A Stunning Fashion Statement

Consider the ultimate gift in a homeland security country: the iTaser, a weapon with its own MP3 player and earphones that can deliver a 50,000 volt electrical charge while you catch your favorite tunes. This new Taser, on display at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, will be available, reports Richard Wray of the British Guardian, in "red, pink and even leopard print designs." Anyone carrying the iTaser will be able to make what may be the first homeland-security fashion statement in any one of the 43 states where Tasers are legal. The company that makes the weapon, Taser International, has already sold 160,000 less-stylish versions to private individuals. According to founder and company CEO Rick Smith, "Personal protection can be both fashionable and functionable."

In November 2006, the Taser infamously broke into the news on campus when a student at the University of Florida, questioning Senator John Kerry harshly, was dragged off, Tased, and subdued by campus police. His plea, "Don't Tase me, Bro!," is now the stuff of bumper stickers, T-shirts, and cell phone ring tones. Thanks largely to him and the publicity the incident got, the New Oxford Dictionary made "Tase" one of its 2007 words of the year, the Yale Book of Quotations put it at the top of its yearly list of most memorable quotes, and the rest of us got a hint that something new might be happening in America's "ivory towers."

As Michael Gould-Wartofsky indicates in a new piece, "Repress U," that incident was just the tip of an enormous -- and growing -- homeland-security presence on campus. Gould-Wartofsky's remarkable report offers real news about just how deeply the new homeland security state is settling into every aspect of our world.

Comments (19)

1. mr. engelhardt:

   just had time to skim the linked article.

   are you familiar with the story of Robert Dziekański [youtube.com]?

   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Dziekański_Taser_incident

   i haven't watched it. i just can't watch the man die.

   "RCMP must curb Taser use, watchdog says

   Last Updated: Wednesday, December 12, 2007 | 12:07 PM ET

   CBC News

   The RCMP's watchdog is calling for the force to restrict its use of stun guns, saying the weapons are increasingly employed to subdue those who are resistant rather than those who pose a threat."

   http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2007/12/12/rcmp-watchdog.html?ref=rss

   dudley do-right, they ain't

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/12/2008 @ 09:24am

2. You should find out more about the Robert Dziekanski case. It is truly tragic and devastating.

   Dziekanski had arrived at the Vancouver International Airport from his native Poland some 10 hours before, never having flown before, unable to speak English, unattended by anyone, and awaiting the arrival of his mother with whom he had come to live. In fact his mother had been at the airport for the arrival of his flight but had returned to her Kamloops home when she did not find him. He had not cleared customs for reasons unclear at the time and he was left trying to figure out what to do next. Those present didn't even know he was speaking Polish, thinking instead it was Russian.

   His last words to the police before they tasered him and attacked him, resulting in his death within seconds, were: "I want to get out, help me find the way...Police! Police! Can't you help me?" http://abbink.blogspot.com/2007/11/mr-robert-dziekanski-last-words.htm

   Also of interest, in light of the infamous UCLA tasering incident and the University of Florida tasering, is the story of the man who video taped the Dziekanski homocide-by-cop and what subsequently happened to him and the video. http://spokanepoliceabuses.wordpress.com/2007/11/24/citizen-videographer -describes-filming-police-homicide-by-taser/

   We need to educate ourselves on our rights as citizen witnesses/journalists/documentarians.

   Posted by tayacan at 01/12/2008 @ 1:34pm

3. don't taze me bro!!!! don't taze me bro!!! oooh...whats that playing? sounds like...aaaaghh! don't taze me bro!

   Posted by ibbleblibble at 01/12/2008 @ 4:19pm

4. Posted by TAYACAN 01/12/2008 @ 1:34pm

   Why didn't Mr. Dziekanski's mother simply go to customer service and tell them her son was arriving from Poland and speaks no english and could a interpreter greet him to help him get through the customs process? How long was his mother living in Vancouver?

   Posted by ACook at 01/12/2008 @ 5:51pm

5. Mr Engelhardt, we already have people walking around with "personal Mace"...you think Tasers aren't going to be next?

   Posted by Mask at 01/12/2008 @ 7:53pm

6. Posted by MASK 01/12/2008 @ 7:53pm

   and this is something we should accept?

   ever read "The Butter Battle Book"?

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/12/2008 @ 8:00pm

7. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/12/2008 @ 8:00pm

   What do you want to DO about it, FZ? Make it illegal to carry a non-lethal device for self-protection? Somebody Tases somebody without provocation, they get assault charges thrown at them.

   Posted by Mask at 01/12/2008 @ 10:06pm

8. What do you want to DO about it, FZ? Make it illegal to carry a non-lethal device for self-protection? Somebody Tases somebody without provocation, they get assault charges thrown at them.

   Posted by MASK 01/12/2008 @ 10:06pm

   perhaps the moment has come to delve into the root causes of all this violence...............

   nah, let's rent "SAW 17" instead.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/12/2008 @ 10:25pm

9. it's funny how we tell our kids,

   "don't fight. violence is bad."

   and then we take them to see "BLOODYSUPERGRINGOSHOOTSTHEPLANET 7" as a "treat".

   Posted by frosty zoom at 01/12/2008 @ 10:51pm

10. Over the Holidays, I watched Resident Evil I, II & III w/my kids.......one of their friends had the DVD for I & II and we rented III. Good kind of Hollywood violence, FZ? Against Zombies? :~)

    Hit a soft spot.....`Night of the Living Dead' kind of nostalgia! George Romero rock(ed)!

    Posted by Happy at 01/12/2008 @ 11:15pm

11. Posted by HAPPY 01/12/2008 @ 11:15pm

    honestly, i'd rather fill my brain with images of people enjoying life, not spilling viscera.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/12/2008 @ 11:28pm

12. mr. engelhardt,

    i've noticed you've no picture here at the nation.

    what are you trying to hide, eh?

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/13/2008 @ 12:46am

13. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/12/2008 @ 11:28pm

    sean of the dead was great...

    Posted by ibbleblibble at 01/13/2008 @ 01:15am

14. Posted by IBBLEBLIBBLE 01/13/2008 @ 01:15am

    maybe,

    but after that nightmare i had after seeing the bloated, retrieved-from-river body in "silence of the lambs",

    i decided i'd rather dream about lasagna,

    for example.

    (sometimes after a hard day, i play tetris so i can dream about hexagons or triangles)

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/13/2008 @ 02:10am

15. So FROSTY you think Al Capone's boys in the St. Valentine's Day Massacre saw "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" and went nuts?

    Posted by Mask at 01/13/2008 @ 08:03am

16. Posted by MASK 01/13/2008 @ 08:03am

    nah, they just went nuts cause they couldn't buy schlitz at the party store.

    but i bet the dude at virginia tech played lots of "GORE SQUIRT 3*"

    *rated M for "mature".

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/13/2008 @ 08:42am

17. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/13/2008 @ 08:42am

    What Playstation game did Charles Manson have?

    Posted by Mask at 01/13/2008 @ 7:22pm

18. What Playstation game did Charles Manson have?

    Posted by MASK 01/13/2008 @ 7:22pm

    perhaps a perusal of the dates from this page:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_school-related_attacks

    will refresh your perspective.

    Posted by frosty zoom at 01/13/2008 @ 8:24pm

19. will refresh your perspective.

    Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 01/13/2008 @ 8:24pm

    It did....tell me what violent Charlie Chaplin or Mack Sennett feature was Andrew Kehoe watching in May 18, 1927 when he left 45 dead and 58 injured?!?!?!

    And was it too much "Pong"...that pushed Brenda Ann Spencer to kill 2 and injure 9 in January 29, 1979?!?!?

    Posted by Mask at 01/14/2008 @ 10:35am