Three Years of Isaac Brock! Who would have thought we’d be where we are now?
A Brocker friend and I have been talking about writing down the history of Brock. Said friend believes that someday, Brock will be remembered as a major force in bringing down Citizenship-based-taxation as well as a *model* of grassroots advocacy in the best Canadian tradition.
The origins of Brock though, are at the ExpatForum where many of us found ourselves after the famous Barrie McKenna article (I have yet to find the one I am actually thinking of and will update when I find it). I recently told him this and he thanked me; then quickly thought about it and said, “oh, so sorry!.” LOL! Here are some of the people who came together there and helped Brock become what it is today. I have tried really hard to include everyone I can remember; anyone who is left out, please let me know and I will update:
Accidental, AmTaker, Arrow, baird68, cafreeb12, calgary411, canadianhoosier , Deckard1138, Don Podmorro, 416, Foxyladyhawk, Geeeez, Greyowl, Johnnb, justbrowsing, KalC, Lovecheese, mach7, maz57 MonaLisa1776, Nobledreamer, Nononymous, OAP, Outraged Canadian, pacifica, Peg, Petros, quincy, rivka88, rodgod, saddened123, Schubert1975, somerfugl, The Animal, Vangrrrl, zucchero81
I cannot remember exactly when I joined, I think it was the second week of October. A couple of days later I was pretty sure I recognized the writing of someone who had signed Rami’s petition. Her name was cafreeb12 and we became quick online friends.I was a complete newbie to the whole world of posts, comments and public banter. She encouraged me to write, was very supportive and I remain forever grateful to her for that. She was experienced in the political arena and one of the first things she did was set up a show on Friday nights on Blog Talk Radio. She was the host and encouraged me to be a co-host; we did all of 4 programs and Petros was our first guest.
There were two seminal events that are ingrained from the ExpatForum era. First, the infamous utterings of Ambassador David Jacobson; “not out to get honest grandmas” who don’t owe anything to the Internal Revenue Service,’ “My message on this is to sit tight,” “We are not unreasonable. We are not unsympathetic. We are not irresponsible.” While we hoped something positive would happen, everybody was afraid to believe him. We had already suffered Shulman’s threats,the endless fear mongering of the compliance industry, read of the horrors of OVDP 2009, the bait-and-switch of FAQ 35 and so on. We waited and waited for the relief promised by the Ambassador. It finally came in early December in the form of IRS Fact Sheet 2011-13. At first people were not sure this was “it.” Where was the elimination of the FUBAR penalties and the refunds for those minnows who paid dearly in OVDP? Not to be found anywhere, that was for sure. It seemed like it would be safe for many who fit the Examples but then again, even the condors analyzed every phrase and proclaimed there really wasn’t anything new here. Things definitely did not feel like the situation was improving.
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