These were the words of Texas singer-songwriter Billy Eli who was a friend of Joe Stack.
"Anger was not even 1% of what that man was," Eli said. As for politics and policy, "he wasn't passionately married to any of that stuff."
Isn't that the way it usually is? You know, someone kills a few people, the press talks to the family and friends, and they all say how wonderful and kind they were. I have first hand experience with mental disorders so maybe I'm a little bit more cognoscente of nuances in peoples behavior. But I can't believe that no one noticed anything. One article even said his wife and step child were at a hotel the night before the incident. So obviously something was wrong. I don't know if this could have been prevented but I'll bet the airport will be checking tax returns the next time someone wants to go out for a spin.
Both sides have been trying to politicize this and mark him as a left wing nut, or a right wing nut, and even a tea-party follower gone crazy.
Look at this article from Jonathan Capehart on the Washington Post website:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2010/02/joseph_stacks_familiar_anti-go.html
Here is a quote from the article:
"There's no information yet on whether he was involved in any anti-government groups or whether he was a lone wolf. But after reading his 34-paragraph screed, I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement."
Everyone should email the Washington Post and ask for this guy's head!
I'm generally a person that does Politicizes most things. And I do stick people into either the right or left side. But this was just a guy that snapped and went crazy. Something in his brain fizzled out. Yes his suicide note mentioned many topics that could be considered a Liberal and/or a Conservative way of thinking, but that's my point. The note was all over the place, taxes, big business, Catholic church, George Bush, and big Government. It was the rantings of someone who had enough of everything and couldn't take it any longer, even mentioning violence as the ONLY solution. I'm sure everyone has felt like this before, there was even a movie about it. "Falling Down" with Michael Douglas.
So I think both sides should stop looking at this like it was a pre-meditated political event. It was a horrible act perpetrated by a person that lost all the screws holding his brain together. His family and friends and all the people in that building now have their lives changed forever. God bless them and I pray for them to have strength during this difficult time.
Here is the suicide note:
