Bulldozing The House, And Leaving It To The Bank

HT to Calculated Risk.

Well, this guy didn't fly a plane into the bank and murder employees.

Still, it did take some chutzpah to take a bulldozer to one's own house before the bank seized it.

If the land was worth, say 50K, then this guy just blew a 300K hole into the local bank's balance sheet.

No 'extend and pretend', if the house no longer exists!  And since it was bulldozed for the cameras, and the story is broadcast, no way to spin those facts away, either.

Undoubtedly, the bank may attempt to sue or prosecute over this, but do they really wish to be subject to discovery and have to try the cases in front of a small-town Ohio jury? What might come to light that would be of interest to the bank inspectors? Will they give twelve citizens the opportunity to draw their own knives on the bank, all completely legally? And endure the press coverage of the trial and subsequent jury nullification?  And watch customers take their business down the street?

News travels fast in small towns!

Cheaper to hire a cleanup crew, and quietly haul the remains away, upon reflection.

The anger is building out there. Murder is not an option. 

Creativity, however, can be highly effective.

This Week's Bizarre Tragedy: Austin, Texas

 These pictures tell the end of the story.

Here's the account from today's Fox News account. 

Here's the long diatribe left by Joseph Stack, before he burned his home to the ground, left his wife a widow, and his young step-daughter undoubtedly traumatized.

OldSouth slogged through the long farewell, just to see if there was any nugget of wisdom to glean:

Well, he hated the government in general, and the IRS in particular.  And unions. And the Catholic Church. And big business. Accounting firms. CPA's. Politicians in general, members of Congress in particular.

He spent a lot of his energy over the years crusading against all of the above. Especially the IRS.

Along the way, he lost two businesses and a marriage in California.

He relocated to Austin, and it appears the cycle was underway again.

LongStoryShort, much like our intrepid professor in Alabama, he decided that all his heartbreaks were someone else's fault.  Therefore, he was justified in murdering his tormentors; and himself as well in this instance.

Not one word contemplated the horrific consequences for the people who loved him, who are left to sort life out in the wake of this crime.

OS ain't preaching, folks. He remembers a time when he felt much like this, and but for grace, did not act out in this destructive a manner. There but for grace...

We live in troubled times. And we're in for a rough sled over the next few years. So, let's hug the ones who love us extra-good, and think of them first as we make any decision, however seemingly insignificant. Let's choose our battles with a bit of humility and wisdom. Let's do something, however small, to make someone else's life better, to tidy up our tiny corner of the culture a little bit today. Let's remember who we are, who we aren't, and how we got here.

And how blessed we are.