Thread: Rand Paul Defends Cliven Bundy: "Federal Government Shouldn't Violate The Law"

Real Clear Politics

Rand Paul Defends Cliven Bundy: "Federal Government Shouldn't Violate The Law"



SEN. RAND PAUL: I think there’s an opposite thing to what Harry Reid said, and that’s that the federal government shouldn’t violate the law. Nor should we have 48 federal agencies carrying weapons and having SWAT teams.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/vid...e_the_law.html

Vin Suprynowicz

‘The more cows on the range, the more tortoises’

“History reveals a positive correlation between cattle and tortoise populations: the more cows on the range, the more tortoises, and with fewer cows there will be fewer tortoises. There is ample evidence that this correlation is a cause and effect relation."

A May 14 editorial in the Review-Journal cited a portion of Vern Bostick’s study, “The Desert Tortoise in Relation to Cattle Grazing,” published in “Rangelands,” June, 1990.

This brought a letter from a newly arrived “expert” on the extent to which desert tortoises are allergic to having large ungulate grazers sharing their range, arguing that desert tortoises won’t use cow droppings to get nourishment or moisture no matter how desperate their straits, and that “All leading tortoise scientists agree that cattle grazing and tortoises don’t mix.”

I’m not a “leading tortoise scientist,” but I’ve been out on the range visiting with some of Nevada’s long-time, multi-generation ranchers, and those experts tell a different story.

Cliven Bundy, who grazes the Mesquite allotment, says he’s seen an exhaustive study compiled — at great expense and under federal orders — when the big Kern River natural gas pipeline was laid through southern Nevada, counting the fewest tortoises in route miles where cattle and sheep hadn’t grazed in recent years; many times higher tortoise densities in areas where cattle still graze; and the highest tortoise density of all right here in the Las Vegas valley — hardly evidence that this is some fragile creature endangered by the very presence of mankind and his infrastructure.

Seems like we might want to take a closer look at that document.

Not that such findings should come as any surprise. Cattle’s presence on the land benefits tortoises in many ways. Cattle mean ranchers, and ranchers make some effort to reduce the populations of coyotes and ravens, which are the tortoises’ main predators. Ranchers also clear out springs and pipe water to remote tanks, so both the ranchers themselves and their wandering cattle bring water to areas where deer, and doves, and quail — and especially tortoises, who can’t travel as far in a day as any of those species — would otherwise find none.

Finally, cattle graze down brush, reducing the severity of range fires and causing tender new shoots to grow in closer to ground level, where tortoises can more easily reach them.

Meantime, Vernon Bostick — whose credibility has been considered very high indeed among the people-off-the-land gang when he’s saying things they like to hear, as when he confirmed the presence of “protectable” Big Horn sheep in the mountains south of Boulder Dam, years ago — telephoned last week to discuss the matter.

“They claim cow dung is ‘nutritionally deficient,’ Vernon laughs. “It’s high in nitrogen and that’s USDA Bulletin No. 49. Cows absorb 20 percent, pass 80 percent of the nutrients through their system. And they graze stuff too tough for tortoises to masticate. …

“Each cow makes 12 deposits a day and it’s 90 percent water,” Vern explains. “Remove the cattle and the tortoises are dependent on rainfall; they have to hold their urine …” which can result in illness and, eventually, death.

Mr. Bostick followed up with a lengthy letter.

“The tortoise fraternity will (try to) discredit what I write because I am not a herpetologist. Deciding if Nevada tortoises should be named as a distinct subspecies is herpetology. Managing animals on the range, wild and domestic, is range management. I am not encroaching on their field; they are encroaching on mine. And they are awfully short on clues. …

“Rob Mrowk in (his) letter to the editor opened his rebuttal of my 1987 report … with this statement: ‘All leading tortoise scientists agree that cattle grazing and tortoises don’t mix.’ whatever that means. …

“Before I offer my rebuttal of the above nonsense allow me to qualify myself as an expert witness. …”

Vern has an MS in biology from UNLV and a BS in range management from Colorado State. He wrote the text for a course in judging range condition and trend (whether the range is improving or deteriorating) taken by all U.S. Forest Service personnel working in Arizona and New Mexico.

“I will call History as my first rebuttal witness,” Vern writes. “Before there were any cattle grazing on the western range the desert tortoise was extremely rare. The first Spanish explorers found roasted shells at old Indian camps but never saw a live tortoise. They concluded that this unique reptile was extinct. … Spanish colonists brought cattle with them. Cattle and tortoise have shared the same range for more than three centuries in some places and for more than a century everywhere. …

“The following quotation is from Kristin Berry’s ‘Tortoises for Tomorrow’:

” ‘Long-time desert residents in California notes extraordinary densities’ (in the early thirties … when cattle numbers peaked) ‘that could have been as high as 2,000 per square mile.’

“A member of the survey party in Antelope Valley in 1933 saw over 100 tortoises in one place at one time. He told Kristin Berry that tortoises ‘were everywhere … all over the ground’ (and so were cow pies.)

“From the early thirties to the mid eighties the number of cows grazing on federal range was reduced about 90 percent. … From the early thirties to the mid eighties tortoise densities declined from 2,000 per square mile to 65 i.e. 97 percent (Medica, oral communication) in response to reduced cattle grazing. Kristin Berry used this drastic reduction in tortoise population to get the desert tortoise listed as an endangered species. Then she used this listing to ‘get rid of the cows.’ Mission accomplished.

“History reveals a positive correlation between cattle and tortoise populations: the more cows on the range, the more tortoises, and with fewer cows there will be fewer tortoises. There is ample evidence that this correlation is a cause and effect relation.

“My 1987 report reviews all cases where cattle grazing was eliminated and tortoises had exclusive use of the range … In every case elimination of cattle grazing resulted in a smaller tortoise population.

“The most complete data is from the Beaver Dam Mountains. Woodbury and Hardy reported a tortoise population density of 150 per square mile in 1948. BLM reduced cattle grazing a few years later and eliminated cattle in 1970. Coombs reported a tortoise density of 39 per square mile in 1974. In these 26 years cattle use was reduced 100 percent and tortoise numbers were reduced 74 percent.

“These tortoises were doing so poorly a veterinarian, Dr. Jarchow, was consulted. He reported all six specimens were suffering from osteoporosis caused by a protein deficiency in their diet. Dr. Jarchow examined five specimens from the same mountains that shared their range with cattle. He reported these specimens were all healthy and well nourished.

“The historical record proves conclusively that tortoise thrive when cattle are on the range with them and without cattle grazing they are always malnourished and unhealthy and their numbers plummet.

“The tortoise recovery program is based on a popular but false premise that the desert tortoise is endangered because of competition with cattle for forage,” Vern Bostick concludes. “The recovery team has had a lot of time and they have spent a lot of money. I think we should have an accounting. How many tortoise populations have they recovered and to what extent? Have any tortoise populations decreased since their program began? All new” (Southern Nevada) “home-buyers pay $500 into the recovery program. I believe they have a right to know what they are getting for their five hundred bucks.”

Sounds reasonable to me.

http://www.vinsuprynowicz.com/?p=80

Nevada Militia To Feds: ‘Control Our Borders, Not Our Ranchers’

April 11, 2014 12:04 PM


The rural Nevada showdown between federal government officials and militia members protecting rancher Cliven Bundy has evolved into a battle of government “tyranny,” with many newly arriving militiamen rolling in to draw a line in the dirt about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas. (Photo by George Frey/Getty Images)

LAS VEGAS (CBS LAS VEGAS/AP) — The rural Nevada showdown between federal government officials and militia members protecting rancher Cliven Bundy has evolved into a battle of government “tyranny,” with many newly arriving militiamen rolling in to draw a line in the dirt about 70 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Many with camouflage clothing and burly beards, the militiamen coming from as far as Montana are being welcomed by Bundy’s local family and friends who have already set up camp on the sun-scorched plot of land to protest the Bureau of Land Management’s controlling of the 150 miles of desert where Bundy says his family has ranched for decades – long before the BLM was created.

“They’re here to protect Cliven’s family and home,” Lynn Brown, one of Bundy’s daughters, told the Las Vegas Sun.

Tensions boiled over earlier this week, with a series of online videos showing agents using stun guns, German Shepherds, and reports that agents knocked one of Bundy’s daughters to the ground in attacks some are labeling “brutal.”

The standoff has mobilized Operation Mutual Aid, a national militia that draws members from California to Missouri, to “set up camp” to defend the property from what they say is a fight for freedom.

“This is a better education than being in school! I’m glad I brought you. I’m a good mom,” Ilona Ence, a 49-year-old mother from St. George and Bundy relative who brought her four teenage children to the ranch, told the Las Vegas Sun. “They’re learning about the Constitution.”

Ence’s teenage sons posted up a sign on the land voicing their opinion of what the federal government officials should be doing: “CONTROL OUR BORDERS! NOT OUR RANCHERS!”

Other protesters set up “Free Speech Zones” near the closed-off federal land. Another sign reads, “TYRANNY IS ALIVE” and “WHERE’S THE JUSTICE?”

Images of the forced cattle roundup on a rural Nevada range have sent ripples through the West, prompting elected officials in several states to weigh in, militia members to mobilize and federal land managers to reshape elements of the operation. Videos posted to YouTube and various conservative media outlets are equating the event to the Branch Davidian standoff in Waco, Tex. that left 76 dead in 1993.

Bureau of Land Management officials dismantled designated protest areas as the fight over Cliven Bundy’s cattle widened into a debate about states’ rights and federal land-use policy. Federal officials say Bundy has racked up more than $1.1 million in unpaid grazing fees over the years while disregarding several court orders to remove his animals.

Nevada state Assemblywoman Michele Fiore said Friday that people are standing up for important land rights.

The Republican from Las Vegas says she’s horrified that BLM police used stun guns on one of Bundy’s sons during a Wednesday confrontation on a state highway.

Several Republican lawmakers from Arizona say they plan to travel to the site to protest what they call government heavy-handedness.

– Benjamin Fearnow

http://lasvegas.cbslocal.com/2014/04...-our-ranchers/

Rand and Ron Paul ride to the rescue for Bundy in Nevada standoff with feds

Defiant Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy received some key but qualified support in his still-unresolved standoff with the Obama administration.

Libertarian icons ex-Rep. Ron Paul of Texas and his son, Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, both came out with critical comments on the federal government’s handling of the land dispute, while the Nevada Cattlemen’s Association broke its silence on the dispute Wednesday with harsh words of its own for the feds.

The NCA’s careful statement noted the group “does not condone actions that are outside the law, in which citizens take the law into their own hands,” but it noted that Mr. Bundy and his family were provoked by the policy of the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM).

“Ranchers such as Mr. Bundy have found themselves with their backs against the wall as, increasingly, federal regulations have infringed on their public land grazing rights and the multiple-use management principle,” the association said. “This is not only devastating to individual ranching families; it is also causing rural communities in the West to wither on the vine.”

The senior Mr. Paul also criticized what he said was overkill in the armed confrontation that nearly led to violence before the BLM stood down over the weekend.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Nevada Democrat, fanned the controversy this week when he said Mr. Bundy should face justice for breaking the law.

“It’s not over,” Mr. Reid said after the BLM’s withdrawal. “We can’t have an American people that violate the law and then just walk away from it. So it’s not over.”

“They may come back with a lot more force, like they did at Waco with the Davidians,” the senior Mr. Paul said on Fox News, referencing the 1993 Branch Davidian standoff in Texas that left nearly 100 people dead.

His son, Rand Paul, became one of the first of the 2016 contenders to weigh in on the dispute, criticizing the heavy federal enforcement array in the confrontation.

“The federal government shouldn’t violate the law, nor should we have 48 federal agencies carrying weapons and having SWAT teams,” Mr. Paul said on a Kentucky radio station.

The younger Mr. Paul also appealed for the Bundy family, which does not recognize the federal government’s jurisdiction over the disputed lands, to seek redress nonviolently.

“I hope it’ll go through a court,” he said “But if it were in a court, I would be siding and wanting to say that, look, the states and the individuals in the state should own these lands.”

The dispute between Mr. Bundy and the federal government revolves around grazing rights for a herd of cattle. Mr. Bundy contends he owns the land the cattle graze on and that it has been in his family for generations. But the government disputes his ownership claim, and won a court judgment that he owes nearly $1 million in grazing fees and taxes.

Armed federal law enforcement personnel surrounded the ranch, while armed militias joined with Mr. Bundy. After a few days, the government withdrew to prevent a direct conflict, Bureau of Land Management and Interior Department officials said.

Friends of the Bundy family said they found damage to Mr. Bundy’s property and livestock once federal personnel withdrew.

“They had total control of this land for one week, and look at the destruction they did in one week,” Corey Houston, a friend of the rancher, told Fox News.

Mr. Houston charged that the federal government left the territory in disarray, including destroyed water lines, holes in fences, and several dead cattle.

“So why would you trust somebody like that?” he said. “And how does that show that they’re a better steward?”

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...vada-standoff/

Apparently, Rand Paul has smelled out the GOP elitists anal scent, and has now decided Cliven Bundy and private land ownership is now a sudden liability for his 2016 'Republican' POTUS bid ..

Rand Paul condemns Cliven Bundy

Lorraine Miller, head of the NAACP plans to invite Paul to speak at the organization’s yearly conference in July.

Originally Posted by HAPPY2BME

Apparently, Rand Paul has smelled out the GOP elitists anal scent, and has now decided Cliven Bundy and private land ownership is now a sudden liability for his 2016 'Republican' POTUS bid ..

Rand Paul condemns Cliven Bundy

First he does then he doesn't, sounds about right for someone who is cozying up to the elite boss's, he wants to run so he needs to "Hell" his tail!!!!