grazing permits to better manage public lands.

Bundy began racking up his debt by continuing to graze his cattle without authorization in 1993 when the Bureau of Land Management began restricting permits in some areas to protect lands set aside for habitat protection. By 1995 he already owed $31,000.

Not only did he ignore U.S. District Court orders in 1998 and 1999 permanently enjoining him from grazing livestock without a permit, and authorizing the BLM to assess trespass damages, he moved his cattle to new territory.

In 2000 the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously upheld regulations adopted in 1995, finding federal law established multiple purposes for public grazing lands, including “stopping injury to the public grazing lands by preventing overgrazing and soil deterioration.”

In 2012 the U.S. District Court authorized injunctive relief becauseusing public lands comply with the law, Bundy flaunts his lawlessness.

It catches fire with some segments of the population angry over federal land ownership and management. In 1995 and 1996, several BLM and Forest Service offices were pipe-bombed. Bundy son’s says the “the war has just begun” — true patriots grab your guns and run down to Nevada to help out.

In some circles, willful violation of laws, denial of the government’s existence and praise for sedition, coupled with bombings, violence and talk of war, would lead to labels of treason and terrorism.

But in the conservative media, Bundy is a hero of liberty.

He’s no hero. He’s a deadbeat. A moocher, flouting laws and bilking the taxpayer while law-abiding citizens pay their bills.

If he were an inner-city beneficiary of social