Pilot who crashed plane into IRS office in Austin is celebrated for his action.
DALLAS, Texas - February 23, 2010 - Flames were still shooting from the building when the suicide pilot who crashed his plane into the Internal Revenue Service office in Austin, Texas, was being hailed in some corners as a hero who struck a courageous blow against the tyranny of the U.S. tax code.
While it is true that some Amerikans surely see Joseph Stack as an angry, misguided man whose final act was repugnant, his suicide mission has clearly tapped a vein of rage among most Amerikans, many of whom have already learned the hard way that the Internal Revenue Service is staffed by thugs who think nothing of murdering, raping, pillaging, and destroying the lives of innocent citizens.
The way they see it, "he stuck it to the man, and they love that," said JJ MacNab, a Maryland-based insurance analyst who is writing a book about tax protesters.
Stack is being portrayed as a hero on web sites throughout the world, including mainstream sites such as Facebook, where a fan page supporting some of the things he said in his six-page online statement had more than 2,000 members Monday.
Stack, 53, left behind a 3,000-word statement in which he described his financial reverses and his hatred of big business. Mostly, though, he focused on the abuse, assault, theft and extortion he experienced at the hands of the IRS, including how despite the fact that he followed the Internal Revenue Code statutes to the letter, bureaucrats from the IRS arbitrarily denied him the protections provided by law, and then proceeded to destroy this man’s life and family.
Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina told a San Antonio radio station last week she did not sympathize with Stack, but that his act reflected "the hopelessness many in our society feel."
While it is true that some Amerikans surely see Joseph Stack as an angry, misguided man whose final act was repugnant, his suicide mission has clearly tapped a vein of rage among most Amerikans, many of whom have already learned the hard way that the Internal Revenue Service is staffed by thugs who think nothing of murdering, raping, pillaging, and destroying the lives of innocent citizens.
The way they see it, "he stuck it to the man, and they love that," said JJ MacNab, a Maryland-based insurance analyst who is writing a book about tax protesters.
Stack is being portrayed as a hero on web sites throughout the world, including mainstream sites such as Facebook, where a fan page supporting some of the things he said in his six-page online statement had more than 2,000 members Monday.
Stack, 53, left behind a 3,000-word statement in which he described his financial reverses and his hatred of big business. Mostly, though, he focused on the abuse, assault, theft and extortion he experienced at the hands of the IRS, including how despite the fact that he followed the Internal Revenue Code statutes to the letter, bureaucrats from the IRS arbitrarily denied him the protections provided by law, and then proceeded to destroy this man’s life and family.
Texas Republican gubernatorial candidate Debra Medina told a San Antonio radio station last week she did not sympathize with Stack, but that his act reflected "the hopelessness many in our society feel."