Somebody really hates paying taxes...

[gtrman66]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,586581,00.html

Stay safe Taxman

Officials are investigating whether a small plane that crashed into an office building in Austin, Texas, Thursday morning was an intentional act, an NTSB official told Fox News.

An NTSB spokesman, however, told FoxNews.com that "we can't confirm any of that."

Authorities said they have identified the pilot as Joseph Andrew Stack, a 53-year-old software engineer who lived in Texas.

The small single-engine plane crashed into a seven-story office building in Austin around 10 a.m. local time Thursday.

The FAA said a Piper Cherokee took off from an airport in Georgetown, Texas, at 9:40 a.m. and crashed into the building in Austin shortly thereafter. Officials are investigating whether Stack owned the plane.

The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday it does not believe the crash was an act of terrorism.

...
An Internal Revenue Service office is located inside the building

[TaxmanHog]

All is well here in Manhattan, the class l am instructing. Was subdued when news broke.

[TaxmanHog]

Btw
His action was the ultimate protest of our tax system,sadly I expect more of this as the burdens grow on us all to fund many of these socialist programs being considered in congress! !!

[Max]

Have any of you read the entire suicide note?

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/02/18/stack.letter.pdf

[Remphoto]

Have any of you read the entire suicide note?

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2010/images/02/18/stack.letter.pdf

Certainly not a conservative or capitalist. No friend of GWB's. Just a whiny, gutless puke who wasn't content to just end his own miserable life and do us all a favor. Instead he had to inflict pain and death on others.

[coolbreeze]

Certainly not a conservative or capitalist. No friend of GWB's. Just a whiny, gutless puke who wasn't content to just end his own miserable life and do us all a favor. Instead he had to inflict pain and death on others.


Spiritually speaking Rem, this is evilness at work. Unfortunately, we're seeing more and more of these acts, and they will continue to occur and grow in frequency as the end of the age draws nearer.

[TaxmanHog]

I can not link to that page at this moment.

I will check it Friday when I get home

[gtrman66]

I read it, but it souded like incoherent rambling.

He burned down his $232,000 home and crashed a plane. He had way more than me, and he's complaining? What a buttmunch.

[Max]

I read it, but it souded like incoherent rambling.

He burned down his $232,000 home and crashed a plane. He had way more than me, and he's complaining? What a buttmunch.

Roy the harsh reality to the home and plane is they both probably had liens and the IRS could very well have been going after both. Not that it excuses what he did but having been on the other end of the IRS's attacks I can tell you first hand it isn't the same as normal legal channels. I actually had them estimate my taxes one year and they levied the fee's they thought applied, it was my job to prove otherwise. After 10 trips to there office and a lot of threats made by them to the point I got up and walked out of there office one day. It ended up I owed them like $96 out of the over $10k they originally estimated. They can go way overboard of course that was in the eighties but I some how doubt that some tactics have changed.

[Motive]

I feel for his wife and daughter, now they're the ones that are gonna have to deal with the consequences of his actions.... Even in his death, he's expecting someone else to clean up his mess...

Oh yeah, I read the whole thing...sounds to me, like he made a lifetime of wrong choices.

[synseer]

I hadn't heard that dem/libs were spouting out accusations like this but Malkin was already on it deconstructing their lies about the guy involved.

"In the early aftermath of the suicidal pilot's attack, there was no evidence that Stack belonged to a Tea Party organization. In any case, no law-abiding Tea Party group would ever condone what he did. But it didn't stop the haters from immediately smearing advocates of limited government. And it's just the latest in a long line of calculated attempts to paint the vast majority of peaceful Tea Party activists as terrorist threats to civil society."

http://townhall.com/columnists/MichelleMalkin/2010/02/19/its_all_the_tea_partys_fault?page=2

[Motive]

The building he hit, isn't even the main building...I think they only do audits there.

[Max]

The building he hit, isn't even the main building...I think they only do audits there.

That's what I heard on the news today. Also unless it's change the IRS doesn't publish it's address or telephone numbers just because of things like this.

[TaxmanHog]

You all can understand my limitations about discussing details, other than say my take on what ever is in the public domain, that being stated up front,,,,,

If this person had a long standing issue that was unjustified "in his opinion", then take the issue to court and let a judge figure out what is correct.

No question, mistakes are made and bureaucracies screw up as much as taxpayers, but it's no excuse for delivering a death sentence to either party.

[Motive]

Local news pointed out, that the IRS Employee that got killed was stated as a father of 6 and "one of the nicest people you'll ever meet"

He took his frustrations out on people that are just doing their jobs, not the people that make the rules...as far as I know.

[TaxmanHog]

The building he hit, isn't even the main building...I think they only do audits there.

That is correct, the target was a exam. Collections & Criminal Investigation field office, where our highly trained agents work.

The service center is in a industrial park on the south side of Austin, Max your return is probably safe and sound at the center, hopefully you will not experience any clerical problems, that arose many years ago as you referred to in the related thread.

[Max]

The service center is in a industrial park on the south side of Austin, Max your returnis probably safe and sound at the center, hopefully you will not experience any clerical problems, that arose many years ago as you refered to in the related thread.

Taxman my problems years ago started because of an audit that I was never notified of. You see I moved to Florida but even though I filed my taxes from Florida the IRS sent the audit notice to an old address in Texas. They were never able to find me until the time limit to report for the audit passed. So when the time limit passed they were able to find me and send me a bill for what they estimated. Believe me I was steaming. It wasn't until I filed a court case against the IRS that they agreed to look at my books and do the audit correctly.

[TaxmanHog]

Max
The situation you described is very common among folks who are transient, the records do not always get updated.
On time

[Jeb]

Well, I read the diatribe and it reminded me of a leftist professor I once had. Mean ole capitalism and the wonderful world communism!

[TaxmanHog]

Now that I have had a chance to read his final words, I see that he has been through a lot over the years. Some of the problems were of his direct actions to naively take advantage of provisions that bit him in the ass years later, apparently some of the transient years is cause for the lapse in communication over proposed deficiencies, even after reaching the stage of default statutory assessment, after the liability was assessed & Liens & Levy's (I assume by what he stated about loosing savings to the government) he could have exercised collection due process, the Advocates office or even filed suit against the government to state his positions and seek adjudication & probable settlement.

These processes are not for the faint of heart or novices, That is why our society has Accountants & Lawyers dealing in Taxation & Employment classification matters, his contempt for these professionals is due to his failures to reach settlements in previous matters (apparently in his own words he has been mixed up with the IRS for many years)

Then his diatribe continues to rage against those Societally accepted institutions which do receive favored status, Church organizations, 501c3 organizations which have ~Charitable Mission~ are a complement to society in the way in which their revenue streams are used to benefit the congregation, local community, in a variety of ways. Soup kitchens, St Vincent's and many more missions.

Granted there are failures & fraud with Church's & 501c3's when not chartered & managed properly, and some of them suffer the consequences, you do not read about them, but I have had cases of this nature.

Failures of a variety of profit corporations, investors, banks etc have received their fair (unfair IMHO) share of breaks & relief, but the tax code allows these procedures when the politicians will it to be so, in Enacted Law.

We as a society, need to continue to exercise our citizen responsibilities to CHECK OUT the BUMS on election day, bringing in fresh competent minds to manage our Representative Democracy, if we don't then the final burden of blame is upon ourselves.

The judicial & elective processes can be used to rectify injustices or change the underlying law, that is IMHO the only way a civilized society maintains control of it's destiny in a peaceful fashion:coffee

[Jeb]

You see most of the problems start with the Politcal appointees that come in and set the standard that trickles down. This has been documented many times over the decades. Remember the Clinton Justice department killed more than 80 men, women, and children at Waco, when they could arrested that nutjob in town any time they wanted. Same thing with the 1000 files of Republicans found with Hillarys fingerprints on them...and she is still the Sec of State! Reno and Eric holder did horrendous things from Waco to Ruby Ridge and yet the Conressional idiots still approved Holder again! The rank and file IRS are no different than us...but the agency itself is far too powerful just as the EPA has become!

[Max]

Max
The situation you described is very common among folks who are transient, the records do not always get updated.
On time

Believe me I understand, however when I contacted the IRS about this and explained the problem what I got was "we don't care, it's your problem". That was the exact answer I got. So I was forced to sue them after seeking an attorneys advice. Why in the world if the IRS knows what it is doing would they do this to people. And the fact that I actually owed less then 1% of what they claimed shows how criminal they can be. Taxman I'm sure it isn't everyone at the IRS but I can tell you from my first hand experience that a few of the people I met were out of touch with reality and on power trips.

This in no way forgives what Stark did but I can see that if a person doesn't defend themselves the right way from the IRS they could owe a great deal more then they should and some people at the IRS have no concern for fairness.

[TaxmanHog]

This in no way forgives what Stark did but I can see that if a person doesn't defend themselves the right way from the IRS they could owe a great deal more then they should and some people at the IRS have no concern for fairness.

Sadly your observations are right on target, over the years, we work hard to change this attitude problem, listen to people, be smart & properly react to problem situations (our problems, as well as the taxpayers), that means being motivated to take action that resolves these problems for both side (systemic/process weakness & taxpayer misunderstandings of the law).

In 1997/1998 the IRS took a royal grilling by congress over some egregious issues, it resulted in a major redesign of operations, training programs, and subsequently the retirement of hard headed staff unwilling to get up to speed with change. The attrition of these Old School personalities is still taking it's course.

But on the other side of the fence, even when we have resolved many of the routine problems and deal with the majority of our ~customers~ in a fashion that is more amicable, there will still be some HARD HEADS like Irwin Schiff & the likes that we will never win over, it will continue to be a battle with them until the income tax is totally done, (I do not see that happening any time soon).

These hard headed folks would continue to complain regardless of how our society decides to collect revenue for the common good, the COMMON GOOD for each of us goes from one extreme to the other (Only-Military/Infrastructure) to (Only-Welfare-State Programs).

I have no need for the power tripping folks, I have worked with many of them, and most have chosen the door at this stage. But also, do not confuse Self-assured-confidence with blind-ignorant-lazy-arrogance, when I am being bull-shited on by a taxpayer who believes in the protesters crap I'll give him or her a short window of patiences & listen and ensure that every appeal avenue has been explored, after that it's time to take the hard line & begin collecting before the fast-talker has skipped out & depleted the assets that are barely in my reach.

[Jeb]

The problem is with the over-reaching in general that a large, centrally controlled government can do, without so much as a single price to pay. We have seen this many times since our founding. The great forefathers that founded this nation warned of just such a problem and those remenants of those that opposed our nations founding have survived all these years and still reside in the halls of government. They ultimately think we are too stupid, to lazy, or just to busy paying our taxes to change the system. We need to completely throw it out and start with a flat or sells tax that does not punish achievement or target how much one makes. How or when it will change, I don't know, but what I do see in the current admin is the arrognance and deliberate steps to attack the system of our foundings, (freedom) to reach our dreams. Money is the means to power and the ability to take that money is the greatest area for abuse! We are heading for trouble if we don't change this system!

[TaxmanHog]

Some are trying to make this an ongoing campaign for the protester movements.

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2010/02/22/crimesider/entry6232164.shtml

[MYCAR47562]

his daughter should stand behind her dad if she wants to, but i can't see him as a hero.

[TaxmanHog]

By NEIL H. BUCHANAN
Thursday, February 25, 2010

Last week, a deranged man lit his house aflame with his wife and child inside, drove to a local airfield, and flew his plane into the IRS office building in Austin, Texas, killing himself and one IRS employee, and injuring thirteen others. The man left behind a bizarre, rambling message, in which he complained about a wide range of issues, including a long-running tax problem. Because of the target of his terrorist act, commentary understandably has focused on the tax issues on his list of grievances (as opposed to, say, the anti-capitalist comment at the end of his screed).

It is sadly unsurprising that some on the political fringes would applaud this appalling act. What is surprising, however, is that a great deal of more mainstream commentary has taken this act of domestic terrorism as a platform from which to attack the IRS. These discussions, of course, come phrased in the safe language of disapproval. The message goes essentially like this: "While no one could approve of this man's insane acts, one must admit that taxes are annoying," or, "No one should condone these crimes, but the IRS really is out of control."

Such commentary -- deliberately or not -- justifies the actions that it claims to reject. The tragic fact is that it is politically advantageous in this country to vilify the Internal Revenue Service and its employees.

Moreover, while the Austin attack is the worst attack on the IRS to date, it hardly presents an isolated threat. To the contrary, as The Wall Street Journalreported (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704757904575077381781219798.html?m od=rss_Today's_Most_Popular) after the attack, threats against IRS employees have been steadily rising in recent years, with over 1000 reported in 2009 alone. The agency has been forced to provide armed security for many of its employees and spokespeople, and it has been the subject of serious threats. A number of years ago, for example, a planned bombing of an IRS building was discovered and prevented.

What makes all of this ugliness especially poignant and inexplicable is that the IRS is a model government agency. The reality of its operations is far afield from the frequent claims that its agents "run amok." It is an agency with policing powers that has an enviable record of commendable behavior. While no agency -- public or private -- can claim to be above reproach, our tax collectors continue to set a standard for behavior that is a testament to how well a large bureaucracy can operate, even under severe constraints.

The IRS as a Political Target: Turning Understandable Grumbling into Over-the-Top Rage

No one expects an enforcer of rules to be popular. For instance, people do not like being pulled over for speeding, and they have choice words (usually muttered under their breath) for the officers who do so. Officers who give out parking tickets, too, are routinely berated, threatened, and spat upon. With much larger amounts of money at stake, then, it is hardly news that people would prefer not to be cited by the tax collector. Even so, "I wish I could have gotten away with it" should not be the basis of a political movement.

The IRS has, of course, long been the object of political scorn. Politicians know a good applause line when they see it, and pledges to reduce taxes too easily slide into efforts to reduce the enforcement powers of the IRS. President Nixon famously punished the IRS for doing its job with respect to his personal taxes: Soon after, he cut funding for the agency, thus delaying for years an upgrade of the Service's computer system. In an especially absurd twist, the IRS's subsequent inability to keep up with changes in technology sparked criticism of the agency itself, not of the politicians who crippled it.

In addition to Nixon, former U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (probably the most liberal justice the court has ever seen) was famously hostile to the government in tax cases, frequently dissenting from otherwise-unanimous Court decisions with little or no comment. If it was a tax case, it seemed, the government could never win his vote.

The popular culture has fun at IRS employees' expense as well. Even when a Hollywood movie depicts an IRS agent in a sympathetic way -- as, for instance, "Stranger than Fiction" did with Will Ferrell's character -- the agent is almost inevitably portrayed as a stunted, robotic, unemotional object of pity.

Of course, these depictions of, and these misleading claims about, the IRS go back for decades. The question the Austin attack and its reception in some quarters raises is: What has changed recently? The biggest change is that a large number of politicians have cast their political fortunes with those who take extreme views challenging the legitimacy of the IRS, and of taxes themselves. Congress has passed laws requiring the IRS not to use disparaging language to describe people who believe, for example, that paying taxes is voluntary rather than mandatory, or that one is only a "citizen" of the United States for tax purposes if one is a resident of the District of Columbia or some U.S. territories.

Being jailed for tax evasion -- another fear stoked by the anti-tax movement -- is also quite rare. Moreover, to prove criminal tax evasion, the federal government must meet a different standard from that which applies to any other criminal act. Rather than being shown to have "knowledge" of the illegality of their claims, tax evaders must be shown to lack a good-faith belief (no matter how ill-informed or illogical) that they do not need to pay taxes. Would we even consider applying such a forgiving standard to the laws applying to, say, embezzlement?

In short, there are far too many politicians who have lent their credibility to those who wrongly attack the IRS. The result is a legal landscape that makes it more difficult to collect taxes owed, and a social landscape that makes growing numbers of people feel justified in evading taxes.

The "Evidence" of IRS Misbehavior: Fixing a Problem that Did Not Exist

Some readers might ask: But haven't I heard about cases of gross IRS abuse of taxpayers? Shouldn't we be worried about that? The answer is yes, you have probably heard such stories; but no, they are not true.

Indeed, one of the more shocking commentaries on the Austin bombing case was posted by the owner of a technology company on The Huffington Post, probably the leading liberal online news source in the country.This essay (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/aaron-greenspan/on-stack-and-the-irs_b_468529.html) is a perfect example of the form that I described earlier. The author begins, "I do not own or have access to a plane, but I know what it's like to be frustrated with the tax system in this country." Later, he says, "It goes without saying that the proper solution to the crisis of complexity is not violence. But …" The author then urges readers that we should not ignore the problem of a supposedly out-of-control IRS merely because it would be "politically incorrect" (whatever that might mean) to discuss the suicide bomber's complaints.

The essay then says: "The Senate Finance Committee held hearings in 1998, just as I was incorporating my business, looking into the ways the agency had failed to serve taxpayers. Former IRS agents testified about the routine practice of punishing taxpayers they didn't like with the explicit consent of agency management. It isn't hard to understand why some taxpayers might be angered by that. Not much has changed since 1998, sadly."

This claim is wrong on two levels: First, the hearings to which the essay refers were revealed to be a farce; and second, a great deal has changed since 1998, even though there was not much wrong in the first place.

The Truth About the 1998 Hearings -- and About the IRS

The 1998 hearings were the result of what amounted to a "casting call" by some members of Congress, an invitation for any taxpayer to come to Washington and tell how the IRS had abused them. One particularly lurid bit of testimony came from a taxpayer who claimed that IRS agents had raided his home, knocked his colleague's 12-year-old son to the ground, held him there at gunpoint, and forced his 14-year-old daughter to get dressed in front of them. The problem is that this was all false. In a subsequent civil suit against the IRS, testimony from the people involved revealed that every part of the story had been fabricated

Similarly, in response to claims that IRS agents were abusing their power to punish particular taxpayers, the independent auditing arm of the federal government, the General Accounting Office (now known as the Government Accountability Office), found no evidence of retaliation or improper decision-making on the part of IRS agents or managers. The GAO, moreover, is widely respected for its neutrality and ability to take a careful, reasoned approach.

What is especially surprising about the 1998 IRS hearings, in the end, is their failure to turn up even the hint of any systemic problems with the agency and how it went about its work. When one considers how many complaints of abuse are brought (and sustained) against other law enforcement agencies, one would expect, as a matter of course, that the IRS -- an agency that deals with almost literally every citizen in the country every year -- would have some incidents that would cause real concern. Instead, the hearings turned up no evidence of systemic problems, and even the isolated incidents of concern turned out generally to be false or exaggerated.

[TaxmanHog]

Again, consider this track record: This is an agency that processes legal documents from well over 100 million citizens and businesses each year, and that must engage in enforcement actions against a large number of recalcitrant taxpayers each year. Yet it is so well run that even a highly-sympathetic Congressional committee could not gather evidence of more than a handful of possible problems. Not a handful each year, a handful in total.

I am not claiming, of course, that the IRS never does anything wrong. A large agency run by fallible human beings cannot help but make mistakes. Happily, however, those mistakes appear to be relatively minor and relatively infrequent.

Nevertheless, Congress reacted to those hearings by enacting legislation that significantly changed the way the IRS interacts with the public. The agency was directed to deploy more of its employees into "customer service," and agents were told that they could lose their jobs if there was even a complaint filed against them. The Office of the Public Advocate, formed within the IRS, became a very aggressive investigator of the public's complaints. The number of audits plummeted. Whatever misbehavior might have been going on was certainly put under renewed scrutiny.
Dousing Fires With Water, Not Gasoline

The Austin bomber's barbaric acts have been roundly -- and appropriately -- criticized. Unfortunately, discussion of the attack has too often taken on the tone of accepting his basic premise: that the IRS routinely and wantonly harms people in an abuse of its power. Those who have considered his specific complaint about his treatment under the tax law have found, in fact, that the IRS properly enforced the law as written. At most, it can be argued(as in a recent guest editorial in The New York Times) (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/21/opinion/21shulman.html)that the law itself should be changed. Maybe so, but that is hardly the IRS's fault; if anything, the fault lies with Congress.

The most important lesson that we should learn from this incident is not that some especially unstable people might go over the edge, though of course, that is true. We should instead remind ourselves just how routinely we accept without question rhetoric and actions that vilify conscientious people who are doing their jobs well. Politicians and commentators who contribute to the atmosphere of fear, repeating lies about IRS malfeasance, are responsible for amplifying false arguments, feeding public cynicism, and making public servants' lives unnecessarily dangerous. We should demand better for our public employees.

Neil H. Buchanan, J.D. Ph. D. (economics), is a Visiting Scholar at Cornell Law School, an Associate Professor at The George Washington University Law School, and a former economics professor.

[louballs]

I was listening to some political radio show the other day and the guy was saying that the MAJORITY of our taxes do not go towards the things we believe they do (law enforcement, highways, etc) but rather end up in the pockets of other people. I don't know if there is any truth to this and I didn't get to finish listening, but does the IRS or state actually show a breakdown detailing where all of the taxpayers money goes to?? I would think it should be within our rights to have this knowledge.

[MYCAR47562]

i don't believe showing where the money goes is the irs's problem, the irs is there to collect the money, congress is there to give it all to cube so they don't hate us so much

[Motive]

Yep, the IRS is just a big collection agency IMO....they're just in charge of acquiring the money that Congress throws away.

[TaxmanHog]

Charts & Foot notes for FY-2008

[MYCAR47562]

thanks for that taxman, who would have thought our military only took up 27 percent

[gtrman66]

Looks good, let's end social programs, Physical, human and community development, and Social security, Medicare and other retirement. Then we could pay off the debt, fund our military and get a huge tax cut (which we could use for our own retirement, benefits, development etc...).

That wasn't so hard, was it?

[Jeb]

Looks good, let's end social programs, Physical, human and community development, and Social security, Medicare and other retirement. Then we could pay off the debt, fund our military and get a huge tax cut (which we could use for our own retirement, benefits, development etc...).

That wasn't so hard, was it?

So if you look at the chart correctly that is 67% to entitlement programs! That makes us a social democracy instead of a representative Republic!:gun:

[Remphoto]

It took years to build this massive bureaucracy and years to unwind it. And I'm not sure many Americans have the fortitude for a complete dismemberment of the systems. We have grown dependent on govt to protect us against perils such as bad food [usda) and child labor, which flourished before regulations. So realistically some regulatory framework is necessary.

[coolbreeze]

Looks good, let's end social programs, Physical, human and community development, and Social security, Medicare and other retirement. Then we could pay off the debt, fund our military and get a huge tax cut (which we could use for our own retirement, benefits, development etc...).

That wasn't so hard, was it?

How many have never worked, don't want to work, and have milked the welfare system and taxpayers dry literally since birth?

If programs are to be cut, they first should be cut for those who never have, and have no desire to productively contribute to our society.

In cases where people have paid into the system their entire lives, and then need to benefit from some programs they themselves funded, so be it.

The fact is, (other then idiot's outragious agenda and dept explosion of America) illegals, and lazy handout seekers have driven our nation's dept to new heights.

[Motive]

How many have never worked, don't want to work, and have milked the welfare system and taxpayers dry literally since birth?

If programs are to be cut, they first should be cut for those who never have, and have no desire to productively contribute to our society.

In cases where people have paid into the system their entire lives, and then need to benefit from some programs they themselves funded, so be it.

The fact is, (other then idiot's outragious agenda and dept explosion of America) illegals, and lazy handout seekers have driven our nation's dept to new heights.


There's tons of charities around that help people in need, for example, the United Way. Maybe it's easier for deadbeats to get money from the government, who wants to keep you dependent on them, than from charities that actually want to help you get back on your feet.

[Remphoto]

There's tons of charities around that help people in need, for example, the United Way. Maybe it's easier for deadbeats to get money from the government, who wants to keep you dependent on them, than from charities that actually want to help you get back on your feet.

Exactly right. It used to be that charities and churches took care of those in need -- especially widows and children. Government has moved in to take over that responsibility.

[TaxmanHog]

March 3, 2010

Today the House of Representatives adopted a resolution condemning the recent suicide attack on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees in Austin, Texas, and honoring IRS employee Vernon Hunter, who died in the attack, as well as Shane Hill, a Texas state government employee who suffered severe injuries.


In a bipartisan show of support, Reps. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas), Michael McCaul (R-Texas), John Lewis (D-Ga.) and Charles Boustany Jr. (R-La.) all took to the floor of the House this afternoon to praise IRS employees for their dedicated public service and recognize the heroic actions of those who immediately responded to the attack, including IRS personnel, emergency personnel and ordinary citizens. Watch Rep. Doggett'sopening (http://doggett.house.gov/images/stories/video/2010.03.03_AustinIRSAttackPart1.wmv) andclosing (http://doggett.house.gov/images/stories/video/2010.03.03_AustinIRSAttackCLOSING.wmv) remarks.
Rep. Doggett and his colleagues saluted the bravery of those IRS employees who were responsible for saving so many lives in the immediate aftermath of the attack. Rep. Lewis said he was moved by the many stories of selflessness and heroism from IRS employees at the scene.

H. Res. 1127 (http://www.nteu.org/Documents/DoggettRes.pdf) recognizes that federal employees serve their nation with honor and commitment and perform public service that benefits the entire country. It also commends IRS employees for their dedication and public service.
The resolution concludes by asking the House of Representatives to denounce “any statement or act that deliberately fans the flames of hatred or expresses sympathy for those who would attack public servants serving our nation.”
I sent Rep. Doggett a letter (http://www.nteu.org/Documents/AustinResolution.pdf)yesterday thanking him for introducing the resolution. In his remarks today, Rep. Doggett criticized violent anti-government rhetoric and called for an end to acts of violence against federal employees. "We need to turn down the volume on hate," he said.
I know at times it can be dangerous for you to carry out your agency's missions, but the vast majority of Americans appreciate your hard work and diligence in support of our country. Thank you for all you do.

Colleen Kelley
Preseident of the NTEU

[Motive]

March 3, 2010
The resolution concludes by asking the House of Representatives to denounce “any statement or act that deliberately fans the flames of hatred or expresses sympathy for those who would attack public servants serving our nation.”


Denounce meaning what exactly?

It's a good thing that they're willing to recognize Federal employees as servants of the government (which is supposed to be servants to the citizens of the USA), but on the other hand, it sounds like self preservation (since they're Federal employees as well) and an attempt at oppressing people's freedom of speech, no matter how misguided it is.

"Denounce any speech that fans the flames of hate towards our regime" is how I interpret that statement.

[Remphoto]

Denounce meaning what exactly?

It's a good thing that they're willing to recognize Federal employees as servants of the government (which is supposed to be servants to the citizens of the USA), but on the other hand, it sounds like self preservation (since they're Federal employees as well) and an attempt at oppressing people's freedom of speech, no matter how misguided it is.

"Denounce any speech that fans the flames of hate towards our regime" is how I interpret that statement.

It was a nice gesture, I suppose, given the horror inflicted on the IRS employees. However, I agree with you, Motive, that one could interpret it as a political comment. It should not need to be said that all persons, public servants or otherwise, should not be subject to physical harm.

BTW, when in Washington I noticed that the IRS building had armed guards visibly patrolling the roof.

[TaxmanHog]

....BTW, when in Washington I noticed that the IRS building had armed guards visibly patrolling the roof.

Visit one of the ten Processing Centers, you would think you was entering a military compound. :gun:


The above posting has a couple of links to videos, the 4 minutes into the opening comments elaborates that paraphrased: "Spirited Debate should never be suppressed, and it is the purpose of CONGRESS to air those matters."