rickirs

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All the red boys out attacking Abhisit following their hymn sheets.

I see there were shootings very close by

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A lot of "shots" happening in Nana Plaza.

The American revolution was the shot heard around the world. In Thailand it's been the tweet.

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India can have a free, peaceful election with 815 million voters. Indonesia can have a fair election. Even Afghanistan can make a safe and fair election.
It seems the Thai elections committee is either politically motivated to fail, or lack skills to do their job in holding an election correctly. Either, has no place in a Democracy.


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When you consider that the EC was created by the Abhisit/Suthep regime, it's not surprising that it seems set against the PTP regime in allowing credible and timely elections. I can't think of any democraticallyelected nation that has placed such control over an election to an election commission that seems unaccountable to no one.

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" But if worse comes to worse, he suggested that the government consults the Election Commission which could allow the budget to be expended even without the budget bill. "

And there is the nugget in this announcement. Pheu Thai simply wants to draw funds indefinitely with EC approval - for a whole fiscal budget ! - with no parliament, no legislative authority. In their dreams. Yes, the administration is dismantling. Pheu Thai has tried so hard to create the illusion that they are actually functioning. No, they aren't. And they weren't, even before dissolution. They want the process to work more efficiently ? Stop stalling the legal process. Allow it to proceed.

Well, what a simple situation.

On fact better than anything anyone came up with.

Just make it the case that if there is no sitting government , that the budget is last years main budget + inflation. Make sure that all the stuff that was set aside as a yearly stimulus expires and hey presto, you don't need a government any more.

I am surprised you haven't seen how this idea actually helps the pdrc.

PDRC doesn't want to get rid of government, only get rid of a PTP government. The PDRC/Democrats want to be in control of government to re-establish its political agenda to take the country back to its policies of 2007.

The changes you suggest require legislation, changes to the constitution, or both. With an interim government none of those actions can occur. Suthep knows that his reforms are not constitutional and has announced that publicly. But with his unelected People's Committee with him as Secretary General in control of the government will suspend the constitution so that charter changes can be made.

If I was Abhisit I too would take a death threat from Suthep seriously. First Abhisit says he will vote in the Feb. 2, 2014 election because it's his constitutional right. Then the next day he announces he will not vote, even to vote "no vote." Suthep said no Dmocrat will vote and he meant it. Now Abhisit says he will attend the EC meeting to organize the next election date. Then within days he announces he has to cancel because of "death threats" despite the presence of 30 PDRC security guards. It looks like Suthep has again smacked this puppy down.

Well, more Democrat charges of government corruption foiled again. Time to bring in the reliable anti-government NACC who will independently gather the facts to backup a predetermined charge of guilty. And it will only accept evidence and testimony from the Government that supports a guilty finding. Why confuse the charges with evidence that exonerates the defendents and just needlessly prolong the investigation?

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All the rice silos should be opened up for full public and independent scrutiny. It will likely take a court order, but it will be an unavoidable part of the rice scheme investigation. The full story won't be known until a full and independent inventory is done. The public - and the farmers - deserve to have this information.

Yes, let's establish another independent agency to screw the pooch more. We'll call it the National Antic-corruption Rice Commission to be known as NARC for short.

Let's take away the political labels for a moment and consider the situation for any hypothetical defendent.

If the NACC has indeed decided that its has had sufficient information to find a defendent not guilty, then continuing to hear additional testimony would be an unnecessary burden on both the NACC and the defendent. It is that scenario that Parameesanaporn presumes to exist based on the NACC being fair and politically nuetral. It is the nature of defense attorneys to find the glass half-full rather than half-empty.

If rather the NACC's decision not to hear any further testimony for the defence is because it has already decided the defendent is guilty, then the NACC has deprived the defendent of due process of law. It is not up to the juristional authority to determine what is adequate for the defense to offer testimony that it believes will acquit it. Rather its is the jurisdictional authority to judge the relevance of defense evidence. Violation of this most basic tenant for the defendent in a democratic society constitutes a presumption of guilt until proven innocent and the standard for innocence will always be undefined.

"The most common infringement allowing the rogue cops to extort money appears to have been that foreign dive instructors picked up and carried bags belonging to customers."

When an industry is burdened with daconian, one-size-fits-all regulations that encourages extortion and punishment of businessmen, it is the regulations that need to be changed for any kind of permanent solution to police extortion. Remove the incentive, remove the opportunity.

Thus far, the police have not disputed that dive instructors do violate Thailand work laws by picking up and carrying customer bags; it's just police extorting dive instructions for doing so instead of fining dive instructors and perhaps shutting down their business as a consequence. Until regulations provide clarification that allows dive instructors to provide "residual" personal services for which there is no separate charge but rather is part of the overall customer service experience, dive instructors need to comply with the literal reading of the current law. It would be hypocrtical to punish police extortion while allowing businesses to violate the law.

Anybody have any idea why the Constitution required elections within 60 days after disslution of the parliament and selection of an interm PM? It didn't say 90 days, 120 days or a "whenever evrybody is happy." There should have been some reasoning for a 60-day timetable and considering the Democrats after their election in 2007 took no issue of it then, why would anybody now do so? Maybe because the drafters of the constitution felt anything beyond 60-days was and untenable disruption of government and of people's right to conduct elections.

EC still expresses concerns that again the Democrats/PDRC may repeat their disruption on elections day and wants to extend the schedule as far off as possible to encourage parties to settle their political conflicts BEFORE the election. Well you know, that's what an election is all about. The PEOPLE settle political conflicts with THEIR VOTE and not with their whistles, guns, demonstrations, occupations, etc.. So EC needs to get going and fulfill its responsibility to DELIVER AN ELECTION in accordance with the constitution and not attempt to deliver political solutions.

Does anyone remember the article titled "Suthep talks to military at Chaeng Wattana" posted on February 19, 2014?

Suthep informed Gen. Apichart Sangrongruang, director of the Defense Industry and Energy Centre in a meeting that he told the military that the widespread corruption of the Thaksin regime and parlimentary "dictatorship" are the main reasons he and his fellow protesters are organizing mass rallies. He further told Apichart that the military should side with the protesters. I have to give the military credit for being accessible to all political factions, being patient with demands of support, and maintaining for the most part their current nuetrality with regard to politics. The military does not owe the CAPO a consent to his statement nor any other nonmilitary person and I hope it remains that way.

The Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation is warning Thais of sudden summer storms during the rainy season. Who would have guessed we'll have rain during the rainy season? Thank you DDPM for your scientific insights. Next thing you know DDPM will be warning of a drought during the dry season.

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I have no idea what some you guys are on about,

So if you are not for fair and free elections and it seems that way because every time I mention election you guys go off your rockers!

Sutep is the one who proclaimed himself the people medium wants to select who he wants to run the country etc etc.

It's not hard just set a date in July and get on with it.

Why are you so worried?If the dems win they win if the PTP win they win.!

Wow, you are having a better day, choosing the middle ground now---that's a good sign.

I have said all along, have elections when they are totally controlled/monitored, NOT like Yinglucks FEB one. Late July would be brilliant, most of the deadwood out of the way--fresh faces to vote for, all the rif raf blown away --banned. (whoever).

I do think much of Sutheps words were not to be taken too seriously, he will NOT be in the next government, because posters like me would object as he promised not to be involved. His job was to bring to light only the corruption and rid Thailand of this family who illegally run the country from UAE.

You really think Suthep would take TV posters like you seriously if you were to object to a broken promise that he will not be in the next government? Suthep is addicted to power, especially lost power, and he hungers for another round of drinks at the bar of government. Only when the Democrats/PDRC supplant Suthep as the party leader with a more moderate and circumspective leader will Suthep's political future be constrained.

What goes unnoticed in the discussion of an election date is the fact that prospective candidates must register PRIOR to the advanced election date, usually two weeks prior to the official election date. So aside for any political rhetoric,Thailand will know if the Democrats will participate in the election on the candidate registration date. If Democrat candidates do not register, there is every reason to expect that the Democrats/PDRC will blockade election stations once again so the court can nullify the results once again - in ad infinitium. While Democrats still could encourage its supporters to go to the polls with a "no vote," it loses control over election results - PTP might still regain control of the Government again.

Though now some Democrat leaders are suggesting the contrary, Suthep has NEVER conceded any deviation to his government/ elec-tion reforms requirement prior to holding elections. So long as the Democrats/PDRC view Suthep as their political leader, I expect he will continue to do everything to use civil disobediance, the NACC, the Senate, and the Courts to permanently delay elections until a time of his liking.

First off....

The PTP have no more say in when the election is held. They are just a political party with a bunch of their ministers in caretaker roles which is soon to be removed anyway.

The EC are the ones with the power to say when they are to be held and yet once again the PTP think they have the power to push them around.... Nothing has changed.

The Dems are totally right.

Whether they take part or not, this could end up a disaster much like the Feb 2nd election... In fact, a precedent has now been set, and it will be in fact easier for this election to become nullified.

The PDRC or whoever will not even have to block anything... They can simply urge a massive 'no vote' campaign in all the non PTP stronghold constituencies which is over 200 of the 500 seats. That will ensure the election can not be completed.

The EC has now wasted ample time to set up simple election reforms, and has failed to do so, which tells me that they are not really interested in democratic 'free and fair' elections which is the reason the commission was set up in the first place... The elections are no more 'free and fair' than they were before they came into existence.

So we can expect the Dems will not be running in these elections either, and why should they when they are blocked from campaigning where the bulk of the voters reside, and instead those people are intimidated to vote PTP.

Here goes another waste of 4 Bn.

I really hope they do get messed up.... That will take us way past September for another round of elections and by then the next rice crop will be in and all the rice farming families are going to see the real damage the PTP and Thaksin has made of their industry. They will realize what voting by greed has done to their livelihoods.

“The PTP have no more say in when the election is held…. The EC are the ones with the power to say when they are to be held and yet once again the PTP think they have the power…”

I guess you forgot that the Constitutional Court had ruled last year that elections will be held on a date agreed upon by both the EC and the Government? So both have equal power to say when the elections are to be held. Seeing as the Government wants June and the EC wants end of July, agreement looks possible. I find this equal power disturbing in that either side can forestall elections indefinitely or use such equal position as political blackmail or favoritism.

If someone wants to focus on election reforms, establishment of election dates might be one area, ie., set a 60-day maximum reflecting the spirit of the Constitution's requirement of the election to be held no later than 60 days after formation of the interim government. Thus, in the present case where the Feb. 2, 2014 election was invalidated, the elections should be rescheduled within the next 60 days following nullification.

Any time constraint has proven, however, to be a problem to the EC who repeatedly claims it is unable to organize an election within a 60-day deadline even when it is required to do so by the constitution. Furthermore, there is the problem of the Constitutional Court that is willing to violate a 60-day deadline in order to make any rulings on election disputes. These two organizations need to discipline themselves accordingly to comply with the constitution - now that would be a serious reform!

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"Somchai said the EC was equipped with legal measures to prevent a repeat of the problems that rendered the February 2 poll unconstitutional."

He should use these powers.

If they involve the police then we shall see.....

...then we shall see the difference the police made in the last elections - none. They stood idly by while PDRC padlocked poll station doors or barricaded poll stations to prevent voters from voting. What assurance does the public have that the police this time will do their duty to assure voter access to poll stations? But maybe the EC has a secret alternative such as alternate poll stations nearby the official poll station to divert voters to in safety. The EC did something similar during the registration of candidates in the last election.

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Yes, at the moment they are playing the 1812 overture by Tsaikovski.

Canons substituted by grenades.

Noooo. Whistles

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Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard said the meeting on Tuesday would prove the Democrats' sincerity in upholding democracy.

It will prove that they will stand against elections that are actually 'UN-democratic'.

Unless the PTP version of democracy includes the ability to

Buy votes.

Buy village chiefs to force voters to vote PTP.

Intimidate the Dem campaigners with murder and violence if they attempt to campaign in the north/northeast where 60% of the voters reside.

Use populist policies that harm the economy to buy targeted votes.

If the PTP are actually serious about democracy, they will agree to have an electoral reform to severely punish a party for any of the above.

If they are against an election reform, then they are admitting that they rely on the above to win, which is how they have won their past elections.

All quite simple really.... PTP hold the key to whether the Dems will agree to participate.

Your constant barrage of lies and innuendo is tiresome. If you are that certain that illegal acts are being undertaken, go and lodge a complaint. The Thai judicial system would welcome you.

The intimidation of candidates is more pronounced in the south, particularly in the Democrat stronghold, and apex of corruption in Thaialand, Phuket-Krabi-Surat thani & Nahkon Si Thammarat. Non Democrat candidates have been shot at, had their election signs vandalized and faced threats of violence. And yet, you remain silent. When Suthep was the chief organizer for the Democrats and delivered the votes in his fiefdom, do you think he attracted votes based upon his brilliant ideas and dashing good looks alone?

You refuse to acknowledge that the Democrat party has its own history of corruption allegations nd of vote buying and of intimidation. The Democrat Party has engaged in its own sophisticated form of gerrymandering except, that it directed it to appointing judges and election officials who could be counted upon to favour the Democrats and sabotage anything PTP.

I defy you and your coterie of vitriol spewers to step out of the shadows and to make your complaints and allegations public. Nothing precludes you from writing to the Nation and signing your name to that letter. I'm sure they would be willing to publish your allegations since you have them all substantiated.

You complain of the lies and innuendos, demanding that that he go and lodge a complaint. Two examples in other posts that are related to what he referenced have been highlighted. Candidate/canvasser murdered and poll of Democrat candidates revealing the lack of safety and intimidation of candidates in the North and Northeast. Yet you make the same accusations about the south without even one example. I suggest you do the same that you insist that he do by taking your evidence to the authorities. Write The Nation; sign the letter with your real name. Let me use your words:

"I defy you and your coterie of vitriol spewers to step out of the shadows and to make your complaints and allegations public. Nothing precludes you from writing to the Nation and signing your name to that letter. I'm sure they would be willing to publish your allegations since you have them all substantiated."

Your response is a sham.

Demoracts did not register for the election and no Democrats were on any ballots; therefore, there could be no Demorcat candidates/canvassers to be interferred with. Anyone who wanted to show support for the Democrats would be voting a "no vote" and no one would know who those people might be.

Why aren't the Democrats held accountable for all campaign funds spent by the 64 parties that participated in the Feb, 2, 2014 election that was nullified by the Constitutional Court?

The Feb. 2, 2014 election date was scheduled in compliance with the ruling given previously by the Constitutional Court that the election date need only the agreement between the Government and the EC. But because the Democrats/PDRC boycotted 10% of the election stations and prevented those from being avaliable to voters, by joint agreement the Government and EC scheduled a new election date for those boycotted election stations. Then the Constitutional Court nullified the Feb. 2nd election because not all elections polls were open on the same day. The nullification was the fault of the Democrats/PDRC.

To be fair to the 64 parties that particpated in the Feb, 2nd election, the Democrats/PDRC needs either to reimburse the 64 party's campaign costs that they now have to duplicate for the next election, be limited to half of what it would normally be allowed for campaign funds in the next election, or be barred from the next election. Oherwise an unfair burden is placed on the 64 parties to campaign for the next election date.

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When the lower house can meet and fulfill it's constitutional duties, then the upperhouse(senate) can meet and fulfil it's constitutional duties. A bicycle needs 2 wheels to roll. There is no 'urgency' here, especially if we are to believe the EC when they say the election is only a few months away.

Everyone knows that the anti-democracy 'establishment', nacc/cc/dems/pdrc/pad whatever are only pushing for this special senate session so they can illegally create a 'politcal vacuum' so that this group that can hardley muster 10% of the vote gets to 'appoint' a 'ruler and council' that has full powers, even though the constitution clearly states that the PM be an MP from the lower house.

This is destined to be decided by the Constitutional Court, and they will doubtless affirm that the Senate can indeed meet and fulfill it's constitutional duties !

And everyone knows that PTP aren't remotely democratic, interested in the rule of law, justice or governing for the benefit of the people; anymore than Yingluck has ever been the real PM or DM. Oh but wait, my MiL doesn't - she still believes all the red shirt bs. So guess our assertions "everyone knows" are wrong.

Wonder if there'll ever be any kind of investigation into his unusual increase in wealth over the last 2 years? Doubt it,

Or an investigation into Suthep's ability to buy large land parcels within the last 5 months with cash when he had declared himself last year to have a negative net worth?

Basic pay for an entry-level Petty Officer First Class with no years of experience is $2,281.20 per month. Although a Petty Officer First Class' final pay package could double with multiple types of allowances and bous pay, the $1,000 per month payments from GDMA still provides a significant pay supplement.

But this officer's problems may just begin. The GDMA income is federal taxable income and if he hasn't been reporting it to the IRS, he will not only owe back taxes but also penalties and interest on the income. And being a federal employee, it won't be difficult for the IRS to garnish his wages for payment.

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"Pheu Thai deputy spokesman Anusorn Iamsa-ard said the meeting on Tuesday would prove the Democrats' sincerity in upholding democracy. "Abhisit is under pressure from the public and other political parties to take part in the election. (If he decides to take part) chief anti-government protester Suthep Thaugsuban will not be able to fully block the election because that would adversely affect his political associates," he said."

Taking part in elections is a part of democracy. It is not democracy in itself. As PT proved winning an election does not mean that a party will rule in a legitimate, democratic manner.

Actually elections have to be 100% free and fair before they can be considered democratic.

Otherwise they are no more democratic that the latest North Korean elections where fear and intimidation as well as the barring of opposition saw Kim Jong Un romp to victory.

PTP use these same methods up to a point and really only just gained under 50% of the vote.

"...only just gained under 50% of the vote."

I never saw any election vote results posted. A lot of speculation heard. Can you provide a source for number and percentage of votes that the PTP received?

People condemn red shirt "verbal violence" yet give PDRC a pass - nince double standard. Give the red shirts credit for throwing eggs and not grenades. Its called freedom of expression. I would call a bag of shit a very creative political expression.

What some seem people to lose sight of is that EC members are supposed to be NONPOLITICAL. When a member clearly demonstrates a political bias by singling out one political party (red shirts aka PTP) DURING AN ELECTION SEASON with condemnations (and it's irrelevant how many persons are being referred to) and denergating remarks, that member has failed his duty to the EC and failed the trust of the Thai people to remain politically nuetral. Even the PERCEPTION of bias by a EC member damages the EC's credibility as a whole to fairly conduct alleged election violations. Somchai has taken an unrepentive political stand against the PTP whether it be against one PTP supporter or against many supporters. Let's see who makes Somchai accountable for his dereliction of duty. Or is dereliction of duty only a PTP thing?

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The 3 people are no doubt Thaksin stooges who won't propose reforms, and who will be interested more in the financial benefits of running for the PM position than helping the country.

Without reforms, nothing will change. Parliament will be full of PT who will railroad through Thaksin's policies. The Amnesty Bill will be back one day as Thaksin wants to come home. The dear chap is homesick, which only goes to show that his absurd wealth and that amassing more and more money don't make him happier. The Democrats may as well boycott the election as the government doesn't listen to them in Parliament anyway.

There will just be more street protests as Thaksin rams through his self-serving laws, clips the powers of the independent organizations, implements vote-buying populist schemes, etc. The mess will go on as long as Thaksin is alive.

"as long as Thaksin is alive"......I think he's quite healthy

and reforms???? For what benefit? For the leaders? Yes! But for the people? Probably not. There is a proverb: Fish stinks from the head....

The only reforms that politicians wish are those that give them the advantage to win elections by legal means and not necessarily "fair" means. Just the same as in the US when different political parties want to "redistrict" voting areas to give their own party an electoral advantage. Here they use the excuse of "reforms" to eliminate corruption in Thailand, but like to know who really believes corruption could ever be eliminated here since it is in this country's DNA. There is corruption in almost every country in this world, so the objective of "eliminating" corruption is an unachievable goal in any event and good only when speaking on a stage in front of protestors. It seems to be the unstated job of politicians regardless of country to manipulate the people which voted for them for personal benefit in many cases, as is apparently the case with the Senate Leader in the US Harry Reid who is supporting kicking a rancher off land he and his family has worked for 100 years just so Mr. Reid can do his private deal with the Chinese to construct a solar farm on this land.

Great quote from Ronald Reagan: "If it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving regulate it, if it stops moving subsidize it".

"... so Mr. Reid can do his private deal with the Chinese to construct a solar farm on this land."

The site that the Chinese company was planning to buy to build a solar electric power plant is NOWHERE near the federal lands the rancher Bundy has been disputing with the federal government. In June 2013 the company cancelled the project because it couldn't get any customers for its power and terminated its agreement with the federal government to buy the land for its project.

Your example is flawed, therefore, your conclusion is flawed. You need to contrive a better example.

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First of all, the pad/pdrc/democrats are not demanding 'reforms before elections'--this is diversion designed to hide their extremist agenda; their real demand is that an 'appointed' dictator and his 'council'( that is appointed by them, or their little anti-democracy clik backed by some old military supremos and several billionairs) be installed and given FULL POWERS for an indefinent period. They claim that during this time this idiot will make 'reforms' which they have never detailed. It's an obvious sham.

Secondly, the elections in this country are free and fair, they are monitored by the 'pro-establishment EC and some international orgs, if there is any doubt then more international monitors can be brought in. The PhuaThai and non-democrat parties win the vast majority of the votes so this notion that the democrats would win the election 'if only it was free and fair' is a joke.

and then this ridiculous claim that the majority of Thai's are against elections so they 'vote no' because that's what Suthep and the democrats want them to do.. OH! here's an idea, since the dems and their 'no' voters are the majority-why don't they just tell their 'no' voters to vote for them, that way they can get their 'people's council' running the country--funny the pad/pdrc/dems havn't figured that out yet, considering their the 'smart and sophesticated' ones.

The Dems are only going to this EC meeting to reiterate their demand for reforms before elections... They won't join the next one unless at least the electoral reforms are complete to make them free and fair fro the first time ever in Thailand's history.

If they don't get at least this, they will boycott it.

If they join in the election without this... It is like saying that they were wrong to boycott the Feb 2nd election.... because nothing will have changed.

If a new election goes ahead, I guarantee it will be disrupted again. Maybe not by blockades, but by strategic mass 'no voting'. Which will be equally effective in preventing a government and a mandate.

If PTP manage to gather 10 million of the popular vote and there are 20 million no votes, there is no mandate to govern from the people. Also no quorum can be reached for parliament if the winning candidates in around 200 (Dem) constituencies out of the 500 can not be declared winners because they did not beat the 'no vote'.

So it will be just another waste of taxpayer's money.

"...since the dems and their 'no' voters are the majority-why don't they just tell their 'no' voters to vote for them.."

Since the Democrats "dissolved" themselves as a political party so that their protest activities would not get the party banned from elections for the next five years, and because no Democrat registered as a candidate for the election, they were not on the ballot and write-in candidates are forbidden. PDRC claims that there was a majority of "no votes" made in the election but the EC has never released (assuming it even bothered to tally votes) voting results to confirm the "no vote" count. But the PDRC leader Suthep made it clear that no anti-government protestor was to vote at all. Remember what happened when Abhisit announced that he was going to exercise his right to vote in the election, albeit a "no vote?" The next day he reversed his statement saying he will not vote at all. No doubt Suthep had a word with him about not following orders. Now according to the Thai constitution, people who didn't vote in an election are prevented from voting in the next election. But you can count on the EC to waive the constitution in the pursuit of resolving political conflicts to allow Democrats to register candidates and vote in the next election.

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The 3 people are no doubt Thaksin stooges who won't propose reforms, and who will be interested more in the financial benefits of running for the PM position than helping the country.

Without reforms, nothing will change. Parliament will be full of PT who will railroad through Thaksin's policies. The Amnesty Bill will be back one day as Thaksin wants to come home. The dear chap is homesick, which only goes to show that his absurd wealth and that amassing more and more money don't make him happier. The Democrats may as well boycott the election as the government doesn't listen to them in Parliament anyway.

There will just be more street protests as Thaksin rams through his self-serving laws, clips the powers of the independent organizations, implements vote-buying populist schemes, etc. The mess will go on as long as Thaksin is alive.

"as long as Thaksin is alive"......I think he's quite healthy
and reforms???? For what benefit? For the leaders? Yes! But for the people? Probably not. There is a proverb: Fish stinks from the head....

The only reforms that politicians wish are those that give them the advantage to win elections by legal means and not necessarily "fair" means. Just the same as in the US when different political parties want to "redistrict" voting areas to give their own party an electoral advantage. Here they use the excuse of "reforms" to eliminate corruption in Thailand, but like to know who really believes corruption could ever be eliminated here since it is in this country's DNA. There is corruption in almost every country in this world, so the objective of "eliminating" corruption is an unachievable goal in any event and good only when speaking on a stage in front of protestors. It seems to be the unstated job of politicians regardless of country to manipulate the people which voted for them for personal benefit in many cases, as is apparently the case with the Senate Leader in the US Harry Reid who is supporting kicking a rancher off land he and his family has worked for 100 years just so Mr. Reid can do his private deal with the Chinese to construct a solar farm on this land.

Great quote from Ronald Reagan: "If it moves, tax it, if it keeps moving regulate it, if it stops moving subsidize it".

I' m a limitless confused on the rancher being kicked off his land. My reading is that he is refusing to pay grazing rights on the public lands. In the Western states a good deal of the land belongs to the public, some miners and ranchers have a problem paying fees for the use of these lands.

The rancher Bundy is not being kicked off his land-160 acres that his family homesteaded in 1877. It is the federal lands that the US got title from Mexico in 1848 with its defeat of Mexico that lie outside of Bundy's property. In 1954 and 1966 Bundy entered into grazing agreements with the federal government for his cattle but after 1993 he ceased to pay the grazing fees to the US. His reason for refusing to continue paying grazing fess and to vacate the federal lands was that all federal lands in Nevada came under the jurisdiction and ownership of the State when it was created in 1864. Not only did the Courts refuse his position and held that the subject lands are federal lands, even the State of Nevada Constitution Article 1, section 2 contradicts Bundy's theory that federal territory within the state comes under state jusrisdiction. The courts have ordered Bundy to remove his cattle, fencing, and structures from federal land, and not to physically interfere with any federal seizure or impoundment operation.