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FW: hero and patriot
> Date: Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:28:38 -0800
> From: tech-AT-greencafe.com
> To: dennie9700-AT-roadrunner.com; bruce-AT-greencafe.com; lynnandchris-AT-hotmail.com
> Subject: hero and patriot
>
> joe stack suicide note before crashing his plane
>
> If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this
> have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has
> been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months
> ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization
> that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really
> broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example
> after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it
> frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross
> inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm
> raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure,
> but desperate times call for desperate measures.
>
> 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
> 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 is promptly
> labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
>
> While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair
> share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree
> of certainty that 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.
>
> 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.
>
> And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
>
> How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in
> the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here
> we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of
> the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds
> accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully
> complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires”
> a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully
> that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than
> what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing
> is.
>
> How did I get here?
>
> My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early
> ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along
> the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and
> understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of
> people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In
> particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful
> “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic
> Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the
> help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the
> business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing
> (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the
> government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a
> great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules,
> exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
>
> The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a
> much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of
> organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest
> living. However, this is where I learned that there are two
> “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the
> rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing
> the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country..
>
> That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life,
> and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first
> time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total
> and complete lie. 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.
>
> Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first
> lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after
> making my way through engineering school and still another five years of
> “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my
> dream of becoming an independent engineer.
>
> On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should
> digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination
> for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very
> young age.
>
> The significance of independence, however, came much later during my
> early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my
> own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor
> was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who
> was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked
> all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises
> from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he
> would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his
> retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because
> the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the
> government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All
> she had was social security to live on.
>
> In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on
> peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to
> splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and
> heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after
> all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely
> appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with
> each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion
> tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like
> her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and
> bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I
> decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I
> would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
>
> Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a
> ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later,
> thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of
> Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and
> other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick
> Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section
> 1706.
>
> For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section
> 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for
> tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report
> (www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml)
> regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant
> parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws
> affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion
> here (www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).
>
> SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
>
> (a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by
> adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
>
> (d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an
> individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and
> another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer,
> designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other
> similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
>
> (b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to
> remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
>
> Note:
>
> · "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop
> relationship.
>
> · "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
>
> · "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.
>
>
>
> Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is
> saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may
> as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover,
> they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and
> directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years
> later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
>
> During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least
> 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator,
> congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they
> universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent
> countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all
> of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a
> campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts
> were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just
> beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their
> “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on
> this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
>
> After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile
> exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a
> pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce
> that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately
> proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to
> have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended
> effect.
>
> Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle.
> If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and
> never looked back.
>
> Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A.
> depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t
> need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern
> California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was
> economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized
> Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one
> gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or
> street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan
> companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall.
> Again, I lost my retirement.
>
> Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying
> to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again
> beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and
> the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded
> for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’
> facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This
> made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after
> what they had done 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! After
> these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my
> retirement and savings.
>
> By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to
> California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out
> that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and
> where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced
> such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning
> before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four
> large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices
> and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the
> take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but
> themselves and their rich buddies.
>
> To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the
> last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth
> expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year
> thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The
> sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify
> me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get
> a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to
> due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another
> $10,000 helping of justice.
>
> So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world,
> following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another
> accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a
> boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new
> business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After
> considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get
> professional help; a very big mistake.
>
> When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in
> order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he
> came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except
> that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported
> income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along
> this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the
> middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that
> he was representing himself and not me.
>
> This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend
> transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least
> the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never
> knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to
> anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
>
> I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great”
> depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping
> out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything.
> Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they
> now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from
> the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke)
> to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy
> fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy
> solution.
>
> As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a
> tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential
> puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced
> for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the
> government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is
> in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a
> government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as
> their lies and their self-serving laws.
>
> I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand.
> It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their
> freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor
> immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are
> sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to
> the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking
> over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose
> not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend
> that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
>
> 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; it will take
> nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that
> stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction
> that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and
> begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for
> what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe
> it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only
> answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top
> have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this
> awareness against, fools like me all along.
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> Joe Stack (1956-2010)
>
> 02/18/2010
>
>
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> From: tech-AT-greencafe.com
> To: dennie9700-AT-roadrunner.com; bruce-AT-greencafe.com; lynnandchris-AT-hotmail.com
> Subject: hero and patriot
>
> joe stack suicide note before crashing his plane
>
> If you’re reading this, you’re no doubt asking yourself, “Why did this
> have to happen?” The simple truth is that it is complicated and has
> been coming for a long time. The writing process, started many months
> ago, was intended to be therapy in the face of the looming realization
> that there isn’t enough therapy in the world that can fix what is really
> broken. Needless to say, this rant could fill volumes with example
> after example if I would let it. I find the process of writing it
> frustrating, tedious, and probably pointless… especially given my gross
> inability to gracefully articulate my thoughts in light of the storm
> raging in my head. Exactly what is therapeutic about that I’m not sure,
> but desperate times call for desperate measures.
>
> 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
> 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 is promptly
> labeled a “crackpot”, traitor and worse.
>
> While very few working people would say they haven’t had their fair
> share of taxes (as can I), in my lifetime I can say with a great degree
> of certainty that 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.
>
> 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.
>
> And justice? You’ve got to be kidding!
>
> How can any rational individual explain that white elephant conundrum in
> the middle of our tax system and, indeed, our entire legal system? Here
> we have a system that is, by far, too complicated for the brightest of
> the master scholars to understand. Yet, it mercilessly “holds
> accountable” its victims, claiming that they’re responsible for fully
> complying with laws not even the experts understand. The law “requires”
> a signature on the bottom of a tax filing; yet no one can say truthfully
> that they understand what they are signing; if that’s not “duress” than
> what is. If this is not the measure of a totalitarian regime, nothing
> is.
>
> How did I get here?
>
> My introduction to the real American nightmare starts back in the early
> ‘80s. Unfortunately after more than 16 years of school, somewhere along
> the line I picked up the absurd, pompous notion that I could read and
> understand plain English. Some friends introduced me to a group of
> people who were having ‘tax code’ readings and discussions. In
> particular, zeroed in on a section relating to the wonderful
> “exemptions” that make institutions like the vulgar, corrupt Catholic
> Church so incredibly wealthy. We carefully studied the law (with the
> help of some of the “best”, high-paid, experienced tax lawyers in the
> business), and then began to do exactly what the “big boys” were doing
> (except that we weren’t steeling from our congregation or lying to the
> government about our massive profits in the name of God). We took a
> great deal of care to make it all visible, following all of the rules,
> exactly the way the law said it was to be done.
>
> The intent of this exercise and our efforts was to bring about a
> much-needed re-evaluation of the laws that allow the monsters of
> organized religion to make such a mockery of people who earn an honest
> living. However, this is where I learned that there are two
> “interpretations” for every law; one for the very rich, and one for the
> rest of us… Oh, and the monsters are the very ones making and enforcing
> the laws; the inquisition is still alive and well today in this country..
>
> That little lesson in patriotism cost me $40,000+, 10 years of my life,
> and set my retirement plans back to 0. It made me realize for the first
> time that I live in a country with an ideology that is based on a total
> and complete lie. 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.
>
> Before even having to make a shaky recovery from the sting of the first
> lesson on what justice really means in this country (around 1984 after
> making my way through engineering school and still another five years of
> “paying my dues”), I felt I finally had to take a chance of launching my
> dream of becoming an independent engineer.
>
> On the subjects of engineers and dreams of independence, I should
> digress somewhat to say that I’m sure that I inherited the fascination
> for creative problem solving from my father. I realized this at a very
> young age.
>
> The significance of independence, however, came much later during my
> early years of college; at the age of 18 or 19 when I was living on my
> own as student in an apartment in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. My neighbor
> was an elderly retired woman (80+ seemed ancient to me at that age) who
> was the widowed wife of a retired steel worker. Her husband had worked
> all his life in the steel mills of central Pennsylvania with promises
> from big business and the union that, for his 30 years of service, he
> would have a pension and medical care to look forward to in his
> retirement. Instead he was one of the thousands who got nothing because
> the incompetent mill management and corrupt union (not to mention the
> government) raided their pension funds and stole their retirement. All
> she had was social security to live on.
>
> In retrospect, the situation was laughable because here I was living on
> peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to
> splurge) for months at a time. When I got to know this poor figure and
> heard her story I felt worse for her plight than for my own (I, after
> all, I thought I had everything to in front of me). I was genuinely
> appalled at one point, as we exchanged stories and commiserated with
> each other over our situations, when she in her grandmotherly fashion
> tried to convince me that I would be “healthier” eating cat food (like
> her) rather than trying to get all my substance from peanut butter and
> bread. I couldn’t quite go there, but the impression was made. I
> decided that I didn’t trust big business to take care of me, and that I
> would take responsibility for my own future and myself.
>
> Return to the early ‘80s, and here I was off to a terrifying start as a
> ‘wet-behind-the-ears’ contract software engineer... and two years later,
> thanks to the fine backroom, midnight effort by the sleazy executives of
> Arthur Andersen (the very same folks who later brought us Enron and
> other such calamities) and an equally sleazy New York Senator (Patrick
> Moynihan), we saw the passage of 1986 tax reform act with its section
> 1706.
>
> For you who are unfamiliar, here is the core text of the IRS Section
> 1706, defining the treatment of workers (such as contract engineers) for
> tax purposes. Visit this link for a conference committee report
> (www.synergistech.com/1706.shtml)
> regarding the intended interpretation of Section 1706 and the relevant
> parts of Section 530, as amended. For information on how these laws
> affect technical services workers and their clients, read our discussion
> here (www.synergistech.com/ic-taxlaw.shtml).
>
> SEC. 1706. TREATMENT OF CERTAIN TECHNICAL PERSONNEL.
>
> (a) IN GENERAL - Section 530 of the Revenue Act of 1978 is amended by
> adding at the end thereof the following new subsection:
>
> (d) EXCEPTION. - This section shall not apply in the case of an
> individual who pursuant to an arrangement between the taxpayer and
> another person, provides services for such other person as an engineer,
> designer, drafter, computer programmer, systems analyst, or other
> similarly skilled worker engaged in a similar line of work.
>
> (b) EFFECTIVE DATE. - The amendment made by this section shall apply to
> remuneration paid and services rendered after December 31, 1986.
>
> Note:
>
> · "another person" is the client in the traditional job-shop
> relationship.
>
> · "taxpayer" is the recruiter, broker, agency, or job shop.
>
> · "individual", "employee", or "worker" is you.
>
>
>
> Admittedly, you need to read the treatment to understand what it is
> saying but it’s not very complicated. The bottom line is that they may
> as well have put my name right in the text of section (d). Moreover,
> they could only have been more blunt if they would have came out and
> directly declared me a criminal and non-citizen slave. Twenty years
> later, I still can’t believe my eyes.
>
> During 1987, I spent close to $5000 of my ‘pocket change’, and at least
> 1000 hours of my time writing, printing, and mailing to any senator,
> congressman, governor, or slug that might listen; none did, and they
> universally treated me as if I was wasting their time. I spent
> countless hours on the L.A. freeways driving to meetings and any and all
> of the disorganized professional groups who were attempting to mount a
> campaign against this atrocity. This, only to discover that our efforts
> were being easily derailed by a few moles from the brokers who were just
> beginning to enjoy the windfall from the new declaration of their
> “freedom”. Oh, and don’t forget, for all of the time I was spending on
> this, I was loosing income that I couldn’t bill clients.
>
> After months of struggling it had clearly gotten to be a futile
> exercise. The best we could get for all of our trouble is a
> pronouncement from an IRS mouthpiece that they weren’t going to enforce
> that provision (read harass engineers and scientists). This immediately
> proved to be a lie, and the mere existence of the regulation began to
> have its impact on my bottom line; this, of course, was the intended
> effect.
>
> Again, rewind my retirement plans back to 0 and shift them into idle.
> If I had any sense, I clearly should have left abandoned engineering and
> never looked back.
>
> Instead I got busy working 100-hour workweeks. Then came the L.A.
> depression of the early 1990s. Our leaders decided that they didn’t
> need the all of those extra Air Force bases they had in Southern
> California, so they were closed; just like that. The result was
> economic devastation in the region that rivaled the widely publicized
> Texas S&L fiasco. However, because the government caused it, no one
> gave a shit about all of the young families who lost their homes or
> street after street of boarded up houses abandoned to the wealthy loan
> companies who received government funds to “shore up” their windfall.
> Again, I lost my retirement.
>
> Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying
> to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again
> beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and
> the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded
> for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special’
> facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This
> made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after
> what they had done 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! After
> these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my
> retirement and savings.
>
> By this time, I’m thinking that it might be good for a change. Bye to
> California, I’ll try Austin for a while. So I moved, only to find out
> that this is a place with a highly inflated sense of self-importance and
> where damn little real engineering work is done. I’ve never experienced
> such a hard time finding work. The rates are 1/3 of what I was earning
> before the crash, because pay rates here are fixed by the three or four
> large companies in the area who are in collusion to drive down prices
> and wages… and this happens because the justice department is all on the
> take and doesn’t give a fuck about serving anyone or anything but
> themselves and their rich buddies.
>
> To survive, I was forced to cannibalize my savings and retirement, the
> last of which was a small IRA. This came in a year with mammoth
> expenses and not a single dollar of income. I filed no return that year
> thinking that because I didn’t have any income there was no need. The
> sleazy government decided that they disagreed. But they didn’t notify
> me in time for me to launch a legal objection so when I attempted to get
> a protest filed with the court I was told I was no longer entitled to
> due process because the time to file ran out. Bend over for another
> $10,000 helping of justice.
>
> So now we come to the present. After my experience with the CPA world,
> following the business crash I swore that I’d never enter another
> accountant’s office again. But here I am with a new marriage and a
> boatload of undocumented income, not to mention an expensive new
> business asset, a piano, which I had no idea how to handle. After
> considerable thought I decided that it would be irresponsible NOT to get
> professional help; a very big mistake.
>
> When we received the forms back I was very optimistic that they were in
> order. I had taken all of the years information to Bill Ross, and he
> came back with results very similar to what I was expecting. Except
> that he had neglected to include the contents of Sheryl’s unreported
> income; $12,700 worth of it. To make matters worse, Ross knew all along
> this was missing and I didn’t have a clue until he pointed it out in the
> middle of the audit. By that time it had become brutally evident that
> he was representing himself and not me.
>
> This left me stuck in the middle of this disaster trying to defend
> transactions that have no relationship to anything tax-related (at least
> the tax-related transactions were poorly documented). Things I never
> knew anything about and things my wife had no clue would ever matter to
> anyone. The end result is… well, just look around.
>
> I remember reading about the stock market crash before the “great”
> depression and how there were wealthy bankers and businessmen jumping
> out of windows when they realized they screwed up and lost everything.
> Isn’t it ironic how far we’ve come in 60 years in this country that they
> now know how to fix that little economic problem; they just steal from
> the middle class (who doesn’t have any say in it, elections are a joke)
> to cover their asses and it’s “business-as-usual”. Now when the wealthy
> fuck up, the poor get to die for the mistakes… isn’t that a clever, tidy
> solution.
>
> As government agencies go, the FAA is often justifiably referred to as a
> tombstone agency, though they are hardly alone. The recent presidential
> puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced
> for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the
> government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is
> in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a
> government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as
> their lies and their self-serving laws.
>
> I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand.
> It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their
> freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor
> immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are
> sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to
> the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking
> over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose
> not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend
> that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.
>
> 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; it will take
> nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that
> stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction
> that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and
> begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for
> what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe
> it wasn’t so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only
> answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top
> have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this
> awareness against, fools like me all along.
>
> 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.
>
>
>
> Joe Stack (1956-2010)
>
> 02/18/2010
>
>
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