Battleangel | Personal

Since the weblog was off-line during the better part of the spring there were quite a few events that went past unnoticed. I suppose the continuation of these event will be told at some point in time. One of these quite interesting stories followed the import of the long awaited Anchor Bay DVD release of Highlander.
Background: The DVD release of Highlander was disappointing when it came out a couple of years ago. The image quality resembled that of a VHS and the extras were nonexistent. Thankfully Zone 1 based Anchor Bay did a make over, improved the quality, added a DTS track and some decent extras. This disc was released April/May this year.
Being a Highlander fan I immediately purchased the disc (from Uk(Jersey)-based Play.com). This is where the trouble began. A week later I received a notice from the postal office that I had to collect the *prepaid* package for a fee. The retards at the customs division had decided to tax me for the value of the package.

A normal £11 disc all of a sudden became a £19 disc (i.e. an £8 penalty just because you want to think for yourself) 75% of these £8 btw goes right down the pocket of some pencil pusher. Only about 25% is actually tax.
This is a complicated issue since the channel islands are not part of the EU and Zone 1 discs are being shipped from Canada. So, because of the new hardliner policy from customs you can loose either way, both with Zone 1 and 2 discs. Thankfully, Play.com agreed to refund the extra fees that I had been burdened with. Really nice of them!

It’s a disgrace that any “free”, “democratic” nation behaves this way. Had I been living in Nazi Germany anno 1939 I probably wouldn’t have been so surprised. I would probably have been labelled guilty of unpatriotic acts (through the import of foreign material that existed in another almost equal form nationally) and detained. Nowadays, instead of being sent to concentration camp, you get taxed. I don’t really care what the regulation says. In this case it has got nothing to do with pulling in taxes for the government. The sole purpose of the recent raids on dvd imports is to protect domestic interests. The tax and the extra S&H fees forces upon you by the postal office can only be seen as a penalization. To deter you from repeating the same action pattern in the future. The video distribution ass. must have allied themselves with the postal office and the right people in the government. A regular shadow conspiracy if you ask me.
And if you think this little covert operation is self funding, think again! It uses up personnel from more dire need, like drug trafficing and REAL smuggling. What is more important? Your kids doing drugs or importing DVDs? It’s a strange doctrine indeed. It’s a threat not only to free trade but also world peace .. just wait and see ..

Well, you shall have your way then .. like any “criminals”, I and those that stand beside me, will find the loopholes. Now and forever. You can not win this battle.

By recommendation I will try DVDSoon.com for my next order. While they ship from Canada, no one I heard of has ever been subjected to tax or other penalties .. yet.