a few bundy gang protest pointers

In 1963, at the ripe old age of five, going on six, I traveled to Washington, D.C., where I single handedly led the march on the Lincoln Memorial where Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream Speech", using notes I provided him, thereby lighting one of the lasting sparks in the civil rights movement in this country.  Okay, maybe I didn't really ghost write his speech, and maybe I didn't really lead the march, and maybe all I really did was sit in the back of the station wagon, asking "Are we there yet?" every ten minutes or so, while Mom and Dad tried mightily not to entertain thoughts of strangling me, or at least act out on those thoughts.  And maybe all I did when we got to Washington was play in the reflecting pool while history was playing out before my eyes.

We do not expect a five year old to remember a hot August day, with a large crowd around him and a cool reflecting pool available to remember much of anything except the pool, and that was my only memory of the day until the day of my father's funeral forty-three years later, when my older brother mentioned my parents taking us along in a caravan bringing people, mostly people of color, to Washington for the March.  I remember asking Mom about it afterwards, and her telling me in a matter of fact manner, something along the lines of "Of course, we did.  Why wouldn't we?  I'm surprised you don't remember it".  Well,  I remember the reflecting pool...

Against this background, with the addition of occasional protest marches against the Vietnam War, Nixon, my own sit ins protesting administrative decisions at the college I attended, and keeping the spirit alive, it has not surprised me that my sons have inherited the protest mantle, Jeremy in particular, who has been extremely active in various movements, including Occupy.  I have not always agreed with him.  In fact, there have been times when I have thought the he and his fellow protesters have stepped over the line, have protested just for the sake of protesting, or have just done stupid things in their attempt to be heard.  I will, however, always stand for his right to protest, even if I do believe there is a time and place for everything, and even if I do believe he does not need to participate in every protest everywhere.

While I do not always believe in what Jeremy protests, last night he was mostly right on the underlying facts, and certainly absolutely right on the principle, in one single sentence posted on Facebook:

"You know what? Fine...the Bundys are not guilty. That means that those defending in the Dakotas           are also not guilty. Period"

All right.  Before we start up, I will concede this much. The above statement is a classic example of oversimplification.  We are talking about two completely different situations with their own set of facts and circumstances.  I was not at the Malheur Wildlife Range, and neither was Jeremy.  I don't even know where it is, except for the news reporting it being somewhere in Oregon.  I have no first hand knowledge of what happened there on a moment by moment basis.  I have also not been to the area in North Dakota where the Pipeline Access protest has been ongoing, and have no first hand knowledge of the moment by moment occurrences there.  Jeremy has also not been there, although he wants with all his heart and soul to be among the protesters.  All I know is what I read or see in the news and what I hear from people who were at the scenes, which is not much, but this is what I see in comparison.  This is where Jeremy gets it right.

The Bundy Gang, gathered, armed to the teeth in a National Wildlife Refuge where most, except their most ardent admirers, concede they had no right to be.  The Natives and Protesters, the N&P for short, gathered on the Native's ancient tribal land, where most except the Bundy's Gang's most ardent admirers, concede they had every right to be.

The Bundy Gang holed up in federally owned buildings, and from most accounts, trashed the place.  The N&P are staying in tents on Native owned land, or in the homes of people sympathetic to their cause.  I will concede that the area where the tents are located appear to be messy, but then again, we cannot tell at this point if this is the condition the N&P intends to leave the site.  Given the Natives reverence for their ancient sites, I would doubt it.

The Bundy Gang, as noted above, showed up armed to the teeth, and threatened openly to shoot any federal or state law enforcement that tried to move them out of the Malheur Wildlife Range.  Their supporters from around the country tried to get there, further armed to defend the Bundy Gang's rights. The N&P appear to have shown up with dreamcatchers, peace pipes, video cameras and a few journalists and threatened to use their bodies to block access to the Dakota Pipeline construction site.  Those from around the county who sought to join them, for the most part appear to have been similarly "armed".

There was a confrontation with law enforcement, at which time a member of the Bundy Gang was killed.  Whether or not he should have been shot is another issue; however, it is noted that the man was fully armed at the time.  During the confrontation at the Dakota Pipeline, there have been a few confrontations with law enforcement.  Nobody has been killed.  Some idiots, one of whom was a presidential candidate, decided to vandalize some construction equipment by spray painting it. 

The Bundy Gang ultimately surrendered to law enforcement when threatened to be removed forcibly, only when law enforcement negotiated with the Gang's leadership and only when it became clear that they had no support from the local population.  About one hundred people with the N&P were arrested yesterday.  There were no negotiations.  There were armed tanks and riot police, who dispatched the arrestees with mace and riot gear.  There is video of a fire having been set on the highway that does not appear to have spread and does not appear to have done anything except scorch a small area of asphalt.  There are reports that one person with the N&P fired a single shot in the air, striking nobody.  While there are reports that locals are not entirely with the N&P, there are at least as many reports that there are many sympathetic locals.

Let's be clear.  If anyone did fire a weapon in this situation, that's a crime.  The person who fired the weapon should be prosecuted.  Whomever set the fire on the roadway also committed a crime, and should be prosecuted.  The Bundy Gang?

Not guilty.

At least, that's what a jury said, and as a member of the bar, and a citizen of this country, I am compelled to accept their verdict.

Granted, I was not at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.  I was not at the trial.  I do not know the precise charges the defendants were facing, the manner in which the testimony was rendered, the manner in which the charges were read to the jury, the jury themselves, or how they reached their verdict.  I can only assume, based upon what I do know, that for the Bundy Gang to be not guilty, either they had to have been charged with the wrong crimes, the prosecution had to have been inept, or the jurors, well... I cannot claim to know or even guess at what they saw or heard, or what they were thinking.  

So based upon all of this, I hereby give my advice to the N&P for future protest at the Dakota Pipeline:

1.  Show up wearing Stetsons, flannel shirts and jeans.  For the men, grow beards, if you are old enough. 

2.  Leave the women at home.

3.  Bring enough weaponry with you to arm a third world country, although please do not bring any actual ammunition, as we do not want anyone to actually get hurt.  When law enforcement moves in, yell that they are coming to take away your second amendment rights.

4.  Leave the children at home.

5.  Find a few government regulations that might apply, such as the types and applicability of the construction equipment, the ratio of protesters to police or the number of port-a-potties on site, and call Fox News, Breitbart and Red State Nation to let them know you are protesting government overreach.

6.  Leave the disabled at home.

7.  Carry signs saying "God Bless Exxon" or "God Bless Monsanto" or any other major company.  No need to offend here.

and most of all...

8.  Leave the Native Americans at home.

Trust me. 

 It worked for the Bundy Gang, except for the no ammunition thing.  It will work for you.

white fluffy duckies

As I get closer to retirement, friends have asked what I intend to do with my twilight years.  There have been times I thought about writing a column for the local newspaper where I end up; however, I am not at all sure that the Powell Tribune is ready for "The View From Here" that I had bounced around in my mind for a while.  Besides, I probably would have had to interview for a job, and that would have instantly killed things.

At least if I write a blog, I only have to interview myself first, and being the egotist that I am, there is very little chance of getting turned down.  About the worst that could happen would be if nobody ever looked at this aside from me, and that's not really all that bad.  I like my sense of humor, frequently laughing at my own jokes.  Yes, that's me, the weird, getting a little older guy in the corner looking at his tablet and giggling to himself.  Keep small children and pets away.  

I am not sure how often I intend to post anything here.  I do not intend to be a slave to posting just to say something, anything.  Most who know me know my political views that will probably become manifest here.  It's my guess that there will be rants over political issues, social injustice, and the single most important issue on the planet, the New York Giants, as well as anything that strikes me as funny.  While I will invite comment, I ask only that it remain civil.  To paraphrase my all time favorite columnist Stan Isaacs, who would invite comment and criticism over everything except his choice of the chocolate ice cream at Redding Terminal in Philadelphia, I will brook no dissent over the Giants.

So, what to call this enterprise?

The original thought was, as noted above, "The View From Here".  Frankly, I do not know why I moved away from this.  Thoughts drifted to something ethereal.  I thought I had landed on "The Long Walk into Nothing", but found out it was already taken.  After bouncing a few really bad ideas around in my head, I finally came upon the brilliant, yet demented idea of finding famous last words from a celebrity, even if the celebrity was extremely obscure, and riffing off of one I liked.  "Oh wow" a la Steve Jobs was rejected out of hand.  Also rejected, but not without a number of laughs, was Louise Marie Therese de St. Maurice, whose last words, purportedly while ripping one on her death bed were "A woman who can fart is not dead".  You can only imagine what the name of the blog would have been.  While any number of people who expressed undying love for their fellow man or their family was nice, people who know me would have been disappointed in the obviousness.  

James Rodgers, who was executed by a firing squad came so close, you might as well call him the runner up.  When asked just before the firing squad did their thing if he had any last requests, he replied, "Bring Me a Bullet Proof Vest".  The name of this blog, therefore, was almost "Bring Me a Bullet Proof Vest" or just "Bullet Proof Vest".  

And then, there it was.

Derek Jarman was an English artist writer and film maker.  I know absolutely nothing else about him other than reading that his last words purportedly were "I want the world to be filled with white fluffy duckies".

Mr. Jarman, this one's for you.