Apologies Will Be Forth Coming In 4, 3, 2...Never Mind

Now that we've learned that Bill Sparkman committed suicide I'm sitting here listening to the crickets chirp while I wait for the Left to apologize for smearing pretty much everyone on the Right and pretty much everyone in my former home state of Kentucky when news of Sparkman's death first surfaced.

Andrew Sullivan claims that he has nothing to apologize for. Here's what Sully originally wrote:

It's possible, I suppose, that anger at the feds in general could make a drug dealer murder a census worker. But the most worrying possibility - that this is Southern populist terrorism, whipped up by the GOP and its Fox and talk radio cohorts - remains real. We'll see.

In Andrew's world the We'll see is proof that he was keeping an open mind. Where I come from, we call it the "God bless", as in "God bless her, she's ugly as mud." You can say anything about anybody as long as you qualify it with a "God bless."

Stacy McCain puts it to Sullivan:

This, from a post entitled "Correcting Michelle Malkin," as if Malkin -- who was right all along about the Sparkman case -- needs corrections from Dr. Andrew Sullivan, M.D., OB-GYN. Tell you what: We'll let Sarah Palin's Uterus be the arbiter here. We're not laughing with you, Sully, we're laughing at you.

But Sully wasn't the only chimp who used Sparkman's death as an excuse to fling some feces-
Reason, American Power and Camp of the Saints have round ups of all the Lefty monkeys who practically fell over one another to to smear anyone who failed to worship at the alter of Obama.

To be honest, I'm not really waiting for an apology. That would require a level of honesty and decency not seen from the Left.

Newsweek Jumps on the Census Worker Killed by Right Wing Crazies Bandwagon

Via Memeorandum:

Newsweek starts out well enough:

A 1955 cartoon depicts bare-chested, bearded country boys, wearing overalls and pointing their guns at a diminutive, bespectacled census taker. "It's OK Boys. You can tell him everything … He's the Census Man!" one of them tells the others, in what is part of a decennial phenomenon that is beginning again—the massive advertising and manpower effort to persuade Americans to take part in the U.S. Census. The old ad assures readers that census takers have no connections to the "revenooers," a reference to the Prohibition-era feds who cracked down on illegal production of alcohol. Back then, as now, there is hesitation and distrust of the census among the public.

Back then, as now, there is hesitation and distrust of the census among the public. True enough. There is a decades long sentiment that the government uses the census to stick its nose in where it doesn't belong. It is nothing new and it is neither "right" or "left" wing. Our Constitution requires that our population be counted at a regular interval for apportioning purposes. Politicians being busybodies at heart expanded the census beyond its constitutional mandate and thus we have the "long form."

Sample questions from the 2000 census long form:

What are the annual costs of utilities and fuels for
this house, apartment, or mobile home? If you have
lived here less than 1 year, estimate
the annual cost.
a. Electricity
Annual cost — Dollars
$ , .00


What were the real estate taxes on THIS property
last
year?

Yearly amount — Dollars
$ .00


Answer ONLY if this is a MOBILE HOME —
a. Do you have an installment
loan or contract
on THIS mobile home?

Reading the questions, one can't help but wonder if the census is being conducted by the IRS. In other words, much of it is simply none of the government's damn business. Combine this with the fact that up until recent events ACORN was involved. Let's face it, most people don't want someone from a criminal enterprise knocking on their door.

So a man who happens to be a census worker is killed and the Left and their puppet scribes start screaming "Right wingers!" Newsweek is smart enough to use qualifying words like "may" and "might" but their message is obvious.

I think Stacy McCain, who took the time to go to Kentucky, sums it up best in quoting a journalist he met on his road trip, "We don't know anything. Hell, we don't even know what we don't know." Neither does Newsweek but they know what they hope turns out to be true.

Newsweek is on the bandwagon and like everyone else on the Left, they are in such a rush to get their point across their reporting is at best, sloppy. Jimmie Bise at The Sundries Shack:

Well, here’s something I didn’t notice until I was reviewing my post just
now. Conant writes that the conservative blogosphere has been questioning the
census, but she doesn’t bother to cite any conservative bloggers. Surely, a
crack reporter (that is to say, a good one, not one whose writing makes it seem
like she’s on crack) could Google up a few wild blogger quotes. It’s not like
notable violent maniac Michelle Malkin hasn’t written a column about the census. And here’s a *gasp* black conservative with reservations, too! And even the Simian-American population was ready to grab their…whatever
monkeys grab…to combat the monstrous census threat! Heck, we all know those Newsbusters bloggers are all about the head-cracking. Why
the word “bust” is built right into the site’s name!

I would suggest that Conant go to Kentucky to investigate but I guess that isn't necessary if you've already made up your mind.

Thinking of Home

Stacy McCain is hanging out in rural Kentucky and his posts are making me wistful. I doubt I'll ever leave Florida but I admit that when I think about home I think about Pulaski County Kentucky.

Stacy arrived in Clay County and discovered normal people. Seriously. I realize it is difficult for people who live in places that matter to imagine, but people in Kentucky are pretty much like people in important places except they're not nearly as snooty. In fact, they can actually read and write, speak English and as a percentage of the population, there are no more 'knuckle draggers' in rural Kentucky than there are in Los Angeles.

One of the first people Stacy met was Morgan Bowling, news director of her hometown paper, the Manchester Enterprise. She shared with Stacy an email she had received from a New Yorker (place that matters) regarding the Bill Sparkman death:

To M. Bowling
I just read the story on the AP about the Census worker who was hung. What
I want to ask you is, are you people for real down there? I mean what kind of
f---ing animals live in Clay County? I live in New York State, and this story is
above and beyond even for New York!Are you a bunch of uneducated, ignorant,
toothless, dirty scumbags? What f---ing century are the residents of Clay County
living in? Do you realize what this crime makes you people look like? Good God!
What kind of people are you? This is a story one would expect would come out of
Iraq or Afghanistan!What are you people, backwoods ignorant freaks? Let me tell
you this ranks up there with terrorists cutting peoples' heads off. This crime
is a reflection of all the residents of Clay County. Are you all proud of
that?What is the average education level of the residents of Clay County? Third
grade? You are all disgusting pigs, and if one could level a curse at a
community, then I curse the whole lot of you. May Clay County Kentucky be wiped
off the face of this earth by fire or some other disaster such as a flood or an
earthquake!! And may all the residents of Clay County -- man, woman, and child
-- rot away in Hell forever!!
Gary S-----Malta, N.Y.

What a charming missive. I wonder if, in the spirit of open mindedness displayed by Gary S if we should declare all the people of Malta, NY to be cut of the same cheap cloth as Gary? Turn the other cheek, Carolyn, he knows not the depth of his ignorance.

Stacy turned reports from Laurel County here and here. I have fond memories of Laurel County. Basketball rules in Kentucky and my Pulaski Co. Maroons beat 'em every time.

It is an incredible area filled with incredible people. A terrible thing happened to Mr. Sparkman there but we don't know who or why he died. A terrible thing is happening to the people in Clay County. The entire county is being maligned by the Lefty blogs and people with a Gary S mindset and not only do they not know the facts, I haven't seen any indication that they care about the facts. You can bet that if the facts turn out not to fit the Left's desired scenario their response will be, "Bill who?"

For the Left it is 'story first, facts later'

Via Memeorandum:

Seen over at The Other McCain:

My brief report for The American Spectator:

"Yes, we are concerned about what people are saying on the blogs," a
Kentucky law enforcement official said Saturday night, speaking on condition of
anonymity.The murder of Bill Sparkman in Clay County, Ky., has caused bloggers to engage in widespread speculation about the motive for the killing. Sparkman was employed part-time conducting a Census Bureau survey. . . .The Kentucky State Police are coordinating the investigation of Sparkman's death. Trooper First Class Don Trosfer, based in the agency's London, Ky., Post 11 is the official spokesman for the investigation, but was unavailable for comment late Saturday.Another law-enforcement source, not authorized to speak about the case, said state and local officials are working closely with the FBI on the investigation. Internet gossip is a source of concern, he said."You'd be surprised what some of these morons write on the Internet . . . that they wouldn't say to somebody's face," the official said in a brief telephone interview. . . .

So, Stacy is off to my old stomping ground, I was raised in Pulaski County Kentucky, to check the story out for himself. Good for him. Too many have jumped to there own conclusions with no real knowledge of the facts based on their own flimsy ideology. Left wing bloggers are gleefully crying "gotcha", is new low. They couldn't care less about Bill Sparkman. They simply hope with all their tiny blackened souls that some crazy right winger killed him.

Do they know anything about the people in Clay County Kentucky or, cue up the dueling banjos, do they just assume that Sparkman was targeted by some backwood, inbred, government hating knuckle dragger? It has been two and a half decades since I've been home but I remember an incredibly kind and generous people who would no more target someone because he works for the government than they would target their own family.

So far we know that Bill Sparkman was murdered. We do not know anything else. Is it too much to ask the Left to withhold judgement until the local police have done their job and the facts are known?