More Fallout From IRS Bombing: Family Speaks Out, Great Commentary By Davey D.!

 

In this undated family photo released Feb. 22, 2010, by the Cook-Walden Funeral Home Vernon Hunter and his wife Valerie Hunter pose for a photo. Investigators say Joe Stack on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2010, crashed his plane into the building that houses IRS offices in Austin, Texas, killing himself and IRS employee Vernon Hunter.

(AP Photo/Hunter Family Photo courtesy Cook-Walden Funeral Home)

Son Praises Austin IRS Worker Killed In Suicide Plane Crash
Sunday, February 21, 2010
The Associated Press

AUSTIN – Relatives of a longtime Internal Revenue Service employee killed by the plane crash into the IRS offices remembered him Saturday as a devoted family man.

“He was full of life. Probably the best teacher I had in my life,” Ken Hunter said of his father, Vernon Hunter, 68.

The elder Hunter had been missing and presumed dead since Thursday, when software engineer Andrew Joseph Stack III slammed his plane into the Austin building where Hunter worked as an IRS manager.

Hunter was the only person besides Stack to die in the attack, and authorities officially notified the family Saturday that they had identified his remains, said Larry McDonald, a family friend and deacon at their church.

Hunter’s wife, Valerie, also worked in the building as an IRS employee. She wasn’t hurt.

Standing outside his father’s house in the Austin suburb of Cedar Park, Ken Hunter said he wanted to tell people about his father after hearing about Stack’s life and his anti-tax crusade. He was alarmed by reported comments from Stack’s friends who said he was a good person and Internet postings calling the pilot a hero.

“People say [Stack] is a patriot. What’s he a patriot for? He hasn’t served the country. My dad did two tours of Vietnam, and this guy is going to be a patriot and no one is going to say that about my dad? That’s what got me started talking. I couldn’t stand it anymore,” Ken Hunter said.

Hunter said he assumed the worst after not hearing from his father within an hour after the crash. “I called dad about 20 times. I never got an answer,” said Hunter, who lives in San Antonio. “I could tell.”

Vernon Hunter grew up in Orangeburg, S.C., before joining the Army in 1959 and serving about 20 years. Though he liked his job at the IRS, he had begun to hint at retirement and was speaking of getting a degree and teaching children with learning disabilities.

The Associated Press

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Daughter Says Pilot In Texas IRS Crash Was A Hero

Mon Feb 22, 9:25 am ET

In this undated photo provided by Texas Department of Public Safety, Joseph Stack is shown. Stack, authorities said, flew his small air plane into an office building in North Central Austin, where several employees of the Internal Revenue Service worked. Stack and one IRS employee, Vernon Hunter, 68, a Vietnam veteran and father of six who worked for the IRS nearly 30 years, were killed in the attack.

(AP Photo/Texas Department of Public Safety)

AUSTIN, Texas – The daughter of a man who crashed his small plane into a building housing offices of the Internal Revenue Service called her father a hero for his anti-government views but said his actions, which killed an IRS employee, were "inappropriate."

Joe Stack's adult daughter, Samantha Bell, spoke to ABC's "Good Morning America" from her home in Norway. Asked during a phone interview broadcast Monday if she considered her father a hero, she said: "Yes. Because now maybe people will listen."

Authorities say Stack, 53, targeted the IRS office building in Austin on Thursday, killing employee Vernon Hunter and himself, after posting a ranting manifesto against the agency and the government. He apparently set fire to his home before flying his plane into the office building.

Hunter's son, Ken Hunter, said he's alarmed by comments that the pilot was a hero.

"How can you call someone a hero who after he burns down his house, he gets into his plane ... and flies it into a building to kill people?" Hunter told ABC." "My dad Vernon did two tours of duty in Vietnam. My dad's a hero."

Bell said she offered her deepest condolences to Hunter's family. She said her father's last actions were wrong.

"But if nobody comes out and speaks up on behalf of injustice, then nothing will ever be accomplished," she told ABC. "But I do not agree with his last action with what he did. But I do agree about the government,"

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Anger In The Nation: Was Joe Stack A Hero Or Terrorist And Did You Mourn For Vernon Hunter?

By Davey D.

There’s no excuse for taking an innocent life especially in the manner that has been attributed to Joseph Andrew Stack, the Austin pilot who rammed his plane into a seven story building in North Austin near Frontage road, where the IRS office was housed. By now we all heard the reports about him setting his house on fire. We heard about the rantings he left in what appears to be a suicide note of sorts that was posted on his now disabled website. We heard all these different things and at the end of the day what we have, is a disturbed man who was so angry at any number of things he decided to lash out. Is it wrong? Yes, Is it cowardly? No doubt.

Joe Stack

Equally as cowardly is the fact that Stack has all but disappeared from mainstream news coverage. Well at least on Friday he did, the day after he committed his act of terrorism.. less then 24 hours after he flew his plane into the building, all of us from coast to coast were treated to the circus surrounding Tiger Woods and his staged apology. That was followed by one of his distraught mistresses a porn star who was upset and held a press conference of her own because she never got an apology and according to her she had quit her job in porn industry to mess around with a married Tiger Woods. It was a sight to behold as, regular news coverage was interrupted to carry wood’s apology. Urban radio stations including some owned by san Antonio based Clear Channel had live streaming of Woods while ignoring important easily, more impacting issues. News pundits and experts were brought in to speak to Tiger’s bad behavior and access whether or not he redeemed himself. We did all this before we even knew the name of IRS worker Stacks had killed in his attack.

What was also lost in the sauce were all the troubling questions around Stack’s actions. Why did he do it? Was his anger at the IRS and government isolated or is it part of a larger emotional trend being expressed by Americans but not playing itself out to such extremes-yet?

Fausto Cardenas Shot Up The Capitol Last Month In Austin

I found it interesting that no one wants to talk about Fausto Cardenas, the 24-year-old Houston man who was arrested just a month ago for shooting his gun off in front of the state’s Capital. He had just visited the office of a state senator Dan Patrick where he made members of his staff feel uncomfortable. Cardenas left the office and then busted off shots. Luckily no one was hurt due to the fact police pounced on him, but we’re still left wondering why he did it? Was Cardenas angry at the government? Was he guy who just had a bad day?

Say what you will, but when I see or hear of two incidents around government buildings I wanna first acknowledge them and see if there are any dots connected. After all, we do this all the time with shootings. We ask is it gang related? is there a connection? Is this the jump off for more things to come..

Stack’s so called rambling letter or manifesto can not be swept aside as some mumbo jumbo by a lunatic. He was quite clear that he had a lot of anger and felt the government that all of us are supposed to trust was out to get him. It’s the same type of anger I saw at early Tea Party rallies. It’s the same type of anger I saw at Healthcare Townhalls the past summer. It’s the anger I see and hear people expressing both from the political left and political right about everything ranging from bank bailouts and bonuses to fat greedy executives to the government doing too much to the government doing too little to protect folks at a time when we have a jacked up economy and high unemployment. People are angry-very angry. They’re so angry that a website was set up where several thousand people immediately joined praising Joseph Stack as a hero. Hell we, took a break from all the Tiger Woods coverage this morning to grant Stack’s daughter Samantha Bell a platform on Good Morning America where she praised her father as a hero for standing up to the system.

Meanwhile punk ass news pundits have been besides themselves debating whether or not to call Stack a terrorist. Nevermind the fact that we have gang members and undocumented workers sneaking into this country routinely being called terrorists by these same pundits as well as by some in law enforcement. But like I noted when it comes to Stack it’s a debate. Sadly many of these overzealous pundits have not been too besides themselves to call attention to Vernon Hunter, the 68 year Black man who was killed when Stack smashed his plane in the building. We didn’t hear a clarion call to even offer our condolences..

We were setting up websites for Joe Stacks praising him as a hero before we knew 68 year old Vernon Hunter the IRS worker he killed when he crashed his plane.

Nope, not too many of our esteemed news pundits and politicians were to quick to call for our country to honor a real hero-who served two tours of duty in Vietnam. He worked for 20 years at the IRS. Why didn’t we highlight this victim of domestic terrorism the way we did Tiger Woods? There was some local coverage here in the Austin area, but most people around the country who eagerly read Stack’s suicide note/manifesto and debated with folks about whether Stacks was a right winger or an Obama supporter, never heard of Vernon Hunter. One can only imagine how his wife and kids feel…

And still all the nagging questions remain..Was the Stacks incident isolated?

There are many that wish to dismiss this. I heard from them last week. They like so many of us here in this country want a neat ending to a messy situation. Many have been dismissive, when attempts were made to see if this anger Stacks was feeling was connected to the anger Cardenas may have been feeling when he fired shots on the Capital and if those two incidents of expressed anger were connected to the anger felt by Nidal Malik Hasan who wound up shooting and killing 12 people and injuring 31 on nearby Fort Hood. We also need to include the sentiments behind the rash of church burnings-11 in all since the beginning of this year throughout East Texas. Two suspects Robert Bourque, 19, and 21-year-old Daniel George McAllisterwere arrested over the weekend.. How angry do you have to be to burn 11 churches?

Looking over the recent events here in Texas, its hard not be concerned about exactly how much anger is out there. I can’t help but wonder if some of that angst was stoked when you have a sitting governor-Rick Perry calling for the state to secede from the rest of the Union. How much does that feed into the anger and angst that’s obviously festering out there?

Maybe those who like to have happy ending can brush all this aside and try to make it seem as all this is a series of strange coincidents. Such is not the case for Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitan. It was just yesterday that she announced that one of her main priorities is dealing with domestic extremism. She spoke at the annual governor’s convention where she said this problem needs to be ‘drilled down and analyzed’.

Ron Paul

I’m not quite sure how Napolitan’s assessment will translate into policy. With so much anger, I worry that the government will use this concern as an excuse to clamp down on people versus trying to address core issues of concern and dissent. With anti-establishment politicos like congressman Ron Paul winning the straw poll for who the Republicans want for president this past weekend at the CPAC convention and Democratic voters crossing over to vote for a Republican Scott Brown over Democrat Martha Coakley in last month’s special election in Massachusetts senate race we definitely know people are making it clear they are not satisfied.

Adding to all that is the concern that this economy is weakening. Soon we will have troops returning home after doing 3 and 4 tours of duty which will definitely have left major impact in their thinking. We already know thats a concern from the Fort Hood incident. We also have a bunch of folks from jail that are steadily coming out only to find there’s no job or anything out here for them..With all thats going on, one has to wonder if there will be anymore Joe Stacks.

The Texas IRS Bomber Joe Stack's Manifesto: You Decide For Yourself...
http://weallbe.blogspot.com/2010/02/texas-irs-bomber-joe-stacks-manifesto.html