Around the Horn: Reaction to the Aerial Attack on the IRS Offices in Austin

As many of you are aware, yesterday a man named Joseph Stack flew an airplane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas. The crash killed Stack and one other person who was in the building.

Stack left behind what is being called a suicide manifesto where he railed against the government, taxes and the bailouts.

I thought that this would be an appropriate topic to take a look at reactions from around the blogosphere.

Curt at Flopping Aces:

From a quick perusing of the letter it appears the guy is quite good at blaming everyone and everything instead of the poor decisions he made.

He blames “the puppet” George W. Bush and capitalist greed for his downfall. Good enough reason to try and murder your wife, kids, and those just trying to do their jobs eh?

How long until the left starts blaming the tea party movement for this? I know….crazy, since it appears the guy was anti-Christian and a communist but why let facts get in your way.

The Angry Anarchist:

These aren’t the words of an unintelligent lunatic IMO, he actually comes across as being very well educated and extremely aware of the hypocrisy and injustice occurring everyday in America. What makes this so upsetting is that everything that drove him into the side of that building will now be heightened for those of us that are still here on Earth. I can already see the ‘Patriot Act’ being warmed up by the government in an effort to “save good Americans from the terrorists that walk amongst us on our own streets and boulevards”.

Glenn Greenwald:

All of this underscores, yet again, that Terrorism is simultaneously the single most meaningless and most manipulated word in the American political lexicon. The term now has virtually nothing to do with the act itself and everything to do with the identity of the actor, especially his or her religious identity.

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In sum: a Muslim who attacks military targets, including in war zones or even in their own countries that have been invaded by a foreign army, are Terrorists. A non-Muslim who flies an airplane into a government building in pursuit of a political agenda is not, or at least is not a Real Terrorist with a capital T -- not the kind who should be tortured and thrown in a cage with no charges and assassinated with no due process. Nor are Christians who stand outside abortion clinics and murder doctors and clinic workers. Nor are acts undertaken by us or our favored allies designed to kill large numbers of civilians or which will recklessly cause such deaths as a means of terrorizing the population into desired behavioral change -- the Glorious Shock and Awe campaign and the pummeling of Gaza. Except as a means for demonizing Muslims, the word is used so inconsistently and manipulatively that it is impoverished of any discernible meaning.

Kempite at Politics 24/7:

Let’s make this pefrectly clear from the onset. Any acts of viloence are inexcusable, unaceptable and intolerable. Nothing can legitimize ones attempt to carry out revenge or try to carry out their own personal sense of justice on society. Therefore, no one….no one…….should see the events that took place today in Texas, as anything but tragic and deplorable. It was to a great degree, an act of terrorism.

That said, before anyone tries to claim that the Tea Party protestors or those on the right condone, excuse or prompted the insane flying of a private plane into an IRS building in Austin, Texas by one Joe Stack , let it be known that that such is not the case. I do not believe that any rational person could ever reach such a conclusion.

E. Messamore at The Humble Libertarian:

As the Editor-in-Chief of The Humble Libertarian, I unequivocally and without qualification, condemn this brutal, senseless, and stupid act of violence. As a libertarian, I am incensed that Joe Stack took it upon himself to take innocent lives in the name of less government spending and lower taxes.

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Joe Stack committed his violent crime just a few short hours after I published these words at The Humble Libertarian: "We need to be good representatives of libertarianism. Ultimately people are concerned about whether a libertarian society will be a good society, and we must show them it will be a good society by being good people." Joe Stack doesn't speak for me or the millions of other Americans who correctly support more fiscal responsibility in Washington. We are good people, law-abiding citizens, and peace-loving activists.

Afghanistan Heating Up

This piece of news, that of an attack yesterday by the Taliban on Kabul, should continue to remind everyone that attention needs to be paid to the complicated situation that continues to evolve in Afghanistan. From the LA Times:

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan - Taliban militants unleashed a carefully coordinated, deadly attack on the heart of Afghanistan's capital and its U.S.-backed government today, killing five people and injuring more than 70 in an attack that illustrated the insurgency's ability to strike at will at virtually any target.

The five-hour assualt, carried out by seven Taliban insurgents wielding AK-47 rifles, grenades, rocket launchers and suicide bomb vests, plunged downtown Kabul on a bustling workday morning into a state of war. Afghans shopping or heading to work screamed as they darted for cover while bursts of gunfire rang out overhead and explosions shook the downtown area.

In addition to the above news I have been disturbed recently by a kind cheerleading that some are engaged in over the decrease in number of civilians that the U.S. killed in 2009 in Afghanistan.

I think Derrick Crowe over at Firedoglake sums it up the best:

This sort of self-congratulation is as myopic as it is callous. The pro-Kabul-government coalition killed roughly 600 people whose right to life exists independent of the U.S.’s desire to eliminate Al-Qaida and the Taliban. Only the most idiotic messengers would cheer about this statistic in public. Imagine a man cheering that he only beat his wife six times this month compared to eight times last month. That’s what chief ISAF spokesman Col. Wayne Shanks means when he says, "Statistical kinds of things don’t play that well [in Afghanistan].” Journalists, bloggers and public officials who tout this statistic like it’s some sort of victory should have their pulses checked and their canines examined.