Range war!

Clive Bundy, a cattle rancher out of Bunkerville, Nevada finds himself under siege of the government for not paying his grazing allotment fees.  This sounds like something that could have happened 100 or maybe even 50 years ago but it's actually happening as we speak.  There are so many things about this situation that intrigues me.  (You can read about it in the Las Vegas Review Journal.)

Mr. Bundy decided in 1993 that he would quit paying for his grazing allotment because he "didn't like how the government was spending his money".  I completely understand not liking how the government spends money.  What I don't get is this.  Apparently the Bundy family had been paying for the grazing allotment up until 1993, so apparently things were shits and laughs at that point.  But at that point, he decides to not pay....  What I don't get is how he feels HE is granted sole rights to property that he doesn't own.  Worse than that, he entered into a contract of his own free will.  A contract that obligated him to pay to use land for his own benefit.  To me, this is a "no brainer".  You enter a contract with a financial obligation, you break that contract by not paying... its time for you to give up what you were paying for regardless of whom you are dealing with.

Something else that bothers me is the position the government is taking.  They have closed down all 600,000 acres of this area to round up this mans cattle.  It is a bit of a recreation area.  In fact, it is BLM land and we all should be able to use it.  Right this moment if you try to gain access, you'll either be arrested or shot.  What's equally as bothersome is that the government has gone as far as to establish "1st Amendment Rights" pens where you can lawfully protest this situation.  I was under the impression that our 1st Amendment rights were unalienable anywhere in the U.S.  Apparently not so in Bunkerville. 

Back to Bundy.  He claims to be a good steward of the land having spent his own money to make improvements like drilling wells that provide water not only to his cattle (which I believe is the sole reason he made said improvements) but for wild life as well.  He talks as if because of improvements and because of the time his family has used the land that his use should be grandfathered in.  Now he complains about the government coming in and kicking him out....  I wonder how the Native Americans felt about that shit a couple of hundred years ago.  If I'm not mistaken, that is traditional Paiute territory.  The Paiutes were graciously "given" a God forsaken 72,000 acres and told to stay there, basically.  How do these people feel? (Its the shittiest 72,000 acres in the state, if you ask me.)

Desert tortoise?  Yes sir.  The desert tortoise is playing a part in this situation as well.  This land is traditional desert tortoise habitat as well, and he/she is "protected".  It is the governments claim that the damage being done by the cattle means nothing but bad news for the tortoise.  But at the very same time, in turtle habitat that is in the same part of the Mojave Desert they (US government) are more than happy to bulldoze acres upon acres of this critical tortoise habitat for Solar Panel Farms.  There is no regard for the precious turtle when it comes to solar farms, but God forbid a cow to shit in the vicinity of a turtle burrow?  Gubmint?  You can't have it both ways, so quit being dicks and come up with something better than the turtle.  Just lie to us... were kind of used to it.

Oh, speaking of said turtle.  I spent a lot of time in the desert of southern Nevada.  I've hunted, fished and hiked all over that part of the country.  I've watched off road races get moved because of this tortoise.  Guess what I've never seen in the actual desert?  If you guessed the god damned desert tortoise you should be given a wonderful gift.  Scorpions, tarantulas, different species of snake, deer, mountain lions, quail, dove, road runners, lizards of all sorts, trap door spiders, black widows, coyotes.... I've seen all of that and then some, but never a turtle.  The first and second turtle I ever saw showed up in my back yard.  They can't open gates or hop fences, so they must have dug their way in. The house I grew up in is right in the middle of Las Vegas.  Why isn't someone telling these free loading ass turtles that its back out to the desert for them?  All of those burrows and no tortoise? 

Back to Bundy again.  I almost kind of feel for the guy.  Not because of his ignorance but because he is a rancher.  I've known a few ranchers in my day.  What I feel for is the image of the rancher.  These people work their asses off, and Bundy is supposedly worth a couple of million bucks so he has done that.  But the ranchers I know paid for their grazing allotments when they were supposed too.  They probably don't like the idea that much either, but its far easier to pay now rather than wait until you amassed a giant fee.

For me, the whole situation is premised in the initial contract that allowed Bundy to graze his cattle.  When he backed out of paying, he basically backed out of the deal.  That means its time to ride on, cowboy.