Terrorism in Texas: man flies plane into IRS building
As everyone has heard by now, a man has flown a plane into a building in Austin Texas that employed about 200 employees of the IRS. Local officials there are leery of calling this an act of terrorism. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo refused to call this an act of terrorism stating, “I call it a cowardly, criminal act and there was no excuse for it.” And Congressman Michael McCaul said, “not tied to overseas terror organizations.” Homeland Security has also stated that this is not believed to be an act of terrorism; Joe Gibbs has seconded that motion.
Be that as it may, this was a targeted attack on a federal building and it was an act of terrorism, pure and simple. He targeted the government of the United State of America. This was an act of war against the Unites States. This was a despicable, disgusting act and I cannot put into words how much venom I feel towards this man and his act. Why nobody is willing to call this an act of terrorism is beyond me.
As of this writing the pilot is known to be dead and one other person is unaccounted for. Thankfully this did not turn out nearly as bad as it could have– or as bad as Joe Stack had hoped that it would. Luckily Joe Stack died in this attack and he will not be put on trial as a criminal on the taxpayers’ dime.
His motive seems to be his hatred of the IRS and the tax code of the United States. Some people have already tried to link Joe Stack to the Tea Party movement because of his hatred for the IRS. But this type of action is not what the Tea Party movement is about, that goes without saying. There is a way to solve your differences with the government and it is not through violence, it is by trying to spread your beliefs to others, winning people over to your beliefs, and voting at the polls. That is what the Tea Party movement is about.
Joe Stack left behind his “manifesto” and I ask you to read it and judge for yourself if this man was motivated by the Tea Party movement. It certainly doesn’t seem so to me, especially when you read the last lines that he wrote:
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his means.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
America's Watchtower 
This reminds me of the terrorist attach by Timothy LeVeigh in Oklahoma. No different except that Jack used a plane. Despicable.
LikeLike
I had read the “manifesto” earlier today. He also made mention and seemed to ridicule people concentrating on “freedoms.” That, and your observation, makes it unlikely that he was involved with the Tea Parties at all. Unfortunately, that won’t stop the MSM.
LikeLike
I really hope we don’t continue seeing this kind of thing. This really bothers me. It is so eerily reminiscent of 9-11 or the Oklahoma bombing.
I just don’t understand what drives someone to do something like this.
LikeLike
I hope so as well, hopefully there are no copycats out there who try to outdo what this man attempted.
LikeLike
I suppose to have empathy for any in his situation, one would have to first experience the desolute low he had found. The blues only sound sad to the one’s only to whom can’t comprehend the ways of our expressions and are often times depressed. That is why Shakespear wrote his plays. If I were a bird I would sing as well (wouldn’t you), just be grateful it is not the way you behave. Just remember not to judge your fellow man to harsh or the same penalty might befall you. Now is the time to unite not divide. United we stand devided we fall.
LikeLike
He certainly wasn’t, but I have already seen a couple of blogs try to claim that he was. And many people’s first thoughts were that this man was a tea party person. (I think there is also a group of people who hoped that he was.)
LikeLike
Right, I’ve had enough. Dude, your full of hate. Read your blog, not one mention of sympathy for the people hurt, nor prayer towards the firefighters or police dealing with the situation. Your last few posts have been very negative. I understand that can happen when you are reading the news all the time and especially when dealing with the current state of our nations affairs.
I suggest you step back and ask yourself how often your actually smiling. From what your personality suggests here, your probably frown more often that naught. It’s not healthy to be so wound up. I’ll check back in a few months but for now, your too hateful to continue reading.
LikeLike
Sam – Are you freaking kidding me? You are making some HUGE assumptions here. Mr. Pink Eyes is a compassionate and patriotic American who absolutely does not condone hate, DOES have sympathy for those who get hurt and if he prays – that is his business.
Jeez!
I suggest YOU step back. For what it is worth, I have met Mr. Pink Eyes up close and his family and his SMILES A LOT!
YOU, sir, are a MORON!
LikeLike
Thanks for all those kind words Dominique. I remember talking to you about this very subject at one point. I remember saying at the Tea Party that people who read my blog can get the assumption that I am a miserable person but that that couldn’t be further from the truth. I can understand how people can come to that conclusion, but they need to remember that Mr Pink Eyes is like an alter-ego, this is where I vent when I need to.
LikeLike
The man that is full of hate was the man who flew his plane into that building. When not in the blogoshpere I am actually a very happy, optimistic person. I know that is hard to believe, but it is true.
LikeLike
What bothered me about Sam’s comments is that he was upset you didn’t offer prayers and yet in the next breath he can make assumptions and slam you! Errr! I think you have a BIG personality but I have never thought you were hateful, even before I met you and the family!
I apologize if I went over board but it made me really mad. Like you said we should be focused on the guy who ran his plane into the building not each other.
Anyway…I think you are awesome.
LikeLike
Thanks again Dominique, there is no need for you to apologize, I appreciate the support! You did not go overboard, I know that I go over the top sometimes, but I do it because of a passion I feel towards the issues.
I did mention that I feel venom towards Joe Stack, but after all, this man tried to take innocent lives in a horrible manner. I do not feel sorry for him. It is tragic what his family is going through, but was it neccessary for me to mention that as a disclamer before I gave my thoughts on his attack? I don’t think that would have changed what I posted about this man and the way it will be portrayed in the media. My post would have the same meaning one way or the other.
LikeLike
Don’t take this guy seriously Mr.PEs
If he IS for real then he has a serious problem with projection.
What? are you supposed to turn your editorial into a prayer for the victims?
While you point out a nut job, what might be his motivation and the fact that you know the MSM will use this as a tool to attack the tea party’s, you missed the petty little sensitivities of Mr. Price.
Didn’t he Mr. Price.
Readers like this you don’t need
But theres something happening here
and you don’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Price.
LikeLike
Thanks Rick. I did take him seriously. He has commented here before and he seemed to hold the same positions that we do, although he did take me to task once before when I tried to embrace the term “teabaggers” and turn it against those that use the term against us. Perhaps that is his angle, maybe he tries to come across as being on our side, only to try to drive a wedge between us. I thought he was legitimate, and I still think that he might be, but maybe I have too much faith in taking a person at his word.
LikeLike
Or maybe he’s a troll or even worse a stalker.
Yes?
In any case if he has also “taken you to task” on the teabagged comment that is further evidence that he is a stalker.
Your post about politicians getting teabagged was absolutely legitimate, and I’m sure it pisses off the Maddow crowed, doesn’t it Mr Price.
Dont you find it odd that while he “seemed to hold the same positions” he then whines about your more enlightened points.
It is like a troll to exit the way he did. “Dude, your full of hate”? What a whiner. Not to mention his moral superiority.
Enough said. No use giving him more words to empower his metal status.
A troll does not understand the difference between people being irritated at them and being interested in them.
If you have never visited Flame.com you might want to check it out. Lots of good info on Trols, Stalkers, sleepers and so on.
Certainly good for someone like you with such a blog.
LikeLike
I will check out that site you provided, thanks. The more that I think about it, the more I believe that Sam had me fooled.
LikeLike
Mr PE, get ready for what the Left will be doing with this Stack crash… I expect the worst, especially online. I have noticed a few blog message sections had a 1st, prompt message pretending to be a conservative sympathizing with Stack’s motives somewhat… MoveOn/DNC trolls, imho
Same as this slush-head “Sam Price”- he’s taking a new angle here to try to paint you in sympathy with this disgruntled loser Stack, that’s all
How’s the coffee down there at MoveOn.org, “Sam”…. you schmuck?
LikeLike
I am ready for what the left is going to throw at us in regards to Joe Stack, that is why I tried to get ahead of it. We are going to be portrayed as the reason why this happened but when you read what Stack wrote he seems very symathetic to communism. Hardly what the Tea Party represents.
Maybe you and Rick are right about Sam, perhaps he is trying to put me in a corner but there is no way in hell I would ever supprt a man like Joe Stack. I was angry at what this man did and I still am, why does that make me a hater? Who wouldn’t be angry about this attack?
I have mentioned my admiration for firefighters. law enforcement and the military on manu occasions, my ommision of them in this post was not meant in any way to diminish what these people do on a daily basis.
LikeLike
I can find NO real connection to Stack and the TEA Party, but that’s not stopping the left.. Twits blogs ere showing stuff like, *Teabagger Crashes IRS* and crap like that…
They can’t connect him either, they can accuse… But they can’t comprehend his long diatribe, aka: manifesto…
LikeLike
No they can’t connect him, but that is not going to stop them. You know what they say about repeating a lie over and over? Eventually it becomes truth, we cannot allow that to happen.
LikeLike
The Stack incident isn’t the “fault” of the Tea Party; but I have to wonder whether the anger and wrath of the Tea Party, which shares many of the general concerns about the IRS and big government that Stack expressed in his rambling manifesto, didn’t lead Stack to a more aggressive and violent reaction than he would otherwise have take. Just a few days a go I predicted an incident of extreme violence in the months ahead by a Tea Party member in the name of fighting tyranny. Stack may not be it but I there will be other incidents to come. That doesn’t mean Tea Party supporters are inherently violent — far from it. But the rhetoric is fiery and there are fringe “wingnuts” who will take it to excess. I pray not too many innocents are caught in the crossfire.
LikeLike
I think that a man like Stack, who has now shown what he was capable of, would have done something like this with or without the Tea Party as motivation. The man obviously had problems and maybe the Tea Party pushed him over the edge, but this man was capable of doing this without the “help” of the Tea Party. Eventually he would have done something like this even if the Tea Party never came into existance.
I don’t like to use the “they did it too defense” and this question is not meant in that manner, but I do like to read your posts on Political Realities and where I am still a reletive newcomer there, I would like to get your opinion on the protests that we saw during the Bush years. There was anger and wrath there as well, many of the signs that we see at the Tea Parties could be seen during the Bush years, with his name on the signs of course. Were you as concerned about violence then?
LikeLike
That’s a really good question and my answer is an unequivocal no. Several reasons that can essentially be summed up by the lack of focus of the anti-Bush sentiment. There was no equivalent of a Tea Party to vent ones anger. There was no equivalent to Rush, Beck, Hannity, Coulter to be the voices of opposition until, in fact, those same people started to voice their own frustrations with Bush and co. Olberman and Maddow weren’t around or at least had little following. So there wasn’t that same concentrated, named opposition nor was there any political focus to the anger — it was “against” things Bush but not “for” things the way the Tea Party is currently trying to create it’s platform as FOR smaller government, lower taxes, etc. Again, this is NOT me pointing fingers at the Tea Party and saying “its your fault.” But the presence of like-minded angry citizens will embolden the loony element and that’s where my fear derives. And one other thing, though I have no statistics to back this up — I would guess that the fringe liberal elements (urban dwellers) are much less likely to own guns than the fringe right wing elements (rural dwellers). Maybe an unfair generalization but…
LikeLike
You make some good points Mike and I understand that you are not pointing the finger at the Tea Party. This movement is probably more focused than the Bush protests were. But I still believe Stack probably would have done something like this if the Tea Party had never come into existence. The man had obvious problems and was not in his right mind.
I would agree with you accessment of LEGAL gun ownership being higher in the rurual areas than in the urban areas. But I would guess– without the statistics either– that more violent crime with illegal weapons occur in the urban areas, so I am not sure how much that angle plays into this.
LikeLike
Unfortunately the more oppressive our Government becomes (both economically through the IRS and in terms of our God given rights) the more events like this will happen. People need to learn how to channel their frustrations and anger at these losses and provide positive change as opposed to targeted violence. We see the results in the Harpers Ferry Raid By Brown. The end game hasn’t changed much since.
LikeLike
Joe Stack was simply pushed to “his” tipping point by a corrupt central government. Most would never do what he did and I in no way approve his action. I can however, understand his angry at the system—a system set up to benefit the government at the expense of the individual. Angry is building in this country and more acts such as this will come as the disenchantment with government grows. Joe evidently saw little recourse and acted accordingly. One can and should point the finger at Joe, but not without pointing out the flaws in a repressive system!
LikeLike
There are flaws in the system, America is at a crossroads, we need to take this country back. I hope that there is not more of this type of violence in the future, there are better ways to fight the system. We need to educate the youth about the ideals that America was founded on.
LikeLike
EVEN if this guy was tied to the Tea Party, one loose cannot does not the Tea Party make.
This guy actually makes me think of Timothy McViegh more than anything. Angry at the government.
Also, the Tea Party Patriots (which I belong to) would NEVER advocate this kind of behavior. There is never any reason to do this kind of thing. It is horrific.
I really think you have to be short a few brain cells to be willing to fly a plane into a building full with people just because you are angry.
BTW, would that be considered “air rage?” Sorry…bad joke.
LikeLike
The reference to Timothy McVeigh is VERY appropriate..
Stack is a nut job, uh, was… He is representative of nut jobs everywhere, on all sides of the political spectrum, his actions were those of an individual that was severely unbalanced, and NOT the actions of a patriot of ANY feather…
LikeLike
Dominique and Texas Fred, the comparison to McVeigh is right on. This man acted alone and is not representative of the movement. Sure there are radicals in all movements, even if he was in the Tea Party– which he obviously wasn’t– it shouldn’t reflect on the movement as a whole.
LikeLike