Free Bird, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

January 9, 2016 Victor El-Khouri 1 Comment

There are more serious stories in the news this week, but I have been enthralled watching what is going on in Oregon.  As you might know, a group of crazy people took over a bird sanctuary on public park land, claiming themselves to be true patriots.  It is my bias to call them right-wingers but, in fact, they are so insane that they defy such categorization.

Still, they share certain vocabularies with the extreme right, especially in their mistrust of the federal government.  And also, I might add, in their illiterate interpretation of our Constitution.  However, I don’t think that the majority of Republican voters favor giving private industries extorting public resources (except, sometimes, to oil companies).

The issue at hand, as near as I can tell, has to do with farmers and ranchers, and their access to pubic land.  You might remember two years ago, when Cliven Bundy staged a similarly armed action, the issue was his refusal to pay grazing fees for letting his cattle on public land.  In Oregon, Bundy’s sons, Ammon and Ryan, and their allies are protesting the prison sentences given to the Hammonds for starting a fire in a public park that destroyed more than 120 acres of growth on public land.

I read up on the Hammond case a little, enough to know that I don’t know enough to have a real opinion.  Some people say the Hammonds started the fire to hide evidence that they were poaching deer.  Others say they were doing a controlled burn to protect their property from forest fires, but then the fire got out of hand.  The Hammonds had already served their original two year sentence, but a federal judge decided to extend it.  Is that fair?  I don’t know.

So all of that is contradictory and frustrating.  However, there is one thing that is not in dispute.  The protesters who claim to defend the Hammonds are doing so with guns and calling themselves a militia.  They are so cracked out that the Hammonds not only refused their help, but went back to jail to get away.

A few reporters were allowed into hostage bird sanctuary, and their reporting gives us some insight into the brave men who, using only their wits and guns, took over an empty building.  They know who the true enemy is.  To quote from my link:

“The brothers have taken over the cozy and cluttered office of Linda Sue Beck, a biologist and civil servant they have come to view as a symbol the federal government. …’She’s not here working for the people,’ declared Ryan Bundy, the more outspoken of the brothers. ‘She’s not benefitting America. She’s part of what’s destroying America.’”

Real tough guys, facing off against a biologist.

This “militia” claims that the government has taken their land unlawfully (although, in a lot of cases in the American West, the government bought the land from bankrupt farmers).  Needless to say, this is an interesting argument to people who truly have had their lands stolen.

It’s easy to make fun of these guys.  Twitter quickly gave them nicknames, like “Y’all Qaeda” and “Vanilla Isis.”  Things got funnier when, after claiming to be prepared to stay on and fight until the death, on Monday, the group went public and asked their supporters to send them supplies, including winter socks and snacks.

If I was in charge of local law enforcement in Oregon, I’d turn off the water and the electricity in the bird sanctuary, maybe fly some drones over the building for surveillance, and leave those guys to stew in their own oratory.

Except …

It’s groups like these guys who commit most of the domestic terror in this country.

Except …

If these guys were black or Muslim, and they took over a public building with guns, they’d be dead already.  I mean, Tamir Rice didn’t even have a real gun.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, doesn’t think the government is always right, but knows enough not to try to get in an arms race with people who have nukes.