Some folks here, especially Steven J. Mopsick, our beloved former litigator for the IRS who has now turned advocate for fairness and justice for Americans abroad, have really wanted to stop the Isaac Brock Society from going off the deep tangent of drawing analogies between the United States and Nazi Germany. Finally, as an editor and administrator here at Isaac Brock Society, I have to agree: Everybody, please stop it!
That felt good. It is always good when you feel that you are in control and can order people around!
Meanwhile, I got to thinking about my recent comment at Outraged’s eloquent post “Me, I’m a moderate”. I said there that the first step in a pogrom of course is not genocide but identifying the target of persecution. The Nazis made Jews to wear yellow stars. I once read if I’m not mistaken in a Paul Johnson novel, The History of the Modern World, that many Jews were essentially assimilated to Europe, having forgotten about their Jewishness until Hitler abruptly reminded them that they were not Arian. He then made them wear yellow stars.
This gave
me an excellent idea for Americans abroad. We could design a badge similar to the six-pointed yellow star, but this would help the banks overseas to identify US persons. Then, when an American walks into an FFI (Foreign Financial Institution) it’s easier for the bank to determine who is an US person who needs to be singled out by the FATCA law, and who are your ordinary natives and residents from every other country in the world, such as China, Bangledesh, UK, Ireland, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Uganda, Kenya, India, Indonesia (well, you get the picture). It really is very difficult to identify and treat Americans differently, if they are hiding behind a foreign passport or if they have assimilated into their countries of residence. Just as some Jews didn’t speak German with a Yiddish accent, some Americans living in Canada speak English with a Canadian accent, eh? And so they are virtually undetectable without actually making them take their pants down so that you can see if they have a “Property of the United States Government” tush tattoo.
As a former American in possession of Certificate of Loss of Nationality, I should have to wear one too. After all, my birth in Chicago taints me, just as something like a million Canadians: border babies (those born in a US hospital), accidental Americans, children and grandchildren of Americans, and obvious tax cheats like Peter Dunn who escaped to Canada, not to study and marry a Canadian, but to avoid paying US taxes. Really, American citizenship is irrevocable, and the tax-free status of a citizens of 195 other countries is something which should elude American citizens forever. So here is my design for the star, and it is easily printable and clipable: Y’all can just print a few hundred copies each (don’t forget to pay royalties, see below–this is an honour system), clip them out and give them to your friends for distribution. While US persons should have to wear them at all the times so that they can be subject to special treatment when walking on the street, shopping, or renting an apartment, it should be a capital crime in all countries in the world not to wear one of these when entering an FFI. Now if we all just volunteer to wear this star, it would save the FFIs millions of dollars in identification software, questionnaires and FATCA advertising.
All copyrights and patent rights reserved. Designed by Petros Research Inc. Please send to all Foreign Financial Institutions but insist that if they decided to use my design that they pay all royalties to Petros Research Inc. ($0.50 CDN per use).
There’s a couple of things I try to be conscious of when making posts. Don’t write anything about someone (or something) I wouldn’t say to their face. It helps to raise the civility level.
@USX, well, now that I have been painted now with all kinds of colourful words, racist, whack job and I’ve even been compared to the worst sort of racists in the world. That bothers me. I’ll be meeting with Joe in a few days. There will likely be some response.
Bubblebustin, So far the conversation is remarkably civil compared to other internet sites. I’ve seen insults galore at the Globe & Mail online discussions that far exceed what goes on here. But I think you are correct. Often when people aren’t using their real name, it is easy to say things in a certain way, and that’s why discussion can get pretty awful online. But here, mostly people have stuck to the issues and have avoided the worst. I will maintain that I’ve not seen anything extreme yet. Heated disagreements, etc. yes. Extremism, no.
Oh, and I overlooked mentioning the second thing. I assume that my real identity can be made public knowledge. I go by another name at the request of a loved one, but anyone scratching the surface can easily figure it out – that’s if they give a rat’s as*. (I use the asterick for civilities sake, lol)
*Forget the star. This is the digital age where digital signatures matter. Thus, everyone must sign their messages, blogs, emails, chats and documents with the following:
This signature has been slightly modified from the original:
bubblebustin at 11:30 am – You and me both. Issues not personalities. Ad hominem is the lowest form of helplessness. But honesty over slavility any day. Still waiting here for that outpouring of sympathy and support for Joe Smith. His data on Canadian citizenship was a gem. Anyone who has ever worked with time-sequenced media has to appreciate the great effort he put into that video. My favorite line takes on added resonance – Who are these people anyway? I never said anything about my uneasy feelings provoked by a self-denominated spiritual draft dodger jumping into a uniform and wielding a sword – pure American militarism on the oblique. Oops, forgive that slippage into paralipsis. We all need forgiveness. Thank you Petros for your rare fellow feelings that stretch out in all directions. eof
*Joe Smith has my full support. The video was an excellent combination of rage, frustration, irony and humor in a modern context. As I mentioned earlier, I’ve been banned from about a dozen forums and I’ve been accused of being an anti-Semite maybe over 10 thousand times. I’ve also been threatened, harassed, insulted and verbally attacked in every way one can think of. Nevertheless, I’ve remained consistent with my belief that the nations of Palestine and Israel exist, have the right to be treated equally, that violence is wrong and that it is unacceptable to hate Arab, Jewish or any other Semites regardless of culture, language, religion or nationality.
Also, the only race is the human race and racism identifies divisions within the human race based on nationality, culture or religion. So, yes, America and Switzerland are behaving racist but US politicians are mostly to blame for such. America is being racist against its own citizens. It may be unintentional racism or even ignorant racism, but it is unacceptable. I love America, fuck America. If that bothers anyone, then tell banks to not deny me for being a US person and until then, go to hell.
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It is illegal to read this message if one is a citizen of the United States of America (USA), or if one is taxed by the US government.
@usx, slavility is one thing, but to abandon civility while being honest when it’s not necessary to do so?
Poster boy for civility
But still a little deficient – tendency to mumble and wiggle
Caution: Offensive comparison buried in paragraph five
But cheeks decently covered
@uxscanada
Thank you for that
…some require civility to be imposed upon them?
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