HOW CURIOUS THAT A DRUG MURDER LOOKS LIKE A RIGHT-WING ASSASSINATION, OR VICE VERSA

At a certain point in a murder investigation, details about the crime ought to emerge that make certain scenarios more or less likely. What's curious about the Bill Sparkman murder case is that the details fit two scenarios equally well. What does it mean when a right-wing assassination and a drug murder would look pretty much the same?

... The word "fed" was written in felt-tip pen on 51-year-old Bill Sparkman's chest....

Jerry Weaver of Fairfield, Ohio, told The Associated Press on Friday that he was certain from the gruesome scene that someone killed Sparkman....

"... they had like his identification tag on his neck. They had it duct-taped to the side of his neck, on the right side, almost on his right shoulder."

Both of the people briefed on the investigation confirmed Sparkman's Census Bureau ID was found taped to his head and shoulder area....

Although anti-government sentiment was one possibility in the death, some in law enforcement also cited the prevalence of drug activity in the area -- including meth labs and marijuana fields....

Both drug dealers and angry right-wingers consider federal restraints on their behavior unacceptable. Many angry right-wingers consider the federal government essentially illegitimate, just like the bootleggers who are the spiritual -- and in some cases literal -- forebears of rural drug dealers. Angry right-wingers and drug dealers both feel they're answerable to a different set of laws from the rest of us. In both cases, it's rejection of the government's authority, with oneself and one's peers proclaimed as the legitimate authorities.

So no wonder no one can tell what really happened in this case.