TASER FILE: Guliani connection

The Giuliani Connection to the TASER Abuse Explosion by Zak Maymin Page 1 of 1 page(s) http://www.opednews.com

Bernard Kerik, former Giuliani's driver , is behind the sudden advancement of tasers. The phenominal rise of tasers is mainly due to the efforts of Rudy Giuliani. In 2001, Taser International developed its "Advanced Taser Electro-Muscular Disruption" system and became a publicly traded company ("Taser"). In 2000, Giuliani installed Kerik as the New York City police commissioner. In 2002, Kerik, a senior vice president at Giuliani Partners and CEO of Giuliani-Kerik LLC, became Taser's director.

With Kerik at the steering wheel, Taser's profits grew ten times in two years, to $68 million in 2004, up from just under $7 million in 2001. By the way, sales have been helped along by police officers who have received payments and/or stock options from Taser to serve as instructors and trainers.

received weapons orders from Homeland Security. In 2004 Bush, lobbied by Giuliani, nominated Kerik as Secretary of Homeland Security. The same year, Kerik made more than $6 million from Taser.

Just five years earlier, Kerik faced lawsuits over delinquent payments for his condo. The life of this high school dropout changed after he became Giuliani's chauffeur. Giuliani made him rich, powerful, and, as a result, well-educated. After Kerik got a mail-order Bachelor's Degree from Empire State College in 2002, he went on to receive Honorary Doctorates from Iona College, New York Institute of Technology, Manhattanville College, the College of New Rochelle, and Michigan State University. In 2002, according to keriklegaltrust.com, "Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second, also honored him with an honorary appointment as Commander of the Most Excellent Royal Order of the British Empire."

In 2004, the Commander of the Most Excellent Royal Order withdrew as nominee for secretary of homeland security and resigned from Giuliani Partners "to clear his good name. " "He continues to be a friend,'' said Giuliani of the Commander and immediately renamed Giuliani-Kerik LLC to Giuliani Security & Safety LLC.

Earlier this month, Kerik was indicted on federal criminal charges.

A U.N. committee called the use of tasers "a form of torture." Amnesty International estimated in hundreds taser related deaths.

Giuliani: "Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do."

Ok, we get it. It's all because of the war on terror. Just where is it all going?

Next we will see flying taser saucers zapping us from the sky. Don't believe it? This weapon has already been built by Taser and tested in Houston. Then there is the crowd control taser. The Air Force secretary Wynne called for using it against US citizens first, before we try it on terrorists, because that "... would make it easier to avoid questions in the international community over any possible safety concerns."

Yesterday's poll showed Rudy Taser Giuliani as the best candidate to address terrorism. Just don't tase us, bro!

www.publicani.com

Zak Maymin works in finance and writes about freedom.

Meet the Only Two Candidates Worse Than Bush and Cheney

Rudy or Hillary: Pick Your Poison

By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS

In new books writers as disparate as Naomi Wolf and Pat Buchanan conclude that America as we know her is disappearing. Both writers hope, but are not confident, that enough Americans will catch on in time to find the leadership to pull America back from the brink.

If polls are reliable, a majority of Americans are dissatisfied with President Bush and Congress. However, Americans are far short of Wolf and Buchanan's grasp of our peril.

Americans are unable to connect their dissatisfaction with the current political leadership with their choice of new leaders. All polls show that Hillary Clinton is far in the lead for the Democratic presidential nomination and Rudy Giuliani is far in the lead for the Republican nomination These are the only two candidates guaranteed to be worse than Bush/Cheney.

Both Hillary and Rudy are committed to the war. Both refuse to rule out expanding the war to Iran and beyond. Both are totally in the pocket of the Israel Lobby. Indeed, practically every Giuliani advisor is a member of the Lobby. Both defend the police state measures that "protect us from terrorism." And neither gives a hoot for the US Constitution and the civil liberties it guarantees. The Republican Giuliani is likely to overturn the Second Amendment even quicker than the Democrat Hillary.

Both Hillary and Rudy are creatures of ambition, not of principle. Both are one up on Karl Marx. Marx said truth serves class interests. For Hillary and Rudy, truth is what serves their individual interests. They both wear black hats, and the horse they ride is called power.

Yet in November polls, Republicans prefer Giuliani by a margin of five or six to one over Ron Paul, the only principled Republican candidate and a person who without any doubt believes in the Constitution and would protect it.

Democrats prefer Hillary by a margin of twenty to one over Dennis Kucinich, the only member of Congress sufficiently concerned and courageous to introduce impeachment against the notorious war criminal Dick Cheney. By margins as much as forty-four to one, Democrats prefer Hillary to Senator Christopher Dodd, who promises to give America back its Constitution in the first hour of his administration. Former Alaska Senator Mike Gravel does not even register in the polls.

Obviously, the American people haven't a clue. In November 2007 they show a distinct preference for leaders who are even worse than the ones with whom they are currently dissatisfied. What does this tell us about the American people and their commitment to be sufficiently informed for democracy to function?

It tells us that they are not up to the challenge. It is only a matter of time before America succumbs to the plutocracy, against which Warren Buffet recently warned Congress, or the fascist tyranny that Naomi Wolf sees in our future.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor of The Tyranny of Good Intentions.He can be reached at: PaulCraigRoberts@yahoo.com