Ruby Ridge, the site of an 11 day arm standoff with the former green beret and area nation sympathizer

Randy Weaver, his young family and a friend named Kevin Harris on one side and the US marshals

local law enforcement and the FBI and the other. The Weavers and their friend Kevin were hold up

in the isolated Weaver cabin in boundary county Idaho, about 75 miles from where I sit and record

this episode in the sucked engine here in Cordo lane. The Weavers had long feared the power of a

tyrannical government. They moved to Idaho from Iowa and parked to get away from the government

and away from society in general. They wanted to isolate themselves from an outside world. They

increasingly began to view as unjust and immoral and then in 1992 the outside world came to them.

The firefight that instituted top this northern Idaho ridge kicked off a modern American militia

movement. It has been pointed to by many as the sign that a corrupt federal government wants nothing

more than to take your guns and your property. The Ruby Ridge siege is viewed by the more conspiracy

minded as blatant evidence that the new world order is real and that they have no problem killing

innocent American citizens who get out of line and refuse to do what they're told. But was the

standoff that simple? Was it simply government agencies wildly abusing their power and killing

innocent Americans who hadn't done a damn thing wrong? No, it was not that simple. Both sides of

this standoff made numerous terrible decisions. The US government did not handle the Ruby Ridge

siege as well as they could have mistakes from made. Maybe some power was abused. However,

Randy Weaver was far from innocent and he and his family also made terrible mistakes that

needlessly put themselves in harm's way. This whole standoff was so incredibly avoidable.

Today's story is a story of self-fulfilling prophecy. Sometimes when you worry about something coming

true so much that you start basing the bulk of your life choices around preparing for how to deal

with this upcoming truth you end up making this thing come true when it otherwise wouldn't have come

...