A small plane has crashed into an office building in Austin, Texas, that houses local FBI, CIA, and IRS offices. The scene is 20 miles from the nearest airport, and witnesses say the plane "hit the building full-throttle."

UPDATE: Stack's hosting provider has taken down the note, citing "the sensitive nature of the events that transpired in Texas this morning and ... a request from the FBI." We've grabbed it here.

UPDATE: The pilot, Joseph Andrew Stack, left an online suicide note. He was angry at the IRS.

The note is a rant against bankers, accountants, politicians, the IRS, and "monsters of organized religion." Stack, an engineer who worked in aviation, says he ran into business troubles after a Reagan-era IRS ruling that changed the way he could account for freelance income, and goes on to tally various business and financial failures, almost all of which he blames on government collusion with big business:

Years later, after weathering a divorce and the constant struggle trying to build some momentum with my business, I find myself once again beginning to finally pick up some speed. Then came the .COM bust and the 911 nightmare. Our leaders decided that all aircraft were grounded for what seemed like an eternity; and long after that, ‘special' facilities like San Francisco were on security alert for months. This made access to my customers prohibitively expensive. Ironically, after what they had done the Government came to the aid of the airlines with billions of our tax dollars … as usual they left me to rot and die while they bailed out their rich, incompetent cronies WITH MY MONEY! After these events, there went my business but not quite yet all of my retirement and savings.

His last straw was a disastrous IRS audit that he says cost him his retirement savings, and which he blames on his accountant. The note is a populist rant, and concludes with a line from the Communist Manifesto:

The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government. Nothing changes unless there is a body count (unless it is in the interest of the wealthy sows at the government trough). In a government full of hypocrites from top to bottom, life is as cheap as their lies and their self-serving laws.

[snip]

I can only hope that the numbers quickly get too big to be white washed and ignored that the American zombies wake up and revolt; it will take nothing less. I would only hope that by striking a nerve that stimulates the inevitable double standard, knee-jerk government reaction that results in more stupid draconian restrictions people wake up and begin to see the pompous political thugs and their mindless minions for what they are. Sadly, though I spent my entire life trying to believe it wasn't so, but violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer. The cruel joke is that the really big chunks of shit at the top have known this all along and have been laughing, at and using this awareness against, fools like me all along.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let's try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

According to a White House pool report, Barack Obama was briefed on the attack this afternoon, and the White House is not calling it terrorism:

gibbs says potus briefed by brennan on austin plane incident at 12:35. says homeland security investigating all angles. does NOT appear to be terrorism.
taxiing now. more briefing later.
mike

Two people are reported missing, and witnesses describe an enormous explosion. The plane is reported to be a Piper Cherokee 140, and cable newsers are speculating that it's unlikely that such a plane could produce an explosion of that size without the aid of additional fuel or explosives onboard.

The plane hit the Echelon building in Austin. Witnesses say it was flying low and fast and appeared to be in control.

UPDATE: Joseph Andrew Stack is the registered owner of a Piper Cherokee (otherwise known as a Piper P28), which is the model that witnesses say crashed into the building. It was originally registered in California, where, according to public databases, he used to live:

Here's what one looks like:

The plane's last filed flight path was from Portales, N.M., to a municipal airport in Georgetown, Texas, which is about 30 miles north of Austin and may be where he kept the plane:

UPDATE: CNN is now reporting that Joseph Andrew Stack, a registered pilot and plane owner, allegedly set his house on fire this morning and is suspected of being the pilot who his the building.

UPDATE: An MSNBC producer says via Twitter that local news station KXAN in Austin is reporting that a local pilot set his home on fire with his wife and daughter inside this morning and then flew his plane into the building.

CLARIFICATION: We initially had the suspect as Andrew Joseph Stack, which is how public databases listed his name, but that appears to be an error.