Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Stuff the Census

As Parliament has rejected the proposition that prisoners are not members of the civic society, in denying me my vote, then when the Census forms are dished out soon I will be filing mine in the nearest bin.
I gather there is the prospect of a prosecution for such activity. Bring it on...

13 comments:

  1. Is this so that you can moan about the fact that you are still locked up?

    I'm reminded of people who go shopping when it rains so they can moan about the rain.

    Or people who remove the ultimate human right of life and then moan about removal of their human rights.

    The Census is a load of b@+==@Ks mind. Klingon all the way!

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  2. @underwhelmed, well done for missing the point so spectacularly. Doh!

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  3. @ Anon above 11.23. Seconded!!

    Ben, You should have your right to vote!!
    ALL prsoners should. It is ridiculous to think that by denyng your right to do so helps any attempt @ rehabilitation and re entry into "society". If you have no voice, you are no-one.

    Why then is the census so important that they will prosecute for non compliance???

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  4. Ben - please do not do anything to antagonise the authorities at this stage - remember where all the power lies. You can stand on your principles (and ours)when you get out - I do not think what I am saying is right - but do you want a move to open conditions and eventual release? My loved one stayed in prison for much longer than he should have because he would not kow-tow - so be careful. Keep writing though - make sure you do it in such a way that the 'authorities' will not be even harder on you.

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  5. Sorry to be a pedant, but if parliament rejects prisoners not being part of society, surely that means they have accepted prisoners as part of civic society?

    On a more serious note, I think that this is the wrong way to protest an issue of Human Rights.

    Essentially, from a moral point of view, parliament is breaking the law by not allowing prisoners the vote.

    However, by failing to fill in the census forms as a protest against breaching the law, you are also breaking the law.

    Now the reasons is the same. Parliament dislikes the result of a court hearing imposed by an outside authority. You don't wish to fill in the census because it is an act of defiance against an outside authority.

    Ultimately, the only difference here is one of scale. The wrong you commit against the state is not as bad as the wrong the state commits against you. However, by objecting to a legitimate rule of the state, how can you hold yourself to be morally above parliament?

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  6. @ Mary, I agree with you wholeheartedly, but knowing Ben's track record he will do what he feels is right
    Yet the disgraced MP David Chaytor spends one night in prison and transferred to open the next day? I know his crime was false accounting, for which he is serving 18 months, he has since sought leave to appeal!!!
    Thought there was a waiting list for these places?
    The right to vote is fundamental. As is the right of freedom of speech.

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  7. @queenie,

    That's shocking. That was tax payers money he was playing fast and loose with and he's in open conditions...I know folk in Cat A/Cat B prisons (with shorter sentences) for offences that are much less serious!

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  8. It is shocking indeed! It is one law for the rich and influential and another for the rest! How is David Chaytor's crime any less serious than shoplifting, for example? Women are being separated from their children for much less!! Such injustice.

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  9. Amend above - men and women of course!!

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  10. 'Doh'? I didn't realise I was trying to debate with 5 year olds. I will ammend my arguement accordingly. 'Naughty boys need to be taught a lesson. Naughty boys who do not learn from this lesson will not be allowed out to play'

    Also, false accounting is slightly different to Johns crime.

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  11. @youfools (glad you said it...) are you claiming that ben hasnt "learned his lesson"? Bet you havent bothered reading his whole blog to find out. Doh!

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  12. @ youfools Your name sums up your thinking about your fellow man. You really should put yourself on "the naughty chair" lol....

    As for false accounting being different!!!

    Let's remember that this was public money David Chaytor (and how many others?)stole. How do you know that because of their greed a vital operation, or some such didn't have to be cancelled?, resulting in someones death? Would that do it for you? Do you think there is any possability that they think about that when they have their snouts in the trough? One thing for certain, they would never spend 21 years over their tariff.

    Give prisoners the vote......simples.

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  13. @youfools - there are an awful lot of rich naughty boys and girls that don't get taught a lesson and carry on playing their selfish and deceitful games at the expense of the rest of us. Ben was a troubled child when he committed his crime, for which he is remorseful. You are the one displaying your immaturity I'm afraid.

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