Reprinted from dailykos.com by nachtwulf
Note from editor, for additional background on this story, click here: from CNN
This is my first diary, so if I inadvertantly break any rules, I plead innocence and not malice.
First, some background. There is a rancher here in Nevada named Cliven Bundy. His family has been in the area a long time, sine the 1880s, and like a lot of the ranchers in the state he grazes his cattle on public land. Whether or not you agree with this, it is very common practice and the fees go to help the BLM maintain the land.
Except that circa 1983, he decided that he no longer liked the BLM and the federal government "owning" (Actually managing it in trust for all of us) 84% of the land in the state, a condition set when the state was created during the Civil War. Mr. Bundy is free to believe any crackpot nonsense that he wishes, of course, but his decision that the federal government has no jurisdiction over him occasioned him to stop paying the grazing fees for the BLM land that he fed his cattle on. the BLM has taken him to court twice to get him to remove his cattle and pay what is owed, and won both times. After 20 years, the BLM has had enough and moved in to collect the cattle that remain on public land. Mr. Bundy has threatened violence from his family, and in a tense standoff days ago his son attacked BLM agents and kicked their dog, earning himself a well justified tasering.
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