Malheur is a corruption of an old French word that means bad luck.  I guess whoever arrived there first didn’t like the looks  of things.  I can’t think why.

For people from Texas, Oregon may not seem like a very big state, but to illustrate things,  Malheur County is as far from Portland as the middle of the Panhandle is from the Metroplex, except it’s over a mega-mountain range, and the biggest town out there is about the size of Barstow.  It is the size of the State of Massachusetts.  It has a population of 8000 souls.

To understand what is going on out there, it is necessary to understand a couple of things. Three of the occupiers also are sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who, with a contingent of armed supporters, faced down an effort by the Bureau of Land Management nearly two years ago to seize his cattle for nonpayment of grazing fees — a bill that remains unpaid (over 1 million dollars).  They are out-of-state political grandstanders.  They may have some legitimate political grievances, but so do the Piutes.  Most of the locals are not in league with the Bundys and want them to go home.

You can be sure if Mr. Bundy looked like this

instead of like this

the entire exercise would be moot.  This is still the Wild West in some ways.