A real patriot, this guy

[pscot]

by Tim Egan, NYT

Imagine a vendor on the National Mall, selling burgers and dogs, who hasn’t paid his rent in 20 years. He refuses to recognize his landlord, the National Park Service, as a legitimate authority. Every court has ruled against him, and fines have piled up. What’s more, the effluents from his food cart are having a detrimental effect on the spring grass in the capital.

Would an armed posse come to his defense, aiming their guns at the park police? Would the lawbreaker get prime airtime on Fox News, breathless updates in the Drudge Report, a sympathetic ear from Tea Party Republicans? No, of course not.

So what’s the difference between the fictional loser and Cliven Bundy, the rancher in Nevada who owes the government about $1 million and has been grazing his cattle on public land for more than 20 years? Near as I can tell, one wears a cowboy hat. Easterners, especially clueless ones in politics and the press, have always had a soft spot for a defiant white dude in a Stetson.

This phony event has brought out the worst of the gun-waving far right, and the national politicians who are barely one degree of separation from them. Hundreds of heavily armed, camouflaged supporters of the scofflaw turned out Saturday in Nevada, training their rifles on public employees who were trying to do their job. The outsiders looked like snipers ready to shoot the police. If you changed that picture to Black Panthers surrounding a lawful eviction in the inner city, do you think right-wing media would be there cheering the outlaws?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/18/opinion/egan-deadbeat-on-the-range.html?action=click&contentCollection=Business%20Day&module=MostEmailed&version=Full&region=Marginalia&src=me&pgtype=article

[adirondacker]

1. Excellent analogies to ponder. Bundy would have been shot on site if he weren't wealthy and white.nt

[Bernardo de La Paz]

2. The Shoshone ranchers lost their cattle twice already.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024840137

[Old Codger]

4. Just Guessing

But I really think that down the road he will get his due. The main and maybe the only reason they let him and the rest of those idiots get away with it for the time being can be directly traced to Ruby Ridge and Waco... You can be sure that the Justice department has the names and addresses of every one of those that were there aiming guns at law enforcement officers that were trying to do their job... We may never hear what happens down the road but I am pretty damn sure something will in fact happen, there will be consequences and those involved on bundys ( I wonder if this is Al's brother)side will not be happy about it in the end... One day they will find that they have been investigated, some with concealed carry permits will no longer qualify for renewal or will get letters informing them of the cancellation, someone may take a closer look at their taxes etc.

[Curmudgeoness]

3. Excellent point about the inner city eviction.

Funny how that works, isn't it? In fact, I would propose that an "unlawful" eviction in the inner city, with the eviction due only to a complaint about the condition of the building, would not stir these idiots to so much as a shrug.

[Drew Richards]

5. Now imagine now if Bundy was Black or Native American...

We sure as hell treated the Dann sisters worse and they had rights.

[blkmusclmachine]

6. ,

,

[SunSeeker]

7. It's the inner city eviction that should bring out the crowds, not Bundy's.

The poor inner city family is trying to stay in the apartment because it would be homeless otherwise. Whereas Bundy has plently of resources. He isn't fighting literally for survival like the family. He is fighting to earn a windfall profit by stealing from taxpayers. Mind you, Bundy could still stay in business if he paid the fees--other ranchers do. No, Bundy wants a windfall. The inner city family just doesn't want to die.

[DirkGently]

8. If there's no American government, his land is Mexico's.