As a child I heard my dad use this expression , “Everyone and his brother”–to say that a large amount of people will be at a certain store at a certain hour, so we were going to go at a different time.
I had to relinquish my US citizenship in 2011. I have told my sisters. One of my sisters is politically active. Neither give a rat’s tush about what has happened to me. Both are democrats. My brother doesn’t give a damn about politics and doesn’t vote. He gives less than a rodent’s hiney about my problems since he not infrequently has his own concerns with the IRS, as do all Homelanders.
Can we be surprised that the Senate Finance committee downplayed the 347 submissions regarding FATCA, most of which came from “US citizens” abroad? If we cannot get our brothers and our sisters to write to their representatives, Congress will dismiss our pleas out of hand. But how do we mobilize the members of our own family. My own experience, and what I’ve heard from others, is that our families care a little about our situation than Barack Obama cares for his own brother living in Kenyan poverty. So how do we mobilize people who think we are crazy or have their own problems and no time to put into lobbying their government on our behalf. I believe it can’t be done–but perhaps others have more empathetic brothers and sisters. I certainly don’t have siblings who empathize with my situation; apparently, neither does George Obama.
Barack Obama’s ‘half-brother discovered in Kenya, living on a dollar a month’
@Barbara, “Are you suggesting that all us non-Canadians go away (as well as out financial contributions to ADCS)?”
No, I am trying to light a fire under Canadian asses, cause reality is that if Canadians cannot convince USA to treat us like the friends and neighbours that we are, then we are all F’d.
That’s absolutely correct, foo. Thanks for pointing it out.
We purposely put at the top of the home page as we wanted to include all those deemed *US Persons* wherever in the world they may reside to have a place of support and discussion,
…an open forum to discuss the issues of United States citizenship, extra-territorial taxation, FBAR, and FATCA.
I am glad, Barbara and all others who think so, that Isaac Brock is an inspiration to all who are under threat by the US government.
Every country where those who are deemed *US Persons* reside is unique in some way in how their own residents and citizens are persecuted by US citizenship-based taxation.
Imagine the headlines (in Canada, USA’s good buddy, as if….):
“Harper upset as USA claims 1 million Canadians living in Canada, owned by USA”
“Obama insists, “Canadians born on south side of US-Canada border must pay US taxes on their Canadian income””
“Slavery(of any kind – physical, financial) not legal in USA or Canada, except for Canadians born in the USA”
@Calgary411,
Some of us, are CANADIAN. And its not that we have an issue with joining forces with others opposed to a common enemy, its just that WE ARE CANADIAN. Surely Sir Isaac Brock would get this. I really think he would.
ooops…NORTH SIDE….Canadians live NORTH of USA…sigh….lol. We also have excellent FREE education.
I can’t speak for Sir Isaac Brock, only for myself. We’ll again have to agree to disagree and end what is again going way off track. I really don’t understand the point of this divisiveness.
@Whitecat
“God keep our land glorious and free”…this “free” part may involve a discussion of US politicians and how we might influence them. We don’t ALWAYS have to be whinging about Harper. This is a battle fought on multiple fronts. I don’t quite see the point of your peevishness. 🙂
….am afraid of where I am going with this, other than HOPING other CANADIANS are listening. How much different is the wool that the Canadian government is trying to pull over Canadians eyes regarding this whole FATCA BS different than the wool it has pulled over Canadians regarding the treatment of Aboriginals in Canada since forever?
And why do we think that as ‘Americans in Canada’ or even as ‘Canadians born in the USA’ that our plight is of any concern to anyone else n Canada? And if it is not, then our job as CANADIANS, is to make it so.
@LakeSuperiorGuy re: ” his “free” part may involve a discussion of US politicians and how we might influence them. ”
So, freedom is dependent on how much influence you have? And you wonder why I am peevish?
@Calgary,You say, “We’ll again have to agree to disagree and end what is again going way off track.”.
Are you saying, that this discussion has come to an end according to the moderators at Brockl?
Cause that is what it sounds like.
@Whitecat
I don’t mean “influence” in the sense of “clout.”I mean it in the sense of “convincing” them to do the right thing by us. Or “persuading.” Or “cajoling.” Please pick one.
@LakeSuperiorGuy,
Who gives a crap? We are CANADIAN! LOL! Though I am starting to wonder which side of Lake Superior you live on.
@Whitecat
The Canadian side since ’78. But I can write to politicians in both countries (and have). I read the news about many countries. Insularity just makes a person ignorant. ..just like the homelanders that seem so blind to our problems.
“Insularity just makes a person ignorant. ..just like the homelanders that seem so blind to our problems.”
Lake Superior Guy, who are ‘homelanders’? Just using that term, puts a US centric perspective on everything you say. Sorry, but this is Canada. ‘Homelanders’? – what is that?
Really, there is nothing wrong with acknowledging the fact that there are different groups of people here at IBS. I happen to represent the CANADIANs who live in CANADA, where ‘homelander’ does not compute. IsaacBrock, if he were here, would probably get this.
@Whitecat
I sound US centric? surely you jest!
….FATCA is (wait for it)…US centric and its undoing will
ultimately be the same. The Canadian lawsuit just fights the IGA enabling FATCA. It doesn’t slay the dragon. That will take a US centric sword. If that annoys you then have a snort of Canadian Club and settle down for a long drawn out slog.
“The Canadian lawsuit just fights the IGA enabling FATCA. It doesn’t slay the dragon. That will take a US centric sword. If that annoys you then have a snort of Canadian Club and settle down for a long drawn out slog.”
In other words, master(USA) owns us (Canadians born in USA), and unless we can convince him otherwise, we are slaves.
That kind of attitude, (no matter how semi realistic it might be) SUCKS!
@LakeSuperiorGuy, “it will take a US centric sword to slay the dragon”.
In other words, you believe you are owned.
@WhiteKat, re; “I happen to represent the CANADIANs who live in CANADA”.
?
I am also a Canadian, living in Canada. Is there only one point of view if one is a Canadian? Is there only one point of view if one is a dual? Or for a USperson who is not a US citizen? It is inherently complex.
I never allowed anyone to tell me what I should be as an American and neither will I allow anyone else to define what I am/should be as a Canadian. Let us all be free to self identify.
Strength is in our various and varied numbers and finding the way to achieve our common goals irrespective of our differences. I am sure that the respective US and Canadian governments would prefer to divide and conquer on these issues. There are probably ‘US persons’ reading here who are neither US citizens nor Canadian ones. Some people do have US ties. Or ties to multiple countries. We should work to wield whatever varied assets and resources we have at hand. If some can find the energy and will to work at this on both sides of the border, and want to, then why not?
LakeSuperiorGuy, what you are saying is that US laws supercede Canadian laws. If we cannot convince them they are wrong, if we cannot force them to change their laws, then they win and they own us by default. But that is bullshit. Fuck their laws.
@Badger, re: “Is there only one point of view if one is a Canadian? Is there only one point of view if one is a dual? Or for a USperson who is not a US citizen? It is inherently complex. ”
This is fucking war at this point. So yeah, I kind of see a dividing line, whether we want to be politically nice about it and pretend its not there or not…it is there.
@WhiteKat, drawing clear lines is problematic whenever a situation and issues are entwined and complicated. It’s messy. I just don’t see that clear bright boundary that you allude to. Perhaps we’re all at different points along a continuum on this – but that doesn’t mean that we don’t share some kind of overlap.
How will drawing a dividing line help us?
WhiteKat, I don’t get you. When I first laid eyes on the Isaac Brock Society, I was worried that it would be so Canadian-centric that I would be unwelcome. I found out right away how wrong I was, and wrote a heartfelt message of appreciation for all to see. Though managed and mainly populated by Canadians and somewhat focused by necessity on the ADCS lawsuit and so forth, nevertheless there was none of this treating me as a “foreigner” here, in the same way I am still patronized by my neighbors as a “foreigner” after living 30 years in my (non-Canadian) country of residence. Your posts at IBS stood out as filled with incendiary intelligence and calls to arms, which I usually found rousing and thought-provoking. But, my God! You’ve got my head spinning, and not for the first time. The way you’re firing these constant broadsides today reminds me of old ladies comparing illnesses: “You think you have pain? You don’t know pain. Let me tell you pain…” Is there a point to such comments?
WhiteKat, do you want me to shut up because I’m not Canadian? Sure seems like it. I understand the pain you feel at mistreatment by the US government–the same pain we are all feeling–and no, yours is no greater nor more “special”, nor are you more of a suffering martyr, because you so-called “live next door to the USA”. If I lived in Mexico, would I then be your equal? I don’t live “next door”, but I live on the same planet as the USA. Same effect, if not worse, because I can’t even influence my government through elections and if I tried to sue them over their IGA with the USA, I’d either be deported or arrested. Which is one reason why I support the ADCS, not because I give two hoots about Canada (well, OK, I give one hoot; I have non-US-person in-laws in Toronto). Canada is not the issue; US hegemony is.
I sure as hell wish you would save your pissed-offedness for the politicians and bureaucrats, and not for those of us, of all stripes and geographic locations and claimed nationalities, who are suffering, in a smorgasbord of ways, but suffering together. Along with you.
Thanks for saying so well what I feel, Barbara.
To me, the fight is for ALL of us and our children, including a fight for WhiteKat and WhiteKat’s family whose lives have been turned upside down because of the fact their mom was born in the USA (even though she has no meaningful relationship to that country) — she is and should be *just a Canadian*. The pain for all of us is special to each of us as individuals and families, but is also a pain shared by and understood by all of us. That in itself, to me, is special as the Isaac Brock Society is (or was intended to be) a place where others could come for support and to gather for resources, education and find ways to fight for our rights in the best ways we can wherever we may reside.