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posted by cmn32480 on Monday January 04 2016, @04:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the seeds-of-revolution dept.

NPR is reporting on this tale of direct action:

A self-styled militia in eastern Oregon grabbed national headlines Saturday when they broke into the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. There the armed group remains Sunday, occupying the federal building in protest of what it sees as government overreach on rangelands throughout the western United States.

"We stand in defense," Ammon Bundy, the group's apparent leader and spokesperson, told Oregon Public Broadcasting. "And when the time is right we will begin to defend the people of Harney County, [Ore.,] in using the land and the resources."

Ammon's brother, Ryan, has reportedly used harsher rhetoric, saying members of the militia are willing to kill or be killed.

Their last name may ring a bell. Ammon and Ryan Bundy are sons of rancher Cliven Bundy, who notably took part in an armed standoff with the federal Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, in Nevada in 2014.

Ammon Bundy now is part of a group of 15 to 150 people — depending on which source you believe — who are protesting the arson convictions of two Oregon ranchers, Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven.

Also at Oregon Live, NYT, and the Associated Press.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by fadrian on Monday January 04 2016, @09:02PM

    by fadrian (3194) on Monday January 04 2016, @09:02PM (#284728) Homepage

    It is my land. And the land of all of the people in this country. It sure as hell doesn't belong to the asshats who are sitting in that center now. And we, as a people, under our government, made laws saying how this land should be used. People need to follow laws. Unless you think that anyone who thinks that they're right should bypass the courts, the government, and (quite frankly) the will of the people at both the state and country levels by means of arms. I hope the feds put some bullets in heads. It should show these little militia pissants what's what.

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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Tuesday January 05 2016, @01:23PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday January 05 2016, @01:23PM (#285101)

    made laws saying how this land should be used

    No, we didn't. That's kind of the core of the problem.

    Weirdly enough congress sets the price per grazing animal/month for the whole country, and there are no problems with the billing side. Its hard to believe congress ever did anything right, but they did, for that small part. The laws are not a problem.

    Lease terms are written on the spot by political appointment hacks and are widely seen as corrupt as hell. Nothing to do with biology or ecology and a lot more to do with party membership and saying the right things to the right people and having the right friends and making the right campaign contributions. Not all are crooked, in fact probably most are not, but enough are, and there is basically no oversight or legal remedy other than taking up arms, sounds crazy but its true.

    A pretty good SN car analogy of the situation would be driving-while-black. The muni council or governing body sets the costs for local driving tickets, parking tickets, etc. Then some fraction of the cops selectively bust black people for driving on what they declare to be white roads. The problem is not the careful regulation and oversight of the price of tickets, the problem is the complete lack of regulation and oversight of the above the law cops.