Monday, January 4, 2016

A bit of current events

First, the kerfuffle in eastern Oregon, in the Malheur. Ok, this place is rather rural, as in capital R. Out there. Been there more than a few times. French Glen is a favorite place.


French Glen in 1904, not much has changed. 

So, we got some bozo's from Nevada and other places, wanting to take over a government building, with arms. Armed. 

Two of them, with arms, looking from a lookout in the reserve.

And, outside the gate, where local and government spokesmen are saying little, except that there will be not real response immediately. No movement against them. 

What if.....play this game, ok? What if they were not older white dudes, pickups, etc. What if they were perhaps....black? 


My, imagine that scenario.......

Or, god forbid, they might be Muslim....


Sure, they might be born in the US, but man, with clear evidence of them wearing clothes like this....

Instead, Let's look backward a bit, to a similar time. 1903-10, the beginnings of the United States Forest Service. The issue of contention then were the same as they are now: who owns the land? who controls what happens on the land? 

When Roosevelt made a reality of the USFS, individuals were selected to be regional foresters, that is, designate the boundary of the National Forest, and what could happen within the boundaries, such as grazing rights.  TR gave the new forest rangers advise. "They can use the forest, but not use it up." 

The original forest rangers mapped out the boundaries, studied the ranging practices, gambled, and made rulings. Some of them worked, some not so well. But they they all worked on TR's words....'but not use it up.' 

There were times that ranchers, farmers, loggers picked up arms, and resisted. What happened then? They talked, they compromised, and no one was killed. 

Now here we are, again. We have 'militia' from Nevada and other places, to 'help'. Knowing full well that in the history of Ruby Ridge, the feds cannot respond as they would, if they were any other than they are: white, middle age to elderly men. 

Let's just imagine what what would be happening were these assholes, some one else. 

What if they were African-American? 
Hispanic?
Middle eastern?

Cheers, 
Mike





20 comments:

  1. Send this to every newspaper you read, every paper in the state, to the governors of the states involved, to the state police, and anyone else you can think of who should do what they were hired to do to keep this from escalating.

    Posting here is a good start.

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    1. I did my time, Martha. Sorry, but younger folks gotta step up.

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  2. According to the F.B.I.:

    18 U.S.C. § 2331 defines "international terrorism" and "domestic terrorism" for purposes of Chapter 113B of the Code, entitled "Terrorism”:

    "Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics:

    Involve acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law;
    Appear intended (i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination. or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the U.S."

    Seems to me these "militia patriots" fit that definition.

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  3. Our first President came out of retirement to lead the army if needed against the whisky rebellion....

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    Replies
    1. Good reminder, TB. There have been worse times than this.

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  4. Young Bundy is even more ridiculous than his father.

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  5. Why isn't Faux Noise reporting on this armed terrorism? Oh, yeah. White guys. Because it is okay to commit arson on public lands.

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  6. If they were brown-skinned and quoting the Quran, that building would probably be a smoldering crater by now and the pundits on either side of the aisle would be giving their sermons on the righteousness or wrongness of the act. The government would either be lauded or demonized. Choose your ideology.

    Personally, I think it's a terrorist act. I also think mentioning domestic terrorism in the US is a touchy subject. Better luck having rational discourse on abortion. It's like trying to get John Q Public-liberal or conservative-to grasp and own up to the fact that some of the regimes, extremists, and problems in the middle east and other desperate parts of the world-e.g. Africa and even South America are of our own making by policies and live-action games of Risk.

    Even if they don't get named terrorists, they have broken the law and committed an act of sedition...

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    1. Correct on all points, Robbie. Expect no less, though.
      Yeah, um I'd be slow to accuse someone of sedition after the events of the 'teens and twenties here in the US.
      Yeah, it's a terrorist act, and it's interesting to see the response.

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  7. They are terrorist (and I'm sure most of them have referred to Eco-protesters as terrorists in the past)

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  8. My grandfather had a name for those people: "Damn Fools!"

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    1. Yeah, my dad had a lot of words for them too....but at the time the people he had words for were people I identified with....back then it was kind of like the George Jackson Brigade...I didn't like the tactics (armed robbery), but I argued with him about what they were supposedly about.
      So anyway, times and circles of life, eh?

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  9. What if, indeed. Well, we know, don't we? Explosions would have already occurred.

    Aside from the obvious inequities, I wonder how they're feeling over there, now that the power has been cut off? :-) Starve them out, make them surrender, haul them away and charge them with treason.

    Also: What Robbie said. And Catalyst's grandma.

    Pearl

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    1. To know how they are feeling, one would have to entertain the thoughts in their little brains. I for one don't care to know the little spiders that well.
      I usually agree with Robbie, and everyone knows you just don't cross Catalyst's grandma.

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  10. You might enjoy this Slate article about how the US media would cover the occupation if it happened in another country.

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    1. Thanks, I don't usually think to look to Slate for some reason.

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