A Good Reason To Avoid Facebook
I do anyway, but their tax position, seems to be in line with Starbucks, Amazon and Google according to this report.
In fact, it’s rapidly getting to the point, where using a large company reduces tax revenues. Although, it does seem that American companies are the best at finding ways of avoiding paying tax. Or should that be worst?
If you think I’m being sanctimonious here, I once paid a tax bill of £3,500,000. If you don’t believe me, I have the cheque on the wall to prove it. I could have avoided the tax bill, by going to live in Monaco or somewhere equally boring for a few years. But then this country has so many good things, that I’d miss.
The World’s Gone Mad
Two stories today go a fair way to prove my theory.
We have the statement from the NRA in response to the shooting of twenty-six in Connecticut, which is reported here on the BBC. This is a couple of chilling paragraphs.
Mr LaPierre called for a national database of the mentally ill and blamed violent video games and films for portraying murder as a “way of life”.
He spoke out against the media for demonising lawful gun owners, and for suggesting a ban on certain types of weapon would be effective.
The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun,” Mr LaPierre told reporters.
But who checks that good guys are really good guys and not bad ones in disguise.
Wayne LaPierre is Executive Vice President of the National Rifle Assocation. I only hope that Europe bans him and his views from the continent.
We also have the tragic case of Neon Taylor as reported here on the BBC. In some ways with this case, I think it might be a hopeless one, as the cancer is just too aggressive I speak with hindsight here, as my late wife died from a very aggressive cancer for which there was no remedy. If that is the case with Neon, you had better let the doctors do their best, but at the end of the day, it would be sensible to let nature take its course and do your utmost to make the poor child as comfortable as possible.
That may be hard, but I had a granddaughter born with all sorts of problems. Doctors gave her a chance of 50/50 of surviving. By their own immense skill they proved themselves wrong. Ten years later, she is very fit and well.
Sometimes, I feel that a lot of people put their own crackpot theories above the good of those they say they are protecting.
US Gun Statistics
This article on US gun statistics is fascinating.
You can draw your own conclusions, but I will say this. Everybody who dies in a shooting, whether deliberate or by accident, is a tragedy for more than just that person.
I know what grief feels like and it’s not pleasant!
Reach For A Lawyer
One thing that has always puzzled me about mass killings in the United States, is that no-one has used a lawyer to sue someone, who was loosely connected to the crime. The people, who made the guns and the bullets for a start. And what about his mother’s estate or his father, who moved out? They could also sue the school for not having a US Marine in every class room. The list could be endless to a creative lawyer.
After all McDonalds were successfully sued by someone who spilt a cup of hot coffee. I once did that to myself, so should I claim against the airline for serving me in error, when I have a gammy hand? As I spilt it all over that hand, perhaps the damage to the nerves caused my stroke. On the other hand, I would have lost the case, as I said sorry to the stewardess.
The Troubled Adam Lanza
It would appear from reports like this, that Adam Lamza was a very troubled kid.
It all goes to prove my feeling that as guns are so dangerous, they should always be under lock from two separate responsible people. I know this was originally proposed by the NFU to stop suicide amongst farmers, but it would help to stop the number of people killed in a country, where people habitually owned guns.
It would never be implemented in the United States, as the idiots of the NRA and many others, would consider it a major assault on freedom.
America, The Sick Man Of The World
Two of the stories I posted yesterday, showed the state the US is in. The first was the story of prisons in the US, and Alabama in particular. I started it with the words.
This story from the United States is terrible.
I felt it couldn’t get worse. But it course of did with the massacre of children in Connecticut.
The story of Gary McKinnon was really about America bullying a poor unfortunate, rather than fixing their leaky computer systems and treating him in the way he would have been in most other countries of the world.
We have also had the excursions into Afghanistan and Iraq, to wreak vengeance for the attacks on New York and Washington on September 11th, 2009. Sadly we were drawn into these ill-thought out adventures.
It’s funny too, how the three main companies being castigated for their tax position are all American.
I could also add in the stunts of bankers based in New York, which started the collapse of the worldwide banking system, the death penalty and the failed prison and justice system and a healthcare system that is the joke of the civilised world.
I shall not be going to the United States ever again and I will not buy products from American companies, where there is an alternative.
Gary McKinnon Case Is Dropped
This is reported on the BBC.
All I can say, is this is about time too!
How Not To Run A Prison System
This story from the United States is terrible.
I’m not saying, rape of women prisoners doesn’t go on in other countries, but you rarely here of it in Europe. I seem to vaguely remember, that when C used to visit HMP Holloway in the 1960s and 70s, that she told a story of a prisoner, who got pregnant.
I also think there are some countries in Europe, where few women are incarcerated.
The United States should bring its Justice and Prison up to the standards of the civilised world.
Did My Protest Work?
It is being reported that Starbucks are now going to pay more Corporation Tax.
Since the storm broke, I’ve not used a large chain of coffee shops, although I have popped into Carluccio’s for the odd cappuccino.
I wonder how many other people have adopted a similar boycott?
It’ll be interesting to see the accounts of the chains as they emerge!
On a related point, I was talking to an American a few days ago, and they didn’t like the way Starbucks behaved on the other side of the pond.
Bread That Lasts Sixty Days
This story shows the ways Americans will go to get people to eat more crap food.
I bet the bread in the article isn’t gluten free.
The Anonymous Widower 