Hundreds of Armed Right-Wing Militia Members Take Over Federal Building

And in a development that could transform the presidential race, Phil Robertson of “Duck Dynasty” has endorsed Ted Cruz. The ad really is worth watching. http://bit.ly/1Zweo4h

Re: layman (Post 6107496)
Are you still here???? How nice for you.

Three Idaho lawmakers spent the weekend in Oregon talking with members of the Bundy militia.

Reps. Sage Dixon, Heather Scott, and Judy Boyle, all Republicans, said they were going on a "fact-finding mission." The group was invited by an Oregon state lawmaker.

The lawmakers declined to give an interview Wednesday, instead referring to a prepared statement.

According to the release, the lawmakers first met with local and federal authorities monitoring the situation. There, they say a county deputy was hostile towards their presence, and used "inflammatory language."

Then the group went to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and spoke with Ammon Bundy. They were given a list of grievances from the militia. The armed protestors said their message is being ignored.

Congressman Greg Walden represents the state’s second district, which includes most of rural Oregon, including Harney County. He spoke on the House floor last week about the armed occupation. On Wednesday, Think Out Loud host Dave Miller followed up with Walden about his remarks and the ongoing situation. The Congressman’s prepared remarks were only five minutes, but he ended up speaking for nearly half an hour:

Quote:

It just all flooded out. Seventeen years of fighting the fight, and dealing with how we get treated in the rural communities in eastern Oregon, thinking about the people’s lives, the poverty, sometimes the desperation, the loss of the mills, the loss of the jobs. Just the thought to our lifestyle, whether that’s hunting or fishing or you know, driving off-road vehicles, whatever it is, public access or forests, thinking of the fights over how fires are fought or not fought, thinking about the litigation, the regulatory threats, some of the things I’ve been working on very recently involving a law I wrote on how to protect Steens Mountain and how the agencies refused to follow the law and fight with me on it. It just all poured out and it just kept going by the way. That’s probably the longest speech I’ve given on the House floor.”

n a county on edge about an ongoing armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge headquarters, the Harney County Sheriff’s Office put out a warning Wednesday about weekend gunfire. Don’t be alarmed, according to the agency, as the racket will be coming from hunters shooting at coyotes.

“Throughout the weekend, as the competition is taking place, folks may hear gunshots or see spotlights at night,” read the message posted in a tweet by the sheriff’s office. “We want to reassure you that (they) are part of the lawful coyote hunt.”

The third annual Harney County Coyote Classic is set to take place this weekend near Burns and Crane, according to the sheriff’s office. The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, which is occupied by an armed group, is about 30 miles southeast of Burns and 25 miles southwest of Crane.

At least 150 people split into one-, two- and three-person teams are set to be hunting for coyotes this weekend, according to the sheriff’s office. The hunt is mainly on private land around Burns and Crane.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife classifies coyotes as predatory animals. They may be hunted year-round and there are no limits as to how many coyotes someone may kill.

Last year, the Harney County Coyote Classic drew criticism from animal rights groups that said it was a waste of wildlife. A poster for last year’s event showed participants could win guns, cash and other prizes for bringing in the highest average weight of killed coyotes each day of the contest, as well as for the heaviest and lightest animal.

The occupied refuge headquarters is along a partly paved, partly gravel road that runs east to west; the road is called by a couple of names, including Sodhouse Lane.

“The competition organizers have asked participants to stay off Sodhouse Lane,” according to the sheriff’s office.

Anyone with questions or safety concerns should call 541-573-3162, according to the sheriff’s office. The line is not monitored throughout the day so anyone who feels in immediate danger is recommended to call 911.

Holding court in the Central Pastime, Burns’s lively hometown tavern, the city’s former mayor Len Vohs made just one request of the Guardian.

“Please be kind to us. Things have been difficult here for a while.”

Vohs is genial and gentle, but his request is firm and sincere. He’s clearly not sure how much more the district can take.

It’s not just the Bundy Bunch’s occupation of the ranch he is referring to – the standoff is just a symptom of the underlying difficulties that have led some locals to give them and other militias a hearing.

Like much of eastern Oregon, Burns and Harney County have long been in economic and demographic decline, and the future only promises more hardships. Staying may mean going down with a sinking ship, and Vohs is one of a long list of local politicians who’ve tried in vain to reverse the long-term trends affecting the region.

But local resources are limited. The outside world often forgets that the inland west is even there, leading some to turn to savior figures – such as the Bundys – who offer simplistic and bizarre solutions to entrenched problems.

... ... ... ... ...

Paramilitary and militia growth is directly related to the breakdown in public safety in parts of rural Oregon. Militia such as the Bundys, the Idaho III%, and the Oath Keepers use the well-worn rightwing tactic of offering to police disorder where the liberal state has failed. “These groups are great strategists, they jump right in saying ‘you need a militia’”, Campbell says. And they also appeal directly to the very real economic distress that affects communities in the “timber belt”, where resource-based prosperity has disappeared.

“These people are half-right”, Berlet says of those seduced by far right actors. “They are accurately perceiving that they are being squashed by the political economy and government of the US. We have an increasingly authoritarian government and an increasing disparity of wealth. That is a recipe for revolt.” Neither major party “has had any sense of responsibility for the collapse of rural economies in the US”, he says, adding that the American dream of modestly increasing prosperity “has been stomped on.” It makes sense for them to be angry.

That anger will hardly be reduced by the circus that has attended the Bundys’ occupation, or the tendency to focus on their stunts, rather than the real pain this community has felt over decades.

What are the kindnesses we can offer communities like Burns? As the siege drags on in the Malheur national wildlife refuge, the question has become far more urgent.

I've read a whole lot of blatham and glitterbags posts, and I disagree with your assessment. blatham pompous? Not by a stretch....

You missed the context of the exchange and I'm not going to bother explaining.

How do these dog and pony shows get to be called debates,anyways?

BURNS – Oregon State Police on Friday arrested one of the protesters occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after he drove into town, accusing him of having a stolen vehicle.

The man was identified as Kenneth Medenbach, 62, of Crescent. He was arrested on suspicion of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, a class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

Law enforcement officials said Medenbach is currently on federal probation stemming from an earlier militia-related episode in southern Oregon. He was to be booked into the Deschutes County Jail in Bend with bail set at $10,000, officials said.

He is the first person arrested in connection with the armed occupation of the wildlife refuge, taken over two weeks ago.

He was arrested in the Safeway parking lot in one vehicle bearing federal government license plates. A second federal vehicle was parked next to him, but the man police suspect of driving that into town already had gone into the grocery before police arrived.

More: http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/01/protester_arrested_in_burns_dr.html