Re: Reid calls Bundy supporters ‘domestic terrorists’
Both sides in Nevada as well as many on this board are exhibiting stupidity that is astounding. First of all, Bundy has not committed any crimes.
LIE NUMBER 1: He has not been charged with a crime, much less convicted of one.
LIE NUMBER 2: Many have thrown out how much fees he owes for grazing on federal lands, but the truth is that no one knows exactly how much it is. I've heard everything from a couple hundred thousand to 2 million.
LIE NUMBER 3: If any of the protesters broke any laws, why were they not arrested?
Grant has the right idea. It is deplorable that every single government agency now has a SWAT team and military type equipment. Why does the Dept. of Education need a SWAT team. Why does the Railroad Retirement Board, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Office of Personnel Management, or the Consumer Product Safety Commission need a SWAT team. There are plenty of actual law enforcement groups like the FBI and Federal Marshalls that can be called in if needed. They probably have more sense than to exhibit behavior like the BLM SWAT team members did at the Bundy ranch.
If Bundy owes the government money, the BLM should have handled it the way every other government agency or private company does. You file a lien on the property. You file a lien on the cattle. You file a lien on any bank accounts. You file a lien on any federal or state tax refunds. Coming in with armed SWAT teams and dogs was overkill beyond belief.
The BLM did not even consider what they would do with the cattle once they seized them. No auction house in Nevada would touch them with a ten foot pole. Utah would not allow them to cross their border. The BLM had three choices. They could keep and feed them expensive feed, they could slaughter them, or they could give them back to Bundy. Not much choice or forethought huh?
As for Reid, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. One day, someone is actually going to look into how someone living on a Senator's salary his whole life becomes a multi-millionaire.
Bundy should pay what he owes and get on with his life, because he's not going to win in the long run. Several western states are looking into legislation to take back federal lands into their own jurisdiction, but people like Reid will fight that tooth and nail.
And finally, a little light hearted humor: