Lights! Camera! Action! at the Texas-Oklahoma Border

[TexasTowelie]

By Carol Morgan

There’s conservative political gold waiting to be mined in the 116 mile stretch of the Red River that defines the border between Oklahoma and Texas and just like the prospectors of the California Gold Rush, political hopefuls rushed to seize the treasure by joining in the controversy.

Texas landowners in the area claim it’s a “land grab”, but the U.S. Bureau of Land Management says it’s merely a routine review of federal lands along the Red River. The spat between the two has been going on for a while, simmering beneath the wire of the media and lawmakers, but on the heels of the Nevada drama, it’s being conveniently used for all its worth.

Last week, the Texas GOP was chafing at all the attention given to Nevada’s Cliven Bundy and his standoff with armed officials from the Federal Bureau of Land Management. They were pea-green with envy. What they wouldn’t give to have a Texas version of the racist Bundy to gin up Texas’ Secessionists and to further portray the Federal Government as the bully enemy to be defeated.

It sounds like a script from a John Wayne movie.

For quite some time, far-right anti-government groups have been looking for any reason to fight against the Reagan-created land management conflict. Texans were resentful that Nevada got first dibs on being in the national spotlight.

More at http://lubbockonline.com/interact/blog-post/carol-morgan/2014-05-01/lights-camera-action-texas-oklahoma-border .