Some of our bloggers have made some nice contributions to articles this week:
An article at occupy.com cites Victoria Ferauge and Marvin van Horn:
Exposed: IRS Is Colluding With Banks To Unfairly Target U.S. Citizens Abroad
I and others spoke with globalnews.ca
Why are so many American expats giving up citizenship? It’s a taxing issue
Our own Eric is behind the article’s reporting of the discrepancy between the numbers at the FBI and the Federal Registry:
More expatriate Americans are renouncing their citizenship than at almost any other time. And comparing statistics from the FBI indicates the State Department may have been lowballing its numbers.
Last year, 4,650 people who renounced U.S. citizenship were added to an FBI database, far more than the 658 recorded in 2011. A further 1,958 were added this year by the end of June, roughly tracking 2012′s numbers.
Some will find interesting the letter from the State Department to Global News responding to Global’s request for information under the Freedom of Information Act. The letter claims that the State Department cannot tell the numbers of renunciations that they have processed because they don’t keep track of that information. Apparently, they pass that information on to the Treasury Department without keeping their own records. It really seems like obfuscation to me. Moreover, the letter claims the information is “private”:
Renunciation records are privacy protected name-retrievable only; for a third party to access such records, you would have to provide the name of each person who has renounced, and also obtain written authorization from that person.
LOL. Treasury is required by law to publish the names in the Federal Registry. How can that be protected information if it’s supposed to be published?
Have a nice weekend!
@Em,
I totally agree about the birds. I’ve got two feeders in the back yard and one hummingbird feeder in the front. We live in a forested area south of Ottawa, and are lucky enough to see many varieties of birds on a daily basis. Watching them is so peaceful. – a great way for us ‘criminals’ to unwind after a bout of FATCA bashing.
Em, I find I can’t think of FATCA when I’m lugging the big lens over to my favorite birding spot at Boundary Bay. I’m gonna be having some fun in November when the “snowy owl” irruption from the North happens this year, then it’s also bald eagle photographing time. And to think my dear adoptive “Aunt” used to send me all sorts of nature articles from the Vancouver Nature History Association, now called Nature Vancouver when I was in high-school and my interest was all 100% airplanes. Now, I’m a definite birder/photographer. I wonder how much of her influence on my interests ended up being more than I thought possible. Maybe she knew me better than I knew myself. 🙂
Just make sure the jays don’t try to take over your feeder, they’re little aggressive, entitled little feathered beasts, kinda like “Broke” Obama.
Em, your comments are so wonderful. I just love to read them – they are so upbeat and make my day.
And the twitterers (twitterees?) boy are you folks busy. Just Me is back and I see Atticus is going strong too.
And for everyone – I’ve been watching article after article pop up. This is a result of YOUR efforts. What an amazing place is Isaac Brock and I am so proud to be a part of it.
Victoria (moustique)
“The Spanish called the mosquitoes “musketas,” and the native Hispanic Americans called them “zancudos.” “Mosquito” is a Spanish or Portuguese word meaning “little fly” while “zancudos,” a Spanish word, means “long-legged.” The use of the word “mosquito” is apparently of North American origin and dates back to about 1583. In Europe, mosquitoes were called “gnats” by the English, “Les moucherons” or “Les cousins” by French writers, while the Germans used the name “Stechmucken” or “Schnacke.” In Scandinavian countries mosquitoes were called by a variety of names including “myg” and “myyga” and the Greeks called them “konopus.” In 300 B.C., Aristotle referred to mosquitoes as “empis” in his “Historia Animalium” where he documented their life cycle and metamorphic abilities. Modern writers used the name Culex and it is retained today as the name of a mosquito genus. What is the correct plural form of the word mosquito? In Spanish it would be “mosquitos,” but in English “mosquitoes” (with the “e”) is correct.
Mosquitoes can be an annoying, serious problem in man’s domain. They interfere with work and spoil hours of leisure time. Their attacks on farm animals can cause loss of weight and decreased milk production. Some mosquitoes are capable of transmitting diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, dengue, filariasis and encephalitis [St. Louis encephalitis (SLE), Western Equine encephalitis (WEE), LaCrosse encephalitis (LAC), Japanese encephalitis (JE), Eastern Equine encephalitis (EEE) and West Nile virus (WNV)] to humans and animals. ”
🙂
Quotation above is from this site
http://www.mosquito.org/mosquito-info
not applicable to the Brock situation, but
en una boca cerrada, las moscas no pueden entrar
or something like that, according to my old Spanish teacher, recreated by Google