Re: Boycotting the Unwilling
- In 1977, Congress prohibited U.S. companies from cooperating with the Arab boycott. When President Carter signed the law, he said the issue goes to the very heart of free trade among nations and that it was designed to end the divisive effects on American life of foreign boycotts aimed at Jewish members of our society. - I've seen a number of things like this over the years. While sometimes laws like that are designed to keep US companies from boycotting Israel or South Africa or Burma or black people, and sometimes even enforced, that's usually not the real purpose (unlike laws _requiring_ US companies to boycott Cuba or Iraq or France), just as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act laws that forbid US companies from bribing foreign officials usually aren't intended to hunt down corrupt US companies. The main purpose is to give US companies leverage against foreign governments that want to demand that they boycott Israel or pay bribes, etc. when the US companies *don't* want to cooperate. Without those laws, there are conversations like Sheikh Y: I'll only buy your jets if you don't also sell them to Israel and also pay me $10m under the table and fire all your Jews. US Company A: Can't do that, we've got a big contract with Israel, and our budget for bribes is only $2m, maybe we can stretch to 3? Sheikh Y: Bah! US Company B makes good jets, and they haven't sold one to Israel, and their budget for bribes is $20M. US Company A: Hey, Congresscritter X, can you cut foreign aid to Sheikh Y? With the anti-boycott and FCPA laws, the conversations go like Sheikh Y: I'll only buy your jets if you don't also sell them to Israel and also pay me $10m under the table and fire all your Jews. US Company A: Sorry, US law doesn't let us do either one, and won't let our competitor US company B cooperate with you either, so none of us will boycott Israel, and the biggest gratuity we're allowed to offer is a bottle of Scotch. It's buy it from us or buy it from the French, and we've got Super-Death-6 Missiles and they don't. Sheikh Y: Bah! Alcohol is illegal here, you infidels! Make it a case of MacAllan 25, and you'll have to use my nephew's shipping company to deliver the jets and bribe your Congresscritter to increase our foreign aid. US Company A: Good. We can write that much up so it doesn't look like a bribe, and Congresscritter X usually charges only $100K per vote and might be extra-greatful if you ship him some Cuban cigars. Sorry about the Israel bit, but we really can't do that.
Re: Boycotting the Unwilling
At 07:12 PM 3/25/03 -0800, Tim May wrote: Granted, neither you nor I will be jailed for refusing to buy Matzah balls made in the Zionist Entity, but the point is that the law says we _could_ be jailed for boycotting. Naturally, the law is applied to those most visible. What use is a victimless-crime law if you can't use it to harass? Try using both voice and action (long time readers know the hazards of mixing these) ---e.g., actively publicize a boycott on .il items, get a Mom Pop grocery to go along, and see how much freedom we have here. Extra points if you dress as Amerinds (or US Military :-) and dump a few boxes of Manichewitz into Boston Harbor. --- Sacred COWs marching down well-trodden corridors into the valley of steel Hilal slaughter
Re: CDR: Boycotting the Unwilling
On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Eric Cordian wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US will happily throw Americans in prison for refusing to do business with Israel, because Congress has made it illegal to support any boycott of the Beanie-Headed Land Grabbers. Hrmmm.. Got a citation for this one? As far out in the land of the clueless Shrub may in fact be, I have yet to see anything that declares Israel a protected class. Of course, I could have missed it... I'd really like to see a citation if you can find one. Seems like a bit of a double standard to me. This is the U.S.: we live and die by the double standard. -- Yours, J.A. Terranson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Illegal to refuse to sell to Israel (was Re: Boycotting the Unwilling)
On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Neil Johnson wrote: On Tuesday 25 March 2003 08:36 pm, J.A. Terranson wrote: On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Eric Cordian wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US will happily throw Americans in prison for refusing to do business with Israel, because Congress has made it illegal to support any boycott of the Beanie-Headed Land Grabbers. Hrmmm.. Got a citation for this one? As far out in the land of the clueless Shrub may in fact be, I have yet to see anything that declares Israel a protected class. Of course, I could have missed it... I'd really like to see a citation if you can find one. Seems like a bit of a double standard to me. This is the U.S.: we live and die by the double standard. A Google search turns up this straight from our crypto export control friends: http://www.bxa.doc.gov/AntiboycottCompliance/OACRequirements.html First, thank you for this link. Second, I am *dumbfounded*, even as a known cynic, that this law could have survived a court challenge, or, even have made it onto the books! I mean, hell, I'm speechless: which is a big thing for someone with a mouth as big as mine... And to think, all these years I've been in non-compliance, and didn't even know it. Bah! Had I known, I could have worn it as a badge of honor! -- Yours, J.A. Terranson [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Re: Boycotting the Unwilling
On Tuesday, March 25, 2003, at 06:36 PM, J.A. Terranson wrote: On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Eric Cordian wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US will happily throw Americans in prison for refusing to do business with Israel, because Congress has made it illegal to support any boycott of the Beanie-Headed Land Grabbers. Hrmmm.. Got a citation for this one? As far out in the land of the clueless Shrub may in fact be, I have yet to see anything that declares Israel a protected class. Of course, I could have missed it... I'd really like to see a citation if you can find one. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/2403303.stm ...amongst many other items reporting on the Arab boycott of Israel. The United States has threatened to fine US companies that take part in an Arab lead economic boycott of Israel. The US government is strongly opposed to restrictive trade practices or boycotts targeted at Israel, said Undersecretary of Commerce for Industry and Security Kenneth Juster. ... US laws ban the participation by US nationals and companies in unsanctioned foreign government trade boycotts, especially the Arab League's boycott of Israel. This has been common knowledge for a long time. Note the bans the participation by US nationals point. Granted, neither you nor I will be jailed for refusing to buy Matzah balls made in the Zionist Entity, but the point is that the law says we _could_ be jailed for boycotting. Naturally, the law is applied to those most visible. Time for the Zionist Entity to go. I hope they can swim, and keep swimming. Disposing of five million corpses is a big effort to expect from Palestinians trying to get back to their farms and shops and homes taken by the European and American Jews who invaded. --Tim May He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. -- Nietzsche
Re: Boycotting the Unwilling
On Tuesday 25 March 2003 08:36 pm, J.A. Terranson wrote: On Tue, 25 Mar 2003, Eric Cordian wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US will happily throw Americans in prison for refusing to do business with Israel, because Congress has made it illegal to support any boycott of the Beanie-Headed Land Grabbers. Hrmmm.. Got a citation for this one? As far out in the land of the clueless Shrub may in fact be, I have yet to see anything that declares Israel a protected class. Of course, I could have missed it... I'd really like to see a citation if you can find one. Seems like a bit of a double standard to me. This is the U.S.: we live and die by the double standard. A Google search turns up this straight from our crypto export control friends: http://www.bxa.doc.gov/AntiboycottCompliance/OACRequirements.html -- Neil Johnson http://www.njohnsn.com PGP key available on request.
Re: CDR: Boycotting the Unwilling
J.A. Terranson wrote: Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US will happily throw Americans in prison for refusing to do business with Israel, because Congress has made it illegal to support any boycott of the Beanie-Headed Land Grabbers. Hrmmm.. Got a citation for this one? As far out in the land of the clueless Shrub may in fact be, I have yet to see anything that declares Israel a protected class. Of course, I could have missed it... I'd really like to see a citation if you can find one. Not only is there legislation against US companies boycotting Israel, but apparently, the Jews even have their own Office of Anti-Boycott Compliance (OAC) within the US Department of Commerce. Here are the results of some Googling. - COMPANY : L'OREAL After being fined $1.4 million by the US in 1995 for writing a letter to the Arab League claiming that they had stopped production in Israel, they have been engaged in actively courting Israel with investments and large-scale commerce. The American Jewish Congress has expressed keen satisfaction that L'Oreal has become a warm friend of Israel [Or at the very least, they are toadying lest another $1.4 million be picked from their pockets. -emc] - In 1977, Congress prohibited U.S. companies from cooperating with the Arab boycott. When President Carter signed the law, he said the issue goes to the very heart of free trade among nations and that it was designed to end the divisive effects on American life of foreign boycotts aimed at Jewish members of our society. - http://www.bxa.doc.gov/AntiboycottCompliance/OACRequirements.html What do the Laws Prohibit? Conduct that may be penalized under the TRA and/or prohibited under the EAR includes: * Agreements to refuse or actual refusal to do business with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies. * Agreements to discriminate or actual discrimination against other persons based on race, religion, sex, national origin or nationality. * Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about business relationships with or in Israel or with blacklisted companies. * Agreements to furnish or actual furnishing of information about the race, religion, sex, or national origin of another person. * Implementing letters of credit containing prohibited boycott terms or conditions. The TRA does not prohibit conduct, but denies tax benefits (penalizes) for certain types of boycott-related agreements. What Must Be Reported? The EAR requires U.S. persons to report quarterly requests they have received to take certain actions to comply with, further, or support an unsanctioned foreign boycott. The TRA requires taxpayers to report operations in, with, or related to a boycotting country or its nationals and requests received to participate in or cooperate with an international boycott. The Treasury Department publishes a quarterly list of boycotting countries. How To Report: EAR reports are filed quarterly on form BIS 621-P for single requests or BIS 6051-P for multiple requests available from the Department of Commerces Office of Antiboycott Compliance (OAC) in Washington, D.C. To obtain these forms, telephone OACs Reports Processing Unit at (202) 482-2448. TRA reports are filed with tax returns on IRS Form 5713. This form is available from local IRS offices. Penalties: The EAR prescribe the penalties for violations of the Antiboycott Regulations as well as export control violations. These can include: Criminal: * The penalties imposed for each knowing violation can be a fine of up to $50,000 or five times the value of the exports involved, whichever is greater, and imprisonment of up to five years. During periods when the EAR are continued in effect by an Executive Order issued pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the criminal penalties for each willful violation can be a fine of up to $50,000 and imprisonment for up to ten years. Administrative: For each violation of the EAR any or all of the following may be imposed: * General denial of export privileges; * The imposition of fines of up to $12,000 See Footnote Below [INS: :INS] per violation; and/or * Exclusion from practice. Boycott agreements under the TRA involve the denial of all or part of the foreign tax benefits discussed above. Footnote from Imposition of Fines
Re: Boycotting the Unwilling
On Wed, Mar 26, 2003 at 07:56:04AM -0800, Major Variola (ret) wrote: Try using both voice and action (long time readers know the hazards of mixing these) ---e.g., actively publicize a boycott on .il items, get a Mom Pop grocery to go along, and see how much I've always liked this: http://mccullagh.org/image/d30-32/jews-against-military-aid-to-israel.html A carefully-worded demand, that. As if dollars weren't a fungible quantity, and as if billions of dollars in nonmilitary aid would somehow not free up billions of dollars (that would be otherwise unavailable) to be spent on military purchases... -Declan
Boycotting the Unwilling
Wired News has an article on a US company refusing to honor winning eBay bids from Canadians because Canada doesn't support Shrub's war for Oil, Regional Hegemony, and a Greater Israel. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the US will happily throw Americans in prison for refusing to do business with Israel, because Congress has made it illegal to support any boycott of the Beanie-Headed Land Grabbers. Seems like a bit of a double standard to me. http://www.wired.com/news/ebiz/0,1272,58190,00.html - VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- On eBay, the highest bid wins -- unless the item on sale is a laser printer from CompAtlanta and the bidder happens to be Canadian. That's what a tax consultant discovered last week when he tried to buy a printer over eBay, but was refused by the vendor when it was iscovered he lived in Vancouver. ... -- Eric Michael Cordian 0+ O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law
