Quote :

"It's clear from the 3,000-word manifesto posted on a Web site registered in his name that the bitter feud with the Internal Revenue Service was his passion — one so deeply held it apparently drove him to commit suicide Thursday by slamming his single-engine Piper PA-28 into an Austin office building that houses the IRS."

Although I can easily sympathize with his frustrations, I completely disagree with his methods. I hope that critics of the gov't do not turn this guy into a cult hero. Trying to kill innocent IRS workers is not the way to get the message across.

On the other hand, I fear that jittery politicians will use this incident to lash out with their regulatory powers at the General Aviation people. Seems like whenever some lone wolf does something despicable, the gov't punishes all the people who aren't doing anything wrong.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_plane_crash_pilot

2/19/2010 9:32:43 AM

Piece of shit should have sat in his house while it burned and improved the world that way.

What an asshole. I'd piss on his grave given the chance.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 9:39 AM. Reason : *]

2/19/2010 9:38:52 AM

^ this

2/19/2010 9:41:39 AM

I'd like to read his manifesto - just to judge for myself how "well-adjusted" he was.

2/19/2010 9:53:01 AM

^ http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html (bottom of the page)

2/19/2010 9:54:22 AM

From his 3000 word screed FWIW....

Quote :

"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. 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."

That last part is right out of the Obama playbook...
But watch the media try to paint this guy as a total right-wing nutjob.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 10:01 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 9:58:34 AM

I see what you're trying to do there

2/19/2010 10:03:59 AM

Quote :

"But watch the media try to paint this guy as a total right-wing nutjob."

I don't see how there's any avoiding it, really.

2/19/2010 10:06:24 AM

I'm going to do what he did one day, when my dog dies, wife leaves me and I contract a terminal illness. I'm sure there'll still be some perceived wrong that can only be righted with fire and personal sacrifice. Maybe those towelheads are on to something...this is the the best way to get on the news. Just look at how quickly the FBI tried to erase him from the internet, sending threatening letters to every website he ever posted on. "Standard procedure in an investigation" my ass. They know people will sympathize with this guy if they read what he has to say.

Quote :

"innocent IRS workers"

Even the janitors are cogs in the machine and share whatever guilt there is to go around. Everyone knows the tax collectors of an occupying nation are usually despised.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 10:15 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 10:09:28 AM

Quote :

"I don't see how there's any avoiding it, really."

This guy's manifesto has complaints that both the right and left could sympathize with. I think the press will overlook this and paint him as right-wing..since someone on the left (UnaBomber) would never do anything this extreme.

This is just a criticism of the mainstream press.. I no way support this idiot in what he did.

2/19/2010 10:20:31 AM

But from a many thousands of words manifesto you pull that short paragraph. FWIW

And you managed to call Obama a communist. Well done!

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 10:26 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 10:24:48 AM

The guy suicide bombed a federal building with a plane.

Let's call him what he was: a terrorist.

2/19/2010 10:26:35 AM

the IRS is a bureaucratic leech on society and should be eliminated


but killing innocent people is never right

2/19/2010 11:01:29 AM

Heaven forbid we have an organization that makes sure people are properly paying taxes.

2/19/2010 11:09:16 AM

^^^he's not muslim. Unless I missed that.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 11:09 AM. Reason : ^]

2/19/2010 11:09:18 AM

Yeah, I forgot only Muslims are terrorists.

2/19/2010 11:10:18 AM

^x6 Yeah, that is rather amusing to be in a thread purportedly concerned with mislabeling.

Why did this thread have to be about President Obama at all?

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 11:10 AM. Reason : .]

2/19/2010 11:10:28 AM

I didn't look too deeply, but it seems no one other than the pilot was even harmed. As such, nothing to see here, move along people. There is nothing to be scared of here.

2/19/2010 11:19:16 AM

This is why it's smart to avoid working for the Fed (and especially the IRS) in Texas

2/19/2010 11:19:26 AM

They threw a rag on his charred cranium and BAM - MUSLIM.

2/19/2010 11:20:10 AM

Quote :

"I didn't look too deeply, but it seems no one other than the pilot was even harmed. As such, nothing to see here, move along people. There is nothing to be scared of here."

Tell that to everyone here who shat themselves after the Christmas day airplane incident.

And, no, two people have died so far.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 11:21 AM. Reason : ]

2/19/2010 11:20:37 AM

sounds like God financed this operation. literally. fbi check this guy out just in case....

2/19/2010 11:35:46 AM

I saw Goody God with the devil!

2/19/2010 12:06:17 PM

plenty to say, but...

Quote :

"Even the janitors are cogs in the machine and share whatever guilt there is to go around. Everyone knows the tax collectors of an occupying nation are usually despised."

Wow, either this is a pretty pathetic troll job or you've got the same sense of justice as a garden-variety terrorist. Just be sure to crash your plane in a field by accident instead of killing some desk clerk with a family making 30k a year, you piece of shit.

2/19/2010 12:08:57 PM

smc is Ward Churchill?

2/19/2010 12:15:12 PM

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/02/more_texas_suicide_attach_humor.php?ref=fpblg

Quote :

"More Texas Suicide Attack Humor Josh Marshall | February 19, 2010, 10:37AM Last night Sen. Scott Brown (R-MA) suggested the Texas suicide bomb attack was part of the same public frustration that sent him to Washington. Just now Human Events editor Jed Babbin joked about the attack in his introduction of Grover Norquist. "

"But watch the media try to paint this guy as a total right-wing nutjob."



I don't think you have to worry about the liberal media, so much as CPAC joking that this sounds like something one of their own would do.

Quote :

""And let me just say, I'm really happy to see Grover today," said Babbin. "He was getting a little testy in the past couple of weeks. And I was just really, really glad that it was not him identified as flying that airplane into the IRS building.""

But I agree that this man is a lone lunatic that doesn't represent the values of either of the 2 major parties.

2/19/2010 12:25:00 PM

A lot of what's in his manifesto seems reasonable, but I don't know what he thought was going to be accomplished by killing a few IRS employees.

I think many will attempt to spin this as "Ha, this is proof that anyone that doesn't like taxes is a crackpot, or maybe even a terrorist!" To me, this just seems like "domestic blowback," and I wouldn't be surprised to see more incidents like this in the future. Many people will see their 401ks evaporate in the next few years, and many of those same people will have seen their wealth robbed by the government in the past. When the government ruins lives, and it has ruined many and will ruin many more, don't be too surprised when someone goes off the deep end.

2/19/2010 12:27:18 PM

Quote :

"Ward Churchill"

oh god i forgot all about that guy

i remember when he was as dangerous as Bill Ayers

2/19/2010 12:31:54 PM

I do believe if other people took the degree of action he took things could change. that being said, i do not agree with the manner in which it was done.

2/19/2010 12:35:32 PM

Quote :

"When the government ruins lives, and it has ruined many and will ruin many more, don't be too surprised when someone goes off the deep end."

SEE: Treatment of Guantanamo Bay detainees and Al-Qaeda.

2/19/2010 12:36:22 PM

I actually agree with God that Gitmo caused 9/11.

2/19/2010 12:42:16 PM

Well, obviously not, but he's right that Gitmo (and generally, our government ruining lives in another part of the world) causes terrorism to continue.

2/19/2010 1:02:47 PM

And only 20% recidivism to boot!

2/19/2010 1:04:02 PM

Quote :

"But I agree that this man is a lone lunatic that doesn't represent the values of either of the 2 major parties. "

And yet his motives are linked to core American values.

2/19/2010 1:20:19 PM

Conservative pundits: "This administration is literally destroying our country! Someone needs to do something before it's too late!"

*Disgrunted man flies plane into government building*

*Conservative pundits whistle innocently*

2/19/2010 1:34:03 PM

YES OUR TEAPARTY OPERATION IS GOING SUCCESSFULLY. UP NEXT SAN FRANCISCO NERVE GAS ATTACK!!!! YEEEHHHH

2/19/2010 2:17:10 PM

I'm not claiming they were behind this, but you have to admit that their rhetoric has been akin to screaming fire in a crowded theater.

2/19/2010 2:40:48 PM

^
Even if it is, there's nothing wrong with screaming "fire" if there actually is a fire.

Quote :

"When the government ruins lives, and it has ruined many and will ruin many more, don't be too surprised when someone goes off the deep end."

2/19/2010 2:49:41 PM

There is no fire. By god you guys have it so good here you whine about fucking everything. This is the United States, not Russia, not China, not fucking Democratic Republic of Congo.

Go live there for a year and come back and whine because your taxes went up 1.2% this year preventing you from buying that new 46" LCD TV you wanted.

2/19/2010 2:51:41 PM

People have always been inclined to do wonky shit when they reach the end of their perceived rope.

Even before pundits.

2/19/2010 2:53:32 PM

Quote :

"There is no fire."

WHATEVER BUDDY!

Quote :

"preventing you from buying that new 46" LCD TV you wanted."

AWWWWWWWWW!!!1 YOU GOT US!!! THAT'S REALLY WHY WE HATE TAXES.

[Edited on February 19, 2010 at 2:56 PM. Reason : ]

2/19/2010 2:55:50 PM

Quote :

"Go live there for a year and come back and whine because your taxes went up 1.2% this year preventing you from buying that new 46" LCD TV you wanted."

How many tdubbers are actually making enough that their tax rates have changed to even have that to complain about?

2/19/2010 3:01:01 PM

^
THAT'S RIGHT!
....BECAUSE WE ALL BASE OUR POLITICAL BELIEFS ON HOW THINGS AFFECT US PERSONALLY!!!!!!!!!2

2/19/2010 3:03:31 PM

That's pretty much the definition of a conservative.

MY rights
MY money
MY liberty
MY guns
MY freedom
MY religion

2/19/2010 3:06:56 PM

Yeah, I think we should all agree here that, despite what he claims in his suicide letter, the US government did not ruin his life. He had a wife, family, friends, a good job, a very nice home, a band he played in...shit, the guy may have even owned a fucking single engine jet plane! At the very least, he had the means (time and money) to take classes and enjoy flying the friendly skies in his spare time.

I wouldn't wish the wrath of the IRS on my worst enemy, and I appreciate how devastating it is to lose a large portion of your savings...a lot of people appreciate that right now. I can also see how it would suck to realize the American dream has a lot to do with luck that may not be on your side. All of that anguish is likely exacerbated by recent developments in government/business and a news format that is more sensational than ever.

And he's right that things are especially bad right now, and they are indicative of some serious problems with the basic fundamentals of our society.

But the US government did not ruin this man's life.

2/19/2010 3:12:17 PM

Nope, no sympathy. I found his band:
http://billyeli.com/music.htm

2/19/2010 3:23:09 PM

^^^
Actually, it's like this:

EVERYONE'S equal rights
EVERYONE'S equal right to money
EVERYONE'S equal right to liberty
EVERYONE'S equal right to guns
EVERYONE'S equal right to freedom
EVERYONE'S equal right to religion

But go on using whatever prejudice you need to keep hating on all of us.....

2/19/2010 3:24:32 PM

Except poor people and minorities.

2/19/2010 3:34:10 PM

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

2/19/2010 3:35:58 PM

Terrorist sympathizers ITT

2/19/2010 3:52:37 PM