Courtesy of the Denver Post, a Flash animation multimedia show of Marvin Heemeyer's Revenge Machine, and the work shed he built it in. Clearly I'm not the only person fascinated by the whole affair...{cough cough}...and the folk hero analogies are starting to be heard:

When some people talk about Marvin Heemeyer - Colorado's, and perhaps America's, most famous gadfly gone bad - you can almost hear Pete Seeger or Woody Guthrie strumming in the background.

In the space of a week, Heemeyer made the long journey from criminal to, in some quarters, mountain folk hero who dared to take on City Hall with a homemade, armor-plated bulldozer.

His exploits are being discussed in Internet chat rooms by people all over the nation, cheering the "little guy" and that "justice was served A-Team style." Others are considering making T-shirts with symbols of Heemeyer on them.

And closer to home, some citizens who have been angered by decisions made by their own hometown leaders say they do not agree with Heemeyer's Mad Max actions - but they understand.

However, I can't say much about Heemeyer's taste in movies:

Heemeyer's staples of life remain spread on a card table: oatmeal, bread, peanut butter and jam, instant coffee, canned fruit and vegetables, and a bottle of vitamins called "Men's Mega Men." A sparsely stocked mini-fridge contains sandwich spread and lunch meat.

On a wood shelf above the fridge, the man plotting revenge stacked a select library of videos, including "RoboCop," "Adrenaline Rush," "60 Seconds" and "Independence Day."

One of the movies, "A Man Apart," is a story he may have used for inspiration. A studio advertisement says the movie starring Vin Diesel is about vengeance: "Nothing left to live for, everything to fight for. When they took his love, they took his life. On April 4th, he's taking it back."

Okay, I admit I liked "RoboCop" and "Independence Day"...but now we know what happens when you let people watch Vin Diesel flicks.

Web Commentary on Heemeyer

(Disclaimer: farkleberries does not claim to agree with or endorse any commentary on other sites listed here)

"Marvin Heemeyer" on Chuckland:

"Marvin Heemeyer realized what's wrong with this country because he experienced it first hand. What did he do? He didn't re-register as a Democrat and wait patiently to vote for Kerry. He snapped. He turned his bulldozer into a tank and destroyed the physical representations of the forces that wronged him. He is a warning, because he is not going to be the last...He was making a statement. That, in the end, is why he took his own life. He made his statement complete by giving his life to it.

He wasn't coming out of that big cement box, and he knew it.

Heemeyer is a tragic figure. It is an unfortunate perversity that, though he is responsible for himself and for his own actions, that the people that drove him to this will not be punished. They are as responsible for what he did as he is. In the end, he will bear the responsibility. The problem lies in the simple fact that there was nothing else he could do..."

"Lying Liars!" on NO B.S. NEWS by Russell Bingman

Marvin Heemeyer was a 6 foot-4 inch, 230 pound, gentle giant, according to most of the people in Granby and Grand County who have bothered to speak up. Those who have spoken against him seem to be at a loss as to why nobody is corroborating their statements, or disputing them. Others are pointing out the city’s greed factor — the insatiable lust and desire for MONEY — and their indifference to whom they hurt in their pursuit of that capitalistic gain...

"Marvin Heemeyer's Strange Ride" on Synthstuff [note - the comments here are quite interesting]

"When a man has had it "up to here!" with all the bullshit that the corrupt officials dish out, he can do things others may find unreasonable yet are totally justifiable. This man will go down as a folk hero not just in Granby but across the nation. Around 200 years ago people were fed up and took matters into their own hands and its time those government officials who all seem to consider themselves royalty take note. This is just the beginning of the new revolution by those of us who are tired of "taxation without representation". Let the battle cry be "Remember Marvin Heemeyer!" God Bless him, he's my new hero." [comment by 'Curtiss']

And a comment from a Granby area resident:

"...I at least do live here, and am proud to live here, and will do my part to help rebuild what this coward destroyed! A HERO...?? Marvin was not standing up for your sorry ass or any one elses, he was trying to fuck up a bunch of people he hated, THATS ALL IT WAS! Folk Hero to Granby and the rest of the country...? There is not a person in Granby that would piss on that asshole if he was on fire. Well maybe a couple of his close friends. And for him never hurting anyone, he was trying to blow up Giant propane tanks that would have leveled a 4 squard block area that was only a block from my apartment and a half block from the Senior center..." [response by Donald A Jensen, Jr.]

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