Terror attack in Austin Texas

eyeball · February 19, 2010

He also writes about losing over $40,000, 10 years of his life and his retirement plans. He could be any one of millions of American's who've been losing these things not to mention their minds trying to think through the moral and ethical dissonance that seems to attend a financial collapse.

I wouldn't read to much into his mention of capitalists and communists. Most people probably split the difference somewhere between these two creeds and it sounds like he's about as middle of the road as it gets really.

That said flying a plane into a government building to stop the ringing in his head was a poor choice.

February 19, 2010

You obviously haven't read the manifesto. How is it right-wing? He goes on and on about blaming the rich and elite for all the problems of the country. Where did he say he was opposed to welfare? Either you don't understand what the general term "right-wing" means, or you haven't read the letter (which should only take you about five precious minutes) and, for some reason, are now now lying about it. His entire letter is clearly leftist.

What difference could it possibly make if he was leftist or rightist? He was anti-government and anti-taxes and anti-Catholic church -- and he burned his house down and flew his plane into a building, not caring who he might kill.

He's not "typical" of any political side; he was clearly not of normal thought/mind.

GostHacked · February 19, 2010

What difference could it possibly make if he was leftist or rightist? He was anti-government and anti-taxes and anti-Catholic church -- and he burned his house down and flew his plane into a building, not caring who he might kill.

He's not "typical" of any political side; he was clearly not of normal thought/mind.

That is how I see it. Huge beef with the IRS and taxes, and in desperation, flew the plane into the IRS building.

eyeball · February 19, 2010

Apparently fan clubs are springing up on Facebook and Twitter. This seems to reflect a growing number of disaffected Americans who are increasingly pissed off at their government regardless of their ideology.

It's not left vs right its the governed vs the government. That's not a bad thing but the methods used certainly can be.

I guess that's where the old wedges will be driven by people who insist this is a right/left thing - the most violent methods of lashing out will be used to characterize the ideology that's motivating the violence.

Experts are pointing to the incident as further evidence of what they say is a proliferation of anti-government militia groups.
"There is a real rage out there, and this terrible attack may be a reflection of that," Mark Potok, the director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project, said in a statement to FOXNews.com.

There was an immediate response to Stack's violent act on anti-government and anti-tax blogs, and on Facebook, where multiple fan pages attracted hundreds of followers within hours of the plane crash.

"Half of them are making this guy into a hero, that's scary stuff. The other half is saying that this guy's a victim," said J.J. MacNab, a Maryland-based insurance analyst who has testified before Congress on the anti-tax movement and is writing a book on the subject.

50/50 right down the middle.

Edited February 19, 2010 by eyeball

Michael Hardner · February 19, 2010

But are the p*'d off enough to storm the barricades ? To take action ? I think not, and I hope not.

Folks of a certain stripe want to figure out what kind of group these sad souls belong to. Is it his religion ? His race ? Was it his politics ?

He's just a crazy poster like the rest of us who had too much bad in him and couldn't turn it around.

eyeball · February 19, 2010

But are the p*'d off enough to storm the barricades ? To take action ? I think not, and I hope not.

Me too. I think most people implode quietly rather than explode.

Folks of a certain stripe want to figure out what kind of group these sad souls belong to. Is it his religion ? His race ? Was it his politics ?
He's just a crazy poster like the rest of us who had too much bad in him and couldn't turn it around.

I think there's a growing number of people like that out there and given the public response to this I think many are approaching their tipping points.

Shady · February 19, 2010

I think there's a growing number of people like that out there and given the public response to this I think many are approaching their tipping points.

That isn't an excuse to try to burn alive one's wife and child.

BubberMiley · February 19, 2010

Not only is it ridiculous to try to classify a lunatic's "ideas" into the left-right political spectrum, it's foolish to spend time analyzing their motivations. They were murderous and insane. Why encourage others to do the same by giving their views any credence whatsoever?

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

I was strangely funny how the Austin fire department trained a pitiful single hose on the burning building- even they made a point of quietly whispering their contempt for a tax department that enslaves the harding working guy and sends tribute to the crimminally rich...I can hear it now the quite whispers of the fire guys chanting their mantra....BURN BABY BURN, But they report that he was crazed by anger..it seems that he was not angry just extremely focused- not that I agree with murder..but this guy would have done better if he had sealed a letter in a water bottle and burned himself like a budist monk instead of killing some foolish bureacrat with children and wife...over all - a jerk - an American jerk and tea party hero.

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

But he wore a cowboy hat. That must mean he's hardcore rightwinger huh?!?

Cowboy hat makes a right winger - playing bass in a hick band makes him a left right winger. Wanting to keep the money he earned with out some chezze ball employment agent keeping half, as he worked as a soft ware engineer must have made him a two winger with a mission to kill what he mused was his abusers...Those that give their lives fighting the advesary are those that lose the fight - and he lost - what a loser!

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

Owning a plane and having enough cash to fuel up to take a nice high ride in the blues really sounds like he was hard done by --- maybe this is American greed and entitlement reaching the peak of absurdity/\/

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

It's best to let tax drones live and suffer than put them out of their misery - this guy as far to kind. I WONDER how the American feds are going to spin this one - now they have terrorists with big black beards and sunken angel eyes - NOW they have terrorists that look just like them and play Lenord Skinner cover tunes...will the wonders never cease?

punked · February 20, 2010

It's best to let tax drones live and suffer than put them out of their misery - this guy as far to kind. I WONDER how the American feds are going to spin this one - now they have terrorists with big black beards and sunken angel eyes - NOW they have terrorists that look just like them and play Lenord Skinner cover tunes...will the wonders never cease?

The largest terrorist attack on American soil before 9/11 was from a terrorist who looked like them and played Lenord Skinner. Oklahoma City? Honestly Clinton did a fine job dealing with it then, he set up lots of anti terrorist surveillance and Bush tore it apart to fund star wars until about 9 months into his presidency when he got some sort of wake up call. Dems have been better at preventing and fighting terror then Republicans might be why in a month Obama has caught and killed more terrorist then the last 6 years of the Bush admin.

Edited February 20, 2010 by punked

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

That's informative - in other words Clinto maintained law and order domestically the best he could - and Bush got ambitious, along with imperical - wanting to save the whole planet - biting off more than he could chew?

xul · February 20, 2010

In that case, it doesn't look like the IRS will get his house and plane.

Maybe a insurance company have to pay IRS for the loss of his house and plane, then IRS has to tax more innocent taxpayers to bailout the insurance company.... :unsure:

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

It Was sadly amusing how he common tax paying fire fighters did not seem to be in a hurry to put the fire out. What started off as a containable blaze, seemed to fairly quickly destroy the whole office structure - not condoning the act but if I was a fire fighter I would have taken my sweet time saving what is an evil operation - The tax department are the first line of offense that collect up all the hard earned cash and send it off as bail out money to people not fit to rule or conduct high finance.

Michael Hardner · February 20, 2010

I think there's a growing number of people like that out there and given the public response to this I think many are approaching their tipping points.

Aside from the obvious signs, how would we know ? I'm thinking about people (and companies) who cry wolf here.

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

DEATH AND TAXES - I guess they got both all at once.

Sir Bandelot · February 20, 2010

Acevedo reiterated on Friday his assertion first made Thursday that the incident was not an act of terrorism. "Part of our jobs in law enforcement is not to overreact and cause undue panic," he said. "And with the information that we had, there was no need to alarm our colleagues around the country and community members by using the word 'terrorism.' That is why definitely I did not use it yesterday and I'm not using it today."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/19/texas.plane.crash/index.html?hpt=T1

Evidently not considered a "Terror attack".

Oleg Bach · February 20, 2010

IT can not be admitted that the powers that be that irritate and plunder other nations get terrorists blow back in time - worst - It can not be addmitted that the powers that be terrorize their own nations and get domestic blow back = That kind of kills that us and them factor.

Gabriel · February 24, 2010

What difference could it possibly make if he was leftist or rightist? He was anti-government and anti-taxes and anti-Catholic church -- and he burned his house down and flew his plane into a building, not caring who he might kill.

He's not "typical" of any political side; he was clearly not of normal thought/mind.

I never implied that his political leanings were important, nor was I trying to imply leftists are more prone to acts of violence (although upon contemplation, I think leftists, generally, are more violent and contentious). I simply made an observation that there is quite a bit of overlap between this crazy man's sentiments (via his suicide note) and rantings and anger on the left. Of course some of his anti-tax rantings feel libertarian-ish, but there is a greater degree of shared ideology between this Stack fellow and leftists than any other ideology. Is this an important observation? Perhaps not, but it's just something that occurred to me that I felt like sharing. Remember also that I didn't imply that his behaviour is typical of any side, rather that his political rantings are hardly uncommon. You've been in these forums longer than I have, you've certainly seen some folks in rant about "elites" oppressing the everyman (and everywoman).

Gabriel · February 24, 2010

That is how I see it. Huge beef with the IRS and taxes, and in desperation, flew the plane into the IRS building.

I would clarify one thing you said.... "perceived sense of desperation".

Edited February 24, 2010 by Gabriel

eyeball · February 24, 2010

Aside from the obvious signs, how would we know ? I'm thinking about people (and companies) who cry wolf here.

The thing I notice the most now when I visit most government buildings is the presence of barricades, armed security guards and restricted access. The crying over wolves has certainly resulted in their reaching a tipping point of fear.

JB Globe · February 24, 2010

I think this is a pretty clear example of a bigoted double-standard in dealing with terrorism.

If this guy was Muslim, and his suicide notes contained references to Christians being the source of America's problems instead of references to "elites" - you can bet your house there'd be an uproar similar to the Fort Hood shooting and Christmas Day bombing.

As it stands, this registered barely a blip.

Which illustrates that it isn't so much what a terrorist DOES that makes him a terrorist to a certain degree, it's what ideology he subscribes to.

February 24, 2010

I think this is a pretty clear example of a bigoted double-standard in dealing with terrorism.
If this guy was Muslim, and his suicide notes contained references to Christians being the source of America's problems instead of references to "elites" - you can bet your house there'd be an uproar similar to the Fort Hood shooting and Christmas Day bombing.

Most likely because a significant number of people haven't declared war against the elite and aren't going around attacking them the way the extremist Muslims who are part of the jihad are.

Single, isolated incidents don't get the coverage that multiple, connected incidents do.