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A disgruntled private pilot flew his airplane into an Austin IRS office this morning. His farewell rant, which I won't link here, explains that he did it out of hatred of the rich, the politicians, the rich politicians, and most of all the IRS. This man, whose name was John Stack, was not a Muslim. Neither was he a Christian (he rails against the Catholic Church in his parting note), a Republican (he singles out George W. Bush by name as a bad guy), or a member of the Tea Party. So what was he? Simple: he was a terrorist....

Today's tragic event in Austin provides us with a unique opportunity to examine how idiotic and self-serving the typical responses are made by the apologists for Islamic terrorism (Muslim and non-Muslim alike) when one of their co-religionists shoots up an Army base, bombs a building, blows up a pizza parlor full of teenagers, etc. So here are some of the comments that would have been made by the usual suspects if they were actually operating in standard terrorthink mode: 1) The IRS should ask itself, "Why do they hate us?" (submitted by Fareed Zakaria) 2) This was a desperate act...

"This is being touted all over the web as Mr. Stacks Last statement". It Reads: 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.

There is an interesting quote at the end of Joseph Stack's suicide note: The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.. This quote is from a book by Henry Fairlie titled Bite the Hand That Feeds You: Essays and Provocations The Amazon.com description of this book is:A native British wit expresses an adopted American ebullience in this sparkling collection of political journalism and commentary. Fairlie (1924–1990) migrated from London to the U.S. in the 1960s, where his writings in the Washington Post, the New Republic and elsewhere both celebrated and pilloried the American...

News Alert, single engine plane plows into building in Austin, Texas. Building houses FBI.

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...

When we last discussed the Texas Gun Shows situation, attorney Jerri Lynn Ward had been temporarily stalled in her Open Records Request to the Austin Police Department for "any and all documents, notes correspondence, summaries, worksheets, memoranda, and/or assignment sheets e-mails and video or audio recordings," when they instead sent her this notice: [T]he department wishes to withhold some of the requested information and has asked for a decision from the Attorney General about whether the information is within an exception to public disclosure. That's ostensibly been resolved and they've coughed up some docs. I'll present them here, ask you...

Alice Tripp, Legislative Director of The Texas State Rifle Association, has given us "The Story Behind the Gun Show Crisis in Austin." Her first main conclusion? Darwin Boedeker of Texas Gun Shows was not the focus of the Thursday, Jan. 14th, meeting. He was not threatened, coerced or intimidated by BATF or the APD. I guess the question that comes to my mind is, what would have happened had Boedecker refused to cooperate with the "suggestions"? Darwin Boedeker did not take a lawyer, did not stop the meeting or ask for advice, and did not ever contact TSRA. What would...

Ted Nugent joins Palin/Perry Rally at The Berry Center AUSTIN – Ted Nugent will perform the national anthem at the “Super Sunday with Sarah” Rally with Gov. Rick Perry and Gov. Sarah Palin....

Last Thursday at around noon, a 24-year-old Houston man identified as Fausto Cardenas was arrested by Texas State Troopers for firing a gun outside the Texas Capitol. The suspect was also seen inside trying to gain access to District 7 (Houston) State Senator Dan Patrick’s office a few minutes earlier. Senator Patrick’s office aide said Cardenas was acting strangely and denied him access. For over a year, Senator Dan Patrick has been advocating for the Texas National Guard to be placed on the border with Mexico to fight the drug cartels and illegal immigration.

Bishop Joe S. Vásquez Austin, Texas, Jan 26, 2010 / 11:54 am (CNA).- Catholics of the Diocese of Austin rejoiced this morning to hear the words “Habemus episcopum! (We have a bishop!),” after it was made public that Pope Benedict appointed Auxiliary Bishop Joe S. Vásquez of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston to be Austin’s new shepherd. Bishop Vásquez is the first Mexican-American to lead the diocese and will be its fifth bishop.The Apostolic Nuncio to the U.S., Archbishop Pietro Sambi, made the announcement in Washington D.C. this morning. The installation ceremony will take place in Austin on March 8,...

Rumors have been swirling that Austin, Texas gun shows were threatened with closure unless they accepted a local rule limiting gun sales to licensed dealers only. The Texas Gun Show home page contains this announcement:

<p>AUSTIN — Shots have been fired at the Texas Capitol, the Texas Department of Public Safety has confirmed.</p> <p>The shooting occurred minutes before noon. A trooper at the Capitol said a person has been taken into custody. The building has been locked down to make certain there are no other shooters.</p>

Anyone hear anything on this? Googled but didn't find anything. Austin FReepers, y'all know what's going on?

KLBJ radio in Austin broke in with a report that shots were fired at the state capitol. Gunman in custody. No further details yet. The legislature is not in session to my knowledge.

An Austin police effort to curtail the illegal sales of firearms at a weekend gun show sparked an angry response from the event's organizer and raised concerns about whether the department overstepped its authority. Several police recommendations about the operation of the show were intended to curtail crime there and should not have been viewed as requirements, authorities said Tuesday. But the show organizer said he thought that law enforcement officials were instructing him to adopt rules that violated state and federal law, including a requirement that only licensed gun dealers be allowed to sell firearms. He said he begrudgingly...

AP Photo by Casey Templeton I've been following developments concerning Texas Gun Shows in Austin over at my WarOnGuns blog for the past few days. My posts include: Messin' with Texas and More About Texas Gun Shows in Austin And Mike Vanderboegh has some caustic observations at Sipsey Street Irregulars. Reports were coming in from forums and elsewhere that the Austin PD and the BATFE have mandated no private sales will be allowed. Thing is, there is no federal or state law giving them this authority. So I asked them if the reports were true and how they could do...

I received a phone call from former Marine Captain Kelly Hoag the other day, asking if I could help get the word out about a challenger for Pelosi's sock-puppet, Lloyd Doggett. Since I know Captain Hoag, having met her at the 9/12 March on DC and having had the honor of escorting her and 4 other wounded Marines during the weekend festivities, I was more than happy to lend a hand. George Morovich is mounting a campaign to unseat Doggett and give us one more voice of reason in the US House of Representatives. We need all the conservative voices...

Thursday, The Travis County Healthcare District Board, will vote on whether to continue to pay for abortions. If approved, county taxpayers would continue to spend $450,000 a year, paying for abortions for low income women. Emotions are expected to run high during Thursday's meeting at commissioners court. Opponents argue property taxes should not be used to fund abortions for low income women, while supporters say if the programs are taken away about 1 percent of the most vulnerable will have nowhere else to turn.