Head ’em up, move
’em out,
Move ’em on, head ’em out Rawhide!
— Theme from CBS series “Rawhide” 1959-66
[To listen to the above theme song by Frankie Lane,
click here]
Happy image of the
month: Cattle that had been confiscated by the federal government
from a Nevada cattle rancher, set loose when the feds backed down,
running home to the tune of the theme from Rawhide. “Rollin’, rollin’,
rollin’...”
Why did the feds back
down, you ask if you didn’t happen to be watching Judge Jeanine on
Fox News one recent Saturday evening, or following the drama on talk
radio? I must tell you, because I’m still laughin’, laughin’,
laughin’...
First, just the facts
before I get to the complicated parts. Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy
has been in a dispute with the federal Bureau of Land Management for
20 years. In 1993, according to the Associated Press out of Las
Vegas, “The BLM ... revoked Bundy’s grazing rights on land his
Mormon family settled in the 19th century.”
On April 5, 2014, the
heavily armed feds confiscated the first of hundreds of head of his
cattle, Tasering Bundy’s son when he tried to film them. The Bundys
went to the media, and by April 12 the feds were challenged on Bundy
land by armed sympathetic ranchers, cowboys and militias from other
western states, with more on their way. On April 14, the federal
government backed down and released the remaining cattle, which ran
home. “Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’...”
Before I get to the
complicated part, let me tell you that if I were young, I’d have
filed this column last week from horseback on the western plains.
When we were kids, my
best friend and I, inspired by Zane Grey books and numerous
television shows like “Rawhide,” planned to ride horses across the
Western Range when we grew up. We were told by adults that most of
the range is fenced now, and we’d be riding down the middle of Route
50, but even so ... I emailed her last week and asked if she thought
it’s too late for us to mount up. She said that it is.
So, still a writer
instead of a cowgirl, I’ve been doing more research on the Bundy
situation. These are the issues:
Who should control the
range. From the movies, we remember the early range wars between
cattle and sheep ranchers, between cattle ranchers over water
rights. But many Western states, when they joined the Union, were
treated differently from our Eastern states. Congress reserved vast
amounts of land for the federal government, which seems in conflict
with the very concept of statehood. The federal government owns 84
percent of Nevada (including the part on which it tested atomic
bombs).
Ranchers were given the
right to graze their cattle on the land. One Western friend I
contacted argued that any ranchers who believed they had a contract
with the federal government should check with the many Indian tribes
across America that made the same mistake.
Bundy was accused last
week by Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nevada, of not paying his fees and taxes;
the delinquent tax charge turns out to be untrue (lyin’, lyin’, lyin
... .), and it’s hard to follow the fee issue. If the federal
government tells you to get your cattle off its land, to whom would
you pay the fee while you resisted? Bundy supposedly says he’ll pay
it to the state, which he says should be in charge of Nevada land,
not the feds.
Animal rights.
Initially, as a reason for reclaiming Bundy’s land, the feds
expressed concern about the “threatened” desert tortoise having to
share the range with cattle. This same federal government has
reportedly euthanized hundreds of the reptiles because of lack of
ongoing funding for its Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in
Southern Nevada.
Meanwhile, wild-horse
protection advocates say the government is rounding up too many
mustangs, while allowing sheep and cattle to feed on overgrazed
federal land. The ranchers normally pay fees for the use of the
land, while the horses run free for free.
The Bundys say some of
their cattle, mostly females, were killed by the BLM, and some
calves may have died because of separation from their mothers.
Michele Fiore, a
Republican Nevada Assemblywoman and Bundy supporter, said she has
heard of other cases of the BLM mistreating animals.
“I have ... emails from
ranchers across Nevada telling me that the BLM does the same
practices when they are herding horses,” she told Breitbart News.
“The foals are getting killed. Horses are getting killed. It’s
really horrible and cruel”
A BLM spokesperson
confirmed last week that two bulls were shot during the roundup
because they posed a “safety hazard,” according to the Las Vegas
Review Journal. Ammon Bundy said one bull appeared to have been shot
in the back of the head from a helicopter.
Enter stage left:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) on the side of
the cattle.
“These animals
shouldn’t be killed either by the government, or by the rancher who
plans to send the cows off to slaughter,” the animal rights group
said in a
statement last Thursday. “The best thing anyone can do to stop
the suffering of animals is to go vegan.”
I talked with my
vegetarian son who lives in Nevada and has been following the
situation. He, too, suggested that ranchers shouldn’t be given use
of the people’s land to raise cattle, which isn’t the most efficient
way to feed humanity. Fair point.
Follow the money.
Rumors abound about Sen. Harry Reid, who calls the ranchers
“domestic terrorists.” In recent years, he lobbied the BLM to change
the boundaries of the tortoise’s habitat to accommodate development
by Harvey Whittemore, Reid’s top political donor. Now, according to
Investor’s Business Daily, Reid’s son is involved in “a plan by
China’s ENN Energy Group to build what would be America’s largest
solar energy complex ... in Clark County, where Bundy’s ranch is.”
Libertarian
perspective. Another senator, Rand Paul, R-Tennessee, told Fox News
that “lands should be given to the states, and the states should
sell them to the people ... Public ownership creates conflicts among
various interests, such as environmentalists, gold miners, oil
companies and ranchers,” he said, and problems will only increase
when the economy gets into deeper trouble, as he predicts it will.
My perspective.
Billionaire T. Boone Pickens’ wife has created a
Nevada
sanctuary for the wild horses — clearly, better use of 1
percent-folks’ money than giving more to the government. What little
beef I buy will be from grass-fed free-ranging cattle like those
owned by Bundy. Reid should be removed as Senate president this
November. It’s fun to see the feds back down. I still want to be a
cowboy ...
Keep movin’, movin’,
movin’
Though (the feds’r)
disapprovin’
Keep them doggies movin’
Rawhide!
