5 Thoughts on the Bundy - Burns situation.

1. Equal Treatment: Haven't you wondered why, even though the Bundys owe the federal government roughly $1M, they get to continue living a normal life, while poor people all around the US are routinely snagged by court fines that force them into debt and eventually a debtor's prison? Hmm.
2. Equal Treatment, Part II: I think it's actually a great thing that officials (local, state and federal) have shown incredible patience, allowing these folks to insult everyone, carry guns around, protest loudly with threats against others. Now, if only other officials around the US would apply a modest level of patience and stop killing unarmed African Americans, we might have fair, equal treatment!
3. The Liars: Even though Ammon Bundy said that the local sheriff controls things, and even though his brother Ryan Bundy has said that they would leave if the town asked them to, when the town folk and the sheriff asked Ammon Bundy and his band of militia to leave, they said they would not. And even though they've said that they want federal lands appropriated fairly to those who deserve it, when the Burns Paiute Native Americans said that these militia were desecrating their land and demanded that these militia folks leave, the Bundy folks have ignored the true owners of the land below their feet. Are they not liars, then?
4. The Existing Federal Giveaway: The BLM charges ranchers $1.69 AUM (sort of a per-head cost) for grazing on BLM land; the State of Oregon charges $14.23 AUM, and in 2013, private landowners in the west charged an average of $20.10 AUM. The BLM is practically giving grazing rights away, with these low prices. When anyone complains about the regulation of BLM lands, even though they're paying bottom prices for access, it makes you wonder what they really want, which leads to The Real Agenda.
5. The Real Agenda: It's clear now, that the real Bundy agenda, is to set a precedent for a massive federal giveaway -- land -- to just one group: Farmers. Assuming they got their way, one would suspect that this would be a violation of WTO rules on federal subsidies, and would be promptly protested by the EU, Japan, Australia and others.