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Kentucky Census Worker Hanged: Body Released
_J_
PedantRegistered User, __BANNED USERS regular
PedantRegistered User, __BANNED USERS regular
Source
This was tonight's lead story on Rachel Maddow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJqF6wWST8
Again, allegedly, a census worker was hanged in Kentucky with the word "fed" written on him. So, apparently, we're beyond people simply saying "Boo government" and we've reached the "kill government workers" level.
1) How fucked up is this?
2) What does it say about anti-government sentiment?
3) How will this impact the national debate?
4) Is Michelle Bachman's anti-census bullshit partially to blame and, if so, is Michelle Bachman to blame?
**Update**
Oct 7, 2009:
Source:
The FBI is investigating the hanging death of a U.S. Census worker near a Kentucky cemetery, and a law enforcement official told The Associated Press the word ‘fed” was scrawled on the dead man’s chest.
The body of Bill Sparkman, a 51-year-old part-time Census field worker and occasional teacher, was found Sept. 12 in a remote patch of the Daniel Boone National Forest in rural southeast Kentucky. The Census has suspended door-to-door interviews in rural Clay County, where the body was found, pending the outcome of the investigation.
This was tonight's lead story on Rachel Maddow:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgJqF6wWST8
Again, allegedly, a census worker was hanged in Kentucky with the word "fed" written on him. So, apparently, we're beyond people simply saying "Boo government" and we've reached the "kill government workers" level.
1) How fucked up is this?
2) What does it say about anti-government sentiment?
3) How will this impact the national debate?
4) Is Michelle Bachman's anti-census bullshit partially to blame and, if so, is Michelle Bachman to blame?
**Update**
Oct 7, 2009:
Source:
LONDON, Ky. — Authorities have released the body of a part-time census worker found in a remote Appalachian forest nearly a month ago with a rope around his neck and "fed" scrawled across his chest, but they still will not say if someone killed him.
Josh Sparkman told The Associated Press on Tuesday that investigators released his father's body Monday to the Cremation Society of Kentucky.
Bill Sparkman, a substitute teacher, had wanted his body either donated to science or cremated. Authorities advised Josh Sparkman to choose the latter option and not have the family view the body because of its condition.
A family visiting a Clay County cemetery found Bill Sparkman on Sept. 12 with a rope around his neck and his hands and feet duct-taped. The coroner confirmed the word "fed" was written on his chest, apparently in felt-tip pen.
The state medical examiner's office has established the cause of death as asphyxiation but has not determined whether it was a homicide, accident or suicide.
Mike Wilder, executive director of the State Medical Examiner's Office, said the investigation continues, with "bits and pieces of information" still coming to light.
There were "circumstances" that made the Sparkman case particularly difficult to resolve, but Wilder declined to elaborate.
"The cause of death was pretty well determined. The manner of death is still what is under investigation," Wilder said.
Josh Sparkman said police had released his father's pickup truck, which was found at the scene, and he is now driving it. Although he says police have told him nothing, he remains certain the death was a homicide.
He said many things, including a census laptop and personal items like his grandfather's wedding ring, were missing from the truck and were not on a list of potential evidence that investigators kept. State police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski confirmed the laptop was not found in the truck but declined to comment on the other items.
"They ransacked that truck," Josh Sparkman said. "That's more evidence this is not an accident or suicide. This is a homicide."
Sparkman said he was working on organizing a memorial service for his father but hadn't scheduled it because he is broke and hasn't found a funeral home to host it. He said he would like to do it soon.
_J_ on
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Sure, but if we catch the rednecks who killed him and they say "Michelle Bachman told me to"...
This is some fucked up shit.
So fucked up.
Bullshit.
He was hung from a tree with "fed" scrawled on his body. If he was a black guy in 1969 with the word "negro" scrawled on his body you wouldn't be saying "It's a little early to ascribe racial motivation." This has 'hate crime' written all over it, just with a different epithet.
We're in the middle of a political shitstorm brewed by pundits deliberately stoking anti-federal-government sentiment. Do you think that the fuckers bringing guns to political rallies are all isolated incidents?
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
But still,
I'm not condoning hanging anyone (especially political statements) but a fucking census worker? At least when a cop is attacked I can at least see why someone might do that.
But what!?
I can't even bring myself to watch the video right now.
I wonder what could have given someone the idea that census workers are evil...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZS9UW0okY4
The census is a means by which to catalog who should go to the prison camps, you see.
I think we're going to be seeing a lot more of this in the next couple years.
Growing up around crazy anti-government survivalists I can see exactly why census workers might be a target of violence, but I don't know if I can adequately express it in words.
I'll try to explain by saying that when big government stays in Washington, it's an annoyance, but when it's on your doorstep asking you personal questions about who lives in your house, it's a lot more threatening.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
People never seem to believe me when I tell them the eastern parts of the state are basically third world countries. Law enforcement is non-existent, and people act like they're under siege.
Steam | Twitter
Interesting.
What i do not understand is why a hardcore survivalist conservative would think "How many bathrooms do you have" is a threatening question...
The mindset that takes "anyone home?" as a threat is completely foreign to me.
the "no true scotch man" fallacy.
You'd be surprised at what stupid people can take as a threat.
Some people in these types of places don't have electricity or running water. They're living in shit and are extremely paranoid about anything that might pose any threat to what they do have.
It doesn't by any mean excuse or even explain shit like this, but that's the mindset that leads to people becoming paranoid and insular.
A healthy dose of ignorance and a strong penchant for violence probably help.
Steam | Twitter
I am going to be SO livid about this. And horrified. And disgusted.
And probably will give serious thought to just nuking Kentucky. Sorry gang, everyone else fucked it up for you. Remember in elementary school when some asshole kids meant you didn't go to recess on time? It is like that, but with more explosions.
they just have this screwed up version of how the world works in their head and it clouds their judgment
i was raised by an anti-government wacko who taught me a lot of fucked up shit and filled me with screwy views on things
so
they are human beings, guys
they just don't seem to think they live in the same world as you or i
if answer is no then proceed to "not nuke-material"
And look how... you turned out?
In all serious folks, I remember Pony (least I'm sure it was him) post some frightening stuff his father taught him and his brother. He probably has the most valid life experience on this.
Which is weird, man.
That noise you just heard was me throwing my beer across the room and swearing at the utter stupidity of this statement
Not that you're wrong
But shit
If it does turn out to be true then shit, I guess I'm glad I didn't work for the census.
This was what I immediately thought while watching the clip. And while I want to agree with Feral, you can never immediately take these things at face value. Just because you see a suicide note next to a body with a bullet hole in its head doesn't mean you don't investigate it further.
I honestly don't know which would be more frightening in this case, though: killing this man because he works for the government, or for personal reasons. In either scenario, the murderer felt the urge to display this man's body in a way that looks like a warning, and not only that, but one that's reminiscent of the deep south's lynching of black people.
So he hung himself and wrote fed on his shirt backwards?
Arch,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_goGR39m2k
So what you're saying is, this guy hanged himself and carved "fed" into his own chest to put the blame on unspecified anti-government people?
Interesting theory.
yeah
i love my father, don't get me wrong
and i respect the care, compassion, and genuine concern the man raised me with
he instilled in me a sense of personal honor and dignity that has helped shape me in a positive way
he also taught me how to make pipe bombs and how to track other human beings
sooooo....
he's a good man, he just needs help and needs to understand how the world actually operates. when 9/11 happened, my father emptied his bank accounts, took most of his stuff, and fucked off into northern ontario for two weeks.
he had called me during that time, giving me the method to find his location (using a thing he taught us)
he insisted that 9/11 was "America's Reichstag Fire" and that any day now, it was going to lose its fucking mind and start invading people willy-nilly and turn into a fascist nation
then after a couple weeks, he came down from there and got a job and rented a new apartment
he's delusional, but not like a schizophrenic. he, like say, conspiracy theorists, will look at the exact same data you or i would look at and come to a completely different conclusion for reasons that might amount to mental illness.
it's tragic, i wish he'd get help.
would he be the sort of man to hang a census worker with a scrawled "FED" warning? i'd like to think, no, my father would never do such a thing
but
well, i remember shit from when i was a kid and i think, if he lived in the US...
I just stared at my screen with my brain unable to form a coherent reply for about a minute and a half.
Whereas that was obviously fake ( the B was backward for god's sake she did it in a mirror)I doubt a census worker hung himself after writing fed on his chest to incite a crackdown on anti government groups.
INTERNET
SIRIUS BUSINESS
seriously dude come off it
this sort of thing punches me in the fucking heart because it touches on personal shit from my childhood
and you don't see me tightening my anus into humorless steel
Totally called it! Christ that's the kind of behavior you'd expect to see out of Chief Wiggum or something.
He's really touchy about Kentucky.
I think that when they start killing census workers they display a complete lack of the rationality which defines a human being.
oh i am sorry are we at a point now where we dehumanize people because they kill other people
are we
because last time i checked i was pretty sure a human being was a human being even if they are crazy, ignorant, and willing to do fucked up shit because of it.