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The FBI is investigating whether anti-government sentiment led to the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery. A law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word "fed" was scrawled onThe victim has been identified as 51-year-old Bill Sparkman. My immediate curiosity is whether this had something to do with a moonshine or drug operation, rather than "anti-government sentiment." Drug dealers and 'shiners are notoriously hostile toward anyone snooping around, and Sparkman may well have stumbled onto some sort of criminal situation.
the dead man's chest. . . .
My friend David Weigel (Sharmuta: "What?") wants to blame . . . Eric Cantor? Nudge, nudge. Let's wait to see what law enforcement discovers before jumping to any kind of politicized Let's-Blame-Glenn-Beck speculation.
(Hat-tip: Memeorandum.)
UPDATE: Speculation from the Lizard Kingdom:
9 SharmutaNo doubt about it, Inspector Javert: The Flemish Menace!
9/23/2009 9:53:35 pm PDT 1downupreport
Any comment from Michele Bachmann's office?
74 Charles
9/23/2009 10:13:48 pm PDT 4downupreport
The more I think about it, the more I doubt that this was a simple drug-related killing. It's not their style at all. They would just take the body and bury it in some backwoods area where it would never be found, or sink it in a lake, or something similar. It makes no sense to stage what seems like a political statement, unless there was a political motive.
Too late!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.delawareliberal.net/2009/09/23/a-lynching/
I find it hard to believe 1) that the police haven't even announced whether they've found fingerprints in the vehicle not belonging to him or his family, and 2) that there's no photograph released of the word scrawled on the victim's chest. I mean, couldn't possibly be "fed up," could it?
ReplyDeleteWell if we can't blame Glenn Beck, surely we can blame George W. bush!
ReplyDeleteThey are already blaming Glen Beck over at LGF.
ReplyDeleteSomehow Glenn Beck and teabaggers are to blame.
ReplyDeleteOh and right wing hate radio.
My guess is that it was a suicide.
ReplyDeleteI reckon he done got mistaken for a revenuer.
ReplyDeleteOf course, recall how Glenn Beck was going on about the white lightnin' right before this unfortunate episode.
I can't believe the cops didn't mention any signs of a struggle.
ReplyDelete"Step right up and let me hang you Mr. Census."
"Okey-dokey, you Republicans sure are crazy."
The legal beagles are holding something back, they held back the "fed" scrawl at first.
I think they are cruising the 'net for an idiot in the know...
... hold on somone's knocking.
No, seriously, this poor guy had a great comeback story, so it is a shame that this happened and it is so quickly politicized by the pinks.
I do think the authorities are holding back some significant stuff. Nobody just "goes along" with being hung. There must some clues around the scene or on his person.
Anyway, God Bless Mr. Sparkman's family, they should be in our thoughts and prayers.
And this is a bad thing because...?
ReplyDeleteIf you are a crook and want to scare the cops away, you don't murder a fed.
ReplyDeleteAgain, I say it is a suicide.
My alternate theory is Charles Johnson with the help of Killtrout did it.
ReplyDelete"My friend David Weigel (Sharmuta: "What?") wants to blame . . . Eric Cantor?"
ReplyDeleteThe post you've linked to suggests no such thing and flat out states that's not the case.
However his comments section does include a deserving finger pointed in the direction of Michele Bachmann and her comments about being deathly afraid of what census workers are up to.
"I find it hard to believe ... that there's no photograph released of the word scrawled on the victim's chest."
ReplyDeleteI find it hard to believe you're serious.
I find it hard to follow your logic. The letterforms would seem to be an important clue to the identity of the murderer. This is a hanging that took place, apparently, 12 days ago. Predictably, Oliver Willis and others are blaming it on Glenn Beck.
ReplyDeleteThe FBI are treating it as a murder, which is proper. Still, it seems strange that there is such a paucity of information. Can you forward a suggestion as to why that might be?
Would seem to me that if he stumbled upon a drug facility (pot or meth) his body would never have been found. Why would they want the whole world in their backyard investigating the murder?
ReplyDeleteOf course it could never be connected to the overheated right-wing anti-government rhetoric. Nope. Not at all.
ReplyDeleteActually, by juxtaposing the story about Cantor's comments on Bela Pelosi's unhinged comments above the story on the dead guy in the woods, Weigel is implying exactly that. Namely that this guy's assumption of room temperature is a result of tea Party protests and opposition to the Obama socialist agenda.
ReplyDeleteOh, before taking in the hate, vitriol and venom in the comments thread under Weigel's post, put on a contamination suit.
Unhinged.
Quoted from and linked to at:
ReplyDeleteCOME INTO THE LAB AND SEE WHAT'S ON THE SLAB
I am going for accident or suicide. Hanging a grown man would seem to need at least two attackers. It would also seem to rule out an impulsive killing while drunk or stoned. Was he even identifiable as a census worker when he was killed?
ReplyDeleteBasically, I could see dopers shooting a "snooper" or running him off the road. Political zealots are not likley to target census workers (permitted by constitution) and would seem to want to claim responsibility for their terrorism.
Hanging is a very personal way to murder and implies planning. If it is murder, it might have been someboy with a personal grudge. Dopers or enraged zealots would probably favor guns and be impulsive.