Posted on 01/03/2016 8:38:35 PM PST by Jan_Sobieski
How did an armed takeover of a federal nature reserve in Oregon come about? It dates back to when Eastern Oregon father-son ranchers, Dwight Hammond and his son Steve, were convicted of lighting fires on federal land. The Hammond Ranch story began in 1991, when Steven Hammond started a fire on his own land for noxious weed control. The fire escaped and burned an acre of BLM land that was leased by the Hammond family for cattle grazing. Then in 2001, the Hammonds started another fire on their property that ran off the Hammond land and consumed 139 acres of BLM acreage, also leased by the Hammond Ranch.
In 2006, the Hammond family set a back fire to stop a lightning-caused wildfire. The back fire burned about an acre of public land. Dwight Hammond and his son, Steve, were taken to federal court for the 2001 fire. Steve was also charged for the 2006 back fire. The father and son were tried and convicted under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, created by Congress in response to the Oklahoma City bombing. Under the Actâs minimum sentencing requirements, both Hammonds faced a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in prison. U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall stated: âThe verdict sends an important message to those who think that they are above the law.â
But in the October, 2012 sentencing, U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan reduced Dwightâs sentence to three months and Steve Hammonds sentence to one year, based on his belief that such a harsh sentence was not what Congress intended in creating the statute. âIt just would not be â would not meet any idea I have of justice, proportionality,â Judge Hogan stated.
(Excerpt) Read more at wnd.com ...
What is unjust, is that another Fed judge has declared that the sentences given and served, were not enough, and has quadrupled the prison terms after the original sentence was fulfilled.
What is unjust, is that a under growth burnoff does not does not damage the land, and in point of fact, helps it. Thus it cannot be arson in the true sense of the meaning of arson. It was unintentional as well...but those sentences, bad as they were, were served.
Now we have a fed judge trying to make a name for himself..
We have never been able to actually stop the 9th Circus, but they can be made to squirm.
They are trying to draw attention to this travesty. Win,lose or draw, it’s a valid fight...IMO.
The media will spin this from an urban viewpoint, and as suck ups to the Federal Government and the whole land grab Agenda (21). They will neither comprehend nor convey the injustice of what is being done because they are inherently socialist and don't believe in private property. They will focus on guns, white, christians, who call themselves a "militia" and put us right back to 1995 in the public eye (right after Oklahoma City).
However, you still did not answer my question.
So, spell it out for me. How is the armed occupation of a federal structure going to end this type of abuse?
Be the Indian, not the buffalo.
Well, I have little confidence that in a election season that this will result in a favorable outcome, but I have seen these issues stayed by a higher court and defused until Congress can act.
I think that would be a win/win...
But I am not confident that it will occur.
Having said that, to do nothing, based on what has occurred thus far, would be equally wrong if not more so. To do nothing in the face of this, no matter what the odds are of a resolution, would in my mind be a failure to defend against tyranny and as a result it would invite more of it as it always has and always will.
That would be valid advice if the fight had begun.
The fight has yet to start. It has been fought thus far in the court, a sentence was adjudicated and now the Fed has gone back into it and demanded another piece of flesh.
Trap? maybe....??
Does it matter?
This is obviously a media/propaganda event. It's got me thinking of a particular scene from "Is Paris Burning?" The headline that's up on Fox right now says
"ARMED PROTESTERS occupying a federal wildfire refuge in Oregon to protest prison sentences for two ranchers have warned law enforcement officials not to use force to drive them out."
Or what?
Don't be a media stooge like the guys who have already become extras in this show, and in the worst case don't be drone bait, it's not a pragmatic lifestyle choice...
What that bombing accomplished:
Derailed the movement to repeal the AWB.
Started the Domestic Terrorist bit, and immediately had it applied via the MSM to Christian whites with guns.
Defused the Congressional Hearings on the Branch Davidian Massacre, giving the impression that any score there had been more than settled by the terrorist bombing.
Ignored any Middle Eastern Contribution, including John Doe no. 2 and possible links to Abu Sayef.
Shut down the Militia movement, for the most part.
Reinforced the continuing demonization of white Christian gunowners, a meme that continues to this day.
Did it stop Government abuse?
Not only no, but hell no.
This is an issue people need to be made aware of. Ultimately, it affects their food supply. But the average urbanite isn't going to understand it. The average media person is an urbanite, and they won't be able to explain it, if they even had a notion to. (Remember, they are all in for global warming and saving the whales--not to mention keeping the polar bears from drowning).
Do you really think the MSM is going to fairly present any of this? Do you think they are going to explain why what the BLM is doing is wrong?
The mentality you run up against when land has been in your family for generations is that it is time for someone else to have a turn--Not kudos for having been good stewards.
Often you run smack into arbitrary laws contrary to that stewardship. (I know. Been there, done that, and denied the ability to cut and sell timber worth millions which was planted by an ancestor 180 years ago.)
Regardless of what I think of the issue of property rights and BLM excesses, I still fail to see how confrontation over a wildlife center, especially an armed confrontation is going to resolve this issue. I do, however see a great deal of potential for damage to the cause because of the way this will be treated.
If someone thinks armed protest is a good idea, then at least have it over an issue people will more universally understand and comprehend. Otherwise, the support (100,000,000 people if you want the same proportion the founders had) just isn't going to be there.
Most Americans aren't even going to understand the issue, and the MSM won't explain it in their haste to paint us all as terrorists. Just in time for Duh-1 to spew his gun control edicts (also illegal).
The government won't have to take our Rights, the people will clamor to give them up to be 'safe' from threats, real and especially imagined.
It's World War II. There's a truce at the moment. You have a squad and a few soldiers. Some of them have no rifles, you have very little food and ammunition, and you are surrounded by thousands of Wermacht soldiers, all outgunning you, and they have full armored vehicles all around you. You are in an exposed position, with clear lines of sight available.
You can call on your radio for backup but only, tops, 100 soldiers can back you.
Do you initiate an offensive action, or do you try to sneak out or wait it out so that you can conduct a more tactically-sound operation at a later date?
Back to now: That's not even considering the propaganda value that Obama will gain from this to initiate more unilateral gun control executive orders.
Think strategically.
The choice is between actually winning and improving things, or just venting and giving in to counter-productive emotional impulses.
The Founding Fathers were radicals, but they were radicals who thought strategically.
I don’t think it’s a legitimate comparison to lay this issue side by side with Oklahoma city and McVeigh.
You said it yourself, that is was uncalled for retaliation. essentially a excuse to launch a violent attack against a government facility.
That’s not at all what this is.
I view this as civil disobedience. Not a attack on government. If that were so, they would destroy the facilities (such as they are) and kill a few game wardens.
This is not that.
It is civil disobedience, but since the BLM is armed to the hilt with tactical gear and military style ordinance to effectively manage some dirt and trees, this action requires that the participants be armed to effect a equalization of force. (lopsided as it is)
There is more to this then just the BLM and the justice department. It’s not revenge.
It’s fear.
If the protesters were unarmed, they would have a disparity of force that would not invite armed confrontation and bloodshed.
That would invite dialogue, media coverage, etc.
People understand the unfairness involved in using weapons against the unarmed.
That they are armed will only justify a full-on assault in the minds of the media and the average schmuck.
It is the same excuse for escalation of force the police have used as they have become militarized: that they were outgunned.
Stupid. It might look like a checkerboard, but the game is chess.
“Okay. Explain to all of us who don’t think this is the time nor place to take CWII hot, just how this is going to stop any of this shit.
You have the floor.”
First of all, this is not going to cause a civil war, the fractures are already in place...there is probably nothing that is going to stop the full collapse of this nation. Indeed, if we do not make the government pause in their intimidation it will collapse much quicker...you underestimate the numbers of people, who no longer consider this government to be legitimate. There are tens of millions...literally. You also underestimate the evil of your government, this is no longer America Smokin’ Joe...this government is literally evil. Neither party is going to save it, they are both corrupted beyond repair. So, by stalling the Feds we buy time...you will not stop evil with good intentions...we can make them pause here because they know if they kill these people it will galvanize much faster the numbers against them.
If it were true that the BLM was rational and did not use military style armament, did not in the recent past deploy snipers, and did not use excessive force on a regular basis against citizens, perhaps we would be talking about a unarmed group of protesters...
But that is not the case here.
Frankly, being armed or not should make no difference as to the merits of the protest, given the history of this.
If it were me at that location, I would prefer to be armed.
I’m not afraid. I know the left has plans I don’t like and I know occupation of that building is bat shit crazy.
Not really.....nope... If they did, we would be doing things a lot differently. In fact, BLM would not have tactical gear and what are essentially trained swat teams..
Some of us do, yes....but the majority does not and has placed a sense of false security above all. This is why the big push on gun control. Guns today, scare people.
What makes American different then protestors at Tiananmen Square in China or in Gandhi's India, is that we have the right to be armed.
Buy time for what? Cnn to report on the crazy well armed militia? There are better ways to bring attention to this. Seems to me it’s all about attention for the militia.
If thinking these guys are dim makes me a zot liberal whatever remove us from membership. If calling you a dick for the boot licking shit is a problem again remove me.
The first thing you want to do is keep the main stream media out. My advice if anyone is involved with that bunch is to run, not walk as far and as fast away from them as they can.
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