My gut reaction is, was, and has continued to be "BS - It's BLM land, and they can lease it to whoever they like, regardless of whether I like it, and the dude hasn't paid in 20+ years". I think there are much better fights to fight if we're tired of state and national government abusing public lands with their leasing policies, to include loblolly farms that grow only squirrels and destroy the underlying soils, especially in coastal plains along the midatlantic, and burro/horse/cattle round ups and the fates of the ones that aren't adopted in a timely manner.

Part of me wants to care that the reason this is suddenly being pushed by the feds is that they suddenly have a new developer. So far I can't find anybody with background info on how BLM has attempted to resolve it in the past, what kind of legal recourses they've attempted in collection in the past, or how much warning they've had.

The problem is, when these cattle ranches started, there were no borders. There are borders now. Without those borders and without agencies like BLM, NPS and state game agencies and their associated lands, WMAs and parks, we really wouldn't have many recreational and hunting lands left. As our population and consumerism continues to rise, the politicians and thus those agencies sell out more and more to afforable timber, yuppies and bleeding hearts who don't want Bambi shot by hunters and thus force us to spend tax money on snipers to control herd size, and affordable American agriculture products.

BLM grazing is just one of many ways the government basically subsidizes American agriculture. You would pay a great deal more in either property taxes, shipped hay, or hay seed to cover a calf-cow pair than the <$2 USD that the BLM charges for grazing rights on set sections of land.
If Bundy had started this fight years and years ago when the BLM policy began or when the price went up from $0.50 and $0.75 and $1.10 (which occurred over the last 100 years he's cited as claiming family cattle have grazed those grounds) it would be a bit different. If I could find proof he started raising Cain when his contract was first canceled I might feel differently. But the way it reads to me is that nobody bothered to push it too hard until there was another bidder for the land. BLM wants it now. Bundy's had it for 20 years.

Personally, I hate squatters rights. We have hunting property in my family. We cultivate some of it as habitat and we leave some of it alone for nature to run its course on its own. With squatters rights, if somebody pops up on the unused portion without knowing and sits there so long without me noticing and starting eviction/trespass proceedings, when I decide to sell, I have to leave them there and basically that portion of the land belongs to them, because they're using it and we're "not".

To me, this case almost sounds like that, sans any legal movement by BLM or Bundy.

I don't blame the feds for backing down, though, because there's almost no way this is going to play out in their favor. Gas or shoot a bunch of civilians, and it gets much, much, much worse. They can't just shoot or poison the cattle (although that's one of many games ranchers played with each other before the government "bought" untenanted land and started leasing policies) because that plays pretty badly on the evening news, too.

I'd freeze his accounts and take everything else, personally. Siege warfare has always worked. He might get some support and he might end up with massive donations, but if he's grazing the cattle numbers it takes to wrack up a $1mil bill on BLM land use leases, he's not going to get enough to keep that ranch going.

I find issue with the policy, but this guy is a bully who's refusing to pay the same price as everybody else. He's not looking out for ranchers as a whole. He's not trying to save a way of life or you'd have seen him on the news and on PBS and on these types of sites before. He's looking out for #1 and now he's got anti-establishment freaks wrecking their own lives for him. At least they're acting in defense of somebody else. He's far from a hero in my book.

Here's one of the more balanced articles - I couldn't find it 20 minutes ago:
http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/10/us/nevada-rancher-rangers-cattle-showdown/

The states rights mentioned and being fed up with federal controls may well be why the militia's are flocking, but the whole "my rights, because the ranch predates BLM/DoI" is bunk. We'd all need gas masks daily and have river fires regularly if that held any weight, and we'd have never gotten elk back to Arkansas or sustainable herds of bison back to the upper-wet Great Plains, there would be no restriction on fertilizer and pesticides dumped into rivers or mitigation of salmon streams, and we'd be back in the days when ranchers could run cattle through and "around" farm-farms, regardless of damage, with the farmer solely responsible for the attempt to fence them out and smaller holdings' livestock swept up being just the cost of doing business.

why did the governement wait 20 years ? thats weird no ?
i think they did wrong to wait 20 years
a few weeks ago i had legal proceedings because i noticed the municipal snoblower damaged my car
and they answer me i had 15 day for reclamation and now its too late , took me more than 1 month beffor i realized the damage on my car
yes i assume it my fault i didnt check daily if my second car parked on my own land got damaged..
so 20 years later .....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGnhFPP0fkw

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BLM fracking racket exposed! Armed siege and cattle theft from Bundy ranch really about fracking leases -

http://www.naturalnews.com/044670_BLM_lies_fracking_leases_Bundy_ranch.html

Breaking: Sen. Harry Reid Behind BLM Land Grab of Bundy Ranch -

http://www.infowars.com/breaking-sen-harry-reid-behind-blm-land-grab-of-bundy-ranch/
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This guy said what I was thinking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFiosLqjoQQ

This guy said what I was thinking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFiosLqjoQQ

It's a good video, but it ignores the fact that Bundy is on land that has been listed as BLM for decades, and that regardless of who is getting paid or why, or what spurred getting him off NOW when it was easier to let it roll in the past, or what convenient selling point was tried, the guy is not a poster child for government or corporate abuses. It would be nice to see the donations and guards show up at an organic farm contaminated by wind-carried GMO pollen, wrecking their toils and investments for years, when Monsanto then knocks on the door and serves them with papers.

Bundy also keeps claiming states rights, but I can't find any record of Nevada or Clark County ever suing to question the BLM claim to the land.
It's also funny how he only started beating that drum when his income was impacted (20 years ago, before the Reid connections were formed) by the BLM cancelling his lease.
I find it equally interesting (while acknowledging the general consolidation of power and money among smaller portions of the population) that people are quick to point out Reid's greed, but are sloughing over the fact that Bundy is motivated by his paycheck, too.

There's also a wealth of militia and people on various conspiracy theory and preparedness websites who are only screaming "down with BLM, down with federal lands, down with federal agencies." They don't seem to overly care about facts, they just like that the BLM got shoved off with its tail between its legs.

There also seems to be a lack of people who make an "uh oh" connection between local and federal law enforcement being stopped by civilians with guns, even though the ones cheering also seem to largely be against the militarization of law enforcement.
See, this group of people with guns obstructing what are, regardless of motive, legal court-ordered movements, have just made the best argument a law enforcement agency will ever need to better arm and equip its personnel and to pick up more of those armored personnel carriers everybody screamed about a year ago and two years ago.

Yeah I'm leaning towards thinking Bundy is just some dick who's using the lunatic fringe to circumvent the law. He uses the term "public land" like it actually means Bundy's land. Trouble with publicly owned land is that if the public likes endangered turtles more than they like Bundy, then he's hosed.

And I'd like to believe that the militia members are unsung heroes, but truthfully I'm suspicious of people who embrace the chance to leave home and point a gun at law enforcement.

Well, we are pushing the Line of the "No politics rule" once again, but I think its news worthy. That's the real issue here. I have no real political position on the issue. Its important to watch though in that it is a barometer of the public temperament. This could end up affecting a whole lot of people.

There is a survival rule here that I read somewhere. "The moment that you see crowds on the news, holding dead police or soldiers over there heads and celebrating the populist revolt, pack up and leave immediately. Expect never to return. The powers that be will cut off that area and make an example of it until it is crushed into submission ." paraphrased

On that we agree. Whichever side is right, unrest is unrest and it doesn't bode well for the world.

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Feds vs. America: The Truth About the Bundy Standoff

"I rolled into Laughlin really early, like 5:30 am. So many people had shown up, that we decided to leave in groups. A second group to leave at 8Am as scheduled. Ours was a big group too. About two dozen cars, loaded with passengers.

The highway was almost empty until near Mesquite. Then it was a traffic jam. Motor homes, campers, ATVs running along side the freeway, motorcyles, vehicles, every thing you could possibly imagine. Everyone on their way to Bunkersville.

Then it about stopped, just inching along. Word traveled down the traffic line that the feds had blocked the road just out of Mesquite and were [withOUT Warrants]searching vehicles for weapons and cell phones. Cell phones were confiscated and smashed. The people were given a Schit for $30.00 redemption value. I left my phone at home. Some of us that had four wheel drives decided to just leave the road and head overland.

As we got closer to the ridge, we were stopped by armed militia. We could not go any further. We could wait, or turn around and go back to the road. Men, that I suspect were special forces, had climbed the ridge from the back side and captured the snipers. They were at that moment coming down the ridge to take them to Mesquite where they would be let go. They weren't prisoners, they were just going to be replaced by friendlies.

Because of the roadblock on I-15, people refused to be searched, and refused to turn back. They just pulled off the road and parked. It was like a dam backing up a river. Soon the feds were trapped between the Americans who had already gotten through, and the Americans that had been stopped on the highway. The BLM agents went into full panic mode and called for help. LVMPD which had REFUSED to show up to help Americans HAD to show up to rescue BLM that was now trapped and helpless. The blockade was SEVEN MILES LONG! That's a potload of people.

A group of armed Americans along with local cowboys went to Mesquite to liberate the cows that had been confiscated and held by BLM. They were being driven back home in an old fashioned cattle drive. The feds say it was voluntary, don't believe it.

I was basically standing around twiddling my thumbs when the word came down that the Director of BLM had surrendered and all forces would be withdrawn.

I could not go on. The road was blocked and would be blocked probably for the rest of the day at least. A bunch of us turned around and left. It was over. There were THOUSANDS of people there, and more arriving every minute. The ranch, Gold Butte, the entire area was completely surrounded by Americans.

The highway was completely blocked in both directions of people trying to get through. Everyone was very peaceful and friendly. No fights or anything. There was a rumor in the line, that some of the mercenaries hired by the feds had defected and were now on the side of the Americans.

I came back and immediately saw this pack of lies and half truths (in the MSM). At one point, I-15 was closed in both directions, about seven miles south of Mesquite, because protesters had blocked the freeway. Nearly two dozen police officers and a SWAT unit were at the scene to keep the peace and assist the BLM enforcement officers to safely leave the area.

They were scared crapless!

April 14 2014

[source: http://jimstonefreelance.com/ ]

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BLM Conspiracy: Selling US Real Estate to China

Real estate expert Fabian Calvo thinks the recent standoff between the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and Nevada cattle rancher Cliven Bundy is about much more than grazing rights. Even though this standoff is over, we find out It’s really about sweetheart deals for federal land. Calvo says, “The hair on the back of my neck stood up when I was doing research for this and speaking to some of my contacts on Wall Street. The BLM is part of the Department of the Interior, and look at what they have been doing? Through the BLM, the Department of the Interior has been confiscating land and going after land, for example, in the high desert in California and all over the place. What I am hearing is they are categorizing this land for future collateralization or to sell off. In the Weimar (Germany) hyperinflation, after the hyperinflation, what did they back their currency with? They backed it with mortgages and they backed it with land. This is a total possibility here in America, but here’s the part that is more sinister and crazy. The Department of the Interior and BLM have been providing sweetheart deals for Chinese investors. I have a laundry list of deals that have been approved just in the last year. Whether it’s Smithfield, a giant hog producer in America, and all of the farm land, overnight, the Chinese became the number one employer in a ton of cities across the U.S., but it doesn’t stop there. Chinese investors are getting approval for solar fields. There are battery companies they have taken over, and the list goes on and on. The USDA gave the Chinese approval to import their chickens. Why is this happening? It is an end of the road situation. It is just like where America was with England when we were exercising leverage over them around WWII because we were the largest creditor nation. Now, we are the largest debtor nation, and we owe all this money to the Chinese. In order to not have them dump our debt, we’re basically allowing them, through the Department of the Interior who is stealing rancher land and killing their cattle, they are selling out America.”

As far as the crisis between the federal government and the Bundy ranch in Nevada that is now over, Calvo says, “I think this Bundy ranch situation could be the Lexington and Concord of the Second American Revolution. I know that sounds like hyperbole, but look, people are waking up to this insanity. When this information comes out . . . we need a peaceful show of we are not going to take it. We really need a Rambo in the financial sector to take these people on to expose their crimes and what’s going on.” Calvo goes on to say, “People need to understand this is not some sort of theory about what is happening–it’s a fact. All you need to do is Google ‘U.S. Department of Interior and China approved,’ or something like that, and you will see all these stories come up and the deals that have been approved. . . . In order to keep the world reserve currency and keep that Ponzi scheme up, the U.S. basically has, as long as possible, they need to be able to collateralize stuff and do all these sweetheart deals so that the country that has us over a barrel, namely China, doesn’t dump our debt. Just last month, we had this BBC documentary where Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson says, in the 2008 crash, he was pleading with China, those are his words not mine, pleading with them to not dump U.S. mortgage-backed securities. In all of this QE, make no mistake, a lot of those mortgage-backed securities that the Fed was buying were a lot of the garbage they sold to China. They are now buying it back, and they are literally worthless garbage pieces of paper.”

As far as the continuing $55 billion a month the Fed is spending buying bonds, Calvo says, “Bottom line is I don’t believe anything they say. It’s much more than that because the economy is not getting any better.”

On the rash of banker deaths in the last few months, Calvo reports, “The people on Wall Street that I speak with think it is totally plausible that these people are being murdered to prevent an economic Edward Snowden from exposing the economic crime and fraud that is taking place. The system is scared to death. That’s why I am saying we need a financial Rambo to come out and expose what they are doing. . . . Hey look, if you have an economic Edward Snowden come out and expose the fraud of the derivatives, credit default swaps, manipulation of interest rates, it’s game over. You need trust in the financial market for it to operate, and when the trust blows up, it is game over. . . . You can see the cracks already taking place with the market plunge . . . . In my opinion, people are really getting shaky as far as trust in this financial market.”

As far as the big players in the real estate market, Calvo, whose company buys and sells $100 million in real estate annually, says, “They are not going to buy; they are going to start selling off. This is what I have been talking about since we have been doing interviews. It’s the pump and dump of the U.S. housing market. All the lenders are saying we want to start doing subprime loans. After 2014, you are going to see subprime loans roar back with style. . . . You are going to see real estate go absolutely buck wild, unless there is some sort of black swan event. Real investors are scared to death of the imploding U.S. dollar. . . . Not everybody is a gold investor, and real estate is a tangible hard asset that can be rented out. I think home prices could go up until we have another full blown collapse. I think the collapse of the housing market will be coupled with the stock market collapse, the bond market collapse and the dollar collapse. Everything will blow at once.”

[source: http://usawatchdog.com/blm-selling-out-america-fabian-calvo/ ]