Holy Crap

[ceebeegee]

An Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service set his house on fire Thursday and then crashed a small plane into a building housing an IRS office with nearly 200 employees, officials said.

Holy. Crap. He also set his house on fire and left a long, rambly, incoherent letter with one theme: "I is angry, hate taxes and the government, rawr!"

What a f-ing loser. You know who this reminds me of? The Bath School bombing Another loser all angry because he had to pay property tax to support the local school. So what did he do? Killed his wife, set fire to his farm killing all of his farm animals (in fact he tied them in so they couldn't escape), and set off a series of bombs at the school, murdering more than 40 schoolchildren as well as some adults. You know what his note said? "Criminals are made, not born." 'Cause, you know, they drove him to murder 6 year olds. Taxes drove him to it. It's all someone else's fault.

I just don't understand people sometimes.

Comments

[minstrel70.livejournal.com]

This is a conversation much better had in person, for a number of reasons, not least of which is that this is ceebeegee's page. But in brief (very brief!):

- The "Tea Party" isn't a party, it's a movement, and that's one of the attractions for me.

I didn't say that the Constitution would be unrecognizable to the Founders, I said the government would be. I don't object to constitutional amendments, though as you might guess, I have a greater fondness for some (I, II, X) than others (XVI). My point is that the government has far exceeded the bounds that the Constitution was meant to set for it.

- As for taxes, I find it interesting that you focus on property taxes versus income taxes as a reason you can't comment on my tax situation. You pay property taxes, too, you know -- by way of your landlord, who has to charge higher rent because of them. But you might be surprised to learn that property taxes are my "favorite" taxes, for several reasons, all perfectly selfish: we pay less in property tax than in state income tax, or payroll taxes, or (of course) federal income taxes; they are by far the most broad-based of taxes; they are assessed locally by a level of government that one can actually "petition for redress of grievances" (in person!); and they pay for obvious, tangible things -- the street we live on, the parks we enjoy, the fire department and police in our town, and the schools we'll send our son to.

I doubt that any but a fringe minority of tea party sympathizers objects to all taxes or all government. Libertarians aren't generally anarchists.

Anyway, I've rambled on too long. Would enjoy continuing the conversation in person sometime.