All of your base... screw it

Boo!

WE KNOWN WHERE YOU LIVE AND ARE COMING FOR YOU!

/brought to you by your friends at the BBC

Big Brother IS watching you.

Like I said here a couple of days ago, collecting personal information is addicting.

Oooh Kayyy...

Britain has gotten seriously frikken scary.

You can shove your database where the sun don't shine.

What about the homeless?

Can someone please explain the video. I can't watch it at my office.

I love the database.

All your TVs belong to us.

I recently saw a British movie about a gay royal who was followed via these cameras and other means.
It looked like a murder but turned out different.
Lots of people are trying to figure out how to get off the grid in the UK.

Sad that the Brits have to pay a tax to get a license for a TV to get indoctrinated.

The first time British friends told me about the roving BBC vans that rolled around monitoring who was "stealing television", I was SURE they were putting me on. Of course, they weren't. (This was back in the mid-80s, btw.)

It's a dman shame they can't just turn the channel and starve the BBC in Britian due to that inane TV tax that all must pay to the BBC.

re: #9 NoSubmission

Can someone please explain the video. I can't watch it at my office.

Its basically the British Government running a warning for British Citizens to pay their TV tax or else. To paraphrase, You can't hide because you are in the database, we will find you..

No need to worry, they will put it all on a cd as an unencrypted file along with your bank records, medical history, credit cards, and everything else and then send it regular post. The post will then proceed to lose it.

re: #13 mean Gene

I recently saw a British movie about a gay royal who was followed via these cameras and other means.
It looked like a murder but turned out different.
Lots of people are trying to figure out how to get off the grid in the UK.

Hell if I were in charge, I would be figuring out how to bring the grid over the pond to us here!

re: #13 mean Gene

Lots of people are trying to figure out how to get off the grid in the UK.

By leaving

Ah, this would have made Antonio Gramsci so very proud!

It's all in the database matrix.

re: #17 maddogg

Its basically the British Government running a warning for British Citizens to pay their TV tax or else. To paraphrase, You can't hide because you are in the database, we will find you..

Thank goodness all we have to pay for a TV here in the US is just plain old sales tax.

re: #9 NoSubmission

Can someone please explain the video. I can't watch it at my office.

Images comparing aerial views of a computer chip and a city.
Female Narrator: Your town. Your street. Your home. It's all in our database. New technology means it's easy to pay your TV license and impossible to hide if you don't. It's all in the database.
www.tvlicensing.co.uk

re: #17 maddogg

Its basically the British Government running a warning for British Citizens to pay their TV tax or else. To paraphrase, You can't hide because you are in the database, we will find you..

The last sound is a knock on the door.

re: #23 Honorary Yooper

Thank goodness all we have to pay for a TV here in the US is just plain old sales tax.

I guess you haven't seen my cable bill?

Hmmm - video cameras that record every single move anyone makes in most parts of the UK plus TVs that you cannot watch without paying a big fee. And blatant, matter of fact statements that Big Brother is watching, it is ALL in the database, you can neither run nor hid. . . .

Kind of makes you wonder if it isn't still 1984 in the UK

REALLY glad I don't live there - and no surprise that so many Brits of European extraction are getting out.

re: #12 Racer X

All your TVs belong to us.

aren't you too busy with a new movie release to be blogging?

:-D

re: #23 Honorary Yooper

Thank goodness all we have to pay for a TV here in the US is just plain old sales tax.

So far......

If I lived in the UK I would destroy my television.

they're coming after people w/ televisions?
why don't they put that effort into chasing terrorists. look at the technology. the jihadis could be stopped on a dime.

re: #26 Nevergiveup

I guess you haven't seen my cable bill?

Yeah, but you can always discontinue cable or change providers. Not so with the BBC.

re: #9 NoSubmission

Can someone please explain the video. I can't watch it at my office.

It is an ad from the BBC stating that you had better pay your TV licensing fee because they will come after you. It is ALL in the database, you can't run and you can't hide. . .

re: #30 Ringo the Gringo

If I lived in the UK I would destroy my television.

If I lived in the UK I would move my TV to the USA.

It does make me wonder why TV Licensing need to bother with this propaganda when they obviously have all of our details in the database?

Rumoured said database to be lost and made available on one or two DVD's sometime soon!

So wrote "idlefinger", the operative who entered the video into YouTube.....

re: #17 maddogg

Its basically the British Government running a warning for British Citizens to pay their TV tax or else. To paraphrase, You can't hide because you are in the database, we will find you..

Wow. Wonder if they are going after terrorists with such zeal?

When I was little, I though that they could see me from the TV. That's not true is it?

re: #28 paxnhymn

aren't you too busy with a new movie release to be blogging?

:-D

I have people for that.

;-)

But what if you don't own a tv?

what was that damn Brittish Sci-fi series in the 60s where Big Brother would send these giant balloon looking things after people?...verrrry Orwellian and obviously not too far off...

re: #32 Honorary Yooper

Yeah, but you can always discontinue cable or change providers. Not so with the BBC.

But if I disconnected then I could not converse with all of you on LGF.

re: #40 paxnhymn

what was that damn Brittish Sci-fi series in the 60s where Big Brother would send these giant balloon looking things after people?...verrrry Orwellian and obviously not too far off...

It was called The Saint.

re: #40 paxnhymn

The Prisoner?

Is it possible for a Brit to go "off grid" black market TV and satellite?

Frightening, innit?

Not really. Big Brother has had your number since databases were first invented. IBM got its start doing the Census, fer Pete's sake! The Interweb (originally invented to let mainframes talk to each other across distances WITHOUT shipping tape libraries across the Fruited Plains) makes data transfer faster, cheaper, cost-efficient.

BBC is just trying to scare the bejeebers out of The Great Unwashed Masses in the UK to pay their "reciever tax" so the Beeb can continue broadcasting.

Go take a flying leap, Beeb.

JAFLW

Always remember: BBC = Big Brother Cares.

There was a travel show on this weekend with a pretty and witty blonde lady.

She was in Monte Carlo.

They have a casino there that does so well that the ruling family has given free healthcare and free cable to everyone, and there are NO taxes.

(Of course, you have to pay 10 bucks for a can of diet coke)

The people there are happy and hobnob with billionaires on vacation.

Buth, they are subjects. They aren't free. It is a fake picture painted so that the rich are comfortable coming there to spend money.

facism plain and simple.

You will pay to listen to our lies, and if not be fined or go to jail.

re: #32 Honorary Yooper

Yeah, but you can always discontinue cable or change providers. Not so with the BBC.

One thing I noticed when we had cable before we bought this house is that when I turned on the menu it served up ads that you could click on with the remote. And they were talking about ads being served up according to your viewing patters, etc. Really pissed me off, since we paid a hefty sum for the "privilege". Not to mention that it made me wonder just how much information they were gathering this way. And what they were doing with it.

None of that on DirectTV. And lots cheaper than the cable company.

re: #42 NoSubmission

It was called The Saint.

thanks, No Sub....I remember it but not the name... oh well...byebye Union Jack....

re: #12 Racer X

All of your TVs are belong to us.

/it is important that the verbiage is correct. After all,
Big Bro is watching. ;)

re: #42 NoSubmission

It was called The Saint.

Oops! The Prisoner. Sorry. Racer X got it right.

re: #47 LanceKates

sounds like bahrain without the mandated 5 times a day prayer to the moongod

re: #36 NoSubmission

Wow. Wonder if they are going after terrorists with such zeal?

You might recall that when the docs went jihadi a while back the BBC had interviewed them, been told at least enough of the plan to ID the guys and some of their "friends" and refused to turn it over to the police.

And next years ad:
Our records indicate you are thirty six pounds overweight...we have no choice but to block your access to the food channels available on your set until you have corrected this condition...because we care!

That is chilling.

re: #52 NoSubmission

Oops! The Prisoner. Sorry. Racer X got it right.

I get the limey series confused too. They were all strange back then....

This is why I don't file a tax return.

Doctor who is the only show on BBC worth stealing

re: #58 Iron Mike

This is why I don't file a tax return.

/suddenly there was a loud bannging at the door....

Where is the outrage from the Dems. Britain is tracking people like dogs who don't pay their "tv license." Cant people watch TV without the eeevil United StatesBritain invading their privacy.

/moonbat off

If my eyes got any bigger, my eyebrows would be in my hair. That's some spooky message.

re: #53 pegcity

on the surface, monte carlo looks like paradise. No taxes, government provided and paid healthcare (that has to be top notch to also take care of the billionares), free cable....

You just have to be a subject of a ruling family, guarded by the French.

No thanks. I'll take free poverty over rich 'subject-status'.

When a king or prince tells me to pick up their trash, I want to be able to say "No thanks, do it yourself."

Flashing on Three Days of the Condor, a little tiny bit. Except - I assume the BBC doesn't try to kill people.

re: #37 Nevergiveup

When I was little, I though that they could see me from the TV. That's not true is it?

My first confirmed, hard-core "progressive" teacher (Social Studies... what else?... in 7th grade), tried to convince us that NIXON (cue thunderclap, horse whinny) had tried to have all televisions in the US sold with the ability for the government to watch us. We laughed at him. Uh, so Mr. [name withheld], so I guess every, single television repairman in the United States would have to be a CIA agent, right? Or at least be in on the conspiracy?

re: #59 pegcity

Doctor who is the only show on BBC worth stealing

Torchwood also.

Hey, all the IMPORTANT brits have satellites and watch Al Jazeera!
What a country!

Well that's pretty darned creepy. From what I understand, for what it's worth, the UK television license is something like the American electricity bill, paid regularly and tracked by the company.

The Young Ones: TV Licence Anarchy

re: #15 Occasional Reader

The first time British friends told me about the roving BBC vans that rolled around monitoring who was "stealing television", I was SURE they were putting me on. Of course, they weren't. (This was back in the mid-80s, btw.)

Try the 60's! I was over there as an Air Force Brat from '59-'62, and they were doing it 'way back then...

Funniest thing I ever saw was someone throw their (black and white) TV out the window to avoid paying the fine! Couldn't understand then (I was only 6 years old, for Petes sake!), but I certainly can understand it now.

Thank goodness for the U.S.'s Communications Act of 1943! "Receivers are in the Public Domain", etc.

JAFLW

re: #58 Iron Mike

This is why I don't file a tax return.

Is that you Wesley Snipes?

re: #55 gibsonz

And next years ad:
Our records indicate you are thirty six pounds overweight...we have no choice but to block your access to the food channels available on your set until you have corrected this condition...because we care!

Dont forget the other end;

Unfortunately, you are in perfect health, which means you will live too long and the state will be strained to pay for your senior years. You will now be placed on a strict fatty food diet and required to smoke at least a pack a week so your life span fits within government mandated limits.

re: #25 jcm

The last sound is a knock on the door.

Only because they don't carry guns.

re: #42 NoSubmission

The Saint was with Roger Moore. He talking about The Prisoner. Great show.

re: #6 stevieray

Oooh Kayyy...

Britain has gotten seriously frikken scary.

Gotten scary? Has been scary, more like. They're just comfortable enough to be in the open about it.

re: #58 Iron Mike

This is why I don't file a tax return.

Yikes. Good luck with that one...

re: #47 LanceKates

There was a travel show on this weekend with a pretty and witty blonde lady.

She was in Monte Carlo.

They have a casino there that does so well that the ruling family has given free healthcare and free cable to everyone, and there are NO taxes.

(Of course, you have to pay 10 bucks for a can of diet coke)

The people there are happy and hobnob with billionaires on vacation.

Buth, they are subjects. They aren't free. It is a fake picture painted so that the rich are comfortable coming there to spend money.

Most places in Europe the people are subjects. They may be subjects to a government rather than a monarch these days, but in all of the European countries it is the government which holds the power and the legitimacy. Any "freedoms" they are allowed are at the behest of the government. Here it is We The People who hold the authority and legitimacy.

re: #37 Nevergiveup

No, but if you stick your head under your TV set and look up, you can see up Eva Longoria's skirt.

re: #65 Occasional Reader

in 4th grade, I had a student teacher try to tell me that Lincoln was a Democrat.... as proven by his desire to fight slavery because he felt that Blacks were equal to whites.

re: #58 Iron Mike

This is why I don't file a tax return.

Yeah, thats why Leona Helmsley, Willie Nelson, and Wesley Snipes didn't file a return either.

re: #58 Iron Mike

This is why I don't file a tax return.

Solid thinking. Unfortunately, unless you Ted Kazcynski, you're still making into someone's database...

Nothing bad about Islam is allowed in the data base.

re: #74 Killgore Trout

The Saint was with Roger Moore. He talking about The Prisoner. Great show.

yes. It was a great show. I was very little when it was on the air, but I will never ever forget that weird white bubble balloon thing.

re: #55 gibsonz

And next years ad:
Our records indicate you are thirty six pounds overweight...we have no choice but to block your access to the food channels available on your set until you have corrected this condition...because we care!

With the limiting of health care they are already starting to do, you are being more prophetic than you may realize...

Tangentially, this is why I'm opposed to serial numbers inside CPUs and cookies stuffed with enough data to hold a mini operating system.

re: #64 Catttt

Flashing on Three Days of the Condor

My favorite scene: A brilliant CIA analyst, who has to call 411 to get the area code for Washington, DC...

re: #77 galloping granny

God Bless the USA!

re: #25 jcm

The last sound is a knock on the door.

Now, the last sound is the T.V. hitting the ground outside your flat after it's been thrown out the window!

JAFLW

re: #40 paxnhymn

The Prisoner.

Excellent series

re: #69 Ringo the Gringo

The Young Ones: TV Licence Anarchy

That was the funniest show on TV!

Making sure that the 45 million strong English population pay the fee for the 1.5 BILLION non-English speaking BBC target audience.

re: #76 Cartman

Yikes. Good luck with that one...

you do have to file but you don't have to pay.

re: #78 Kenneth

No, but if you stick your head under your TV set and look up, you can see up Eva Longoria's skirt.

...probably clean through to the top of her empty skull....

re: #77 galloping granny

gotta love america, the one true free country in the world, and i say that as a canadian

re: #86 Occasional Reader

My favorite scene: A brilliant CIA analyst, who has to call 411 to get the area code for Washington, DC...

That wouldn't suprise me. The FBI didn't think that the 9/11 13th Hijacker's laptop would have terrorism-related information on it.

re: #68 Cognito

Well that's pretty darned creepy. From what I understand, for what it's worth, the UK television license is something like the American electricity bill, paid regularly and tracked by the company.

Yeah, and they have crews who go around to houses that aren't paying and monitor them to see if there is a TV being watched. You get investigated for no other cause than not ordering TV service.

re: #32 Honorary Yooper

Yeah, but you can always discontinue cable or change providers. Not so with the BBC.

* * *
I don't have a choice about supporting the US' Public Broadcasting either!

Where can I go to stop supporting leftist programming of our people by this federally funded outfit right here in the USA?

re: #78 Kenneth

No, but if you stick your head under your TV set and look up, you can see up Eva Longoria's skirt.

You have a filthy mind. Anyway when I was little, the hot chicks were like Mary Tyler Moore or Lois Lane. And I was on the floor trying to get a better angle.

I am not a number!

re: #40 paxnhymn

what was that damn Brittish Sci-fi series in the 60s where Big Brother would send these giant balloon looking things after people?...verrrry Orwellian and obviously not too far off...

The Prisoner. Available as the whole series on DVD now, most of it in Black & White! Loved it as a kid, but never saw it 'till I moved back to the States with my family...

JAFLW

re: #96 coquimbojoe

Yeah, and they have crews who go around to houses that aren't paying and monitor them to see if there is a TV being watched. You get investigated for no other cause than not ordering TV service.

and, just think.... here in the US, people whine because we pay attention to terrorists overseas, even when they call someone staying here.

re: #58 Iron Mike

This is why I don't file a tax return.

I'd like to know how you do that, and why the IRS isn't sending auditors to your door.

re: #91 Ben Hur

Making sure that the 45 million strong English population pay the fee for the 1.5 BILLION non-English speaking BBC target audience.

You know, their noble effort of getting Britian's message out.

re: #92 nyc redneck

you do have to file but you don't have to pay.

My experience is that the IRS isn't much concerned with "technicalities". Jes sayin'...

re: #92 nyc redneck

I made a mistake on my property tax return filing once, for three years in a row --took them that long to discover it, and then they required it all back.......that was tough!

Any one have a sledgehammer?

re: #44 jcm

Is it possible for a Brit to go "off grid" black market TV and satellite?

I seem to recall reading a blog (linked at Protein Wisdom?) recently that someone tried that, and got increasingly threatening letters from the BBC's collections enforcers for months, and then...

Nothing.

re: #98 Nevergiveup

You have a filthy mind. Anyway when I was little, the hot chicks were like Mary Tyler Moore or Lois Lane. And I was on the floor trying to get a better angle.

Sounds like you're about my age. Remember 'Vue'? The initial little receiver dishes with a descrambler, you got new movies before they came out on cable...and after ten o'clock, they had adult movies. If you could put up with watching the scrambling, every so often the picture would come in clear....heh

re: #95 LanceKates

That wouldn't suprise me. The FBI didn't think that the 9/11 13th Hijacker's laptop would have terrorism-related information on it.

True, dat.

I did like the fight scene with the "Mailman", though. And the Joubert character is very good.

Ah, so the BBC has a database that contains all the vitals for folks who pay or should be paying their tv licensing fees.

If only the Brits were as good with the databases noting how poor dental care is in the country - and the fact that dental issues have significant economic impact on health care costs should routine care get ignored.

It's about misplaced priorities, though if the Brits had a terror tracking database this comprehensive, I don't think we'd be minding nearly as much about this Orwellian scheme.

re: #90 Racer X

That was the funniest show on TV!

I agree.

I bought the DVD box set ("every stoopid episode") a couple years ago and it's still as funny as ever.

It does sound like 1984 being fulfilled right in front of our eyes...

re: #72 Kragar (Proud to be Kafir)

Dont forget the other end;

Unfortunately, you are in perfect health, which means you will live too long and the state will be strained to pay for your senior years. You will now be placed on a strict fatty food diet and required to smoke at least a pack a week so your life span fits within government mandated limits.

Fine. My smokes just went up 10 cents a pack, and my bourbon by a few bucks.

re: #88 Just Another Four-letter Word

Now, the last sound is the T.V. hitting the ground outside your flat after it's been thrown out the window!

JAFLW

Didn't hit the ground...
Hit the tax collector.

re: #108 bikermailman

Sounds like you're about my age. Remember 'Vue'? The initial little receiver dishes with a descrambler, you got new movies before they came out on cable...and after ten o'clock, they had adult movies. If you could put up with watching the scrambling, every so often the picture would come in clear....heh

Before they really scrambled the signals, you get alot of the pay boxing fights that way also. I use to call it "Bundying the fight" --as in Al Bundy.

re: #101 LanceKates

and, just think.... here in the US, people whine because we pay attention to terrorists overseas, even when they call someone staying here.

The left loves to bitch. They will investigate for no cause and not investigate for probable cause. I think that points to their priorities. Strictly control our sources of information, but external threats are seen, at best, to be of minimal importance, unless it directly threatens them....

This piece was written six months ago as pure satire:-

[Link: bbcpioneers.blogspot.com...]

- and now it's all come to pass.

Just a little taste of life in the USSSK.

Buddy can you spare a green card.

I wonder if they would use that data base to stop an imminent terror attack (on a target besides their own office building).

re: #50 paxnhymn

The show with the balloon thingy was The Prisoner , starring Patrick McGoohan, who previously starred in a secret agent show that was much more watchable, IMHO.

Britain has charged for a receiving set license since the early days of radio, and simply carried on the tradition with the advent of TV. Not so much Orwellian as it is a simple money grab, just like a dog license is. We used to do the same thing here in Canada, but abandoned the practice sometime in the late '40s or early '50s. I collect old radios, and often find stickers on them reminding users to obtain a license.

Seeing as you can get most anything worthwhile, TV-wise, off the Internet now, I wonder if Brits will simply abandon their TVs, and use their Internet connection to watch video.

re: #107 Spiny Norman

I seem to recall reading a blog (linked at Protein Wisdom?) recently that someone tried that, and got increasingly threatening letters from the BBC's collections enforcers for months, and then...

Nothing.

Britain has a careful method of noting and monitoring compliance with any law, no matter how trivial, but no will to enforce any of them. That's my impression, based only on news reports (never been there).

re: #79 LanceKates

in 4th grade, I had a student teacher try to tell me that Lincoln was a Democrat.... as proven by his desire to fight slavery because he felt that Blacks were equal to whites.

Lincoln did not give a rat's behind about the slavery question and said so more than once. I also have never seen much that indicated that he used the question of black slavery as anything other than a politically expedient means to get the support that he needed for the War Between the States.

Not to mention that quite apparently your student teacher was sadly misinformed about the history of the KKK and which political party they voted. Along with virtually all the rest of the South I might add.

re: #118 Ben Hur

on a target besides their own office building

You mean BUSH House? BWAAAHAHAHAHA (I loves me dat irony)

re: #109 Occasional Reader

Oh, I haven't seen that film, your description is what reminded me.

re: #97 alegrias

* * *
I don't have a choice about supporting the US' Public Broadcasting either!

Where can I go to stop supporting leftist programming of our people by this federally funded outfit right here in the USA?

Hardly the same thing. PBS gets only a minor amount of support from the government these days - and they have to match every dime. They do not come around and literally charge you hundreds for the privilege of owning a TV set.

re: #116 coquimbojoe

The left loves to bitch. They will investigate for no cause and not investigate for probable cause. I think that points to their priorities. Strictly control our sources of information, but external threats are seen, at best, to be of minimal importance, unless it directly threatens them....

Well, bullying conservatives is what the left cares about. Terrorist action doesn't matter, as they can just blame it on the republicans.

Republicans, being increasingly de-spined by the left, will take the blame by nature of not saying "We didn't do it, YOU did it!"

Meanwhile, conservatives like me are swept away.

re: #119 Alberta Oil Peon

buy a 30 inch computer monitor and download all your shows from bit torrent instead i say

i have a couple of relatives who do file (extensively, lol, they include forms that are so inapplicable) and off it goes, all this paper work, filled out truthfully (no cheating or wrongful w/ holding) but they don't include the check. they can't afford to. of course, they don't own anything the gov't could take from them. (carpentry tools cannot be confiscated). it's a rough life style but some people are stubbornly committed to making a point.

re: #119 Alberta Oil Peon

The show with the balloon thingy was The Prisoner , starring Patrick McGoohan, who previously starred in a secret agent show that was much more watchable, IMHO.

Britain has charged for a receiving set license since the early days of radio, and simply carried on the tradition with the advent of TV. Not so much Orwellian as it is a simple money grab, just like a dog license is. We used to do the same thing here in Canada, but abandoned the practice sometime in the late '40s or early '50s. I collect old radios, and often find stickers on them reminding users to obtain a license.

Seeing as you can get most anything worthwhile, TV-wise, off the Internet now, I wonder if Brits will simply abandon their TVs, and use their Internet connection to watch video.

Some little bird is whispering in my ear that the day your TV/radio licensing stopped was the day that you finally became a Commonwealth country with self rule rather than a territorial possession. I remember when Britain ruled Canada, so I suspect late 50's is about right.

re: #121 galloping granny

If memory serves, Lincoln didn't mind making slavery illegal, but his original plan was to not give them any vote, and prefer that they be sent back to Africa.

But I don't want to get into yet another 'civil war debate' here.

I'll just note that half of the states that left didn't do so until it was announced that a federal army would force the other states back.

Apparently they REALLY wanted those taxes.

re: #29 maddogg

So far......

Go check the "Universal Service/Access" fees on your telephone and cable bills.

re: #118 Ben Hur

I wonder if they would use that data base to stop an imminent terror attack (on a target besides their own office building).

You already know the answer to that. No they would not. Remember the docs who went jihadi not long ago? Al Beeb knew all about it and neither told the police in advance or turned over the extensive info they had afterwards.

re: #129 LanceKates

If memory serves, Lincoln didn't mind making slavery illegal, but his original plan was to not give them any vote, and prefer that they be sent back to Africa.

But I don't want to get into yet another 'civil war debate' here.

I'll just note that half of the states that left didn't do so until it was announced that a federal army would force the other states back.

Apparently they REALLY wanted those taxes.

Agreed. And your memory serves you well.

The easy answer is to not own a TV. Then you don't have to pay. Food, clothing, shelter, TV [not].

I was stationed in Belgium in the '80s and we were supposed to pay taxes to the Belgian government for every TV and radio to support their French language programming. I never paid a dime - they never knocked on my door.

Of course they tried to force US military to pay customs on stuff received via the APO and even attempted to force us to pay their income tax on our military pay.

I rented a house from an older guy who grew up in it - he related how the house was damaged in a US bombing raid during WWII but was happy about it because it was being used as Nazi quarters at the time. He apologized for the younger people who were protesting against US forces and against the missiles - he was VERY pro-American. I guess it makes a difference when you live under the fascist boot and then have GIs liberate your country.

re: #94 pegcity

You are ordered to report immediately to the nearest CBC Political hygiene facility for ideological decontamination.

re: #135 Kenneth

You are ordered to report immediately to the nearest CBC Political hygiene facility for ideological decontamination.

My advice? leave the gun, take the maple syrup.

Lived in Norway for a year and learned that they had a television tax too. We rented a furnished house, including a TV, and asked the owner how to pay it. He said forget it and was astonished we considered paying. A neighbor said the same thing and was indignant when NOK came knocking on her door! The NOK employee saw a TV on a shelf, through her draperies, checked his list, didn't see her on the 'PAID' list and came knocking. She didn't use it (at least not regularly) and it was unplugged, on a high shelf, so the guy went away.

I guess what I learned was that even in a country where the people willingly pay confiscatory tax rates on income they want their TV FREE. The attitude was almost like . . .

"You can have my remote when you pry it from my cold, dead hand." Very funny.

re: #124 galloping granny

Hardly the same thing. PBS gets only a minor amount of support from the government these days - and they have to match every dime. They do not come around and literally charge you hundreds for the privilege of owning a TV set.

* * *
Leftist PBS programs are lauded as the best by main stream media, then pumped in to your home & schools & universities. The multiplier effect of my measly tax contribution to PBS ends up doing DAMAGE because media darling people like William Ayers run PBS & decide the programming.

So tv-watching people of all stripes get lefty garbage.

re: #137 Sabnen

"You can have my remote when you pry it from my cold, dead hand." Very funny.

I have hopes of similar loyalty to beer. I'm hoping that where a basic love of freedom is lacking in people to fight back against creeping shariah, that they'll stop and fight back when the laws come for their beer.

re: #128 galloping granny

Granny, Canada considers it's independence as having begun in 1867, when the BNA Act established the Canadian Parliament.

Now some ties continued, and the Queen is still our official Head of State, although it's her representative in Canada that actually performs those chores, and that person (the Governor-General) is actually chosen by the government of the day. Which explains why the incumbent GG, Michelle Jean, a black woman born in Haiti, and a moonbat non-pareil, got the job. She was appointed by the former Liberal government.

The last significant severing of ties between Britain and Canada (constitutionally speaking) was the Statute of Westminster, in 1931, IIRC. At least the last one prior to the abandonment of the practice of charging for radio receiving licenses, and that one had mainly to do with ending the practice of the British Privy Council being the final court of law for suits within Canada. It's far more likely that the licensing law was simply abandoned as unpopular and unworkable, and virtually unenforceable.

This may be a dumb question, but what if you don't own a TV? Do you still have to pay their TV tax?

I guess that's why they call them British "subjects", eh? They're subject to whatever their government wants.

LS

Mark Steyn

The recent Matt Damon movie The Bourne Ultimatum has a moment in which a reporter at The Guardian uses a certain word to his editor. The CIA, it turns out, are monitoring every cell phone in the world, just in case this one word comes up. Itís the name of the top-secret terrorist-rendition and torturing program they donít want anyone to find out about. So, in an instant, they’ve got a tail on the Guardian man in London. He hails a cab, leans in to tell the driver where he wants to go, unaware that heís telling the CIA also, because theyíve got a super-sensitive listening device. So they dispatch an asset to liquidate the Guardian problem once and for all.

The punch line?

Where is that CIA when you need them?

#133 lostlakehiker

The easy answer is to not own a TV. Then you don't have to pay. Food, clothing, shelter, TV [not].

Under the Ottoman Empire, impoverished tenant farmers were required to pay taxes on every tree growing on their land. The way the story (or myth) goes, in order to avoid paying those taxes, they just cut down all the trees.

I agree with you, maybe it's time to toss the tv's.

Funny, I just wrote to a friend... (a similar thought about another Big brother-ish situation) "The re-education of corporate America continues... unable to convince, coerce or control private citizens into accepting the koolaid, the workplace has become the new gulag and the re-education/sensitivity training continues full speed ahead. I sit directly across from a conference room, that often hosts private sector communications consultants hired by the county to enhance our behavior in some fashion or the other. Over the last 10 years that I have been here, no matter the snake oil, the overt message has been the same, "all resistance to change is bad and all acceptance and promotion of change is extremely desirable" Its unbelievable. Its a steady drumbeat of deconstruction and the immediate need to tear down any thing that might form a barrier to the new wave of post-modern thought. Then we get more deconstruction followed by more behavior modification... it never ends. By the time its over we will have welcomed our new over lords and given away our heritage without even defending ourselves. Mediocrity and defeat will arrive under the banner of teamwork and in the meantime no one will dare lift a finger for fear of the group. Individualism has been sacrificed to groupthink via teamwork." The BBC foolishness is just an outgrowth of something similar ... other people or organizations know what's best and you need to accept their control. Its threatening and condescending.

#144 john67

...all resistance to change is bad and all acceptance and promotion of change is extremely desirable...Individualism has been sacrificed to groupthink via teamwork...

Resistance to the Borg is futile.

Who are the ad wizards that came up with that?
/Early 90's SNL Skit

Glad you posted this, Charles. God I hate the license fee. They used to advertise claiming they were using hi-tech vans to detect whether you were watching TV. Way to make friends Beeb. I once spent a few months renting a flat without a TV and they kept sending letters addressed to me saying "we know you don't have a license. Our people will be in your area soon to smash you kneecaps" or somesuch, and when I phoned to tell them I didn't have a TV and could they stop threatening me please, it became clear that they didn't care and send those out to any listed addresses without a license. The operator wasn't bothered that they were sending threatening letters out willy-nilly. Underhand. I hate call-centres too.

re: #24 bosforus

From your link, in the "About Us" section:

TV Licensing's database of more than 28 million addresses is a critical part of enforcing the TV Licence.
[snip]
If there is no response, the address will be selected for a visit from an Enforcement Officer. Visits like this can provide TV Licensing with information on whether an address is unoccupied or derelict and whether there is a TV receiver on the premises. Visits can also result in evaders being caught. On average around 1,000 evaders are caught daily.

I wonder if they put this kind of effort into finding illegal immigrants or terrorist supporters?

We will only use detection equipment to identify evaders when other, more cost effective, routes have been exhausted. TV Licensing aims to maximise licence fee revenue by collecting the fee in the most cost efficient way.

Scary. Orwellian, indeed.

Visually- neat ad, I must say.

Message content- 100% creepy.

re: #145 ladycatnip

#144 john67

Resistance to the Borg is futile.

"Assimilate this!"

- Worf.

They wanna get aggressive, eh? So can the people. Take a page from us, Britons:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

re: #39 NoSubmission

But what if you don't own a tv?

Then they assume you do.

re: #151 godfrey

deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed

I quoted that at lunch today and a co-worker told me that was crazy talk. What makes a good leader is if they make the "right" decisions, they said.

The Beeb have been doing this for decades. The old ads had a van parked outside somewhere in the dark with the antenae going on the top checking on who was watching TV and checking it against their list. I t was just like the Nazis in WW2 trying to tune into resistance radio operators. It was creepy, but this one is worse. The threat level is way up.
I've just paid my TV licence - 135 quid and change! I resent it so badly I can't say what I think about it.
I hate the BBC.
I try to avoid their news and current affairs programs like the plague.
I hate being talked down to by a bunch of elitist lefty b*stards!

They still do costume dramas well and have a superlative Natural History dept. and Torchwood. But the rest....
If they know where I live they can always come round - but I'll just wave my licence under their noses and tell them what I think of them.
HAH!

re: #153 Silhouette

(groan) Hell, I know some actual monarchists. They're serious.

It's provoking, isn't it. What if you lived in a place where most of the people were uneducated, with no curiosity or desire to pursue any interest other than physical gratification? Would you prefer democracy in that situation (representative or direct, whatever), or some other form of governance? Oligarchy, for example. Monarchy.

Lots of people have commented, over the centuries, that democratic forms of government require an educated and independent-minded citizenry. It's possible that societies can move in -- and out of -- that precondition. When that happens, then what?

re: #154 Is it me?

I'd advise disconnecting the TV. Are they garnishing your internet connection yet?

re: #102 Honorary Yooper

I'd like to know how you do that, and why the IRS isn't sending auditors to your door.

they gotta find me first! ;)

Jesus Christ, that was a veiled threat against an entire society! George Orwell and Ayn Rand can be considered prophets at this point.

Surely this way the BBC can tell whether a Brit has four wives.

re: #40 paxnhymn

The Prisoner

Liberal fascism at work whicle the leftist Brits lecture us about the Patriot Act.

re: #51 Cartman

All of your TVs are belong to us.

No s.

re: #158 Egfrow

Jesus Christ, that was a veiled threat against an entire society! George Orwell and Ayn Rand can be considered prophets at this point.

Why does it have to start now? I've thought that for years.

What's criminal is that Brits continue to accept & pay for the pro-leftard, pro-islamic apologist tripe that oozes out of the box from the beeb - unadulterated garbage and carcinogenic to your brain. Talk about paying the jizya!

When I cancelled my licence about 6 years ago the licence authorities continued to harass for cash (in case I had second thoughts presumably) for another 12 months. And believe it, those vans still make the rounds scanning and they do still knock on doors to have a friendly word.

If stealing satellite or cable TV is doable...what's so frakkin' hard about stealing BBC-TV?

I use a hauppage TV card in my PC. It shows broadcast TV. The RF that the system gives off can be shielded. This can be accomplished by plastering steel mesh into walls. This method also is used to create RF-quiet areas in office buildings.

...jamming to create "False hits" for those vans!

I'd enjoy the challenge if I was forced to live in the UK.

Aunty Beeb is watching you!

This video creeped me out when I found it this morning. I thought I would share

"Quick, Vivian, eat the telly!

[/youngones]

I was in England this past week on a business trip and saw this ad on the TV. I sat there in shock for a minute or two afterwards wondering where all the hidden cameras and microphones were in my hotel room. It was outright blatant in taking the "we know where you live" message to the British population - all over the TV licensing tax. Imagine if we were forced to pay $200 per year per TV just to support PBS. At least they are kind enough to give the blind a "discount" on the tax they have to pay.

Those kids at the BBC sure know how to give you the warm and fuzzies. Don't they?

.

Hi "catnip"

#165 I thought it had to be copper mesh... darn my tinfoil hat keeps slipping, sonofabi_chin' carnivore.

You have been assimilated.

Hasn't Britain always had this really weird fascination with totalitarianism?

re: #172 29Victor

darn, I hate it when that happens.

re: #171 John67

Hi "catnip"

#165 I thought it had to be copper mesh... darn my tinfoil hat keeps slipping, sonofabi_chin' carnivore.

ANY metallic mesh will work (Google "Faraday cage"), but the best ones for RF are either powdered iron (not practical) or iron/steel.

At todays' prices, tho, tinfoil is starting to look mighty economical!

JAFLW

re: #175 Just Another Four-letter Word

I see, gotta update the basement, I mean command center.

The BBC is al-Qaeda's outsourced secret weapon of mass mental destruction.

This is Really about the British TV and Radio tax , the BBC is government owned and subsidized , but if you think the government of the UK is just going to slip the BBC's payoff under Browns phone bill then you have something else to consider .

They actually tax the citizens to listen and watch TV , then after the Brits pay they only get what the BBC sees fit to send em .

It's like paying taxes to have your garbage picked up , only in this case they deliver the garbage instead of picking it up .

No Corporate in their right mind would ever place their trust and hard earned ad capitol in the leftist media at the BBC ....thats another reason the BBC isn't worth the powder it takes to blow them to hell .

Dumb Brits !

re: #178 Twenglish

It's like paying taxes to have your garbage picked up , only in this case they deliver the garbage instead of picking it up .

Exactly!

It may all be in the database, but since they refuse to enter the houses of people who might be violent extremists, certain communities (e.g. parts of Belfast) get a free service.

re: #178 Twenglish
No Corporate in their right mind would ever place their trust and hard earned ad capitol in the leftist media at the BBC ....thats another reason the BBC isn't worth the powder it takes to blow them to hell .

Dumb Brits !

Jesus wept.

re: #181 uptight

Never changes, does it mate?

I support the BBC and the TV License.

For everything we get, it's cheap. £11.62 a month for 6 TV channels, countless radio stations, digital radio, pioneering interactive TV, a great website and wonderful programmes like Dr Who, Top Gear, Match of the Day, The Mighty Boosh. All with no advertising. Fantastic. Cheap at twice the price.

Compared to Sky TV - which costs £4.50 more per month for their most basic package....and that is festooned with nasty adverts.

Channel 4 is the only station that produces anything like the quality programming of the BBC, but whilst they are free to air, they are funded by adverts and don't have any commitment to Research & Development that benefits the industry or local radio which benefits communities.

And yes - I hate the soft Liberal bias. It's institutionised - probably the fault of lefty universities - certainly not a BBC agenda. I suppose BBC's recruitment could introduce McCarthyism, but I'd feel more uncomfortable with that than the current prevalence of left of centre, trendies.

re: #182 Wishbone

Never changes, does it mate?

It's like pushing a stone up a hill.

The brits are getting creepier and creepier.

Holy Cow--it's just like a Doctor Who episode! or four or five!

Makes you wonder if the Slitheen haven't taken over in Britain.

re: #36 NoSubmission

Wow. Wonder if they are going after terrorists with such zeal?

They would only do that if there were a terrorist tax to be collected. Now there's a thought... Tax terrorist activities, then go after them if they fail to file!

I have long said that the American media-industrial complex is an unelected and unaccountable shadow government.

In the UK, they are not in the shadows.

Evening all,
the TV detector vans never actually worked. They were a big con trick on the population to scare people into admitting they did not have a licence.
The same scare tactics are used now to send letters to addresses that do not have a TV licence to get them to state they do not have a serviceable television in the property. I once lived next door to a registered blind man who kept getting the letters every two months for a year. An enforcement officer never came to check up.

Just to let the USA know that if you buy a television, broad band ready computer, dvd or video player in the UK you have to fill out a form at the till to let the retailer inform the TV licensing people know you could be getting device viable for receiving TV programmes.

Keep well all

Do BBC executives even watch the stuff that they air before promoting it?

Like some automo-voice out of The Island.

re: #183 uptight

I support the BBC and the TV License.

For everything we get, it's cheap. £11.62 a month for 6 TV channels, countless radio stations, digital radio, pioneering interactive TV, a great website and wonderful programmes like Dr Who, Top Gear, Match of the Day, The Mighty Boosh. All with no advertising. Fantastic. Cheap at twice the price.

Does it ever occur to you that the only reason you get it cheaply is because thousands (or perhaps even millions) of others, who may not want it, are nevertheless forced to pay?

If everyone was forced to pay for Sky, it would likewise be cheap.

Ve know vere you liff, und ve haff vays of making you pay!

22.00 Dollars a month for 6 Channels? I pay like $55.00 a month for 100+ channels. Sounds like when I lived there BBC1, BBC2, ITV. All CRAPTASTIC. One of the main reasons to live England is to escape from the insane taxes and bad tv. My Parents moved to the USA in the 70's and never went back, England sucked then, imagine how bad it must suck today!