MyDavis

[Curval]

"Hawaii , 50th state of the United States, comprising a group of eight major islands and numerous islets in the central Pacific Ocean, c.2,100 mi (3,380 km) SW of San Francisco."

It seems many of you Americans don't know much about your own country...or the Columbia University Press are wrong.  But, you are all experts on England...lol...and you are adept at accusing Brits of knowing nothing about the US.

You can use the internet to look stuff up guys.  It's not hard.

[Toad]

You can use it to toss topwater lures into the waters around Bermuda too.

Apparently you can get a strike or two.  

[john9001]

hawaii is a state only on paper, it is really occupied territory, we must free hawaii from the imperial yoke of the dole pineapple company

[Flit]

Originally posted by Nashwan
Of course there isn't a law "giving" the press freedom. Freedom is something they have. Laws restrict freedom, not grant it.



And you think other countries don't?



No, the official secrets act applies to government employees, and those they pass classified material to. It does not apply to journalists who "gather" information, unless the information they gather is stolen classified documents.



No, a journalist can write anything he likes without proof. If it's defamatory, the person he defames can sue him for damages.

So, The Official Secrets Act only applies to goverment employees, which means that anyone working for the BBC who gives out "news" that is bad for the british goverment can be accused of "breaking the Officail Secrets Act" because the bbc is a goverment agency that collects "Taxes" to run it's programming,which, of course, is always cleared thru the goverment so that noone will get in trouble for breaking the "law".
 And this is called what ? A free press ?
 Ok, if you say so.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Toad
You voluntarily own a TV set as we do. You INVOLUNTARILY pay a tax to do so. We do not.

No, we don't have to pay for a TV licence unless we actually plan to use the TV. In the US, you don't have to pay for your cable service, unless you actually plan to use the TV. But here we have an additional choice - we can use the TV without bothering to pay the licence - that's what I did in my "poor" days. Luckily I never got caught. It would have been unenforceable though. I lived in a top floor flat with two other people. There was no way for the TV licensing authorities to know that the house was split into multiple dwellings. So to Mr. Toad!

TIVO, my lad; an additional pay-for-service option that makes commercials a non-factor as well as allowing one to watch programs at any time one chooses, not mandatorily on the network schedule.

Sounds great! Do you have a link? I'd like to read about this. Do you have a DVD recorder, Mr. Toad? I do, and one of the best things about it is being able to record a programme, but start watching it without having to wait for the recording to finish. If I'm going to be watching something on ITV, I'll start recording it and then use the time-slip feature to begin playback about 15 minutes into the programme. That way I can FF through the commercials.


Back in the day, not only did we have a TV licence but also a radio licence! That got scrapped in the 1960s sometime, partly because cars started being made with radios fitted; but you didn't need a radio licence for your car if you had one for your house... too damn complicated, so it was scrapped.

[Skuzzy]

All DVR's (Digital Video Recorders, TiVO...) I am aware of can do that Beet.  Some have jump buttons to simply skip 30 seconds instantly each time they are pressed (mine does).  I have not seen a commercial on over 2 years.

I can record two shows at a time, while watching a previously recorded bit.  And I can watch both shows being recorded, at the same time, in a split screen format.

No charge for any of that.  I have DiSH, at the moment, but I am looking at Verizon's FIOS (Fiber I/O Service) TV service (just waiting for them to stop using that dang Motorola tuner box).  About the same price as DiSH, but with better channel selection and a full range of HD broadcasts.

[lazs2]

This is laughable...  TV is free in the states if you want it...If you own a TV you can put up an antanae and get at least 5 or six stations if that is what you want... it is all "free"  you do not need to give the government any money at all.

If you want superior programing you have many choices.   You can pay as little as about $20 for about 60 stations to well over $100 (per month)

I realize that if you don't want to watch TV and don't do it that you don't have to buy a licence in england.... I do realize also tho that the goverment takes fees and distributes them to a soley funded station.   If you want any choice at all other than what the government offers then...... just like us.... you pick and pay.

The only difference is that your government has their hands in and controls the initial lack of choice.... if you have cable TV in england and a TV and you never watch a minute of BBC..... you still have to pay to support them.

lazs

[beet1e]

Skuzzy - yes, DVRs are neat. However, in about 2-3 years, British TV transmissions are going digital. There will be no analogue transmission after that. We will all have to upgrade, but I think it might be a case of buying a converter box.

Originally posted by mydavis
My post was just an informational response to some post that claimed that crime in England (Europe) was less because of the restriction of the public to keep and bear arms. I thought it might be better for discussion to dispel these notions and provide some facts on this theory.

However the second amendment to the Constitution did not provide the right to bear arms to be free of crime. The actual intent of the second amendment was to provide security against the oppressive abuses of a large federal government.

We can see this in the original wording of the second amendment.
"Because standing armies in times of peace are dangerous to the liberties of free men, the right of the militia and the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed upon"

Oh Suuuurrrrrrreeeeeee...........

The Second Amendment at Work



How it Ended Up

ooops...




Just another day in LA, but oh! the freedom.....

[Holden McGroin]

Just another day in LA, but oh! the freedom.....

The freedom to make movies about car chases and violence...  You against that Beet1e?

[Skuzzy]

It really is trivial to nitpick the negative side of anything Beet.  In 51 years, I have never witnessed anything like you depicted.

DiSH, and DirecTV are already fully digital transmissions.  Verizon FIOS is pure digital with the bandwidth to send full HD (High Defination) content at high resolutions.

I already have an HD television set, so no need for a D/A converter, but those converters will be available so analog televisions will be able to continue to work.

[Curval]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
It really is trivial to nitpick the negative side of anything Beet.

Like TV licenses and equating them to govermnet control of the media?

lol

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Skuzzy
It really is trivial to nitpick the negative side of anything Beet.  In 51 years, I have never witnessed anything like you depicted.

Balance, skuzzy, balance - In my 51 years, I have never witnessed anything akin to the sharp objects atrocities depicted by certain people on this board.

[beet1e]

Originally posted by Curval
Like TV licenses and equating them to govermnet control of the media?

lol

[lazs2]

curval.... how is a government "licence" with penalties including fines and incarcerations..... NOT government control?

lazs

[Curval]

Because they do not control the CONTENT lazs...just the licensing and policing those licenses.