Pittsburgh Considers Tasers In Schools

Over the last couple of years numerous stories have come out about taser abuse and the "non-lethal" weapon's ability to kill a small but sizable percentage of it's victims. Compared to being punctured by a bullet, tasers are a better alternative yet sometimes, the advocates of the device take it too far, such as into schools with young children around.

From The Tribune-Review:

The president of a school safety consulting firm said districts like Uniontown Area, which is considering arming its police officers with Tasers, have to take a conservative approach to their deployment and develop a comprehensive policy.

But an attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union said it's hard for him even to see a need for Tasers in a school setting.

Uniontown school officials intend to draft a Taser policy for their school police officers that might be discussed as soon as the school board's Aug. 18 meeting and could be considered for adoption next month.

The school's director of security says giving the district's three officers the option of using a Taser is more about providing the safest possible conditions for children, staff and visitors than as a weapon "directed at the students."

The director may say that the weapons will not be directed at students, but when the taser is in the hands of a school police officer, bad news (or tragic news) is just around the corner. As the Tribune notes, a 17 year old boy died last month in Winnipeg after officers used a taser on him after seeing him wield a knife. Another 17 year old kid was killed in North Carolina for throwing groceries at the store manager and advancing on the cops. Instead of being used as an alternative only to deadly force, the taser is used in all sorts of circumstances and many officers take advantage of the device.

What makes it worse is that too many poorly-conducted studies show the taser is safe, allowing for the companies that make the weapons secure more contracts while society is saturated with it and forced to accept this sometimes lethal non-lethal device.

Man On Dog Santorum Goes Hollywood

The buzz around Pittsburgh is that former Senator Rick Santorum wants to make a movie. Not about man on dog sex thankfully, but almost as bad. Now that he can't spread fear of terrorism as an elected official, the next realm for it will be on the big screen. Working with a former Mel Gibson associate, Rick wants to film a movie about an Iranian terrorist.

From The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Rumors have been buzzing throughout Harrisburg that Santorum was connecting with McEveety, who produced Mel Gibson blockbusters such as "Braveheart," "The Passion of the Christ" and "We Were Soldiers," on a project.

(snip)

The story follows three Iranian brothers who take disparate paths in their lives, including one who becomes a terrorist.

At this point, Santorum's project doesn't have a title, and no decision has been made on where it will be filmed and whether it could end up giving the Pittsburgh area's film industry a boost.

Even for someone that would stoop to film the Passion of the Christ should have nothing to do with a politician that has constantly decried Hollywood for its moral depravity. It isn't surprising to see a Republican that bashed Hollywood for socially conservative votes to turn around and use the movies for his own gain. Nor is it hard to fathom that such movie would center around terrorism coming from all places, Iran.

Who in their right mind is going to finance this flick?