Blew it

I've got two threads on this site I am not proud of. One of them, involved an attack on Rep. Bobby Rush's niece that I was worried was anti-Black/anti-Obama backlash (it wasn't), and the so-called Sparkman murder, especially now that its been revealed that he committed suicide.

I know I can easily delete these threads, but at the same time, I don't want to play games like I think the stinkin' Mainstream Media does and pretend I've never been wrong. I have been. I will be again.

TPM: Sparkman Case Update. It gets worse.

Okay, this has gone from a case of the FBI trying to tamp down wild speculation, to the FBI knowing good and well what's happened here and not wanting any interference in their investigation.

As I've said before, the less the FBI talks, the closer (I feel) they come to getting these guys.

But as I've said, Talking Points Memo has new details, and they ain't pretty:

When Census worker Bill Sparkman was found dead earlier this month, he was naked and gagged, with duct tape over his eyes. Duct tape also bound Sparkman's hands and feet.

...

The word "Fed" was written on Sparkman's chest, setting off speculation last week that the Census worker and part-time schoolteacher was killed in an act of anti-government sentiment.

Sources also told the AP that Sparkman's Census Bureau ID was found taped to his head and shoulder area -- a detail which may add to that speculation.

And as was reported last week, Sparkman also had a rope around his neck which was attached to a tree, though his feet were touching the ground.

According to Weaver, a 2003 Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck, containing Sparkman's clothes, was about 50 yards from the body.

Andrew Sullivan: A New Low.

Ugh.

(Oh, by the way...the following is written by Andrew Sullivan. It does not represent a new low for Andrew Sullivan. Way big difference.)

We still don't know very much about the death of Bill Sparkman in a brutal scene in Kentucky. But the far right is obviously concerned that its violent anti-government rhetoric might at some point be implicated. So what do these people do? Notorious homophobe Dan Riehl pre-emptively asks if Sparkman was a gay child predator, because he had an adopted son. He has no other evidence at all.

TPM: The FBI would like us to calm down...

The FBI is starting to push back against some of the stories floating out there about the Sparkman Murder. (And I'm still calling it a murder. Whether or not he was killed because he was working for the Census is way up in the air, but I doubt, even with these new details, that it was a suicide.)

As long as they're not abandoning the investigation (and they're not), fine. They can work in total secrecy if needs be. Just tell us what you know at the end of the day (by which I mean, the investigation).

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.

An anonymously sourced AP report said that Sparkman was hanging from a tree, and that he had the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest.

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.

Previous reporting "left the impression that [Sparkman] was found strung up in a tree because he was a federal employee," Beyer said. "At this juncture that's not accurate." Beyer added that Sparkman died of asphyxiation.

Earlier this afternoon, a state police spokesman told Greg Sargent at the Plum Line that the AP report contained errors, and that Sparkman was "in contact with the ground" when he was found.

TPM: New details on the Sparkman Murder, and none of them necessarily good...

1) Sparkman, a part-time Census Worker found dead on September 12th may not have been hanged, as his body was in partial contact with the ground.

2) Sparkman was apparently warned by a retired Trooper not to do his work in some parts of rural Kentucky.

"I said, you're going into rural Kentucky, isolated areas. Be careful over there -- people may not understand that you're there to gather statistics."

Sparkman's death, to me, is still looking like a homicide, but an Anti-Federal Hate Crime motive is still way up in the air.

MSNBC: Rachel Maddow on the Census Killing (VIDEO)

"I don't think Federal Law Enforcement would still be involved, a week and a half after the body was been found if there wasn't still that very serious concern..."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

The Justice Department isn't saying jack, which is fine. Work the case. Nail down the details. Tell us when you've got something.

HuffPo: Census Worker murdered...

From the Huffington Post, via the AP.

And yes, I blame the extremist rhetoric of Glenn Beck and Michelle Bachmann for this happening.

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.

Investigators are still trying to determine whether the death was a killing or a suicide, and if a killing, whether the motive was related to his government job or to anti-government sentiment.