The guy in the above picture is Bill Sparkman from Kentucky. He's now dead, having been hanged recently and left to rot in a remote area of Daniel Boone National Forest. That's right, he was hung from a tree and when found had the word "fed" scrawled on his chest.
Bill Sparkman worked part time for the Census, according to the AP article, conducting interviews once or twice a month in Clay County, Kentucky.
Gilbert Acciardo, a retired Kentucky state trooper who directs an after-school program at the elementary school where Sparkman was a frequent substitute teacher, said he had warned Sparkman to be careful when he did his Census work.
"I told him on more than one occasion, based on my years in the state police, 'Mr. Sparkman, when you go into those counties, be careful because people are going to perceive you different than they do elsewhere,' " Acciardo said.
"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," Acciardo said.
A part time federal Census worker in red state Kentucky hung from a tree with the word "fed" scrawled in his chest.
Why it would be necessary for a former state trooper to warn Mr. Sparkman about specific Kentucky counties where "people…perceive" federal workers differently…….is yet to be determined.
I know that back in the 60's many citizens from southern states considered federal workers, especially civil-rights workers, "differently." So differently that some of those civil rights workers were murdered.
Now, it would be easy for me to attribute this heinous act as part and parcel of the larger conservative hate-Obama-government movement. A result of endless conservative gasbag rhetoric over ACORN and the upcoming Census in 2010….or the frenzy of anti-government emotions witnessed in the incoherent TeaBagger and 9-12'er movements.
Perhpas Bill Sparkman's killer embraced the viewpoint of Minnesota's wingnut representative, Michelle Bachmann…..
"The mother lode of all data information will be from the Census. … Unfortunately, the Census data has become very intricate, very personal, a lot of the questions that are asked. I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that."
Maybe the person, or persons, who hung Bill Sparkman and scrawled the word "fed" in his chest were pre-emptively resisting, like Bachmann suggested she would, the Census. Michelle said that ACORN could be involved with the Census, so, you know, can't take any chances.
Even the lunatic Glenn Beck disagreed with Bachmann over her Census comments.
Make no mistake…..this murder looks like a political assassination, much like the Dr. George Tiller assassination a few months ago by the conservative culture warrior Scott Roeder. If, in the end, that proves to be the case….the hanging of Bill Sparkman, a very nice man who worked as a substitute teacher in Kentucky public schools and part time for the Census, may come to be known as one of the earliest victims in America's new domestic war of the 21st century.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Way to try and turn a family's horrible pain into a political issue Rev.
How about you wait until some facts about the case come out before trying to blame anyone?
As a side note from someone who has spet some time in rural counties. People in rural counties have been known for a very long time to distrust government workers not because of the census but because they might be ATF or DEA.
I worked on the 1970 census. My job was to go to homes that had not returned their census forms and ask the questions in person. I had the Hartville area and the Amish there did not want to return their census forms. Most of them answered the questions in person if they got the short form but most of them would not answer them if they had been selected for the long form. One sicked his dog on me and the dog chased me back to my car where I gladly got back in and left. That family with 4-5 trailers set up around the main house was never counted. At another farm my car slid into a deep ditch when the ground at the edge of the ditch gave way – the roads were all dirt roads back in around those farms. No phones so I was in trouble and it was going to be dark in an hour. Swartz road was a long out to civilization but I did it and got help. Not one amish person offered to help me. They just watched me leave and then they watched the tow truck get me out of the ditch. They did answer the questions on the short form though.
Thanks for the anecdote fourfoos. I know Swartz Road. And you're right, many rural Americans have a distrust of government…..and I think, so do Americans everywhere.
As Roy says, this may NOT be a political assassination. We don't know yet. But it sounds like a duck, so, you know, it could be one.
The issue, to me, isn't that Americans have a gut distrust of government. It's what people do with that distrust that bothers me. For awhile now, if anyone has read this year's Blog of Mass Destruction offerings, I have been warning against upcoming violence by unhinged right wingers,….violence, which I suggested was being drummed up by ultra-conservative hatemongers in conservative media.
If this hanging is shown to be a political murder, then what I've been warning about is now happening, and most likely, will continue to happen. When will the Becks and Limbaughs stop inciting violence?
Just sayin'.
Rev, your "warnings" are a self fulfilling prophecy because people in rural areas have long distrusted government. This distrust goes back way, way before you were born. So all you have to do is wait for the inevitable and then you can apply your current political worldview.
This is like me "warning" that there will be violent leftist protests aginst the G20 when it comes to Pittsburgh and this violence is a result of the anti-American hate spewed by vicious liberals like DailyKos, Keith Olberman, and Rachael Maddow.
What kind of person writes a post titled "Has The War Begun ?" over this tragic incident, without knowing the facts ?
What kind of person immediately tries to politicize the incident, without knowing the facts ?
What kind of person mentions "red-state Kentucky," "Glenn Beck," "Michelle Bachman," "Teabaggers," and the "9-12 movement," and "Tiller" in the same post, implying that conservatives are to blame for this murder ?
And in the meantime, not a word about the anti-abortion activist who was slain, the military recruiters who were slain, the socialist who shot up the Holocaust museum, the moveon.org guy who bit off the man's finger, etc, etc. Nope. No concerns there. No "Has The War Begun ?" on any of those fronts.
You are a sick and twisted human being, Reverend. This is a new low. I don't know whether to pity you or hate you. I guess I'll go with pity.
Excellent point Roy.
No…and no.
I'm talking assassinations here….cold blooded murder. Not street protesters being gassed by police for throwing rocks.
And Roy is right about rural folks distrusting government. But distrusting government does not equate into 1st degree political murder. There's a big leap from one to the other…..and what my post questions is whether that leap has been made and are we going to be mired in conservative cold blooded killings from this point forward?
Quite frankly, namecalling doesn't phase me….I'm laying down what many other reality-based folks are also laying down. The facts as they have been happening since Obama's inauguration, and as the Bush Homeland Security department concluded, are one and the same. Political violence by conservative lone wolves is happening. Accept those facts, or not.
Loony-tune says, "I'm laying down what many other reality-based folks are also laying down."
You're laying down a line of bs is all you're doing. No evidence of who did this, but the Reverend has it all pinned on conservatives. You have even elevated it war, for chrissakes. Now you've linked it to the Obama presidency and the Homeland Security right-wing extremist report too. Why not go the whole nine and just say 'Glenn Beck did it' " I'm sure the FBI would be interested in your delusional conspiracy theories.
They say crazy people don't know they are crazy. You are living proof. You don't require any evidence at all to go off on one of your conspiracy rants.
And I wonder how you missed this about the story, from the AP:
"Police said the area has a history of drug trouble including methamphetamine trafficking and marijuana growing in its forested valleys between steep hills and ridges. "That part of the county, it has its ups and downs. We'll get a lot of complaints of drug activity," said Manchester Police Chief Jeff Culver. He said officers last month rounded up 40 drug suspects, mostly dealers, and made several more arrests in subsequent days. Dee Davis, president of the Center for Rural Strategies in Whitesburg in southeastern Kentucky, said Clay County is impoverished and has a "pretty wild history of a black market economy, a drug economy." "I don't think there is any deep-seated hatred of government there," he said. "Government is not seen as the enemy, except for people who might fear getting caught for what they're doing." Davis said it was a dangerous time of year for someone to go knocking on doors because marijuana producers are typically harvesting their crop. "It would be reckless." "Things can go bad really quickly," Davis said. "There are places that you would not send a Census worker this time of year. "
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090924/ap_on_re_us/us_census_worker_hanged
Rev, you are making stuff up out of thin air and you won't even admit to it. Maybe you can no longer distinguish between reality and fantasy, because you are referring to your fantasies as "reality-based" now. I repeat, sick and twisted. Or dishonest to the nth degree.
You accuse me of making stuff up out of thin air….and you do so by including a purely speculative bit of information suggesting that drugs or drug dealing may be involved. My suggestion that it may be political, you know, because of the hanging and the "fed" scrawled in the chest….is just as believable, or moreso, than the drug speculation.
Like I said….we'll see. I didn't say that the assassination was definitely done for political reasons….I said maybe. Could be. And as we all know, "could be" is Glenn Beck's whole schtick. Thought you'd cut me the same slack you do Beck,…but I guess not.
Every Jan. I complain about the cold and my wife assures me that due to global warming things will change. Sure enough by July I am complaining about the heat. To think I used to be skeptical about global warming eventhough my wifes predictions proved accurate every year.
Good try, angry.
Rev,
It's not just an accusation. It's a fact. You ARE making stuff up. I didn't do that. I just posted the words of the police chief and another area official about a possible motive, because you conveniently left it out. That's all.
I don't know who killed that guy, and neither do you. That's is the whole point.
Yet you wrote an entire post blaming conservatives for the murder. And you even called your post "Has The War Begun ?" as if this is some kind of conservative violence movement. Despicable.
What if I wrote a post speculating that liberals have sex with farm animals, with no proof ? Would that be sick and twisted ? It sure would, and that's equivalent to what you are doing here.. What if I wrote a post speculating that liberals have a 'sex with farm animals' movement because ONE did ? Would that be sick and twisted ? It sure would, and that's what you are doing here.
And no amount of your illogic will change that. You have hit the bottom of the barrel.
I think if we're going to speculate about this poor man's death we're going to have to ask the same questions they ask on Law & Order: Is there some group that might think they could profit from this? Is there some group that wants this man's job with the census? Is there some group that has recently been kicked off the census project?
Is that group ACORN???
Has the ACORN war begun ? lol.
Yeah, that's really funny.
Today's story update….
"Bill Sparkman, the Census worker found dead in Kentucky recently was not found hanging from a tree, according to an FBI spokesman. Rather, David Beyer told TPMmuckraker, Sparkman's feet were planted on the ground. A rope around Sparkman's neck was attached to a tree.
……
Beyer, a spokesman with the FBI's Louisville, Kentucky filed office, declined to comment on the accuracy of the "Fed" detail. But he was at pains to ratchet back speculation that Sparkman was killed in an act of anti-government sentiment, saying that investigators had not yet determined even whether the death was a homicide."
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/09/fbi_sparkman_was_found_touching_ground_not_hanging.php?ref=fpa
Yes, Rev, I know all that. It changes nothing about what you did here. It's still despicable.
And now we know that Sparkman was, indeed, murdered…..with his Census ID duct taped to his neck. We also know that the word "fed" was written on his chest with a felt-tipped pen.
Nothing revealed so far discredits my post in any way. You may not like that….but it is what it is.
Jeebus larry….at long last, have you no shame?
ACORN was dropped from any Census work the same day Sparkman was murdered. Do you think child prostitution enthusiasts at ACORN hightailed it down to Daniel Boone territory the same day?
Michelle Bachmann and the like provided all the motivation a typical unhinged wingnut would need to do this deed. That said……I've never stated unequivocally that this was an out and out political assassination…..but it sure as hell looks that way.
Rev, do you really not know what I'm talking about here ? Or are you just pretending to be oblivious ?
Let's say, for the sake of argument, that all your fondest dreams about what happened to Sparkman turn out to be 100% correct. Let's say some nut just got done watching the Glenn Beck show and then murdered the census worker when he came to his door. Let's even say the nut attended a Tea Party or two.
Does that mean "the war has begun ?" Or would it mean one unhinged person committed an act of unhinged violence, which isn't symbolic of any greater violence movement ?????
To assist you in answering the question, I'll propose a couple more questions for you to consider. Was the murder of the anti-abortion activist indicative of a war on pro-lifers ? Are pro-choicers inciting that violence ? Was the violence at the G-20 protests indicative of a war ? Should we blame Michael Moore for that ?
c'mon, Rev. THINK.
Was the murder of civil rights workers in the south indicative of anything in particular? Or just coincidence? A random action unrelated to political realities?
The Oklahoma bombing? Indicative of anything political?
How is my blog title any different from your buddy Glenn Beck…when he dedicates entire hour long programs to the coming revolution…that you know, could happen?
So, now you are equating yourself with Glenn Beck, someone you keep telling me is a loon ? THAT'S your defense ? I think you just admitted defeat, by your own measure.
Here's the point, one more time. If Sparkman was killed by a right wing nut, which is still unknown, it doesn't mean there is an army of violent right wing nuts ready to declare war, anymore than it means there is an army of left wing nuts ready to declare war because of the murdered anti-abortion activist. Trying to take isolated incidents like this and then link them to wider movements of the peaceful exercise of free political speech (i.e. Tea Partiers) is reprehensible. Those are the arguments of those who favor censorship.
You are in essence saying that if Timothy McVeigh thinks the government has overstepped it's authority, and Da King thinks the government has overstepped it's authority, then Da King is the same as Timothy McVeigh. The illogic of it is astounding. It's akin to that old example of faulty logic from Woody Allen – "A) Socrates is a man. B) All men are mortal. C) All men are Socrates"
Don't think so.
What I'm saying is that unhinged conservatives (take McVeigh) commit acts of violence when Democrats are in power. There are many unhinged conservatives today….and there have been acts of violence committed by some of them.
You know I'm correct about this. Naturally, not every conservative is a murderer. All TeaBaggers are not violent, etc, etc. But some are…..and those "some", when a Democrat is the president, will carry out acts of political violence.
Furthermore…..
The reason I write colorful and provocative blogs is because of the unhinged right. If Limbaugh, Beck, and all the rest can do it…..why can't I? Limbaugh and Beck are now mainstream conservative heroes…they are the leaders of the GOP. So, I figure what's good for the wingnut goose is…….well….you know.
Though I use exaggerated language…..what I'm saying is unquestionably true.
"There are many unhinged conservatives today….and there have been acts of violence committed by some of them."
And there are also many unhinged liberals today and always, and they have been committing violence all along……….yet you NEVER hear me saying those liberals are representative of some wider "war" that DOES NOT EXIST, nor do you hear me saying those liberals should be censored.
At the end of the day, YOU are a LIAR. You take one or two incidents and try to pretend it's indicative of the whole of a political movement.
The vast majority of what you say if unquestionable FALSE, for the reasons I've stated previously.
And Glenn Beck is no more the leader of the Republican party than Keith Olbermann is the leader of the Democrat party. Your major problem is that you incapable of objectivity, and you cannot put anything in perspective. Instead, you are a purveyor of 100% bs propaganda.