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“The Sunday Morning Bray”, by Bray!

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Matthew 6:19-21 KJV

The Oregon Standoff reads like an old western movie where the evil Land Baron buys all of the surrounding land for pennies around one rancher then tries to squeeze him out of his land. The only thing this one does not have is the forlorn widow being tied to the tracks by Snidely Whiplash.

In this story the Land Baron is the Federal Gummit and his hired gun is the BLM. Oregon is the American outback which was originally a Territory stretching from California to Alaska and the Pacific to the Rockies until statehood ruined it. Once you drive out of Portland or the western one third of the state there stretches majestic mountains and high desert plateaus. The Feds have always owned Oregonians just like the rest of the Western states and in this state they own 53% of the 95,000 square miles although states like Nevada they own 80%. Why is that?

A state twice the size of New York and only 3 million people of which 90% live on 20% of the land in the lush Willamette Valley. The statehood of Oregon was granted in a questionable deal when Lincoln needed more states to pass the Emancipation Proclamation ignoring the population requirement of becoming a state to get the necessary vote and arm twisted the state to give up its land. The state traded farmland for cavalry protection.

You would think the District of Corruption would be happy with 53% of the state, but that is not how Moscow on the Potomac thinks, they want the other 47%. The Dwight and Steven Hammond families have been mired in a range war against the largest Land Baron in the world for decades fighting to keep their 60,000 acre working ranch of junipers and sagebrush and now they are tied to the tracks with the bankruptcy train barreling down on them.

What this boils down to is their ranch is in the middle of The Malheur Wildlife refuge in Southeastern Oregon and the BLM wants them driven out. This is an area where you can drive for hours without seeing a house or a car although you will likely see buzzards, eagles, mule deer and bighorn sheep. There are times you can drive through that area and see hillsides of thousands of deer that look like sheep until you get close and realize they are five foot at the shoulder and the size of a horse. This is some of the most beautiful land in America.

The Malheur Refuge is a gorgeous piece of land, although completely mismanaged; is one of the best grazing areas covering a smallish three hundred square miles which surrounds their ranch. Theirs is the last surviving farm the BLM has not been able to drive out by raising the water levels and flooding out the other ranchers. The Hammond’s ranch is a thorn in the BLM’s side so they have used the most vicious legal tactics to finish the job like a crooked judge in a western movie.

The BLM had brought a ten year old lawsuit up that the Hammonds used backfires to stop range fires which threatened their home. Both of those fires spread onto the refuge and burned some useless scrub and junipers causing estimated $100 damage to the refuge. The BLM claims they were poaching elk and used the fires to cover the evidence although the main witness was their grandson who has mental problems and if even true pay the fine and move on, but that is not how the BLM works.

The judge at the time said the whole thing should be thrown out, but the Feds pursued it and eventually found them guilty and sentenced them to a few months in jail which was excessive, but then the Obama appointee Amanda Marshall found a way to call this an act of terrorism and sentenced them under the terrorism act. They were sentenced to five years in prison and fined $400,000 which will likely bankrupt the family since the two primary ranchers are Dwight and Steven. The refuge has first claim on buying the property and will likely get it for pennies on the dollar to mismanage like the rest of the refuge. This administration cannot call ISIS terrorists, but they can call some hardworking ranchers terrorists and sentenced them to 5 years. Is there a cell in Gitmo open?

This is perhaps the most outrageous abuse of power in the West and even if they were poaching an elk the penalty far exceeds the damage? This is blatant corruption which is what the Western states and especially Oregon endures every day of the week. Whether it is a hard working rancher out in the middle of nowhere or a logger trying to feed his family getting shut down by the forest service over the Spotted Owl hoax, the corruption and mismanagement of our resources is continual and they need to be turned over to the states or sold to private individuals.

This is another example of why you cannot dictate resources from 3000 miles away by people who have no idea what or where Oregon is. Of that 53% of the land in Oregon it represents around 75% or more of the state’s resources. The founders of the state were interested in the farmlands of the Willamette valley while the Feds had their eyes on the vast forests of the Cascades and Eastern Oregon rangelands. They effectively own the people of the state who want to earn a living from proper stewardship and harvesting the state’s vast natural resources. In addition to this the Feds are now taking another 1,600 square miles to make another phony refuge south of Malheur driving more ranchers out.

The people in the west are basically slaves to the Federal gummit who have no interest in their needs, wants or lifestyles. This bullying is what the Hammonds represent and are being abused like the old westerns only this western is real. A ranch is going to be bankrupted because they stood in the way of a greedy land baron who owns the town. They are labeled terrorists since they had the audacity of standing up to this land grab and are being driven out for their stand.

The woman behind this outrage is an Obama appointee, Amanda Marshall who was a Sixties hippie and like most Stalinist Marxists believes the gummit should own everything. She is the one who engineered this outrage and like all liberals promotes a Utopian world through dictatorial fiat. The Hammonds have no legal recourse under the Terrorist Act and will likely be broken by Heir Marshall completing the Federal takeover. Once again the evil Land Baron wins while another rancher loses his land.

Pray America wakes

Note: The above opinion is not necessarily my own, but FReeper Bray’s. If you wish to discuss this, please ping Bray