D'Juhn Keep on 13/12/2009 at 10:41
Quote Posted by henke
Can't say I would've done things any differently than he did.
bet you'd do it differently now though
SubJeff on 13/12/2009 at 11:17
I'd certainly do things differently now, yes. Doesn't stop this current case being ridiculous. The guy was stupid, yes, but his actions are just that and not criminal. We may have laws that say otherwise but, as the Chinese say, laws are dead and cannot make decisions, you are alive and therefore can make decisions.
In other words - don't be a moronic robot, which is what the law is being here.
Quote Posted by SD
Nice way to derail your own thread. Taxes, wtf?
I'm sure we're all keen to hear you argue how taxes on unearned wealth, like inheritance tax or mansion tax, are
anti-meritocratic, because they sure as hell seem like the exact opposite from where I'm sitting.
Of course these things are anti-meritocratic. I'm working to provide for my offspring, as I hope you are, and therefore I don't take kindly to the idea that my hard work should get an
extra tax (hey, I don't mind being taxed and I already get taxed at the top rate fyi; of course it's necessary)
just because I happened to make more money than Joe Bloggs next door.
Because that's what it comes down to and if that isn't anti-meritocratic what is? What is my incentive for developing my business and giving back to the economy if it's all going to get taxed to hell and back? The only people that this doesn't affect are those that have accountants that know how to play the system and people wonder why we have non-doms? Come on. The Lib Dems have a lot of good ideas but they haven't had good ideas about tax since at least 2005.
Kolya on 13/12/2009 at 11:47
A few weeks after my GF had moved into a flat in Berlin, she asked a friend to stow away a suitcase. The flat had a lowered ceiling with a hatch. So he climbed up there and said: "There's a bomb here." She said: "What?" And he picked it up and showed it to her. She asked him to put it back since it was Friday and they wanted to go to a party. A few days later she called the police and of course they evacuated the whole building, then a bomb expert picked the thing up with suitable equipment. Apparently it was a gift by the previous tenant. The police didn't fail to inform my GF that owning a bomb was illegal.
I wasn't entirely surprised when she related the story to me lately. In the time after the political changes in Eastern Germany and before the Russian army left, their soldiers sold everything they could to bring home some hard currency, including guns and heavy weaponry. A friend of mine liked to boast with the ground-air missile he kept in his cellar. Whatever that might be good for.
henke on 13/12/2009 at 15:36
Quote Posted by D'Juhn Keep
bet you'd do it differently now though
Hard to say. It might well be that on the fatefull day that I do find a gun lying around my first thought won't be
"better not touch it and call the cops" but rather something along the lines of
"what's this? Is it a toy? Is it a replica? Maybe one of the elk-hunting teams dropped it? Does it have the owners name inscribed on it somewhere? Do I know anyone that has a gun who might've lost it?"I work as a Media Designer in a small Finnish town where there's no crime to speak of, ok? Trains of thought like
"better not get my prints on it so the cops won't have anything on me" are so far out of my world it's ridiculous.
Oh wait are you being sarcastic? Have you been being sarcastic from the start? So much armchair-judging* in this thread it's getting hard to tell who's being sincere.
*I use this phrase because I can't actually remember what the correct term I'm looking for is. You know, sorta like "backseat driving" but in a past tense. Like the stuff done by people who do not realize that hindsight is 20/20. Dammit I gotta go now no time to stay and elaborate further bye
D'Juhn Keep on 13/12/2009 at 15:57
I haven't been sarcastic at all! It's fair enough that the culture of the place you live is different but consider HIS situation. He finds a bin liner with a shotgun inside. Fair enough, he's moved the bag, taken out whateverwas inside and realised it was a gun. This is not a problem, he didn't know what was inside. What was crucial was his next move. Do you a) call the police to report this and get someone to deal with it or b) ring the police station the next day saying you want to talk to the chief superintendent then when you get to the meeting, remove a gun from a black plastic bag in front of him.
What part of that doesn't seem stupid to you?
It's very well crying "monday morning quarterback" (I'm sure there is a british idiom for this but I can't think of it right now) but if it happened to me the very last thing I'd be doing is carrying a shotgun in a plastic bag to a meeting with the police where they have no idea I'm carrying a gun. It'd be right behind shooting scenes from Scarface to be uploaded onto Youtube. Actually that might be the first thing I'd do.
It's worth mentioning here for those that might not know that UK gun laws aren't as draconian as people (americans) might think. You ARE allowed to have guns, usually shotguns, for pest control, sport or some other stuff. However, finding a shotgun in a dustbin liner in Guildford pretty much guarantees that it wasn't dropped by a neighbour but was involved in something pretty fucking dodgy.
None of this isn't to say that the law, as has been applied to him, is harsh and unnecessary. It sucks that this has happened to him. But the stupidity he has shown can't be discounted as a huge reason as to why he's in this situation.
CCCToad on 13/12/2009 at 16:19
Nobody's really arguing that its dumb. First off, you do need to consider that handling potential evidence adds your own forensics to it; always a bad thing. Second, pulling out a gun at a police station isn't a good idea either.
But sheesh, we're talking about FIVE YEARS IN JAIL for that. Nothing the guy has done deserves that. Hell, there's plenty of crime that actually do put others at risk(like drunk driving) which carry lighter penalties than that.
edit: I want to hug(figuratively speaking. I only give real hugs to my girlfriend and my mother) whoever put tdown the ttlg=youtube comments tag.
Mr.Duck on 13/12/2009 at 17:05
Quote Posted by CCCToad
You could bury it somewhere else.
Probably, but I'd rather just toss it at the nearest police station and run like Hell :D
SD on 13/12/2009 at 17:09
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Of course these things [inheritance tax and mansion tax] are anti-meritocratic.
Congratulations, you just proved you know
fuck all about what meritocracy is.
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
I'm working to provide for my offspring, as I hope you are
I don't have any, but supposing I did - what exactly have
they done to merit the entire fruits of
my hard work?
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
and therefore I don't take kindly to the idea that my hard work should get an
extra tax
Oh god, not that trite "double taxation" canard again. Familiarise yourself with the concept of (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circular_flow_of_income) circular flow, understand that income is taxed pretty much every time it changes hands, and kindly piss off.
Quote Posted by Subjective Effect
Because that's what it comes down to and if that isn't anti-meritocratic what is?
What's meritocratic about benefitting from someone else's (in this case, your parents') hard work?
Starrfall on 13/12/2009 at 17:18
Quote Posted by CCCToad
I was being sarcastic, at the expense of posters who loudly wail about how ignorant everyone else is. After all, everything bad that happens to other people is a result of how ignorant they are compared to your gloriously enlightened intellect, right?
See the REALLY funny thing about that is that in trying to do so you just ended up repeating a variation of a conservative talking point so no one but you got the joke.
CCCToad on 13/12/2009 at 17:48
Quote Posted by Pyrian
Intent doesn't matter. Burn him! :mad:
Its a fair cop.
