United Nations: Tasers a Form of Torture

The United Nations has declared that the use of Tasers, the stun guns manufactured by Taser International, represent a form of torture when used on people.

Original Story Link .

Quotes from the story:

"The use of these weapons causes acute pain, constituting a form of torture,” the UN’s Committee against Torture said.

"In certain cases, they can even cause death, as has been shown by reliable studies and recent real-life events,” the committee of 10 experts said.

Three men, all in their early 20s, were reported to have died in the United States this week, days after a Polish man died at Vancouver airport after being Tasered by Canadian police.

The man, Robert Dziekanski, 40, fell to the ground and died after the police officers piled on top of him.

There have been three deaths in Canada after the use of Tasers over the past five weeks.

The company that makes the weapons has said that similar deaths have been shown by "medical science and forensic analysis” to be "attributable to other factors and not the low-energy electrical discharge of the Taser".

The UN committee made its comments in recommendations to Portugal, which has bought the newest Taser X26 stun gun for use by police.

Portugal "should consider giving up the use of the Taser X26,” as its use can have a grave physical and mental impact on those targeted, which violates the UN’s Convention against Torture, the experts said.

Expect to see lots of stories and new scientician books about ‘excited delirium’ and how this ‘disease’ is the true cause of death related to Tasers.

McSame Calls for Martial Law in Cities?

In this audio clip , McCain (or McSame as one of the commentors suggested), had this to say about how to control crime in the inner-cities of America:

And some of those tactics — you mention the war in Iraq — are like that we use in the military. You go into neighborhoods, you clamp down, you provide a secure environment for the people that live there, and you make sure that the known criminals are kept under control. And you provide them with a stable environment and then they cooperate with law enforcement …

The Real State of the US Economy

Global Research explores the ‘Real State of the US Economy’.

Full story and link here.

The quote offered at the end from an Arizona homebuilder/developer is quite compelling:

Today nobody is building. Unsold home inventories are triple that of 2003. Banks no longer give easy credit for home buyers. Many realtors I know have gone two years without selling a home. Empty storefronts are becoming common. In many areas unemployment among construction trades people is 50% or more. Tens of thousands of illegal Mexicans who did most of the manual labor have returned to Mexico to find work. What now? Well, I do handyman projects of all sorts, big or small and make about 70-90% of what it takes to survive with a family of a wife and three young children. My savings make up the rest. That can’t go on for too much longer. We went from affluent and comfortable to nervous and broke with diminished opportunities in just three years. We used to be the middle class.

HPV Vaccine Blamed for Teen’s Paralysis?

This article and commentary explore the impact that Gardasil and the HPV vaccine is having on North America’s young women. In Canada, we are spending hundreds of millions, if not billions, on this vaccine, but we still don’t really know what the side effects are.

What are your thoughts on this issue? Did we jump in too quickly?

Wal-Mart: Deciding the Fate of the 2008 Presidential Race?

Wal-Mart fears a Demoractic win. They will be crippled if anyone comes to power and they might actually show a hint of being sympathetic towards the labour movement in the US.

In this article by the Wall Street Journal (do not accept the certificate), it is suggested that Wal-Mart is rallying managers and executives to ‘encourage’ employees to be mindful of the cost of unionization. While they’re putting on airs that they are not telling employees how to vote in the next Presidential election, I wouldn’t be surprised to see more stories like the one above as the election process heats up.

I also wouldn’t be surprised to see Wal-Mart spend a massive amount of money on advertising as the campaigns rev up.

Why? I seem to recall in 2004 that Wal-Mart had a rediculous volume of GRPs during the 2004 election. They even had a brand called … you guessed it … "George". Here’s their "George" logo:
Wal-Mart George

Is that a little "WB" in the "O" of "George"? Why would they need that? Was this brand launched during the 2004 election season with the express reason of trying to get American voters to constantly think of George WB?

Your guess is as good as mine, but I can’t wait to see what they try to pull during the 2008 election.

P.S. I didn’t realize that Wal-Mart is America’s largest private retailer, but it makes perfect sense. I also appreciated the chart showing unionized labour in America over the last 20 years. Can we get a chart that co-relates that with the growing gap between the rich and poor in Canada and the US?

US Unionization Trends

I smell an election – Part II

In this article , I suggested that an election will most likely be held before November 4.

I had no idea the Prime Minister would come out swinging the way he has been, poking jabs at Dion and treating him like a school-yard nerd, playing the bully role oh so well.

Coming out of a major caucus meeting, Prime Minister challenged Dion to pull the plug and Dion is nowhere to be seen all of a sudden. Dion’s lack of experience is clearly showing every single time these two mix it up. It’s like he’s cowering under the swingset waiting for his mommy to pick him up.

And the Harper government is coming out strong in a number of ways. A broad range of announcements are keeping them front and centre and they’re doing a great job of being sunny-bright and rosy when the economy is tanking because of their inability to acknowledge that our economy is not all about black goo in northern Alberta.

For example, Flaherty announced a $6 billion spending package, focusing on the infrastructure situation in the Province of Ontario. How can he do this when the Federal government is running a deficit? Is this a vision of more to come as the Conservatives spend desparately in a bid to maintain control over the Hill?

This issue exemplifies a massive contradiction in philosophy. When Flaherty was dumping all over the Province of Ontario (mainly because it’s a Liberal stronghold), he was calling for huge tax cuts to make Ontario more competitive. If McGuinty’s people complied, this Province would be running a deficit as well.

Also, the spending on infrastructure is not wise. ‘Infrastructure’ spending is a throw-back to the 50s, where politicians think tossing some short-term cash at the unemployed will solve all problems.

What we need is a commitment to invest in and build new industries. We don’t need more roads. Those should be bought and paid for by developers and the big box retailers. We need solar power and investment in Lower Churchill to save us from nuclear. We need to take action against the rising dollar and we need to find different markets so that we’re not at the mercy of the US dollar.

With election talk in the air, we’re starting to really see the way the Conservatives work. They talk tough. They shove and they shout. They use our money to buy their way out of the recession that they’re in the process of creating. They blame everyone but themselves for Canada’s economic situation.

What Canada needs to start doing is what the school-yard nerd does when subjected to this kind of taunting: get smart and embarass the hell out of them.

With any luck, someone will have the stones to fight back before the fall and call an election.

Excited Delirium