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Naked Wizard Tased By Reality from Tracy Anderson on Vimeo.

Remember all that stuff about how Tasers were humane, non-lethal replacements for firearms? About how police officers would only use them against knife and gun-wielding crims or any other situation in which an officer feared for his life or safety? At least, that was the official justfication. However, as was predicted by many, their principal use in the US has turned out to be the subjugation of anyone refusing to comply with a police officer’s orders, and this is a much larger section of the public than those wielding dangerous weapons.

In this video the man could have just been handcuffed, arrested and charged with whatever offence he was committing. In a democratic, accountable society it’s the job of the courts to meter out punishment, but these officers couldn’t be bothered with all that pesky bureaucracy. After the obese officer’s cowardly and dangerous knee drop into the nudist’s stomach failed to hurt the prone man sufficiently, three fit, well-trained policemen really should have been able to render him immobile, even though handicapped by wearing little gloves to protect them from germs. They can certainly do this in Japan, but then Japanese police officers aren’t too fat to tie their own shoe-laces, they all practise judo or aiki-jutsu and their primary concern isn’t avoiding getting their Ray-Bans bent or their shirts creased. I realise it’s a bit much to expect the porkers in this video to do much else other than sit on people, wave batons around or pull triggers, but it would be nice for the American public if their ordinary police officers were fit and capable enough to be able to subdue suspects of highly questionable threat without resorting to torture methods or lethal force.

Of course, a single video does not constitute evidence of widespread abuse of the device by police officers. But then, that’s why we have services like delicious. If you’re not up to speed with the Taser issue, I suggest you spend a few minutes scanning the following link’s listings:

http://delicious.com/tag/Taser

Want to understand the difference between free and non-free, restricted and unrestricted software? The following system notifications provide a big clue:

System notification Ubuntu Linux style

System notification Windows 7 Starter Edition style

IMO, David Gilbertson has nailed the new policing mentality in this new article in the Guardian. We’ve been watching it develop for years, and anyone who has been ‘comparing and contrasting’ the US police force with that of the UK could see where things were heading:

“Increasingly, British policing morphed into a faux-US style of operation. Uniforms were made to look overtly military. The public were regarded, almost uniformly, as suspects, with any hint of dissent interpreted as anti-police. To this must be added the post-9/11 and 7/7 atmosphere. A succession of intrusive powers under the various terrorism acts convinced many officers that they are frontline combatants in the war on terror.

The concept of officer safety has assumed a life of its own. It started in the late 1990s with the laudable aim of designing a stab-proof vest for officers as a response to a small number of knife attacks. The concept has now moved from a defensive posture to an aggressive model. Officers are trained to be on guard against attack, to regard every situation, no matter how seemingly benign, as a threat situation. The lesson is that the public are your enemy.”

At the core of this policing crisis is a leadership failure

I’ve been regarded with extreme scepticism from some quarters for making the same claims over the last few years (especially that in the second quoted paragraph). It’s encouraging to see that there is growing agreement about the nature of the new policing.

EDIT: Have just realised that Mr Gilbertson is a former Scotland Yard commander and assistant inspector of constabulary, something which of course makes the article all the more important!

Certainly madam, if you’d just like to first smile for the video camera…

“Hell is where the cooks are German, the lovers Swiss, the mechanics French, the organizers Italian, and it’s all policed by the British” (1)

We can’t find the plot, so let’s harrass some harmless tourists instead.

Officers of the Met treating guests to our country with contempt, behaving as if they’ve been trained in North Korea, and frankly, demonstrating that they lack sufficient common sense and judgement to be entrusted with the rights-circumventing powers they’ve been given:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/apr/16/police-delete-tourist-photos

How long ago it now seems that we used to regularly hear government ministers resolutely declare “If we let the terrorists change our way of life, they’ve won”. We don’t bloody well hear it now, do we?

(Title quip shamelessly nicked from commenter on Craig Murray’s blog)

A professional truth massager and key member of a government which is busy building (with voters’ own money) the most comprehensive citizen surveillance and communications monitoring network ever envisaged, complains:

“Imagine if all your emails suddenly became available to people wanting to damage you. That is, of course, the other question that needs to be asked: how were these emails obtained? Was criminal activity and hacking involved? Believe me, these are issues I will be looking at when I return from my holiday. “Blog wars” are one thing but hacking into people’s emails is surely a step too far?” (source)

Simply staggering! What intelligence-insulting, disingenuous hypocrites these people are! Let’s just recap:

“Imagine if all your emails suddenly became available to people wanting to damage you”

Er… that is a joke, right? Is Mr Draper aware that this rhetorical question is routinely asked by  those opposing his government’s draconian, intrusive, liberty-compromising policies? Of course he is, but that’s the purpose of Big Lie strategy, to, David Copperfield style, make the elephant on the table disappear from view.

“how were these emails obtained? Was criminal activity and hacking involved?”

This question from a member of a government that has given itself and the security services powers to comprehensively spy on citizens’ personal communications! Still, they’ve promised not to peak at the actual content of that communication, so I guess we can feel reassured that nothing we ever say or write will ever be used against us at some future date. Can’t we?

“Believe me, these are issues I will be looking at when I return from my holiday”

Believe me, these are issues that will be at the forefront of my mind come the next general election. That is of course assuming the election isn’t “postponed” in order to facilitate the “fight against terrorism”, you know, because the “right” not to be blown up is more important than the right to vote…

“‘Blog wars’ are one thing but hacking into people’s emails is surely a step too far?”

Ha, ha! Now we know he’s taking the piss At least he’s got a sense of humour! Let’s hear it for Derek Draper ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together now…. Seriously, the chief propagandist for a group of authoritarian, intrusive, privacy-destroying, liberty-reducing, integrity-free control freaks is asking for our sympathy because someone other than the intended recipients managed to view his private communication?! “Hello? Hello? Is that the Irony Detector Repair Centre? Please come quickly, we have an emergency!”

As a salve to apoplexy, console yourself by reading the comments at the end of Mr Draper’s post. It reminds me of watching Nicolae Ceauşescu smiling and waving from his balcony while the citizens below were baying for his blood. The main difference is, Ceauşescu was less deluded and/or felt less immune than Mr Draper. He eventually realised he was not wanted and scurried from the balcony. Derek Draper, on the other hand, is still regaling the crowd with his Big Lies as they edge close and closer.

Draper has been professionally distorting reality for so long that he actually thought that this post, with its public comment facility, would help his cause. Instead, it stands as a monument to everything that’s rotten, not only about our current government, but about a political system that necessitates and rewards equivocation, obfuscation, deceit, cynicism, spin, cheating, fabrication, and downright lies.

How much more damage to our moral and political constitution, and our civil rights, are people like this going to help wreak before the election next year?

http://naurunappula.com/hotlink.php?/nn/0/100/887/270944.jpg

(Courtesy of reddit.com)

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Photorestrict/

From the preamble:

On the 16th of February, the Government passed a law (in the Counter Terrorism Act) making it illegal to take a photograph of a police office, military personnel or member of the intelligence services - or a photograph which “may be of use for terrorism”. This definition is vague at best, and open to interpretation by the police - who under Home Secretary guidelines can “restrict photography in public places”.

We call for these vague restrictions to be lifted, as they can easily be mis-used by the police.

If (when!!) you sign, remember to confirm your signature by clicking on the link in the confirmation email message.

IMO the amendments to the Counter Terrorism Act passed on 16th February are a deliberate and disgraceful attempt to reduce the accountability of our police force. If the events of last week weren’t enough to convince you of just how valuable public scrutiny of police activity is, then cast your eyes over this latest incident to be publicized. There are plenty more examples where this came from. And remember, the police are being equipped with Tazers this year. Prepare for plenty of stories from ordinary citizens of aggressive police officers threatening and dishing out electrocution punishments to any person not complying with their (often legally dubious) orders in sufficiently rapid fashion.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Photorestrict/