Category: Orphans

“Tastes great! Less filling! Tastes great! Less filling!”

I suppose it to be somewhat flippant to talk about the aftermath of yesterday’s suicide plane crash in Austin in terms of a beer commercial. But then, some of the discussion bouncing around as to whether the incident was solely a criminal act or an act of domestic terrorism is about as weighty as the 1980s Miller Lite commercials.

There is no doubt that some minds and hearts were filled with terror when 53-year-old Joe Stack of Austin flew his single-engine Piper aircraft into a multi-story North Austin building that housed almost 200 IRS employees. The crash and resulting fire injured more than a dozen and killed an IRS employee as well as Stack.

Much is to be examined and digested in the aftermath of this act which a man who apparently had years of rage bottled up, over the IRS, Catholic Church and other institutions he felt wronged him, came uncorked. But seemingly one of the least important matters, it seems to me, is whether this act should be labeled just a criminal act or a case of domestic terror. Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo told reporters yesterday at a press conference to pick one when it comes to a word describing the intended crash as criminal or domestic terror.

Today, Fox News, which in my mind is about the most pissy news organizations around, had an online story titled: Austin Plane Crash: Criminal Act or Domestic Terrorism? The answer is, to paraphrase another old TV commercial  tagline, this one from Certs breath mints: “It’s two, two, two acts in one.”

Yes when Stack went on his rampage and dived into the building along U.S. 183 near Loop 360 in Austin he certainly committed a crime, most likely several. That is not to mention intentionally setting fire to his own home before heading to Georgetown Municipal Airport to launch his airplane.

What Stack did Thursday morning likewise fits many definitions of what an act of terrorism is. As left-leaning blog “Crooks and Liars” writes: “Huh? Since when is attempting to blow up a federal building not an act of domestic terror?” However, I’m not certain the building or buildings in the office park where the crash happened were actually “federal” buildings rather than just commercial buildings leased by the government. But until I read the C & L  piece I had, quite the opposite, felt Fox was trying to hang the terror label on the incident in order that the right may use it to claim Obama and his minions are soft on terror and let this happen. But I see I had mistaken Fox’s motives. They are still pissy.

What does it matter though, I mean, really? The act was terrorism in the legal sense as Crooks and Liars points out in their link to the FBI’s terrorism definitions:

**International terrorism investigations are conducted in accordance with “The Attorney General Guidelines for FBI Foreign Intelligence Collection and Foreign Counterintelligence Investigations.” These guidelines set forth the predication level and limits for investigating U.S. persons or foreign nationals in the United States who are targeting national security interests on behalf of a foreign power.

The act was one which did nothing but hurt people. It didn’t solve any problems. You can call it a “suicide bombing” or as Fox News used to say, while dutifully kissing President Gee Dubya Bush’s ass, a “homicide bombing.” I can’t see any earthly reason why it matters if this be couched in a particular term because any term covering this cowardly, criminal, reprehensible, terroristic act seems just about apt.

It was all a big waste, was what it was.

Coverage of the plane crash in Austin today has kept me pretty well riveted.

Of course, it’s in my state, I have friends in Austin, spent tons of time in Austin and love all things Austin pretty much except for its traffic and Ashe juniper, or mountain cedar, to which I am extremely allergic. Also, since the act by the pilot allegedly seems intentionally aimed at the Internal Revenue Service definitely sends some chills up my spine. I’ll tell you why, but first a brief an account of what I’ve heard about this so far,

A man from North Austin allegedly set his house on fire this morning before taking off in a small plane from the Georgetown, Texas, Municipal Airport and crashing the plane in a Northwest Austin building housing a number of IRS employees. From what I have heard on TV, the pilot reportedly died — certainly not unexpected given the state of the building(s) damaged by the plane and from the fire that resulted — two others were injured and one is missing.

The pilot of the plane, Joseph Stack, left a rambling statement and apparent suicide note on his Web site railing against the IRS. The Austin American-Statesman, which has some excellent coverage, displays Stack’s rant on one of the newspaper blogs. The post ominously raises the specter of a violent act and is signed by “Joe Stack (1956-2010):

“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.”

Since this has just happened there is little known else about this man who, hopefully, has only managed to kill himself despite causing a spectacular crash with resulting damage. The Los Angeles Times reported Stack was an Austin software engineer who experienced a number of business and tax problems in Los Angeles in the 1980s and 90s. The FAA registration for Stack’s plane, a single-engine Piper, showed his address as an apartment in Lincoln, Calif., a suburb of Sacramento. This registration was dated 1998. News reports indicated that Stack’s wife and daughter were trapped inside the house when it was torched but they were saved by firefighters.

This is not the first time an Austin IRS facility has been targeted for attack. Undercover ATF agents arrested a Tyler, Texas, car salesman, in 1995 for plotting to blow up the IRS building in Austin. Charles Ray Polk was sentenced to 249 months in federal prison for a number of charges including attempted use of weapons of mass destruction. A summation of the events leading up to his arrest are noted here in a decision on an appeal before the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

As I noted earlier, the events in Austin today are chilling. While we don’t know the details that went into planning this act — whether it was a wider domestic terror act — or just “Another Lone Nut” as was the name of a HBO special by comedian and actor Richard Belzer, it is definitely scary. Scary, I say, because someone can apparently just hop in the ol’ family plane, fire her up and crash her into any populated building. He could have crashed into one of the high rises downtown, the UT Tower or the beautiful Texas State Capitol.

It is likewise scary that people whose minds are filled with hate or are terribly disturbed think so little of their fellow human beings that they either don’t care or intend to kill others as well as those who are in their way. It is especially disturbing to those who work for the government, some even part-time, who see less and less  cooperation by the public in making our federal system work.  There are a lot of government haters out there these days. Hopefully, more of them won’t snap.

I have to say a word about coverage today. I’ve been checking out, of course, the Austin-area news outlet Web sites and watching CNN. I must say CNN’s anchoring has been mostly weak, especially watching Tony Harris and Rick Sanchez. Even when Wolf Blitzer’s “Situation Room” comes on it won’t be the best, but will be better than other shows today. Thankfully, CNN still has resources to pull of good breaking news coverage.

Today is the day after the first day to early vote in the Texas primary elections. Whoopee.

You notice my lack of an exclamation point. That is because nothing about the Democratic primaries excites me this year. I am curious as to how the Republican primary will turn out, mainly between Gov. Rick “Good Hair” Perry and Sen. Kay Bailey “the aged cheerleader” Hutchison. Of course, I won’t be voting in that primary.

While this crop of elections are beginning to get under way one would think the General Election is next week, or perhaps Judgment Day, if you listen to the political and cable news media.

These people who have to have controversy for their shows to thrive, who must have conflict, are like the little kids sitting in the back seat on a vacation trip  screaming: “Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet?

Take, for instance, this poll by CNN. The poll says that 52 percent of Americans surveyed say Obama doesn’t deserve reelection in 2012. Uh, don’t miss the last word in that sentence. It says he doesn’t deserve being reelected in 2012. This is, what, February 2010?

The president’s job approval has slipped some, the survey says, with 49 percent of Americans saying he is doing a good job and 50 percent saying he isn’t. What about those who believe he is mostly doing a good job? I’m in that category.

But Barack needs to shape up, or rather, needs to shape up his administration. It seems as if Obama was banking on a lot of Americans being behind him what with his election and a Democratic congressional majority. Little did he know that the Republican and others of the right-leaning have pulled out the stops to build a very efficient propaganda machine.

It seems that the GOP have found that outlets such as Fox News work so well at getting out their message that they can use all of the nation’s politically-oriented media to their advantage. The Republicans and those who might tear away from the GOP such as the Tea Partiers have discovered that the 24-hour news cycle thrives on conflict, so the right is fighting everything that the Democrats are trying to do. Ta-da! We have conflict!

The situation for Democrats, at least for their November elections more than nine months away, looks grim. That is even though, most signs point toward the Democrats retaining their House majority and most likely the one in the Senate. Of course, there is that “throw the bums out thing” that seems to be running pretty strong. The CNN poll says 44 percent of registered voters do not feel their member of Congress should be returned to office while 51 percent would return their congressional member. There also have been some congressional members, on both sides, saying they won’t run for another term. The most recent, and apparently most shocking, was Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.

But these polls are averages at best. There are all kinds of variables when it comes to voters who elected their representatives to Congress. Also, it can’t be stressed too much that 2012 is a ways away for the presidential election. Let’s see who would the Republicans have as their candidate as of now? Sarah Palin maybe? Gives me chills! No, I don’t think so.

Are we there yet? No. We are not. We are not even close to electing a president for the next term. That doesn’t mean that Obama shouldn’t make some improvements. His first year has been lackluster in many respects. But that doesn’t mean it has been disastrous. It doesn’t mean there isn’t room for improvement.

Are we there yet. No. We aren’t there. We aren’t even close when it comes to the future in politics. We still have miles to travel.  And stop pulling your little brother’s ear.

This story off the Fox News Web site proves how nothing is too petty when it comes to carrying the propaganda water bucket (perhaps a little water boarding?) for the right wing.

“Hillary Clinton’s plane was grounded in Saudi Arabia Tuesday, forcing the secretary of state to hitch a ride on Gen. David Petraeus’ plane, outranking him in the process.”

The article supposedly is about Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s airplane needing repair in Saudi Arabia and how she hitched a ride with U.S. Central Command leader Gen. David Petraus. But Fox, ever the right wing tool, made the story about how Clinton “outranked” Petraus, making it seem as if she made the general sit on the plane at the little kids’ table. The article likewise mentions a second time that once the secretary of state boards the plane, she outranks the general. However, never does the story provide anything showing why that little nugget — since Petraus’ chain of command doesn’t include Hilary Clinton the validity of the claim is questionable — is in any way important.

Finally, Fox exhibits how right-wingers should at all costs should avoid humor.

“Since Petraeus is going to be swinging by Washington, D.C., he could schedule some meetings but that still is up in the air.”

Haw, haw! Did you let the cleaning lady write that? Oh, I’m sorry I’m sure the cleaning lady could do a much better job and perhaps even manage to be funny.