The hanging of Bill Sparkman

[Joanne98]

Was anti-government anger behind the death of a census worker found dead with "fed" scrawled on his chest?

Best opinion: Outside the Beltway, Other McCain, Right Pundits

What happened
The FBI is investigating the death of U.S. Census worker Bill Sparkman, 51, whose body was hanging found near a Kentucky cemetery with the word "fed" scrawled on its chest. The Census suspended door-to-door interviews in the rural area while investigators tried to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was anti-government sentiment. (Associated Press)

What the commentators said

"This certainly seems like something committed by a person with an anti-government bone to pick," said Doug Mataconis in Below the Beltway. But there's no evidence yet to suggest that's true, so nobody should jump to conclusions.

"My immediate curiosity is whether this had something to do with a moonshine or drug operation," said Robert Stacy McCain in The Other McCain, "rather than 'anti-government sentiment.'" Drug dealers don't like to have people snooping around -- and that's what Census workers do. So wait before you swallow "any kind of politicized Let's-Blame-Glenn-Beck speculation."

The FBI will have to answer the question of whether "anti-government sentiment" had anything to do with Bill Sparkman's death, said Shannon Bell in Right Pundits. "One can only hope that this isolated incident will not result in those who speak out against the government being lumped in with a killer."

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/100773/The_hanging_of_Bill_Sparkman

It wasn't drug dealers. This is the last thing they'd do because it would bring heat down on them.

So who are we going to blame Michelle Bachmann, Glenn Beck or Ron Paul?

I don't think Ron Paul's a good choice because the Fed doesn't have anything to do with the census. The scrawled word fed probably means federal worker. And since Glenn Beck hasn't really been talking about that I vote for Michelle Bachmann. I think we should take this story and wrap it around her neck!

[mod mom]

1. Whose responsible? here you go:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZS9UW0okY4

[livetohike]

2. Snooping around???

I managed an office during Census 2000. My area was inner city, but we received a general warning about heading out to some rural areas and my colleagues in those offices always made sure two field workers went out together to the known trouble spots....

This story makes me very sad. I am still friends with many of the people I worked with.

[gatorboy]

5. "Snooping around" is a horrible choice of words.

But it shows that McCain is in the same mindset that Bachmann and her ilk are in. That the "feds" can't be trusted (Or at least Obama's feds can't.)

[livetohike]

6. I'm worried about how things will go when the Census ramps up

in April 2010. Bachmann, Glen Beck, Rush, Palin - all the crazies have encouraged the paranoid types and to some they may believe it acceptable to rebel violently, imo. I hear strange things from the locals out here in rural PA....where they are bitter and clinging to their guns and Bibles. I think it will be more dangerous than usual to complete this year's decennial Census.

[kentuck]

3. Anti-marijuana eradication Feds...

Not anti-government in general. Most would consider themselves very patriotic.

[kentuck]

4. Also...

"It wasn't drug dealers. This is the last thing they'd do because it would bring heat down on them."

This doesn't really apply to the growers in the mountains. They relish the attention of the FBI and the FEDs coming down. They simply disappear until they leave. They are like guerrillas. They love the notoriety of it as much as they do the money involved. They do not worry about the "heat" coming down. That is my experience with these folks.

[intheflow]

7. Not sure how you make the leap that drug dealers wouldn't kill anyone.

Because they don't want the heat? My goodness, ever hear of prohibition and gang wars? There are plenty of people who are willing to kill if large profits are at stake.

[kctim]

8. Gotta love all this armchair quarterbacking

You have no clue about the anti-government movement or the drug trade, do you.

1 - IF it was about drugs, the last thing you want is for somebody to report exactly where your product is. Especially if it is a highly profitable field or lab which are HARD or even impossible to move. The last thing you would want to do is lose it.

2 - Anti-government types are way more likely to be in Ron Paul's corner than they are Rush, Beck or a Bachmann. Why? Because he speaks of the Constitution and the severe limits it places on government. Not just the limits the limits they agree with like the others do.
The anti-govt types make Rush, Beck and Bachmann look like liberals.

The fact is, we don't know yet. It could be any, all or none, but we should wait until we know the facts rather than jumping to opinionated conclusions simply because they support what you want to be the reason.