There are IRS offices in the building….
Chris Messer was driving to work about 9:50 a.m. when he was on the flyover exiting MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) to northbound U.S. 183 when he saw a small, single-engine yellow plane in his peripheral vision.
“It flew right in front of me and flew right square into the building,” said Messner, 27. “The fireball was pretty big. It shook my car and the heat came in from my air vents. I was surprised how big the explosion is.”
Messner said the explosion was “as wide as the entire building.”
“The tail was down slightly like it was trying to pull up a little bit,” Messner said. “It happened really fast.”
Sarah Whelan, 28, was also driving on the overpass from MoPac onto U.S. 183 north on her way to work when she saw the plane on her right, flying low over the shops across the street from the building that was hit.
She said all the cars in front of me started slowing down because the plane looked like it could it land on the highway.
“It wasn’t heading into the direction of the building but all of a sudden it took a right and headed straight into it,” Whelan said. “It didn’t look like it was in distress. It wasn’t wavering at all.
Update: The alleged pilot’s alleged suicide note is up at the Smoking Gun.
“Tax collection is one area where Canada has a more civilized system than our friends in the US.” Au contraire TJ. I had a deduction disallowed back in the early 80’s and Revenue Canada was all over me like bees to honey. They disssed me that year and audited me for the next three. Some little bean counter probably made his quota by pestering a corporal working an extra job to keep his family fed. Only lieberal appointed big wigs can get their tax problems “solved”.
btw, I’d never waste a perfectly good aircraft on a bean counter.
Vitruvius…you don’t have your single engine prop license, do you?
How’s your tax situation?
What, my tax situation? I don’t have a tax situation. Look, we’ve strayed way too far off topic here for my tastes, and I have this nagging feeling that Kate is about to appear out of the cybersphere and smite us if we don’t cut it out, so I think I’m out of here: Thanks for the space, Kate.
My apologies also…I thought it obvious to someone using the handle Vitruvius that I was inquiring if you were an engineer who had his certification to fly small single engine propellor planes, and had tax problems.
I’ll try to be less obtuse next time.
Ultimately, I think this incident is about pressure.
Really, a significant number of people in the US don’t feel much differently about the IRS than Joe.
The government puts on a lot of pressure. And people respond differently. Out of a hundred people maybe 50 will just try to go along and get along. Maybe 49 will try to join various political movements in an attempt to bring reform and change the ship of state.
Maybe 1 out of hundred will bite you back. Who knows why? However, people who impose that kind of pressure on the multitudes have to be prepared for blowback.
Posted by: Shifty Calhoun at February 18, 2010 7:28 PM
Broke my own rule by jumping to conclusions too early.
A broken man whose frustrations led him to a tragic end.
Accountant who didn’t do his job cost him over $10K, but is not held accountable to anybody. Why would he not be personally or professionally responsible for not including the money his wife made? Why should Joe have to pay the bill?
I have been hung out to dry by my accountant, who was a personal friend(key word “was”). I covered his a$$ and it cost me over $10K. I was hounded by CRA and they locked down all of my bank accounts. I was only able to buy groceries and pay rent. Absolutely no access to any of my money until the tax bill was paid in full. How come this makes me the criminal and the gov/accountant not the criminals?
Don’t get me started!!!
set you free:
Broke my own rule by jumping to conclusions too early.
A broken man whose frustrations led him to a tragic end.
And the irony is that he wasn’t broken by a leftist American government, or a rightist American government.
He was broken by a government bureaucracy that was doing crap like this long before Bush, and will still be doing it long after Obama.
The IRS has been sending armed agents out to intimidate citizens for decades.
Pray Ashfield doesn’t get similar ideas for the CRA…Harper could use the extra muscle in his current “Won’t raise taxes, won’t lower spending” situation.
And if you laugh at that as paranoia, please note they’re already arming CBSA agents.
Everything wrong in my life? You gotta be kidding, Vi t. Got any quotes to that effect to refresh my memory?
I am rich, in perfect health, with wonderful family and in a dream job.
The Canadian commies that permeated your education system tried to ruin it, but it’s fixed now.
Perhaps you are referring to my dietary troubles? Well, some foods are history, but the basement full of homemade pickles, olives, salami, juices etc. keeps me going. Yum, yum! And it’s cheaper too. As long as I keep an eye for MSG, I am fine, thank you.
Aside that what happened is a singular and tragic incident, while the political labeling would be futile, the pressure mentioned by Greg from Dallas could be placed in larger context. Aging of baby boomers without cushy savings, looming economic uncertainty, overwhelming interference of government bureaucracies with lives of ordinary people, prospects of higher taxation and lower standards of living. The story of distressed person taking own life is not unique, details are not important, but the surrounding climate is significant, intuitively creating lots of attention. The tension is in the air (pun not intended). More to come in the near future to the street near you.
Aaron:
I don’t doubt a concert grand piano can be very expensive, but we bought an upright for our daughter, and paid less than $3,000, IIRC.
But that wasn’t my point – my point was Stack was pissed off that he couldn’t count the piano as a business asset. He’s a software developer; how does a piano become a business asset for him? I could see a MIDI keyboard maybe, but he specifically wrote piano.
Vitruvius at 6:32 PM, exactly right, that sums it up well.
Vitruvius, I’ve read the guys note and I don’t think he was psychotic; obsessed with certain isuues, yes and most likely depressed. Inability to manage finances suggests bipolarity but then psychiatric diagnoses based on a single piece of writing should be taken with a block of salt.
His story reminded me immediately of Carl Draga and I recommend Vin Suprynowicz’s book The Ballad of Carl Drega. For those who don’t want to buy the book, the full story is available online at:
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle1998/libe39-19980626-09.html
Suprynowicz views “Carl Drega’s” as the social equivalent of the miners canary. When “Carl Drega” behavior becomes commonplace then one is likely looking at bureaucracy and petty statist regulation gone wild.
When I first heard that a guy had crashed his plane into an IRS office, my first thought was “wow, I bet they were BEGGING for it with this guy.”
Payback’s a beeatch.
That the guy was some kind of Left-leaning political retard is just icing on the cake. How you liking that hope and change now, buddy?
Seems my comment got caught in the spam filter and I didn’t save it first.
Reminds me a lot of Carl Drega. Vin Suprynowicz wrote a book about him but you can get most of the relevent details online at:
http://www.ncc-1776.org/tle1998/libe39-19980626-09.html
KevinB; “And then he claims that an expensive piano was a “business asset”. How does one figure that, when he says he was a software developer?”
You obviously missed the photo, and reference to him being a musician also.
“Stack, who has played bass in an Austin band, is pictured above.”
I’m taking a leap here, but either he or his wife likely earned income involving the piano.
I personally know several professionals who play gigs on the side. Whether they declare their cash earnings I can’t say.
When I first heard this story all I could think of was most of Obama’s Czars are Tax dodgers. Rich tax dodgers.
Yet nothing happens.
Not that I think this act was justified or sane.
The exact opposite. I feel for his family. Ultimately it was a selfish act.
Its just the contrast between the Bureaucracy’s attitude towards their own & that normal citizen.
The latter is hounded, the former forgotten.
Injustice by its nature will erupt into incidents like this.
Its a function of chaos, as is most corruption.
JMO
“I’ll try to be less obtuse next time.
Posted by: Shifty Calhoun at February 18, 2010 7:48 PM”
Not possible. Welcome to SDA’s latest troll. Hailing from Hamilton, Mr Calhoun is a regular (and some would say, obsessive) patron of the online CBC comment gallery. Never content to miss an opportunity to slag anything perceived as being “of the right”, he will find himself bemused here.
While I do not condone what he did, I do understand his frustration. I don’t think he was a tea bagger, communist or liberal. He was just like any middle class working person trying to make ends meet, have money to retire, and live. Slowly all that has kept the average middle class person with a home, food and to educate their children have been taken away.
I am surprised at reading any of the above comments that berate this poor troubled soul. What he had to say in his note were not ramblings but what is happening to many people today.
I wonder if anyone would be talking about his note if he did not do what he did?
It seems somewhat strange that there is so much readily available information about this out there for the public.
Had this been a regular run of the mill Muslim attack on America, there would be crickets chirping as far as FBI and other investgative sources.
And the irony is that he wasn’t broken by a leftist American government, or a rightist American government.
~Shifty Calhoun
The irony was that he was a Leftist who didn’t like to pay taxes.
Oz, I know you want him to be a leftist, but no, sorry. Go play with your toys now.
Kyle,
From Joe Stack’s suicide note:
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)
There was other Leftist crap, Bush bashing etc., Joe Stack was clearly a Leftist with an overweening sense of entitlement.
He got himself way over his head in debt, because as Leftists do he felt entitled to what he hadn’t earned, and then burned it all down.
I could give you more, like he was for socialised medical insurance etc. but then facts don’t seem to dent a Leftist mindset like yours.
Now hush, Kyle, the adults are talking.
Here, for people who care enough to read it, is Joe Stack’s suicide note at the Smoking Gun:
http://tinyurl.com/y9d8gpt
Joe Stack was a Leftist to the core.
I know this thread is already old, but I’d like to add my two cents worth.
The only person in this whole thread with whom I agree is Magnum (a few posts above). I too read the letter. All I felt was his pain.
This was not political, it was sad and desperate. Neither do I condone or in anyway make excuses for him. This was a sad, sick man who apparantly made some bad choices, and this flight was yet another. He felt everyone else was doing great and only he was having a rough finnacial time: You know life’s clock just keeps ticking and you get no do-overs. In our world we talk so much about winners. He was a loser who thought he was the only one. I only just heard the line “second place is just the first loser” Perhaps he should have heard that line too.
My condolences to the family of victim Vernon Hunter, age 67. Just doing his job and gone! That’s a loss!
[quote]The irony was that he was a Leftist who didn’t like to pay taxes.[/quote]OZ
I think that would typical for a Ultra Socialist.
The Quakers of 16th century Mass could be identified by the simple fact they did not volunteer to pay the Church of England tithe (tax) the sheriff would have to seize a Hog or Calf… It was part of the Quaker Creed
Why would a Communist want to pay income tax? I suspect a lot are Self Employed contract workers. They pay no payroll taxes (no Medicare) and work of the record…Max Home office Expenses on the little income reported…Slam Dunk for the IRS
[quote]The irony was that he was a Leftist who didn’t like to pay taxes.[/quote]OZ
I think that would typical for a Ultra Socialist.
The Quakers of 16th century Mass could be identified by the simple fact they did not volunteer to pay the Church of England tithe (tax) the sheriff would have to seize a Hog or Calf… It was part of the Quaker Creed
Why would a Communist want to pay income tax? I suspect a lot are Self Employed contract workers. They pay no payroll taxes (no Medicare) and work off the record…Max Home office Expenses on the little income reported…Slam Dunk for the IRS
Ads an individual staring down the barrel into the financial abyss, I can identify with the pressure that this guy was under. However, I don’t have a boogie man like the IRS to blame or want retribution against. I do however, have a business partner that better not get too close to the propeller blades of any plane I might be piloting.
Seriously though, is it worth inflicting this type of horror on your own and someone else’s family to make some political point?