Land Grab

http://townhall.com/columnists/kevi...ened-out-on-a-nevada-ranch-n1823838/page/full

the Obama administration attempted to go to war with a rancher in Nevada. Let me amplify a little bit of truth: They tucked tail and have returned home. And let me add a bit of clarity: they had no choice!

As the nation began to become familiar with the plight of the family of Cliven Bundy, many of us harkened back to another standoff in which the Federal government attempted to bully it's outcome: Waco, Texas and the Branch Davidian massacre.

It is telling that in the Nevada case the feds pulled out so quickly, given all they had indicated they were willing to do to resolve the matter to their satisfaction. They had set up a perimeter around the Bundy's family land, ranch, and home. They had brought in extra artillery, dogs, and snipers. They were beginning the process of stealing more than 300 head of cattle that did not belong to them.

They did so--or so we were told--for the reason of protecting the desert tortoise. But then it was revealed that the Bureau of Land Management had shot far more desert tortoises than the Bundy cattle had even possibly destroyed. We were told they did it because the Bundys had broken federal laws by not paying what amounted to retroactive grazing fees to the federal government. But the Governor of the state of Nevada told us that Bundy had paid every ounce of state tax, met the state requirements, and their family had been improving the property more than 100 years previous.

Finally we were allowed to know the connection between a communist Chinese wind/solar power plant and its connection to that senator named Harry Reid. Evidently a plan had been hatched to use the Bundy property for a solar farm and instead of paying the Bundys, someone, somewhere in the administration believed it was easier to just take what they wanted.

That approach is at least consistent with the readily documented abuse of eminent domain where the government for any number of reasons--few of them valid--have taken to taking what doesn't belong to them. Americans then watch as it gets handed over to some multi-national corporation for the "cause" of the "greater good."

There were a few specific reasons why the feds chickened out in the Nevada desert though.

1. Technology - As the Bundy family members were abused, cameras captured it. Not television network cameras, but dozens of cell phone video devices that gave witness to a Bundy aunt being shoved to the ground, and a Bundy son being tazed. All of this while threatening protestors with dogs, brandished weapons and vehicles was captured, uploaded and made viral to the watching world.

2. States' Rights - As the drama unfolded it became clear that the Governor of Nevada, and the Sheriff of Clark County knew that Cliven Bundy's family had not only not broken any state law regarding the land, but that they had gone to the enth degree to insure compliance with Nevada laws on the property. The Governor and the Sheriff, to their credit, did not favor the feds as a more powerful party in the conflict. Though there must have been pressure from Senator Reid's office, the administration via the Bureau of Land Management, and local officials who were bought and sold like the Clark County Commissioner who told those coming to support the Bundys to have "funeral plans in place."

3. Grassroots Response - As other incidents have transpired in the past, the amount of time it took honest information to reach the grassroots and thus the response to the action came to slow. In the massacre in Waco, most of the nation had been sold a single narrative from the limited media outlets covering the events. Similarly the events surrounding the abduction of Elian Gonzales from his family in Florida and deportation to Cuba took place in such a response vacuum that by the time Americans knew the real story, the damage was done. With the Bundy ranch, internet outlets by the dozen had competing information with the limited "official news" being released by the networks, and in most cases the alternative sources had it correct and usually a full day or so ahead of the news cycle. By the time afternoon drive hit, when the network news rooms in New York were preparing their first stories, talk radio audiences had already been dialing their elected officials in Washington demanding action.

The majority of Americans saw through the efforts to spin the story in Nevada. Couple that with the leadership failures that the American people view the administration responsible for, from Benghazi to the Affordable Care Act, all it took was the unedited video of federal agents tazing Bundy's son, followed by his pulling the wires from his chest and continuing to stand his ground for there to be comparisons made to the American revolution.

It's also important to note that merely pulling back from the Bundy property hasn't settled the matter for the American people either.

The feds have stolen 352 head of cattle, and will not confirm or deny if they euthanized some or all of them. Recompense must be made. And to be candid, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see if a few ambitious law firms don't try to convince the Bundy family of the validity of litigation.

Fortunately for the American people, the feds were not able to ultimately bully a simple rancher, not for a tortoise, a solar power plant, or a dirty Senator and his administration.

We owe the Bundy family a great deal of thanks for standing tall.

For if the federal government is allowed to do it with one, then there will be nothing stopping them from doing it again.
 
Have you noticed how quite the Tea Party politicians have been on this? Not to mention the mainstream Republicans, no one, beside the severely crazy people are supporting this guy.

i've also noticed how vocal the holder supporters were about not enforcing laws that they didn't agree with, yet are clamoring for this ranchers blood because he didn't follow a law he didn't agree with.
 
i've also noticed how vocal the holder supporters were about not enforcing laws that they didn't agree with, yet are clamoring for this ranchers blood because he didn't follow a law he didn't agree with.

I am not a Holder supporter, but I believe this guy to be in the wrong.
 
i've also noticed how vocal the holder supporters were about not enforcing laws that they didn't agree with, yet are clamoring for this ranchers blood because he didn't follow a law he didn't agree with.

I wasn't clamoring for his blood, but I think the Feds had the right to round up his cattle. I also think further action should be taken against him. I think the feds were right in defusing the situation and not letting the crazies become martyrs.
 
you're dodging the question. let me make this a little easier for you.

If Obama uses a signing statement that he's not going to enforce a law he considers unconstitutional, would you support him?

I didn't dodge your question, I answered it. I know of no signing statement that he has made that states he will not enforce the law, you need to be more specific.

I thought this thread was about Bundy and his illegal actions.
 
how is it that you feel you can debate politics, yet not know of these things?


it is, and his prerogative to not follow unconstitutional laws or rules.

Seems to me you are the one not debating, I asked you for a specific and you came back with this reply.

It is his prerogative not to follow the laws, but there are consequences for not doing so and he will eventually have to answer for his disobeying court orders.

To call it a land grab is also incorrect. He has private land where he can graze his cattle. If he wishes to use public land he has to follow the rules and he didn't.
 
Nevada's Constitution


ORDINANCE
Slavery prohibited; freedom of religious worship; disclaimer of public lands. [Effective until the date Congress consents to amendment or a legal determination is made that such consent is not necessary.]  In obedience to the requirements of an act of the Congress of the United States, approved March twenty-first, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to enable the people of Nevada to form a constitution and state government, this convention, elected and convened in obedience to said enabling act, do ordain as follows, and this ordinance shall be irrevocable, without the consent of the United States and the people of the State of Nevada: First. That there shall be in this state neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment for crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Second. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said state shall ever be molested, in person or property, on account of his or her mode of religious worship. Third. That the people inhabiting said territory do agree and declare, that they forever disclaim all right and title to the unappropriated public lands lying within said territory, and that the same shall be and remain at the sole and entire disposition of the United States; and that lands belonging to citizens of the United States, residing without the said state, shall never be taxed higher than the land belonging to the residents thereof; and that no taxes shall be imposed by said state on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by, the United States, unless otherwise provided by the congress of the United States. [Amended in 1956. Proposed and passed by the 1953 legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1955 legislature; approved and ratified by the people at the 1956 general election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1953, p. 718; Statutes of Nevada 1955, p. 926.] Slavery prohibited; freedom of religious worship; taxation of certain property. [Effective on the date Congress consents to amendment or a legal determination is made that such consent is not necessary.]  In obedience to the requirements of an act of the Congress of the United States, approved March twenty-first, A.D. eighteen hundred and sixty-four, to enable the people of Nevada to form a constitution and state government, this convention, elected and convened in obedience to said enabling act, do ordain as follows, and this ordinance shall be irrevocable, without the consent of the United States and the people of the State of Nevada: First. That there shall be in this state neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, otherwise than in the punishment for crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted. Second. That perfect toleration of religious sentiment shall be secured, and no inhabitant of said state shall ever be molested, in person or property, on account of his or her mode of religious worship. Third. That the people inhabiting said territory do agree and declare, that lands belonging to citizens of the United States, residing without the said state, shall never be taxed higher than the land belonging to the residents thereof; and that no taxes shall be imposed by said state on lands or property therein belonging to, or which may hereafter be purchased by, the United States, unless otherwise provided by the Congress of the United States. [Amended in 1956 and 1996. The first amendment was proposed and passed by the 1953 legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1955 legislature; approved and ratified by the people at the 1956 general election. See: Statutes of Nevada 1953, p. 718; Statutes of Nevada 1955, p. 926. The second amendment was proposed and passed by the 1993 legislature; agreed to and passed by the 1995 legislature; and approved and ratified by the people at the 1996 general election, effective on the date Congress consents to amendment or a legal determination is made that such consent is not necessary. See: Statutes of Nevada 1993, p. 3136; Statutes of Nevada 1995, p. 2917.]
PREAMBLE.
We the people of the State of Nevada Grateful to Almighty God for our freedom in order to secure its blessings, insure domestic tranquility, and form a more perfect Government, do establish this Constitution.

 
Nevada's Constitution continued

All political power is inherent in the people. Government is instituted for the protection, security and benefit of the people; and they have the right to alter or reform the same whenever the public good may require it.
But the Paramount Allegiance of every citizen is due to the Federal Government in the exercise of all its Constitutional powers as the same have been or may be defined by the Supreme Court of the United States; and no power exists in the people of this or any other State of the Federal Union to dissolve their connection therewith or perform any act tending to impair, subvert, or resist the Supreme Authority of the government of the United States. The Constitution of the United States confers full power on the Federal Government to maintain and Perpetuate its existence, and whensoever any portion of the States, or people thereof attempt to secede from the Federal Union, or forcibly resist the Execution of its laws, the Federal Government may, by warrant of the Constitution, employ armed force in compelling obedience to its Authority.
 
"A culture of corruption"

Journalist Doug McInnis wrote for The New York Times 2 July 1996:
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In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, current and former employees of the Federal Bureau of Land Management have accused bureau officials of falsifying financial records, taking part in schemes to sell wild horses to slaughterhouses and obstructing federal investigations. The nine-page letter alleges numerous areas of wrongdoing at the agency, which oversees millions of acres of government land and billions of dollars in federal mineral assets. The letter, mailed on June 18, was signed by five current or retired bureau law-enforcement officers and by Reed Smith, who was deputy director of bureau operations for New Mexico until his retirement in 1994. ...But the letter also raises a new accusation, falsification of financial records, outlining a practice that, if it in fact occurs, would have far-reaching implications for the environment. By altering financial records, Smith said in an interview, officials covered up the diversion of money from environmental compliance programs or other mandates of Congress and "used the money wherever they wanted to." But if auditors were to examine bureau records, Smith said, it would appear that the bureau spent the money as Congress dictated.
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article



Journalist Joel Brinkley wrote for The New York Times 12 October 2002:
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A congressionally sanctioned consultant hired by the Bureau of Land Management to evaluate its land-exchange policies has found that agency officials collude with private developers to trade away government land at below market value. ...In another case, in Carson City, Nev., this year, the bureau office took in an employee of a private developer to work in the land management office as an agency official. His job was to manage land exchanges being pursued by the developer.
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article
 
"A culture of corruption"

Journalist Doug McInnis wrote for The New York Times 2 July 1996:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno, current and former employees of the Federal Bureau of Land Management have accused bureau officials of falsifying financial records, taking part in schemes to sell wild horses to slaughterhouses and obstructing federal investigations. The nine-page letter alleges numerous areas of wrongdoing at the agency, which oversees millions of acres of government land and billions of dollars in federal mineral assets. The letter, mailed on June 18, was signed by five current or retired bureau law-enforcement officers and by Reed Smith, who was deputy director of bureau operations for New Mexico until his retirement in 1994. ...But the letter also raises a new accusation, falsification of financial records, outlining a practice that, if it in fact occurs, would have far-reaching implications for the environment. By altering financial records, Smith said in an interview, officials covered up the diversion of money from environmental compliance programs or other mandates of Congress and "used the money wherever they wanted to." But if auditors were to examine bureau records, Smith said, it would appear that the bureau spent the money as Congress dictated.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

article



Journalist Joel Brinkley wrote for The New York Times 12 October 2002:
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A congressionally sanctioned consultant hired by the Bureau of Land Management to evaluate its land-exchange policies has found that agency officials collude with private developers to trade away government land at below market value. ...In another case, in Carson City, Nev., this year, the bureau office took in an employee of a private developer to work in the land management office as an agency official. His job was to manage land exchanges being pursued by the developer.
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article

Alleged, there's that word, again, so how did these alleged instances turn out?
 
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