tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post5744609683697082239..comments2024-03-29T07:19:33.505+00:00Comments on The Diary of a Geek in Oxfordshire: What's Mine, Isn't.Dungeekinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09181585428709956991noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post-49757268647937564342009-10-29T12:24:49.246+00:002009-10-29T12:24:49.246+00:00You forgot...
"Four: they keep you cowed and...You forgot...<br /><br /><i>"Four: they keep you cowed and scared and reminded of just exactly who you owe your life, liberty and property."</i><br /><br />DKDevil's Kitchenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13832949569501846730noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post-2038497209779852512009-10-29T11:03:55.752+00:002009-10-29T11:03:55.752+00:00I'm a huge believer in evolution. Not simply ...I'm a huge believer in evolution. Not simply as some convenient way of growing interesting exhibits for the local zoo, but to explain all activity of life.<br /><br />Economics is, to me, nothing more than survival of the financially fittest. I did a doctorate on growing computer programs using genetic methods -- only the programmatic "best" survived. The creation of an environment were some behaviours will give positive results, and others will give negative results will always result in more of the behaviour that gives positive results (from the point of view of the individual undertaking the behaviour).<br /><br />Enough waffle, my point -- if the state does enough of this eroding of property law and civil liberties, they will be changing the environment for the game and the population will adjust to get optimum results. The adjustment could well be -- I refuse to work: people who earn money, pay taxes, have possessions, behave reasonably are punished for those behaviours. Therefore, those behaviours will be reduced (one might argue that it is already happening).<br /><br />Pretty soon, governments will find that it is more important to protect the rights of its productive citizens, as that is the only incentive they have to continue to be productive. If they do not, they will be governors of nothing.<br /><br />If they take my car off me for not paying road tax, just once, I won't be able to go to work. I then won't be employed, I then won't have a house, and I won't be paying tax. When I am in that position, do they imagine that I shall say "I shall strive harder to gain back all that I have lost"? Or is it more likely that I will say "fuck it, there is no winning in this life, I will accept benefits until I die"?Onus Probandyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17646107318367213334noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post-80392318292346729922009-10-29T10:17:44.839+00:002009-10-29T10:17:44.839+00:00@Henry Crun:
I don't think a shaver will do mu...@Henry Crun:<br />I don't think a shaver will do much to stop them.............Jimnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post-69360068051235484092009-10-29T09:21:08.498+00:002009-10-29T09:21:08.498+00:00Any fucker who enters my house uninvited will find...Any fucker who enters my house uninvited will find him/herself staring down the business end of a Remington 1100.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post-6432643263161138772009-10-29T08:25:14.445+00:002009-10-29T08:25:14.445+00:00Some years ago I had a fight with my local council...Some years ago I had a fight with my local council over council Tax ( which I won ) it took several months and 6 appearances in front of the mags.<br />Under this new regime they would simply have sent in the baillifs who, you will recall, no longer require your implied consent to enter but can break and enter at will to steal enough of your stuff to cover not only the councils claim but their Bill too.<br />If You have the cheek to try and stop them You will be up for assualt > criminal record > CRB/ISA blacklist > Lose Job > Lose house > life on the street.<br /><br />Nice, thanks Labour.bannedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02406037760273820029noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19717539.post-19743584334908269742009-10-29T01:43:48.822+00:002009-10-29T01:43:48.822+00:00"Got a parking ticket? We'll have your ca..."Got a parking ticket? We'll have your car, you evil miscreant. Oh dear, your Council Tax payment's a month late. That'll cost you your telly and your next years' wages, thanks very much."<br /><br />You know as well as I do it won't even be like that. It'll be;<br /><br />'<i>We say</i> you got a parking ticket so we're taking the car.'<br /><br />'<i>We say</i> you are late with your Council Tax so we're taking your telly and wages.'<br /><br />Whether you have or have not done those things, the State will assume you are in the wrong, steal your stuff and then you have to try and get it back.* And of course they were wanting to change the rules on court cases to make wholly innocent people pay the State's expenses.<br /><br />This <i>is</i> the world of Terry Gilliam's Brazil.<br /><br /><br />* Can't they be more like Doctors? First do no harm. Any such sweeping powers without judicial oversight (and even that is getting dodgy now - see Operation Rize) <b>will</b> catch a lot of wholly innocent people in the bureaucratic mire, all just to attempt (and likely fail) to catch a few big fish. The cost of righting so many wrongs will be enormous. The cost of failing to prosecute the Mr Bigs will be enormous. The blight on many peoples' lives will be enormous.Garethnoreply@blogger.com