The stand-off in Oregon between the Federal government and Ammon Bundy and his fellow ranchers does not seem to be winding down. Bundy and his loosely connected organization came to Burns, Oregon about two weeks ago in support of Steven and Dwight Hammond, local ranchers who were accused of arson some years ago. The charges were filed because the Hammonds cleared some of their ranch by burning the underbrush and overgrowth, but the fire spread to surrounding Federal land. The Hammonds were able to extinguish the blaze without help, and in fact, both the Hammonds ranch and the Federal land are said to be more productive and healthier from the clearing, but the government seems intent on making a show of who is in charge.
The charge of arson, which in and of itself seems like a huge miscarriage of justice, in that it carries a mandatory sentence of 5 years in prison. A judge who tried the case thought so too and said that it would be improper and unfair to send them to prison for 5 years each, so he sentenced the Hammonds to less than a year in jail, which they completed some time ago. However, a judge or government agency seeking to show ranchers everywhere just who is in charge has demanded that the Hammonds serve the full five years, and the father and son left for prison last week.
Ammon Bundy claims new documents expose government abuse, page 2:
As long as they do not claim to be intelligent or law abiding. Getting awful tired of red neck conservatives.
Take all those currupt bastards down
This is also an issue of mandatory sentencing in which a judge has NO discretion. If you’re convicted of stealing a tube of toothpaste and the sentence is five years, it’s five years even if otherwise you’re a saint. This is a system conservatives, including Bill O’Reilly SCREAMED for for years! Oh, the judges were tooooo liberal, letting criminals off SCOTT FREE! Well, now we have a lovely private prison system and spend billions locking folks up, Don’t complain about what you begged for and got.
Thankfully, the Bundy loonies & their nonsensical interpretation of the constitution is being rejected by Oregonians victimized by these nuts. Sad to see, from posts her, that the guys at Malheur aren’t the only wackos around. Just stay out of Oregon, OK?
The Federal Government owns property all over the US. Remember “we” the US bought EVERYTHING west of the Mississippi in the Louisiana Purchase. This land is owned by all Americans and the BLM, just like the Park Service and the Forestry Service, try to manage this land for the benefit of the land, not the people who would abuse it without rules and regulations.
BLM is not a government agency they are a Puerto Rican privately owned company!
Except the Bundy’s hadn’t paid their grazing fees for over 20 years! These people are morons and they will spend some time at Club Fed over this stupid freaking episode!
Bob, just because they wrote some$#%&!@*down saying they can do this or that, does not mean they had the legal our constitutional right to do so. We are seeing much more of this type of overreach these days. We need a leader who will pull back on the reigns a little and reassess what is constitutional and what is not. There are many junk laws out there that are enforced but are absolutely unconstitutional. Our government has to employ attorneys to fight the people…that alone should tell you that things are a mess.
Is the federal government claiming the land in your backyard and selling it off to the Chinese? If not, you don’t really know much about what they are fighting for. Maybe the Fed will throw you a bone in the end for being a good little pawn.
You wacko ranchers cite bogus interpretations of the constitution, I hope the feds take good care of you in prison.