Oregon "Militia" Men Are Actually Welfare Cheats, Only with Cows.

Cowboy equivalent to food stamps: My cows eat for free on federal lands.

I offer a link to Amanda Marcotte's takedown of the Bundy creed because it aligns perfectly with mine: These dudes are embarrassing themselves, so don't confront them, let them peter out awash in their own hypocrisy:

The only big action that the militia has taken, besides doing a bunch of news conferences where they play at a being tough guys, is tearing down a fence put up to keep privately owned cattle from grazing on public lands. This action was meant to drive home their main demand, which is for the federal government to give ranchers across the West free land to graze cattle with.

It’s hard to overstate how ridiculous and incoherent this demand is. These men are, to the last one, pretty hard-line conservatives, with ringleader Ammon Bundy being a registered Republican and Tea Party sympathizer. In other words, these are people who want to dismantle the social safety net and resent the federal government providing basic life necessities to people in need, such as food, shelter and healthcare.

But while they resent every bite of food going into a poor child’s mouth, they are threatening a violent standoff on the grounds that the taxpayers should be feeding their cows for free. And let’s be clear, this isn’t a “cow rights” issue. They want the taxpayers to feed their cows, but rest assured, they plan to keep all the profits off selling the cows we fattened up for them. It’s the equivalent of a car company asking the government to simply give them the steel for free to make cars.

Right, conservatives. I do agree with Amanda that these guys should be rounded up and arrested after the dust clears, just like Pappa Cliven Bundy ought to be, especially in light of what the charade has cost the local governments.

It remains a joke even as it gets less funny. Now the occupiers are threatening to set up "courts" to try offenders. Holy crap. I still expect them to get hungry and go home, but they insist on more nonsense before they do. Hope it damns them more in the end.

Note. At the end of the CNN article, it appears the group, after meeting about the "common law" jury, will plan their leaving. Hope so.