OpEd by R.T. Fitch ~ president/co-founder of Wild Horse Freedom Federation
The entire situation was a perfect storm for “STUPID”
I have tried to stay away from commenting, opinionating or postulating on the BLM vs Bundy fiasco in Nevada last week because, initially, I felt the BLM was doing the right thing and such a concept totally rocked my perception of reality. I have never ever been on the same side of the fence with this out of control rogue agency …the sky must be falling and look, pigs are flying.
Here we have a mealy mouthed, welfare rancher who carries vagrancy to a new level by not only grazing his private cattle on public land, your acreage, but he has refused to pay the teeny-weeny, token grazing fees for the past twenty, yes count them 20, years; bum, thief, slacker.
(We like real land tax paying ranchers, some are my neighbors and good friends, but it’s the vermin that suckle off the public land’s teat that pisses us off)
But true to form (they just can’t help themselves) the BLM shows their backside immediately by swooping in like a bunch of Nazi storm troopers waving deadly force while stealing the deadbeat’s cows. (Been there done that, not the cow part but the overkill of armed personnel…it wasn’t pretty and not required. <2010 Twin Peaks Wild Horse Roundup: My wife Terry, a female advocate, a female reporter for the NY Times and lil ole me surrounded by dozens of big, bad, armed BLM Rangers. Me and the 3 women were, evidently, pretty threatening. Hell, I didn’t even cuss…back to the Bundy thingy>.)
And if the entire BLM/Bundy circus wasn’t dopey enough, a whole bunch of people with horses and guns showed up to support Bundy the Bum. Now I am all for protesting the overreaching and violent tactics of the bullying BLM but couldn’t these people have picked a little better poster child than a land parasite like Bundy? Where were all these irate citizens when the BLM constantly and consistently STOLE our protected and public owned wild horses and burros from their rightful range? Huh, where were they then?
Anyway, I felt that this story was a tale of total losers with no one winning and once again, animals being used as the pawns who always suffer at the hands of morally bankrupt BLM. The entire situation was a perfect storm for “STUPID”.
But now my attention is a tad more focused as there have been a multitude of stories surface as to “why” the BLM turned to cattle rustling instead of managing the situation via litigation like anyone with a 5th grade education would have done.
As advocates for the proper management of wild horses and burros ON the range we have always been suspect of what moves and motivates the BLM to strip our wild horses from their families and homes. Grazing, water, extraction, the list goes on and on but it appears there may be some legitimate evidence as to what drives the BLM and the political underhanded deals that motivate the BLM to act in such a “un”-American fashion.
So instead of ungracefully ramming my infuriated and disgusted opinion down your weary optic nerves I am, instead, going to allow a LARGE group of others the opportunity to speak via the links listed below.
They all make for good reading but I believe the bigger picture to all of this is that the public is finally beginning to learn what we wild equine advocates have known for a long time and that is that the BLM has long been out of control and a Congressional investigation is long, long overdue.
I live for the day when I can witness several select employees of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program (past and present) handcuffed and lead into court for sentencing. Not only will millions of tax paying Americans be cheering for the good lady with the scales but the lost spirits of hundreds of thousands of tortured equine souls will be at peace as justice will finally be served.
Now wouldn’t that be a pretty picture?
Keep the faith.
http://scgnews.com/bundy-ranch-what-youre-not-being-told
http://www.westernjournalism.com/congressman-pens-letter-obama-blasting-lawless-blm/
http://www.westernjournalism.com/graphic-photographic-evidence-slaughtered-cows-bundy-ranch/
http://www.prisonplanet.com/report-blm-feds-slaughtered-cattle-during-bundy-siege.html
http://ecowatch.com/2014/04/15/blm-battle-at-bundy-ranch/
http://time.com/63528/the-armed-rebellion-on-a-nevada-cattle-ranch-could-be-just-the-start/
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2014/apr/11/q-behind-bundy-blm-battle/
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/375799/bundy-vs-blm-visceral-reaction-peter-kirsanow
Google “BLM Bundy” for more
Related articles
Categories: Wild Burros, Wild Horses/Mustangs
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
They Still will kill the mustangs, because thugs on the range still Hate them.
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Great article, R.T. I love your use of words. Remember you’re supposed to be writing another book.
Terry Watt sent this to add to all the other links:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/04/18/how-did-i-miss-militia-god-gave-land-settlers-not-shoshone-154472#comment-2148715
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For a few short minuets the Bundy supporters and the BLM pointed weapons at each other. Somebody blinked. What would have happened if someone squeezed? Didn’t the Revolutionary war start because someone either British or colonist squeezed? What would have been the outcome if bullets started flying? Alexander Hamilton stated to George Washington after the win across the Potomac, “we are about to replace one corporation with another” Yes, seems we are about to replace one corporation with another. The one we belonged to the United States and the new one, run by a non living terrorist with immense power to kill, destroy, foul the air, water, land. Cattle, horses, and people are insufficient to it. One that can transform judges and legislators by placing a pod by them like in body snatchers only this pod is full with campaign contributions. Ultimately we will loose the horses, cattle, water and land. If we put up too much of a fight the drones will come. You see, capitalism must have energy to survive. Oil is finite and getting harder and harder to get. The black filth under our land and Canada needs gas procured by forcing vast amounts of water and chemicals into the ground so the black tar can be heated and melted with even more vast amounts of hot water heated by the gas so the world can place its straws into it as it sucks out this place we once knew. 100 years ago we had no oil and horses 100 years from now we will have no oil or horses. The only way to the future is from the past. Think we might have learned something.
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Again RT BRAVO< Your choose of words is magnificent !!!! The Video has been remove so I couldnt watch it, also this is why and what I have been waiting for also, I live for the day when I can witness several select employees of the BLM’s Wild Horse and Burro program (past and present) handcuffed and lead into court for sentencing. Not only will millions of tax paying Americans be cheering for the good lady with the scales but the lost spirits of hundreds of thousands of tortured equine souls will be at peace as justice will finally be served. One addition to this is to see Our magnificent Mustangs back on the Range to Roam FREE !!!!!
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Sorry, but 100 years ago we did (this planet) have oil and horses…just not like this…now.
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Dear Denise, I know we can do this, I have no doubt !!! We all must unify as one , the power of unity is awesome, never give up on this, the Mustangs never give up, they never lose their spirit, it cannot be broken , and neither can we……………. They have given their all, this cannot ever be forgotten………………..
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Here’s a comment I borrowed from another blog re: ranchers discussing the Bundy standoff and their ideas on reforming the LS grazing program:
“I had a chance to speak to some Wyoming ranchers today. I saw them in a clinical setting, so I cannot give names.
What I heard from them was this:
While one did not agree with all of the actions of the BLM, he expressed that he wished they had approached Bundy with the right policing forces. He further stated that he wanted to be able to support Bundy. Instead, he was left feeling that he now had to defend his lifestyle as a rancher. He also said he didn’t want people to equate ranchers with over zealots who choose to defy the law of this country and then point guns at people who uphold it.
One rancher told me that he was appalled that the country might think other ranchers who lease land are as dirty as Bundy. He also said it “chapped the cheeks out of his carhardts” to know that he had to pay for his “spread of land” and that he had to pay upwards of 50 dollars a head to rent pasture from his neighbor.
That same rancher went on to tell me that he felt the BLM lacked direction. He did say that the BLM would send out range techs and biologists to help them figure out how to rotate the cattle to best preserve grazing lands. Those same BLM workers also helped string fencing to preserve grasses, and came back to move them when they had taken root.
The last rancher said that he felt like Bundy put a stigma on ranchers. His family holds leases, and he knows that they are not a sure thing. He also said he hopes that the government will help assure that land lease ranchers get a fair shake, because many of them believed in being good stewards. He told me about his grandfather showing him how to get water to areas that needed it, and how he and his dad would move herds from laying in streams to water tanks so they wouldn’t erode banks. (I have to say this made me smile, because I know this old timer taught his boys and his daughter the same things”.
He went on to say that Bundy should have just realize, “the price of gas went up, the price of land went up, and he got a cheap deal for a lot of years. It was time for couple units to go up too.”
I suggested to each of them (only one had grazing permits, the other two leased land from people with grazing permits) that a collaborative of ranchers, range managers, biologists, and various other experts should create a universal scale by which they assess lands grazed via leases. They should be able to grade the stewardship, and implement a system that put ranchers on report. Good grades equal lower fees. Bad grades equals requirements to get better, and if not met then termination of leases and fines equalling reclamation and restoration costs.
I was shocked that they all agreed. I was even more shocked that the public land grazer said he thought that wasn’t a bad idea, and it might “give the good guys a shot at a future in ranching.”
I don’t know what the answer is, but I do know I had not expected the responses I got. I figured these guys would be backing Bundy in a good ole boys fashion. Not so.
They all 3 pointed out that the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association wasn’t backing Bundy, and even ranchers have to adjust to changing times”
These are the ranchers we should be talking to about managing wild horses.
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LM your words make it even more imperative Congress DOES NOT PASS the “Grazing Improvement Act” now. I take a little hope from the Bundy media frenzy that perhaps more attention will be given to this legislation, which would only entrench poor management. The good managers will not be affected so the legislation isn’t needed, only wanted.
Here’s the info on the Senate and House versions, and a link to popvox.com where people can read up on the information then contact their own representatives.
HR 657 Reported to House amended, Part 1 (07/09/2013). 15 co sponsors as of 1-1-14.
Grazing Improvement Act – Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (the Act) to double from 10 to 20 years the period of a term for grazing permits and leases for domestic livestock grazing on public lands or lands within national forests in 16 contiguous western states. Permits the issuance of permits and leases for a period shorter than 20 years (under current law, shorter than 10 years), including where the Secretary concerned determines that the initial environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) regarding a grazing allotment, permit, or lease has not been completed.
Permits only applicants, permittees, and lessees whose interest in grazing livestock is directly affected by a final grazing decision to appeal such decision to an administrative law judge.
Directs that grazing permits or leases issued by the Secretary of the Interior respecting lands under the jurisdiction of the Department of the Interior and grazing permits issued by the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) respecting National Forest System lands that expire, are transferred, or are waived after this Act’s enactment be renewed or reissued, as appropriate, under the Act, the Granger-Thye Act, the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, or the California Desert Protection Act of 1994.
Excludes the renewal, reissuance, or transfer of a grazing permit or lease by the Secretary concerned from the NEPA requirement to prepare an environmental analysis if: (1) such decision continues to renew, reissue, or transfer current grazing management of the allotment; (2) monitoring indicates that such management meets objectives contained in the land use and resource management plan of the allotment; or (3) the decision is consistent with the policy of the Department of the Interior or USDA regarding extraordinary circumstances.
Gives the Secretary concerned the sole discretion to determine the priority and timing for completing each required environmental analysis regarding any grazing allotment, permit, or lease based on the environmental significance of such authorization and available funding.
Makes NEPA inapplicable to domestic livestock crossing and trailing authorizations, transfers of grazing preference, and range improvements.
http://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/hr657
beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/house-bill/657
S 258 Introduced in Senate (02/07/2013). 8 co sponsors as of 1-1-14. 15 co sponsors as of 1-1-14.
Grazing Improvement Act – Amends the Federal Land Policy and Management Act of 1976 (the Act) to double from 10 to 20 years the period of a term for grazing permits and leases for domestic livestock grazing on public lands or lands within national forests in 16 contiguous western states. Permits the issuance of permits and leases for a period shorter than 20 years (under current law, shorter than 10 years), including where the Secretary concerned determines that the initial environmental analysis under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (NEPA) regarding a grazing allotment, permit, or lease has not been completed.
Directs that grazing permits or leases issued by the Secretary of the Interior or the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) that expire, are transferred, or are waived after this Act’s enactment be renewed or reissued, as appropriate, under the Act, the Granger-Thye Act, the Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act, or the California Desert Protection Act of 1994.
Excludes the renewal, reissuance, or transfer of a grazing permit or lease by the Secretary concerned from the NEPA requirement to prepare an environmental analysis if: (1) such decision continues to renew, reissue, or transfer current grazing management of the allotment; (2) monitoring indicates that such management meets objectives contained in the land use and resource management plan of the allotment; or (3) the decision is consistent with the policy of the Department of the Interior or USDA regarding extraordinary circumstances.
Makes NEPA inapplicable to domestic livestock crossing and trailing authorizations and transfers of grazing preference.
http://www.popvox.com/bills/us/113/s258
http://beta.congress.gov/bill/113th-congress/senate-bill/258
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Yes, good question. Thanks for the link. I’m going to throw it out there and see what comes back. BTW- just curious, do you have an Appaloosa horse ?
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Sound like reasonable humans with important points of view.
But I guess they would still whack wild equines, cougars, wolves, bison,et al like they still do.
I do like the solution.
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I will try to work through all the links but have not yet come across any input from the inimical Sally Jewell, who is theoretically at the helm of the BLM… does anyone know if she weighed in on the Bundy situation or has she gone silent? Silent Sal.
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Her answer was the debacle at the standoff…she is a waste and shill imposed to take the heat for years of corruption before the inevitable fall of this corrupt and incompetent agency. Holder is right there with her…as is the Prez.
And corporate America likes it that way…like immigration reform.
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Denise, do you have any links to anything she said at all? Any statements about the Bundy situation or has she remained silent? I find it hard to imagine what is worse, either she didn’t know what was going on, or did know and has not made any public statements.
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Excellent article R.T. Thank you for making it loud and clear. We must continue to help our wild horses survive the maze of hatred. We will not stop being advocates for our wild horses and protecting our wild horses anyway we can. Yes, protect and defend our wild horses. They need all of our help and support. from the crazy BLM supporters.Some of the ranchers who are only interested in making money with cattle have no respect for our wild horses are doing such damage to our wild horses. They have to be included in the mix. They have a right for free range and freedom. We the people must stand firmly on the grounds of freedom. This is public land and we have a say in what happens to our wild horses, protecting and defending them. I will never, never stop. Do you hear me BLM.?
I am so angry in the way our wild horses have been used as pawns and animals just to throw away. Shame on you BLM for attempting never protect them with your tactics and senseless laws. Our wild horses deserve so much better. We will find a way to save as many as we can.
Thank you R.T and Terry. I love you and we love our wild and domestic horses dearly. We will not give up. We will continue to fight for their freedom and right to survive on our public lands forever.
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Maybe the REAL agenda is to make us all into Vegetarians. The Animals take the brunt of it, whether it’s our Wild Horses and Burro or the cattle. ALL of it is sickening. The public DID get an opportunity to view the brutality of livestock contractors hired for these roundups….paid for by OUR tax dollars.
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Louie, I have read articles indicating a large percent of America’s beef are slaughtered for export anyway. And in light of the Chinese connection with the Bundy standoff, and the recent acquisition by China of some large pork and (I think) chicken producing corporations, all while considering America’s population is relatively stable, I think the trend is clear. Nobody cares much about what is on America’s dinner tables except Americans.
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why can’t the wild horse advocates defend the wild horses like this?
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No thanks, nothing about this situation has helped our case so far-except the fact its proved we are not the wack jobs out there..that group of people at Bundys are all going to end up in federal prison for sure-read – the legal case-he didn’t have a peg leg to stand on
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because we would be in jail now. or shot and killed.
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I wish the wild horse advocates could make the BLM stand down like this too
on inhumane roundups
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I am a full-on horse advocate. That said, the issue with Bundy and the land has little to do with fees, grazing leases or any of the other excuses for why this man was put under siege.
This is about land and property rights. This goes to CAFTA, NAFTA and every other “free trade” agreement that puts the rights of the investor above those of personal or property rights. The corporation is first in line. “Dirty Harry” Reid is instrumental in setting the BLM onto the Bundy’s to complete the corporate contracting he has done with numerous corporations.
Had the BLM been successful in its assault on Bundy, property rights including water rights, would have been seriously impaired for everyone and this issue would have been used as the landmark decision and action that cemented the governments rights to seize your property for corporate redistribution and profit.
Many are wondering why the fed waited 20 years to come after Bundy. Think about it. And think about it in the sense of what has happened since they were forced to stand down. They waited 20 years because they have no lawful right to infringe on Bundy’s use of the land. He has persistent rights….meaning the use of the land through adverse possession. It is too easy to prove that they have mismanaged the land along with the tortoises and the wild horses. The BLM has no standing. And they know it. This is why they are now going to work with him.
On the other hand, maybe now Bundy understands what it is like for the wild horses as they are forced out of their homes, rounded up and sent (to) packing. Karma is a bitch. All of these ranchers need to take a good look at what they have supported in the way of eradicating the wild horses. What they are seeing is the method that will be used to get rid of them.
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Exactly ppjg- Interestingly many of the ranchers who had enjoyed extended periods of privilege got a taste of what it is like to be on the other side of the BLM. Some actually started to acknowledge what it is like to be extricated from public lands and got a clearer picture of what wild horses undergo. As idiotic as this whole incident was it served as a good illustration of the volatility that is present. We had better start respecting each other and making elbow room for all parties concerned. There is no need for war on the range. The horses have every right to be there. Perhaps this fracas will illustrate that the BLM will favor whoever will give them the best prices- essentially fracking interests will trump all others and everyone who has enjoyed privilege before will go begging. If we think the environment is being denigrated now, you haven’t seen anything yet. Ranchers will realize that they should have joined forces with horse advocates because the alternative is much worse.
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Dear Susan, you make an interesting point, about maybe the Ranchers should join forces with the Mustang advocates with both share the Passion for the animals for which the BLM wants off the Land !!! very interesting to say the least !!!!
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hey rt great story and thank-you for posting it have called my state rep’s for support of s.541 of s.a.f.e. act for moving it out of committee for the vote but having a problem with getting cornyn or cruz to support anything is a big blockage , come to think of it , i haven’t seen their support on any bills that are coming forth to with agriculture ,have you? what are they even doing there . did they support the no slaughter houses here for horses in the u. s. and how do i find our their past histories on getting bills ? i have an other idea , the solar farm was going to be 35 miles from the bundy ranch , but in the other direction from that site sits a nuculear plant anybody want to know or got any idea on why this site is so important ,food for thought people . and the b.l.m. just got done killing over 1000 desert toroises claiming they would not survive being put back in their habitat . seems to me the b. l. m. is doing alotof killing these days !! so what are they really managing……….
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Cindy, kudos for contacting people. I think you’ll have to keep digging to find out what your representatives have or haven’t done… most of it should be public record somewhere.
You made me think of this: BLM as Bureau of Lies and Mirrors
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We all know what the Bundy thing was really about it wasnt about horses , it wasnt about the cattle or unpaid taxes , it most certainly was not about Turtles it was all about a Huge Land Grab !!!!!The Bullies at the BLM are grabbing Land , OMG !!!!!! Greedy bastards from Hell , send them back there !!!!!
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We should ALL be standing together
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Thats it Louie. Numbers speak loud and clear. Isn’t that why the politicians take the money, to get re-elected? Divide and conquer is an old military move that works.
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Also, Nevada is one of the states which has maintained its WATER rights, That could also be an issue when it comes to grazing permits.
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rt i have the support of congresswoman ms eddie berniese johnson , on these bills to be past on the horses but i’m not getting any responds from either john cornyn or from ted cruz other than the letter they send out . come to think of it have they ever supported any of the bills to do with the horses or agri. bills past and how would i find out. and everyone just before this raid the b.l.m. killed 1000 desert tortoises saying they would not survive if returned to desert habitat. just miles from where this solar farm was supposed to be built is just down the road from a nuculear plant ,any ideas why they wanted this deal .well other then money and control .
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Cruz and Cornyn are stooges with platforms and funding.
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thanks don’t stand a snowballs chance in hell than of getting that support then. so what do they acually do in washington lick boots for a living . boy , it would be wonderful if most of the country would get behind us . these oath keepers are quite the bunch o to D.C.clothesline that will tell you more about coming agenda’s from our erlustreous leaders . capital currency is suppose to go into law july 1st 2014 . freedom fighters also a list of excutive orders showing how the gov. is coming after all of us who will not conform to their style of gov. and there were russian sharpshooters being contracted by our gov. also at the bundy ranch. i’m praying and calling .
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Stooges for whom, funding for whom, platforms for what? Denise, I don’t want to waste time and space on either of these two Senators, but I know that these two Senators are totally absent in the history of the destruction of our wild horses and burros. Their names are nowhere to be found. Now if you have another political agenda that is equally or more important to you than the horse issues, I could not speak to that.
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Hoofhugs:
(1) Cruz is running for President and raising money from the far right. He is an obstructionist. He has not signed as a co-sponsored any equine welfare legislation. He is antigovernment to the point (for me at least) that is is a borderline anarchist,
(2) Cornyn is in charge of the Republican Congressional (or just Senate?) reelection committee. He is also the Senate Minority Whip (important position) and he spends a lot of time raising funds around the country. He is also an obstructionist and has NEVER cosponsored any equine welfare bill.
Both are from a heavy pro-extraction state, Texas. They get funds from the extraction industries. They are not Progressives.
Really, with some strokes of a key board on google, more specifics are free for the looking. Cruz is on TV/radio/print ALL THE TIME. Cornyn, not so much except when discussing reelection issues for Repubs or his committees.
The state of Texas is constantly trying to bring HCHS back to Texas every year since the plants closed. In fact, I believe the state law introduced by TX cattlemen decades ago to stop HCHS, has recently been repealed by the state house in Austin.
To check out their funding, committees, etc go to: www. opensecrets.org
You can also check out their Senate web pages.
You really don’t know these two?
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The two Senators that you listed should be very concerned about private property rights and laws passed by Congress versus laws put into force through international treaties.
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Private property rights for whom? Are you talking about personal or real property? And while Bundy’s cattle (not all) were rounded up AND eventually released, the issue is about grazing, leases and fees on PUBLIC lands. As to international treaties, I don’t understand.
I’m surprised the Feds never put a lien on his home after all these years; instead the incompetents at Justice and Interior thugged him with a physical confrontation. Pretty stupid! with all those scary antigovernment groups out there. Those idiots in DC made him a hero to many, most of whom don’t have clue to the reality of this situation and corruption of DOI/USDA when it comes to public lands and eminent domain seizures.
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It’s too bad you use inflammatory language about ranchers. I’ve heard some Bundy supporters complaining about the way the BLM uses helicopters to round up wild horses, killing foals in the process. I think wiser people are beginning to see that the agenda of the BLM has changed, and they are an enemy to cattle and horses.
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Wild equine advocates have always maintained that after the bison, wolves, wild equines, et al…the meat livestock would be next.
And stop with the shoot the messenger dismissal…ranchers, now almost all feeding the 5 largest meat producers in the US have arranged, agreed, cooperated and/or aided the very agency that is deneutering their livelihood. How they do it (clearing the range on legal lies and the cooperation of the court) has morphed…but not in principal. Remember the poem that ends with …”I looked away time after time of injustice and then they came for me”.
Humans are the enemy to wild and domestic equines.
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After deluge of misinformation I looked up the summary judgment as well as the renewal of the summary judgment..I am postng he link..Ihave to say there are 31 pages to read and pretty wll shws Bundy s delusional(but I already figured that out)He had gone beond hisoignal massivallotment and turned his cattle into the N area of Lae ead..so they were also suing him or trespass..cows had been killed on the highway.ect…and in this document you will see all the “offers” BLM made to him-to forgive him his trespasses-excuse the pun..and even offered to sell the cows and give him the money instead of repaying the taxpayer..So there is no need to try and defend the BLM-as usual they have botched the whole thing by allowing this transgression for 20+ years( bundy claimed in court that those braded cows with his brand weren’t even his..so guess one could infer-he rustled them.LOL
https://www.metabunk.org/attachments/18-us-motion-for-summary-judgement-pdf.6886/
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I have had serious doubts about Catoors shooting cattle from the helicopter..they are cattlemen..-they shot horses because they consider them vermin..BLM employees are related to the ranchers in these rural areas..they have been protecting them for years-removing horses instead of cattle..Ranchers have held and used negative opinions on wild horses for generations-its in their own self interest to do so-its not going to change..get over any idea there will be a coalition
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Thank you RT for supplying this important thought…the cartoon is not lost on me; nor has the lack of coverage regarding all the injustices and incompetency conducted on state and private lands, specifically wild equines and other wldlife.
This incident is NOT about Bundy (who still got his cattle back, albeit some dead…no surprise with helicopter roundups) versus BLM /USDA Forestry.
To me, this is about the evil and greed/rape and corruption, incompetence of both sides.
I rejoice in the news story about the incompetency and favoritism displayed by the government and the freeloading and insanity of the meat livestock “producers”. I don’t like how the news media doesn’t have a FREAKING clue about the situation and reports KRAP!
I hope the advocates can use this in court…if there are any wild equines left by that time. The bias, the stupidity, the lack of enforcement, etc…..it is to the wild equines benefit…if any are still live when a decision is made.
Remember, brought the bison back without regard to livestock leases and the migration of bison, and the Meat Militia kills them ALL THE TIME!…to save the weenie sick bovine domesticus.
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I don’t like how the news media doesn’t have a FREAKING clue about the situation and reports KRAP!
It’s true. In our modern age, we really don’t understand these issues, and take them for granted. Water rights could become a very big deal for us all in the future. I’ve yet to read much intelligent discourse throughout the internet except for those who actually live it and experience it. I’m sad to say the liberal press has no clue at all.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and ambivalences about this with us. I, too, had the same initial reaction, but then there were a few details that caught my eye.
The most significant one from the threads I am following was the 1993 date that Mr. Bundy decided to quit paying his grazing fees and decided that the federal government was not legitimate. On June 4, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the 1992 UN Convention of Biological Diversity. On September 30, 1993, the Office of Technology Assessment published the Report on Harmful, Non-indignenous Species to the United States, a report that had begun in 1991 when President Bush was in office. Clearly some members in Congress had the hope or belief that President Bush would sisgn this treaty which was designed to be the hard law to the treaty he actually signed.
The 1993 OTA Report was 397 pages long and while it is not all encompassing, you learn that Article 8 (h) insturcted parties to the treaty to prevent, control, and eradicate alien species where found. All species that the people behind this wanted removed from western public lands are listed as introduced, non-native, non-indigenous, feral, exotic or alien in this report. This includes domestic animals like cattle, sheep, swine, goats, cats, dogs, and our ferally protected wild horses and burros specifically described as those protected by Congress. In November 1993 the Convention was introduced in the Senate and initially the treaty was opposed by almost all Senators and stakeholders, especially the Farm Bureau. The fact that the Farm Bureau was eventually amenable to the treaty made me wonder whether anyone even saw the 1993 OTA Report. Clearly, the intent of the treaty is to gradually, incrementally, end animal agriculture anywhere that the government, either our federal government or the UN’s Global Governance for the Environment wanted to remove the animals. Since this would be in an international treaty, it is possible that the treaty was necessary to over-ride US laws passed by Congress. The OTA Report states that it was ordered by the House Merchant Marine Committee, and the document was printed by the GPO.
Now those of us who read the GAO Report on Horse Slaughter and then read the summary for Congress are aware that what is in a report may never actually be revealed to Congress. I saw a summary that the project direction of the OTA Report prepared for a Congressional Hearing and you can bet there was not word one about livestock, pets, or any species other than the ones these people always use to mask their intentions.
So in 1993, President Clinton signed a treaty with a provision in it that would end livestock grazing and indeed all animal agriculture in the United States including dog breeding. This is because after FWS was unable to overcome opposition from the pet and agricultural industries when it tried to implement President Carter’s EO 11987, the Exotic Species Act, even though the President did not allow them to include already established species in the US. In 1982 the IUCN began drafting the exotic species exclusions into international law through the UN CBD, but ultimately President Bush did not sign it, and while President Clinton signed it, the Senate did ot ratify it.
While I don’t have any idea if Cliven Bundy had a connection to an author of the report, a Senator, or anyone else, or he just began to sense something, I know how I have felt about the idea that our federal government is trying to eradicate a species that has been connected to humanity since the time we both discovered that the other existed. But I didn’t know why, but somehow finding the evidence in published articles in alleged to be scientific articles by someone who set up the eradication of ur wild horses and burros by selling his opinion as scientific fact that the horse and burro were as dangerous as the Spanish Flu in World War II was intentional, and that scientifically credentialed individual was rewarded for this with a very cushy job as well as being placed on influential national scientific committees. A myth maker. . .
After the Senate did not vote on the 1992 UN CBD most people forgot about the Article 8 (h), but President Clinton and VP Gore’s mythologist had not forgotten about it and neither had UNEP. So, when President Clinton issued EO 13112, The Alien Species Act, on February 3, 1999, to create a National Invasive Species Policy both he and the guests at his signing statement knew that the 1997 Update of the IPPC included Article 8 (h) through synonymous language and coinciding intents.
As or Mr. Bundy not being the best poster candidate to represent citizens and citizen interests oppressed and denied by the BLM, I began to think about who might have been better, and I came back to Mr. Bundy.
He is 67 years old. He has nothing left to lose other than his life and the lives of his children—and I am not trying to minimize this in any way. These would be major, if unnecessary sacrifices. He is exactly the one who should be out there with the media and his friends and neighbors, his children’s and his grandchildren’s children, because he is not afraid. If the feds seize his land, living without it will be a lot like death—death of who he believes he is and his family believes they are—so either way, he’s invited the world into his world and see what we have been able to see through you, R.T., Terry, Ginger, Carl Mrozek, and others. But where as the armed BLM force for you, Terry, and Laura seemed more ridicules than sinister, but what happened at Bundy’s ranch was sinister—and I think that the American people are waking up, and not only are they discovering the militarized nature of the BLM, they are seeing the Speaker of the US Senate out of the well, and his attitude about the American people—the same Senate Speaker who slithered through the dark of night to eradicate 10’s of thousands of native North American horses and burros through the most heinous of methods—-horse slaughter. Maybe he got a few more donations to that desperate 2010 campaign he ran against an unknown who almost beat him.
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Totally agree.
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HH:
I now understand your points about international treaties…thanks.
But I’m a bit confused; are you talking about the Speaker of the House, John Boehner or Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid? I think Reid is a crook, Dem or not….but McConnel, Senate Minority Leader is the same.
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HH, thanks for posting. I have to wonder what the hell the MERCHANT MARINE has to do with anything related to agriculture… makes no sense to me.
Also will ask again who this mysterious scientist is you mention repeatedly but with no way to verify or investigate. Who is this person and if he or she is real and really did as you report, why are you protecting them if you have a name and a title?
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I think that the Merchant Marine was the committee due to aquatic invasive species which were one of the first areas of concern to get attention from the law making organizations, but it would be a mistake to believe that it ends here.
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wonderful hoofhugs. i think we need to put a little more attention,too, into the news that oust the dirty ,underhanded , slithering snakes little secrets that washington d.c. would rather we didn’t know . thank- you hoof hugs
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Reblogged this on cindymendoza47 and commented:
thought for the day give the animals of choice your whole and undying devotion , because god only know how long yo will ha ve them love ya”ll
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From AMERICAN HERDS:
And Senator Reid?
Click Here to view pages from The Nevada 1998 Plan that drafted BLMs current “For Sale Authority”.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B5bOOC-I3HjrNTBlZjZmNjYtZjJiNS00MzMyLTk4NjctYWQyYjMzYjUxMWM4/edit?hl=en&pli=1
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Curiouser and curiouser…there are some 13 to 15 BLM Resource Notes o WHBMP that are dated in 1999 or 2000 that indicate a change in philosophy has taken place within federal land management agencies that also manage wild horses or burros.
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HH, I came across this tonight, from Alan Day who ran a sanctuary of sorts for a while. He describes here how the BLM changed policies three years running on how he was to manage the horses he took in… and then how they told him to kill a bunch of them, so he did. Very disturbing… I may have to find this book but the website has some maps of the Kansas LTH facilities, and wonders where those 1500 “protected” horses disappeared to. Some were microchipped and logged into a database (per Mr. Day) then never visited again by the BLM.
http://mustangecotours.blogspot.com/2011/12/alan-day-brother-of-sandra-day-oconnor.html
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I read Alan Day’s book, “The Horse Lover, a Cowboy’s Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs”. It gives some good insights and a historical context for how the LT holding came about, as well as the old era cowboy horse “ethic” and stewardship toward the land. I highly recommend it. Wish there were more of those guys around. Dayton O. Hydes documentary, “Running Free” is also good. I think they’re out there we just need to find them.
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LM, agreed! I just helped get Dayton’s film shown in my little town. The old cowboys included a lot of horsemen, and there is a distinction to be made. Many loved horses as much as any human being is capable of, and I am sure some are still around, and some in younger generations. They just aren’t very visible.
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PEER (Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility)
http://www.peer.org/state-federal-watch/federal-watch/bureau-of-land-management.html
Horses to Slaughter — Anatomy of a Coverup within the BLM (April 1997)
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within the Department of Interior is the agency mandated by law “to protect and manage wild free-roaming horses…as components of the public lands.” Yet, the BLM has tolerated and in some instances facilitated the routine and illegal trafficking of wild horses to slaughter. The agency has obstructed efforts by its own law enforcement officers to expose commercial theft of wild horses, fraudulent adoption schemes and fictitious “sanctuary” herds not only to avoid embarrassment but also to maintain the flow of horses off the range
Click to access 1997_horses_to_slaughter.pdf
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Horse Thieves , Cattle Rustlers, people brutality, My Goodness , they need to be arrested and put in Jail where they Belong !!!!!!
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From EQUINE WELFARE ALLIANCE
A SLICK IN THE NIGHT
By Valerie James Patton
Click to access A_Slick_in_the_Night_VJP.pdf
In a condensed version from 3 pages of testimony from the PEER report by a BLM informant in the horse theft program, he explains that, 50 head out of 65 horses would be reported at a location, the excess 15 horses would be transported to satellite ranches which are actually holding pens. The ranch receives money to hold the horses for a certain time until they’re picked up again. They may be hot-branded with different brands, or transported as “slicks”, meaning they have no brand at all.
Most of them over a time period will go to the killers. Sometimes the horses are transported during working hours, but “most of the time it’s been at night, after the count’s been jimmied around. You strictly drive down to a certain location, open a gate and dump those horses in with a bunch of other horses. The BLM guy goes home around 4:30 and guys would load up the stolen horses, take them to satellite ranches and be back by the next morning for business as usual.”
Double-booking or black-booking is when more than one horse is branded with the same brand, and one set of legitimate paperwork is filled out to go with one horse, and depending on how many horses are wearing that same brand, a fake set of paperwork is made for them. “They are sold as legitimate horses, and sold within a week to sale barns or… The odds of you ever being checked are 100 to 1, and I’ve never seen a title on a wild horse.”
When asked if this was a pretty good organization, the informant replied that it’s very well set up, and “nobody that participates in it isn’t well known, and it can’t be done without the BLM guy standing right there.”
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Ugh. This I evil and nauseating. I find it rather hypocritical for our government to criticize Mr. Bundy, when the BLM, the USF&W Service, and the Interior Dept. violate laws routinely, and have no respect for the public trust. The BLM needs an overhaul.
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Ida, many have suggested the BLM was the worst possible agency to be put in charge of wild horses since they historically devalued them. A land managing organization almost by definition cannot place horses first in any scenario. My understanding was there was a great deal of dissent about who should be in charge when the WHBPA was passed, the Dept. of Interior or the Dept. of Ag., I’m not sure Ag would have been better but might have led to managing wild horses as wildlife.
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Just an attempted Desert Riot for the Unemployed
Every unemployed, uneducated, undone, screaming, nut job, folded up their tents and made their way to Bundy Ranch, led on thru the internet by “patriots” who’s vocabulary consists only of four letter words and misspellings. Together with the locals, this trifecta of threatening and assaultive psychos drove the hosts of radio and tv mouthpieces back to the safety from which their big mouths came, thus ending their show on the road. They fled the scene leaving all these people to scream and yell about issues unrelated to BLM, cattle, public land, or grazing fees. 90% of the “people” who showed up knew nothing about the issues, and just showed up to physically fight and find a place to stay.
All these supporters claim to be “ex-military and patriots.” Yet they cannot spell, or identify gov officials that a high school diploma requires. All they know are a few canned terms like liberal and democrat, which they define as you. Who can show up for a week in NV at a moments notice? An unemployed person with no life. This was basically an attempted riot in the Nevada desert, nothing more. Once again at the expense of our wild horses and burros. BLM mgmt used it to destroy hundreds of horses, while their agents were humiliated and fled behind their dogs. These fools just stood up for one of their own, a freeloader who could care less about any one else.
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Lisa:
That post was excellent.
I think many actually are retired too. But the baseline requirement is paranoia with these folks…sprinkle in Bill of Rights radicals more focused on the individual than the collective.
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Lisa, I have to respectfully disagree here. From what I saw these were clean, organized, well-armed and passionate folks showing up (unpaid) out of a sense of patriotic fervor, well-placed or not. I can’t say the same for the BLM and other paid officials tasing citizens and siccing attack dogs on them etc. The videos I looked at could have been shot in Israel, or Pakistan or Syria and I think we all agree that this came very close to being a major incident with likely human fatalities. What would have happened if there were no cameras around?
There is a strong undercurrent growing in our country along these lines; dismissing them as “homeless psychos” serves nobody well. I think the media attention has brought a lot of good; if this incident hadn’t blown up how do you think it would have played out? Mass graves for cattle were ALREADY DUG in an effort to “save the environment”… and from what I saw from the links RT provided, the holes are left open, they didn’t even bother to fill them back up and re-seed them. How sensitive!
I am much more alarmed at the reality of our Gov’t. gunning down privately owned animals from the air–wanton waste in the best possible interpretation, outright sanctioned crime in the worst. Confiscation and sale to try to garner some of the back taxes would not seem to be in any way related to intended mass burials and helicopter gunners, nor the repulsive “free speech zone” which in my view used to be defined by the boundaries of the United States of America.
Something else not being much discussed (for obvious reasons) is the question of the Mormon Church view on property rights. Recall this organization was founded in what was then a territory, not a state, and fully intended to be a sovereign nation themselves. Their relationship with our Gov’t. has always been a bit contentious. One can wonder what would have happened with Mr. Bundy had Romney become President.
While I agree Mr. Bundy is a problematic “poster child” for these issues, nevertheless the issues remain important. Since wild horse advocates are often accused of being “whackos” too, I find this sort of labeling useless and counterproductive.
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Whoa, my brother was one of them, and he’s none of those things. He has two college degrees, is not illiterate and wasn’t looking for a fight with anyone. My brother is not a member of either political party, and doesn’t support either one. He does live in an area where he is surrounded by Federal land, and has seen first hand the destruction of their management practices. And most of the people who went out to support the Bundys were only there for one day, or one night.
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Hummmm ??? Seems to me that the only proven vicious ones are the BLM, should put them on trail for viciousness !!!!!
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