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Thursday, September 24, 2009

And if you believe this WASN'T done by a teabagger, I've got a bridge to sell you
Posted by Jill | 5:49 AM
This is what happens when you take blind batshit crazy rage and fan the flames of anti-government rhetoric:
When Bill Sparkman told retired trooper Gilbert Acciardo that he was going door-to-door collecting census data in rural Kentucky, the former cop drawing on years of experience warned: "Be careful."

The 51-year-old Sparkman was found hanged from a tree near a Kentucky cemetery and had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest, a law enforcement official said Wednesday, and the FBI is investigating whether he was a victim of anti-government sentiment.

"Even though he was with the Census Bureau, sometimes people can view someone with any government agency as 'the government.' I just was afraid that he might meet the wrong character along the way up there," said Acciardo, who directs an after-school program at an elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher.

The Census Bureau has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, until the investigation is complete, an official said.

The law enforcement official, who was not authorized to discuss the case and requested anonymity, did not say what type of instrument was used to write the word on the chest of Sparkman, who was supplementing his income doing Census field work. He was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of Daniel Boone National Forest and an autopsy report is pending.

Manchester, the main hub of the southeastern Kentucky county, is an exit off the highway, with a Walmart, a few hotels, chain restaurants and a couple gas stations. The drive away from town and toward the area Sparkman's body was found is decidedly different, through the forest with no streetlights on winding roads, up and down steep hills and sparsely populated.

FBI spokesman David Beyer said the bureau is assisting state police and declined to discuss any details about the crime scene. Agents are trying to determine if foul play was involved and whether it had anything to do with Sparkman's job as Census worker, Beyer said. Attacking a federal worker during or because of his federal job is a federal crime.

I am, of course, jumping to conclusions, as I freely admit. But it's difficult to imagine a random murder being decorated with the word "fed" when the victim is a census worker and there are lunatics like Michele Bachmann, a sitting U.S. Congresswoman (to the eternal shame of those who put her there), railing against the census like a crazy person on the street.

Words have consequences. Incitement to violence has consequences. People like Glenn Beck are making millions doing exactly that, their paychecks signed by executives of supposedly mainstream publications. This crime is only the beginning, because there are tens of thousands of people being whipped into a frenzy by these hatemongers of right-wing talk radio and other mouthpieces of the lunatic right. It will be interesting to see them absolve themselves of any responsibility when things get REALLY ugly.

Questioning a prospective Supreme Court justice is not a lynching. Blue Girl is right: This crime is one.

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7 Comments:
Blogger Unknown said...
The right needs to tone down their anti-Obama rhetoric. I mean, it's not like anyone on the left ever called Bush a fascist or a naz... oh, wait.
9/24/09, 6:46 AM  
Blogger skywind said...
"Agents are trying to determine if foul play was involved." WTF? They think he might have done this to himself?
9/24/09, 8:19 AM  
Anonymous abbee lee said...
No way, how terrible is that? I hope the FBI can get more details. That word FED scrawled on his chest is gruesome. What kind of person would do that?
9/24/09, 3:53 PM  
Blogger Jill said...
Ah, Barry, you're embracing the stupidity of your ideological compatriots again.

Yes, we called Bush a fascist, because he said flat-out that he wanted to be a dictator. But you didn't see anyone on the left show up to his few public appearances packing heat. In fact, protesters were kept a mile away from him at all times. And Obama has received many, many, many times the number of death threats that Bush did.

You know what else the difference is? The A.N.S.W.E.R. left that I think you're talking about (and which I didn't embrace either) wasn't accepted as the base of the Democratic Party the way the teabaggers have been embraced by the Republicans. Face it, Barry -- you're stuck with a bunch of raving lunatics and you lack the stomach to stop jerking your knee for them long enough to do something about getting your party back for sane conservatives. But why should you? That would be hard work and it's so much easier to troll liberal blogs.
9/24/09, 7:53 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...
> But you didn't see anyone on the left show up to his few public appearances packing heat.

It's because they're scared of guns.

And I'm sorry, but it wasn't only ANSWER that called Bush a fascist and a nazi. Hell, you yourself did it repeatedly on this very blog, even though you always made sure to denounce ANSWER (to your credit.)

If it makes you feel any better, some of the folks on the right who show up at these things do in fact give me willies. But you seem to think that I should change my beliefs about the proper role of government in our society just because I find some of the company on the right-hand side of the debate distasteful. Sorry, but my convictions run deeper than just running with cool crowd. What am I do do? Seriously?
9/24/09, 8:12 PM  
Blogger jurassicpork said...
September 12th, huh?

What a coincidence.
9/25/09, 12:05 PM  
Blogger Bartender Cabbie said...
Why does Jurassicpork feel the need to butt into what is a pretty interesting discourse. I seldom agree with Jill, but at least she is interesting. Jurassicpork is just "bat shit crazy."
9/29/09, 10:48 AM  
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