Since Robert Dziekanski was cruelly taken down by four RCMP officers with substantial assistance from such a Taser, I have been watching this with great interest.  And I say it’s about damn time.

For Taser to maintain for so very long that their guns are absolutely harmless to all simply defies reason.  Anything that can make someone involuntarily drop to the floor and writhe in pain cannot possibly be harmless, yet through aggressive litigation they have managed to silence law enforcement, courts, lawyers and even medical examiners.

Tasers were originally approved as a “less-lethal” alternative to the use of a firearm in disabling dangerous suspects.  I don’t know specifically when it happened, but somewhere along the way it became okay to zap anything that didn’t immediately succumb to a spoken word or two – whether they were a danger to anything or anyone, including themselves – became irrelevant.

For that irrelevance, I blame Taser.  They present reams and reams of research and evidence that they have bought and paid for as though it is the empirical scientific data it is not.  It only serves to reassure the people that use them that they will do no harm.  And if it will do no harm, what harm is there in zapping an old lady when she’s small and you’re obviously huge?

Not that it matters.  Our police do need something that is less lethal than a gun, and that thing might as well be a Taser.  It is less lethal, after all.  And I suppose I’d rather be knocked down with electricity than with a hail of bullets just about any day of the week.

But let’s at least acknowledge that these things are dangerous.  Let’s admit that they can cause grievous bodily harm, and let’s get the people who carry them to treat them with the same respect they would treat a firearm.  As long as the capacity to kill is there, it cannot be ignored.  To do so makes fools of all of us.

It does strike me that Big Tobacco did much the same thing for a very long time.  Cigarettes weren’t addictive, they weren’t dangerous, they just tasted great and made you a sexy cowboy or something.  Of course, now we know they were lying through their teeth the whole time, and I suspect the same sort of revelation from Taser in the years to come.

So, come on, Taser.  Fess up to these things being dangerous.  Sell them as something that is dangerous.  I’m sure Glock or Smith & Wesson or Colt or Browning or whoever doesn’t get sued when someone gets shot by a gun they made, so put yourselves in the same boat.  It won’t stop the police from buying them, but I suppose you might sell less cartridges for them as they would hopefully be used much less.

2.  I bet Tiger Woods’ wife Elin has an extra-large putter.  So she can hit 2 balls at once.

Of course, when Dubya was the President they were on his side.  Now that a Democrat is back in power, the Fox attack machine has really gone to town.  They say it’s a risky strategy for the White House to pursue, but I do think that it is something that has needed saying for a long time now.

And, hey, if we can make Glenn Beck cry about something that’s actually real, then we’re all better off.

So suck it, Fox.

This e-mail and its attachments are confidential and intended for use by the above named recipient(s) only. If you are not the intended recipient, please note that any use, modification, dissemination, edition or reproduction (either in whole or partially) of this e-mail and/or its attachments, or of the information contained herein, is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail by mistake, please notify the sender immediately, and immediately delete this e-mail with its attachments and any copy of it from your computer system.

Now, IANAL, but it seems to me that if I receive something from someone that was unsolicited…I can do whatever I want with it.  I can modify it, disseminate it, edit it or reproduce it in any form that my little heart desires.

Indeed, that’s the law.  The real law.  And no lawyer can write anything that breaks the law.

Strictly prohibited?  Funny stuff.

I would think that the only possible grey area would be that if I had received an email that was not actually addressed to me – but that really doesn’t happen any more (if it indeed ever really did) – so big deal.

What goads me the most about this “legal” warning is that the original writer of it was obviously relying on the gullibility of the masses to protect…something…should it manage to slip out. Big, fancy, legalese to confuse and dumbfound us mere mortals.  Kind of like getting a DMCA takedown notice for something that you wrote, but that somebody else might not like.

Anyway, I just wish that people would grow up and get rid of that silly, silly warning.  Maybe replace it with:

If you have happened to get this message by mistake, we would appreciate it if you could let us know so that we can fix the problem on our end.  We’d also like to ask that you then delete this message.  Thank you very much, your friends at Company X.

Now go and get that done.

If completed, that would make Fiat one of the largest carmakers in the world, and Sergio and his buddies will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Picking up one of the “Not So Big Three” American carmakers – which has some not-so-bad products these days – gets Fiat firmly into the North American car market, and it does it at pennies on the dollar from what it would have cost just a year ago.

And now to consolidate their position in Europe they’ll get Opel, Saab and Vauxhall – and they’ll get those three marques at fire-sale prices because GM is looking to consolidate in North America.  Oh, and because GM is out of money and there are no other buyers.

I think the one lesson we can all take from this is that in a downturn the best-run and most forward-looking companies are the ones that stand to profit from the colossal stupidity of others.

Have any doubts about Fiat being forward-looking?  Even though the software is by Microsoft, try to find this on an American car:  Fiat Eco-Drive

"HOPE" by Shepard Fairey

I read in the news today that the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has now decided that CO2 is a pollutant that needs to be regulated, and that they’re going to do just that.  It was only two years ago that Bush quashed a similar push.

This is only the latest in an absolute flurry of tectonic shifts away from the policies of the Bush Administration.  It seems that it’s almost every single day that some old policy is nullified, exposed or outright revoked.  It is as though America – with President Obama at the helm – is entering a new age of enlightenment.  Can you tell I’m excited?

Already this week he gave Cuba (and Cuban-Americans) something to cheer for, released Bush-era documents that justified torture – while rightly saying that those who followed the bad advice would not be prosecuted, and announced plans for a national high-speed rail network.  Today it’s CO2, and somewhere in there the First Family managed to get a new dog!

Add this onto everything he’s done since he took office, and if it wouldn’t kill me I swear my head would actually spin right off.

One thing I’ll remind you of, dear reader, is that I’m Canadian.  During the eight years of Bush – beginning, fittingly enough, with a stolen election – I had thought America was all puffed out.  An old power, past its prime, that would just have to learn to take a new place in the World.

Well, America will certainly take a new place in the World, but for sure it won’t be anything less.  President Barack Obama most definitely has what it takes to get it done, and I say good on him.  He is exactly what America needs to pull itself away from fear and xenophobia, and toward enlightenment and justice.

What is good for the USA is good for me, so I say GOBAMA, and GO the 21st Century Renaissance!

Update:  CNN is saying that President Obama may be the “Superpresident“, and I couldn’t agree more.

I’ve got dozens – literally dozens – of articles in an unfinished state.  Either drafts on this site that will never get finished, or text files on my computer that will likely see the same fate.  It’s got to stop, because too many good ideas are getting stuck in the machine.

I don’t have to prove myself, so I’m not going to.  Here’s to more blog entries and fewer novellas.

Some examples:

• “Man, get a haircut.  You’re such a mildewd.”
• “That shirt was mildewd 20 years ago.”
• “I don’t want to go to Shifty McNasty’s, it’s a bar for mildewds.”
• “The mildewd, no longer fashionably late, received a scowl from the prestigious crowd.”

I hereby submit this word to the English language.  If you have other, more interesting uses, of the word – please feel free to leave them in a comment.

Special thanks to SarZ for causing me to think of this.

The Federal Minister of Industry, Jim Prentice, says “This bill reflects a win-win approach.”

Just who will be doing all the winning with this is pretty clear. And it’s not me and you.

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/12/tech-copyright.html

Bll C-61 has all the hallmarks of being written by lobbyists. American lobbyists. Through the”process” of writing this bill, neither Industry Canada nor Mr. Prentice have held any public consultations or met with any Canadian industry groups that might be affected by this legislation. No public consultations at all. At the same time, meetings with American industry lobbyists have been free-flowing.  Canadian associations and industry as well as legal experts have expressly requested meetings about this, and all have been denied.  Just what the hell is that about?  Who do you work for, Jim Prentice?

Are we the 51st fucking state, already? Does our government have to kowtow to everything that the US government – and US business – wants? The only “Canadian” groups that support this – ACTRA and CRIA – are American puppets anyway.

And how is it that we keep coming back to this?  How is it that conservative governments in this country continually introduce – and ram through with some success – such unpopular pieces of legislation?  Think back to Free Trade, the GST,  Meech Lake…the list goes on…until we get to the current capstone of this rotting pile of faeces wesee labelled as copyright “reform”?

Seriously, the Liberal Sponsorship Scandal was a big deal, but when you stack that up against the towering pile of shit that has been forced upon us by our Conservative governments … the mind just boggles.

To Mr. Prentice: Any government that passes legislation that changes the status quo so starkly and revokes hard-won rights is going to be fought. I can bloody well guarantee you whose campaign I won’t be volunteering for and donating to at the next go-round. Serve your people, serve their interests, and don’t turn millions of us into instant criminals simply because we own iPods and like to take music with us.  You, sir, are – in my opinion – no better than a weasel.

Makes you wonder what ol’ Jim will be doing for a living when he’s through with politics…nice cushy job with CRIA, perhaps?  And let’s not forget his partner in crime, Heritage Minister Josée Verner, who is every bit as guilty in this.

Anyone concerned with this further erosion of rights should visit the nerve-center of opposition to this: Michael Geist.

For all the volumes of laws and charters and everything else we have that defines what we are and are not allowed to do, that basic tenet rings true.

I love Canada. We don’t have the economic or industrial power of many countries, and we certainly don’t have the largest population or even the largest land mass. Canada doesn’t come first on very many lists of any consequence…though I’m not sure how many of those lists would be written by Canadians.

We’re currently #4 on the UN’s Human Development Index, which we’ve been #1 on before. There’s not much to separate the top countries in the current list, and coming in behind only Iceland, Norway and Australia – all beautiful (and smaller) countries – puts us in pretty good company. Canada is a wonderful country to live in, and I’m very proud to call it my home. Six or seven years ago I would have said I was Patriotic, but that seems to have taken on a different meaning lately. We Canucks are a bit understated about that anyway.

Having been born Canadian, I am entitled to all that this wonderful country has to offer. Being free, I can choose to live wherever I wish and whom I wish to live with. I can work for any employer that will have me, and I can earn as much money as they are willing to pay me for my services. I can speak my mind about whatever I wish without fear of repercussion because Canada is a free nation and those are our values. I might not agree with what someone else might be saying, but as long as they aren’t inciting violence or telling outright lies then it is their right to say it.

These are the values shared by most of the West. Freedom of speech, freedom of association, freedom of assembly, freedom of the press … the list goes on. We are free, and we take our freedom very seriously.

My point here is that freedom is my birthright. I enjoy and treasure my freedom as those before me enjoyed theirs, and I have the most profound respect for those that have served our nation to secure it. Our freedom has been forged in steel and in blood, and it is incumbent upon all of us to maintain these freedoms for the benefit of everyone. I have never lived in a country that was not Free. I have visited places that were not. I’ll take Freedom.

One freedom that we’re starting to have clashes about is Freedom of Religion. As a Canadian, you are free to practise whatever religion you wish. And I, if I wish, am entirely free to ridicule you for your choice if I don’t like it.⁽¹⁾

Anyone coming to Canada must be made to understand that we are Free, and that being Free means that you will be offended…either by someone meaning to offend you or someone with the very best of intentions. I can’t remember how many times I’ve been offended by something or other, and that’s just life the way we know it.

I would never deny someone the right to speak freely regardless of how I feel about the topic being discussed. All I ask is that my viewpoint also be heard. That’s all, and that’s about all the accommodation I think any of us needs.

1. Not that I generally ridicule anything other than Scientology and Heaven’s Gate. I’m just making a point.