Another for Holder: Tasering as Sport
Yes, I'm kinda pissed off at Holder, and it gets worse the more I think about it. Aside from tons of long-neglected enforcement of laws in government (how many years will the William Jefferson process take? What's up with the Stephens trial? Blago's indictment? Gitmo?), corporate violations, tax regulations and evasion, there's also our issues of domestic abuse/violence against women (vis-a-vis Rihanna) and the new fad sweeping our (and others') nation: tasering.
Lessee, the San Jose police force just had its 6th case of death by tasering. One of those had been beaten by assailants, then beaten by police, pepper-sprayed and tasered. All good fun. Just one police jurisdiction. Another guy was shot in the BART by a cop who thought he was pulling out a taser. Mistakes will be made. Lots of them, like multiple cops tasering at the same time, and one holding the charge button for 39 seconds. A naked man died after being tasered 4 times. 400 people have been killed from tasering in Canada and the US since 2001 and I'm sure it will get worse. Not quite up there with American deaths in the Iraq War yet, but its new technology, they're breaking into it slowly.
Of course tasers are a vital part of modern policing and used to control the dangerous segment of society, such as 54-year-old women in the wrong seat at a stadium, 14-year-old kids who won't leave the mall, a person restrained in a stretcher, even occasionally someone who's unconscious and won't seem to get up when told, a student talking out of turn at a Kerry rally - just google Digby and Tasers, she's been covering the phenom pretty hard for a while. [AFAIK, hasn't been used yet on bank execs who overspend their bailout money and go on lavish junkets, but I'm sure that day will come.]
Is it necessary? I once was sitting in a Vegas casino late one night (minding my own business, of course) when I heard some angry drunk yelling. The bouncers confronted him, but from a distance. From what I remember, there were only 2 or 3 of them, but they slowly and carefully made a wall and just walked/walled him out of the casino, no attempts to grab him, push him, restrain him, drop him to the ground. It was over in seconds. Very professional Kinda like that plane in the Hudson, just a beautiful, perfectly executed maneuver by well-trained personnel. Sure, not every police encounter is as non-threatening, but when the manual says, "tase first, ask questions later" and the manual assures us a little bit of electro-shock is harmless and even good for you ("lit me up like a lightbulb, Nurse Ratched, just the re-charge I needed"), well, we're not going to see better for a while. So hey, Eric, how about some new guidelines. Think first, taser later (or seldom).
Oh great, the New Orleans police department, poster children for restraint and devotion to duty, just got outfitted with tasers. Well, the good part I guess is that many of the blacks didn't return, so they'll have to make do with tasering white people for fun. [Kind of segues into the Rihanna/rape post, 12-year-old black girl in her front yard gets nabbed by undercover cops because they thought she was a prostitute from a call a few blocks away, and beat her up because she "resisted arrest". Imagine if we were a cruel nation how bad it could get. We should thank our lucky stars.]
Slightly off-topic (is anything slightly off-topic in this whacky bloggy world?), wondering when self-trepanation will merge with self-tasering as the cerebral sport of the thinking class? More on self-trepanation here (really like the kid's game, and hadn't known the Lennon stuff before - "Fixing a Hole" takes on a whole new meaning). Since Quinn already has opened nasal passages, I imagine he can make first foray into this daring new venue, letting us know if it provides the immediate relief and just-fer-fun jerks and squirts as cranial drilling would.
Lessee, the San Jose police force just had its 6th case of death by tasering. One of those had been beaten by assailants, then beaten by police, pepper-sprayed and tasered. All good fun. Just one police jurisdiction. Another guy was shot in the BART by a cop who thought he was pulling out a taser. Mistakes will be made. Lots of them, like multiple cops tasering at the same time, and one holding the charge button for 39 seconds. A naked man died after being tasered 4 times. 400 people have been killed from tasering in Canada and the US since 2001 and I'm sure it will get worse. Not quite up there with American deaths in the Iraq War yet, but its new technology, they're breaking into it slowly.
Of course tasers are a vital part of modern policing and used to control the dangerous segment of society, such as 54-year-old women in the wrong seat at a stadium, 14-year-old kids who won't leave the mall, a person restrained in a stretcher, even occasionally someone who's unconscious and won't seem to get up when told, a student talking out of turn at a Kerry rally - just google Digby and Tasers, she's been covering the phenom pretty hard for a while. [AFAIK, hasn't been used yet on bank execs who overspend their bailout money and go on lavish junkets, but I'm sure that day will come.]
Is it necessary? I once was sitting in a Vegas casino late one night (minding my own business, of course) when I heard some angry drunk yelling. The bouncers confronted him, but from a distance. From what I remember, there were only 2 or 3 of them, but they slowly and carefully made a wall and just walked/walled him out of the casino, no attempts to grab him, push him, restrain him, drop him to the ground. It was over in seconds. Very professional Kinda like that plane in the Hudson, just a beautiful, perfectly executed maneuver by well-trained personnel. Sure, not every police encounter is as non-threatening, but when the manual says, "tase first, ask questions later" and the manual assures us a little bit of electro-shock is harmless and even good for you ("lit me up like a lightbulb, Nurse Ratched, just the re-charge I needed"), well, we're not going to see better for a while. So hey, Eric, how about some new guidelines. Think first, taser later (or seldom).
Oh great, the New Orleans police department, poster children for restraint and devotion to duty, just got outfitted with tasers. Well, the good part I guess is that many of the blacks didn't return, so they'll have to make do with tasering white people for fun. [Kind of segues into the Rihanna/rape post, 12-year-old black girl in her front yard gets nabbed by undercover cops because they thought she was a prostitute from a call a few blocks away, and beat her up because she "resisted arrest". Imagine if we were a cruel nation how bad it could get. We should thank our lucky stars.]
Slightly off-topic (is anything slightly off-topic in this whacky bloggy world?), wondering when self-trepanation will merge with self-tasering as the cerebral sport of the thinking class? More on self-trepanation here (really like the kid's game, and hadn't known the Lennon stuff before - "Fixing a Hole" takes on a whole new meaning). Since Quinn already has opened nasal passages, I imagine he can make first foray into this daring new venue, letting us know if it provides the immediate relief and just-fer-fun jerks and squirts as cranial drilling would.
[Partly recycled from a comment on a thread]
The Rihanna beating saddens me to no end. Just another example of how no woman is safe from violence at any time, because most times it's coming from the guy right next to her, behind locked doors, in privacy, the guy who'll come home to her the next night in most cases. And if she does do something severe to protect herself as everyone always suggests, the courts in most cases hand out severe punishment.
We have the illusion that it's sexual, about rape, but most of the behind-doors violence is just about that - hateful physical force and abuse, anger, control, dominance, ownership, in a non-sexual setting. Much of the rape is non-sexual in that it's not about arousal, it's just another form of control, affirming who's in charge, who must assent.
Shakesville summarizes the fallacies of the "defend yourself" advice, well worth a sickening read. And an update, where battered women who use violent means to defend themselves are being convicted/plea bargaining at a rate of 75-83%. There is no defense. Shut up and drive, shut up and take it, our societal prescription.
And while cases like Rihanna and Whitney Houston will get attention, and point out the sad fact that no woman is safe no matter how much money and success and power, most victims will not have access to societal support, to legal recourse, to psychological help.
And then there are the peculiarities, such as if Rihanna hadn't been beaten so badly, if she'd just been forced to have sex, would she have even been able to report it, without permanently damaging her career, give her bad press? How many women trying to achieve something have free sexual favors tossed into the mix of requirements for success or inclusion?
It's a strange dynamic. It could be much worse, such as the rape gangs in the Congo, but it could be much better, say as in many European countries. Let's say we're around D+/C- range on these issues. I wonder if Eric Holder will have a chat with us on sexism and violent abuse one of these days. Might fit into his DoJ portfolio.