Submitted by Elaine Magliaro, Weekend Contributor
Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher and scofflaw, was hailed by some people as a folk hero and patriot recently when he—and his followers–engaged in a standoff with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM). Caty Enders (Esquire) described the scene in Bunkerville, Nevada, as pundits and politicians descended on the Bundy camp last week “to throw in their American flag hats with the BLM protestors.” She said that a FOX News van had been parked by the side of the road for days—and that “militia snipers kept a trained watch” up on a ridge “as Bundy held court.” She added that disciples of Bundy came from far and wide “to share their personal theories as to why the government was enforcing a court order.”
Bundy has had a number of advocates who have spoken in support of his militant stance against the BLM. Those advocates included some prominent politicians and members of the media. Sean Hannity was one of Bundy’s biggest boosters and helped to make him into a folk hero. Hannity talked with Bundy on a number of occasions on his Fox News show. Joan Walsh (Salon) asked a pertinent question about Bundy on Friday: “How does a guy who declared early on ‘I don’t recognize the United States government as even existing’ become a folk hero in the first place?” She said that both Hannity and Fox News should have realized that the Nevada rancher was “too toxic” prior to his “ongoing self-exposure as a racist.” She added that the extremism of Bundy’s statement about the US government “should have been warning enough that Bundy was not only crazy but dangerous…”
Enders posed a question that was in the same vein as Walsh’s: “Exactly how difficult was it, though, to determine pretty early on that Bundy and his followers were using the threat of force to back up some terrifyingly misguided beliefs?” Enders provided some insight into the thinking and beliefs of Bundy and disciples of his with whom she talked.
Members of the Bundy Brigade Speak Out
Enders spoke to a militia member named Mark who was affiliated with the Oath Keepers group. Mark explained to her “the truth behind public land management.” He said, “The assumption is that the BLM is part of the federal government. But we need to check the facts on that one. The BLM doesn’t work for the government: they work for the United Nations. They might as well be wearing blue helmets. If we find out there’s money being exchanged between Harry Reid and the Chinese government, no one should be surprised.”
Another Bundy disciple told Enders that “Bar-certified lawyers, like the ones who prosecuted Bundy, have sworn loyalty to the British government, whose statutes encourage sex with clients. ‘That’s what they do with all their clients.’”
Enders spent time talking to a former cop who chuckled as he related a story about one of his buddies who once worked as a sheriff in New Mexico. He said his buddy got into some trouble after he pulled over a group of illegals one night. He said his pal “didn’t have room to haul ‘em all, so he put a chain around their neck and put a padlock through it, went to the next one, then he chained ‘em to a tree!” Enders said that the former cop then buckled with laughter as he told her how his friend “left ‘em and went to town to get his pickup to haul ‘em all back in. So, you might imagine, that didn’t play well — ha! You’re a young’un, but everything wasn’t against the law, way back when.” The former cop also told Enders that it was now being proved that the Bureau of Land management was acting on orders “from Troy and Harry Reid, who want to build a solar farm on the land — or a wind farm.”
One of Bundy’s disciples drove a beige sedan covered with the following message:
IF YOU WERE BORN IN 1980 AND AFTER. YOU MAY BE IMPLANTED WITH A GOVERNMENT MICROCHIP WITHOUT YOUR KNOWLEDGE: GOOGLE DOCTORS THAT REMOVE MICROCHIPS.
Cliven Bundy, God’s Messenger
During the time that Enders spent at the Bundy camp, she witnessed one of the public addresses the Nevada rancher made to his followers. She said that as Bundy—who had just been given a standing ovation—took the stage, he didn’t seem pleased. She said that Bundy reproached the crowd “for failing to follow the word of God – to the letter …”— which he claimed was being “delivered through him.” He wasn’t happy that his supporters failed “to follow his instructions to tear down the toll booths at Lake Mead and disarm the Park Service.” Bundy added, “The message I gave to you all was a revelation that I received. And yet not one of you can seem to even quote it.” He continued, “The records of our bible — how long have they been kept? Thousands of years. They’ve been turned over generation after generation, buried, and all kinds of things happen to ‘em. And yet, here, something I felt was inspired [by God] and yet we haven’t even carried it forth for even a couple of days. Shame on us.”
Bundy expressed frustration because his followers hadn’t been able to deter the BLM “within an hour”—“as the revelation had prophesied.” When an hour had passed, Bundy reportedly got into his bulldozer and decided to march on the BLM himself. His dozer got stuck in the mud—and that led to Bundy’s receiving yet another revelation: “It come to my mind real plain — the good Lord said, ‘Bundy, it’s not your job, it’s THEIR job.’” Bundy reiterated that revelation a little differently in an effort to ensure that his followers understood what he had just told them, “This is not my job, it’s YOUR job.”
Bundy said that he received a message that morning after he prayed. He claimed that he heard a voice say, “Sheriff Gillespie, your work is not done. Every sheriff across the United States, take the guns away from the United States bureaucrats.”
Uncivil Disobedience
Even The Weekly Standard–as well as Glenn Beck–has been critical of Cliven Bundy. The magazine’s Scrapbook explained the whole Bundy situation with regard to grazing fees and court rulings. The Scrapbook said that what had transpired over the years didn’t sound “like the dread hand of tyranny, in Nevada or Washington, oppressing an innocent farmer, or pushing some law-abiding citizen around.” It said it sounded, instead, “like a rancher gaming the system to his own financial advantage, and disguising his scheme in populist rhetoric: refusing to pay a tax which others must pay, and ‘tying up the courts’—for two decades!—as he continues to ignore the law.”
The Weekly Standard:
Far from acting in an arbitrary or capricious manner, the federal government has shown patience and forbearance in the face of lawlessness that customarily lands people in jail. It is worth noting that Bundy’s rancher-neighbors and the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association, who contend with the same federal policies, offer him little support.
Apocalypse Cow – Welfare Rancher, Part 1 (The Daily Show)
Apocalypse Cow – Welfare Rancher, Part 2 (The Daily Show)
SOURCES
Fox News’ new laughingstock: Cliven Bundy — and Stephen Colbert — will destroy Sean Hannity (Salon)
Uncivil Disobedience (The Weekly Standard)
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Scott,
“Yeah, Rummy is selling a book about it! GW Bush gets to paint things that are not dead Iraqi children.”
This Mark Fiore video if for you:
George W. Bush’s Art of Legacy
Mr. Spinelli,
If you mean the entire forum is fed up with me, I will be unhappy. If they comment about the matter, I will send them a note of apology. They are owed that. But the only person that Really matters to me is Prof. Turley.
Further, the matter was one of policy of the blog. It was not unimportant. It could have been answered in an instant. Unfortunately, it took two days to get a short and sweet “no”. I politely responded with a “thank you”.
I have been wrong in the past; I shall be wrong in the future. I don’t think I was wrong about the need to understand a blog policy.
“This morning, I said a prayer, and this is what I received. I heard a voice say, ‘Sheriff Gillespie, your work is not done. Every sheriff across the United States, take the guns away from the United States bureaucrats.’” Lots of clapping for this.
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/bundy-ranch-uncensored
So, is Paul going to defend this crap? Do we get to arrest this guy for inciting a riot, or, more precisely, an armed insurrection?
And don’t US “bureaucrats” have second amendment rights?
I read up on the Whiskey Rebellion yesterday. I highly recommend the so-called conservatives and libertarians in here do the same.
Nick Spinelli: “Wow.”
I’m guessing this is Nick’s way of saying he’s going to report me to the professor for not being civil. You know, like the Shiite Liberal I am…
feynman
Everyone,
Too many excellent, sharp, informative, keenly argued comments to award individual Intertubes awards – time simply does not permit.
However, I must confess that Dredd’s Translation left me pounding my table for many minutes. I’m sure it will feel better by tomorrow.
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What “Translation?”
I am always trying to improve.
I love the term Glibertarian, so fitting. Why do some conservatives deny what they really are deep down? Ashamed?
Dredd: “Being a consistently wrong chameleon does have its honor society”
Heh. Yeah, Rummy is selling a book about it! GW Bush gets to paint things that are not dead Iraqi children. Dick Cheney still gets listened to. Paul Wolfowitz got to be President of the world bank.
Nick Spinelli
mhj has shown in his few comments to date that he understands history and the Constitution. You, Keebler, have not. mhj is obviously a libertarian like myself. We “shill” for the Constitution. Now, let’s stay on topic. I like mhj and his take, you don’t. ‘Nuff said.
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“The constitution” Clapper took the oath of office on?
Which oath is:
(A Tale of Coup Cities – 11, citing 5 U.S.C. §3331). I will leave it to you to find out which copy of “the constitution” he took his oath on.
And then did the greatest 4th Amendment crimes and misdemeanors known in our history in aiding and abetting spying on all Americans.
Then lied under yet another oath about it.
BTW, “libertarian” is just another word for shape shifter (like republican and democrat) groups who have to deceive in order to enlighten.
Admittedly badgered. Somebody had to ‘fess up. Somebody did.
Ah, I see randyjet has some kind of rumor or something about an immigrant in a church.
“Recall that woman who took refuge in a “church” after she plead guilty to THREE felonies and resisted deportation? The Feds refused to go after her until much later, and she did not even need to use a gun. They finally caught and deported her, and she went around Mexico denouncing the USA.”
No, I do not remember. Source?
If she plead guilty to three felonies, she would’ve served time, no? Or, if this felon was deported, and then came back claiming asylum, then she must have some reason for claiming asylum? Persecution at home, maybe?
And what were her felonies? Did she graze cattle on public land without paying? Did she take guns and threaten to shoot federal agents? Because if you have a problem with her as an alleged scofflaw, then you also have a problem with Bundy, who’s refusal to abide by the orders of law enforcement are much worse.
“Well, guess what? She is BACK in the USA with her US citizen son. She crossed the border, asked for refugee/asylum status, and they let her in with a “temporary” permit! It seems that even a three time crook has the right to live and work in the USA now. Such an oppressive government we have! It is time to take a stand against these kinds of scofflaws.”
Again, you have a source? Perhaps there’s more to this story than you’re admitting? What were her felonies? How much time did she do awaiting trial? What was her sentence? If you don’t support the govt letting her off, then I suppose you also oppose them letting Bundy off?
Scott, sorry but I thought you probably read HUFPO which was my source. They reported on Elvira coming back into the US with a group who crossed into the US at the border and claimed political/refugee asylum. She was held one day and released with a “temporary” visa.
The felonies she plead guilty to were for ID theft, fraud, and perjury among others. She was arrested when the TSA did a background check on airport employees and found out she was an illegal. In return for pleading out, she agreed to be deported to avoid prison time. Unfortunately, HUFPO does not tell its readers about the felonies since they and the supporters try and hide that fact. So now despite avoiding prison for her crimes, she gets to return and stay here. That is called playing the system. Since she violated the agreement which let her avoid prison, she should be sent to prison to serve her term, and then be deported once again. That would be justice, but too many folks think that she has a permanent right to be here despite her criminal history.
I always thought that when in a foreign country one tried to act like a guest and obeyed the laws. I guess that it is too much to expect of foreigners who come here. Only American citizens need to obey our laws. The rest can spit on the ones that inconvenience them.
I do believe I have been dressed down.
I ask for mercy from the court. But the thing is Your Honor, Mr. Spinelli’s comments are innumerable. To research, would take several lifetimes.
It is so much easier just to ask the man what he thinks. You may have to endure a few “for Chirstsakes”, but he will ,most often, be forthcoming.
I echo Mr. Spinelli’s “Wow”
Scott Supak is Formidable!
Feynman,
Did I miss something? I saw you were being dressed down in a derogatory manner. Did you say something that upset someone?
Objection your honor, the record clearly indicates both here and elsewhere that Mr. Spinelli does not believe the Patriot Act should have ever been passed,
Court: Counselor, your questions are tedious and inane. Either read the transcripts or hire someone who can read above a 2nd grade level. You have a history counselor of asking badgering and stupid questions. Mr. Spinelli and this entire forum are fed up w/ this infantile display.
Nick Spinelli
…I do grow weary of is having to remind people of things I’ve said ON THE THREAD.
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What about ON THE BLOG?
I mucked that one up.
Feingold did not vote for the PA. But dumb me, I’m not sure if that was one of Feingold’s votes that Nick disagreed with.
Any and all that are relevant.
Mr Keebler
Dredd,
Can you link us to a few of the articles on your blog?
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What subjects?
Paul Schulte
Dredd – although I appreciate you listing every journal that that piece of junk science has been used in, it still does not make it a real thing. I was intrigued by the editorial entitled “Would Jessie Jackson fail the implicit racism test?”
I think this makes my point.
Piltdown Man (Eoanthropus dawsoni) was once thought to be a “missing link” between man and ape. The first Piltdown fragments were discovered in 1912. Thereafter, over 500 scientific essays were written on the Piltdown Man in a 40-year period. The discovery was proven to be a deliberate hoax in 1953.
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That is a problem with the test, not the theory.
That is what the paper was about.
The test has now been updated to modern symbolic racism, which is not like your grandfather’s racism.
I will be easy on you since your reading comprehension is a real factor in all you write in response to any post or comment.
Of course, your being more brilliant than all the scientists in the world does give you some right to be wrong all the time.
But be nice to the scientists of long ago, because if one crime by one of the Judas types among them (Piltdown Man ~1912) disproves everything, then the mistakes you make in almost everything you write has more bearing on any subject you pervert order to prove your concept of clearly nothing.
Crime is not science, neither is your intellectual dishonesty.
Wow.