KABA: "Remember H&R Block's Sellout Last Tax Season"

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cuchulainn

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http://www.keepandbeararms.com/information/XcIBViewItem.asp?ID=3548

Remember H&R Block's Sellout Last Tax Season
Give your Business to Someone Else

by Nicki Fellenzer
[email protected]

January 14, 2003

Dear H & R Block,

If you think we've forgotten, we haven't.

If you think we'll ever let you forget, think again.

Last year, in a cowardly, underhanded fashion you betrayed tens of thousands of gun owners and Second Amendment rights supporters in this country, while greedily raking in profits from their use of your services. You made an agreement with an organization called Memberdrive, which allowed you to effectively market your tax services to a wider range of potential customers and increase your profit margin, while paying a royalty to the National Rifle Association of America for every member who used your product.

Then, upon learning the pusillanimous, anti-freedom zealots at the Brady Center didn't approve of your agreement and planned protests, you tried to weasel, squirm and maneuver yourselves out of a "social issue."

Instead of doing the right thing and standing proudly by your business decision, knowing that perhaps tens of thousands of gun owners and freedom advocates used your service specifically because of the agreement you made with Memberdrive, you tucked your tails between your legs and rolled over for a few loud, sanctimonious fanatics intent on perpetuating their political agendas.

Instead of disavowing the Brady Campaign's and Gun Industry Watch's lies and misinformation about the "termination" of this agreement, you kept suspiciously quiet about your intent to uphold your end of the bargain through the end of last year's tax season. And then you obsequiously assured the Brady Center, like good little obedient sycophants, that you would remove your company from this unwanted debate - because God forbid you upset Sarah Brady and her band of lying, freedom-hating misanthropes!

Well, we have some news for you cowards: we, the peaceable gun owners and Second Amendment rights supporters of America, are proud of who we are and what we stand for. We will not cower in front of political bullies, we will not conceal or cover up our love for this country and our intent to keep it free for all Americans, and we refuse to do business with those who do. We haven't forgotten your spinelessness and submissive willingness to do the bidding of the Brady Center and their cohorts, and we will ensure that none of your branches receive a penny of our business this year or any other.

Your zeal to remove yourself from a perceived political arena has landed you smack dab in the middle of it. Your refusal to disavow misleading claims of "victory" by pious, anti-freedom fanatics and your quiet slinking away from a business decision, which no doubt netted you a large profit, speaks volumes about where your loyalties lie - not with the customers, who used your service in good faith, but with lying, shrieking, hand-wringing blackmailers who extorted your willing compliance with a few well-placed threats. We will not forget your gutless conformity, and this year, we intend to take our business elsewhere and encourage everyone we know to do likewise.

Unlike the extortionists at the Brady Center, we won't stage obnoxious protests at your door. We will simply let our wallets convey the message.
 
Bye Bye H&R..........

The wife and myself had been using H&R Block for the past 8 years. This year we are switching to someone else because of this. I have told my rep just that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anybody from THR and who lives in NJ prepare taxes for a living? I'd love to throw my business your way. PM me so we can get together.:D
 
This is a bit of Internet myth hyped by the anti-gun crowd and helped along by gullible "too-eager to boycott anyone" gun enthusiasts who do not know the full story.

As I recall, H&R Block actually had subscribed to a service which allowed several different organizations and charities to benefit from their members' use of H&R Block. NRA was only one of them. Block did not specifically support the NRA only, but neither did they prevent the NRA from using this service. If I can do some research I will get the name of the service.

The Brady Campaign picked up on the NRA angle and acted as if this was the only organization to benefit and protested against this. H&R Block decided to pull out of the entire service, thereby pulling their support from several charities and organizations. Of course the Brady Campaign ignored the rest and loudly crowed that they had made Block drop the NRA as if this was the only effect of their protest.

About the only true part of this story is that the Brady Campaign protested Block's supposed support of the NRA and that Block backed away from the entire program (NRA included). So the inference that Block had supported the NRA ONLY and that Brady made Block back away from this commitment is incorrect.

If you want to boycott H&R Block, that is your choice. But you should at least get your story and facts straight.
 
Fprice:
If I can do some research I will get the name of the service.

Hit "control-F" and type "memberdrive." You'll find it right in the article ;)

FPrice:
So the inference that Block had supported the NRA ONLY and that Brady made Block back away from this commitment is incorrect.

Who made that inference? Not the writer of the article (Fellenzer), not me and not any of the subsequent commenters in this thread

Re-read Fellenzer's article. She's attacking Block for allowing that idea to stand -- for not disavowing Brady's misleading crowing, for not correcting the misperceptions that you correctly note were out there about this action. Thus her points:

<snip>

Instead of disavowing the Brady Campaign's and Gun Industry Watch's lies and misinformation about the "termination" of this agreement, you kept suspiciously quiet about your intent to uphold your end of the bargain through the end of last year's tax season.

<snip>

Your zeal to remove yourself from a perceived political arena has landed you smack dab in the middle of it. Your refusal to disavow misleading claims of "victory" by pious, anti-freedom fanatics and your quiet slinking away from a business decision, which no doubt netted you a large profit, speaks volumes about where your loyalties lie
 
cuchulainn...

You are correct, Memberdrive was mentioned in the article, I missed it on first reading.

However, the tone of Fellenzer's article is not much different than that of the Brady Campaign. And just as wrong-headed in it's own way.

H&R Block is a business and as such has no need to be in the middle of a political issue which does not directly concern their business specialty. Block did NOT make an agreement with the NRA. Their agreement was with memberdrive.

The Brady Campaign is the villain in this story and Fellenzer does little more than continue to do the Brady Campaign's work for them.

No matter WHAT spin you or Fellenzer try to put on it.
 
Emotional? Yep. She's emotional.

But her attacks are not baseless. You may not think that disolving a business deal to avoid protests from anti-gun groups is a problem, but that is what Block did. Yes, Block disolved all such agreements with Memberdrive not just the NRA aspect, but the reason it did so was to appease the anti-gunners.

Think not? Read Block's letter to Brady, in which the company explains that it hopes its disolving the deal will "eliminate the need for any activities on March 16" (the day the antis planned to protest). http://www.bradycampaign.org/downloads/031202hrblock.gif

And no hard feelings, OK? We're on the same side :)
 
Oh, goody. I boycott H&R Block for initially having an agreement with the NRA to go to an accounting firm that never had an agreement in the first place.

That's the stupidest thing I ever heard.

It would be one thing to move to an accounting firm that still has an agreement with the NRA but I don't know of any.

I don't know why keepandbeararms.com is upset anyway. They're big time NRA haters and use any excuse to tell people to quit. They do more damage than Sarah Brady.
 
Oh, goody. I boycott H&R Block for initially having an agreement with the NRA to go to an accounting firm that never had an agreement in the first place.

That's the stupidest thing I ever heard.
No, you refuse to do business to a company that caved in to anti-gun protests -- like Kmart caved in. People who used to buy clothes at Kmart now buy at clothing stores that never sold bullets or guns. That doesn't make the Kmart boycott stupid.

I don't know why keepandbeararms.com is upset anyway. They're big time NRA haters and use any excuse to tell people to quit. They do more damage than Sarah Brady.
Perhaps, but why refuse to support them when they are supporting the NRA?
 
When the Brady's decided to protest Block I didn't see enough gunowners supporting Block at the time. I called at that time and told them I supported them. In fact, I called for my appointment when the NRA first announced the agreement.

When I went for my appointment after they caved I thanked them for a good effort and asked them if they could reconsider. No such luck. Personally, if I had a company outside the political world, my company wouldn't support anyone.

Boycotting them only makes them think they made the right decision.
 
^^^

That's what I'm thinking. A boycott makes perfect sense to me. They are probably too big to notice or even care but I still won't use them anymore.
 
Ever since the computer programs for doing your taxes came out, I've done my own, so I have no dog in this fight.

That being said, I would not go to Block for a complicated tax return, mainly because of their exhibited wussyiness.

Just once, dear Lord, when one of these agenda-driven outfits complains about a business's marketing decision, especially in the realm of race or firearms, I'd like the outfit to just say, "Too bad - deal with it." and move on.

Something like the above is in the "Emperor has no clothes" genre. These businesses cringe at shadows. When one national outfit tells these losers to take a hike, others would be encouraged to break this cycle of craven business attitudes.

I remember some years back, the homosexual community targeted a small tea company, of all things. They threatened a boycott against the company unless it hired a specified quota. The company said "Hell No!" and the boycott was on.

I'm not a tea drinker but I went out and bought a couple of boxes and wrote the company a Thanks for having some cojones. The boycott just petered out (so to speak).

Unfortunately, I haven't seen one really big outfit show the same spirit.
 
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