Tag Archives: Cliven Bundy

Where is the outrage?

landscape-1451841523-oregon-standoff

The media have been reporting the arrest of Bill Cosby.

They’ve been talking about the horse race among the Republicans running for president.

They have been yammering about this and that.

Meanwhile, way out yonder in a place where few people live — or even have seen — a group of wacky “militiamen” have taken over a federal facility.

Is that an act of sedition?

Cliven Bundy’s son, Ammon, is among the protestors who’ve taken over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters office in Burns, Ore. You remember Cliven Bundy, right? He’s the Nevada rancher who mounted a revolt of his own over federal land ownership issues and became something of a hero to the TEA Party wing of the Republican Party.

Well, now his kid has left his own footprint on the crazy movement.

Why aren’t the media taking note of this craziness?

If it were occurring in a major metro area, with, say, college students taking over a university, you’d think the world was about to come to an end. What might the media do if African-Americans commandeered a federal facility? Would that constitute an act of “domestic terrorism”?

The protestors took over the wildlife refuge headquarters to protest the arrest of two Harney County ranchers. They’re set to serve prison terms. I guess those who protested in Burns don’t think they deserve to go to federal prison. Their reaction? Take command of a government building.

This is a dangerous act that needs a lot of attention and it needs to be stopped immediately.

Meanwhile, I am awaiting the expressions of outrage.

 

 

GOP abandons wacky rancher

Cliven Bundy once was considered a darling among Republicans for his stance against the federal government.

Then the Nevada rancher made a truly reprehensible statement, which is that African-Americans would be better off as slaves than many of them are today as unemployed citizens.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/republicans-distance-selves-from-nevada-rancher-cliven-bundy-over-racial-remarks/2014/04/24/76a72780-cbe3-11e3-95f7-7ecdde72d2ea_story.html

Oops. There went the support from his one-time allies.

You see, the Republican Party is trying to remake its brand among ethnic and racial minorities. Many congressional Republicans have been vocally opposed to immigration reform. They’ve sought to make it more difficult for people to vote by requiring voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship at polling places. Some in Congress have said some mightily offensive things about the nation’s first African-American president.

The result has been that minorities — chiefly African-Americans and Hispanics — have been voting overwhelmingly for Democrats. Republicans are seeking to make inroads.

Then they lined up with Cliven Bundy, who’s been fighting with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management over whether he should pay grazing fees for his cattle that are feeding on public land. The BLM wants him to pay; Bundy will have none of it, even if it means he’s breaking federal law.

Then this clown makes racist remarks about the so-called virtues of slavery.

Is it any wonder many in the GOP are abandoning this guy? U.S. Sens. Dean Heller, R-Nev., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., were among the first high-profile lawmakers to toss the guy over. Others have followed suit.

Republicans are learning a tough lesson here, which is to take great care in aligning themselves with gadflies while undergoing a political makeover.

Bundy said what about blacks?

Cliven Bundy has gone from right-wing hero to racist goat just like that.

Oh … my … goodness.

Bundy is the Nevada rancher who’s fighting with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management over grazing fees he is being told to pay because he is running his cattle on public land. He’s resisting the BLM order and has drawn fawning praise from right-wing media personalities for his defiance of the federal mandate.

Now comes word that the guy is quite capable of saying some truly idiotic things.

Such as this about African-Americans, according to ThinkProgress.com: “I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” Bundy said at a news conference Saturday, recounting how he had seen black people in a public housing project in North Las Vegas. “Because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do?” he asked. “They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.”

Better off as slaves? Did this clown actually say such a thing?

http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/04/24/3430265/bundy-racist-comments/

The folks who’ve been cheering him on have been a bit slow to condemn his commentary as the racist rant that it is.

One key Senate Republican, Dean Heller of Nevada, was quick to put lots of distance between himself and Bundy. Heller said he “completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way.” Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., followed suit.

Bundy is breaking the law by grazing his cattle on federal land. The BLM is seeking to collect fees that Bundy owes it. That’s it. He’s become a hero to those who despise the feds.

Now this. Good bleeping grief.