Heh been following this situation for a few days now and I was starting to wonder when it might get on CC.com lol.
Well first things first, where I stand from the info I have seen so far I find this to actually be quite an interesting situation for sake of analyses of American Politics. It's quite a hard case to take sides on too. Personally, if I were forced to chose I'd have to side with the Government on this one due to the fact Bundy grazed on public land without license or permission thus technically one could charge him with Poaching. Though I do have to add the way the Feds handled the situation is very dismal and also I think the 1 million dollar fine might be a bit much. However, the militias enterring the fray makes this a very tricky situation, and while I respect their right to protest, whenever we have militias involved no matter what nation, one must be wary and cautious.
Here is the information I have seen so far in relation to the Bundy Ranch Standoff:
Feds tazing Protestors Uploaded April 9th:
(note of caution: some cussing and police violence)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhJ6H9vlEDA
Here we can see that the reason people are angry and why the militias assembled was due to police brutality. This is the main reason people are angry and justifiably so.
Interview with Rancher Cliven Bundy on FOX News Hannity uploaded April 9th
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armAcbEO1PE
[video=youtube;armAcbEO1PE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armAcbEO1PE[/video]
This is first mention of the "Desert tortoise" argument (environmentalism argument). Lol I think the rancher is correct on this point that the desert tortoise is a run-around non-issue. However note Hannity does a good job of pointing out some background on Bundy and we also get a picture of the terrain and map. And of course this clip is significant since we get the Rancher himself's point of view
So I think from these two videos we can all ready deduce the Militia Factor. The Militias are involved for reasons of the early protests being cracked down upon and the Rancher himself in the interview implies he might have a hand in calling in some of the militias. Regardless of the rancher's right or wrong in the situaton also in the protest video we can see the Locals of his area support him, despite the fact that the Rancher himself admits to breaking the law.
(Going to do a second post in a bit to fit in the other info I have that deals with the Politics of the situation.)