Haha, what funny tortoises!

I think they're kind of cute! ^_^

Update from otter girlfriend just this minute: "Mmm sushi..." Clearly, this is how lutrines cope.

Hope she stays safe, whatever happens. Not sure which side I'd be on here, if any, but I don't want people hurt, regardless. We can at least try to have our conflicts without violence.

Oh, she'll be fine. She won't let something as simple as armed militias get in the way of sushi. It is my hope that the folks bringing guns into such situations start agreeing with you.

Mine too. While I'm not too fond of Feddies messing with people just trying to live their lives... I'm not sure if these ranchers are as innocent as some make them out to be. I just hope it's not a sign of what's going to happen in this country in the future. =\ Things are bad enough without the threat of small civil wars. Or big ones.

I think it's reasonable for a ranch to predict that the United States of America would be his landlord when he signs up to graze on federally-owned land. Having grown up in cattle country, the idea of paying to graze on someone's land is pretty normal, since cows eat a massive amount of grass.

This guy is making personal profit off taxpayer property. He has justified being on this "welfare" by saying it keeps his prices down--which is of course true, since you can afford to sell for less when you refuse for 20 years to pay for the things you need to make your wares. If I plowed in a farm on the front of the ND capital and started selling the produce, would I have the right to threaten the cops with guns when they confronted me?

I am pretty optimistic about this country and the world, in particular because people can meet, organize, & share info so easily around the world via the Internet. The furry fandom is a great example of this: people from all over the planet having fun, making art, and building friendships.

And it certainly looks like Mr Bundy isn't getting his civil war, considering the local cops and federal agents having refused to postpone arresting him for weeks now. That's an exceptionally gentle response from the Feds compared to other instances of people squatting on public land.

I have my own reservations about "Federal Land", but that's more on the topic of property taxes. I don't like the idea that you're "renting" the land from the government by default. 'Course, if what you're telling me is true, that's what he's been doing... and skipping his payments to his landlord. Which is a bad idea in general. Even if the tortoise thing is as bogus as some claim, it might just be the Feds' way of shutting off the heat. Right or wrong, they're putting pressure on him, and he doesn't seem to be reacting to it well.

As to the furry fandom... I am more cynical. When most of the comics and books put out are sexually explicit and Christians are either mocked or derided in those works... it really makes me feel like an outsider. Sure, sure, furries are all about "openness" and "making friends". Yet I have to wonder how true that is when I see so many hostile to my beliefs, to the point where they would ostracize me just for disagreeing with them.

I'm not convinced everything is great in the fandom. Not that I want to tear it all down, mind you, yet I think there are some things that need to be addressed. Hostility toward Christians, especially those who lean toward traditional and conservative views, is something I see all too often. Not that Christians can't do something to improve their own behavior, but it'd be nice if I didn't have to worry about whether my own beliefs will get me ostracized just for having them.

The fandom may never be perfect, yet that's no reason not to seek to improve. I'd at least like to see people talk about it without dismissing concerns out of hand. In the end though, I might just have to risk being ostracized in order to get the respect I want. Can't hide away forever, not if I wanna make a difference.

He doesn't owe them property taxes, though. He literally owes them rent. Not to brag about my knowledge of cows or anything, but it's common practice in cattle ranching to rent land (public or private) for grazing large herds.

Yeah, I realize that. That was more a detour in the conversation; I understood what you meant. Didn't mean to confuse things. =)

Persecution complex much?

We all know it's spelled "fursecution."

Sounds like your girlfriend might need security.

Oh, I think she'll be fine. She's used to working in the oil fields up here, after all.

All the same, best of luck to her, in both her safety and her mission. GO tortoises.

Go tortoises! You can do it! Eventually!

I'm afraid I do have to make a comment and point out that the situation is a little bit more complicated than that, and if you were to watch the whole clip of that "racist" rancher, you might notice he's making a point about the culture of blacks as it stands today, not saying they should still be slaves.

don't go assuming that the men and women down in NV are a bunch of trigger-happy lunatics and fanatics, man, or that the government is automatically in the right here.

I grew up on horse and cattle ranches in the middle of gun-loving North Dakota—you'll note I even have gun-toting heroes like Six Shooter in my novels. And I've been calling my Congressional reps of both parties about government overreach for years (such as NSA spying and the possibility of Australia-style censorship of video games). Heck, I even wear a cowboy hat and boots. So I suspect it's fair to say I don't look down on rural Nevadas, nor ranchers, nor gun-owners; in particular since I didn't talk about all Nevadans, but rather the armed militiamen from OUTSIDE the state who came into it to point guns at LOCAL federal officers, police, and residents.

Mr Bundy, I'm afraid, does not have such compunctions about negative generalizations. Let's look at the whole clip:

“I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro,” he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, “and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids — and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch — they didn’t have nothing to do. They didn’t have nothing for their kids to do. They didn’t have nothing for their young girls to do.

And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do? They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And I’ve often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didn’t get no more freedom. They got less freedom.” ~Cliven Bundy, Apr 2014

Mr Bundy is talking about black people as one homogenous group ("the Negro") and is making the assertion that "they" are doing the things he lists, things he feels are such a moral failing that it makes him "wonder [if they were] better off as slaves." Ergo, he is stating that "the Negro" is morally or mentally lesser when compared to other races.

racist |ˈrāsist|
adjective
having or showing the belief that a particular race is superior to another

As for the "culture of blacks as it stands today," none of my black friends "abort their young children [or] put their young men in jail because they never learned how to pick cotton." I invite you to show this quote to your black friends and ask if they feel it's saying their race is inferior to others.

If you disagree with state and federal agriculture policies, you should organize votes to change those polices, not show up and point guns at the cops. If you feel a racial group is in such dire trouble, you should go help them, not wonder on national TV if they were "better off as slaves." NO ONE deserves to be bought and sold. NO ONE deserves to be kidnapped from their home and worked to death on plantation. The notion that we should even wonder about that is deeply offensive, even to those who had been very supportive of his standoff with the rangers and local police.

“His remarks on race are offensive and I wholeheartedly disagree with him,” [Republican Sen. Rand] Paul said in a statement, according to Business Insider.

“Senator Heller completely disagrees with Mr. Bundy’s appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way,” [Republican Sen. Dean] Heller spokeswoman Chandler Smith said in a statement.
Source: CNN

While I appreciate the narrative appeal of a lone hero standing up against a sprawling, unfeeling government, I think we can all agree threatening violence to skip on your overdue rent and "wondering" if folks were better off as slaves are unacceptable in the 21st Century. We are all just people. We all deserve to be treated with respect.

have you seen this yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lomUYO2RIOU

and this?

http://scgnews.com/bundy-ranch-what.....not-being-told

Posted at the end of the article previously posted...

now as far as your girlfriend, i pray for her safety.

written by:Darryl Caylor - Regional manager at US Lawns:"The Bureau of Land Management is assumed falsely to be an actual de jure lawful agency of a lawful constitutional governing body.

The BLM is in fact, a de facto fraudulent usurper and not in any way a lawful Constitutionally recognized agency of the Constitutional Republic.

BLM is actually a sub-corporation of UNITED STATES INCORPORATED, a private foreign owned off-shore corporation since its last incorporation in 1925, copyrighted, trademarked and registered in Puerto Rico.

Under the Reorganization Act of Washington District of Columbia, by it’s own private business charter, neither the BLM, nor any other federal/corporate agency has lawful/legal authority, jurisdiction or interstate nexus within the 50 state geographical landmass.

BLM, is actually classified as an: “Agent of Foreign Principle”, under the intergovernmental Personnel Act.

In other words, they don’t represent the Constitutional Republic or the interests of the American People but rather, a foreign owned principle i.e., the international banking/military corporate cartel of London City, England known as Crown Corporation as their supreme authority.

This has been openly admitted and exposed through Supreme Court cases since and even before 1938.

NOTE: It is now illegal to mention any of these pre-1938 Supreme Court citations in a current court of law in Amerika.

That should prove everything to you right there.

This private criminal foreign owned off-shore corporation (USA Inc.) has in fact, invaded and usurped our Constitutional Republic like a cancer invading a host body since 1871 to present.

The core issue here is that the BLM must be exposed for the invading criminal usurpers that they are. They have no legal/lawful standing and must be deemed as an invading hostile corporate/military enemy of We The People.

This is no different than having a snake-pit of London Banksters coming to Nevada to lord over the Bundy family, which is exactly who the real bosses of the BLM actually are by-the-way.

The only issue that should be addressed is, does the BLM have legal standing?

The answer is: No, they do not have legal standing and they know it. They just hope the American People never come to that realization.

It’s time for the American People to learn the actual truth about our real history as a nation and not all the myths and lies spewed out by our fascist/marxist collectivist controlled school systems. "

http://scgnews.com/bundy-ranch-what.....not-being-told

I was curious so I sat down and watched the whole clip. I've been staying away from the whole mess because it's going to be all full of drama, but I started looking into it now...

It took a while to get to the part that even dealt with the issue, but...yeah. The racist comments or not aside, the guys family for years apparently didn't think they should pay taxes and that the government shouldn't be able to do anything to people. The group itself has had members involved in shootouts with federal marshals, selling illegal weapons...

The group itself has had ties to racist groups since as far back as the Civil War up until modern times. The militia that showed up talked about using their wives and daughters as human shields against the federal agents...

Agree with them, disagree with them...they have some serious issues. I have to admit, I DO agree that the government is out of control, but I wouldn't associate myself with someone involved in a group with such strong ties to racist groups and willing to sacrifice family to push their agenda.

Also, saying that every black person is on government assistance and might be better of picking cotton as a slave is about as racist as it gets. The man LITERALLY came out and said that every black person is on government assistance, because, and I quote, "They never learned to pick cotton." That's not a comment about black culture, that's pure racism.

Wow...sorry for the brick. :p

Yep.

And I agree that the state and federal governments in this country need to be reined in, especially in areas like surveillance on civilians, censorship, insufficiently transparent campaign finances. I have to admit, however, that government has a real role to play in society, so long as it's answerable to the people. Guess the key as always is finding the balance between the individual's and the group's needs.

Yeah, that's the tricky part really. I mean, 90% of the forms of government out there are actually pretty good...until you put people in a position of power...then they start abusing it. Can't really blame them though, one of the best examples I ever heard was when I was talking to a friend about communism and one of the things we talked about was how hard it would be to say, NOT favor your friends over some total stranger...even if that total stranger needed the resource or whatever you were in charge of more.

Very true.

What if that resource...were sweet electric guitar solo?

Hehe, you is a silly. :)