Simkanin, Richard Michael

[Famspear]

A letter written by Simkanin a few months after he was reincarcerated:

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/SimkaninLetter.pdf

It's fairly depressing and pathetic stuff.

One thing that makes reading the letter so depressing for me is that this guy was so close to the end of his life and still had not figured himself out. He really seemed to believe, on at least some level, that he was on the righteous path -- as do many of these people.

The human capacity for self-delusion is very great. And, perhaps, none of us is "immune."

[Cpt Banjo]

The most pathetic part of the letter was when he refers to somebody talking him into a scheme whereby he wouldn't have to abide by the terms of his release and his being convinced that the guy was legally correct.

Good grief, the sham tax advice he got was no good, and following it got him prison time. Did he really believe that he could blow off the Probation Officer without any repercussions by following some other bogus advice? Didn't he learn anything from his experience?

[notorial dissent]

My feeling has always been that it wasn't that he didn't know what he was supposed to be doing, but that as is common went looking for something that suited his wants at the time, i.e. a justification to not pay taxes, and that having found something that fit his requirements, he then believed in it whole heartedly, despite all evidence to the contrary, as he continued to prove the remainder of his sad wasted life.

[Dr. Caligari]

The most pathetic part of the letter was when he refers to somebody talking him into a scheme whereby he wouldn't have to abide by the terms of his release and his being convinced that the guy was legally correct.

Not nearly as pathetic as the part where he says his wife left him and no one his family will have anything to do with him due to his fight with the IRS. That's pathetic.

[The Observer]

The most pathetic part to me is where he writes about how tired he has gotten with the "patriot" system and how it is has resulted in him getting nowhere. Yet in the next sentence he continues to swallow the kool-aid.