Woman, 56 and wheelchair-bound, killed by Taser. Taser use is quickly getting out of control. When i lived in Jacksonville, Florida, it was practically a death sentence to be mentally impaired and have a bad day. I remember several incidents where citizens would have a bit of a public freak-out and wind up in the morgue. Then, it was a case of the police using unsafe choke holds. Now, they’re using the magic of electricity to subdue. I think it’s just a little too easy. I mean, i don’t like guns one bit, but this allegedly non-violent solution is unfortunately a heavy factor in many unnecessary deaths. From a related article:
And even though Scottsdale, Arizona-based Taser, Inc–the company that created it–said it should never be used on children or the elderly, Florida leads the nation in deaths by Taser. The oldest victim to date? Ninety-five. The youngest? A 6-year old boy.
Googlemap of historic nuclear accidents. Spooky, and makes you rethink how safe nuclear energy is.
ACLU releases its FOIA-enabled report on prisoner abuse.
Boing Boing has a great roundup of Immigrants’ Rights rallies for May 1.
Neil Young‘s new Living With War album now streaming. It’s a fuckin’ scorcher of a rock record!
Weird Video: “Stop the Madness,” the only White House-sponsored rock video ever made. Antidrug. Very, very bizarre. I’m telling you, i actually took drugs just so i could stop this madness. [disclaimer: i do not use any drugs besides nicotine these days.] Although this video probably aired less than 20 times nationwide, it was probably actually really, really cool… for a negative amount of time. Seeing such sights as Nancy Reagan lip-synching the words, and a living, talking threatening David Hasselhoff poster, however, may make you feel like you really are on drugs.
Weird Video: C for Cookie, a V for Vendetta spoof. Awesome!
Weird Video: New Logitech Orbit webcam. Awesome!
