestock hormones followed soon after. The point is that as production became greater, processors were willing to pay less per-bushel (high supply & low demand) because edible inventory only lasts so long. That’s what drove farmers out of business in both the early and late 1900’s. Add to that the government subsidization of food industries like cattle and corn and we now have an ironic situation where, despite the fact that even vegans are supporting the beef and pork industries – through their tax payments, the ranchers in those industries are having a tough time keeping their ranches in business. The generations that leave ranching and farming behind are either disenchanted with the tradition or can’t compete with the Agro-corporations – or both.
As farms went fallow and then inactive the federal government stepped in to buy (and sometimes just legally reserve) the land for the public to enjoy. Eventually, agencies were created to manage the vast parks, monuments, and various types of undeveloped (or returned-to-undeveloped) lakes, bogs, deserts, seashores, rivers, etcetera. The point is that the US Government has stepped in to preserve beautiful* places for everyone to enjoy and keep them from being spoiled* by later developers.
A lot of times, a place is turned into a preserve with built-in or added-on exceptions – a working mine in the middle of Death Valley, a ski lodge at the top of a national park’s mountain, etcetera – but those exceptions are documented by the agencies, not just remembered as a family tradition.
So BLM wasn’t invented to take land away from anyone. It was created to administer for the benefit of the general public the preservation of lands that were abandoned or unused. From what I’ve seen in the discussion above, the government hasn’t asked Bundy to stop ranching or move; it asked him to respect the endangered species and keep his cattle in other areas. And it didn’t seem like that was a permanent request; once the rare tortoise was off of the endangered or guarded list, he (or his heirs) would probably be allowed to let his cows wander there again. I can’t imagine the cows would know the difference.+
—G.
And I saw a sign on easy street
It said, “Be prepared to stop”
Pray for the independent, little man
I don’t see next year’s crop
…–Don Henley
…*A Month Of Sundays *
…Building the Perfect Beast
*Yeah this is clearly a subjective term, but if a place is nominated and congress votes to designate a place a historical, natural, or whatever kind of preservation-worthy site, then there’s enough people agreeing with that subjective assessment to make it stick. Spoiled is a subjective term, as well; some say the Mojave desert is spoiled by letting dirt-bike and ATV riders run loose across it; some say the same areas are spoiled by blocking them off to let a rare plant or animal grow back to a healthy population.
“Y’know, Bessie, the grass seemed to be better on the other side of that fence over there.”
“Yeah, Marge, but the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.”
This clip the Ailes channel seems to imply that the person depicted lying on the pavement is a government LEO, but he sure looks like a vigilante to me. Can anyone offer me reliable information about sharp-shooters on site?
local law has opinion on this.
Sheriff, feds: Rancher must be held accountable
http://news.yahoo.com/sheriff-feds-rancher-must-held-accountable-014438698.html
??? Huh ??? Sheriff Gillespie sympathized with Bundy all along, didn’t he? Oh, I get it. There was that jerk laying on the bridge aiming his gun (presumably at LEO). Okay, that he doesn’t like.
When the entire Bundy cabal gets hauled off to the hoosegow, Gillespie needs to be there with them.