Authorities indicate the pilot who crashed his plane into the building housing the IRS offices in Austin, TX, this afternoon did so deliberately. He also set his house on fire. So far, just one person is confirmed dead, other than the pilot, Joseph Stack.
Stack left behind an anti-tax, anti-government, anti-corporate, anti-Catholic “manifesto” suicide note (posted in full below), which concludes “Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.”
UPDATE 4:06pm PT: Say what? McClatchy reports that WH Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters the incident does not appear to be terrorism. Huh? Are you kidding? Would it be terrorism if the pilot’s name had been Abdullah instead of Stack? Wouldn’t Fox “News” be going wall-to-wall with coverage at this point if that had been the case? Had Gibbs read Stack’s note (as posted below), which reads “violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer,” before making that assessment? What the hell is he talking about? Or perhaps I should ask, what the hell is “terrorism”? Only the stuff that’s done by tan or darker guys with names like Abdullah? Or did McClatchy misreport Gibbs’ comments, and he was trying to say it doesn’t appear to be Muslim extremist terrorism?!
Stack’s complete suicide note follows in full below…
We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation.” I have spent the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least bit interested in me or anything I have to say.
Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies. Yet, the political “representatives†(thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problemâ€. It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.
And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable†its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires†a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress†than what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing is.
How did I get here?
My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “bestâ€, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country.
That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening in front of them.
Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an independent engineer.
On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.
The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.
In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer… and two years later, thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.
For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report (http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport) regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion here (http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).
SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
(a) IN GENERAL – Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
(d) EXCEPTION. – This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. – The amendment made by this section shall apply to remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
Note:
•”another person” is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.
•”taxpayer” is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
•”individual”, “employee”, or “worker” is you.
Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their “freedomâ€. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended effect.
Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked back.
Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I lost my retirement.
Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.
By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.
To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another $10,000 helping of justice.
So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.
When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.
This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usualâ€. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.
As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.
I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.
I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)
02/18/2010
Wow! This guy was right on. Too bad very few people will understand his position.
“The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.”
Hard to argue with .
Well oddly enough I have to say that I agree with every last sentence.
Hopefully agreeing with the thoughts in the manifesto doesn’t include his, erm, ‘solution’. We like you way too much, Nunyabiz!
[on edit, that sounds far more flippant and far less sensitive than I meant — Stack was clearly troubled, tragically so.]
Joe Stack was no crackpot….
R.I.P Joe Stack
R.I.P Joe Stack
Know how you felt……
My previous was uncaring …I reread this article and saw there was innocent victim in Mr. Stack’s out of rope fall.
My prayers to that victim’s family….
There are many in Washington, Wall Street and corporate board rooms across the country who are just as complicit in Mr. Stack’s last gasp effort at finding meaning in his existence.
I too am in complete agreement with this poor fellow. My story is incredibly similar. I don’t intend to go out quite so spectacularly. Am certain the MSM will spray foggy words all over this letter. There was a movie starring Jeff Bridges a few years ago. Chilling. So so sad. My fellow Americans, gather together. May this man’s sacrifice be a catalyst for action and protest and turning the tide. What’s that quote by Margaret Meade, something like: “never doubt that the actions of a single individual can change the course of history; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has…” Something like that. The gasoline puddle is spreading. Let the match be struck & thrown. Nonviolently od course. Again I say-raise your deductions, get into a local bank, get out of the stock market, and buy local. We are the change we are waiting for! Blessings all, in sorrow & solidarity.
Agree with Mr. Stack or not, we all have to agree that his “solution†was selfish and unacceptable. Further the results, including the death of (at least) one innocent person, the injuries to (I don’t know how many) others, and the damage caused are all unacceptable.
Taking a different view on this article, I’d like to thank Brad for pointing out the hypocrisy regarding terrorism. That was the first thought I had when I saw the news on one of the MSM websites. “…aircraft intentionally crashed into building…” Why is this any different from 9-11?
OOh, and by the way, this further proves that one unhinged individual, or small group have the ability to slip through the cracks and commit acts of terrorism at will.
Wait, a minute! What is the difference between this guy, and a radical Obama supporter spraying bullets at UAB? Was she a terrorist?
These events have an agenda; they are not random. Those who take the time to study them understand exactly what is going on, and both of these folks were victims. C’mon, folks, put the critical thinking caps on. Two “lone nutters” in a week span?
When you become fully aware of what is going on, things that seem to make no sense make perfect sense, and the truth is more sinister than most people are prepared to handle.
The guy was a nut. He is both extereme right and extreme left, kind of a cross between a Daily Kos reader who went to a couple Tea Parties, and then fell on his head a dozen times. Sicko.
Comment #10 just screams; “Troll bait”
It’s surely an attempt to provoke….
Let’s starve the troll this time….
Is the IRS “private” (not govt) like the FED? I always wondered that. I wouldn’t be surprised.
White folks don’t do terrorism. Especially when they are in fatigues under the orders of a four-star general. Right? RIGHT??
Mr. Stack had a conscience and he saw through the bullshit, that’s for sure. Took the wrong way out though. It was a sad letter. He hit the nail on the head about the bankers in the 30’s jumping from heights, if they did it as some sort of atonement, hara-kiri. Too bad we can’t get the same response from the fellas at Goldman-Sachs…
Big Dan @ 13
Check this out
more here
This is not terrorism.
Terrorism is the illegal use of violence to influence a government or population.
This was a case of rage. Different animal.
People are confused because the Flyer made excuses for what he did. But that’s simply what people do when they’re pissed off. Particularly small children.
Billy
Check out this in Stack’s rant:
Blue Hawk @ 15: I just guessed, but if I had to guess, why would I guess that? And be right? What does that tell you? It figures!
Everyone remember this: you are seeing this whole Joe Stack thing through the TV, the internet, the newspapers, and the radio. The same things we’re always railing about. You didn’t see it yourself, you didn’t walk down the road and look at it, touch it, etc… You know what I mean. See: O’Keefe’s pimp video, 9/11, etc…
I’m not saying it isn’t exactly what’s being portrayed right now, and his note/manifesto is original (hasn’t been altered, etc…).
But think of how many times you’ve come to different conclusions with things like this after some time has passed by.
Does anyone find it odd that there is talk of actually investigating the possibility that some sort of explosive might have been used in the crash due to the unusual size of the fire? Gee..I guess 3 skyscrapers disintegrating into a fine powder “due to fire†for the first and last time in history…and on the same day…doesn’t warrant an investigation into the possible use of explosives….even when witnesses at the scene reported hearing explosives going off in the buildings..
I can really sympathize with this poor man. I have often felt the same way. It’s a pity he took the way out that he did. Twenty years ago I just up and moved abroad, for many of the same reasons Joe Stack blew himself up, and I haven’t regretted it for a minute. There’s still lots of room out here in the rest of the world.
lol Diane, I read that building didn’t fall because it didn’t get the memo in time.
IMO Brad, if the corporatists could nail this Stack guy down to be an unabashed liberal, that ‘domestic terrorist’ meme would be used in a heartbeat.
When my cousin worked as Field Auditor for the IRS, she received her paycheck from the Department of Agriculture. We never could figure that out.
I’m in complete DISAGR with this asshole.
After digesting his rant for a full day, I’ve come to the conclusion that his anger is not all that altruistic has he would like to portray it.
Read his rant closely and you will come to understand that he tried to slide around employment tax rules and was smacked down twice.
Bitching repeatedly about his dwindling retirement. And what a pain in the ass it is to start from scratch again. Oh, boo hoo.
He touches on the TARP bailout and HCR logjam to give the impression his pain is shared, but really, he was just pissed off because tax law made it “less” profitable and when he tried to slide around that tax law, he lost, twice.
Bullshit, his concern for his fellow man truly began and ended with his personal welfare.
Hell, his concern for his fellow man didn’t even include the welfare of his own family. He burned down their damn house.
Joe Stack is nothing but a self serving, self absorbed douchebag who was totally lacking in the ability to fairly criticize himself.
Fuck him, fuck his rant, and may God have mercy on his family and his unsuspecting victims.
Since terrorism is generally defined as “use of terror especially as a means of coercion”, I don’t see this as fitting (a bone-head software engineer weenie that despite “expert” counsel on the tax code and was too stupid to realize you have to file a return even if you have no (declared) income who then throws a tantrum and flies his plane into a buildingis more an act of vengeance than an attempt at coersion.
Whent he Pee Tardiers start stroking-off in unison over this, well, that’s when it starts to get terroristic.
Flo #21. I spit my coffee when I read that. Rich, man, rich.
#24 Dan-in-PA
I totally agree with you in your assessment of this person. I read his “manifesto” on his website before it got scrubbed and the versions you see now are the same.
This is not politics or terrorism or anything like that. This was a man who tried to “game” the system for many years starting with that “declare yourself a tax-exempt Church” tax evasion scam that went around decades ago. His whole life was one bad judgment after another and then playing the victim card by blaming others for his mistakes. Just recently he was blaming his accountant for not declaring undeclared income – Huh? He was trying to figure out how to declare a PIANO! And, why didn’t he sold his plane and pay his taxes. It doesn’t seem that it was necessary to his business but more of a hobby (expensive).
No sympathy for this man – he got into that plane and willingly flew into that building with the premeditated intent to kill innocent people. The blame rests squarely on him!
dan n pa said,
you will come to understand that he tried to slide around employment tax rules and was smacked down twice.
***************************** I could be mistaken here but my take on this was ,he tried to comply with the new “20 rule” interpatation but the new interp was so difficult that he failed…i wrote last week in a debate here that “they” make it harder and harder for the lil guy to earn a living,my example being a single owner has to buy workmans comp in illinois that covers NO ONE to be hired by large companies as a sub contractor,this is first a gift to the insurance companies but most importantly helps make it impossible to earn a living w/o being squeezed into a corporate cubicle…and make no mistake..this is whr the nameless powerful enities want all of us…wage slaves are much easier to control than independants
with all the talk about creating jobs,you would think “they” would make it easier for a lil guy to get started,maybe a rule that gave a start up of less than 5 peops(or an existing group) the legal right to earn together w/o all the corp fees,insurances and what not…this would promote growth in earning for indviduals in every service sector of the economy,from engineers to hairdressers,from hotdog stands to carpenters…the problem is if something goes wrong who has responsibility? for years this was handled thru ind liability certificates(again that basically covered nothing but made you legal)
Nope, I disagree.
He’s a self serving, self absorbed asshole who’s last act of love for his family was to burn them out of their homes and put them squarely in the media spotlight.
Dan-In-Pa and Abby–
I have a different take. I think unless we can find a whole lot more empathy, understanding, and Sermon on the Mount type change of attitude about this guy and everything else that’s weird and dysfunctional here(which is to say everything) combined with an all out effort to change paths based on such a higher consciousness, we’re all fucked.
Young Turks: suicide was more thoughtful and intelligent than expected:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O58RcCSvoK8
…not that TYT agrees with his actions, don’t get that wrong!
This is interesting.
You condemn the Obama spokesman for not calling this terrorism, stating that `it’s only terrorism when a brown or black guy does it…’
But, it strikes me that Braid Fredman thinks it’s terrorism only when a white guy does it…
Like with the Hasan case, Friedman or someone posting here tried to do everything he could to deny that what was an obvious act of terrorism – was a result of `mental disorder.’
PS – you might want to get rid of all the devices that auto-load when you come to this Bratblog.
It really slows down even fast computers and it is very unsightly. It’s like opening up a book of advertising coupons, all garish colours and so on…
But, I know you won’t listen to me. Probably won’t even publish this…
ironic how we’re all right to some degree here. think it goes to the level of vagueness of all info we can gleen. msm is vague. his rant is vauge. only source with balls and brains enough to publish all available is Brad and commenters. (thank you Brad and all.)
here we go though. another pea tardier does a crazy thing, rants on about horrible facts that msm is currently hiding and suddenly honest folk everywhere demanding single payer or 911 investigations or bush admin torture prosecutions or wallstreet investigations get lumped in with crazy stupid pea tardiers. Elliot Spitzer got laid on his own dime?
So now we know he’s another character assinated guy and we completely discount every fact he’s given insights on, especially Bush and CountryWide blowing holes in our economy.
So this is just another indirect and awesomely powerful character assassination of ———– um —— us.
And yeh. just because we can figure the political agenda doesn’t make a violent puke any less of a terrorist. suicide bombers don’t bomb suicidally for a few virgins later. they do it because they know hell on earth and aren’t interested in more of it. who knows if this guy caused his own hell on earth. probably. might have had ample shoving by irs and others. either way, Darth Cheney and all are dancing over this guy and any more like him denting and slicing into the middle class folk and infrastructure.
It’s shock doctrine redux. Thank you for the genius Naomi Klein. Most ironic part of all is that in spite of the cranked up security industry and surrendered constitutional rights, we can count on more of the same until many more of us start to empathize and sympathize with folk like this.
Columbines are not prevented by greater security. Nor by trashing messed up and hurting folk like this one, regardless how we feel about such cowardice and it’s direct and indirect victims. When fewer Columbines happen, it’s because the stronger folk in our society are more respectful and taking better care of the weaker folk (physically and mentally) in our society.
Thank you Brad for publishing this in full. My subscription’s more than paid in full. Look out all for the paint job that’s coming from the neolibs (Obusha) and the neocons (bush) to try to brushstroke us in with crazy terrorist conspiracy theorists.
while certainly Mr. Gibbs might not want to call the Austin incident a case of domestic terrorism – by calling it a criminal act it does mean that insurance policies should be in effect for those who had loss from the incident.
if i remember – most policies have a terrorism exclusion – but not a criminal act exclusion.
Bingo, Rick, ‘act of war’=’terrorism’ since they had to pay out for the WTC’s.
Gee I wonder why the building didn’t pulverize to dust like 9-11-01? Oh, maybe nano-thermite wasn’t involved.
you guys still don’t get it. this was a CIA mind control operation, just like the UAB shootings. Wake up, folks, and understand what your government is doing with your tax dollars.
Don’t believe me? Fine — do you believe your own eyes?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-pzqMUTyfI
After sitting with this incident for a few days, it’s starting to feel like a situation of someone “going postal” …in a broad sense it is terrorist, many insane folks have gone terrorist when their insanity reaches a hopeless level.
The Alabama-Huntsville shooter is another example of a snapped mind gone terrorist. It’s purely evidence of the consequences of living in a materialist, fascist capitalist system; it snaps vulnerable minds.
Looking for a scapegoat in a person ie, Brook blaming the Alabama-Huntsville shooter on the fact the she was an Obama supporter (according to him/her) is in itself insane.
The culprit is the system we attempt to live under. An unjust economic enslavement that snaps people like twigs under boots. For someone to attempt to make this a Dem or GOP failure lacks any credibility and screams “system apologist” in my opinion. This is a failure of the system…the capitalist system. It’s system of healthcare, in this case mental health. The capitalist system that preaches it’s every person for themselves without regard to the welfare of our neighbors. The capitalist system that demands that the people turn over control of their safety, finances and livelihoods to soulless corporations that bring no cultural or spiritual value to us.
We the people have become cogs in a money generating corporate collossus that chews up people and excretes out toxins that makes Earth unlivable, both mentally and spiritually. They do nothing but move money around without regard to quality of life issues or cohesion of communities…We serve their interests, not our own. Corporations don’t care about country, state or city…and surely not neighborhood or family. A corporations only concern is singularly money, nothing more.
I wonder if Brook feels his precious corporate tax cuts would have avoided tStack’s crashing a plane into that building ?
Hawk, how much does a government involved in mind control experiments on your neighbor care? You can hear Bill Clinton apologize for the governments role in these here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u22mphQsn5s
So, Clinton admits this is going on, Congress holds hearings and NOTHING happens. Clinton says “this was wrong”. How about illegal! How about pure evil! I have a big problem with my tax dollars being used to experiment on my fellow citizens.
Mr. Stack was an unfortunate victim, but he didn’t have to die in vain, if his death will wake people up.
Hawk, please study trauma-based mind control. There are many other of our fellow citizens that have been subjected to this. Most of these “lone nutters” are not simply going crazy, but they can be “triggered” to go off at any time. The Manchurian Candidate is not fiction. We are living in a bad science-fiction movie.
Brook’s scapegoats so far…
Obama supporters and Bill Clinton; for the record I’m not a big fan of either…
But I am a fan of truth. Seems Brook lets Reagan, Bush Sr., W Bush and a GOP congress from 1994-2006 off the hook for this present fiasco…and blame his own two personal fall guys. I’m waiting for Brook to also blame Barney Frank and Nancy Pelosi and Keith Olberman for our mess too.
Brook wants to ignore the fact that we’re experiencing a massive capitalist system meltdown…Brook would rather exercise his prejudices and manufacture fall guys…
Whatever gets you through the night Brook…
You’re a loon, Brook.
Hoping comment readers here understand that Brook is a self-proclaimed, big time Tea Bagger whose solution for all of our problems are nothing more and nothing less than across the board corporate tax cuts (as he/she has argued in previous threads).
He/she is NOT indicative of most of the not-insane commenters who post here.
Careful of that mind-control, Brook. Yes, that is literally what tin-foil hats are made for. Good luck! They’re coming to get you, but you’ll hold them off through much tin-foil and tea baggery!
For everyone re-tweeting(Top 100 – not too shabby!) – suggesting you use the hashtag #CPAC. (I believe you can just fit in w/ the default text + link and still be under 140 characters.)
(This will announce and include Brad’s piece on the CPAC twitter boards.)
Ooops! I meant to post that in the most current O’Keefe / NYT thread. Sorry, Brad! Can you kill my previous entry and I’ll repost? Sorry!
Brook’s a great example of the corporati media’s gameplan to paint us all as pea tardiers gone wrong and/or tin foil hat wearers.
anyone who questions the corporati take on any subject is not politically opposed to the corporati. instead they’re obvious nutters. after all how can anyone be opposed to the msm when the msm has no political agenda to be opposed to? why would the msm support wars that increase terrorism and all the ensuing tax dollars dumped into corporati pockets?
interesting too that Brook raises such an issue of trauma induced control. especially considering that it’s far more likely to be trauma induced outta control behavior in this case. which is a frequent result of abusive attempts at trauma induced control either by individuals of with bad intent or by a society at large with no good intent.
more ironic yet is brook’s inferred givens in that line of thought: the cia is taking over the world for the liberal dems. apparently brook hasn’t any contact or research in the intel community – or at least not enough to know what political direction that the vast majority of intel staffers run in.
yeh. cia’s been runnin hard to help the dems for decades. no wonder the dems have had such a lock on elections and all major issues in spite of being so short on popular votes all along. wasn’t that a bunch of cia staffers/contractors/former employees who got caught doing Watergate and other dirty work trying to get Nixon out of office?
not that it matters much any more since the two parties are so closely nuzzled in next to each other at the corporati teet now.
Bluehawk,
before brook decided to jump many sharks at once, you were onto something good. Terror is as terror does. Someone kills a bunch of folk that kinda defines terrorist. Those dead folk weren’t likely to have died in a different frame of mind. and the survivors are likely to have felt it too.
motivation and agenda of the terrorist is hardly the point in finding a name. understanding motivation and agenda are central to preventing further terrorism. but not in classification.
in terms of reducing terrorism, the only act that’s ever worked is the empathy and sympathy thang. understand the grievances and address them, especially if they’re legitimate grievances.
Although I gotta agree with alotta stack’s grievances, (what is the point to giving various churches tax breaks?) it’s easy to blow gaping holes in his handling of them. the failed church scam and the terminal case of bookkeeper-phobia make it clear the guy was a trainwreck rolling full speed down a long decline.
speaking of handling terrorism appropriately (as in a crime that’s investigated, solved and prosecuted promptly) take a look at the fbi last
week.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/w...021902369.html
this is the stuff that melts my hightops with folk like brook. yah, let’s live in make up crap land and fog every issue possible so none of us ever get a chance at understanding certain truths.
RIP Bruce Ivins.
I don’t blame anyone for not wanting believe the government is involved in mind control experiments, but you only have to listen to Clinton’s confession. It’s true. So, the question is how successful were the experiments?
If you want to know the answer, and you want to know exactly how the CIA creates mind controlled slaves, this ebook is a good place to start.
http://www.theforbiddenknowledg...nd_control.htm
The author goes into explicit detail about the methods that are used to accomplish this. There are hundreds of links on this stuff and FOI documents from the CIA itself that prove the case.
This is not a partisan issue. The Bush family was totally aware of what was going on and did nothing.
Here is Ron Paul’s speech from CPAC. You can hear the chats of “End The Fed” over and over.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_aZn6wqAdQ
So, how about it, progressives — when are you guys going to stand up for the Constitution and demand an end to the Federal Reserve? Dennis Kucinich is the only one out there right now talking about this.
C’mon, Brad, you’ve got a popular blog. Use it!
Brook @ 49
Brook contradicts himself in the same paragraph. Most of the regulars here from what I can tell are huge Kucinich supporters. What Brook wants is for folks here to be single issue automatons like he is… Brook wants to corral everyone here into his concerns and come around to his single mindedness.
Brook I found Bradblog last summer…I took the time to read some of it and investigate what Bradblog is before I chimed in.
Bradblog was started as an election integrity blog (google Velvet revolution); from what I’ve seen and read since it’s inception Bradblog has branched out into all issues concerning rational Americans.
Some folks here are 9/11 truth seekers some are Climate change policy experts some are anti-corporate rule watchdogs (myself); some are Dems but a lot are not; Most here haven’t been hooked by a single issue, they’re well informed on most issues and can converse intelligently on a myriad of social topics…
Most are progressives, who if you haven’t noticed progressives aren’t single issue robots that harangue like you seem to do.
From what I’ve seen of your writing Brook…you seem to be stuck on…
“The economy will flourish with corporate tax cuts”; never mind that several folks here have proven that flat wrong with numerous reliable informational sources…you just ignore replies that prove you’re wrong…you just move the goal posts or change the subject.
Brook you’re also stuck on “everything wrong in America is Obama and Bill Clinton’s fault…Brook won’t even entertain that Reagan-Bush Sr’s policies laid the groundwork for the present crisis, or that Bill Clinton (to his eternal shame) just continued what Reagan-Bush Sr. started and that W Bush and a GOP congress put those disastrous policies on steroids while tangling the country in two unwinnable wars, shredding our Bill of Rights, spending like an ignorant lottery winner and giving corporations tax cuts to move our jobs overseas.
We can agree on abolishing The Fed…I’ll hold that common ground with you….
Otherwise Brook…you’re woefully indoctrinated with mind numbing misinformation.
If this guy were not white, wrote the same thing but also included his grievances with a political and legal order that has systematically punished in an oft-repeatedly proven disproportionate racial manner, people of color…if he included those claims, something tells me the love his politics get from communities like this would drop off quite significantly.
I’m sure there are those who are thinking ‘why make this about race?’ I would reply that as a Black person watching all this go down, you can’t help but realize that this treatment is so very racial. If he were Black or Muslim the only conversation would be about the search for links to Al-Qaeda (or a conversation about links that had been fabricated). NO MATTER WHAT KIND OF POLITICAL NOTE WAS LEFT BEHIND.
Well, Hawk, the truth can be mind-numbing to the uninitiated, but you will muddle through. What we need now is the same kind of NOISE from the left we saw at the Ron Paul speech. The Fed is at the center of all our problems, and they want their global government. They’ve said it over and over since the 50’s.
If we want to honor Mr. Stark’s needless death, getting rid of the Fed would be a good place to start.
“When bad men combine, the good must associate; else they will fall, one by one, an unpitied sacrifice in a contemptible struggle.”
– Edmond Burke
Brook @38
That would make sense if you were speaking the truth.
You’re not.
You’re conjecturing, mis-associating, Demagoging and twisting the truth to suit your narrow world view.
Brook you haven’t conceded one point to anyone here except that The Fed needs to go; anyone with half a brain knows The Fed is full of shit…other than that you’re not seeking any common ground consensus with anyone here. You’re just spouting manufactered corporate tea baggery…
Your Edmond Burke quote was cute…too bad you’re not heeding that wisdom.
I agree with Jay #9, this was in no way different than 9/11 (other than the size of it).
Billy #16:
“Terrorism is the illegal use of violence to influence a government or population.”
I’d say that flying a plane into a building, knowing that there was a STRONG possibility of killing people is indeed an illegal act of violence. And obviously he was trying to influence government AND Americans! He asserted that violence was the only way to change things, which clearly suggests others follow his path. And he pointed to government policies as being at fault for or as the motivator of his violent actions.
According to the official story of 9/11, Bin Laden orchestrated the terrorist attack in order to send the message that he wanted our military bases off of their holy land.
I also agree with Brad; that if this act isn’t the very definition of terrorism, then WTF is??? You can’t say this isn’t terrorism just because you agree with his manifesto or because he’s not a Muslim – that’s ludicrous. Glen Greenwald wrote an excellent piece on this topic:
http://www.salon.com/news/opini...ism/index.html