A plane crashed into an IRS building in Austin, piloted by a man named Joseph Stack. It appears to be a premeditated domestic terrorist attack. The perpetrator's suicide note, describes about his frustration with the tax code and how it is exploited by corporations and the wealthy, health care reform, how he tried to start an independent business and failed, how the government is working, not for the middle and lower class, but for the rich, and ends chillingly with: "Mr. Big Brother IRS man...take my pound of flesh and sleep well." His writing paints a picture of someone who obviously feels victimized and powerless.

Rather than taking out his frustration on the people at the top he so obviously hates, the perpetrator chose to attack rank-and-file IRS employees, many of whom are probably suffering in the recession as well. I also wonder how his actions will be interpreted by the populist anti-government fringe groups that are very attractive to people right now. I must admit that when I first heard this story, I envisioned the perp as a Timothy McVeigh? ultra-right conservative, but in his letter he comes off as more of a radical leftist. I wonder if the Tea Party movement would be eager to co-opt him as an anti-government martyr, or whether he portrays himself as too anti-business/wealthy for them.

-- JonathanWaisnor - 18 Feb 2010