It’s tax season again. And for many of us, the idea of doing taxes and giving the IRS the pound of flesh they demand is a harrowing thought. One Austin, Texas, man, claiming to have been fed up with being ripped off by the IRS for over 20 years, flew a small plane into a building containing the local IRS office Thursday morning.
Joseph Andrew Stack, 53, flew a Piper Cherokee PA-28 into the side of the Echelon 1 building at 9430 Research Drive at around 10 a.m. Central time. According to FAA officials, the plane took off from nearby Georgetown Municipal Airport at about 9:40.
Stack was killed in the resulting explosion. Two people in the building were injured, and one person is unaccounted for, according to reports. The IRS said it is still trying to account for its 190 employees who were in the building at the time. News reports disagree on whether firefighters have been able to bring the building fire under control.
A lengthy diatribe posted to Stack’s web site this morning, since taken down at the request of the FBI, revealed that Stack suffered what he considered years of abuse by the IRS and laws meant to harm businesses like his, noting that “this rant could fill volumes with example after example if I let it.”
Stack’s apparent suicide note speaks of the irony of stockbrokers killing themselves after the 1929 crash, while after the 2007 crash the wealthy get bailed out at the expense of the poor, who pay for it all. (This much is true.)
“I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I’ve had all I can stand. . . . I can only hope that the numbers get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less.”
Federal officials are saying they do not consider this a terrorist attack. “At this time, we have no reason to believe there is a nexus to terrorist activity,” says a Department of Homeland Security news release.
Before leaving for the airport this morning, Stack set his home on fire, according to local officials. Worse, he apparently set the fire while his wife and daughter were away, leaving them shocked and distraught when they returned home to find it on fire.
It’s easy to understand what drove Stack over the edge: “In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.” He makes a number of legitimate complaints about the U.S. government, grievances which we all suffer and are all unlikely to see redressed any time soon.
But Stack seems to think that if enough people kill themselves in government offices, perhaps taking some bureaucrats with them, the rest of the country will “wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and mindless minions for what they are.” Violence, he concludes, “not only is the answer, it is the only answer.”
I must disagree: Few people woke up after September 11; in fact, that event put nearly everyone to sleep. But the continuing decline of the U.S. economy which began in earnest in 2007 and shows no signs of stopping certainly began to wake people up.
Those of you who are desperate, understand first that you aren’t alone, and there are ways out of this mess which don’t involve killing yourself or IRS agents. A good place to begin would be to learn the economics behind how we were all taken for a ride. Then you can recognize and denounce the people who want to do more of the same to you. There is a way out, and it’s called liberty. Learn the philosophy of liberty, why it is the only way to have real prosperity, and then join the rest of us who are working hard for a free society.
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Alexander
Feb 18, 2010
This is not regarding the story specifically, but re the comment that in 2007 it was the wealthy that were bailed out at the expense of the poor. If anyone cares to look at the news you will find that the entities that were “bailed” were banks, auto manufacturers, a big insurance company, and lots of homeowners who have had their mortgages subsidised. No bankers were bailed. The large banks have paid back the loans they received, secured by shares. Many smaller banks have not, but the government owns portions of them instead. AIG shareholders are subordinate to the government’s share of that company too. The governement also preferntially owns shares in Chrysler and GM. However you look at it, the only individuals who received benefits were mom and dad home owners. Shareholders of non bankrupt companies might benefit, but the government (read: the American people) gets its money back first. And all of this was done to avoid another aspect of post 1929 life: 30% unemployment which persisted into the 30s. saying that the rich have been bailed at the expense of the poor is an utter nonsense.
Reese
Feb 18, 2010
September 11th didn’t wake people up, it put them to sleep???? What planet are you living on? There are people who were only too happy to go back to sleep a few years after, but there are millions of us who realize how close we came to the brink on 9/11 and will never go back to sleep.
Please don’t judge the whole country by the laziness and apathy of the few.
rcc333
Feb 18, 2010
Thank you so much for putting into words your concerns (directly to those who might be persuaded to follow suit) about more fed up people thinking this is the only way to change it, and then telling them to reconsider/linking them to the peaceful options. And also for alerting them to the fact that many, many people are waking up. Mr. Stack’s letter was one man’s honest appeal for people to notice what he and others have been thinking, feeling and going through within years and decades of tyranny. But, even in his personal efforts to find out what was so wrong, he still mentioned a desire for government to somehow fix healthcare instead of bailing out rich people (although he doesn’t exactly say he wished Obamacare had passed), and he ended his note with a Michael Moore-ian definition of capitalist/capitalism.
So even in his personal research and dealings with all of the same things we’re all struggling to take crash-courses of instruction on, he still hadn’t found the ray of hope in the dark of his gloom that might have led him to individuals and groups that could have lifted his spirits with the reality of the many people out here, organized and ready, who are not willing to give up on doing this the most logical and compassionate way possible, to reclaim liberty and freedom with our lives intact, if at all possible.
May the numerous groups and reachout methods flourish in response to this, to find those tired and torn amongst us, and to have them join our efforts and not feel so alone in their own struggle.
And may Joseph Stack rest in peace.
northwood, nh
jason meyer
Feb 18, 2010
Good points i believe that ppl were put to sleep by 911, in fact they were in a coma before and are still in a coma. The poor and middle class of our nation need to realize how much the fat cats are ruining there lives. They are ruining all of our lives with there good old american greed and stupidity. i Was boorn and raised a peace loving american and was horrified when we went into the middle east “in search of oil” i have lost all faith in america as well as most americans who still support war and killing. They have no understanding of right and wrong and do not understand peace. therefore war is the only solution against those who only understand war. Or is it?
Michael Hampton
Feb 18, 2010
Alexander, I was under the impression that only a fraction of TARP funds had been repaid to date. As for the rest, let’s see, I never got any of that money back! It was just taken from me (and all the other American people), and I don’t expect to ever see it again.
By the way, equating the government to the American people is extremely insulting and offensive to the American people.
Reese, a few people woke up on 9/11, but the wholly predictable event shocked most Americans into quiet submission as the government took away much of their few remaining freedoms and gave back a false sense of security. Most of them neither noticed nor cared.
Jason, there’s a saying that fighting for peace is like f—ing for virginity. The problem with war is that when it eventually ends, there is still a power structure – perhaps just a somewhat different one, or a very similar one with different people running it. Either way, power corrupts, as Lord Acton reminded us. Only a significant change in the culture can break this cycle.
Michael Hampton
Feb 18, 2010
We are now hosting an exact copy of Joseph Stack’s web page as it appeared this morning before being taken down. The metadata indicate that it was written in Microsoft Word, last saved Thursday at 12:42 a.m. Central time and uploaded at 9:12 a.m. It appears he slept on it.
rabbit
Feb 18, 2010
The banks only had to pay back a portion of the money and it was only after the government felt the heat from the american people over giving their buddies money. And a home owner losing everything in exchange for not being hunted for life over the morgage he couldn’t pay is not a bail out. Maybe you should read a book or two.
Feb 19, 2010
Liberty Conspiracy – 2-18-10 Attack on IRS, Defining Terrorism | Homeland Stupidity
Stan James
Feb 24, 2010
Liberty is the new rallying cry of the ultra-right wing Republicans and Tea par-tiers.
They think that anything should go, and that a wild west capitalism that brought us to the brink of the second great republican depression is just fine. As long as their own Golden calf is protected, to hell with everyone else.
Somewhere in church I was told that Jesus said something about us being our Brothers keepers. Somewhere in economics I learned how the big corporations are moving all our valuable industry overseas, to enhance the wealth of the upper class, to hell with the middle class looking at shuttered factories and the only help wanted signs for our children and ourselves being at McDonalds
There is no end of lies by the republican party as it now is constituted, the so called party of moral values.
They worship the golden calf, while actually punching their ticket to hell in the next life. Which cant come soon enough for these Apostates
The moral values of their leaders include Limbaugh, who has married and divorced three times, while “protecting marriage” Almost certainly, Limbaugh is actually a homosexual, going into marriages of convenience that almost always blow up because they are based on lies. Someone should buy him a dress. He’d win the ugliest woman of the year contest.
There is Gingrich – his moral values include cheating on his first wife while she lay dying of cancer. Cheating on his second wife. Now on his third. What is his problem, other then he cant tell the difference between the bible and his used toilet paper.
And there is Karl Rove Bet you can guess – he is two wives married, two wives divorced. Wonder who he is secretly living with – multiple women, like the Islamic Saudis, who gave us 9/11
I have no problem with homosexual people living their life in chastity, and in relative privacy, I know some of them. They are ok and good reliable workers despite their problems.
But I have a terrible time with people who speak about their moral values. But whose true moral values are best expressed by that Psalm;
Everything they say is a lie, their mouths are an open grave etc.
And until the republican party / tea party people correct the errors of their ways, and be true to the teachings of Jesus, I will simply sit out the elections.
You should also
Wyer
Feb 27, 2010
This man is a terrorist. Nothing more. I do not feel sorry for him one bit. If this loser would have paid his taxes none of this would have happened. He was an irresponsible jerk off, his kids are better off not having him as a role model. I hope he rots in hell for what he has done. What was killing a few IRS office jockeys going to prove anyway? You think this was going to change procedures in on capital hill? Hell no, they don’t give a crap about anything but staying in office and lining their own pockets. I’m no fan of the IRS but this is no way to go about making any changes. If anything it will just draw more negative attention to your cause from the Federal Government. Won’t get you anything but on a terrorist no-fly list. Effin coward is what this guy was.
John Shaw
Mar 01, 2010
Joe Stack was way too cool for this world. He died that Americans might be free.
He did not have to join a terrorist U.S. military and go murder humdreds of thousands of innocents in Central Amerika, Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Middle East. He perceived the enemy and attacked, alone, and he did not need an army to do it. Many Americans unwittingly support gross criminal offenses committed by their own government. Then, when it comes time for paybacks, they scream and cry “terrorism.” If you truly denounce the use of such tactics, why do you support a government that uses them around the world?
John Shaw
Mar 01, 2010
If you think your government cares about you, why did they let you get hit on September 11, 2001? I had known about the 9-11 attacks in detail since 1997. It is a fact I told about 130 people and warned others in law enforcement for four years. And you know what? Stack hit the nail right on tyhe head. Your paid protectors ignored me, they ridiculed me, and one really did act as if I was totally wasting his time. They did not want to hear anything I had to say. After 9-11, the story was hijacked by a campaign of propagandist lies in the Amerikkkan press. You people have a right to your opinions, but expressing opinions on subjects of which there is a great deal more to be known and of which you are ignorant is just uninformed opinion.
Ron
Jul 06, 2010
The man was a fucking hero, dipshit. Unlike the poor souls who supposedly ‘fight’ for this country for the sake of oil and anything else America can get it’s hands on. No, they are NOT heros, they are pawns operated by the kings.
Kith
Sep 20, 2010
I have to admire a man for taking a stand.
WILLIAM CARRILLO
Dec 06, 2010
knowlege is power, if we all know theres only 2 laws COMMEN LAW & UCC! studie it/ master it and the truth can set you FREE
George Houghtby
Aug 27, 2011
The man took a stand! Not the way I would have done it, but he made a small splash hoping to wake a few people up. Every one of us is guilty of feeding the Beast of big government. Every time you use a credit card or borrow money for anything, you feed the beast. Working 40 hours and having the Man take his share before you do is just feeding the Beast. Home mortgages and car loans feed the Beast. We need to start living within OUR means, and only spending what we actually have, before we can expect the government to live within their means. If we don’t borrow the money the Beast will starve.