TP crashes plane into IRS building!

[Nikki]

Soon as I saw the burning building on TV and where it was located, I figured it probably had something to do with the IRS since I have been to that building several times (thankfully, not recently) for meetings with the collection agent. Seems amazing that not more damage (other than the building) or injuries since there is a LOT of traffic in the area and quite a few office buildings. That is something to be thankful for.

Even though the guy had no "court records" I know from my personal experience that the IRS is able to cash out your retirement accounts, clean out your bank accounts. place levies on your paycheck and file multiple NOFTLs on everything you own without any court involvement. Which is exactly what the law allows the IRS to do. Remember, the liens arise automatically according to specific law. I would be surprised if the guy was not in enforced collections. I can certainly understand the trapped and hopeless feelings that would make someone do something really stupid like this--hope his family is OK.

Gottago

Start with his participation in a "roll your own church" scheme to divert your income into a bogus tax-exempt entity.

THEN rant about he was abused by the evil IRS.

He was a tax-evader who got caught and got angry about being punished for doing something illegal.

[LPC]

Even though the guy had no "court records" I know from my personal experience that the IRS is able to cash out your retirement accounts, clean out your bank accounts. place levies on your paycheck and file multiple NOFTLs on everything you own without any court involvement.

Yes, we all know that.

The significance of a lack of court records is to suggest that he might not have had tax problems, but that he was not fighting them in court using one or more of the usual tax denial invocations (there's no law, 16th Amendment not ratified, sovereign citizen, federal zone, whatever).

[iplawyer]

He wasn't destitute he had a plane. His "message" deliberately confuses every single tax issue. He was a selfish SOB who did not want to pay taxes and blamed everyone else for everything.

[Number Six]

What a worthless crybaby! If only he had been caught before he took off, he should have been sent off for the most extraordinary of extraordinary renditions. A disgrace to every other American whose action will hopefully scare other like-minded sicko's away from the bottomless abyss of anti-government terrorism. This action will have a completely opposite political effect than what this hideous coward imagined. The slightest hint of copycat wannabe criminals or terrorists will lead to lightening quick prevention.

[Judge Roy Bean]

He wasn't destitute he had a plane. His "message" deliberately confuses every single tax issue. He was a selfish SOB who did not want to pay taxes and blamed everyone else for everything.

(1). A used Cherokee is only worth about $35K and without knowing the tail number I can't even find out if it was indeed his.

(2). People who commit suicide aren't wired correctly. We don't yet know enough about the other sides to this story but clearly there could have been a pathology involved which would have aggravated all of the circumstances in his life.

(3). He's not alone.

[Lambkin]

Some good may yet come from this... those who make angry TP screeds advocating violence will get a little more of the scrutiny they deserve. LostHeads and Sooey lunatics may have reason to resent this guy.

[grixit]

He wasn't destitute he had a plane. His "message" deliberately confuses every single tax issue. He was a selfish SOB who did not want to pay taxes and blamed everyone else for everything.

Yeah, that was my SO's first reaction: how can he complain about his financial situation if he can afford a plane?

[Nikki]

And he was living in a 1/4 million-dollar home, according to news reports.

Anyway ...

The SooeyHeads have already determined that this is a staged, "false flag" operation.

It's just another plot, like the alleged World Trade Center "attacks" to give more power to the government and cast a bad light on the Tea Partiers, etc.

[grixit]

This man was a failure as a terrorist. He was mad at Big Government, but he didn't try to hit the White House, or Congress. He was mad at Big Business, but he didn't target the headquarters of an investment or car company. He was mad at Big Religion, but he didn't hit a cathedral or a televangelist's house. No, instead he tried to kill several dozen working stiffs who have nothing to do with the larger issues and only limited control over what happens to him personally. And just for fun, he decided to leave his wife and child homeles and destitute-- you know that lawsuits are going to take what's left of his house, if only for the land value. I hope his wife will be able to keep her job at least.

[The Observer]

This man was a failure as a terrorist. He was mad at Big Government, but he didn't try to hit the White House, or Congress. He was mad at Big Business, but he didn't target the headquarters of an investment or car company. He was mad at Big Religion, but he didn't hit a cathedral or a televangelist's house. No, instead he tried to kill several dozen working stiffs who have nothing to do with the larger issues and only limited control over what happens to him personally.

Not really a failure - he just had too many targets to choose from and only one life to give, in his viewpoint. The fact that it appears that he killed at least one person and injured several others leaves no doubt in my mind that this was an act of terrorism.

And just for fun, he decided to leave his wife and child homeles and destitute-- you know that lawsuits are going to take what's left of his house, if only for the land value. I hope his wife will be able to keep her job at least.

If the articles I read are correct, it was even worse than that - he left that wife and kid in the house when he set it on fire.

[The Observer]

(1). A used Cherokee is only worth about $35K and without knowing the tail number I can't even find out if it was indeed his.

$35,000 is still a chunk of cash to plop on a plane for most TPs - if the plane turns out to be his. The registration reportedly is N2889D.

(2). People who commit suicide aren't wired correctly. We don't yet know enough about the other sides to this story but clearly there could have been a pathology involved which would have aggravated all of the circumstances in his life.

Not always. There are a number of normal people who have attempted or toyed with idea of suicide, due to situational depression. Winston Churchill was one.

(3). He's not alone.

Unfortunately, you are correct.

[The Operative]

(1). A used Cherokee is only worth about $35K and without knowing the tail number I can't even find out if it was indeed his.

$35,000 is still a chunk of cash to plop on a plane for most TPs - if the plane turns out to be his. The registration reportedly is N2889D.

That tail number is registered to a Joseph Stack. However, it is not a Cherokee. It is a '79 Piper Dakota. Current sale value for that model plane is between $75 and $100K.

EDIT: Of course, he may have financed the plane, though it appears he may have owned it for about 12 years.

Based upon his rant, I would guess that he was living way beyond his income. That is simply a recipe for mental anguish and suffering.

[The Observer]

Further information from Fox News:

Patrick Beach, who once played in a band with Stack, described him as a mild-mannered guy who was a stereotypical software guy.

"I talked to alot of people who knew him better than I did, and no one saw anything like this coming," Beach told Fox News.

The toughest part about this, Beach said, was how this guy, who loved his wife and step-child, could be the same person who wanted to "commit mass murder.

A neighbor told MyFoxAustin.com that Stack was an experienced pilot who owned his own plane

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo confirmed Thursday afternoon that one federal worker, an IRS supervisor, was unaccounted for. His family had been notified but his identity was not released. Acevedo said that the prospects of finding that worker were not good.

[Judge Roy Bean]

...The registration reportedly is N2889D.
...

It apparently was his. But it was actually a '79 Dakota version. The registration was made in his name when it was in Lincoln, CA in 1998. Later models can go for six figures now but because so much of a plane today involves upgrades and avionics it's hard to say what he paid for it back then.

As more comes out we may learn this individual's mental state was at least in some measure responsible for an apparent history of abnormal behavior.

[Nikki]

Where is Steve on this? It's not unreasonable that he knew, or knew of, the ex-pilot -- both in the Internet service business in the Texas area.

[The Observer]

Based upon his rant, I would guess that he was living way beyond his income. That is simply a recipe for mental anguish and suffering.

That was my conclusion as well, in reading in between the lines of his rant. His background seems similar to Al Thompson in terms of his attempts to start up and run a business. I presume no small amount of ego was involved and that he felt his work should lead to a lot of wealth. When it didn't, he started fixing that apparent problem by not paying his taxes and looking for ways to justify it. And it appears that he kept repeating this effort over the years till the mental cost caught up to him.

I have seen too many cases of the small business person devoted to their business that they cannot see that their business plan is not viable, their overhead is strangling their profit line, their market is drying up and/or they are woefully under-capitalized. Instead, they keep plugging away at getting further into debt and end up ruining their lives, their family's lives and sometimes, as in this case, others' lives. If they only had shut the business down in order to stop the bleeding and get a wage-paying job, they would in time heal from the blow their psyche took in having to admit they failed in business.

[The Observer]

As more comes out we may learn this individual's mental state was at least in some measure responsible for an apparent history of abnormal behavior.

As you can see above, at least one person didn't see anything wrong. I think what we will discover is far more urbane in that he was operating on ego and couldn't accept the fact that life sometimes involves admitting you aren't succeeding.

[The Observer]

Where is Steve on this? It's not unreasonable that he knew, or knew of, the ex-pilot -- both in the Internet service business in the Texas area.

You do realize by extending that invitation, the response is going to include the usual message about how this incident is a signal that people are fed up and are going to overthrow the conspiracy?

[Judge Roy Bean]

...
As you can see above, at least one person didn't see anything wrong. ...

[The Observer]

Patrick Beach, who once played in a band with Stack, described him as a mild-mannered guy who was a stereotypical software guy.

"I talked to alot of people who knew him better than I did, and no one saw anything like this coming," Beach told Fox News.

The toughest part about this, Beach said, was how this guy, who loved his wife and step-child, could be the same person who wanted to "commit mass murder.