Taser Nation
HarveyCanal
"a distraction from my main thesis." 13,234 Posts
Taser Nationby columnist Margaret Kimberley Black Agenda Report"At every level of government, anyone wearing a uniform gains the right to assault and to kill." Apparently there are ticking time bombs on every block, in every town across the country. Bar fights, traffic stops and other ordinary forms of disruptive behavior cannot be allowed to go unchecked. Time is wasting and someone has to be tortured quickly if we are all to be kept safe. The proto-fascist direction of the nation is now enveloping people who never saw themselves as the targets of state terror, that is to say, white people. Black people were always victims of police brutality. White people either approved or may have even felt sorry for Negroes but just didn't care enough. They didn't think the same treatment would ever be meted out to them. Now thanks to video cameras and You Tube, everyone is now a witness to the trickle down movement of police brutality. If the president and vice president and Congress determine that torture is acceptable for some, inevitably it becomes acceptable for all. "Everyone is now a witness to the trickle down movement of police brutality." The argument being made by presidential candidates and law professors is that torture is fine as long as the circumstances are right. Like script writers for bad movies they all envision a "ticking time bomb" scenario. The bomb ticks, a terrorism suspect is nabbed, and voila, we have ways of making him talk. While Arabs and Muslims are the targets of the movie fantasy moment, the jack boot of the state does not isolate itself, but instead makes victims of anyone unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Police brutality and selective prosecutions are not new. The old fashioned billy club was the low tech weapon of yesteryear. Now that physical torture has been championed by the White House, instead of being practiced in the basements of police precincts, everyone is at risk. It just isn't possible for abuse to be legitimized against one group. In recent months there has been a spate of news stories, with horrific video to match, showing police officers using Tasers to subdue harmless people. In Warren, Ohio a cop used one of the stun guns on a handcuffed woman. A Utah highway cop grew so annoyed with a blonde, blue eyed, white man who wouldn't sign a traffic citation, that he gave him the 50,000 voltage jolt just to teach him who was boss. "Now that physical torture has been championed by the White House, everyone is at risk." None of these cops seemed to care that the video cameras mounted on their cars noted their every act and comment. In the Utah case, the itchy trigger fingered cop openly bragged to a colleague, "He took a ride with the Taser." His friend replied jokingly for posterity, "Painful isn't it." The United Nations Committee Against Torture has announced that Tasers constitute a form of torture. It is little wonder their usage has proliferated in Bushland. According to a 2006 Amnesty International report, more than 150 Americans died after Tasers were used against them. It is also not surprising that shooting human beings with jolts of electricity has now become militarized. The Defense Department has developed a "pain ray" that will be used for crowd control in Iraq. The scarily named Active Denial System (ADS) was created by the Raytheon corporation. (It is an article of faith among the Bushites that nothing happens unless it sends loads of cash in the direction of defense contractors.) Torture has moved from low tech, water boarding, to high tech, rays that burn the skin. Bombs and bullets are now passe for Iraqis, Uncle Sam wants them to suffer in new and different ways. "More than 150 Americans died after Tasers were used against them." Meanwhile back at the ranch in the United States, a local NAACP branch in Maryland has called for a suspension of Taser use. Two black men were recently attacked with police stun guns and one died. The original victim group remains victimized, even as the terror spreads around the country and across the globe. The occupation of foreign lands, and the attacks on civil liberties at home and abroad lead down the same old road. At every level of government, anyone wearing a uniform gains the right to assault and to kill. A weary and distracted public becomes less and less likely to fight back. At the very least we have You Tube to reveal those occasions when the petty dictators decide to teach a lesson. As the Utah highway cop tells his victim, "You wouldn't follow my instructions." That is all the rest of us need to know. Follow instructions and you'll be safe, if you're lucky. http://www.blackagendareport.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=448&Itemid=1
Comments
and if so, don't you find it hypocritical to call for the banishment of a weapon when you so proudly stated you used to carry a gun in your backpack to a peaceful weekly event?
yeah, tazers aren't guns thats for sure, but I'm just seeing what our boy Harvey has to say on calling for one weapon to be banned while jumping on an internet board and boasting that he carried another weapon around.
and to go further into it the article makes a couple mentions of race, particularly white on black brutality and seeing how Harvey is whiter than a jar of mayonaise and he was packing heat in black neighborhoods it seems even more hypocritical for him to agree with the article.
Just for the record I'm all about no one being able to carry tasers, especially without a permit and training.
The bottom of the article shows how a taser works
Taser death sparks Canada debate
Lee Carter
BBC News, Toronto
Police pinned down Mr Dziekanski
The use of Taser guns by the police is under fierce debate in Canada.
It follows the case of a Polish immigrant who died after officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police who twice stunned him with Taser guns and secured him to the floor.
After remaining in a secure part of Vancouver airport for nearly nine hours, Robert Dziekanski, who spoke no English, began shouting and throwing furniture before the police officers were called.
The final moments of Mr Dziekanski's life were captured on video by another traveller and released to the media, causing public outrage.
Investigations have started in Canada into the way the police handled the incident and their seemingly contradictory version of events.
Rise in incidents
The death at Vancouver airport has led to frenzied media scrutiny of police Tasers, with several subsequent cases making headlines
In one incident, a man from Nova Scotia died in police custody the day after a confrontation with police during which he was shocked with a Taser.
We see the Taser as a device that, in the hands of a properly trained officer, can save lives"
Bill Blair, Toronto police chief
His wife later claimed he had not taken medication for his mental illness.
The increased use of Tasers by North American police forces over just the past four years has been dramatic.
In Canada alone it is estimated there are 2,000 to 3,000 of the weapons available to officers.
'Last alternative'
Police forces have approved the use of Tasers because it allows officers to subdue violent or disruptive individuals without having to resort to using firearms.
Bill Blair, the police chief of Canada's largest city Toronto, has equipped all his senior tactical officers with Tasers.
He says there may be lessons that can be learnt from the death of Mr Dziekanski, but agrees with most other police chiefs across the country that Tasers are an effective, last-resort alternative to lethal force.
"Like all force options, Tasers have certain inherent risks," says Mr Blair.
A taser gun used in the US
"But we see the Taser as a device, that in the hands of a properly trained officer, who is fully accountable for its use and well-instructed on when its appropriate to use, can save lives."
Mr Blair acknowledges that many of the people they encounter may be suffering from pre-existing medical conditions, mental illness or drug use.
But he says that many of those people are at risk of serious illness, regardless of whether the Taser is deployed or not.
And he points out there are no known deaths from Taser incidents in Toronto.
Safety concerns
The same claim cannot be made across the country.
Although it is hard to establish any direct link to Tasers, since 2003 at least 18 people have died in Canada after police officers shocked them with the weapon.
We're not confident there's enough information for police officers to safely use this weapon
Amnesty International Canada
In the aftermath of the Vancouver Airport incident, the Canadian branch of Amnesty International is calling for the immediate suspension of the use of the weapons, until a full independent review on their safety is completed.
"We're not confident that there's enough information for police officers to safely use this weapon," says Amnesty Canada's John Tackaberry.
Amnesty is not calling for a ban on Taser use, and recognises its value as an alternative to firearm use. But it is concerned about a condition called excited delirium.
This is described as an agitated state, when a person experiences an irregular heartbeat and suddenly dies. It can affect people with mental disabilities as well as those on drugs such as cocaine.
But critics argue that excited delirium is not an officially recognised medical condition.
Debate in US
The Canadian debate is being watched closely across the border in the United States, where Tasers have long been controversial.
Since the Vancouver Airport incident last month, at least six Americans have died after being stunned with the weapon by police.
As in Canada, there seems to be a patchwork of different rules and regulations governing the weapon's use, with no coherent national policy.
Unlike Canada, citizens as well as police are permitted carry the weapon for their own protection.
A video has appeared on YouTube of a recent incident in Utah, when a traffic police officer appeared to shock a driver with a Taser for refusing to sign his speeding ticket.
But as in Canada, there is no agreement about whether Tasers can be held directly responsible for the deaths of victims, especially those with pre-existing medical conditions.
The US Justice Department will release a much anticipated report next year on the safety of the weapons.
Whiter than a jar of mayonaise??? Did you hear that, grandma?
Alright, Ill play...
I don't care if they are using sticks with nails in them...fuck police brutality, period.
And hypocritical?
Try making the distinction between private individuals wishing to potentially protect themselves by way of guns...versus the state repressing certain types of people with brute force.
And as far as carrying a gun to the Good Life...one, I was far from the only one. Two, I used to go up there into what 2 years earlier was riot central alone not knowing anyone. My old childhood friends from HB were either disinterested or more often too shook to ever join me. So the gun I bought more for the purpose of traveling by myself from Texas to LA and back became something I'd take with me when venturing out into an unfamiliar city. Three, it never even had the clip engaged into it. Four, what did I do with that backpack with a gun in it? I made friends that I'm still friends with to this day...friends who have since told me that it was definitely wise for me to carry a gun to the GL for they personally knew people who would've been happy to jack me in a heartbeat.
Now, do I think it's something that the same harsh policies that whites previously condoned, since at the time they were only being applied to people of color, are now coming back to haunt them? Hell yes, I do.
It's the beauty of the "don't taze me, bro" quip. Dude saw himself in the guy tazing him, enough to refer to him as bro. We're at a really interesting stage of getting fucked by our "government" right now, but leave it to a career dork like you to sidetrack that discussion.
once again, I don't agree with people whether they have a postiion of authority or not to carry tasers in public (Or any concealed weapon for that matter) but to say its ok for you to do cause you were alone and scared doesn't make it any more right ro less dangerous to others. In other words this was a strange flag for you to wave given your self-admitted history and refusal to back down from your actions.
...and yes whiter than a jar of mayonaise, I've seen the pictures.
Once again, you are a dweeb of immense proportions.
Again, I never used my gun for anything but target practice. No one was ever harmed by me carrying a gun...not even close.
But yeah, that makes me just as bad as a cop who unjustifiably kills someone.
What if your bag was stolen with said gun and it was used in a crime which someone was killed. Are you to blame in any way?
Who are the bosses in that equation...citizens or the cops?
Last time I checked, cops were supposed to protect and serve citizens. So when that plan gets derailed into cops repressing the very citizens they have been assigned to protect and serve, it becomes time for citizens to disarm the cops...at least until they can rid themselves of their power-tripping, discriminatory, over-bearing tendencies.
It wasn't, so no.
the potential of violence doesn't make sense in the world of Harvey.
It's not like he was carrying that gun for protection or anything.
You do realize you didn't answer his question right?
This may shock you but I'm more concerned with the 8,000+ murders committed by citizens with guns each year than I am with the 5-10 committed by corrupt police.
So tazers are preventing murders now?
I am speaking about GUNS....you know, the GUNS that you think citizens should be able to own yet in the hands of the evil police become tools of murder.
The thread is about tazers, bro.
It was about tasers right up until THIS was posted...
And THAT is what I was responding to...bro.