You might recall way back when a certain fellow swam against the tide on the Bill Sparkman (it wasn’t me), that fellow said this…
The lazy assumption that we know all we need to know, that there cannot be any unknown facts that contradict the beliefs we form on the basis of partial information, is the basis of far too many mistaken beliefs. I’ve already reported how stereotypes of rural Kentuckians as backward, ignorant and impoverished have resulted in a misleading portrayal of the decent, hard-working, law-abiding citizens of Clay County. (Let’s don’t even get into the Kelsee Brown angle.) And now we see how a too-eager desire to cast Bill Sparkman’s death as a political symbol is leading to assumptions that may be equally misinformed.
It’s a free country, which means everyone is free to speculate how and why Bill Sparkman died. But ill-informed speculation and assumptions are no substitute for facts, and there are still too many unknown facts for anyone to pretend to know the motives of whoever put Sparkman’s body in that cemetery
Note the use of the word “death” and not “murder”.
It’s important to note that he said it in response to a Newsweek article and Memeorandum thread.
That fellow had the audacity to actually go to Kentucky and actually do shoe leather investigating on the case. He got grief and ridicule and today he has one more thing…vindication!
A U.S. Census worker found dead in a secluded Clay County cemetery killed himself but tried to make the death look like a homicide, authorities have concluded.
Bill Sparkman, 51, of London, might have tried to cover the manner of his death to preserve payments under life-insurance polices that he had taken out. The policies wouldn’t pay off if Sparkman committed suicide, state police Capt. Lisa Rudzinski said.
I wonder what he has to say today? Why wonder when you can read it?
Yes, we remember all those headlines at Memeorandum. Yes, Mr. Sullivan and Mr. Ungar we remember all your irresponsible speculation. The people of Clay County, Ky., await your apologies.
Take a look at that Memeorandum thread and note all the lefty blogs linked there. It’s the Duke Haditha crowd. I wonder what they are saying today? 45 min later:
It’s now official: Bill Sparkman committed suicide. So much for “Southern populist terrorism” — and the credibility of Andrew Sullivan. So much for “Send the body to Glenn Beck” — and the credibility of Rick Ungar.
There is a new Memeorandum thread, wonder how many lefty blogs will be on it? I won’t be holding my breath.
Now I’ll say this, given the initial info murder was a rational conclusion. I DO blame them for trying to use this to attack the tea parties and paint those who attended as culpable to murder. Honorable people will come out and say they were wrong. Lets see how that thread turns out.
This has been a bad day for Andrew Sullivan and Charles Johnson and a good day for Robert Stacy McCain. Why is that? Only one of the three took the time and effort to obtain facts first hand.
Will we see the “fake but accurate” meme return?
Update: Bill Jacobson is naming names:
I’ll let others delve into all the sordid facts. What I want are some apologies from all the left-wing blog ghouls who danced on Bill Sparkman’s grave hoping to score points by blaming conservatives for the death, as detailed in my post Ghouls Preparing To Dance on Sparkman’s Grave.
The theory went that right-wing concerns over government power incited anti-government violence. Here are the bloggers specifically quoted in my prior post pushing this agenda:
* Think Progress,
* Steve Benen,
* Andrew Sullivan,
* MyDD,
* Crooks and Liars,
* Richard Benjamin,
* Mark Kleiman and
* No More Mister Nice Blog, among many.
I’ll be following these blogs to see who owns up to their smears. And I’ll let you know.
If the left has had a worse week I can’t remember it.
Update 2: Something horrible just hit me: Mr. Sparkman was counting on the media blaming the right for his death for his scam to work. He intentionally tried to frame us for his murder!
As a rule it isn’t proper to speak ill of the dead, but I’m just amazed that the dead was trying to speak ill of us. What a dishonorable act!
