I read the news today oh boy! Page 883

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 14 2012, 1:42 PM BST

What a very middle class, white collar approach to crime. Sure, you might have swindled loads of vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings and condemned them to live out their last years on Earth in abject poverty and squalor, but you didn't punch a Chav on a Saturday night, so off you go.

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I mean naughty accountants will turn up at an old folks home to wipe bums as a punishment for 50 years. Out of fear of being bummed in said shower.

Locking people up is hugely expensive. And should be reserved for those who are either dangerous or likely to run off.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 14 2012, 1:42 PM BST

What a very middle class, white collar approach to crime. Sure, you might have swindled loads of vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings and condemned them to live out their last years on Earth in abject poverty and squalor, but you didn't punch a Chav on a Saturday night, so off you go.

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Eeeek! I agree with Renegade.

Nurse! The screens!

Grrr.

Community based punishment is the safest, cheapest and most effective punishment for compliant offenders. Of whom there are very many. It also has the highest chance of rehabilitation. And unlike wanking or playing on your Xbox for 23 hours lock down it's by no means an easy option. Dredging canals, picking up litter on motorways or industrially cleaning 8 hours a day is pretty tough.

People aren't going to prison who should because theres no space. Thats ridiculous.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 14 2012, 1:42 PM BST

What a very middle class, white collar approach to crime. Sure, you might have swindled loads of vulnerable pensioners out of their life savings and condemned them to live out their last years on Earth in abject poverty and squalor, but you didn't punch a Chav on a Saturday night, so off you go.

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And such an arrogance. There are plenty of working class TV license dodgers, benefit fraudsters,not to mention dodgy accountants wasting cell spaces.

And plenty of wealthy wife beater, drunk punchers andassorted other thugs. Who should be locked up.

Assuming rich people don't hit people. Exposes your shallow Heat magazine news sensibilities.

Actually not sure whilst I'm still banging on about this, but what the hell.

In my first job as a care assisstant in a big day centre for the learning dissabled. I got matched up with a guy doing community service for affray and car theft and well a bit of a chav. Apart from the mild offence that my job was essentially considered a punishment. He turned up on time, did his job and seemed to get something from it.

Quote: chipolata @ June 14 2012, 11:17 AM BST

I only pretend to get bent out of shape to wind you up and you face an onslaught of positive Obamarisms. It's funny watching your blood pressure go up.

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You're mistaken if that's what you think happens. I'm rather apolitical and can't remember a political discussion that has raised by blood pressure even a single point. The same goes for every other discussion I've had here and on the rest of the Internet: it's just me stating my opinion.

Has any one used Gobama!

As a way of cheering him on.

Quote: chipolata @ June 14 2012, 11:24 AM BST

That said, the Mormon as president would be quite funny. Not that it's likely to happen.

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From Tuesday:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama's approval ratings have dipped to their lowest level since January on deep economic worries, wiping out most of his lead in the White House race over Republican rival Mitt Romney, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.

The percentage of Americans who approve of Obama's job performance dropped from 50 a month ago to 47, matching his mark in early January. The number who think the country is on the wrong track rose 6 percentage points in a month to 63 percent.

The doubts about Obama's leadership helped Romney pull to within 1 point of the Democratic president in the White House race - 45 percent to 44 percent - among registered voters with less than five months to go before the November 6 election. Obama led by 7 points a month ago.

I'm not much of a Romney fan, but I don't have a problem with Mormons. I've known 3 of them well and they are at the top of the list of the most honest people I've met. They're all great family men.

Our former CEO was a devout Mormon and the best boss I've ever worked for. Her personally rearranged our company's medical plan to accommodate my daughter's medical issues and when I told him that I need a 5% raise to cover the cost of a big rent hike he gave me 10% instead.

My coworker is a lapsed Mormon who is one of the smartest and most honest people I know. A neighbor is a retired Air Force pilot who joins our weekly gatherings but doesn't participate in the beer drinking or cussing. He's a really friendly guy and his 6 (soon to be 7) children are the nicest kids on the block.

Romney's wife suffers from MS and still calls my former mother-in-law on a regular basis just out of friendliness, even though my former father-in-law died of ALS almost a year ago.

Quote: sootyj @ June 14 2012, 3:07 PM BST

Has any one used Gobama!

As a way of cheering him on.

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I haven't seen it but there are a lot of Nobama stickers on bumpers these days.

Quote: DaButt @ June 14 2012, 3:27 PM BST

They're all great family men.

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Must be quite easy to be a family man when you don't have to cheat to shag numerous women.

Quote: sootyj @ June 14 2012, 2:02 PM BST

I mean naughty accountants will turn up at an old folks home to wipe bums as a punishment for 50 years. Out of fear of being bummed in said shower.

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When MPs were caught fiddling their expenses, I'm sure you didn't immediately call for lengthy prison terms...or did you? (I don't know, I wasn't on the BCG then)

How about if a naughty accountant helps funnel money stolen from African regimes, drug dealers, sex traffickers and other branches of organised crime? How about gangs who set up Internet frauds and steal money from your credit cards?

Do you know what would deter these billion pound crimes, knowing that you might have to pick up some litter in the park. Yeah, that'll put the fear of God into the bastards.

As it stands, it's up to the Judge to determine a sentence that fits the crime and if jail time is warranted, then so be it.

And that is where my arrogance comes from - that and my film star good looks.

Quote: DaButt @ June 14 2012, 5:09 AM BST

The United States Marine Corps still flies them and would probably be willing to lend a few.

Semper fi!

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That would be rather pointless.

Someone said that most of our Harriers were now standing in the Arizona desert, after we sold them to USA at scrap prices.

Quote: sootyj @ June 14 2012, 9:46 AM BST

Your marines bought our Harriers for something like 5% of their value

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Not sure about that, I think those US Marine ones might be some we sold to the USA years ago when they were active planes. But as mentioned above ours were sold at trivial prices to the USA, probably for use as spare parts for those US Marine ones.

Quote: billwill @ June 14 2012, 3:38 PM BST

probably for use as spare parts for those US Marine ones.

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Yeppity doodle. The US Marines have a larger budget then the entire UK MOD. They bought their Harriers brand spanking new and are using our scrap ones for bits and bobbins.

Quote: zooo @ June 14 2012, 9:47 AM BST

That would be great. Or they could light the flame with the jet engine.

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We could do it with helicopters, but it wouldn't have quite the same WOW factor.

Quote: billwill @ June 14 2012, 3:41 PM BST

We could do it with helicopters, but it wouldn't have quite the same WOW factor.

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I was trying to think of flame related symbolism that's reflected in British history and all I could come up with was the fire bombing of Dresden and the Wicker Man.

Quote: sootyj @ June 14 2012, 2:02 PM BST

Locking people up is hugely expensive.

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But there again, think of all the culture we get from prisons. Without prisons, there would have been no 'Shawshank Redemption', and 'Porridge' would have merely been a Scots cookery show.

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ June 14 2012, 3:46 PM BST

I was trying to think of flame related symbolism that's reflected in British history and all I could come up with was the fire bombing of Dresden and the Wicker Man.

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We could re-enact the Battle of Trafalgar, that would really annoy the French.

Or round up all the athletes, chain them head to foot in fake holds and pretend to sail off to the West Indies or Australia.

Quote: billwill @ June 14 2012, 4:02 PM BST

Or round up all the athletes, chain them head to foot in fake holds and pretend to sail off to the West Indies or Australia.

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How incredibly insensitive billwill - the days of forcing people to leave Britain are long over. Instead, we should have a massive musical number featuring a newly arrived immigrant family being showered with money, our jobs and school places. At the end of the grand finale, we just give all the foreigns in the crowd a flat from the Olympic village.

Rule Britannia, etc.