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July 19, 2004
More Stun Gun Fun
I know I seem to be stuck on these Taser shocking devices while car bombs blow up in Iraq, a genocidal wave of violence continues to drown Sudan in blood and the 9/11 commission seems ready to partially blame Iran for the attacks because 8 to 10 of the hijackers legally entered Iran. By the way, if that's all the evidence linking Iran to the hijackers, I'd like to point out that 19 of the 19 hijackers legally entered the United States. What's Iran supposed to do in order to avoid suspicion: keep a better tab on suspected Al-Qaeda terrorists than the United States was able to?
But I'm really amazed by the Taser gun story partly because I expect to see them in the near future at a peace rally or a protest outside a trade organization meeting and partly because it is such a shocking display of corporate malfeasance resulting in huge payoffs for the corporate malfeasants.
So, while Taser's stock shot up from less than $2 to $60 over the course of two years, the company kept denying that the Taser had anything to do with the 50-odd people who happened to have died after being shocked. It claimed that it was basing its denials on on coroners' reports. Well, alleged coroner's reports, it turns out.
The Arizona Republic set out to obtain the autopsies for the 42 cases of death following shocks that were cited in refutations by Taser. Taser claimed that "the stun guns were cleared each and every time."
After obtaining only 22 of the autopsy reports, the Arizona Republic reported that in some of the cases the doctors had either specifically blamed the Taser shock or had concluded it could not be ruled out. That's hardly "cleared each and every time." What's Taser's response?
When presented with cases linking Tasers to deaths, Smith says the medical examiners got it wrong and dismisses their reports.Smith says medical examiners are generalists who don't have the expertise needed to analyze deaths involving the stun gun. And they often "throw everything" into autopsy reports as a way to cover themselves so they can't be accused of missing something later on.
"There is no penalty for a coroner to be overly broad," Smith says. "These guys deal with the whole broad spectrum of what can go wrong in the human body. Am I going to expect that they are going to be right 100 percent of the time? No."
Smith says his company's report presents the "big picture" of Taser-related deaths. He says it proves that Tasers are not to blame and that actual autopsies are not needed to summarize each case.
"I know in my heart what the truth is," Smith says. "Taser hasn't killed any of these people."
As you can tell from the quote, they hadn't even based their analysis on the actual autopsy in each case but had used whatever anectodal sources, third-party reporting, campus newspapers and whatever suited them. They must have calculated nobody would bother looking them up -- clearly related to an understanding that the class of victims, "suspects," do not have too many defenders and investigators with clout.
Plus, the cause of deaths occurring following Taser shocks seem to follow broadly similar patterns, further reinforcing the obvious point. It may also be that the Taser is even more lethal in people who are under the influence of drugs that induce tachycardia, such as crack and cocaine. While it's hardly wise or advisable to use such drugs, or worse yet, to engage in any kind of activity that could possibly involve a confrontation with the police while intoxicated, since when is death the penalty for drug addiction?
But leave aside all the details, here's my point: we have a very clear case of a corporation blatantly lying about a very dangerous product and making off like a bandit during the process. They have gotten away with it so far and if they manage to weather the current meager level of media interest, all may yet end well in Taserville. The original founders of the company have already sold at about $40 millions of dollars of stock and own another $130 million worth.
The victims are the kinds of people that don't count: they are poor, they are most likely people of color, they they are the kind of people one sees portrayed so degradingly in television shows like Cops. We watch them drunk, high, half-dressed, acting stupid, hancuffed, disheveled, sometimes guilty of nothing more than living in the wrong neighborhood and sometimes plenty guilty of speeding down the highway at breakneck speeds and recklessly endangering everyone around. They just seem less than human.
Just compare the Taser story with the amount of attention the media has shown to the West Nile virus, a fairly rare disease transmitted by mosquitos which is relatively fatal for the elderly and the already frail. According to the CDC, a total of 246 Americans were killed in all of last year from the disease -- yet there have been many times that the evening newscast opens with the West Nile as the main story of the day. The reason for the difference is obvious: the West Nile virus can strike accross class and racial boundaries, Tasers don't.
Posted by zeynep at July 19, 2004 06:42 PM
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More Stun Gun Fun Just compare the Taser story with the amount of attention the media has shown to the West Nile virus, a fairly rare disease transmitted by mosquitos which is relatively fatal for the elderly and the already... [Read More]
Tracked on July 20, 2004 12:42 AM
Comments
"I know in my heart what the truth is..." Would this guy by any chance be a fan of Ronald Reagan?
Regarding the West Nile virus, don't forget that there are no stock options on viruses (yet), so it's safe territory for reporters.
Posted by: maz at July 19, 2004 08:01 PM
I'm SO glad to see you point out the America - al Quada connection!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was beganning to think I was the only one who saw that!! Now if we can only get the CIA to notice that indeed all 19 'terrorists' entered the USA and therefore the USA MUST have regime change.
Posted by: Ted at July 19, 2004 09:36 PM
RE: Ted 19 'terrorists'
On the left sometimes we become so criticial of mainstream political language, that we lose our own understanding of words...
So Just to clarify for Ted you don't need to put terrorists in quotes when referring to the 9-11 highjackers. They certainly were Terrorists.
Posted by: lukacs at July 19, 2004 09:54 PM
Would they be if their targets had been strictly military?
Posted by: Ted at July 19, 2004 11:47 PM
I think that we may be getting a little mixed up here. Ted was probably correct putting the word terrorists in quotes as he was referring to the 19 Saudi operatives whom the United States government would like us to believe committed the crimes of 9-11. Does it not strike anyone odd that the FBI could have so much information regarding who committed the crimes of 9-11 within just a few hours after these crimes were committed, and yet could do nothing to stop these alleged terrorists before the crimes were committed? As I have heard of no evidence proving the guilt of these 19 alleged Saudi hi-jackers, I believe it is much more likely that they are the offical stool pigeons set up by the government to take the blame for 9-11. Meanwhile the actual perpetrators of the crimes of 9-11 remain unknown. The research of Ralph Schoenman, Mya Shone, John Judge, Michele Chousadovsky, Webster Tarpley and others clearly shows that Mohamad Atta and the other alleged terrorists all had long-standing connections to the intelligence community through the CIA. Their research strongly suggests that criminal elements within intelligence agencies in the United States, Great Britain, & Israel were actively involved in the funding, planning and organization of the crimes committed on 9-11 in New York and Washington. This included the recruitment of both patsies and the actual perpetrators of the 9-11 crimes. Patsies, while a fundamental part of any state-sponsored, false-flag terrorist event, are nevertheless a very peculiar type of terrorist and I would certainly put the word terrorist in quotes when referring to patsies as terrorists. Ted was correct in my view.
It takes as much naivete to believe that Mohamad Atta is responsible for the crimes of 9-11 as it does to believe that Lee Harvey Oswald is responsible for the crimes in Dallas, Texas on November 22, 1963.
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at July 20, 2004 03:18 AM
Re: lukacs and the left and the T word
Before you accuse Ted of losing his ability to understand language and say that people 'certainly were terrorists' you need to define the word terrorist. I don't know what the hell it means, and I'll bet you don't either.
ps I really am not the same ted that posted earlier.
Posted by: Another Ted at July 20, 2004 12:25 PM
I can vouch for 'Another Ted' not being me! And when I just put Another Ted in quotes I didn't mean to imply that he wasn't another Ted! Any one does want to accuse me of not understanding language - well good luck!! How about we all get on to something more interesting such as bushes recent comments about prostitute in Cuba. I guess dubya thinks America has the dirtiest and dumbest in the world!!
Posted by: Ted at July 20, 2004 02:29 PM
I didn't know this blog was frequented by conspiracy theorists. That 9-11 was funded and organized by the US, Britain and ISrael is complete fantasy. It would mean complicicy in the killing of over 3000 americans by thousands of British, American and Israelis. Look how many top administrators dissented from the Iraq War Lies.. Do you really think they would remain silent on the killing of thousands of Americans!
I have seen Amiri Baraka and David Ray Griffin thoroughly embarassed when examined in taking similar positions.
The 19 Highjackers (15 not 19 of which were Saudi)were Terrorists. They targeted civillians. And one most recognize this especially before accusing the US , Britain and Israel of terrorism which they are certainly guilty of.
Posted by: lukacs at July 21, 2004 01:35 PM
I almost missed this, Mr. Lukacs. If you're referring to me I sure as heck am not a coincidence theorist. And how many coincidences does it take to convince you that it is not possible to believe anything the government says without thorough verification. So far the federal government has presented zero verification for its claims regarding the crimes of 9-11. We both know that "conspiracty theorist" is a derogatory term with a very negative connotation and it is often used by deceptive government officials to dismiss and marginalize its critics. In addition the term doesn't even have current application any longer. This whole 9-11 calvacade of crimes has gone way beyond theory. No one is a conspiracy theorist any longer. No one who undertakes a serious investigation of the government's claims regarding 9-11 can conclude that some elements within the executive and investigative branches of the federal government were not involved in conspiratorial crimes. The politically correct term is now conspiracy factualists. Various investigators are trying to factualize the details and specifics of the crimes committed on 9-11, but it is not an easy task and one which has been made even more difficult by the secretization, lack of transparency, and lack of cooperation from the beginning within the Bush-43 White House, the Department of Justice under Ashcroft, and at the Pentagon under Rumsfeld.
I think that people in government are just as susceptible to conspiring to commit crimes and to actually committing those crimes as people outside of government. One does not have to corrupt an entire government agency to conspire to commit, and to commit a crime. Even crimes like 9-11 could be enabled by a relatively small number of moles if they were all in strategic locations, which is usually how it works. And, yes, sadly I do think that there are corrupt elements within our government who would for the "right" reasons--and it's usually money, power, and personal status--kill thousands or more. For god sake this is nothing new. How many people in Central America did our government kill in the 80's with Reagan's policies? They killed hundreds of thousands to be precise, so what would a few thousand Americans be to these people? Not much to insure the continued domination of American hegemony and imperialistic enterprises. But don't listen to me. Listen to Ralph Schoenman and Mya Shone on their radio program, Taking Aim, on WBAI in New York City on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. EDT. They're on the internet so it doesn't matter where you are. And listen to Bonnie Faulkner's radio program, Guns & Butter, on KPFA in Berkeley, California on Wednesdays at 2 p.m. PDT. It's also on the internet. Read what Michele Chousadovsky has written on this topic of government complicity in the crimes of 9-11. Read John Judge's exhaustive research papers. And then come back at me with Mohamad Atta bombed the WTC towers, but you better have something better than "the government said so!!"
Sincerely,
Old & In The Way
Posted by: Phil Cicchi at July 22, 2004 06:11 PM
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