I know it.

Hope you're having a grand ole time in Mexico. :)

Acting U.S. Attorney Billy J. Williams of Oregon gave a starkly different perspective on the arson case.

"Five years ago, a federal grand jury charged Dwight and Steven Hammond with committing arson on public lands and endangering firefighters," Williams wrote for the newspaper. "Steven Hammond was also found guilty of committing a second arson in 2006."

He said a teenage relative of the Hammonds testified that Steven Hammond gave him a box of matches and told him to start the blaze. "The fires destroyed evidence of the deer slaughter and took about 130 acres of public land out of public use for two years," the prosecutor wrote.

"The jury was neither asked if the Hammonds were terrorists, nor were defendants ever charged with or accused of terrorism," Williams wrote. "Suggesting otherwise is simply flat-out wrong."

It also cost $600,000 to fight the deliberately lit fires and more than two years for the area to recover.

Heh

I am always here, even if it's in spirit... :D

Michale

Now they are just good ole cowboys, hootin' it up.

I think the locals should throw a big BBQ for them all downtown Burns and get them all to come along. It would be impolite to refuse to meet the new neighbors after all. Then there could be 'the airing of the grievances' :)

Snark Alert: Although now that they reportedly have a horse....

...aimed at towing their vehicles (and confiscating them for being used in a crime, as much as I hate civil forfeiture laws)...

Just impound and ship their vehicles back to their home state and levy the fees to get them back out of hock would be enough. No forfeiture necessary. Being relatively isolated, facing costs to restore their lives would like be demoralizing enough without having to resort to civil forfeture.

I live about three hours from Burns (I'm in ID, near Boise). Burns is a welcome food stop on the way to western OR, with lots of friendly people and a couple of decent restaurants. From news reports, it appears the town is responding as I'd expect: while glad that voice is given to frustrations with federal land management, most of the residents appear to want the "militia" to leave though a few openly support them. I'm sure the militia would find people that would happily give departing militia a ride to the nearest Greyhound station to go home (or the Sheriff's office for that matter).

They're in a wildlife refuge in Malheur County in the winter. They might, with some work, be able to grab a few rations of yellow beer and a variety of jerky products, but they are a far cry from being able to replenish supplies in any real sense with any ease.

A strategy that cuts them off from the outside world and an offensive that protects law enforcement but fires no offensive shots, aimed at towing their vehicles (and confiscating them for being used in a crime, as much as I hate civil forfeiture laws) would seem to be a reasonable response strategy that would be effective.

Wow. What a rabbit hole. These terrists are threatening violence. The OWS and BLM movements did and do face hostile law enforcement and arrest although they didn't poach any deer, start any huge wildfires, or take over any government buildings with weapons and threaten to kill law enforcement agents.

The Bundy posse's point all along has been that the law doesn't apply to them and ignoring their second armed provocation validates that point a second time.

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/occupy-wall-street-protests-cost-cities-millions/story?id=14975940

Black Lives Matter should be sponsored by Fox News as they got the most advertising dollars by being permanently outraged for months. Bill O'Reilly should be cutting them a seven figure check himself.

Perhaps this is the future - Fox News will sponsor 'The New Black Panthers' and help them organize - to paraphrase Howard Hughes: "you provide the cameras and the ditsy blond anchor, I'll provide big black armed guys to scare the Fox News audience" ;)

I don't have a problem with the authorities waiting them out but I do have a problem if the authorities stand by and let a whole lot more armed people show up -- if that should happen. I gather these guys hope others will join them but so far there doesn't seem to be much enthusiasm on that front.

The Hammonds have accepted their punishment, and just like a black kid selling a bag of weed and getting a stupid 5 year sentence, their punishment is out of proportion to the crime, but that is what happens when everybody loses their head over terrorism - in fact, this case is a direct example of why the terrorists won in 1993.

The best lesson to learn from this is that passing laws because of emotion, and using emotionally charged terms like 'terrorism' and 'terrorist' instead of 'crime' and 'criminal' is dumb. We probably have a few decades before we learn this lesson as a country.

Why must everything be seen in terms of right versus left and, in so doing, be given false equivalency? It's as though Michale isn't really on holiday. :)

In the case of the gun-toting anti-government shit disturbers now occupying federal buildings in Oregon, it is worth pondering what would happen to America if everybody decided to settle their grievances in this manner.

Now is the time to send a clear message to these zealots - if you have legitimate grievances with the government, then put down your precious weapons, end your nonsensical occupation and pursue legal ways to have those grievances addressed.