18000 permits seem to be handled without controversial events. Why is it only these modern dannites have troubles with white rancher welfare?
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http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/grazing.html
Honestly, I don't know. But I do know the BLM has clashed with anyone who uses federal land for anything other than birdwatching. And based on the amount of property the BLM has subsumed in the Malheur area, and the tactics they have purportedly used to get it, what happened here isn't exactly shocking.
And whatever the legal intricacies, it's still immoral. Saying that these guys deserved to go to jail because out 18000 permit applicants they were the *only* ones that had a problem, in the absence of another related conviction, is still the weakest of sauce.
I know that being the dissenting voice here is your niche, and I don't resent that one bit. I appreciate it. I also know you love finding the flaws in individual cases that are held up in the media as representing a problem. I have benefited from your research in many other cases. With that in mind, let me reiterate that I am not seeking to absolve anyone from blame. I understand that the judgement passed down was perfectly legal and not without precedent. I'm merely emphasizing that it was completely immoral, unethical, and disproportionate, and that other men can easily envision ways which this abuse of power will affect them.
If similar abuses continue to happen at the hands of unaccountable beaureaucrats, then these types of protests, however ill-advised, will continue. They will not go away. That is not in the DNA of the movement, even if it is top-heavy with keyboard commandoes and Stewart Rhodes types afraid of their own shadows.
IMO the Feds have made a martyr, if not unjustly then certainly unnecessarily, and one more sympathetic than Randy Weaver or David Koresh, whom I have never seen in a facebook meme.
Unlike most keyboard patriots, I also see this continuum as being very long, and the end of it, if any, being yet distant rather than immediate.
For those like myself who prognosticate on these situations, I would be wary of disorganized, overly enthusiastic individuals such as the decedent and his friends, who have and will cause chaos. But beware the end state of their efforts, which will result in a deeper, darker, more professional phase of this cold civil war. I fear that way lurks more secret and organized groups who are keeping score and don't like to brag about how many Feds they could have killed any time they wanted to, a la Ryan Payne. If they feel the need to act they will simply kill then disappear.
I pray, of course, that none of this happens. Nothing good will come of it, but as with Lavoy, we can only deal with realities and consequences, not wishful thinking. Personally, I'm hoping for secession.
