patrick.net

http://theweek.com/articles/597279/bundy-mess-everything-thats-wrong-american-criminal-justice-system

Now, one could argue, as Ian Millhiser does, that the Hammond sentence is basically reasonable given the Hammond's crime and history. And there is the issue of consistency, as the then-U.S. Attorney for Oregon told The Oregonian: "If the government stands by and doesn't pursue the statutorily mandated sentence in this case, what kind of precedent does that set?"

But let's compare that to the government's actions in the Bundy case. Christopher Ketcham performed an extensive investigation of the clan for Harper's Magazine. They have refused to pay their legally mandated grazing fees (which are roughly one-tenth of the market rate, by the way) since 1993, and run up to nine times the allowed number of cattle on protected federal property, largely destroying the rangeland (and a fragile habitat for endangered species).

Elder Bundy now owes literally millions in back fees. When the Bureau of Land Management (which manages the land in question), after procrastinating for over 20 years, attempted to round up Bundy's cattle for sale at auction, the family responded with armed insurgents, including snipers and human shields. Severely outgunned and fearing another Waco disaster, the BLM backed down.

Emboldened by the limp federal response, lesser Bundys traveled the American West inciting other right-wing lunatics to violate the law. Ryan Bundy went to Recapture Canyon (an exquisite, out-of-the-way place in Utah with a slew of Ancestral Puebloan ruins) and whipped a bunch of locals into driving their ATVs through areas closed to vehicle traffic. Local county commissioner Phil Lyman was convicted in federal court for this, and had to serve 10 days in prison plus pay restitution of $96,000, but Bundy was not charged.

Now Ryan and his brother Ammon are among the insurgents occupying federal buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

#landgrab
#oregon
#ammon
#bundy