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Or, what's uuuup wit these crazy ballheads?
I seem to remember some quote about "the last refuge of the scoundrel....", coulda also been "of the historically ignorant". I just can't recall...
Ok, let's just put aside for the moment the obvious regarding the minerals and frack-able natural gas as the story behind all the weaponized posturing taking place in Nevada on the land of the now-famous "settler hold-out". And also, I want to visit the 'desert tortoise' in a moment.
Here's a hilarious/tragic Native take on the whole situation from Indian Country Today:
How Did I Miss That? Militia: God Gave Land to Settlers, Not Shoshone
Steve Russel 4/18/14
The 68-year-old Bundy recognizes no federal authority in the matter. If he owed grazing fees, he claimed they would be owed to the state of Nevada, which entered the United States on Halloween, 1864. Because the Civil War was going on, the Nevada Constitution contained a “paramount allegiance clause,” which is seriously inconvenient for anybody claiming, as Bundy does, a right to ignore the feds.
The year before Nevada was admitted, the US signed the Treaty of Ruby Valley, which recognized the Western Shoshone as owners of the dirt Cliven Bundy is claiming the right to use because of his “pioneer” pedigree. In 1979, the Indian Claims Commission awarded the Shoshone $26 million in compensation for land lost to “settler encroachment” while the federal government looked the other way. Those encroaching settlers would be who Cliven Bundy cites today as originators of his right to graze his cattle.
The Shoshone refused the money. They had not agreed to sell the land. They did not agree that the land should be used for nuclear testing. Carrie and Mary Dann were Shoshone elders who stood up to the abuse. Mary walked on at age 82, in 2005. The 81-year-old Carrie was last arrested in 2007, protesting against the use of Shoshone land for nuclear weapons research.
The Dann Sisters grazed their cattle on land the Bureau of Land Management claimed since 1973, refusing to pay grazing fees based on the Treaty of Ruby Valley, Article VI of the US Constitution, and a report by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States that found the US to be cheating the Shoshone.
In 1992 and again in 2002, armed BLM posses rounded up the Dann Sisters’ cattle and sold them for grazing fees. The New York Times reported in 2002 that the Dann Sisters had been fined $3 million for “trespass.”
When a BLM posse came to round up Cliven Bundy’s cattle, armed “patriots” rode to the rescue. The BLM got about 400 head of Bundy’s cattle and Bundy got about as many supporters, many of them armed, from as far away as Montana. The Washington Post reported on April 10 that a sign at the entrance to the protest camp read “MILITA SIGHN IN.” Cousin Ray said he hoped their shooting was no better than their spelling.
Protestor Richard Mack, a former Arizona Sheriff, told a Fox News camera that the plan was “to put all the women up at the front. If they are going to start shooting, it’s going to be women that are going to be televised all across the world getting shot by these rogue federal officers.”
On April 12, the BLM postponed the circus, giving Bundy’s cattle back and leaving Cousin Ray to wonder where all these lovers of law and liberty were when the women up front were Carrie and Mary Dann?"
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"Settler encroachment".....hmm. Forgot where I was for a minute there. Palestine? O, right, Shoshone land. The "nevada test site". US 'militarized zone'.
Brief appearance of the Tortoise took place. (Not the one in the Churning of the Milky Ocean story.) A desert tortoise.The kind of animal that gets 'patriots' all panties-in-a-wad. "Environmentalists are the problem! - damn corporate-funded, tree-huggin', dirt-worshipping pagans!" Whoops, they told ya to look over there, and you fell for it. Next.
Here's the story out last week, explained by RT's Abby Martin, of the increasingly spiking numbers of environmentalist's murders:
Some excerpts from the response letter of Cpt. Paul Watson of SeaShepherd :
[Digression: btw, you know, there's patriotic, and then there's matriotic...?]
DEATH TO THE GREENIES!
Conservationists and Environmentalists are amongst the most Dangerous Jobs on the Planet
Commentary by Captain Paul Watson
Being a wildlife conservationist or an environmentalist is now considered one of the planet’s most dangerous occupations....
We face very dangerous and powerful vested interests each day. They outnumber us and they are financially and politically connected. They are ruthless and they will deal harshly with anyone who intervenes against them and the resource or species they have in their sights....
Over the years I have been beaten, jailed, shot, and threatened repeatedly. Fortunately none of my crew or I have suffered any serious injuries....
I have known and supported activists in the field who have been murdered for defending nature and in most cases their killers were never caught or prosecuted....
Unfortunately we do not hear about most of them because they are usually poor grass-root activists tackling issues in their own communities....
Eerily as I was writing this posting, I received the following bulletin:
“Virunga National Park’s Chief Warden, Emmanuel de Merode, was shot today in an ambush on the road from Goma to Rumangabo. He is in serious but stable condition with bullet wounds in the chest”.
This is a man I actually know. I am hoping the injuries will not be fatal....
In 2002 I had lunch with Conservationist Jane Tipton in St. Lucia. A year later she was shot in the head in her driveway. The murder remains unsolved....
There is not a single case of an environmentalist or a conservationist killing any person. But if it did happen, it would be the leading news story internationally....
We now live in a world where holding up a protest sign makes a person an eco-terrorist and also a target. Yet we can be killed without a corporate journalist lifting an eyebrow and certainly not lifting a pen.
The message is clear. “Get in the way of our profits and we will kill you.”
With Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott describing environmentalists as agents of Satan and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper calling conservationists a threat to the national security of the country, the political message is clear. It’s open season on those who would defend the Earth....
I cherish the non-violent foundation of the conservation movement. We have a noble legacy, in fact it is the only global movement that can claim a complete 100% rejection of violence as a solution. I don’t want to see it devolve into retribution with retaliatory violence but that will become an increasing possibility if the killing of us by them continues....
Despite having this unblemished record, the propaganda continues to spew out of the mainstream media about how violent environmentalist are. You don’t see us on horseback with semi-automatic weapons looking for a show-down with the BLM. In the mind of our enemies, violence is holding a protest sign, blocking a whaling ship or making a film. The same words are used repeatedly like “eco-terrorist, extremist, or militant.”....
What is clear is that it is fast becoming a more dangerous world out there for those of us who wish to protect biodiversity and natural habitats. We need to be more cautious and more mindful of self defense....
And people asked me why I sometimes wear a bullet proof vest?
My old one has a bullet hole in it."
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[In this time, I'm always marveling at the avalanche of hostile spewing that appears almost universally in comments below any article covering anything having to do with Animal Sentience. Check it out. Fascinating! Fervent allegiance to human supremacy concept, and equal to the "manifest destiny" and "chosenness" delusions.]
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One video clip, just uploaded - featuring a drummer possibly known to some:
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