

Anti-IRS Rant of Software Engineer who Today Flew Plane into IRS Building - spudlyo
http://embeddedart.com/

======
markpercival
The site was pulled down, here's the copy of the rant:

If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this have to
happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has been coming for a
long time. The writing process, started many months ago, was intended to be
therapy in the face of the looming realization that there isn’t enough therapy
in the world that can fix what is really broken. Needless to say, this rant
could fill volumes with example after example if I would let it. I find the
process of writing it frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially
given my gross inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the
storm raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure,
but desperate times call for desperate measures.

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society,
only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been
brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our
government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe
that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our
lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers.
Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. I have spent
the total years of my adulthood unlearning that crap from only a few years of
my childhood. These days anyone who really stands up for that principal is
promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.

While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair share of
taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty
that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the
likes of me or my interests in mind. Nor, for that matter, are they the least
bit interested in me or anything I have to say.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable
atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and
when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their
gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government
has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours? Yet at the
same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug
and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and
stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders
don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies.
Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving
scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after
year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”. It’s clear
they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their
corporate profits rolling in.

And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!

How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in the
middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here we have a
system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of the master
scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds accountable” its victims,
claiming that they’re responsible for fully complying with laws not even the
experts understand. The law “requires” a signature on the bottom of a tax
filing; yet no one can say truthfully that they understand what they are
signing; if that’s not “duress” than what is. If this is not the measure of a
totalitarian regime, nothing is.

How did I get here?

My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early ‘80s.
Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along the line I
picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and understand plain
English. Some friends introduced me to a group of people who were having ‘tax
code’ readings and discussions. In particular, zeroed in on a section relating
to the wonderful “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt
Catholic Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the
help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the
business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing (except
that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the government
about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a great deal of care to
make it all visible, following all of the rules, exactly the way the law said
it was to be done.

The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a much-needed
re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of organized religion to
make such a mockery of people who earn an honest living. However, this is
where I learned that there are two “interpretations” for every law; one for
the very rich, and one for the rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very
ones making and enforcing the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well
today in this country.

That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life, and
set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first time that
I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total and complete
lie. It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the
incredible stupidity of the American public; that they buy, hook, line, and
sinker, the crap about their “freedom”… and that they continue to do so with
eyes closed in the face of overwhelming evidence and all that keeps happening
in front of them.

Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first lesson
on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after making my way
through engineering school and still another five years of “paying my dues”),
I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my dream of becoming an
independent engineer.

On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should digress
somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination for creative
problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very young age.

The significance of independence, however, came much later during my early
years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my own as
student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor was an
elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who was the
widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked all his life in
the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises from big business and
the union that, for his 30 years of service, he would have a pension and
medical care to look forward to in his retirement. Instead he was one of the
thousands who got nothing because the incompetent mill management and corrupt
union (not to mention the government) raided their pension funds and stole
their retirement. All she had was social security to live on.

In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on peanut
butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge) for months
at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and heard her story I felt
worse for her plight than for my own (I, after all, I thought I had everything
to in front of me). I was genuinely appalled at one point, as we exchanged
stories and commiserated with each other over our situations, when she in her
grandmotherly fashion tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating
cat food (like her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut
butter and bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I
decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I would
take responsibility for my own future and myself.

Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a ‘wet-
behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later, thanks to
the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of Arthur Andersen
(the very same folks who later brought us Enron and other such calamities) and
an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick Moynihan), we saw the passage of
1986 tax reform act with its section 1706.

For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section 1706,
defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for tax
purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report
([http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeRe...](http://www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml#ConferenceCommitteeReport))
regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant parts
of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws affect technical
services workers and their clients, read our discussion here
(<http://www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml>).

SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.

(a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by adding
at the end thereof the following new subsection:

(d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who
pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides
services for such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer
programmer, systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a
similar line of work.

(b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to
remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.

Note:

· "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop relationship.

· "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.

· "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.

Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is saying but
it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may as well have put
my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover, they could only have been
more blunt if they would have came out and directly declared me a criminal and
non-citizen slave. Twenty years later, I still can’t believe my eyes.

During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least 1000
hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator, congressman,
governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they universally treated me
as if I was wasting their time. I spent countless hours on the L.A. freeways
driving to meetings and any and all of the disorganized professional groups
who were attempting to mount a campaign against this atrocity. This, only to
discover that our efforts were being easily derailed by a few moles from the
brokers who were just beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration
of their “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending
on this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.

After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile exercise. The
best we could get for all of our trouble is a pronouncement from an IRS
mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce that provision (read harass
engineers and scientists). This immediately proved to be a lie, and the mere
existence of the regulation began to have its impact on my bottom line; this,
of course, was the intended effect.

Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle. If I had
any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and never looked
back.

Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A. depression
of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t need the all of those
extra Air Force bases they had in Southern California, so they were closed;
just like that. The result was economic devastation in the region that rivaled
the widely publicized Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused
it, no one gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or
street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan
companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall. Again, I
lost my retirement.

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to
build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to
finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our
leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an
eternity; and long after that, ‘special’ facilities like San Francisco were on
security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively
expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid
of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to
rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY
MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my
retirement and savings.

By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to
California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out that
this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and where damn
little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced such a hard time
finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning before the crash,
because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four large companies in the
area who are in collusion to drive down prices and wages… and this happens
because the justice department is all on the take and doesn’t give a fuck
about serving anyone or anything but themselves and their rich buddies.

To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the last of
which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth expenses and not a
single dollar of income. I filed no return that year thinking that because I
didn’t have any income there was no need. The sleazy government decided that
they disagreed. But they didn’t notify me in time for me to launch a legal
objection so when I attempted to get a protest filed with the court I was told
I was no longer entitled to due process because the time to file ran out. Bend
over for another $10,000 helping of justice.

So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world,
following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s
office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a boatload of undocumented
income, not to mention an expensive new business asset, a piano, which I had
no idea how to handle. After considerable thought I decided that it would be
irresponsible NOT to get professional help; a very big mistake.

When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in order.
I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he came back with
results very similar to what I was expecting. Except that he had neglected to
include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported income; $12,700 worth of it. To
make matters worse, Ross knew all along this was missing and I didn’t have a
clue until he pointed it out in the middle of the audit. By that time it had
become brutally evident that he was representing himself and not me.

This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend
transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least the
tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never knew anything
about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to anyone. The end
result is… well, just look around.

I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great” depression
and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping out of windows when
they realized they screwed up and lost everything. Isn’t it ironic how far
we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they now know how to fix that
little economic problem; they just steal from the middle class (who doesn’t
have any say in it, elections are a joke) to cover their asses and it’s
“business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy fuck up, the poor get to die for the
mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy solution.

As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a
tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. 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.

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has
always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this
country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there
have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I
also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will
change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while
he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I
choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had
enough.

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and
ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing
less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the
inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more
stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous
political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I
spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn’t so, but violence not only is
the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big
chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at
and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same
process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am
finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try
something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

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)

02/18/2010

~~~
tlb
If you can't live with the IRS or other parts of the US system, there are 194
other countries out there. Many of them are good places for English speakers
to live and work. Vote with your feet, not with violence against helpless
government workers.

~~~
splat
Unfortunately that solution doesn't work so well in practice. The United
States is one of the few countries in the world to tax income earned by US
citizens in other countries. (The only other ones of which I am aware are
North Korea and, while it was in existence, the Soviet Union.)

Furthermore, any US citizen who decides to renounce his or her citizenship is
assumed to have expatriated for tax reasons if the tax liability is over
$127,000 or the individual's net worth is at least $2 million. (Though those,
of course, are not the only reasons that an individual will be assumed to have
expatriated for tax purposes.) An individual who has expatriated for tax
reasons must pay US taxes on all US-derived income for 10 years and if the
individual returns to the US for 30 days in those ten years, all income earned
abroad is taxable by the US government. If such an individual has the
misfortune of dying during any year in which he or she spent at least 30 days
in the US, the entire estate is taxable by the US government.

I'm not sure Stack's tax liability was $127,000, but given his problems with
the IRS, I wouldn't be surprised if the IRS would have declared him
expatriated for tax reasons had he tried to leave the country. Escaping the
long arm of the IRS can be easier said than done.

~~~
tlb
_An individual who has expatriated for tax reasons must pay US taxes on all
US-derived income_. True, and they're fairly effective at collecting it too by
withholding at the source. So if you don't want the IRS in your life, you
can't get paid by US companies. Billions of people manage to do so.

------
blackguardx
The Department of Homeland Security released a statement calling this a
criminal act, not terrorism. I am confused. A few years ago everything was
considered terrorism and now nothing is.

This guy wasn't targeting individual people in the IRS, he was targeting the
whole establishment. This is akin to the Oklahoma City bombing. If that was a
terrorist incident and 9/11 was a terrorist incident, this is too. He even has
an IRS hate manifesto.

I think it is a shame that the government uses certain words to its advantage,
but I guess propaganda is just the nature of the beast.

~~~
wheels
You, sir, have obviously failed to memo that in this post-9/11-world, only
brown people are terrorists.

Here's a key, in case it gets confusing again:

\- Guy in an airport with a Koran and an accent: terrorist.

\- White software developer who flies a plane into buildings for ideological
reasons: not terrorist.

~~~
javert
Actually, this guy's goal was not to incite terror, hence not a terrorist.

I'm not necessarily defending the way the government labels different crimes,
though. AFAIK the Unibomber was pretty much like this guy.

~~~
danieldon
He's absolutely a terrorist according to 18 USC 2331:

(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that— (A) involve acts
dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the
United States or of any State; (B) appear to be intended— (i) to intimidate or
coerce a civilian population; (ii) to influence the policy of a government by
intimidation or coercion; or (iii) to affect the conduct of a government by
mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and (C) occur primarily within
the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

His explicitly stated goal was to affect the conduct of the government and
coerce the civilian population via mass destruction.

~~~
dmm
I don't see how me meant to coerce civilians.

~~~
danieldon
_"I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and
ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing
less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the
inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more
stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous
political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are."_

------
jsz0
I'm convinced that domestic terrorism is going to be a bigger problem over the
next couple of decades than foreign attacks. The political discourse/tolerance
in this country has gone downhill significantly even in my lifetime. I can
only imagine at the extreme fringes these people have gone off the deep end.
We see it over and over again. Probably the most disturbing sign of what to
come is the 2008 election where the VP candidate for one of the two major
parties was openly inciting hatred and smiling as people in the audience
shouted horrible things.

~~~
timdorr
How old are you? There's been plenty of political discourse all through time.
That's how this country was founded and nearly split up. Just look at the
70's. I'm not that old and even I know how much protest was going on at that
time. It's just that the fire is being fanned by mainstream media and the
growth of the Internet, and that gives it more visibility than before. The
Teabaggers are a perfect example of this.

------
saturnine
I surmise his software ventures never succeeded because he hated the IRS more
than he loved programming. In 1987 alone, he says, he spent at least 1000
hours railing against the tax code -- about 20 hours a week.

His obsession with, and resentment of, the IRS started when he and others
tried to create their own religious organization, ostensibly to draw attention
to the capricious laws exempting religious organizations from taxes. How this
plan was supposed to work is unclear. L. Ron Hubbard saw the same opportunity
and was better at exploiting it.

People don't respond well to acts of violence directed against them or those
with whom they empathize. Timothy McVeigh's act caused shock and anger yet
achieved nothing. Whatever message Stack wanted to convey has been utterly
discredited by attempting to murder people going about their day. And if he
wanted to give the government a way to dismiss him, he couldn't have made it
any easier.

~~~
cookiecaper
So what do people respond well to? I'm not seeing any changes even though the
guy's sentiments are shared by many.

~~~
binspace
A conflict of some type is necessary to bring in change. The people who
benefit from the tax code will fight tooth and nail to keep the status quo.
Luke warm sentiment will not change things.

------
CulturalNgineer
I can't justify his method of protest but have some understanding of his
frustration...

In behavioral economics there's the game called the "Ultimatum Game"

Essentially it's when one side thinks the deal is so biased and unfair he'd
rather tip over the board and have both get nothing than accept what he
considers to be a rip-off offer.

This guy decided to tip over the board...

There's another concept in communication called "no acknowledgement"... which
arise when you are trying to get someone's attention and they just don't seem
to notice you're there... which causes people to essentially start pulling
their hair out with frustration.

SO...

It makes sense for politicians to be very nervous about citizen anger over
perceived favoritism to the wealthy... and feeling like they're not being
listened to.

This isn't political conclusion...

It's a scientific one!

------
natrius
PDF if the site goes down:
[http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://celes.niran.org/~ni...](http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://celes.niran.org/~niran/joe_stack_note.pdf)

The site's been holding up surprisingly well. Not bad, T35 Hosting.

EDIT: It looks like it's gone now. Here's the home.htm that was on the site as
well:
[http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://celes.niran.org/~ni...](http://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http://celes.niran.org/~niran/embeddedart_home.pdf)

~~~
spudlyo
It helps that it's 33K of static HTML. Looks like it was converted from Word,
some interesting metadata:

    
    
      <o:Author>Joe Stack</o:Author>
      <o:LastAuthor>Joe</o:LastAuthor>
      <o:Revision>27</o:Revision>
      <o:TotalTime>1848</o:TotalTime>
      <o:Created>2010-02-16T19:24:00Z</o:Created>
      <o:LastSaved>2010-02-18T06:42:00Z</o:LastSaved>

~~~
natrius
Most static pages still get pulled by hosting providers when faced with that
kind of traffic. That might be what happened here, or the authorities could've
asked them to pull it.

~~~
icefox
I could understand for dynamic pages, but static? Do they think they are
getting attacked?

~~~
natrius
Accounts usually have bandwidth limits that get tripped by this sort of thing.
33 kB * millions of viewers = gigabytes of data.

------
aohtsab
I'm surprised that no one's commented on what Jon Stack was talking about —
the laws affecting Indie Contractor's tax status.

<http://synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml>

"20 Questions" of the IRS to determine status
<http://synergistech.com/20qs.shtml>

Has anyone had any trouble with this? As an early indie contractor, I'm pretty
damn concerned about this.

------
natrius
It looks like the note was originally found by a redditor who Googled the
guy's name after it was released:
[http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/b3nte/plane_cras...](http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/b3nte/plane_crashes_into_building_in_austin_texas/c0ksdo8?context=3)

------
tc
Problems that this creates:

1) Because of how governments deal in collective punishment, private aviation
is likely to suffer further regulatory decimation even though events of this
type are extremely rare, statistically speaking.

2) His rambling, narcissistic screed will be broadcast widely, and his
immature and senseless actions used to paint those with legitimate and
sensible criticisms of our tax system or systems of governance.

~~~
jcromartie
> rambling, narcissistic screed

Maybe to you. Most of his rant just sounded honest and true to me.

~~~
jrockway
Maybe you are a rambling narcissist?

~~~
jcromartie
Maybe. Then again, maybe extreme actions cause people to unconsciously try to
discredit the beliefs (no matter how rational) behind those actions to
distance themselves from being exposed to uncomfortable truths.

------
mbrubeck
So, was this related to the changes reported in today's front-page New York
Times story, "U.S. Cracks Down on ‘Contractors’ as a Tax Dodge," or is the
timing just a coincidence?

 _"Federal and state officials, many facing record budget deficits, are
starting to aggressively pursue companies that try to pass off regular
employees as independent contractors. President Obama’s 2010 budget assumes
that the federal crackdown will yield at least $7 billion over 10 years."_

<http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/18/business/18workers.html?em>

------
tlrobinson
What are people's thoughts on the hosting company pulling the site so quickly
at the request of the FBI?

Would they legally be required to? IANAL but I can't think of any reason.

~~~
BigZaphod
I certainly can't say I know the law in this respect. His rant did include the
names of a few people which could possibly be bad for them, but it's too late
now - it was posted online, cached by lots of spiders, copied by lots of
people... Pulling it down now doesn't seem like it'd much matter.

~~~
Vivtek
They have a link to the copy at the Smoking Gun, right where it's down; I'd
say this was a question of keeping the FBI happy without actually impeding the
flow of information.

------
Femur
I think it is interesting that the IRS treats certain workers differently:

"This section shall not apply in the case of an individual who pursuant to an
arrangement between the taxpayer and another person, provides services for
such other person as an engineer, designer, drafter, computer programmer,
systems analyst, or other similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line
of work."

(this was cited in the letter)

~~~
icey
Here's a little bit of background about that provision:

<http://www.taxfoundation.org/blog/show/25870.html>

~~~
kelnos
I'm highly amused that the last name of the guy who wrote that piece is
"Henchman."

------
dkarl
Tragically naive, but naive in a self-serving and narcissistic way. Childish,
I guess one would say. Hard to sympathize with for that reason. It's one thing
to take a naive and idealistic look at government with the intent of improving
it; it's another thing to take that approach to your own taxes.

------
lsc
I was considering going to SCALE this weekend, but maybe I'll take the train
or not go after all.

Like many people on HN, I am pretty close to the guy's profile. I've been
negatively effected by SEC. 1706 - now, I'm far to cynical to think such
things can be changed, and I'm not really the murder/suicide type but, uh, I
certainly fit the profile.

------
wedesoft
In 2008 somebody in Germany got fed up with the high taxes on fuel. He
couldn't afford to run his business (which required a car) any more. So he
parked the car on a lawn in the city centre of Frankfurt, wrote "Fuel
Profiteering <http://www.acidware.de/> in big letters on it, and put it on
fire.

I just want to say that there are other routes to explore before taking it
this far.

<http://www.spiegel.de/auto/aktuell/0,1518,562570,00.html>

~~~
Deestan
> I just want to say that there are other routes to explore before taking it
> this far.

Yes, but they are much less effective. E.g., I have never ever heard of him or
his protest before.

~~~
pyre
There aren't that many 24-hour cable news stations in Germany that are
broadcast around the world in a language that a fair number of people
internationally can speak.

------
wrs
If he couldn't pay back taxes on $13K, I'm curious how he acquired the plane.

~~~
CoryMathews
stolen.

~~~
brandon272
Not according to reports.

~~~
eli
Initial reports said it was stolen, actually, but it seems they've taken that
back.

------
tomlin
This blog would hold no value if it were not pinned to this story of
"terrorism".

If you look deep and examine what is happening here, 106 comments later, you
see that people are thinking. A great thing.

Another question I stop to ask myself: His method was poor and for a lot of
people that disqualifies his perspective. But should it?

------
chubbard
Maybe he should've used google to do some research about how to avoid being
classified as an employee.

<http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/article-30177.html>

~~~
viraptor
Wasn't that kind of his point? With guidelines like "Don't ask for
instructions from the hiring firm about how to do your job." it's just silly
and you never know on which side of the line you are currently... There's just
no way to be sure and even if you are right, you might be notified too late to
protest.

------
nazgulnarsil
the discussions about the IRS employees reminds me of clerks.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6lzEhoXads>

how innocent are people who work for evil empires?

------
Sukotto
Also archived here:
[http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack...](http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2010/0218102stack1.html)

------
nym
Summary?

~~~
colinplamondon
Guy dicks around with forces he doesn't have the free cash available to dick
around with, blames IRS.

Later finds himself losing work due to working in aerospace as Air Force bases
are closed in the 90's, leading into 9/11 and a meltdown in his ability to
generate personal revenue. Blames IRS.

Runs out of money, blames IRS.

Flies plain into IRS building with the intent to indiscriminately murder
anyone who happens to be in the building at the time, ending his pathetic
life. Doesn't even garner a headline on the Huffington Post. Forgotten two
weeks later.

~~~
volomike
I tell you, I can be sympathetic to a letter such as his, to some of the
things any of us can easily see are wrong right now in the USA, but of course
I do not condone his extreme by any means.

However, here was the kicker for me: "But here I am with a new marriage and a
boatload of undocumented income". Let me get this straight -- he was in love
and married. Forget all the money stuff, tax liens, unemployment, whatever it
was. He was so in love that he just got married. And then what does he do? He
pilots a plane into the IRS building. I also read somewhere that he burned his
house down before doing that. It's probably anyone's guess that his wife was
at work while all this was going on. So this troubles me that a man focuses so
myopically on purity principles such as anti-corruption, that he would block
out one of the purest principles at all, which is love.

~~~
nandemo
_Meanwhile, local television in Austin, the Texas capital, said Stack's house
was fully engulfed in flames this morning just before the crash into the IRS
building, and that Stack's wife and 12-year-old daughter had been pulled out
distraught but unscathed._

[http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/18/austin-plane-
sui...](http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/feb/18/austin-plane-suicide-
manifesto)

------
btipling
cache removed at google but bing still has it:

[http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=%22embeddedart+com%22&d...](http://cc.bingj.com/cache.aspx?q=%22embeddedart+com%22&d=300636768106&mkt=en-
US&setlang=en-US&w=14b2d29e,6b966fab)

------
pkulak
Sorry, buddy. Trying to kill people and destroy property doesn't get me to
listen to you. I'm not going to read this.

------
vaksel
apparently the "site" was written in Office 2000, at least according to the
HTML file

------
moron4hire
I find it laughable that he suggests that the solution to this problem is
somehow Communism.

~~~
madair
That's not what he says. He just quotes the creed in order to play off of it
regarding capitalism.

~~~
moron4hire
and that would be why I said "suggests".

~~~
delackner
Except that without any editorial text accompanying the two quotes, two
readings are possible: "here's the motto of a good system and a bad system,"
OR: "everyone's heard of the moronic motto of this system, but the current
system is just terrible in its own different way." Reading the whole thing my
impression was that the second interpretation was what he was getting at.

------
grumpyfart
How sad, one guy has guts to spend his life and others can't even keep a
letter online.

------
ninjac0der
I guess I shouldn't be surprised at how many people look down on these
actions, but I am. No american is "innocent" when they legislate thievery so
they can continue eating nachos while wanting to expense thier medical costs
to the rest of us, have us pay for their poor judgment with money. Ignorance
of the consequences isn't an excuse. Most Americans are vanilla enough that
they never find themselves outside the american comfort zone, otherwise they
would find just how small the room is. Cryptic and meaningless to most but I
couldn't stand reading all of these other comments. Downvote away.

~~~
jcromartie
> Most Americans are vanilla enough that they never find themselves outside
> the american comfort zone

Most Americans live paycheck-to-paycheck (about 60% last I heard).

~~~
ninjac0der
Wonder how many of those still have cable TV. Give me a break.

<http://www.heritage.org/research/welfare/bg1713.cfm>

~~~
jcromartie
Of course a conservative policy center will tell me that poor people are
wasteful and/or lazy. However, the same Americans that are mostly living
paycheck-to-paycheck are also the same Americans that work more hours than a
lot of countries with much better situations. It's also not just about what
you have... it's about where you can go and how far you are from outright
financial ruin. In the US you are probably not mobile and probably just a
serious illness or injury away from bankruptcy.

It's not like the amount of the cable bill would go very far to pay for things
that other civilized nations take for granted, like medical care and
education.

~~~
ninjac0der
What do you think this even has to do with my original statement? People are
in better situations in other countries because they support more of a
welfare/legislative based system? Do you live there? Why not?

"Of course a conservative policy center will tell me that poor people are
wasteful and/or lazy."

An excellent way to write off an opinion without consideration. Come back when
you have a valid reason to write their numbers off (not that there isn't one,
just don't parrot "conservative" or "republican" at me because that puts you
in the majority of people who cite the same BS over-generalizations).

------
adolphwhitney
The next guy that does this will learn from his predecessor's mistakes, and
use a bigger plane.

~~~
pavel_lishin
And write a shorter rant.

~~~
philwelch
Or at least a clearer rant. I was surprised at how well written Kaczynski's
"Industrial Society and its Future" was. I don't like that he got it published
by mailing people bombs until the New York Times promised to publish it, but
it's still worth reading.

~~~
lmkg
I doubt any future rants will get clearer. Rants of these types are big,
sprawling, disconnected tales of tragedy and woe with the point heavily
obfuscated or altogether absent. This makes it very easy for other people will
similar unbalances, but possibly unrelated motives, to write their own motives
into the gaps. The problem is, to these types of readers, their own motives
are blindingly obvious in what they're reading, so they don't even perceive
the lack of clarity that you and I do. They can just hold it up and say "this
is exactly what I've been saying!" not because the post says anything, but
because it doesn't. It's big and empty, which makes it a great echo chamber.

------
lliiffee
I urge everyone not to read this. We should not reward murderers (or attempted
murderers) with out attention.

~~~
mbrubeck
Fortunately - and not surprisingly - it's barely readable anyways. I read most
of it and I still don't have a clear picture of what made this guy so mad.

[Edit: While I don't agree with lliiffee, I think it's a valid point of view
and I wouldn't vote it down. I wavered between wanting to understand this
person's state of mind, and not wanting to "reward" him with attention. But
even if he were alive I don't think he'd get any satisfaction from people's
reactions to this meaningless, incoherent screed.]

~~~
CoryMathews
did you actually read it or just skim it?

It made perfect sense to me. I see exactly where he is coming from, and why he
did what he did. I have been wondering how long until someone did something
like this. I would bet this will be the first of many things similar, where
people start to rebel against the government. The less violent the better
however.

~~~
BigZaphod
It made perfect sense to you? Did we read a different note or something? The
one I read seemed to ramble and drift and eventually lose the thread of logic
by the end. I saw no great injustice perpetrated that necessitated the need to
fly a plane into a building.

~~~
CoryMathews
It did ramble and drift a bit but it all added to his story.. just very
slowly. I don't think he should have flown a plane into the building. However
I believe he did it because he tried the proper way spending over $5k of his
own money and months of his time to change it. No one listened/cared (which is
the main problem) about his problem. So when push came to shove and the
government and businesses took everything he had by taking advantage of him,
he had to finally stand up and say no more. Thus we have this event today,
which is his way of raising enough commotion about the problem to hopefully
get them changed. Honestly I cannot believe its not more common (not the plane
part but the people rebelling part).

~~~
mbrubeck
He spent $5000 lobbying dozens of government officials, but what was he trying
to change? Does it really all come down to the rule determining whether
programming consultants are treated as employees for tax purposes? Was he even
able to explain his case to them coherently, without using phrases like
"declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave"? And then he makes ludicrous
choices like taking an IRA distribution (which in most cases results in
taxable income and/or early distribution penalties) without reporting it or
paying taxes on it:

 _"I filed no return that year thinking that because I didn’t have any income
there was no need. The sleazy government decided that they disagreed..."_

Why is he just assuming that there's no need to file, rather than looking it
up himself or asking someone for advice? Oh yeah:

 _"After my experience with the CPA world, following the business crash I
swore that I’d never enter another accountant’s office again."_

...because he once had a bad experience with accounting (which as far as I can
tell he never actually describes), he decided that all accountants are frauds
and there is no way to find an honest person to help him. It sounds like he
was an antisocial crank long before flew a plane into a building.

~~~
kelnos
Yes, and after he expresses his reluctance to ever enter an accountant's
office again, he says that he did, out of desperation, and then got screwed
_again_.

