Crash Pilot Appears To Have Written Anti-IRS, Anti-Corporate Screed

Scene of a plane crash in the 9400 block of Research Blvd., in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, February 18, 2010. Joseph Andrew Stack, angry with the United States government and particularly the IRS decided to burn his ... Scene of a plane crash in the 9400 block of Research Blvd., in Austin, Texas, on Thursday, February 18, 2010. Joseph Andrew Stack, angry with the United States government and particularly the IRS decided to burn his house down then take a small private plane and fly it into an Austin office building thereby committing suicide. (RODOLFO GONZALEZ/ Austin American-Statesman / PSG) (Newscom TagID: rsphotos018693) [Photo via Newscom] MORE LESS
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Joe Stack, the Texas man who this morning, say law enforcement officials, flew a plane into an Austin building that houses a local IRS office, appears to be the author of a lengthy online screed, lashing out at the IRS, the federal government, and big corporations, and referring to his coming death.

The rant reflects many of the same populist, anti-government, anti-tax, and anti-corporate themes that have surfaced around the country over the last year. It is entitled, and concludes: “Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.”

Stack’s Austin home was on fire this morning, at roughly the same time that he’s said to have crashed his plane, according to the Austin-American Statesman.

Stack died in the crash, officials have confirmed. The paper adds that an IRS revenue collection agent who worked on the building’s second floor is missing, according to another revenue agent who worked in the building. The building, known as the Echelon 1 Building, houses about 190 IRS employees, according to a statement from the agency.

The FAA has said the crash appears to be a “criminal act” and that the FBI would take the lead in investigating the incident. But federal officials have said they don’t consider the crash to be a terrorist attack, according to the New York Times.

In the message, posted at the site EmbeddedArt.com, Stack, a software engineer, writes that the idea of “No Taxation Without Representation” is espoused as a principle, but that in reality, “anyone who really stands up for that principal is promptly labeled a ‘crackpot’, traitor and worse.”

He also appears to denounce the Wall Street firms that helped caused the financial crisis — and even the lack of progress on health-care reform, criticizing Washington politicians for failing to fix “the joke we call the American medical system,” and for doing the bidding of the drug and insurance companies:

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.

Referring to the bailouts of airlines after 9/11, Stack writes: “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!”

He adds: “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.”

He concludes with a shot at the capitalist system:

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.

Chillingly, Stack signs his message: “Joe Stack (1956-2010).”

You can read the full message here.

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