‘F*** the Rich’: Cape Cod Arsonist Targets Homes of the Wealthy

[cali]

Upscale towns in Massachusetts are on alert as police and fire officials are investigating another fire in which an arsonist scawled a “f*** the rich” graffiti message at the scene. The latest incident in Sandwich follows another suspicious incident in Barnstable.

On Dec. 2, the local news reports that “incendiary devices” were found in the charred ruins of a home in Marstons Mills, along with the spray-painted expletive left spray-painted on a fence.

In a phone interview Saturday, Joe Vaughn, who owned the Trotter’s Lane house for 22 years but moved about 10 years ago to Sandwich, said he talked to his former neighbors the day the arson investigators were at the home.

The arsonist had cut the propane tank off a gas grill at a neighboring house and put it in the basement of the empty one, Vaughn said a neighbor told him.

“But what they didn’t realize was that propane settles,” he added. The propane apparently never drifted upstairs to the burning candle.

“It looks like someone was trying to burn another whole house to the ground,” Barnstable police Det. John York said.

<snip>

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/f-the-rich-cape-cod-arsonist-targets-homes-of-the-wealthy/

[MadHound]

1. As class divisions become more rigid, as the rest of us continue to get screwed,

You can expect more and more of this sort of action. When you finally drive the middle class into the ground, and all that is left are the poor and the rich, that's when you get things like the French Revolution. When people have nothing left to lose, and everything to gain, society goes to hell and things get very ugly, very quick.

[cali]

4. My guess is it's simply a fire bug type

or a couple of kids.

[Teaser]

8. this person has nothing to gain

by burning houses.

[MedicalAdmin]

12. Follow the money.

My unsupported by evidence guess is that the person torching homes owns one of them. They might be trying to collect on the insurance. I wonder if this is an emerging trend among big banks to get some of their money back from the bogus loans they did before tanking the economy. Think about it - a big bank hires arsonists to torch homes, they collect the insurance and they get the house demolished all in one move. They are then free to redevelop, etc with cash in pocket and who gets screwed? The middle class with higher premiums.

The graphiti is just a red herring to throw the investigation off.

[reformist2]

15. My thoughts too - If you can't sell at the price you want, get the insurance money.

[NashVegas]

19. I Thought So, Too

Maybe a Zillow check ...

[Billy Burnett]

22. Follow the money all the way to the banks (and their **insurance on the mortgage*).

A great way to push more people into foreclosure is to make neighboring homeowners insurance too costly. The banks make more money figuratively, and literally, by burning a house down.

Another example of that unique American opportunistic entrepreneurship. :puke:

[Hannah Bell]

26. that would be my suspicion too -- mainly because of the "fuck the rich" graffiti

and the neighborhood.

but it will be used to push the point that the "hatred" for the rich has gotten out of hand, i bet. and to make criticism of wealth equivalent to a call to arson.

[blondeatlast]

28. I wondered about that as well--and I bet the fire investigators are wondering too. nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

29. Do insurance companies pay off in cases of arson?

I can think of several reasons why they would not do so.

[Hannah Bell]

35. depends; but yes, they do.

[FirstLight]

13. sad but true

remember how the teabaggers accused the left of being capable of violence? well i hate to say it but they ain't seen nothin' yet... and it isn't just the left or the right...it's the poor and disenfranchised...

i'm afraid you are correct, things will get very ugly, very fast as this downward spiral continues

(and no, that doesn't mean i condone it, but things have a way of shifting when the equilibrium is so far off...)

[frazzled]

18. So you want to man the barricades, citoyens?

What's next, the guillotine and the Reign of Terror?

You forget what that episode in French history led to: 100 years till there was a legitimate form of democratic government. It actually led to a restoration of the monarchy and an imperialistic emperor.

The kind of hate language we see here is precisely what leads to this kind of violence. It is OUR responsibility to make economic arguments without resorting to fear tactics or hyperbole. We are partly to blame for this (just as Fox and the right is to blame for, say anti-Muslim violence). Take note, DU.

[roguevalley]

25. I'd be his alibi

[flvegan]

2. I don't care the cause, fire is never the right course of action.

[slackmaster]

3. Damage done by arsonists hurts everyone, everywhere

Insurance premiums go up for all of us.

[KansDem]

5. I'm surprised this isn't happening more often...

Maybe it will as the lower 98% continued getting screwed by the Repubs and the Pres...

[Teaser]

6. am I supposed to cheer for this guy?

cause I'm not.

[bobbolink]

10. Actually, it would be good to pay attention and GET that the anger level is rising, and until

"progressives" stop with all the "middleclass" mantra and begin to take action on behalf of poor people, this anger is going to reach explosive proportions.

[mainer]

7. What if there were kids or pets in the house?

Does f*** the rich include killing their children?

[Rebubula]

11. My Thoughts Exactly! NT

[InkAddict]

23. Rage doesn't necessarily take socioecomomic factors into account.

Matthew J. Hoffman, Ohio Kidnap Suspect, Was In Prison For Colo. Arson
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/16/matthew-j-hoffman-ohio-ki_n_784230.html

Hoffman was sentenced to eight years in prison in Colorado in 2001 for arson and other charges.

The Steamboat Pilot & Today of Steamboat Springs, Colo., reported Tuesday that he pleaded guilty to setting a fire to cover up a burglary he had committed the day before at a townhouse where he had installed some plumbing fixtures. The fire destroyed two townhouses, damaged eight others and forced the evacuation of 16 people.

"I just want to say that I did have concern for the people in the condos," Hoffman said at his sentencing, according to the newspaper. "Now that I think back about it, I would not have done it."

Authorities allowed Hoffman to move to Ohio in 2007 after he was released on parole, which ended about a month ago. He had paid about $4,800 toward $2.06 million in restitution, Colorado court system spokesman Jon Sarche said.
==============================================
The judge in CO gave him 8 years versus the 24 he could have received and hoped the arsonist would avail himself of the programs available in prison to straighten up and fly right upon release. Guess what...on returning "home,"he murdered three, chopping up their bodies and hiding the bits in a tree trunk, and kidnapping the teenage daughter...

[lukasahero]

9. The comments after the article are truly terrifying

God what a mess this country is.

[Tsiyu]

14. Some of the comments in this thread scare me

Because they indicate that some people just aren't that aware of how bad it is out there for millions of people,

I'm in NO WAY advocating arson as a response to suffering. But stop and think about it people:

"They'll make insurance premiums go up for everybody."

Do you think a homeless person, or people who can't even afford any homeowners insurance really give a damn? Really?

"Don't they care about pets or children?"

The poor ask, "Don't they care about me freezing on the streets or about my sick child?"

If society stops caring about your survival - about you as a person - YOU WILL stop caring about society.

That's how it works, People.

Desperation is alive and kicking. But some people just refuse to accept how truly desperate people living in these times are.

The naive attitudes are both frightening and sad.

[socialist_n_TN]

21. Yeah. As I've said a few times lately...........

if you WANT sympathy or empathy, you have to model those traits. And even if you HAVE a lot of sympathy or empathy for individuals, when politics and the class massacre (I refuse to call it class warfare until we fight back) gets to the point of self defense, you don't have any other choice even WITH empathy. Remember WE DIDN'T START THIS. It's ALWAYS the capitalists who start it with their greed.

[Bonhomme Richard]

16. I hate to say it but only when the rich have a personal stake....

in the game will things begin to change. That is, unless we have true leaders that are willing to take them on.

[formercia]

17. Violence is unacceptable

It just makes us look bad. It is totally counterproductive.

Who knows, the people who owned the houses that were burned might be nice people, even Democrats with a conscience.

[mainer]

24. being as it's Massachusetts, owner could well be a Dem

Makes you wonder if class warriors here think it's okay to burn down Michael Moore's or Ted Kennedy's or Al Gore's house.

Thinking Democrats are often also high achievers. College professors. Or inventors. Or scientists. With nice homes.

[RZM]

20. I have a hunch

That this was not the work of class warriors, but mean spirited and/or pyromaniac morons.

[Raine]

27. Probably a personal bullshit grudge that they

tried to make look like a statement. Arson is wrong, it's disgusting to burn down someone's house whether they are rich or poor. x(

[rustydog]

30. If this is true, I hope they catch the culprit try him and if found guilty

spend a few decades in jail.

[BanTheGOP]

32. Sorry. If I'm on the jury, this gets nullified faster than a republican can foreclose on a widdow

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

33. See #12.

It may not be what it seems.

[Nye Bevan]

37. Would you also "nullify this" if a child had died in the fire? (nt)

[MadBadger]

39. You wouldnt get on the jury because of your extreme disdain for rich people

You know, the kind of disdain that doesnt mind if their house gets burned down.

[lonestarnot]

31. Wow, some of those toys I thought may be on the mashed list.

[Fla_Democrat]

34. Isn't "TheBlaze.com".....

Glenn Beck's website?





:rofl: :rofl:






:smoke:

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

36. Probably an agent provocateur

The fact they can do it in liberal Massachusetts gives them an even bigger boner.

[Hello_Kitty]

38. Using social justice as an excuse for arson is nothing new.

We had a fire bug here in AZ burning down newly constructed homes a few years ago. He claimed he was a radical environmentalist.