Here's the pilot's suicide note (supposedly):
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 [sic] 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 [sic] is promptly labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.Read on. It's long. And it's about taxes. It ends like this:
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.
पोस्ट्स
९८ टिप्पण्या:
Another lefty communist nut joins Amy Bishop and Barack Obama's friend Bill Ayers in the lefty terrorist hall of fame.
Clever creed there at the end.
wv: "birtog" -- a Dutchman's bird dog.
Great this guy got his Stupid Manifesto "published".
How many more will be motivated?
Very disturbed people sometimes pick up things from the cultural preoccupations of the moment. I don't think this means very much except that this guy picked up that lots of Americans are angry at their government and its intrusions; and, that this guy was very dioreiented and disturbed and that he has caused some innocent people very grave harm, much greater harm than likely was ever done to him.
Mental illness hurts lots of people.
His manifesto says he was angry at the failure of health insurance reform:
The Manifesto: "... 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."
Sheesh.
I wonder where this guy got the idea to "get in their faces" and to "punch back twice as hard"?
An IRS audit is a terrible travesty of justice. The IRS seems to believe that the more unreasonable they are, then the more they will be feared...and their job is to instill fear. We use a system of voluntary reports to oversee tax collections. The IRS's goal is to be a legal terrorist agency itself. An expectation that they only go after the guilty is wrong. Their job is to ruin the innocent...that is what creates the fear that runs the system. The Black Helicopter myths probably come from the dreams of those who have dealt with an IRS audit.
I suppose we should consider ourselves lucky he only had a small plane that could not fly very far or fast. But not the poor slobs who were on the receiving end of this arrogant fool.
Let's hope this does not begin a trend.
To Florida: If it turns out that this guy was a Tea Party advocate, should we blame the right wing too?
Another sad moment.
We carefully studied the law (with the help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the business)
There's the problem right there. Listening to Tax Lawyers.
"It's about taxes."
Well, that is what the MSM is reporting, so as to create the fraudulent impression that this is some right-wing, anti-tax, tea-bagging nut.
Of course, the truth is that he is a left-wing terrorist ("Nothing changes unless there is a body count") spewing hate against business, the healthcare industry, corporate profits, the Catholic Church, the rich, the American public, company management, the airlines, wealthy bankers, presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies, and others.
In short, he sounds like a guy working for the Obama Administration.
Liberals like to bash the religious as unintelligient or whatever, but the religious have more common sense than Liberals.
Unlike Liberals the religious don't believe they are so brilliant that they can create Utopia on Earth.
The Liberals-they have full faith in themselves being able to pull that off.
I guess people need excuses to kill themselves.
Fuck him. Do it on your own time and don't endanger anyone else.
While I can't honestly say that I ever liked Robert Cook much, I'm sorry to see him end like this.
This is sad and depressing. And it's obvious the guy was a nut case, just one who had a manifesto. I don't know what makes someone go over the edge. I know there's people who hate the IRS, who rant about how the system is set up against them; I know people who've been screwed over by their local government. The difference is can you still see the big picture. Somewhere this man lost that.
What would make this even sadder is for people to pile on and try to make this about Obama, or Bush, or Palin, or Dems vs. Republicans, etc. Or to try and make this a case for/against an ideology. This guy had no love for anybody in office.
I have the queasy feeling though people are going to try and determine what websites he visited to try and pigeon hole this as a right wing attack, or vice-versa.
It look like, at first impression, this dude is a Tea Party Terrorist.
I was gonna say has anyone heard from Alphaliberal.
I don't want to have to start another series. Jeeeez.
I wonder if the pilot had been part of the tax protest movement, as was Wesley Snipes.
While I can't honestly say that I ever liked Robert Cook much, I'm sorry to see him end like this.
...and Paul wins the thread. Please continue the conversation, by all means, but that just kinna-be-topped-c'ptan...
I skimmed through that diatribe, and it seems to me as if he went through life making the same mistake again and again: he didn't report his income to the IRS, and he got nailed for it.
This guy blames everything that happened to him on the circumstances around him, but his situation was not unique. He had serial bad judgment but couldn't admit that it was his mistakes that put him where he was. For example, planes were not grounded for weeks after 9/11 -- the vast majority of airports throughout the country re-opened within days, and yet he blames that for his failures.
It's sad when someone suicides, but this guy was even more pathetic than I first thought.
Tits,
Seriously, daddy doesn't like it when you imply that daddy's friends might be domestic terrorists.
Please self-correct immediately.
HI TITS!
My first comment was late because I went back to read some of the manifesto. But still, I don't want to see this guy spun into some sort of left/right ideological justifier. I already know how this is going to go down:
a) This is the logical conclusion of what the tea-baggers represent.
b) This is the logical conclusion of Democrats, or Obama in particular, trying to remake Amerika into a socialist state.
Some of you are already doing this. This guy was a conspiracy nut, who, if he had had a partner, may have tried to do something as big as Timothy McVeigh.
While I can't honestly say that I ever liked Robert Cook much, I'm sorry to see him end like this.
Damn, someone beat me to it.
This plane crashing into building thing seems to be a upcoming trend. I'm going to see if there are any 20 Mike Mikes for sale at the next Indy 1500.
How is it that he owed so much in taxes, and yet there was no cabinet or czar-level position open for him to fill?
"While I can't honestly say that I ever liked Robert Cook much, I'm sorry to see him end like this.
Damn, someone beat me to it."
Not only wins the thread but should win "Post of the Week' by acclamation.
@Lars
How is it that he owed so much in taxes, and yet there was no cabinet or czar-level position open for him to fill?
Sofa King came within curling distance of it with that quip, but still doesn't quite finish the louge track.
Paul Zimsrek gets the Bingo Bongo award for that funny comment!
Wow, some people see left wing/right wing in everything.
I don't see how this guy is considered a leftist. He complains about Bush and Moynihan, a democrat and a republican. He seems to be on his own agenda.
He doesn't like capitalism or communism.
So why are people leaping to the conclusion that he is a leftist? It's clear to me that he is neither but he's more likely to be right than left since he doesn't like the government getting in his financial life, which is typically a right wing sentiment.
I think Obama knew.
Didn't read the whole manifesto yet.
Could this be the end of the LoneWackoDotCom posts here at Althouse?
@Skyler
With up to this point;
but he's more likely to be right than left since he doesn't like the government getting in his financial life, which is typically a right wing sentiment.
...except that this is completely overshadowed by what he did. He mentions change requiring bodies. That's about as far to the left as you can go and right out of the little red cookbook n'est-ce pas?
We don't know yet if he was flying a Toyota.
Good question EDH.
Talk about a fever swamp.
skyler, he quoted the communist creed approvingly and the capitalist creed was a caricature.
he wanted government health care. that he wanted others to pay for it doesn't disqualify him from the left at all. lefties always want someone else to pay taxes. that said, he was a nut.
Cant blame Kevin Smith for this one.
An Austin company named DAC International went bankrupt, owing Joseph Stack of 12407 N. Mopac Expressway, Austin TX 78287 some $1600 for work done last March.
Whoops, some $1200.
He must be a Leftist, Skyler. That is the end result we must get to here on the Althouse blog. You ought not to ask questions about how we get there.
Skyler-
Honestly-some blogs are just trying to push back against the Mass Media's painting of this fool as "right wing".
Who do you think has the bigger bull horn-
The mass media or blogs?
Personally I don't think the press should publish any of this or any other nutter's crap-but there it is.
That genie flew out of Pandora's Box a long time ago.
Hence terrorism, and one of the main reasons they do it.
I have often dreamed a Kurt Vonnegut type story in which every person gets to vote a strike, pending his death, against a politician. This politician would then be vaporized upon getting 1,000,000 strikes.
That would finally grant the people a vote that counted!
I doubt that the kamikaze was a conservative, because they already have dealt with the evil IRS system and learned to live thru it. Only a liberal would have lost all hope upon finding that His Government is not interested in being a fair minded protector of his rights. I remember a client who did well and always reported all income and paid religiously was audited. The IRS discovered that he had paid for sandwiches and pizzas at late night work sessions. He considered it a gift and did not deduct anything. The IRS saw a "compensation to employees" that he had not withheld the employees taxes for this food and he had not timely deposited that required amounts together with Soc. Sec. and FUTA tax. About $3600 of free food calculated that way, plus penalty and interest, meant he owed about $65,000. He was from Egypt and he told me that the Egyptian Government is not nearly as hostile to business men as the IRS is here.
I'd hold off on assigning a political POV to the pilot. All we can reasonably conclude is that he was unhappy with how the IRS treated him. Consider that Republicans are no fans of paying income tax. Further, the self-employed are more likely to be Republican, and software engineers are more likely to be Republican.
Can there even be something such as a poli-ideologue? Or is that too much of a contradiction?
Unlike Liberals the religious don't believe they are so brilliant that they can create Utopia on Earth.
That is some might powerful bait right there. Must...resist.
"Could this be the end of the LoneWackoDotCom posts here at Althouse?"
If he mentions Glenn Reynolds and then talks about a plan, it very well could.
Yes, some of what he said sounded liberal. Some sounded conservative.
My point is that he is neither. He is a lone nut with his own agenda and a misplaced and unimaginative method for solving his problems.
wv: stopig: German word for the brain process that results from making everything left/right wing.
All we can reasonably conclude is that he was unhappy with how the IRS treated him. . . .
and, that he hated --
business (GM and others) -- leftist
the healthcare industry -- leftist
corporate profits -- leftist
the Catholic Church -- leftist
the rich -- leftist
the American public -- leftist
company management -- leftist
the airlines -- leftist
wealthy bankers -- leftist
GW Bush and his cronies -- leftist
Other than all the left-wing bile to go with his tax complaint, there is nothing else we can reasonably conclude about the guy.
"To Florida: If it turns out that this guy was a Tea Party advocate, should we blame the right wing too?"
First, the "right wing" will be blamed for this regardless of the facts of the matter, so that's a given. I'm just getting out ahead of the MSM, really.
But I've read the guy's online manifesto (which might be fake, but why facts stop a good meme!) This guy is a lefty nut through-and-through. He's Amy Bishop with wings.
He's a Tim Geithner-type-tax cheat who got caught and the IRS forced him to pay up. He's mad because Tim got away with it, but he couldn't because he's not a millionaire like Tim Geithner is.
He also hated:
* business (GM and others) -- leftist
* the healthcare industry -- leftist
* corporate profits -- leftist
* the Catholic Church -- leftist
* the rich -- leftist
* the American public -- leftist
* company management -- leftist
* the airlines -- leftist
* wealthy bankers -- leftist
* GW Bush and his cronies -- leftist
Finally, at the very end of his life, in virtually his last breath, he quoted the Communist Manifesto: "To each according to his needs, from each according to his means."
This guy is straight out of Democrat Party Central Casting.
He's yet another Democrat terrorist along the lines of a Bill Ayers or a Bernadette Dorhn .. you know, Barack Obama's Chicago terrorist friends who used to babysit his kids.
Same cloth.
He apparently had really boring problems.
I saw he went to college in Harrisburg, PA. Interestingly, there is a big politically-active family in the Philly area named Stack[they are DEMS]. Wonder if there is any relationship?
It would irresponsible not to speculate.
More white trash domestic trouble.
via Armstrong and Getty.
Nothing says "community" like gathering around the smoking embers of a terrorist attack and pondering the political affiliation of the perpetrator.
@garage mahal
It would irresponsible not to speculate.
Is someone there that's pithy with an Oscar Wilde sense of humor use your login while you were taking a dump?
Uh, if I'm missing something, somebody please tell me, but wasn't the graduated income tax the Demos' (not to mention Lefties') idea? I mean, I keep thinking of Woody Wilson, for some odd reason.
This guy was mad because the instrument of all that class warfare, which he obviously supports, asked him to contribute his fair share, just like Bambi and Halo Joe and Willie Whitewater keep telling the filthy rich they must do. So he crashes his plane into a federal building because he's mad he has to pay taxes and there's no BarryCare. And, if there had been BarryCare, he probably would have killed dozens of the people who would have been administering it.
I want to hear again from Alpha and Montagne and all the rest of the space cadets how Conservatives are all hypocritical and don't make sense.
The pilot hated
organized religion
unions
big government
government agencies
the IRS
recipients of government bailouts
He could be any of the "Althouse Hillbillies."
While I can't honestly say that I ever liked Robert Cook much, I'm sorry to see him end like this.
Paul, am I a terrible person for laughing at this? Poor Robert.
Here for example is a Washington Post column on the incident-
[Opening paragraph]
Alienated in Austin
Joseph Stack was angry at the Internal Revenue Service, and he took his rage out on it by slamming his single-engine plane into the Echelon Building in Austin, Texas. We now know this thanks to the rather clear (as rants go) suicide note Stack left behind. There's no information yet on whether he was involved in any anti-government groups or whether he was a lone wolf. But after reading his 34-paragraph screed, I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.
Link to Washington Post
Flexo said...
All we can reasonably conclude is that he was unhappy with how the IRS treated him. . . .
and, that he hated --
business (GM and others) -- leftist
the healthcare industry -- leftist
corporate profits -- leftist
the Catholic Church -- leftist
the rich -- leftist
the American public -- leftist
company management -- leftist
the airlines -- leftist
wealthy bankers -- leftist
GW Bush and his cronies -- leftist
I didn't notice the hatred of the American public...
As for the others - hatred of one or all of them, and the IRS - is hardly a Leftist qualifier.
I think many people, while hoping no one was hurt, would not be upset if it turns out that the IRS paperwork to ruin the lives of thousands of Americans got burned up in that IRS building.
Consider that Republicans are no fans of paying income tax.
Heh. And everybody else loves it! The only people who are “fans” of paying income tax are people who don’t pay any.
I mean, I keep thinking of Woody Wilson, for some odd reason.
It's going around.
I think many people, while hoping no one was hurt, would not be upset if it turns out that the IRS paperwork to ruin the lives of thousands of Americans got burned up in that IRS building.
That will never happen. You will pay, no matter what.
What is more likely is that proof of having already paid will be lost and they'll come at those people to pay again. They err in their favor, not yours.
wasn't the graduated income tax the Demos' (not to mention Lefties') idea? I mean, I keep thinking of Woody Wilson, for some odd reason.
Oscar Underwood, actually. The top marginal rate was only 7%, and married couples could exempt the first $4000 of income.
FLS...Stay awake at night. The Althouse Hillbillies' Helicopters are coming to find you. We are the ones who arranged to track cell phone locations, so we already know where you are likely to run and hide. Think of us as the Mars Attacks guys playing Slim Whitman yodeling songs on the loudspeakers of the Helos.
I didn't notice the hatred of the American public...
"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. . . . 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."
Such remarks are hardly a love sonnet about the American people.
"Nothing says "community" like gathering around the smoking embers of a terrorist attack and pondering the political affiliation of the perpetrator."
The entire point of terrorism is to effect political policies.
So of course, it makes perfect sense to wonder who are the terrorists in our society. Are they friends of the President, or not?
Some terrorists are friends of the President ... namely Bill Ayers and Bernadette Dorhn.
So, whenever a terrorist attack occurs in the United States, the first thing that is going to happen is a probing look into whether the terrorist has ties to Barack Obama ... since others do.
Fortunately, this guy left a long rambling account of his anger at being unable to "pull a Geithner."
Some people in the United States are able to cheat on their taxes and yet pay no penalty in life. These are the Tim Geithner's of the world ... you know, friends of Obama.
Others, like this gentleman, are frustrated that they have to pay their taxes, and if they don't, they somehow are unable to become the Secretary of the Treasury.
So, terrorism is politics.
Smoking embers is the point at which we have to determine who committed the crime.
And lo and behold, we find it was a liberal communist mad that health care reform wasn't passed.
Suddenly, nobody wants to talk about this guy's political leanings.
Well guess what. We're going to talk about it because liberals are going around the country committing mass murders because they can't get their way. And we need to put a stop that by removing them from positions of influence in the country.
Nothing is more unamerican than the IRS. Let's get rid of it soon, but until then, pay the bastards! It's not optional unless you have this as your other option.
Oh yea, I should have added unless you are Obama's friend.
Speaking of Helos, the kamikase guy was likely once a conservative since he had a real skill of piloting an airplane. Unless, he was caught up in Union drama's blaming all things on the government for not supporting illegal strikes. Expecting love in all the wrong places is a liberal failing. Anyway, the IRS will give a special award to the Revenue Officer who caused this great PR for the terrorist organisation.
Washington Post: "But after reading his 34-paragraph screed, I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement."
See, I told you. The MSM will paint this as a "Tea Party nut gone Tim McVeigh" instead of a "Democrat gone Tim Geithner."
Such remarks are hardly a love sonnet about the American people.
How many times have I heard some conservative castigate "the sheeple." The pilot must be a right-winger.
The Smoking Gun has an archive of the letter he wrote.
The suicide pilot, Stack, wrote:
"It also made me realize, not only how naive I had been, but also the incredible stupidity of the American public;..."
Jeez that sounds like something Bill Maher would say!
He could be any of the "Althouse Hillbillies."
Except those that have since posted. ( Unless they have really good wireless coverage. )
guy was likely once a conservative since he had a real skill of piloting an airplane.
It's not hard. You just have to like the idea enough to persist through its not being what you expected.
The John and Ken show (KFI) opens with "You can't beat this story."
Great analysis, FLS - No doubt this guy was a teabagging Republikkkan type.
All that stuff about how we need health care reform because pharma companies are murding people and stealing their organs was a dead giveaway.
He's a leftist, but he's an angry white guy leftist, who doesn't see the great privilege of his white skin and the white system he's in, and he's willing to kill over his money and privileged class status.
This is why the Tea Parties are vilified by some, because the people protesting are seen as class-selfish, even if they are not 'right-wing'
Great eyewitness, "a blue and white Piper Cherokee at full throttle."
Flight instructor walking into restaurant tells you all you need.
I'm a private pilot, although not a very experienced one, and I think it is a very tough skill. It's not that hard to fly the plane under normal conditions, but following the regulations while you do it, especially in a large urban area like Los Angeles with lots of overlapping airspace is pretty complex. That and the cost of it, pushed me to give it up for hang gliding which is nearly free and very lightly regulated. It's also a God damn miracle. If I fly into the IRS office it won't even spill any coffee.
FLS:
I'd hold off on assigning a political POV to the pilot. All we can reasonably conclude is that he was unhappy with how the IRS treated him.
So far so good.
Consider that Republicans are no fans of paying income tax.
As opposed to all those Democrats lining up not only to pay their taxes, but avoiding every legal method of lowering their tax bill, I assume?
Further, the self-employed are more likely to be Republican, and software engineers are more likely to be Republican.
Objection. Lacks foundation. Your name tag should mean you should understand this.
This is the same thing as Friedman blasting people for using the east coast snow storms to make their case against global warming, while turning around and using the lack of snow at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver as proof of.
WV: delamess. It truly is a lame mess.
Well, actually, most software engineers of my acquaintance are Democrats. Seems strange, but there it is.
I hope it turns out that the one person still missing at last report was just taking the day off and won't be found dead under the plane's wreckage.
It's officially domestic terrorism because it's aimed at a Federal agency.
Otherwise terrorism is a news media political term.
Is it a story that can be used to undermine or support some politician.
The John and Ken show (KFI) opens with "You can't beat this story."
John finds he agrees with the guy, and suspects he was a listener when he lived in LA.
OK: some hard facts:
Running a search at fundrace.org:
Only a quarter of software engineers who contributed to a Presidential campaign in 2008 gave money to Republicans.
But two-thirds of the self-employed gave money to Republicans.
Glancing at the result, I saw a lot of the GOP engineers gave money to Fred and Ron Paul.
"The airport management, the F.A.A., and the airlines, they're all cheats and liars!" --Joseph, no, wait, that was Robert Stack in Airplane!
Software developer, eh? I blame Bill Gates.
@FLS:
So are you saying 3/4 of software engineers who gave money to Pres. campaigns gave to Democrats? Fits if we're talking about engineers in the San Fran Bay area.
And then you got a segment who did give to Republicans, but gave to Ron Paul, who's definitely in the small government, anti-war, libertarian camp. The rest I guess would be defined by Robert Cook as war criminal enablers.
So you got the self-employed s/w engineers right. It's a mixed signal. Need to send this data to Anglica, they'll throw in the tree ring data and show the huge increase in domestic terrorist incidents from nerdy s/w engineers.
Oh wait. Anglica uses programmers to tease this data out writing "C" code. Nevermind.
He denounced GM executives, drug and insurance companies, the Catholic Church, the rich, accountants, Enron, a Republican president, a moderate Democratic senator who worked for Richard Nixon, and capitalism.
At the same time, he implicitly supported anarchy and quoted the Marx-written slogan of communism without any sign of disapproval.
People who read this and think "right wing Tea Party conservative" instead of "left wing alt-weekly progressive" are deluding themselves.
(And, FLS? Anyone who actually knew anything about software engineers would know they're disproportionately liberal compared to the general population. Come to Penguicon, and I'll introduce you around.)
While I can't honestly say that I ever liked Robert Cook much, I'm sorry to see him end like this.
LOL
It's official: Cookie's the kookiest far-leftist on the Althouse blog. I remember so well the days when it would have been "Jeremy" or "freder" ...
Brian said...
@FLS:
So are you saying 3/4 of software engineers who gave money to Pres. campaigns gave to Democrats? Fits if we're talking about engineers in the San Fran Bay area.
And then you got a segment who did give to Republicans, but gave to Ron Paul, who's definitely in the small government, anti-war, libertarian camp. The rest I guess would be defined by Robert Cook as war criminal enablers.
So you got the self-employed s/w engineers right. It's a mixed signal. Need to send this data to Anglica, they'll throw in the tree ring data and show the huge increase in domestic terrorist incidents from nerdy s/w engineers.
Oh wait. Anglica uses programmers to tease this data out writing "C" code. Nevermind.
As a programmer who's worked in both the Cleveland and Philadelphia areas, most of those I met were relatively conservative (can't speak to party affiliation). The Redmond and Silicon Valley crowd would probably be a lot more to the left.
former law student said...
Further, the self-employed are more likely to be Republican, and software engineers are more likely to be Republican.
As to the self-employed, a good many are what's known in the trade as "sandals and ponytail" programmers and devotees of Richard Stallman, a good friend of Fidel. Not all, certainly, but the subtype is fairly well-known.
My opinion is that this guy was a Leftist turned up to "!!11!!" - well beyond the scale.
To be fair to our resident garden-variety Leftists, the guy also had problems with "corrupt unions" and "Big Brother," so it would be unfair to lump him with the fls' and garage's of the world.
The best analogy would be the anarcho-communist black handkerchief wearing vandals who always show up at the G-8 summits.
They have some vague idea that everyone should be equal, and that the whole system is broken and therefore must be torn down in its entirety - violently if necessary.
This guy, though apparently smart enough to be an engineer, wasn't smart enough to file taxes correctly year after year.
Ya know what? Taxes are NOT that complicated in his situation. Really... they're not.
So, he thinks he's being unfairly singled out. Ha!
My first experience with an IRS audit was when I was 12 years old. My father owned his business and my mother kept records in shoeboxes. Literally. Shoeboxes.
The result of that audit? My parents got a $50 refund.
Years later, I am keeping books for my father's business which has far outgrown shoeboxes. And, the nature of his business -- contract labor, cash sales, etc... led to it being audited for four years in a row. It was as if they were determined to catch him in some crime.
Yet... they didn't. Yes, one year he ended up owing $1000 more, but the next year, there was a refund of $1500... over the 4 year period, it came out fairly even.
What I, personally, learned from those audits is that there's little reason to fear the IRS, unless you really are not following the rules... which are NOT that complicated.
I don't think it's a sign of political ideology when someone is a complete moron and thinks they can "beat" the system. There are nuts everywhere on the spectrum.
My father was and is a liberal. I am a conservative. It was MY conservative bookkeeping that kept him out of trouble.
Yes, basically, I lied to him. When he'd ask me if I'd entered such and such expense, I would truthfully say that I had. What I didn't tell him was that I'd entered it as a non-deductible expense.
It's interesting to me that this pilot's big problem seems to be contract labor rules. Those were also the areas that I had the most arguments with the IRS people over -- though obviously from the other side.
That this man truly felt the IRS had wronged him in some way and even if it should be found that he was correct -- how does that justify an action which could have resulted in loss of innocent life (a receptionist?) or the destruction of property?
My theory is that 10% of the population is loony tunes and that it will always be so. If we are lucky, our laws will prevent 1/4 of that percentage causing loss of life/limb/etc of the rest of us.
3/4 of that 10% really doesn't represent a threat... they should be pitied and cared for the best we can.
I just learned that they've recovered two bodies, one thought to be the pilot and, therefore, the other is presumably the "unaccounted for" person who had the bad luck to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. My sympathy goes out to the family and friends of that unlucky federal employee.
I put this pilot with Amy Bishop (make that Dr. Amy Bishop), not necessarily because of politics but because everything in the world was supposed to go the way he wanted it to go and when it didn't, he lost it.
"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."
Can we once and for all bury this fucking quotation? First of all, it's false, and it is not a definition of insanity. It has often been attributed to Einstein (and Ben Franklin) but apparently it's from Rita Mae Brown’s Sudden Death (1983). I think some new age sales guru attributed it to Einstein and people keep repeating it. It's nonsense! STOP SAYING IT!
Anyone who says it is insane to keep repeating the same action and expecting different results has never played video poker.
Let's not bury the quotation about it being insane to keep repeating the same action and expecting different results until after we've stopped the second stimulus bill.
If this guy was a conservative/Tea Partier why would he use a plane instead of his stash of fully automatic gunshow loophole AK15's that he bought on the internet, that you just know they all have?
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