Publisher's Note: Jim Bispo's column appears in the Beaufort Observer.
It was interesting to hear that Nevada seems to be full of "Domestic Terrorists". Well, that's what Harry Reid said. I wonder if he got that bit of information from the same source where he learned that Mitt Romney had been either cheating on, or simply not paying, his Federal Income taxes.
Maybe we should close all the highways into and out of Nevada while we hunt down and eradicate those "terrorists". If we use all the BLM and other forces that were going after that poor cattle farmer the other day we should have plenty of resources to do the job. And it shouldn't take too much effort. There aren't all that many roads into and out of Nevada - even considering the ones that run through the "back country". It might inconvenience some of Harry's Las Vegas pals but tracking down and eradicating a band of terrorists would surely make it worthwhile.
It's interesting that the Desert Tortoises seem to be more negatively impacted by the cattle than they are by the "new" solar farms that are popping up just down the road from the grazing grounds. No matter that the cattle have reportedly been grazing the particular land since even before Rachael Carson was born. It is also interesting to see how the government suddenly seems to be intent on collecting the rent that they don't seem to have been paying much attention to for many years. Of course maybe that was before some of Harry's pals seem to have taken an interest in establishing (heavily subsidized) solar farms out there..
And just in case you were wondering what the feds were going to do with all the arms and ammunition and military hardware they have been acquiring, now you know. They trot it all out when they decide to get tough with a poor farmer out in the middle of the desert. (I even saw a "Swat Team" vehicle in the mix.) Suddenly they need heavily armed troops, flack vests. dogs, snipers, helicopters, Swat Team vehicles, semi-automatic and what looked to be full automatic military weapons and the like to enforce a law which would seem to have gone unenforced for years and years. Based on what we have heard him saying, Mr. Bundy would seem to be a bigot. But that should have nothing to do with the size of the Army the BLM sent out to collect his unpaid rent. He is just as entitled to be a bigot as Al Sharpton is entitled to be a "skin merchant".
A while back we saw a piece on 60 Minutes that documented a 20 year (or more) war between the Government (BLM as I recall) and a cattle farmer in central Nevada (either around Lovelock or Tonapah). They pulled the same trick on that farmer as they started to do on Mr. Bundy (down in Clark County) - only worse. They rounded up some of his cattle that they alleged were grazing on BLM land without appropriate permits. They sold off the cattle they rounded up and then had the unmitigated gall to add insult to injury by billing the farmer for the difference between what it cost them to round up the cattle and what they sold them for. The farmer has filed suit against the government and has prevailed in the courts (including on at least one level of appeal). His monetary award was over a million ( I can't remember the exact amount, but it was considerable). The problem is that he hasn't seen any of it yet and likely isn't going to for quite a while - if ever.
A cattle farmer is expected to breed cattle, see to the calving, feed all the livestock and see to their well being, and when they are ready for market, round them up and sell them - and in the meantime keep food on his table, send his kids to school and do all the things that everyone else does. And yet the government doesn't even seem to be able to only round up the stock and sell them without taking a loss on the deal. No wonder the country is in the financial trouble we are in.
That poor old cattleman (Bundy) has allegedly been violating the law. (He probably has...) People cannot be allowed to violate a law. Of course that cannot be tolerated - unless Harry Reid or Eric Holder or the Anointed One doesn't feel like complying with one, then it is entirely appropriate to ignore it (i.e. violate it). Not to mention that the Anointed One feels no compunction whatsoever about unilaterally changing a law to suit a political end like not letting any bad news materialize or overtly antagonize any particular constituency before the upcoming mid term election. (think all the Obamacare changes and the never ending reviews of the XL pipeline ).
Talking about the XL Pipeline, what makes it really weird is that the do-gooder environmentalists, seemingly led by Mr. Tom Steyer of San Francisco (where else??) seem to have disengaged their brains and lost touch with reality in continuing to oppose the pipe. The oil will be extracted no matter how much they dislike the technology. It will either find its way to the Gulf Coast or maybe China via truck, rail, or ship (in the case of China) all of which take a greater toll on the environment than would the pipeline. Moving the oil by truck or rail poses a significantly greater public safety risk than does the pipeline. And finally, it costs more to transport the oil by truck or rail that it would by the new pipeline. So we get to pay more for the refined product than we otherwise would (which seldom means anything to the "tree huggers" - but does to a lot of the rest of us). And now we will get some additional time to comment on the latest State Department environmental statement. That would be the last one made public. You know - the one that said that there weren't any significant unresolved environmental issues associated with construction/operation of the pipeline. Maybe if we review it enough times the State Department will come around to the (obviously) "correct" position that the pipe line should not be constructed. (Sounds almost like a redux of the same trick the Dems pulled a few years ago in MN when they held one recount after another until they were able to declare the erstwhile comedian, Al Franken, the victor.) Hmmm...
Taking the position the environmentalists have taken in the face of all the facts that seem to be stacked against them will do nothing other than let people see how completely irresponsible they have become and surely cost them public support. It's like they are cutting of their nose to spite their face.
D'ya Think??
