Dion Commences Bi-Lateral Negotiations with Montana

Apparently representing the Liberal Party of Canada as the government-in-exile.

Is the Surge Working in Iraq? Looks like it…

Good news in Iraq - the surge is working…

The US military says the number of civilian deaths has also fallen 60 per cent since the surge took effect, with a drop of 75 per cent in Baghdad. According to icasualties.org, the average monthly US death toll dropped from 96 for the first half of 2007 to 66 in the past four months. The average monthly death toll for Iraqi civilians and security forces has dropped from 2,157 to 1,223 in the same period.

The Police Philosophy that Underlies Tasers

What sadistic worldview justifies the use of tasers for pain compliance, even when they can result in the sort of agonizing death that Robert Dziekanski suffered? Here is a few snippets of that worldview, from the Blue Line Forums (h/t):

“Why in God’s name should a copper get hurt just to avoid tasering or OCing a subject that it violent and out of control?”

“Today we have use of force tools that allow us to effect our purpose without getting a “bloody nose”. Getting hurt isn’t part of my job.”

“I don’t go to work to become a punching bag, and weapons and tools are available to me so I go home. These guys are cops who are no different. At the end of the day it’s ME who goes home, if some jerk-off who tried hurting me gets hurt or killed in the process, that’s just too damn bad.”

These sorts of statements make it difficult indeed to believe the police line that tasers save lives by giving cops the option of not using their guns. So too do stories that describe how RCMP officers shot a handcuffed woman twice with a taser in order to convince her to move into a cell; how a lawyer was shoved to the ground and shot with a taser because he wouldn’t hand over his camera; and how a seventeen-year-old was tased up to thirteen times because he wouldn’t (couldn’t?) roll over onto his back. Some of the recent commenters at this site might be a-ok with the idea that Canadian police officers are using potentially lethal weapons as a method of pain compliance. That’s fine, but be sure to keep your eyebrows un-arched next time you’re getting a speeding ticket.

Presumably, cops didn’t use their guns as a method of compliance prior to the advent of the taser. Presumably, those four cops would not in the absence of their tasers have shot Robert Dziekanski. Yet Dziekanski is dead. All the more reason to ban the vile things.

Robert Dziekanski’s Last Words

“I want to get out, help me find the way…Police! Police! Can’t you help me?“

The RCMP, an international embarrassment.

A Polish immigrant tasered to death by Canadian police appears to have been asking for their help in a non-violent fashion, when he was tasered.

h/t 

“Robert Dziekanski only wanted some help.”

Unable to read the signs (Latvian and Russian) and unable to find anyone who spoke English, I blundered around through the train station in confusion and cannot deny feeling bewildered. After about 2 hours of this I was beginning to wonder if it had all been a mistake to come. But then I was approached by a boy of about 12 and his father. I owe a debt of gratitude to this young fellow who …recognized that I was in an unpleasant situation. After figuring out where I wanted to go the boy and his father accompanied me to my train…

Would it have been so hard for the RCMP to do something similar?

Read the whole thing.

Tasers: Instruments of Affirmative Action?

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One wonders if tasers are growing in popularity because they level the playing field between officers of different physical capabilities, important in a world of affirmative action.

Consequences of Girly-Man Government

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Toronto lawyer Dean Paroff, who took on the case for nothing because he was convinced an injustice had taken place, says the Liberals have shown “chronic ineptitude and indifference” to the plight of Canadians abroad.

“They washed their hands of this case at the worst possible time, and it inflicted a tremendous devastation on the family. It was an abdication of their responsibility.”

Only when Prime Minister Stephen Harper was contacted and a disgusted Secretary of State Jason Kenney flew over to check on Kapoustin personally in September, 2006, was sufficient pressure finally applied.

57% less compliance than last year!

Fascinating!:

B.C. police use of Tasers up 57% in past two years

[Edited because I didn't really like it] 

Canada: Extradition Laughingstock

For how much longer is Canada going to be played by this goon?:

The German news media hasn’t yet shown much interest in Schreiber’s headline-making activity in Canada in recent weeks.

What really surprises Germans is how Schreiber has managed to avoid extradition from Canada for so long, he said.

“I just know that everyone is confused by the Canadian procedure.”

In other words: Germans think that Canada has no cajones. They would be right.

Laugh (or cry) Out Loud: Toronto Edition

Bob Tarantino:

Even the union, sniffed at by Lorinc and hinted at as wanting to bring to bear some kind of hardline corporal punishment, only wants to sequester perpetually violent students in their own separate school (brilliant idea, I say: keep all the really aggressive ones together - maybe they could hire ninjas to watch over the classes and protect the teachers).

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