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.

I used to watch Stompin’ Tom on the Tommy Hunter Show years ago. Brings back such good memories of the family crowded around the TV on a Sunday. I suppose everyone waxes lyrical about their “good ol’ days”, and these are mine.

And, for your viewing enjoyment, one of his masterpieces:

As I sit here right now, a wire-cutting machine is making its way through the riser tube on the top of the blowout preventer.  And through the cut that is being made, an absolute torrent of oil is coming forth.

Just a couple minutes ago @ 11:07PM:

You can see the oil starting to gush out past the wire into the coin-slot that has been cut.  It looks to be under rather high pressure.

11:11PM:

The notch hasn’t been cut much further in by now, but you can see that the amount of oil forcing itself out has increased dramatically.  And all this while the broken part of the riser continues to gush at seemingly the same rate as before.

One gets the sense that cutting off that kinked pipe is going to release an absolute torrent of oil, and they had better have that cap ready to go or this is going to be really, really bad.

11:14PM:

Even worse now.

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.

This does not, of course, mean that they have something that they can mount on a missile.  And from what we’ve seen, it’s not like they have a working long-range missile anyway.  By most accounts, it will take them at least a couple more tests to get to that point.

The Obama Administration has reacted the same way that previous ones have.  A warning of dire consequences and an attempt to restart talks.

DPRK has responded by declaring the 1953 truce to be void, and every time anyone says anything – seemingly anything at all – they call it an Act of War.

So where does this leave us?

I’m beginning to think that this is all a big joke, and I’m really starting to think that the best approach to North Korea would be to ignore it.  Completely.  Like so:

NK: “Hey, USA!  We’re going to test a nuke!”
USA: (Yawn) “What’s on CBS?”
NK: “Really, we’re going to test, and we’re restarting Yongbyon!”
USA: “Oh look, Dave’s got Madonna on again – we can’t miss this.”
NK: “Okay, we’re going to do it now!”
USA: “click….click….”

And really, after that, who cares?  Why should we care what they do?

Here are a couple of reasons why we’re supposed to care:

• North Korea has enough arillery in range of Seoul to flatten the city in short order, and doing that would be a bad thing.
• They have close to 1.2 Million-strong standing army, and everyone else that can carry a chopstick is said to be in reserve.  Basically, the country is a barracks.
• They might have a nuke or two they could deliver on the back of a truck.
• We’re scared of them.

Seriously, I’m tired of it.  Tired of it, and I’m nobody.  I have no power, no armies at my command, and I’m 39 years old which means I don’t even remember the Korean War.  And I’m so tired of this crap.  It needs to end so the rest of us can get on with our lives.

I’m worried that Kim Jong Il is losing it.  Losing his grip on reality, and maybe losing his grip on his country.  It makes me want to tell a story.

Over the weekend I visited an old friend of mine for his 40th birthday party.  He held a poker game, $20 buyin, so we played.  I lost a couple hands on bad beats that could have gone the other way, and then I went on tilt.  I went on tilt because I was frustrated and I wasn’t thinking clearly.  I already lost the game and it was going to take something big to get me back in it.  So, in for a penny – in for a pound.

And I think the DPRK is on tilt right now.  The thing that’s kept me believing that they’ve always been about bluster and brinksmanship – but not actual action – is that Kim Jong Il likes being alive.  He drinks Hennesy, like show tunes, writes his own plays and so forth.  He hasn’t been a man that you would think is just plain nuts.

But, with him havnig suffered a stroke and obviously looking very gaunt in recent pictures, I’m wondering if he’s still playing with a full deck.

It’s time to call the bluff.

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.

If you do not meet that requirement, you cannot be a member.

If you do meet the requirement, you now have a very nice reason to believe that you’re better than everyone else out there because they aren’t as smart as you are.

I don’t really want to get into the whole “IQ isn’t intelligence” argument here.  I think we can all agree that although IQ tests are not empirical scientific tools, they do show abilities and aptitudes that would serve you well in life.  That, and people who score low on such tests are usually very different than those who score high.

What this does is bring together a group of people who are joined by their common belief that they are better than the average person.  By gathering together, they validate and reinforce each other.

Back in 2000 or so, I sat the Mensa test.  There were 2 tests; the Wonderlic and the SCAT.  I did very well on the Wonderlic but not quite good enough…the SCAT I apparently did very well on, so I was invited to join.

Join I did, and then I went to a couple of meetings.

And that’s when it fell off the rails for me – right there.  Here I sit, surrounded by people who are obviously very much in their element.  There were some in the room that obviously believed they were superior to everyone, and others that believed they were only superior to people not in the club.

The problem is that the single requirement for entry is a high IQ.  This gives everyone the very false belief that they are better than other people, and I just don’t like the smell of that.

All of the other clubs, groups, societies and such that I have been a member of over the years have only your interest as a requirement.  People gathering to share in a common interest is always a good thing, and you can make real friends this way because at least you have somewhere to start.

A club that founds itself on its members being in some way better than all others is unjust.