Purpose of this thread:
1. Establishing some standard press release text to send on IBS letterhead to journalists and others. The press release would present IBS and our main issues and consensus opinions.
2. A list of journalists to whom to send such press release.
3. Agree on procedures for approving the press release (as of 26 May, this would appear to be a vote at IBS, final editing and approval by Petros and Just Me).
4. Agree on distribution plan for the press release.
@Petros, Re ur: MAY 19, 2012 AT 1:32 PM
I understand, but when you play with a volatile substance, such as “Rush the bomb thrower,” be prepared to be burned. Maybe it would work out if he got into a fight with Fox publicly and turn his audience against them. That could be a benefit! 🙂
@Just me,
I think we should be reaching out to ALL: conservatives, liberals, progressives, libertarians etc.
We need to be engaging with and informing friends and enemies alike about our plight.
@FromTheWilderness…
I hear you! 🙂 Of course we should. Rush is just a special case, and I personally would rather not have him engaged. He is too volatile. I just know that is toxic to Progressives, like Maher is to Conservatives. Actually more so, as Rush never has guests on his program for discussion or debate, he is a monologue, plain and simple. He doesn’t care about other views. Maher, at least will have Conservatives on his panel for back and forth discussion.
Ultimately, what I think about Rush doesn’t matter. I have no control over what Rush discusses or goes ballistic on. If it is Saverin Citizenship that elevates our topics into the MSM, then hopefully we can benefit, but if it pushes away any chance of bi-partisan dialog and makes it more difficult to convince progressives of the error of their way, than I am not sure that we win.
Again, what I think probably doesn’t matter, and I just worry that Rush might cause a worse backlash on the left and close out one side of the equation to our persuasion. I hope I am wrong, I truly do. I do agree, we need conservatives to understand this issue. I just want the debate to be open and honest, and not have Left and Right retreet into their talking point corners. It is probably what will happen anyway, politics such as it is in America today. Sigh
If others want to contact or stir up Rush, then that is your decision, and I will respect what you do. It is not for me to say “don’t do it.” I am just expressing my cautions and concerns. It won’t be me trying to engage him. He violates everything I believe about civil discourse and debate, even when I think he is right!
I intend to send a letter to Rush under my own name and explain the issue from my point of view. I have a lot more confidence in how he will treat this than many others here, though I understand the reluctance on your part. Frankly, I have more confidence in him than Bill Maher, whom I vehemently detest. I’ve never heard Rush be so overtly and consistently vile as Maher. Still, I’ll back the idea of contacting anyone who may help us. I agree with fromTheWilderness: Getting the message out there is essential at this point, since very very few people really know about it or understand the implications.
Here is a question to ponder: what is the issue, in one sentence (or two), which would be most likely to get the attention of Mr and Mrs Front Porch America? That expat Americans are being double taxed? That expats are renouncing in droves because of fear of the IRS? That citizen-based taxation is harmful to the US economy? What do you-all think the general US population would most care about regarding this issue? That should be what we focus on, when soliciting attention to the situation.
Edited to add: Just Me, I see you have answered this question in your March post which you linked to ( http://isaacbrocksociety.com/2012/03/11/getting-media-attention-on-harmful-us-citizenship-tax-policy/ ) RenounceCitizenship said he will one day post his “Collected Wisdom of Just Me”. I admit I am compiling a “Collected Wisdom of Roger Conklin”. Thank you for bringing him on board here.
Hi Ladyhawk: good luck reaching Rush. he does tend to look at his emails. Give him your phone number too, and perhaps he will call you while on the air. We might have better success reaching Mark Steyn (frequent guest host for Rush) and Ezra Levant.
@ Just Me: about Sandra Fluke statement, are you aware that Rush Limbaugh made a public retraction of that statement?
for Just me and all, I think you might like Jim Hightower:
http://www.jimhightower.com/
@foxyladyhawk, Not exactly a sentence but: When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another. Late last year it became necessary for me to dissolve my connection with the US.
@Petros
Yes, of course I am, but it was only after a strong backlash by left and right. Then with advertisers departing, he really had no choice. I wasn’t that impressed with his “apology” as it was pretty qualified with his false equivalency justifications. It was not very genuine, in my opinion.
The point is, he is a wild canon, and a wiser and measured spokesman for the conservative cause should have never gotten himself into that low level of name calling on air. It speaks to his style. He will do it again. Hyperbole and outrageous rants is what he sells, and a certain segment of the population lap it up. I, for one, do not! Just not my style. Although I do have friends that love him. As they say, there is no accounting for taste! 🙂 To each his own.
@Just Me. I think that this thread is about whether we should reach out to Rush or other media figures as a group, and also, whether the text that Jeff has proposed above would make a good sort of introduction. At this point there seems to be a lack of direction and consensus, especially about approaching controversial figures like Rush Limbaugh in the name of the Isaac Brock Society. We can nevertheless send our press releases to him as well as Savage, Michael Moore and anyone else we can find an e-mail for.
Furthermore, you and I are among the only ones here whose names are in the open. That is a major reason I have become a spokesperson for this informal society–journalists much prefer someone they can quote by full name as opposed to anonymous sources. You are a potential spokesman too, and we have spoken of this in the past.
Thus, any press releases that we do as the Isaac Brock Society really should done with the approval of the spokes people. They are the ones who have to defend and promote whatever statements are made; I also have a committee of six original brockers, whose opinions I seek on such matters.
Anyone can say, Hey, this is my opinion, and I blog at Isaac Brock, or you should read about what’s going on at Isaac Brock. This is how we have propelled this blog. But to actually come out with a statement that says something in the name of the Isaac Brock Society–on letterhead as it were–requires more teamwork, consensus and a spokesperson who is willing to put their personal name on the line as well.
That said, I think Jeff’s idea is good and that we should come up with a press release regarding the Saverin expatriation and the Ex Patriot Act, much like we did with the 2012 OVDI. Then, we can get brockers to flood the media people with it. That’s where a list like the one in the above post is excellent place to start.
So, here is the problem that FATCA was supposed to be about, and the PR problem we have, as we get identified as part of this in the public mind.
Family Told How to Hide Inheritance, U.S. Claims
@Petros
I am not opposed to a new press release on Isaac Brock letter head on Saverin expatriation and the Ex Patriot Act. In fact, I think it was a good idea. If this is just a blanket type approach, then I favor it. I personally would rather leave the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Michael Moore and Bill Maher off the list, (as they are too polarizing, in my opinion) However, I am one that will go with the consensus. If it is your desire and those that started Isaac Brock to reach out to those too, either collectively or individually, then I will not get my nose out of joint! 🙂
Let’s hope he doesn’t say anything about us. He is a very bad person.
@Just me
I am a political atheist. I think it doesn’t matter who we contact. Ex-pats have been getting tag teamed from both sides the proverbial aisle for too long.
Now is the time for us to speak up – to anybody who may listen.
Expatriation is a very controversial issue right now. I think now is the best chance for us to have our say.
I am going to write to as many as I can.
@petros, I will not mention Isaac Brock or anyone’s names when I write Rush. It will just be me. I don’t expect anything to come of it since he probably gets way more correspondence than he can handle. I want to give him some thoughts and some public links already out there to direct his attention to the issues I care about, as a segue from his handling of the Saverin. I agree that anything in the name of Isaac Brock needs to be approved by you and anyone else you care to appoint.
@TrueNorth, I am aware that many people here have renounced or relinquished, and although I have not, I respect the decisions that individuals make in whatever they perceive to be their own best interests.
Just to be clear, I think anything that goes out on “Isaac Brock” letterhead should be approved by Petros and Just me.
Ok, forget about Rush for now, the Nay’s have it, write him individually if you want, but not representing IBS.
May we please focus on reviewing and editing the text I proposed and finishing the list of journalists to whom to send. Once we have both completed, then we can put both to a vote and then if the vote is positive, we can submit to Just Me and Petros for final review and transmitting to the people on the list. Is it all right if we proceed that way?
@ ladyhawk By all means mention Isaac Brock Society and our website. But represent yourself as just one writer here, not someone who speaks for the whole. You see what I mean?
We want people to drop our name everywhere possible. That’s how the internet works.
Also, if we do a Press Release, we send it to anyone and everyone. Rush, Savage, Obama. Who cares? It is a press release for general distribution. The last time we did this, I wrote the press release, then everyone else distributed to various members of the Canadian press.
@From the wilderness: Thanks. It has to have the approval of the real person. I don’t see how we can have a letter to Obama sent out by a voice from the wilderness, or a badger, a boiled frog, William Tell, or even Patrick Henry. Cheers.
What about WikiLeaks? Too contraverisal maybe? Actually, nothing we have at IBS is really a leak of state secrets so probably they won’t be interested. I joined their site but they are supposed to contact me with a list of coaches before I can do anything.
Anonymous? I’d rather not because they do distributed denial of service attacks and that’s definitely not our style as far as I’m concerned, I don’t do business that way. And who are they anyway? Nobody is in charge. At least here at IBS we have a couple of people in charge and a rough 90% consensus of the people that contribute on a regular basis.
Would some of the leaders of the “occupy” movements be interested in exposing some government abuses that they maybe don’t know about yet? Or would associating ourselves with them be too risky?
What y’all think? I really think we’ve got to get cracking now while the issue is warm.
I am in complete agreement with anything being represented as being from the Isaac Brock Society being vetted, or sent, by Petros or Just Me.
I like Jeffersons idea of some standardization. I would see myself picking out key phrases to hammer home points in my own comments or letters so that there is a consistent message. I do think that individualized letters or comments might have more impact in certain places than what might be seen as a ‘canned speech’ or form letter, similar to what Flaherty’s office sent out to us all.
@outragedcanadian Well, I envision that whatever text we agree on could be saved to a PDF. Then the email would have the PDF attached with a short cover text written by the person sending.
@Jefferson. Okay, I see what you’re saying.
On another note, ran across a couple of articles in the Costa Rica Star, a Jaime Lopez has been writing on the issues, there. There must be a significant amount of Canadian and US tourists and immigrants there, in one article he compared difficulty in renouncing US to Canadian citizenship. In another he wrote about Americans living in Costa Rica potentially having their passports seized,
“Let’s say an American living in Costa Rica visits the Embassy in Pavas to request a consular service, such as a notary stamp on a Power of Attorney. Should the consulate have access to IRS records and see that the individual owes $50,000 or more to the IRS, his or her passport could be confiscated at that point. If that American happens to be a perpetual tourist with no other identification or travel documents, such confiscation could make his or her life very complicated.”
http://news.co.cr/renouncing-american-citizenship-costa-rica-ideology-convenience/6490/
Has anyone looked at the Washington Wire,http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/05/18/tax-history-why-u-s-pursues-citizens-overseas/
John D McKinnon, Tax History: Why U.S. Pursues Citizens Overseas,
“The U.S. is the only country that taxes its citizens on their world-wide income, no matter where they live. OK, there’s also Eritrea. It imposes what is derisively termed a “diaspora tax” on its citizens”
The story is obviously getting traction, thanks to the Saverin controversy….