Check This Story Out. Killing a census worker? That's pretty low. Obviously we don't know the motive behind this yet for sure but it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to think that it was some sort of crazy Glenn Beck watching right winger. The hatred (combined with stupidity and ignorance) that Glenn Beck and his ilk are spreading is really dangerous. I fear this is only the beginning of this kind of behavior due to the "political climate" in this country right now. It'd be bad enough if it were just Beck on TV, but we also have people in congress like Michele Bachmann who just a few months ago was telling people to resist the census: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/26/michele-bachmanns-census_n_221427.html Let's see how this story develops. It's time for someone to start holding these people (Bachmann & Beck) responsible. Yes, it's a free country - you can say what you want. But you should also be held responsible for the things that you say when you are influencing people in this way.
That guy is completely nuts and totally out of his fucking mind, FYI I am not talking about the guy that killed the Census worker. I am talking about Glenn Beck I have no idea why he can be allowed on TV, he makes FOX look like the Media Special Olympics.
How on earth is this Becks fault? Do you have any actual substantive comments to make regarding this or did you just post this to bash a talk show host?
Yeah, this was Glenn Beck's fault.. Just like all that hiphop music and violent games makes children bring a gun to school and kill everyone. We get it, you don't like Glenn Beck, probably because you're jealous that his ratings are through the roof.. but you don't need to bring it up in every post.
Odd coincidence that this comes up right after I made a post in the directory forum about MLK. Starts here: http://forums.digitalpoint.com/showthread.php?p=12536867#post12536867 As a kid in the 60's I recall that everywhere he went to preach non-violent resistance thru civil disobedience (wait... he advocated breaking the law!?)... race riots broke out. Burning cars and buildings, shattered glass, bleeding people, the works. And contrary to the impression you might get today, it was not all generated by fat southern sheriffs with dogs and firehoses... the violence went both directions and wasnt always started by the nitwits of the John Birch Society and such. We look at MLK thru the prism of history and we judge him (rightfully IMO) by his words and his actions... not by the acts committed by those of lesser caliber that misconstrued his aims and took action in a less pure form. He advocated civil disobedience and non-violence, not riots. But to those of us in the path of cities he spoke in or was due to speak in... it sure as hell looked like cause and effect. Using your theory then at the minimum we'd have to be prepared to give the same treatment to MLK you want to give to Beck. I can't make that leap. Unless the people you're talking about actually advocate hanging census workers... holding them responsible for the actions of lunatics they havent met seems a bit unlikely/illegal. Your entire premise assumes quite a bit anyway... for all we know he stumbled onto a backwoods still or a field of unharvested marijuana.
Actually the first thing that popped in my mind was "I wonder if his liver was missing". http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjGpcEA-FyE
I too grew up in the '60's. Here is my recollection of the race riots and one in particular. My dad and his partner had a business in Newark NJ in 1967 when the riots occured there. That summer I went into work every day with him I was the kid stockboy/gofer. Every day at lunch I'd go out with he and his partner. We'd walk a couple of blocks down the street to a lunch place. His business and the lunch place were on Springfield Ave, the main commercial road in the city...and exactly where the riots in Newark were centered. His business was on the corner of 10th Street. The majority of the riots occurred right there from 10th Street, down way past that luncheon place and to the city downtown. For some reason his place wasn't hit in the riots. The business was a wholesale/retail place...with the main focus being wholesale. The windows were covered over. Still they had plenty of local customers. They sold linens, sheets, towels, etc. What easy stuff to steal. For some reason though the building didn't get hit. But here is what I recall. It was my first experience in that city on a regular basis. I was a kid from a lilly white suburb. The area was disgusting. Filth on the streets, buildings that were ravaged. It smelled bad. The area was populated by all Blacks. There were White business operators and White workers mixed with Blacks. I was too young to have developed thoughts. I did realize that it was extraordinarily different than the lilly white suburb I grew up...and it was immeasurably worse. It was horrible. If the other cities where the race riots occurred had similar conditions....and we know they did...then it was a series of riots blown up by a society that saw and knew they were a sub society within America. The riots in Newark didn't extend out of that area. Of course there were armed guards everywhere. Still it stayed within that boundry. I'm not defending the riots. I believe MLK was a great person, a great American. Those that engaged in rioting were of a lesser caliber. Lets face it, most of us are of a lesser caliber than MLK. Still, for me the run up to the riots were a indelible vision of two different America's. I've never forgotten it. (as to the census worker....lets wait and see what the investigators find as to his death)
The comparison of Glenn Beck and Martin Luther King is kind of disturbing. I watch commercial TV perhaps twice a year, always on the road in a motel when I have absolutely nothing else to do. I saw Glenn Beck for the first time about three days ago. He was almost entertaining if for no other reason than the fact he was so extreme as to be comical. I watched for perhaps 5 minutes, and for at least 4 of those minutes I thought I had landed on the Comedy Channel or some such thing. That we have educated and capable people that support, let alone believe his drivel is scary. That their might be folks that act on his vitriole is terrifying.
I havent supported him, I've never heard him speak. I didnt compare him to King, I said laws that apply to one person apply to another. King espoused breaking the legal law of the land at the time through civil disobedience, and it is a simple fact that many who heard him participated in riots afterward despite the fact that he didnt espouse that tactic. I happen to agree with his goal and his motives, but we are looking at him thru a prism of history. I recall many at the time saying the same thing then that the OP said about Beck... he must be held responsible for crimes and violence he "incites". Aside from suggesting that they be treated by the same rule... I don't know enough about Beck to make any other comparisons. Just saying he can only be responsible for his own actions, not the actions of halfwits that do something beyond the scope of what he said. Like I said earlier, the OPs jump to Beck as a motive is pretty weak anyway. My wife added another possible cause today. Her first thought was he probably stumbled onto a meth lab. That someone running a meth lab might be (a) crazy, and (b) averse to meeting any representative of the Federal government on their grounds is pretty much a given.
In Kentucky it's more likely he stumbled upon a marijuana patch. I think this is around harvest time too.
This is sad... very sad to lose a fellow census worker My consolation to his family for the loss. Such a shame.
Ah... this place is something else. Comparing Glenn Beck to Martin Luther King are we? That's kind of amusing because the truth is that right wingers today praise MLK but of course at the time they were calling him a "communist." It's just like they tried to kill Medicare in the '60s and now they are pretending like they're trying to protect it. Or it's how if it was up to them the Grand Canyon wouldn't have been protected (watch that PBS series on the national parks, it's brilliant) but of course today everyone is for it. And it's just like how today they're against the public option but when it passes and it's been around for awhile they'll be out holding rallies holding signs about "keeping the government's hands off my public option!" Right wingers are just terminally short sighted. Knuckle dragging neanderthals. They don't appreciate progress until about 40 years later. If it was up to them... who knows where we'd be today. We wouldn't have any of the things we take for granted, that's for sure.
HAHAHA I doubt that will ever happen but if it does I'd sure like to live to see that. BACK ON TOPIC---- A lot of the outrage stems from this probably being a killing by a sad bunch of paranoid gubment haters like this http://www.narlo.org/sign.html I LOVE the part where it says this includes ALL Government agencies... except in the case of fire or medical emergency And.... Violators will be treated as Intruders Backwoods people are hilarious. They somehow have it in their heads that because they put up a sign they can just shoot a federal agent like an intruder.... I wonder if the good old boys that killed this census worker had a sign up and thought they could kill him because of it....
Zibblu - Nobody indicated Beck is comparable to MLK... I said you cant hold Beck responsible for actions he didnt suggest if we dont say King was responsible for actions he didnt suggest. It's about the law, not their character. Like I already said, never heard Beck cause I dont do talk radio, never heard anyone on it that impressed me enough to switch off a music station. [OK, maybe Garrison Keilor, but that's different.] If you're just here to call people names and answer without reading first, makes your posts less than worthwhile to read.
So I take it you haven't listened to Michael Savage yet? I've been trying to tell him that. For the sake of his ideology I'm hoping it sinks in.
In the case of Texas, and Texas Peace Officers, you would be completely justified in shooting a person that came onto your property regardless of reason and without any form of notice. It's called the Castle Doctrine. And theres also case law in Texas where a man shot and killed 2 police officers that were doing a raid. They didn't announce themselves as police. Man was off the hook. I can't find it right now, but I'll keep looking for it lol. But, you apparently didn't read the part on there that said people can come on as prescribed by a signed search warrant as authorized by the 4th and 14th amendments. Or, were you just trying to make all us rednecks seem backwoods and like we just want to shoot everything? And how would you like ot be a Census guy? "George, what do you do for a living?" "Well Bob, I count people." epic lulz is epic.
GeorgeB. about your No Trespassing sign and relating it to redneck paranoid anti-government people, I think this is more of a case of you not understanding the life some live. I lived with my grandparents off and on in Indiana who were farmers. We had to post notices like that all over the property. If we didn't, we'd have multiple hunters daily on our property during hunting season. Cops and government workers thought they were above the law and were bad about doing this. They often came from out of state thinking they could just do what they wanted killing our animals for the hell of it (pets and livestock), destroying property (cutting down fences to drive through), and shooting very close to our home. When it wasn't hunting season, kids would come rip everything up on ATVs, have parties, and leave trash everywhere whether it be in the middle of a field or in a hedge row (line of woods on the edge of fields to protect crops and erosion). We had a small natural irrigation pond we had to drain due to kids coming out and swimming without permission. One pre-teen kid almost drowned and his parents tried to take us to court over safety concerns when it wasn't intended to be for swimming nor was anyone allowed to be there. Posting the signs helped a LOT but didn't stop all this completely. When I would catch hunters on the property that weren't given permission I'd drive the edge firing a shotgun to scare any game away so they had nothing to hunt. So call us stupid anti-government hicks all you want, but I don't agree at all other than I am against big government and think many politicians are corrupt, back room deal dirt bags. My grandfather was very well educated and just loved farming and nature. He tried to keep people off his property for the safety of his family and property as well as the potential lawsuits from greedy idiots who could get hurt. Now you can hopefully see why some take it further to the point of considering deadly force to keep people off. I'm not just making up stories either like some seem to here.
Hey Lonestar, I'm well aware of the Castle Doctrine in Texas. The thing is, there's a difference between people raiding your home with guns out and being shot (I'd shoot your ass too!) vs people thinking they can shoot federal agents because they put up a no trespassing sign. But your point is taken but in my opinion a little misplaced. We already have protection from illegal search and seizure -- they have to have a warrant. The kind of people behind sites like the one I linked above are the kind of people you guys are getting all riled up with this fear the government nonsense. So I just urge you to think about that. Democrats do it too (we did it with the whole wiretapping thing etc during Bush's term). When you get our base riled up on fear of government the fringe loons on our side form groups like the weather underground. Just like the fringe loons on the Republican side go out and buy no trespassing signs, stock up on guns and ammo, and join militias. The point I'm getting at is that politicians and anyone with influence have to realize that rhetoric has consequences. There are people in our country with serious mental shortcomings and they will believe anything that anyone gets up on a soapbox says then take it to the extreme. Some of them are already predisposed to violence. They just need someone to give them a reason to justify doing it! This case is a prime example of that. Ironically all the points you tried to make prove my point. The guy in Texas fought back because they attacked him. I did read the part about the 4th and 14th amendment. So since we're getting into the parts that are purposely written in small print did you read the next paragraph of small print? How do you justify that part? Everyone with half a brain knows that if any government rep comes to your door you have every right to tell them to beat it if they don't have a warrant. That last fine print paragraph gives the loons EXACTLY what they want and you know it. As far as they are concerned you've been warned that if you step on their property they will consider you an aggressive intruder and they can use force against you. LoL ironically the conversation would go like this: "George, what do you do for a living?" "Well Bob, I work for an agency within the Department of Defense". But yeah that would suck being a census person. Talk about a thankless job. And this guy was only doing it part time.