Safiel
22
Yes, it is about “the land.”
The “land” in question is NOT the Bundy’s land.
Now if you can prove it IS Bundy’s land, please find and paste the full title here. 
Not, of course, the land which Bundy actually does own in fee simple, comprising his ranch.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/01/04/the-oregon-occupiers-complaint-explained-in-9-maps/
I will answer the above question myself. The disputed land belongs to the Federal Government, in fee simple, and is administered by the Bureau of Land Management. If Bundy or anybody else wants to use it, they need to comply 100% with the OWNER’s wishes, including all fees, etc.
On the issue of eminent domain, I strongly oppose it, unless it is absolutely necessary to fulfill a totally public requirement and even then, the governing body must prove their is absolutely no other practical method to accomplish its goal.
But eminent domain is not at issue in this case. The government has owned this land since the end of the 1840’s and only the government can decide to sell it or give it away.
Ironically, as the property owner, the government has the only property rights in this case.
And I will be waiting with bells on for somebody to find and paste the Bundy’s title to that BLM land. 
5 Likes
zantax
23
What do you think happens when undercover cops find a reason to detain someone?
WuWei
24
It’s not about the fees, it’s about driving them out. Same reason the BLM couple fenced off the water at Malheur.
Look at the totality of the situation.
1 Like
Guilds
25
If they paid the (legal) fees, would this thread exist?
WuWei
26
There is a segment of US society which has been taught it’s not right for a man to “own all that”. That anything more that what a house sits on plus a foot on either side is all anyone can “own” and that’s more than generous and needs to change.
But even more than that, it’s the way of life. “If you absolutely must eat beef until we take that away from you, you can feed it in a stall where we can’t see it.”
Yes, the central government “owns” the grazing. And instead of helping one of the few left still trying to produce something useful off of it, look at what it does.
The want the Bundy ranch gone. The Bundys gone. That way of life gone.
2 Likes
Safiel
27
I am a landowner myself. A significant landowner. 12+ acres in Pennsylvania. Currently 35+ and about to expand to 50+ here in North Carolina. Plus smaller properties in Florida, Virginia and Tennessee. And I enforce my rights as a private landowner very strictly, my land being fenced and posted.
I acknowledge the BLM has the same level of authority over their lands as I do over mine.
Now, does that mean I necessarily AGREE with everything the BLM has done? No. Do I agree with every BLM policy? No.
But if I was a rancher myself, I would acknowledge two choices in regards to requesting to use BLM land.
- Abide by their fees and terms, regardless of how reasonable or unreasonable they are.
- Stay off their land.
Several aunts, uncles and cousins of mine were dairy farmers and I regularly worked their farms during my childhood. One uncle owned 365 acres of land, but occasionally rented extra fields. When he did so, he surely paid the rent demanded and abided by the terms of usage dictated by the property owner.
I would not be against the Federal Government auctioning off allotments of this BLM land in fee simple to the highest bidder. But ultimately, only Congress can do that. Congress has refused and the land has remained federal.
Unless and until Congress relinquishes title to the land, neither Bundy nor any other private party can make a claim to it, but can only use it within the fees and terms prescribed by the BLM.
I am not approving of every BLM action or decision.
And federal law enforcement and federal prosecutors misbehaved.
The final statement points towards the abolition of qualified immunity.
Maybe Bundy could have got some of his money back in a lawsuit, sans qualified immunity.
2 Likes
WuWei
28
You can be more productive on 12 acres in Pennsylvania than anybody can on 120 in that desert. You are trying to compare apples and anvils.
This is a western problem.
■■■■ the BLM.
2 Likes
WuWei
29
Oh and “misbehaved”. Amazing.
Guilds
30
Last I checked, laws apply to all 50 states.
Don’t like, get the laws changed.
tnt
31
They get a warrant for their arrest.
They don’t just lead out from undercover.
zantax
32
Like this?
You would think the judge would have noticed he was issuing a warrant to arrest cops, or maybe you are just wrong.
They usually let other cops know, and then that person is “pulled off the street” by other officers after the operation is completed.
No need to break cover until you finish the job.
WuWei
34
Another case in point
The bureaucracy works in concert.
For every case we hear about, there are several more we don’t.
Texas
In Texas Rice Land Partners v. Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas , the Texas Supreme Court stated that a “pipeline company cannot wield eminent domain to build a private pipeline, one ‘limited in its use to the wells, stations, plants, and refineries of the owner.’ A common carrier transporting gas for hire implies a customer other than the pipeline owner itself.”
Time to take the land back.
2 Likes
“Back”?
The United States tried desperately to give away all that land. They got no takers.
WuWei
37
The central government absolutely did not attempt to “give away” anything. It attempted to shift costs to states under continuing onerous central regulations.
It was a false offer.
2 Likes
Sure they did. Homestead Act.
WuWei
39
Of 1862? 
That land was uninhabitable then. It’s not now.
1 Like
My point is - there’s no “taking it back”.
That land has been owned by the Federal Government as long as it has been part of this country.
Why is it habitable now?
WuWei
41
There is in Texas and Wyoming. As for Nevada, time for another Homestead Act.