Thursday, June 9, 2016

Rugged Individuals

by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist

This past January several angry protesters stormed a closed federal wildlife reserve in rural Oregon and "occupied" the place.  Two of the armed "patriots" involved in that takeover of an empty building were Ammon and Ryan Bundy, sons of deadbeat Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy who had had his own "standoff" with the federal government the preceding year.  Pappy Bundy had been angry with the government because they expected him to pay for the privilege of grazing his cattle on federal land.  He is reportedly more than a million dollars in arrears on his grazing fees.

The Bundy boys were also protesting federal ownership of public lands - as well as defending a couple of local arsonists who had set some dangerous brush fires.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy's gang, a group calling itself "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom" did not seem to be very well prepared for their armed rebellion and seizure of a public facility.  Less than two weeks into the takeover, their mother, Carol Bundy, issued a public plea for people to send war supplies to her heroic sons and their comrades in arms.   Carol said the hillbilly patriots were in dire need of sleeping bags, wool socks, cigarettes, toiletries, food, coffee, and French Vanilla creamer.

Eventually, the federal government tired of the dog-and-pony show and rounded the guys up.  One of the protesters was killed as the siege ended, but the rest were marched quietly off to jail - where they remain today.  Ammon and Ryna were denied bail.

Not surprisingly, these freedom-loving individuals do not seem to be enjoying their time behind bars, and the Bundy brothers are beginning to kick up a fuss.  In particular, they feel their constitutional rights are being trampled.  Ryan Bundy has noted that he is being denied his Second Amendment right to bear arms, a right that he never waived.  He also feels that their freedom of assembly is being infringed upon because they brothers aren't being allowed to meet with each other or with their fellow jailbirds - and they can't move about freely.

The Bundys are also demanding access to electronic media and the Internet so they can do research for their defense.  In addition to Internet access, their demands include a cordless printer, scanner, external hard drives, and Microsoft Movie Editor.

The local sheriff has noted that the jail does not have Wifi access - but the prisoners do have use of the law library.


There is no word on whether the sheriff is providing his prisoners with French Vanilla creamer for their coffee or not.

Life behind bars - the horror, the horror!

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